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BarnabasCollins · 05-14-2020, 03:43 PM

I’m going to look back at a magical season for the Calgary Dragons, S50, their latest Cup winning season. An improbable cup run if there ever was one. There were so many playoff heroes for the Dragons that post season. They were led by of course Mike Izzy who was an absolute freaking monster. In 20 playoff games Izzy scored 32 points, 16 goals and 16 assists on a crazy 88 shots, over 4 a game. He also was a physical beast as well leading the team with 68 hits, over 3 a game. He was pretty much a runaway for the MVP without question. He carried his line mates to great heights as well as Calgary’s 1st line was absolutely dominant. Maxime Bouchard came in with 26 points, leading the Dragons in assist at 19. Shooter McGavin, the third part of that line had 25 points and was 2nd on the team with 10 goals. Defender Otis B Driftwood was Calgary’s rock in the back. Otis put up 19 points. He also had 54 hits and blocked 27 shots. Kata Vilde overcame a mediocre year and finished the playoffs at 16-4. He had a .920 save percentage and 2.39 goals against average and was also in the running for playoff MVP. So how did the Dragons get there? Let’s take a look.

In the preseason the Dragons didn’t do very well. They finished 5th in the Western conference. Their goal differential was really bad with them scoring 8 less times than they gave up goals. Starting goaltender Kata Vilde typically doesn’t get a ton of work in the preseason and what he did put up was absolutely mediocre. He posted a 9-8-1 record with a 2.91 goals against average and a .910 save percentage. Those stats certainly weren’t impressing anyone in the SHL and it would go on to show once the regular season started. The regular season also wouldn’t lend belief that the Dragons were a cup winning squad. They finished 4th in the Western conference with a goal differential of only +7. The regular season record was 27-20-3. Everyone feasted on dragon meat at the start of the season. It started out with 4 straight losses, followed by 2 wins and then another 4 straight L’s. They were 2-8 after the first 10 games and 10-15 at the half way point of the season and it looked like they wouldn’t even make the playoffs. They had 2 4 game and 1 5 game losing streak during the season. They were streaky as all get out which showed when they went 11-3 in the last 14 games and finished 4 points up on the 5th place LA Panthers to reach the playoffs. The regular season stats were just OK but there were a few bright spots for Calgary. Mike Izzy had 51 points and line mate Shooter McGavin pitched in with 50. Otis B driftwood was a monster from the blueline as he put up 40 points from the back end. The team stats were not so good however. They were 8th in the league in GF/GA%. They were 7th on the PP at 21.88%. The penalty kill was good at 82.91%, 3rd in the league. They were only 11 in shots and were 7th in shots against. They were the most penalized team in the league with 9.54 minutes a game. They were 3rd in hits at 20.42 a game so the physical play was obviously costly to them. They were only 10th in faceoff % at 50.02. These were certainly not the stats of a cup winning team and I don’t think anyone outside the team itself game them any chance at all in the playoffs. But that’s when the magic took over. OK the brilliance of GM Steelhead. Or was it magic?

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They playoffs started out with the Dragons facing the LA Panthers. This should have been a pretty close series since the Dragons only finished 4 points ahead of LA in the standings. In the end Calgary prevailed in the wildcard matchup, winning the series 4 games to 1. Let’s take a look at each game.

Game 1:
Goalie Know Booth was the 1st star in a losing effort as the Dragons won 3-2. Booth stopped 44 of a whopping 47 shots that the Dragons fired at him, clearly trying to set a tone for the series by peppering the LA netminder. There was no love lost between these 2 squads either and tempers flared as Chico Smeb dropped the gloves with Willie Fisterbottom. The Panthers were undisciplined and gave up 8 PPs to the Dragons/ Michael Choybuk, rainbow dash and Nicky Pedersen Jr score goals for the Dragons.

Game 2:
Calgary takes game 2 by the score of 4-3 in overtime. The story of this game was rookie Esa Parmborg scoring the overtime goal to give his team the victory. He also added an assist. Michael Choybuk also had a goal and an assist in this game as Calgary took a commanding 2 games to none lead in the series.

Game 3:
A high scoring affair, Calgary prevails to win 6-4. The Dragons scored 5 first period goals and then held on for the win. LA was undisciplined again, giving up 6PPs to the Dragons. Chico Smeb had 2 goals in this game, Maxime Bouchard had a goal and an assist and Nicky Pedersen Jr had 2 goals and an assist for the winning Dragons.

Game 4:
The Panthers, facing elimination, find a way to stay in the series with a 5-3 victory. Vilde has been anything but spectacular, giving up 14 goals in the 1st 4 games of the series. Mike Izzy had 2 goals and an assist in the losing effort. LA had a balanced attack with 5 different players scoring goals for them in the victory.

Game 5:
It appears that the Panthers simply ran out of gas here after the huge effort the previous game. Vilde only faced 19 shots and stopped 18 of them as the Dragons won the game 3-1 and the Wildcard round 4 games to 1. Mike Izzy had a goal and was a beast on the boards with 8 hits as Calgary simply wore the Panthers down.

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The next series was with the President trophy winning and heavily favored san Francisco Pride. During the regular season the Dragons were 1-2-1 against the Pride. It certainly seemed like it would perhaps be a close series but I don’t believe anyone outside of Calgary believed that the Dragons had a chance in this series. What happened next was truly unbelievable as the Dragons swept the Pride. Here’s a look at some of the highlights.

Game 1:
Calgary wins this game by the score of 3-2. Vilde started to heat up now as he stopped 31 of 33 shots in the crucial first game of the series. Mike Izzy continued his torrid pace scoring 2 more goals in the opening game. San Francisco struggled to find much offense in this one as they were 0 for 5 on the powerplay as the Dragons penalty killers were stellar.

Game 2:
Calgary prevails in the second game of the series 3-2, this time in overtime. Vilde stayed hot stopping 39 of 41 shots. Mike Izzy stayed hot scoring the overtime winner. He had 2 goals and an assist to lead the Dragons and Shooter McGavin chipped in with 2 assists as Calgary takes a two games to none lead.

Game 3:
Another game another 3-2 score. Calgary prevails again in overtime. Shooter McGavin nets the overtime winner in this one. Maxime Bouchard with a goal and 2 assists and no surprise, Mike Izzy continues beast mode with a goal and an assist. Calgary shocking everyone with a 3 games to none series lead.

Game 4:
Well not the same score in this final game, it ended up 3-1 Calgary for the sweep. Vilde stopped 33 of 34 shots as again the Pride had trouble breaking the stout Calgary defense. Nicky Pedersen Jr with 2 goals in this one. Brennan Kennedy Jr and Barry Batsbak each chipped in 2 assists as the Dragons advance to the Western Conference finals.

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Next up was a dream matchup for many Dragons alumni as Calgary would be going up against former players Joe K and TDZ now in charge of New Orleans management. There would be a lot of friendly rivalry and the poor bastards even got kicked out of the Calgary discord for the duration of the series. New Orleans was the highest scoring team in the regular season and should have proved to be a test for Vilde and the Calgary defenders but once again the amazing Dragons pulled off another sweep to reach the Cup finals. The game highlights were as follows.

Game 1:
Calgary takes the opener by the score of 5-2. Vilde remaining on fire stopping 34 of 36 shots. Shooter McGavin was the hero for the Dragons in this game with 2 goals and an assist. Otis B driftwood had a goal and an assist from the back end and Mike Izzy was content to pass the puck this game and netted 2 assists. The Dragons take the all important fi4rst game of the series.

Game 2:
4-1 for Calgary as they go up two games to none. The high-powered New Orleans offense only managed 28 shots on Vilde. This was a more physical game as well as the Dragons upped the intensity with a lot of hitting. Rainbow dash had a goal and 6 hits to go with it for Calgary. Otis B Driftwood also had 6 hits to go with an assist and once again Mike Izzy couldn’t find the back of the net but dished out 2 helpers again.

Game 3:
4-0 Calgary as it’s Vilde’s turn to shine with a 24-shot shutout. The Dragons take a commanding 3 games to none lead. Mike Izzy, pissed at being shut out for 2 games has a monster game with the Hat trick, an assist and 5 hits. Maxime Bouchard chipped in with 3 assists for the Dragons in this game.

Game 4:
The Dragons pull off their second sweep of the playoffs and mike it a 12 and 1 record so far with a 3-2 overtime victory. Maxime Bouchard with the series winner in overtime, Vilde again solid with 28-30 saves. Bouchard also had an assist this game and Mike Izzy scored again giving him 11 goals in the playoffs so far. Next stop for the Dragons is the finals.

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The Finals matchup would be the Dragons against the Tampa bay Barracuda and their stud goaltender Benjamin Blue. Blue was 2nd in the league in Save percentage during the regular season and he was 2nd in wins with 27. He also led the league with an astonishing 6 shutouts. The question was would Vilde remain hot for Calgary and would the Calgary offense be able to get past Blue. This series was truly an epic one and one for the history books. Tampa bay took the first 3 games of the series putting up 16 goals against Vilde in those first 3. GM Steelhead would have to pull another rabbit out of his legendary ass if Calgary was to get back into it. What happened shocked even the Dragons as they completed a remarkable reverse sweep to take the 7-game series and the Cup. Here are the game by game highlights of this series for the ages.

Game 1:
Tampa Bay hammers the Dragons by a score of 6-2. They jumped on Vilde for 4 first period goals and Vilde started looking tired while Blue was a stud for the Barracuda stopping 33 of 35. Kristaps Ball had 4 assists in this game and Calgary was only 1 for 7 on the power play as Tampa cruised to an easy win in game 1.

Game 2:
Another Barracuda win 7-5 as this time both goalies stunk up the joint. Vilde only stopped 23 of 30 and Blue 29 of 34. Kristaps Ball continued his torrid pace with another 4-assist game and the Dragons would need to find a way to shut him down. Soderberg had 2 goals and an assist. For Calgary Chico Smeb with a goal and 2 assists from the blueline and Mike Izzy and Nicky Pedersen Jr each with a goal and an assist as Tampa bay goes up two games to none.

Game 3:
Tampa bay takes game 3 by the score of 3-2. Blue again dominating with 36 saves out of 38 shots. Mike Izzy and Otis B driftwood score for the Dragons in a losing effort as things look grim for Calgary with the possibility of being swept themselves.

Game 4:
The one game at a time mantra takes hold and the Dragons win 2-1. Vilde carries the Dragons in this one stopping 33 of 34. The Dragons didn’t muster much offense only putting 21 shots on Blue but Izzy and Bouchard each with a goal and a helper to keep Calgary alive in the series.

Game 5:
Again, Vilde puts the Dragons on his back for another 2-1 victory. Tampa was truly trying to end the series as they hammered Vilde with 41 shots. Blue also was stellar stopping 35 of 37 but in this one Vilde prevailed. Michael Choybuk and Otis b Driftwood with the score for the Dragons who are now within a game of tying the series.

Game 6:
Calgary forces a deciding game 7 with a 3-1 victory to tie the series. Tampa Bay looking tired now, only putting 19 shots up on Vilde. Blue was his usual spectacular self-stopping 31 of 34 but his teammates didn’t do much to help him in this game. Otis B Driftwood with the steadying presence for the Dragons in back had a goal and an assist. Choybuk and McGavin with the other goals for the Dragons as we now go to game 7.

Game 7:
The Dragons wanted the reverse sweep badly and put up 3 first period goals on Blue on their way to a 4-3 victory and the Cup. Shooter McGavin with the Cup winner in the second period and then Vilde tries to hang on stopping 26 of the 29 shots he faced. Again Blue was heroic for Tampa stopping 36 of 40 shots but basically the Dragons willed themselves to victory over this outstanding netminder. Barry Batsbak had 2 goals in the final game, Otis B Driftwood, the rock in the back with 2 assists. Maxime Bouchard also with a goal and an assist as the Dragons finish their improbable win in S50.

Calgary had quite a few playoff heroes that season. Mike Izzy was a beast. He scored 16 goals and had 16 assists for a remarkable 32 points in the 20 games the Dragons played. Line mate Maxime Bouchard had 26 points and Shooter McGavin had 25 as Calgary’s first line stepped up huge in the playoffs. Izzy would go on to resoundingly win the playoff MVP award. Otis B Driftwood kept everything together for Calgary with his calming and steady presence from the blueline and also put up 19 points in the 20 games. Kata Vilde also had himself a nice playoff run following a subpar season. He finished with a 16-4 record with a .920 save percentage and a 2.39 goals against average. It was also a shining moment for the Calgary GMs as Steelhead somehow found a way to get the Dragons into the playoffs in the first place and then made the adjustments on the fly as Calgary pulled off this improbable win. Vilde went back and interviewed a few teammates of their remembrances of the series for this retrospective. Here are their thoughts:

GM Steelhead had this to say about his goaltender:
I have many great memories of Kata Vilde’s performance in our season 50 cup run. He was absolutely dominant and without great goaltending you normally don’t win a championship. I specifically remember the finals, after he went 12-1 the first 3 rounds to get us there, he had a rough first few games, allowing 16 goals in those 3 losses and we found ourselves down 0-3 in the series. It wasn’t his fault, we didn’t play well in front of him, but the way be stepped up when our back was against the wall was amazing. It was gut check time for Vilde and he decided that he was going to single handedly make sure we won the cup. He was going to dig deep and play the best hockey of his career. The next 3 games he allowed only 3 goals total! 1 in each game, stopping 91 of 94 shots! He was unreal and allowed us to tie the series 3-3 and force a game 7. We then won game 7 and hoisted our 8th cup in franchise history. Without Vilde shutting the door in games 4,5,6 and then stepping up again in game 7 we would not have won that cup. He’s the man.

Brennan Kennedy Jr had this to say:
That season’s run was great. Our post season was probably one of the most dominant performances seen by the league through the first 3 series. We steam rolled our way through, kicking ass and taking names. Coming into the finals I think it's safe to say we were pretty high on ourselves. Game 1 came and went, we found ourselves on the wrong end of a loss there, no biggie we thought, we'll bounce back. Game 2 came and went and saw more of the same. Another loss, we now had more losses in the final series then we did through our first 3 opponents. Still, we figured we could battle back. Game 3 was where things got real. We lost and quickly saw our hopes dwindling for the cup. How could we be so dominant coming into this series and be down 3-0. After that we played with our backs against the wall and like we had nothing to lose. Game 4 and 5 came and went and we pulled off a couple clutch wins, game 6 we went up with another W and would you look at that, we're right ack in the series. It all came down to game 7. We went into that game with the mindset of needing to prove our last 3 wins weren't a fluke. Then lo and behold, we pulled off the win, the reverse sweep. What a great moment not only for the Dragons, but a crazy moment in SHL history.

MVP and Captain Mike Izzy remembered:
The thing about that season was we weren’t particularly good moving into the playoffs. We struggled out of the gate and ended up 27 and 20, seeking in to the first round of the fairly new wild-card playoff format against Los Angeles. Our dominant post season performance had one element that was missing in the regular season and that was the dominating performance of the Calgary Dragons goalie Kata Vilde. Our guardian in goal won 16 of 20 games! Boasting a 920 save percentage and a 2.39 goals against average including one shut out against 1 of the league’s great offenses. Talk about somebody grabbing their teammates and carrying them toward the finish line! Seasons 50 run by the Calgary Dragons will go down in history as one of the greatest postseason performances in league history anchored by a reverse sweep of the Tampa Bay franchise and you don’t have to look further than the goalie position on why that happened. Season 50 is a mantle piece in a hall of fame career of Kata Vilde, the great Calgary Dragons goalie

And finally, Barry Batsbak had this to say:
Season 50 was a season of ups and downs for me personally and I guess it goes for the whole team. Our regular season was far from good, but we managed to scrape into the wildcard game for the playoffs. Throughout the post season we started to get hope that this team was able to achieve something great. By passing the LA Panthers in the wildcard round we faced San Francisco and to the surprise of everyone else in the league we swept them 4-0 and we had to face our friends at New Orleans for the conference finals. Nobody expected us to sweep NOLA as well to qualify for the Challenge Cup. In the Challenge Cup final, we faced Tampa Bay an opponent we don't often meet in the regular season so it could be a coinflip as who was going to win. Though I think we came in being the favorites after only losing 1 out 13 games in the post season thus far. But nothing was farther from the truth, after 3 games we were trailing 3-0 and we thought it was all over. Memes were posted on the site and on discord, TBB was already celebrating. But a miracle happened. We were able to turn the tide and fight our way back to a 3-3 score and have ourselves a game 7 and the possibility of a reverse sweep. Something that has only happened once before on the site. In game 7 we got a powerplay right away and I was able to score right of the draw. Within the first minute we were leading 1-0 in Tampa Bay in a game 7. The first period ended with us leading 3-0 and I scored twice! I didn't score all post season and suddenly I got 2 goals in game 7 of the cup final. In the second period we were able to make it 4-0 and we were slowly starting to celebrate in the locker room.
Perhaps a bit too early, because Tampa Bay was coming back in the game by scoring twice in the second period to make it a 4-2 game. Tampa Bay also converted a power play opportunity early in the third period to make it 4-3 and so the longest 19 minutes of our hockey lives started. But we did it, we reversed swept the Tampa Bay Barracuda to a 4-3 win in game 7 and a 4-3 win in the series to win the Challenge Cup!

I hope people enjoyed reading about one of the most improbable playoffs run in SHL history in my humble opinion. It was certainly a trip down memory lane for me wriiting all this up and iparts of it still are hard to believe for me But thats it, i give you the Cup Champion S50 Calgary Dragons!

Quote:"Double Media - Week 2 - 4004 Words - Ready For Grading"

DeletedAtUserRequest · 05-14-2020, 04:00 PM

Season 50 was the most improbable run ever and it couldn’t have been shared with a better group of people. Heart

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Slappydoodle · 05-14-2020, 05:11 PM

What a run. Great memories.

SlashACM · 05-14-2020, 08:10 PM

Should've been the specters

Slappydoodle · 05-14-2020, 08:25 PM

05-14-2020, 08:10 PMSlashACM Wrote: Should've been the specters

Probably. I mean it was a really close sweep.

***Wally*** · 05-14-2020, 10:02 PM

SlashACM · 05-14-2020, 10:04 PM

05-14-2020, 08:25 PMSlappydoodle Wrote:
05-14-2020, 08:10 PMSlashACM Wrote: Should've been the specters

Probably. I mean it was a really close sweep.

If Simon cared any bit about tpe it would have at least have gone to 7 :shrug:

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