VSN Deep Rewind: Regular Season Dominance

[Doomsday 4,143]

 

Hello, VHL. As a member of many sim leagues, the one tragic similarity many of them shared was how utterly brief they were. Often times, making it beyond the first season was an achievement. Multiple seasons, even more so. The rarest of all, however, was retiring your player at the end of their career to begin anew. Including the VHL, it is something I have done only three times. Only in one of these leagues did this occur more than once… the VHL. 

 

We're now in our 70th season. That's more than ten calendar years of grinding TPE! During this time, countless members have come and gone, with just as much turnover with the administration running the league. Yet, we survive. We persist. 70 seasons of history is incredible. The NFL just celebrated its 100th season and the VHL is closing in on that. To me, that's pretty special to boast that kind of history. Hopefully, with these articles, the deep and expansive history of the Victory Hockey League can become much more accessible to all who wish to learn about it. 

 

For our first stop, we're going back to a time all of us remember very clearly… for it just happened.

 

Season 69 (nice)

 

The VHLM season has just concluded. While there were some tight races for positioning, the top spot has been virtually assured the entire season. After drafting with the first three picks in the draft, the Saskatoon Wild absolutely dominated the regular season, compiling a record of 68-4-0: an incredible 136 points, nearly 20 more points than the second place Mississauga Hounds. Behind VHLM legend Danny DeYeeto, Edwin THE Encarnacion and David O'Quinn, the Wild cruised through the regular season, scoring over 400 goals and allowing only 133. Seven players scored at least 40 goals, with seven players also scoring at least 100 points. It was an unprecedented dominance… or was it? Naturally, questions arose regarding whether this was the most dominant team ever during a single season. As it turned out, there was indeed another team that beat even the Wild's record. But to learn that story, we'll need a Deep Rewind. We're going way back. All the way back, as a matter of fact.

 

Season One

 

The very beginning of the Victory Hockey League: the Season One VHL Dispersal Draft. The Calgary Wranglers originally held the first pick in the history of the league, but General Manager Brett Slobodzian boldly traded it, along with their second-round pick (16th overall) to the Amstel Tijgers in exchange for Amstel's first-round pick (6th overall), 2nd round pick (11th overall) and a Season Two 4th round pick. While the Tigers selected goaltender Robert Sharpe with the first overall pick, Slobodzian selected left-wing Scott Boulet. Initially criticized for drafting a "role player" in the first round, both Slobodzian and Boulet's critics would be silenced by the end of the season. With their second selection, Calgary selected a goaltender of their own, Drew Barclay. In a draft loaded with hits for Slobodzian, this pick would later turn out to not be among them. 

 

The selection of LW Scott Boulet jump-started the excellence of the Calgary Wranglers. 

 

In the third round, the Wranglers grabbed right-wing Brad Janssen, which completed Calgary's deadly first line of forwards. Lucas Smith became the first defenseman to join the team in the fourth round, with Shawn Howard becoming his linemate around later in the fifth. A trade made with the Vasteras IK had given the Wranglers the last pick of the fifth round, used on Howard, and the first pick of the sixth round, which was used on right-wing Cody Banks. Center Reg Vaillancourt was also selected in the sixth round with Calgary's own sixth-rounder, adding to the Wranglers' second line. With the selection of defenseman Jermy Lamborghini, the first draft in the history of the VHL was over for Calgary. 

 

However, the Season One Calgary Wranglers were not complete. An additional, three-round supplementary draft was held to complete the VHL's rosters, with the Wranglers selecting last. However, with that eighth pick, GM Brett Slobodzian struck gold when he selected a defenseman whose name has become synonymous with greatness in the VHL: Sterling Labatte. Right-wing Shawn Crowley proved to be another critical addition to the team, and centre Guillaume Fertier gave the Wranglers even more depth. With that, the Season One Calgary Wranglers were finally assembled. 

 

Adding D Sterling Labatte in the Supplementary Draft gave Slobodzian an impact player on the blue line. 

 

Season One Calgary Wranglers

 

C Brett Slobodzian

C Reg Vaillancourt

C Guillame Fertier

 

LW Scott Boulet

 

RW Brad Janssen

RW Cody Banks

RW Shawn Crowley

 

D Lucas Smith

D Shawn Howard

D Jermy Lamborghini

D Sterling Labatte

 

G Drew Barclay

 

All the Wranglers proceeded to do during the VHL's first season was dominate. While it was recognized that Calgary had built a strong and active squad determined to win, no one saw what was about to happen coming. In a 72 game season, the Wranglers won a staggering 69 (nice) of them, with only three losses. Their dominant record also reflected on the ice: the Wranglers scored a league-high 387 goals when the second-highest scoring team scoring just over 300. The Wranglers were just as adept at preventing goals, allowing just 154, a plus 233 differential in goals. 

 

In his prime, Brett Slobodzian was arguably the greatest player in the world.

 

Led by Brett Slobodzian, the Gretzky Trophy winner as the most valuable player, was the VHL's leading scorer with 171 points, with an insane 79 goals. Scott Boulet, whose selection in the first round was widely questioned, exploded for 132 points of his own, with 53 goals and a +107 rating, winning him the Delvecchio Trophy as the VHL's best two-way forward, an award now named after him. Perhaps the bigger surprise, however, was Sterling Labatte. The supplemental draft pick burst onto the scene with 102 points and a +93 rating and won the Orr Trophy as the league's best defenseman. Labatte has become synonymous with excellence at the defenseman position, as the Orr Trophy now bears his name. 

 

Matched up with the Seattle Everblades in the first round of the VHL Playoffs, Calgary's run of dominance continued. While the Everblades put up a valiant effort, including forcing overtime in two games, they were simply no match for the Wranglers, who swept Seattle away in four games. Now just four games away from the Continental Cup, it seemed all but assured that the Calgary Wranglers would trounce Vasteras IK and cap off their incredible season. Instead, it would be Scotty Campbell, Matthew Pogge and Vasteras lifting the cup, defeating Calgary in six games. 

 

Calgary's dominant season ended with the Vasteras IK drinking from the Continental Cup instead. 

 

What went wrong? How could the Wranglers suddenly falter when they were on the cusp of solidifying themselves as the best VHL team ever? Some maintain that Calgary simply lost their momentum after sweeping Seattle, but Vasteras only played one additional game in the first round. Others maintain that the sims of the Continental Cup Finals were rigged, insisting it was impossible for a Wranglers team to suddenly lose more games than they had all season. While I feel that is a ridiculous, baseless and insulting accusation, it has been alluded to that Vasteras benefiting from a rigged championship led to their infamous 26 season championship drought. 

 

But to me, the likely culprit is that Vasteras just simply matched up very well against Calgary. The Wranglers' biggest weakness was their netminder, Drew Barclay. The second-round pick benefited greatly from the powerhouse squad in front of him, with his work ethic completely dropping off as he coasted to wins. Suddenly, with all the chips on the table, Barclay had to answer to Scotty Campbell and Matthew Pogge, who was able to make key saves to keep Vasteras alive. When Pogge was able to shut the door against Slobodzian, Boulet and Janssen, Drew Barclay's lack of preparation and subpar work ethic was exposed by Scotty Campbell and Vasteras IK. It's very telling that the Wranglers quickly moved on by selecting Joseph Baker in the Season Two VHL Entry Draft. Baker, by the way, lifted the Continental Cup as Calgary finished the season as champions, although Robert Sharpe would replace Baker before Season Three and win a cup as well. 

 

Season 69 (nice)

 

Returning to the (near) present day, Saskatoon continued their run by sweeping the Yukon Rush. After upsetting the Philadelphia Reapers in six games, the Halifax 21st stepped up to the plate to try to take down the Wild. Despite a close call in Game One, Saskatoon quickly jumped out to a three-game lead. Although Halifax extended the series with a win in Game Four on their home ice, the Wild punched their ticket to the Founder's Cup Finals with a 7-3 win in Saskatoon to close out the series in five games. The Mississauga Hounds came out with what they believed would be a statement win, shocking the Wild with a 3-2 win in Game One on the road with third-period goals from Kyl Oferson and Patrik Tallinder. 

 

Saskatoon sealed the deal on their incredible season with a Founder's Cup win.

 

However, this is where the similarities with the Season One Calgary Wranglers end. After falling behind 1-0 in the series, the Season 69 (nice) Saskatoon Wild would never lose again. Outscoring the Hounds 19-10, behind Edwin THE Encarnacion, David O'Quinn and Danny DeYeeto, Saskatoon ripped off four consecutive wins, culminating with Jesse Nyman's cup-clinching goal on home ice in Game Five. Recency bias aside, the Saskatoon Wild's incredible run to the Founder's Cup in Season 69 (nice) has firmly cemented them in VHLM lore as one of, if not, the best team ever in the M. 

 

While the Season One Calgary Wranglers fell short after their dominant season, they would still go on to earn their own glory. Calgary returned to the playoffs in Season Two, with Slobodzian, Boulet and Labatte exacting their revenge on the Vasteras IK by sweeping them to win the Continental Cup. The Wranglers bolstered up even further, adding goaltender Robert Sharpe and future Hall of Fame defenseman Joey Kendrick. Although they were given everything they could handle and then some by Maxim Desny and the Helsinki Titans, the Calgary Wranglers repeated as Continental Cup champions by emerging on top in a thrilling seven-game series. Despite the Season One team falling short, in the end, they still wound up becoming one of the VHL's best dynasties, taking their rightfully deserved place in league history. 

 

The Calgary Wranglers still went on to achieve greatness by repeating as Continental Cup Champions in Seasons 2 and 3.

 

Special thanks must be given to Victor, whose unparalleled work towards preserving the VHL's history and telling the stories of our league's past has been absolutely priceless. Without his help, guidance and previous works, this article would not have been possible. Additionally, the work of Sterling (who coincidentally made an appearance in this article through Sterling Labatte), Zero, Kyle, and, again, Victor for the work they did through the VHL 20 in 20 (and subsequently the later 30 in 30 and 40 in 40) series deserves our complete gratitude. The information these articles provide has been absolutely invaluable through obtaining data and other information I previously believed to be lost. Finally, the beautiful banners you saw for The Talents Behind the Trophies and Deep Rewind were masterfully created by our resident GFX expert, Motzaburger. Great job with them and all the other quality work you provide for the VSN!

 

Lastly, just before this story was set to release, the VHL learned that we had lost one of our own. Elmebeck, the current general manager of the Saskatoon Wild, passed away this weekend and returned to paradise. Losing one of your own is never easy, but the power of our fraternity that is the VHL ensures that he will never be forgotten. We may not have met him in person, but that did not hide from us who he was. The VSN would like to express our condolences to his family for their loss, and the VHL has truly lost a wonderful member. But through our storied history, and those dedicated to preserving it, our friend Elmebeck will live forever. 

 

Player Mentions: @Cran, @Tagger, @David O'Quinn, @Rybak_49, @Beketov, @djscooter, @TheLastOlympian07, @sterling, @scotty, @Quik, @Nykonax, @Patrik Tallinder, @Jesse Nyman, @Kendrick, @brooks., @Victor, @Zero, @Kyle, @Motzaburger, @Elmebeck

Edited February 9, 2020 by Doomsday

[Victor 11,021]

43 minutes ago, Doomsday said:

Additionally, the work of Sterling (who coincidentally made an appearance in this article through Sterling Labatte) and the work he did through his VHL 20 in 20 (and subsequently the later 30 in 30 and 40 in 40) series deserves our complete gratitude. His articles provide has been absolutely invaluable through obtaining data and other information I previously believed to be lost.

Ahem: https://vhlforum.com/topic/914-vhl-40-in-40/

:P 

[Doomsday 4,143]

2 hours ago, Victor said:

Ahem: https://vhlforum.com/topic/914-vhl-40-in-40/

 

Thank you for bringing this oversight to my attention. Those responsible for this grievous error have been sacked. 

[Kendrick 4,741]

Woooo those were some days for sure