Deep Rewind: Rookie Records

[Doomsday 4,143]

Credit to @Motzaburger for turning back time with this beauty.

 

Hello VHL, and welcome to the Season 71 edition of Deep Rewind. In this segment, we'll explore the vast history of the Victory Hockey League, as a league such as this doesn't make it more than 70 seasons without having good stories to tell. Whether it's some of the greatest achievements of the league's legendary players, the marks left by top teams, or the outright bizarre, the history of the VHL has a story for everyone. Through Deep Rewind, these stories will be told.

 

But first, here's a quick look at what's going on with the VSN this week! We've got plenty of coverage on the next batch of rookies in the VHLM, along with what's going on in the bigs with VHL Weekly. A new episode of VSN Radio was also released, with @DarkSpyro making a guest appearance!

 

The VHLM Review | S71 VHLM Award Tracker | VSN Weekly Review | VSN Radio | The Talents Behind the Trophies

 

Continuing with the theme of the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy, the VHL has seen its fair share of oddities when it comes to rookies. In order to thrive, a league needs fresh talent to replenish the ranks, and the VHL is no different. Many dynamic talents have come and gone, some going on to become immortalized in the Hall of Fame. But with individual scoring numbers plummeting in recent seasons, perhaps no rookie class has felt the effects of this more than Season 70 one. Helsinki Titans defenseman Erik Summers led all rookies with 39 points and for a vast majority of the season was the clear favourite to win the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy, which he eventually did. Although Summers is blossoming into one of the VHL's premiere defensemen this season, does he hold the dubious record of being the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy winner with the fewest points (goalies naturally not included)? In Season 58, New York Americans defenseman Colton Rayne won the award with 38 points, which seemingly makes him the holder of that distinction. But, as pointed out by @Renomitsu, the answer is more complicated than it originally seems. 

 

Season 58

 

In the midst of contraction, the VHL has returned to having eight teams. With five of them making the playoffs, it's still not much of a race. The Calgary Wranglers, Quebec City Meute and HC Davos Dynamo are rebuilding, essentially leaving the real battle to be over seeding. The Riga Reign, Toronto Legion and Seattle Bears all finish over 100 points, leaving the Helsinki Titans and New York Americans to fight over home-ice advantage for their match-up in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs. The Titans win that battle, finishing with 86 points to the Americans' 83, but ultimately lose the war as New York wins the deciding Game Seven to defeat Helsinki and advance. With four rookies on the roster, including Colton Rayne, the Americans are ultimately no match for the eventual champions, the Riga Reign, who take the series in five games. 

 

Rookies Colton Rayne and Aksel McKnight gave the Big Apple hope for the future in Season 58.

 

For the Americans, however, the future looks bright. Rayne became one of their better defensemen as a rookie, and fellow rookie Aksel McKnight led all rookies with 50 points at left wing. As it turned out, the voters couldn't agree which one deserved to win the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy, with both of the Americans' stud rookies receiving four votes. For the third (and to date, the most recent) time, there were two winners of the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy. In fact, it had been 30 seasons since Alexander Labatte and Shane Lynch were co-winners in Season 28. The first time it happened was just four seasons earlier when future Hall of Famers Benjamin Glover and Mitch Higgins were co-winners in Season 24.

 

However, discrepancies exist on just how many points Colton Rayne scored in his rookie season. His listing on the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy states that Rayne scored 9 goals and 29 assists, for a total of 38 points and a +5 rating. If those numbers are correct, that would make him the recipient with the fewest points in the history of the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy. There is, however, one slight problem. 

 

It's not correct.

 

Both the Season 58 index and Rayne's own player page, since this is the Portal era, have his true statistics for his rookie year: 7 goals, 34 assists, for 41 points and a -7. Oopsie!

 

That is a rather unfortunate distinction for Mr Summers and the Season 70 rookies. Not only is Summers' 39 points the lowest amount to ever lead a rookie class, but it also becomes the fewest amount of points to win the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy, as opposed to Colton Rayne. Sorry, Erik, but at least you're shaping up to have a great career!

 

Season 62

 

After Christian Stolzschweiger's 140 points as a rookie in Season 2, the first winner of the trophy that eventually bore his name remained the gold standard for 60 seasons. Records, however, are made to be broken, and for Stolzschweiger's rookie point total, Season 62 marked the end of it. Although the VHL remained at eight teams, the league was on the verge of thriving once again. Recruitment was on the rise, and while the league's eyes were on the massive collection of prospects in the VHLM, there was still plenty of top talent that just made the jump to the pros, and the VHL was about to be put on notice.

 

Vyacheslav Smirnov burst onto the scene in Season 62, smashing the record for points scored by a rookie with 149.

 

Season 62 featured a ton of scoring, with eight players cracking 50 goals. Surprisingly, two of those players were rookies. Vyacheslav Smirnov and Leph Twinger also topped 100 points, with future Hall of Fame defenseman (and later forward) Maxim Kovalchuk the third rookie to break 100 points (Kovalchuk additionally led all defensemen in points with 117). Smirnov, however, was in a league of his own. The Seattle Bears' rookie centre scored 63 goals, tacking on 89 assists for an astonishing 149 points. Smirnov not only smashed the 60-year-old record set by Stolzschweiger, but his total was also good for third in the entire VHL, behind only future Hall of Famers Podrick Cast and Matt Thompson. Since Smirnov, no other rookie has topped 100 points, with Shane Mars' 94 in Season 66 the closest one has gotten since. 

 

While rookie scoring hit an all-time low last season, it thankfully appears to be on the rise again. Through the first 28 games in Season 71, seven rookies have scored 17 points or more. Three have scored at least 20 points, with Thomas Landry II and Ola Vikingstad tied for first with 22 points each at the time of print. Two goalies are also in the mix as well, with Calgary's Jacques Lafontaine's 19 wins leading the VHL and Jaxx Hextall being a big part of Toronto's surprising season. Time will tell whether or not this is a trend that will continue, but there is no denying that the VHL is beginning to see more rookies making an impact again. They might not be topping 100 points or cracking many stat leaderboards, but it's an encouraging sign that perhaps the claims of a dead puck era were premature. Maybe we won't see another dominant rookie like Christian Stolzschweiger or Vyacheslav Smirnov just yet, or maybe ever, but rookies might just be able to put the fears of scoring less than 20 points as a rookie to rest.

 

Player Mentions: @Erik Summers, @Spade18, @Renomitsu, @sterling, @Chad, @scoop, @Higgins, @Banackock, @DollarAndADream, @Victor, @Beketov, @Doomsday, @Dil, @SlapshotDragon, @ROOKIE745

Edited May 2, 2020 by Doomsday

[Gooningitup 1,290]

Wonder why u chose the season before Sergei Komarov, forget the 3rd guy, and Casey Jones battled for top rookie spot we all had100 points.

 

Nevermind noticed the link is gone now

Edited April 9, 2020 by Gooningitup

[Advantage 2,899]

Angelo's record > Stolzy's

 

That's what this means to me.

[gorlab 4,321]

Shane Mars didn't deserve the Stolzy in S66.

[animal74 1,855]

On 4/9/2020 at 9:12 AM, Doomsday said:

The Seattle Bears' rookie centre scored 63 goals, tacking on 89 points for an astonishing 149 points.

@Doomsday Should be 89 assists? Great article!

Edited May 2, 2020 by animal74

[Victor 11,009]

I have finally fixed Rayne's line on the Stolzy page btw!

 

On 4/9/2020 at 4:12 PM, Doomsday said:

Sorry, Erik, but at least you're shaping up to have a great career!

Well you were right about that one