Minor Adjustments: Bratislava Watchmen

[Hex Universe 253]

Welcome back to Minor Adjustments, a series where we take a closer look at the VHL and VHLM teams of the past. Today, our journey will take us back to Europe. Along the Danube River, lies a city with a very unique VHLM past. In days of old, their team watched over the people and gave their best effort to serve. That city is Bratislava, Slovakia, and their team was the Watchmen.

 

 

 

 

BRATISLAVA WATCHMEN [S31 - S53]
Founder's Cups: 7
Prime Minister's Cups: 3
Playoff Appearances: 13

 

 

With the VHL and VHLM growing in the number of active players, the league decided to grant the VHLM two expansion teams for S31. One would be awarded to the Yukon Territory of Canada, and the other would be given to the Capital city of Slovakia, Bratislava.

Bratislava would become known as the Watchmen, and their first GM in team history would be Vince Wong @STZ. The first time GM would immediately begin building his new team and they would find some small pockets of success. The Watchmen would make the playoffs in their inaugural season, only to be ousted early on. It was clear work needed to still be done, especially as Bratislava would fail to reach the playoffs in S32. 

 

The Watchmen were growing, however, and during S33, they were ready to strike. Bratislava would reach the playoffs again in S33 and would take out Vasteras IK in the first round. Following that, the Watchmen would have a tough series against the Prime Minister's Cup champion Kolari Panthers, but would win in seven games. Using that momentum, the Watchmen would sweep the Brampton Blades in the Finals to win their first Founder's Cup. Playoff MVP would go to forward Niklas Lindberg, who earned 34 Points (20 Goals and 14 Assists) in 17 games. Vince Wong would win his first GM of the Year award as well.

 

After S33 many of the top talent would graduate to the VHL, leaving GM Wong to rebuild the team back to championship form. Over the next couple seasons, the Watchmen would be in rebuild mode, developing their core and getting the team ready for another playoff push. So although Bratislava would miss the playoffs in both S34 and S35, it was all going according to plan for Wong.

 

For S36, the Watchmen went from no playoffs to smoking the competition. Bratislava would earn a regular season record of 66-5-1, good for 133 Points, earning the team their first Prime Minister's Cup. Although the regular season was amazing, the Watchmen knew they had one far more important thing to do. Bratislava would go 8-2 in the playoffs on the way to their second Founder's Cup in six seasons. Playoff MVP went to goaltender Martin Brookside and Wong would win his second GM of the Year award.

 

After six amazing seasons in Bratislava, Vince Wong would step down as GM. Seth Plaut @Seth would take over as the Watchmen GM starting with S37. Plaut would lead Bratislava to the playoffs in his first year at the helm, but would be ousted before the finals. The next couple seasons of the Plaut era would end before playoffs began as the team would be in rebuilding mode. Although while not highly successful, Plaut did manage to form the body that would lead to much success.

 

After Plaut stepped down,  Mario De Rossi @KitRas would take over where Plaut left off. For S40, the Watchmen would make it to the playoffs for the first time in three seasons, and would come out on top against the Bern Royals in the Wild Card round. Then after taking down the Saskatoon Wild, the Watchmen would win their third Founder's Cup. Sachimo Zoidberg would win Playoff MVP for their 22 goals and 7 assists during the playoffs.

 

The next season would be even better for the Watchmen, however. As Bratislava would skip the wild card round and would eventually come out on top of the VHLM for the second straight season. The Watchmen would take down the Turku Outlaws in seven games and then the Yukon Rush in five on the way to the Cup. Playoff MVP this time would go to AIM-11, as they registered 9 goals and 15 assists in 12 games. De Rossi would have one more year under the helm in S42, which would end without a playoff berth as the Cup teams of the past couple seasons had graduated.

 

 S43 would be a bit rough for the Bratislava Watchmen, however. Despite making the playoffs, the season would have two GMs as the first one Davey Jones @Da Trifecta would leave after only a couple weeks at the helm. This would leave Kyle Snow @Jericho to lead the team in his place as Bratislava would lose in the semi-finals to Bern.

 

After S43, the Watchmen turned to the all-time great in the VHL to lead them. His name is Blake Campbell @Banackock and he became the new GM of Bratislava for S44. In the Campbell era, the Watchmen would start slow. Bratislava would reach the playoffs in S44, but would not return to the Finals and a rebuild began. Despite the shortcomings, Campbell would win GM of the Year. For S45 and S46, the Watchmen would skipped the playoffs. Their rebuild was going well, though, as their talent pool grew stronger and deeper during those two seasons. 

 

 

Then came the push for the Watchmen in S47. Bratislava, under the full lead of GM Campbell, would storm back into the playoffs. Taking down Oslo and the Ottawa Lynx on the way to the teams first Founder's Cup in five seasons.  Campbell would win his second GM of the Year award for his work into building the Watchmen back up to championship glory.

 

Campbell's Watchmen would repeat the same success the very next season in S48. Bratislava would win the Prime Minister's Cup as the best team of the regular season, and would beat Oslo and then Ottawa once more to win back-to-back Founder's Cups for the second time in team history. Campbell would win his third GM of the Year award, a team record and no doubts further solidifies Campbells VHL excellence.

 

After S48, Campbell accomplished all that he could, so he left the Watchmen. Sachimo Zoidberg @Jala would take over his former club as the new GM for S49. Although he would only last one season which ended in a playoff exit before the Finals. 

 

Then for S50, the Watchmen hired Benjamin Zeptenbergs @hedgehog337 as the teams newest GM. S50 would end without a playoff berth for the Watchmen, but the team was being rebuilt. For S51, while Bratislava would reach the playoffs, it wouldn't be enough to reach the finals. Then during S52, the Watchmen were at full power once again, taking down the regular season as the top team. Once the playoffs hit, there was no stopping them. The team would defeat Ottawa and Yukon on the way to their seventh Founder's Cup. Lukas Miller was the teams playoff MVP and GM Zeptenbergs won GM of the Year. Zeptenbergs would have one more season in Bratislava, but it would end before reaching the playoffs in S53.

 

After that, you would expect a new GM to rebuild the team and bring Bratislava back to Championship glory, correct? This time, however, you would be wrong. Bratislava, being the only Euro team still remaining in the VHLM during S53, would be forced out of the league. They, along with the Brampton Blades, were the victims of a sadly decreasing player pool during this time. Both leagues experienced massive contraction due to not having as many active players as they once did. So no matter the storied legacy of the Watchmen and how they would always return for more, their story ends there. 

 

Thank you for reading this latest edition of Minor Adjustments. Please be on the lookout for more from me and everyone else at VSN. Special thanks to @boubabi for sending me the original Watchmen logo, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to showcase it here.

 

- Hex Rose | Word Count: 1,350

Edited December 8, 2020 by Mr_Hatter

[Banackock 8,050]

These were great days. BRATISLAVA! 

[hedgehog337 3,483]

 

They contracted the wrong team there tbh. 

[Mr_Hatter 1,608]

I find it so wild as to just how many teams there used to be that either have relocated, rebranded, or simply don't exist any more

[Doomsday 4,130]

Bratislava should still exist, my time there was memorable and absolutely shaped my VHL experience to where I'm still enjoying it now. Would love to see them return some day. 

 

Great article, and thanks for bringing back some fond memories!

[Da Trifecta 1,899]

I was fired bro. I didn't step away, I made the mistake of starting higher TPE inactives over actives. @Hex Universe

[Hex Universe 253]

56 minutes ago, Da Trifecta said:

I was fired bro. I didn't step away, I made the mistake of starting higher TPE inactives over actives. @Hex Universe

Ahh okay

Didn't realize, I just knew you only were GM for a couple weeks

[solas 1,951]

6 hours ago, Mr_Hatter said:

I find it so wild as to just how many teams there used to be that either have relocated, rebranded, or simply don't exist any more

That's especially true for the VHLM due to the dip in activity/recruitment in the 50s, they contracted down from 10 teams to like 5 at one point.  I think there was a decent amount of change too once VHL and VHLM teams stopped being affiliated in like S20 or so.

 

(Also, mark me down as another one of the people wanting Bratislava to come back.  Probably the only team I really had any connection to in the VHLM.)

[STZ 5,360]

The good days.. very fun times

[Hex Universe 253]

Claiming for week ending 12/13 and 12/20

[Will3 465]

How many other VHLE teams had their brands start as VHLM teams?

[Arce 755]

On 3/16/2022 at 2:56 PM, Will3 said:

How many other VHLE teams had their brands start as VHLM teams?

The Vasteras Iron Eagles were an OG VHL franchise until some madman relocated them, which they located back for a bit. We also had the Minot Gladiators, and Yukon Rush which are now respectively the Rome Gladiators and Geneva Rush. The VHLM also had the Oslo Screaming Seaman (Yes really), which are now the Oslo Storm.

[Will3 465]

Fascinating. Very helpful to my articles going forward.