The VHL's Greatest World Cup Teams

[Victor 10,938]

The World Cup is the forgotten child of the VHL, a brief event every other off-season which rarely gets much attention and generally has no bearing on a player's career or Hall of Fame credentials, even making the Triple Gold Club usually the footnote of its members' time in the league.

 

The history of the tournament is nonetheless tracked though rarely talked about, but the information on medal winners from S4 to the modern day is there. With the S72 edition just around the corner, today I thought I'd bring it to life a bit by talking about some of the most successful teams and players to grace the VHL's international tournament.

 

  20s Scandinavia  

Apart from the usual suspects in Canada and the US, the most successful region in the World Cup is Northern Europe, known throughout history as Team Sweden, Scandinavia, and most recently Nordic, but encompassing the hockey hotbed of Sweden and Finland, with some help from their neighbours in Norway, Denmark, and Iceland at various times. It's not been a smooth ride for these nations in recent years, with just 2 gold medals in the last 20 tournaments (last one coming in S48), but they still have the most golden generation to look back on.

 

From S12 to S26, Sweden/Scandinavia medalled 8 straight times and missed out on the gold medal game only once. The pinnacle came in a record-setting run of 4 straight gold medals from S20 to S26. This team always had at least one of Jakob Kjeldsen and Andreas Bjorkman in net, two Tretiak Trophy winners who backstopped Helsinki and Vasteras to Continental Cups. They were protected by some of the league's top defensive talent of the time – first Patrick Bergqvist, Voittu Jannula, and Frans Spelman, then the torch was passed to the less heralded Kristian Carlsson, Sigmund Olofsson, and Jeff Dar. Carlsson never won a Continental Cup but as the only member of Scandinavia from S20 to S26 holds the record of most gold medals with 4.

 

Finally, up front the Dane Lars Berger was usually the star, with 25 points in S20 and 22 in S24. However, he was supported by a Hall of Fame cast featuring Anton Brekker, Jukka Hakkinen, and Mathias Chouinard, among others. All in all, it was a well-oiled machine which steamrolled through the off-season tournaments – no World Cup team has managed to quite match their achievements since.

 

 50s Canada

It will come as no surprise that Canada is the World Cup's most successful team with 9 gold medals, but this is a relatively recent development. Underachievers for much of VHL's history, the Canadians finally strung together their own streak of 3 straight golds from S52 to S56. This was a team very much dominated by goaltending, with all 3 rosters featuring future Hall of Famers Rhett DeGrath and Markus King. They had differing fortunes in the big leagues (King was champion twice with Riga, DeGrath never got to raise the cup), but pushed each other to their limits when joining forces in Canada camp.

 

The rest of the team was just naturally talented. Hall of Famers Unassisted, Black Velvet, and Tom Lincoln were all part of the first two triumphs in S52 and S54. Ay Ay Ron, Marc-Alexandre Leblanc, and Shawn Gretzky had joined to give the team some new blood by S56. Breaking a gold medal curse lasting more than a decade lifted a weight off the Canadians' shoulders and they followed up with two more wins in S62 and S66 – it was this streak in the 50s which lay the foundation though.

 

 Gabriel McAllister's USA

Hall of Famer McAllister was renowned throughout his career for lifting inferior teams on paper to great heights – this was certainly the case when he won the cup with Seattle in S59 and especially Davos in S61, ending two long droughts in the process. With the US it was a slightly different challenge – elevating a team which was often second fiddle throughout World Cup history, including while the aforementioned Team Canada romped to 3 straight golds in the 50s. Goaltender Apollo Skye, who had similar MVP heroics during his time with Quebec, had helped the American team take the first steps, so it was no surprise they finally claimed gold when prime McAllister and Skye combined forces in S58.

 

Skye retired soon after but McAllister inspired USA to another gold in S60, now backstopped by Vernon Von Axelberry. It wasn't just about McAllister – Jack Shephard, John Locke, and Pablo were just a few of the star names which had joined the team by then – but the next American leader was fittingly New York American captain Casey Jones. Between them, Skye, McAllister, and Jones ensured the US claimed a medal in eight consecutive tournaments from S50 to S64, tying the all-time record set by Scandinavia all those years ago. It was a herculean achievement for chronic underachievers.

 

 The 60s: The Game Goes Global

Seven VHL players have won five medals in their career. These are Carlsson and Berger from the great Scandinavian team of yore, as well as Skye, McAllister, and Jones from Team USA above. The final two slots have been filled most recently by Ryan Kastelic and Tzuyu. How do a guy from Slovenia and a girl from Taiwan find World Cup success together? There's only one answer: the rise of Team World.

 

The Russian team (or sometimes, and controversially, the Soviet one) often by extension included Asia and anyone else who didn't fit into Europe or North America. In the 40s this officially became Team World for ease and the rebranded team got their first gold in S50. However, as the VHL has appealed to a wider audience, in recent years Team World has arguably become the World Cup's leading team – which resulted in Kastelic and Tzuyu's haul of 2 golds, 2 silvers, and 1 bronze from S62 to S70. Romania's Veran Dragomir and Latvia's Kallis Kriketers were key components of the roster for most of the 60s, while the gold in S70 was secured thanks to the addition of the Ukrainian Jet Jaguar and even India's Michael Johnson.

 

Is this the future? Probably not. The World Cup has evolved significantly over time and what you generally find is the talent fluctuates from one team to another at a whim, as evidenced by the diversity of nations above. Where we go from here is anyone's guess... perhaps it's the Mercenaries' time to shine?

 

Honourable mention:

Only one key VHL region didn't get a shout-out in this article and that is Europe. This is a team which has generally been weighted towards the trendiest European nation outside Scandinavia, be it Switzerland in Scotty Campbell's heyday, or the UK and Germany for most of the rest of time. Now known as Western Europe, their best days came before the “Western” prefix, when they claimed two golds and two silvers from S43 to S50. The great Hans Wingate, Phil Hamilton, and surprisingly Thaddeus Humbert were present for all four tournaments, with appearances from Wingate's backup Greg Clegane (quite a 1-2 punch in net) and the rest of the Hamilton family.

[Victor 10,938]

Week 2 of 2.

 

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[gorlab 4,321]

go team world