Ringless: The S54 Stockholm Vikings

[Matt_O 896]

 

Welcome to the first edition of Ringless. In this series we look at the best teams throughout VHL history to never win the cup. 

 

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There are many teams in VHL history that were elite but never won a cup. Sometimes it’s because a different team is just plain better, or a lot of bad luck. The Stockholm Vikings in the middle of the S50s are one of the greatest teams to never win a cup. They had three years of contention, but S54 was their best roster. How did the Vikings, who had an average of 58 wins per season from S53 to S55, only win one playoff series? We need a deep rewind.

 

The Stockholm Vikings were the newest version of the Vasteras/Madrid teams. As a collective franchise, it was embarrassing. Vasteras won two cups, while Madrid and Stockholm both won none. The curse of Sweden seemed to be very real, but Stockholm wanted to change that. They started building for the future in the S50 draft, where they selected future hall of famer, Diana Maxwell, first overall. They also selected Essian Ravenwing third overall, who would be a reliable player for his entire career. The only problem is that neither of these players stuck with Stockholm. In fact, Stockholm traded Maxwell, Ravenwing, and two other first-round prospects to the New York Americans for two first-rounders, and three second-rounders. This trade is one of the factors that led the Stockholm Vikings to the top. After a year of struggle in S51, it all paid off in the S52 draft. They selected Rhett DeGrath with the second overall pick. He would go on to become a hall of fame goaltender and considered one of the best of all time. They also took Lee King Snatch with the fifth pick, which is one of the picks they got from New York. Snatch became one of the top defensemen for the Vikings, with an 84 point season in S54. They also selected winger Conrad Jenkins 10th overall, who would also be great for Stockholm. He had 68 points in S54 and was a consistent scorer. They added Tyson Kohler during the offseason before S53, and they were expected to do well. They also added Shawn Muller for his final year through free agency and traded for Travis Gowecny and Tobias Klingberg, both of whom would have successful seasons with Stockholm. They were poised to finally make it back to the playoffs.

 

The Vikings big offseason moves made them a formidable team in S53

 

In S53, they would go on to win 51 games and have the first seed in the European Conference. Tyson Kohler led the way with 114 points, while Muller had 95 and Gowecny had 88. Tobias Klingberg, a defenseman, had 76 points. Klingberg would be a mainstay for the Vikings during their success. The only thing holding them back, ironically, was Rhett DeGrath, as his .908 save percentage was one of the worst years of his career. However, their offseason pickups did more than enough to make up for it. In the semi-finals, they had the Helsinki Titans, a young up and coming team. Unfortunately for the Titans, they weren’t ready to take the leap forward yet, and the Vikings were going to play in the finals. Despite putting up incredible offensive numbers, they fell in game seven to the Americans. The Vikings had seven players finish with double-digit points in that postseason, in just thirteen games played. However, their trade with the Americans from seasons prior would bite them. Diana Maxwell and Essian Ravenwing, who were traded from Stockholm, would power the Americans over the Vikings, as both of them scored over 20 points in the postseason. Rhett DeGrath’s .896 save percentage and 2.75 GAA hurt the Vikings, and if he had performed better, perhaps the Vikings would have won the cup that year.

 

 After S53, they lost many key pieces. Travis Gowecny left for the Wranglers, while Shawn Mullen retired. However, they replaced the lost pieces with ease. They picked up Pietro Maximoff, who was a future hall of famer. They also acquired Sven Wolf, a long time Seattle Bear. With the addition of two elite forwards, Rhett DeGraths elite play in net, and the improvement of young players such as Lee King Snatch, and Tobias Klingberg led to the S54 Stockholm Vikings winning a jaw-dropping 66 games, with 134 points that season. They finished the year on a 27 game winning streak. Everything was setting up for Stockholm to take home their first cup. Their semi-finals opponent were the Helsinki Titans, who had 49 wins, 17 less than the Vikings. 

 

The Vikings won the first two games and cruised to a 2-0 series lead. At that point, they had won 29 games in a row, and why would anyone expect anything to change? However, they dropped game three 2-1, as Astrid Moon, the Titans goaltender, stole the game with 30 saves. The Titans also won game four 5-1 to tie the series up. The Vikings offence had averaged nearly four goals a game during the regular season but were held to only one goal in the past two games. But surely everything was okay, they were heading back to Stockholm for game five. In Stockholm, they had gone 34-1-1 during the regular season. However, everything was not okay. After one period it was 2-0 Helsinki, and when the final buzzer sounded, the Titans had won 4-1. The Vikings only mustered 18 shots on net, and the Titans dominated. It was just Stockholms second regulation loss at home the entire year, but it couldn’t have come at a worse time. With the writing seemingly on the wall, the Titans came out in game six and won the series with an astounding 3-0 win. Astrid Moon stopped all 39 shots, and the Titans had just upset the Vikings, one of the greatest regular-season teams ever. The Vikings only scored three goals in their final four games. After winning 29 games in a row, they found a way to lose four in a row. Who is to blame for a loss like this? It partially is on the players for not scoring, especially Tyson Kohler, who only had four points in six games. But Rhett DeGrath’s poor performance hurt perhaps the most, as his .879 save percentage and 3.11 GAA was perhaps the biggest reason for the Vikings failure. It comes just one season after DeGrath’s poor finals performance against New York seemingly cost them a shot at the cup. In S55, it was do or die for the Vikings.

 

They didn’t lose much during the offseason, and they came back with a similar roster to last season's team, except a year older. They weren’t nearly as explosive but still had great team scoring, with four 90 point scorers. However, the best player that year was Rhett DeGrath. His .940 save percentage and 1.25 GAA were enough to earn him the MVP honours. The Vikings finished with 57 wins, second in the European Conference only behind the Titans by one point. They were seen as heavy favourite going into their first-round matchup against Davos, who had 15 fewer wins than the Vikings.

 

Rhett DeGrath's unbelievable season was the driving force behind Stockholm's 57 win season

 

The Vikings would jump out to a quick 2-0 series lead again, with a 5-0 win in game one setting the tone for the series. Davos would bounce back with a 5-3 win in game three, but the Vikings took a 3-1 series lead with a 5-1 win over Davos in game four. Game five was in Stockholm with a chance for the Vikings to head to the semi-finals and attempt to get their revenge on the Titans. However, Davos had other plans. With the game tied at two in overtime, Asher Donovan scored to win the game for Davos and head the series to a game six. Asher Donovan is particularly interesting. Donovan won nearly every VHLM offensive award in S49, as well as top two way forward. However, his VHL career was underwhelming, finishing between 30 and 60 points every year. Except for one year in S53, where he out of nowhere dropped 95 points. He would never come close to that amount again, finishing below 60 points every season after that. Regardless of his strange career, he just scored the goal that sent Davos back home for a game six.

 

In game six, Davos scored only 24 seconds in and held on for a 2-0 win to head the series to a deciding game seven. Rhett DeGrath had played well all series, yet the Vikings still were in trouble. Game seven in Stockholm was filled with tension. This was likely the Vikings last real shot at a cup before having to rebuild, and they were on the verge of getting upset again. Davos scored the opening goal four minutes in, and then scored again a few minutes later to take a quick two-goal lead. Tobias Klingberg would cut that lead in half in the second, and we headed into the third with a one-goal game. Despite the Vikings best efforts, Davos shut them down in the third and stunned the Vikings in game seven. Stockholm had just blown a 3-1 lead to a team far worse than them in what was their final year of contention. It was the second year in a row they were heavy favourites and lost in humiliating fashion. After this, everything went downhill.

 

Everyone was gone after that year. In S56, there was not a single returning player to the Vikings roster. Their best player was Jack Kraken, who had only 36 points that year. They only won 11 games and finished dead last in the European Conference. In S57, it only got worse. They won a pathetic four games that year and had only five players on the roster. In S54, they had four regulation losses. Now they had just four wins. How does a team go from so great to so horrible in only three seasons? The next season, the Stockholm Vikings fell victim to contraction, and never played another game. The playoff loss to Helsinki was heartbreaking, but it seems like the loss to Davos was the final blow. It destroyed the organization, much like what happened to Ottawa after their conference finals run in 2017. The team won a combined 15 games over two seasons after that loss to Davos and eventually folded.

 

The Vikings rode the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. They made the cup finals in S53, won 66 games in S54 and 57 games in S55. Unfortunately, none of those great seasons translated into playoff success, and all they came away with was two heartbreaking upsets, and eventually the folding of their franchise. The curse of Sweden may be real, and this team would be clear evidence as to why. The Stockholm Vikings from S53 to S55 are perhaps the greatest team to never win a championship.

 

@STZ @Kendrick @OrbitingDeath @eaglesfan0366 @TheLastOlympian07 @Dangles13

[Banackock 7,634]

Rhett DeGrath was one of my fave players back then. 

[eaglesfan036 4,583]

@Gigga-Bijou

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Sad story

[Victor 10,529]

RIP

[Advantage 2,769]

Ugh

[gorlab 4,321]

Ringless: The Stockholm Vikings  *

 

 

 

[Victor 10,529]

29 minutes ago, Advantage said:

Ugh

Stop GMing Swedish teams it's bad for you

[Advantage 2,769]

34 minutes ago, Victor said:

Stop GMing Swedish teams it's bad for you

I want it so bad tho.  Maybe I should just GM New York again.

 

 

[STZ 5,280]

My heart breaks for this

[Kendrick 4,714]

Rhett was a boss, too bad we didn't get him a ring

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

ahh Muller, my fav player.

 

 

[Matt_O 896]

Week 2 claim