Riga makes (ties) history

[Victor 10,942]

As some of you will be aware, when the Riga Reign begin their playoff campaign in S72 later today they will be making their 11th straight playoff appearance. With that, they match the all-time VHL record set by New York from S24 to S34. Is the Reign's streak better or worse? Well to be sure there will be a Media Spot comparing the two coming out once Riga actually misses the playoffs. My initial instinct is no. Both NY and Riga won just 1 cup in those 11 seasons (or 1 and counting for the Reign), but the Americans made the finals 7 times. Riga has only been to 2 finals in that time span so far - the cup win in S63 and then again in S69.

 

It's been a good run though. You can split it into roughly 3 eras. First, the Cast-Preencarnacion years, from the high-scoring days of S62 through to Cast's trade to Moscow after S66, with Edwin retiring soon after. Cast and Preencarnacion were the stars of the S63 win, but also featuring were rookies Ryan Kastelic and Kallis Kriketers who would go onto form the core of the 2nd era - the more defence-heavy period. Even as Kastelic moved up front to help the scoring, Riga has boasted Hackett, Tate, Sasakamoose for years, with the S69 performance by Kriketers combined with a forward core of Kastelic, Palo, and Dahlberg making that possibly Riga's best roster of the 11 seasons.

 

And now here we are in the 3rd era. Kriketers and Kastelic's retirement could have meant the end but Riga has bridged the gap with Greg Eagles, Phil Marleau, and some smart drafting in S69 and S71. After a few seasons in Moscow's shadow, the Reign are back as the Euro favourites. It's been a fun run to watch - I particularly like the revolving door of award-winning defencemen (Bassolino, McWolf, Tate) and seeing Helsinki and Vancouver try to make the same run but miss the playoffs somewhere along the line just shows what an achievement it has been by @hedgehog337 for these 11 seasons, even in today's VHL. Unless the Menace go on some mad underdog run, Riga definitely has my support in the S72 playoffs.

[diacope 1,696]

The Riga Reign rule, no doot aboot it