VHL 20 in 20 #7: The Triple Threat Match

[sterling 1,997]

The Triple Threat Match

The VHL, like the NHL, goes through different "eras" that define its history. The difference is that the average VHL player's career lasts about 7 seasons, compared to about 18 seasons for an NHL player's average career. Add in the fact that new, strong players are continuously entering the VHL every season, because this means that older players will generally see a slight decrease in their on-ice performance starting around their 6th VHL season. With these and other factors taken into account, it has become very difficult for one team to sustain any type of dominance in this league for an extended period of time. Winning a VHL championship is always something to be proud of, but winning 2 in a row is almost unheard of. In the league's first 20 seasons of existence, there have only been 3 repeat winners: the Calgary Wranglers in Season 3, the Seattle Bears in Season 5, and the Calgary Wranglers in Season 19. Let's stack these 3 dynasties up against each other and see which was the best.

Going in chronological order only makes sense, as we must start with the VHL's first dynasty. The Calgary Wranglers of the VHL's early years were the team to beat. Truthfully, this team could have been a 3 time champion, and would have then easily taken the spot as the VHL's all-time best team - this episode would then have been all about this one team. This team, more than any other, was formed through the VHL's dispersal draft. When you look back, the picks that general manager Brett Slobodzian made were not amazing by any means, but the key players he got - Scott Boulet and Brad Janssen - were enough for the Wranglers to build a spectacular team. The Supplement draft only added to their fortunes as they brought in Sterling Labatte and Shawn Crowley.

"I honestly didn't anticipate us being nearly as good as we were. With how deep the draft was, I knew I would get an active player who would impact the hockey club, so I made a trade and grabbed additional assets. It was a gamble, but one that paid off when I selected Scott Boulet, as opposed to Robert Sharpe. My goal was to get as many active players as possible and with who we grabbed, I was pleased with our activity from the start. Motivating the team was easy and when we started on a roll, that also motivates others to show up to practice each week. - Brett Slobodzian

The Wranglers of Season 1 went 69-3. They score 387 goals, which was 86 more than any other team, and allowed only 154. Leading scorer Brett Slobodzian dominated the scoring race with 171 points - 36 more than 2nd place Scotty Campbell. Calgary would have 6 of the top 10 scorers that year, and were the heavy favourites going into the playoffs. Calgary made quick work of the Seattle Everblades in the 1st round as they swept them in 4 games. This earned them a date with Scotty Campbell and the Vasteras IK in the Continental Cup Finals. Even then, the Wranglers were heavily favoured as they were almost unstoppable all season. Perhaps this success inflated a few egos, or perhaps they just ran out of gas. Either way, Vasteras toppled the Wranglers in 6 games, effectively shocking the hockey world, and creating some waves for the VHL in only its first season.

” They had a great team and they won it fair and square. I think it provided one of the first great storylines for what has become a very storied league. – Sterling Labatte

The finals loss was definitely difficult for the Wranglers to take. However, some silver linings game out as the team took home several trophies. Slobodzian took home a few, and Scott Boulet was named the league’s best two-way forward. Meanwhile, Sterling Labatte came out of nowhere to take home the Orr Trophy (which is now named after him). Even with that initial success, Labatte still fell to 7th in the Season 2 Entry Draft, where he was drafted back to the Wranglers. Labatte, who spent 9 seasons with Calgary, is widely recognized as being the greatest defenseman of all-time, and his work in the early days did not go unnoticed.

”Sterling was a very dominant VHL defensemen and really propelled us to our back-to-back championships in S2 & 3. He was a catalyst in that he gave us solid defense and some offensive prowess on the power play. At times throughout our tenure together, I questioned why I was named the MVP over Sterling. – Brett Slobodzian

The Wranglers came into Season 2 with a different team. The core of Slobodzian, Boulet, Janssen, and Labatte was still in place, but they added pieces to solidify that core. Alex Watson was brought in from Seattle, and Doug Schneider came from Stockholm. They brought in goaltender Joseph Baker and forward Edward Eldred through the draft, and were set to avenge a disappointing finish to their first season. This time, the standings were much less lopsided. In fact, the Wranglers only finished 2nd in the league, behind Vasteras, with Toronto and Hamilton not far behind. In the scoring race, Brett Slobodzian only finished 4th (with Boulet and Janssen right behind him) in scoring with 125 points as Scotty Campbell, Jonathan McKelvie, and Christian Stolzschweiger all finished above him. Perhaps, however, this is exactly what Calgary wanted.

The Wranglers had to face Toronto in round 1, and the Legion took the defending finalists to game 7, which the Wranglers had to win by a score of 7-5.  This sent the Wranglers right back to the finals for a re-match against Vasteras. This time, however, it was not even close. Calgary won game 1 by a score of 8-2, before winning the next 2 games in overtime. They completed the sweep in satisfying fashion on their home ice, as they came right back and avenged their debilitating loss in Season 1. Slobodzian was named the MVP, and the Wranglers began to look to Season 3, as they weren’t finished winning quite yet.

Once again, the team took on a new look in Season 3. First of all, the difficult decision was made to trade away Brad Janssen, a fan favorite, in exchange for Ondrej Skokan. Robert Sharpe would then join the team through a trade with Stockholm. Also, defenseman Joey Kendrick came to the team as a free agent.

”It was actually a hard decision until I got a message from Brett Slobodzian who really wanted me to come to Calgary. I didn't really know "Slobo" at the time but it started a great partnership for us.” – Joey Kendrick


Joey Kendrick

Calgary dominated the league once again in Season 3, going 61-5-6 for a total of 127 points. Their 357 goals were 79 more than the next team, and with a decrease in performance for Vasteras in the European Conference, it really looked like the Wranglers had a clean shot at a 2nd Continental Cup. Calgary made quick, easy work of the Toronto Legion in the 1st round, and were expecting a 3rd confrontation with their European rivals from Sweden. Instead, their dominance would be overshadowed.

The Helsinki Titans finished the year with only 67 points, and were expected to bow out in the first round to the Vasteras IK. However, goaltender Maxim Desny decided that this was not in the cards this season. The Russian goaltender put on one of the greatest goaltending clinics in hockey history as he singlehandedly guided the Titans to a dramatic upset over the Vasteras IK in 7 games, making them the first team outside of Calgary and Vasteras to make the VHL Finals. Despite an inspired performance from the Titans’ netminder, most people felt that it would be an easy win for the Wranglers. That was not the case, as Desny led the Titans to a 7 game series with the Wranglers, who had faced the goaltending greatness of Matthew Pogge several times before, but were completely caught off-guard by just how much of a fight the Finnish team was putting up. The Wranglers would end yp beating the Titans 3-1 in Game 7 to capture their 2nd straight Continental Cup, but Desny was the MVP that year, becoming the 1st of 3 players (Labatte and Rawlyk being the other 2) to win the Howe trophy in a losing cause.

The Wranglers were on top again, and with their great players still in their prime, it seemed as though the dynasty was only just beginning. That, unfortunately, would never come to pass, as Wranglers players were in conflict with each other over ice time. This caused some Wranglers players to retire, including Brett Slobodzian. Slobodzian would come back, but a significant decrease in play was noticed, and this crippled the Wranglers greatly. Not only that, but other teams simply took over and surpassed the Wranglers, who would finish outside the playoffs in Season 4. The dynasty in Calgary was over.

”I know I really hurt the team and I regret how I left and how some of my former teammates felt and currently feel about me. I am human and I make mistakes. As for the championships, other teams were climbing the latter, so it's hard to say whether it even made a difference in the end. The team we had at that juncture was getting older, so it was just a matter of time before we would be dethroned anyways. Again, I apologize to the Wrangler organization.” – Brett Slobodzian


Wranglers win it in S3

Immediately after the fall of the Wranglers, the Seattle Bears rose to prominence and became the team to beat. It all started with the acquisition of Alex McNeil by GM Danny Tremblay. Tremblay would then step down and made way for former 1st overall pick Patrice Reynaud. Reynaud then made one of the VHL’s all-time great blockbuster trades when he acquired Scotty Campbell and Matt Defosse from Vasteras. Those 3 new acquisitions, along with Dust’n Funk, Reynaud, Tremblay, and Adrian McCreath, would build a great core for Seattle, but was it absolutely evident that this team would be the next big thing in the VHL?

” Not really. Most of our guys were veteran players, but it depends what you would consider a dynasty. I think Danny Tremblay was aiming for 3 strong years, and that's what Seattle got. It's tough to sustain a dynasty much longer than that in this league. From that standpoint, I do think we had all the pieces in place to be a great team and you could tell that some good things were going to happen. – Scotty Campbell

The Bears would finish 1st in the league, but were only 4 points ahead of the Hamilton Canucks. Scotty Campbell, meanwhile, dominated league scoring with 174 points, which was 48 points more than 2nd place McNeil. This set up a very interesting 1st round match-up. Hamilton would win the first 2 games, but the Bears came back and took the next 4 for the series win. They then faced Stockholm in the VHL Finals and made short work of them. Campbell, of course, was named MVP, but the Bears had many strong players who defined this team and made them as strong as they truly were.

While Campbell had the goal scoring down pat, it was Alex McNeil and Matt Defosse who always had his back on the defensive side of things that ensured that Seattle was strong at both ends of the ice. In their careers, they won a combined 4 Delvecchio trophies (now named the Boulet trophy), with McNeil winning it in Season 4.

”At the time, Boulet really made an impression on what would help a team win. Everybody knew that Scotty Campbell and Brett Slobodzian had the talent to win games with goals. However, it was a strong, two-way, multi-dimensional power forward that would make the difference when it came to complimenting those talents. If you look at the statistics, Campbell's best offensive outputs came because of Defosse and I. His highest scoring season was when I was on his line, and while I surely don't take credit for his skill, it definitely shows our importance.” – Alex McNeil

On defense, the Bears were blessed with the presence of one of the greatest defensemen in the history of the VHL, but also one of the most overlooked. Patrice Reynaud was a strong, solidifying presence on the back end for Seattle and his talent was only proven when he was inducted into the VHL Hall of Fame.  The two-time Orr/Labatte trophy winner, who played almost his entire career with the Seattle Bears, was never the most talkative member of the Bears, but an added sense of confidence was visible amongst all Bears players when the French defender was out on the ice.


Patrice Reynaud

” Yeah he definitely flew under the radar and was one of the top guys in the league at that position for essentially his entire career. He had the numbers and accolades to be considered for that title, and he was definitely a key piece to Seattle's success as he was really one of the big anchors on the blue-line.” – Scotty Campbell

The big difference between the Wranglers and the Bears is the presence of Adrian McCreath in goal. While the Wranglers went from Barclay to Baker to Sharpe, the Bears had a consistent goaltender in goal for the length of their dynasty with McCreath, who would also go to the Hall of Fame once his career ended.

The Bears in Season 5 would add another future HOF player in Brannan Anthony. Campbell dominated once again with a historic 190 points. The Bears would finish 1st in the league once again with 128 points, but received some stiff competition from Helsinki and Calgary, who had started to rebound from a disappointing Season 4. It didn’t matter, as the Bears beat the Wranglers in 6 games before going on to walk over the Titans in 5 to win their 2nd Continental Cup in a row. Campbell was once again named MVP as the Bears became the next repeat winners.

It was over for the Bears after that, as their time atop the league was done. The various players that once defined the team for several seasons would split up. According to McNeil, the Bears were in complete control of their “fall”, and did so at their own discretion.

”Derek Harland and I knew that we could have contended for a third season. He was smart in his decision to dissect the team and build for the future. There was a cycle established in Seattle, and Derek Harland was the face of a rebirth. I agreed to be dealt back to Avangard while he could re-assemble the Bears. It would have been amazing to play for a three-peat, but re-building was more practical for the franchise. We built a lot of character in that organization, and I would say my favorite part of my career was winning with the Seattle Bears” – Alex McNeil

Once the Bears well, it would be a long time before we saw our next repeat winners.


Seattle wins it in S5

Fast forward to Season 18 and we see the same Calgary Wranglers franchise gearing up for some memorable seasons, but before that, they were perennial bottom-feeders for a long time. However, with a strong core getting hot at the right time, the Wranglers certainly had the potential to be champions. It almost never came to be, because of the offseason retirement of Demetrjusz Dudek, but the league intervened and allowed the Polish goaltender to play out Season 18 with the team.

”By time I finally reached Calgary, it wasn't as bad as it probably had been a couple seasons previous. There was a solid youth movement going on and everything was being built towards winning very soon. As soon as I came in, I never had any second thoughts about the team.

I admit, my hopes crashed for Season 18 when half the team's plans went down the drain. I was still hopeful for a victory in Season 19 but S18 seemed like a lost season for sure. And even looking back, I still can't believe that lost season became a championship.” – Lars Berger

The Wranglers finished Season 18 with 114 points, 2nd in the league only to the Madrid Thunder, who were led by superstar goaltender Zach Voss. In terms of scoring, 4 of the top 5 points getters in Season 18 wore the Wranglers’ colors. The clear leader, however, was Mikka Virkkunen with 147 points, which was 14 more than David Henman’s 133. Even then, Madrid went into the playoffs as the favorites.

The Wranglers were very close to not making it out of the 1st round as the New York Americans took them to 7 games. The Wranglers outlasted their rivals as they went to face Madrid in the finals, as they won in 6 games. J.D. Stormwall would take home the Howe trophy, as the Wranglers finally escaped the many seasons of difficulty with a Continental Cup win.

While the first Continental Cup win for the Wranglers dynasty was one that many people were happy to see, there were some offseason’s moves that soured the franchise to the general public. The club acquired Zach Voss from Madrid, and then pulled off the Miami Heat trifecta by signing Alexandre Sauve, Ryley Dawson, and Matt Bailey to contracts in an attempt to win another Continental Cup. Many players and fans alike criticized the team’s methods, and like the Heat, many people were cheering against them in the upcoming year.

”If anything, I'd say it didn't affect us at all. I was pretty annoyed with how most people reacted though. For so long, the Wranglers had an overwhelming string of bad luck and unfortunate circumstances, and I think most people in the league saw this and sympathized for the most part. Then, when our team finally hit it big and became favorites to win it all for the first time in over a decade, it was met with a boatload of sourness and animosity. It definitely took some luster off the initial excitement of landing the two best free agents in a while, that's for sure. Still, I suppose that sort of thing should have been expected. We knew we were the best team, so we didn't really need to draw any motivation from the whiners; they were just confirming that fact. It was disappointing how people acted, but pretty easy to ignore. – Jardy Bunclewirth


Lars Berger

Clearly, getting such a strong team together was an incredible piece of GMing, but as most people probably know, Matt Bentz was an absentee GM for most of Season 19, and had to be made to make all the trades and signings that the Wranglers made. The man behind it all was Lars Berger, who was acquired before Season 18 through a trade. Berger came through for the team and ensured that the success from Season 18 would carry over into the following year.

” During S19, I give full credit to the team for not giving up hope when all my interest in the league was gone. Berger was practically the GM of the team at the time and he was the one making deals. I will never take credit for Calgary winning the cup that season; I owe it to everyone who was a member of the Calgary Wranglers. At times, I felt the team was being managed by the team, everyone was always finding ways to improve the squad. – Matt Bentz

Calgary stumbled out of the gate in Season 19, but got up to speed quickly enough and were able to finish 1st in the league with 114 points once again, but Davos and Riga were not too far behind. While the Wranglers may have been the favorites going into the playoffs, it was far from a sure thing that they would repeat as champions. In the end, however, the Wranglers set a record for taking the least games of any championship-winning team to close out the seasons. They beat Toronto in 5 games, and then went on to sweep Davos for a total of 9 games. Zach Voss, who lost to the Wranglers in Season 18, won the MVP trophy for the team in Season 19.

In the end, I believe Dudek’s retirement still ended up hurting Calgary in the end. He was still young when he retired, and the team was still strong. They had a chance of going for a three-peat, but without a goalie, new GM Jardy Bunclewirth decided to break up the team, and thus ended the league’s third dynasty.


Calgary wins it in S19

So, in the end, which team is the best? If you want true dominance, then you might choose the early Calgary Wranglers. If you want a “dream team”, then you go for Seattle. If you want character, then the late Wranglers are the team for you. I don’t want to be too diplomatic here, but I’m biased, as my player was a part of the latter dynasty so I think my answer is obvious.

” I believe with my time in Seattle, we definitely took it to the next level. We were completely dominant, and we built a lot of character. Calgary laid the foundation, and the management in Seattle raised it. As much as it was the same, it was different, and we had our own unique qualities. So, all in all, I'll be biased and say that we would have measured above them if we were matched up against them.” – Alex McNeil

The early Wranglers and Bears franchises hosted a total of 11 Hall of Famers during their dynasty years. The new Wranglers dynasty features many players who are still playing in the league today. It is unknown how many players will be joining 11 of their peers as “dynasty players” in the Hall, but there should be a couple.

”As of now, Matt Bailey is the only real lock. Mikka Virkkunen will definitely make a great case, as he's only had two seasons of less than 100 points, and he could come away with more accolades this season. J.D. Stormwall is an exceptional two-way player, and that Howe Trophy looks really good on his resume, but he may have not had his breakout in time to make it. Same goes for Zach Voss, whose last couple seasons were definitely HOF-worthy, but they may not quite be enough. Lars Berger hasn't accomplished a whole lot individually yet, but he still has a long career ahead of him and he could easily end up being the best of the bunch. As for myself, I definitely have gotten off to a great enough start, but I need to stay consistent if I want that honor. In sum, we could have one to six guys make it, which is for sure less than Seattle's seven.”

In the end, I don’t want to drag this out any longer, so I’ll conclude with this: even in the NHL, a repeat Stanley Cup champion is rare. In fact, it hasn’t happened there in over a decade. Therefore, I’d say that any time you win more than one championship in a row, you are a dynasty by today’s standards. We in the VHL have seen 3 great ones, all of which have been defined by some great players. It’s hard to choose a real winner in this hypothetical, three-way match-up between these three teams.  I’ll leave it up to you guys to discuss that amongst yourselves.

End of Episode 7
Special thanks to Brett Slobodzian, Joey Kendrick, Sterling Labatte, Scotty Campbell, Alex McNeil, Lars Berger, Jardy Bunclewirth, and Matt Bentz