Vilitan Hockey ChampionshipThe buzz at the end of Vilitan Hockey League Season 4 was already through the roof as the Seraai Icestronauts broke through to become the first non-original six (Vilisorma, Alikki-Corra, Lonngeylin, Yeaddin, Turoki, Morata Valley) club to win the Vilitan Hockey Championship. The excitement built even further during the 9th Hockey Champions League when the original six clubs, Vilisorma Yutzies and Yeaddin HC broke through beyond the Group Stage to the Round of 16. While both clubs runs ended there, it marked a milestone in the recognition of the Vilitan Hockey League as an international power.
Building on that success, the Vilaye Domestic Hockey League officials announced an expansion from 10 to 12 teams, adding one team in each Conference. The new teams would be the Arcticala Icetricity in the Western Conference with plenty of local support from the Arcticala Electrical corporation, and, in the Eastern Conference, the Obaobai Bombers from Turoki Isle. Often seen as a 'forgotten' city on the Isle of Turoki, VHL officials opted for Obaobai in their expansion as they felt while the market wouldn't be as big as a city such as Sile or Mavalaoio; the fans would be more dedicated as the Bombers would instantly become the biggest team in the city.
Their commitment paid almost instant dividends as the Bombers won their first eve VHL game in an upset 2-0 victory over the Morata Valey Fog. However, their rookie counterparts from Arcticala lost their home opener 1-3 to the Alikki-Corra Aye-Ayes in a result expected to be more indicitive of the expansion teams inaugural campaigns.
While there was no change to the qualification or playoff formats due to the expansion, the addition of one team also added 4 additional matchdays to the schedule expanding the season from 16 to 20 games. After 5 games, the defending champion Seraai Icestronauts were struggling with just two wins and an unexpected defeat to the Tivali River Sharks.
At the midway point of the season Seraai had fought back to within two points of the Alikki-Corra Aye-Ayes while the expansion Arcticala Icetricity were struggling to keep pace, a 7-3 defeat at the hands of the Vilisorma Yutzies marked a 5th straight defeat and any early signs of competitiveness were fading fast. In the Eastern Conference, the Eelandii Explorers led the way with Yeaddin HC looking to fight off the Lopinka Lynx and Turoki Islanders in what appeared would be the battle for the playoffs. At the bottom of the table, Obaobai was keeping pace with the disappointing Morata Valley Fog.
By Matchday 15 Seraai had climbed back to the top of the Western Conference though it was a clear 3-way battle between the Icestronauts and the traditional contendors from Vilisorma and Alikki-Corra. In the Eastern Conference, the Morta Valley Fog had a strong 5-match haul and had pulled away from the Obaobai Bombers leaving the expansion team struggling with a leaky defense at the bottom of the table.
With the Fog surging up the table, the Eastern Conference had become an extremely tight race top to bottom with the Turoki Islanders leading the way on 22 points but just 4 points back with two games to play were the 5th place Lopinka Lynx. Only the expansion Bombers had been officially eliminated from contention. After a strong start to the campaign, the Bombers had strung together seven straight defeats as their offense completed crumbled scoring just a single goal in that stretch of matches in stark contrast to their fellow debutants from Arcticala who had struggled early in the season but had strung together a pair of late season victories.
With a 1-0 victory over the Alikki-Corra Aye-Ayes on Matchday 19 the Seraai Icetronauts not only clinched their place in the Playoffs and the Western Conference title, but also all-but eliminated the Aye-Ayes from contention shoring up Vilisorma's place as Western Conference runners up. In the Eastern Conference misery continued for Obaobai as Yeaddin HC came home with a 3-0 victory in what had become a three team race between Turoki, Yeaddin and the Eelandii Explorers that would come down to the final matchday.
It was as incredible an ending as had been seen in some time in the Eastern Conference as the Eelandii Explorers put together an 8-2 thrashing of the expansion Obaobai Bombers to move into a three-way tie for first place with Yeaddin HC and the Turoki Islanders. With a Conference Title at stake and only two teams advancing to the playoffs, the tie had to be resolved and it was done by factoring only points earned in matches between the three tied teams. Removing results from unaffected teams saw Yeaddin HC rise to the top as Eastern Conference Champions despite the lowest total Goals Scored and Goals Differential of the three level teams. The Eelandii Explorers, after their monumental finish to the season, would claim the second spot in the playoffs and a date with the defending champion and Western Conference winners the Seraai Icestrounauts who finished the regular season on a 15 match unbeaten run.
A Summary of the results of the most recent Vilita & Turori Domestic Hockey Competition is included below:
Vilaye Domestic Hockey League :: Season 5
Western Conference Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Seraai Icestronauts 20 14 3 3 36 14 +22 31
2 Vilisorma Yutzies 20 11 5 4 60 40 +20 27
3 Alikki-Corra Aye-Ayes 20 10 5 5 42 32 +10 25
4 Tivali River Sharks 20 6 5 9 30 42 −12 17
5 Lonngeylin Storm Surge 20 5 2 13 37 48 −11 12
6 Arcticala Icetricity 20 3 2 15 20 49 −29 8
Eastern Conference Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Yeaddin HC 20 11 3 6 31 22 +9 25*
2 Eelandii Explorers 20 11 3 6 34 18 +16 25*
3 Turoki Islanders 20 12 1 7 34 22 +12 25*
4 Morata Valley Fog 20 8 4 8 29 29 0 20
5 Lopinka Lynx 20 7 5 8 25 27 −2 19
6 Obaobai Bombers 20 2 2 16 20 55 −35 6
*Yeaddin HC, Eelandii Explorers, Turoki Islanders ranked based on Head-to-Head pointsBoth of the two inter-conference Best of 7 Playoff series would feature the exact same two teams that met in the Playoff stage during the previous Season, Season 4. However, both matchups are also reversed. Last season it was the Vilisorma Yutzies who were cnoference Champions in the West and Yeaddin HC who had snuck in the second spot in the East. Now those roles are reversed as it was Yeaddin HC crowned as champions of the Eastern Conference while the Vilisorma Yutzies narrowly made it in second place.
It was the same story in the other matchup where the Seraai Icestronauts who were the second seed in the West last season came away with the Westen Conference title for the first time; squaring off against the Eelandii Explorers who had surrendered a 3-0 series lead in the matchup between the two teams in Season 4.
Inter-Conference Playoffs:
Seraai Icestronauts 0–0 Eelandii Explorers (0-1 OT)
Eelandii Explorers 1–2 Seraai Icestronauts
Seraai Icestronauts 1–0 Eelandii Explorers
Eelandii Explorers 0–2 Seraai Icestronauts
Seraai Icestronauts 2–2 Eelandii Explorers (3–2 OT)
:: Seraai Icestronauts Advance 4-1 ::
Yeaddin HC 2–3 Vilisorma Yutzies
Vilisorma Yutzies 1–1 Yeaddin HC (2–1 OT)
Yeaddin HC 3–4 Vilisorma Yutzies
Vilisorma Yutzies 2–2 Yeaddin HC (3–2 OT)
:: Vilisorma Yutzies Advance 4-0 ::
Considering how close the two Inter-Conference Playoff matchups were just one season ago, a repeat of the exact same matchups, while not expected, was certainly not a dissappointing outcome. However, once the two series got going it became clear that there was more talent in the Western Conference than in the East. While every game was a one-goal game between Vilisorma Yutzies and Yeaddin HC, the Yutzies ended up sweeping the series 4-0.
In the other matchup, once again most games were tight, the 2-0 win for the Icestronauts the exception - even the decider that saw the defending Champions move on to defend their title after a 3-2 Overtime Victory, setting up an all-Western Conference final between Seraai Icetronauts and Vilisorma Yutzies. The Yutzies sweep of Yeaddin HC would also mark the first time in Vilitan Hockey Championship history that Yeaddin HC would not be contesting the Vilitan Hockey Final. The result was perhaps the most entertaining Championship in Vilitan Hockey History with Yeaddin HC's traditional shut-down trap style out of the equation and two of Vilitan Hockeys most gung-ho Attacking sides would be set to go the distance for a winner-take all shootout for the title.
Vilitan Hockey Championship
Seraai Icestronauts 3–4 Vilisorma Yutzies
Vilisorma Yutzies 4–6 Seraai Icestronauts
Seraai Icestronauts 4–1 Vilisorma Yutzies
Vilisorma Yutzies 3–4 Seraai Icestronauts
Seraai Icestronauts 3–7 Vilisorma Yutzies
Vilisorma Yutzies 1–1 Seraai Icestronauts (2–1 OT)
Seraai Icestronauts 2–1 Vilisorma Yutzies
:: Seraai Icestronauts Win 4-3 ::VDHL HistorySeason 1: Yeaddin HC def. Turoki Islanders (4-2)
Season 2: Yeaddin HC def. Turoki Islanders (4-3)
Season 3: Vilisorma Yutzies def. Yeaddin HC (4-1)
Season 4: Seraai Icestronauts def. Yeaddin HC (4-1)
Season 5: Seraai Icestronauts def. Vilisorma Yutzies (4-3)
Vilitan Hockey Association Qualifiers
Seraai Icestronauts (VIL)
Vilisorma Yutzies (VIL)
Yeaddin HC (VIL)
Eelandii Explorers (TUR)
Additional Qualifier if Turori is admitted as a standalone association:
Turoki Islanders (VIL)