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Ranking SMJHL franchises by success
#1

After doing my Deep Dives, I found that I really enjoyed looking into the history of the league and specific franchises before I joined. The two franchises I wrote about were the Kelowna Knights and the Newfoundland Berserkers. I didn't necessarily learn too much about the league's history from the Knights deep dive, since they've never rebranded, suspended, or really changed in any way, but the Berserkers deep dive sent me down a rabbit hole of old, unstable franchises dying in season 8 and being reborn better than ever (well 50/50, as you'll see) in season 45. So I decided to create a sort of timeline of the SMJHL's history, starting with the Four-Star Cup's namesake franchises, the Firebirds, Blazers, Whalers, and original Lions, and ending with this season's new expansion franchises, the Citadelles and the Battleborn. I'm not the best with making it look pretty so I did it in a Google Sheets, which you can find here. The problem was that I had no idea what to do with this spreadsheet after I made it, but I eventually came up with the idea to do a ranking list. As a sidenote, I'd like to add some stuff to the spreadsheet, including the Four-Star Cup's runner ups, as well as the top and bottom teams from each regular season, but I couldn't find this data for the first few seasons so if anyone knows where I can find it, please let me know so I can put those in. I'll also be updating the sheet every season that I'm active and I remember.

Without further ado, let's get into some rankings. I've chosen to leave out the two new expansion franchises, the Citadelles and the Battleborn, since they haven't even completed their first full season so their positions on this list are yet to be seen. The Citadelles will always be #1 in my heart though.  Citadelles Heart 

#12: The original Lethbridge Lions/Chicago Cougars/Washington Patriots  Lions

There's not much to say here, mostly because their time in the league is largely undocumented. The Patriots, as they were known before their franchise ceased to exist, never won a Four-Star cup in their short eight-season history. The biggest mark they left on the league was their original team name, which got picked up by the modern-day Berserkers. And this is a nice transition to the next team on this list.

#11: The new Lethbridge Lions/Newfoundland Berserkers  Berserkers

I'm sorry Berserkers fans, players, staff, and alumni but I honestly believe that the original Lions franchise was cursed and you brought that curse over when you brought back the Lions. The Berserkers are the only active franchise with no Four-Star Cups to their name, besides the season 55 expansion teams, so I couldn't put them any higher than 11 on this list. Even so, as you'll know if you've read my Deep Dive on them or if you've been keeping up with the past few seasons, the Berserkers have been able to turn things around nicely since relocating to Newfoundland, so who knows, in a couple seasons they could be in a very different position. Especially since they are a very young franchise compared to many others on this list.

#10: The Colorado Mammoths/Colorado Raptors  Raptors

When the Mammoths came into the league, it looked like they could be a force to be reckoned with, winning their first Four-Star Cup in just their third season of play. Since then though, they haven't made much noise as they haven't won a championship since. Because of this, they are coming dangerously close to having the all-time longest Four-Star Cup drought, as it has been 27 seasons since they won it in season 27. Only the modern-day Anchorage Armada has had a longer drought, spanning 29 seasons from season 9 to 38. The Raptors can only hope they turn things around soon, but it will be tough as they are currently a middling team in the standings.

#9: The Halifax Raiders/Maine Timber  Timber

Next on this list is the team that came into the league alongside Colorado. They have won twice the amount of Cups as the Raptors, but like the Raptors, they started out hot and cooled way down. They haven't won a Four-Star Cup since season 30, just three seasons after Colorado, which means that their drought is currently 24 seasons long and counting. Also like the Raptors, they are currently a middling team, but playing in a slightly weaker Eastern Conference has been to their benefit since they are currently sitting in 3rd.

#8: The original Anaheim Outlaws/Seattle Stingrays/Seattle Stags/Los Angeles Archangels  Outlaws-Old

That's a lot of names for a team that was only in the league for seven seasons. In fact, the only other teams that have rebranded that many times have been around for all 55 seasons. This franchise - which I don't even know what to call because of their multiple identity crises - came into the league at the same time as the Kelowna Knights, and were able to make a splash five seasons into their existence as the Stingrays (no splash pun intended). After this win you'd think they'd use it as a foundation to build some stability, but no, they decided to rebrand twice more in two seasons before shutting down. One interesting thing to note about this franchise is that their Four-Star Cup win is the only one that does not belong to any active franchise (sorry modern-day Anaheim Outlaws).

#7: The Prince George Firebirds/Regina Force/Prince George Firebirds again/Anchorage Armada  Armada

It's hard to put the first-ever Four-Star Cup champion so low on this list (and only team to win in a four-team SMJHL), but going 29 seasons without a championship will do that to you. There's not too much more to say about the Armada, other than they'll have a pretty good shot at winning this season, as we're starting to get into the more average teams on this list.

#6: The Detroit Falcons  Falcons

We're finally on the top half of our list, which brings us our first team that's never gone through any sort of name change or relocation. It's funny to look at the Falcons' Cup wins: First one when there was 8 teams in the league, next two there were 6, then two more with 8, then another with 10 for good measure. The Falcons' six Cups is definitely nothing to sneeze at, and it's very impressive that they won their first ever Four-Star Cup in their first season when they were competing against seven other teams, but what's stopping me from putting them higher on this list is that many other teams have been able to do more with less than 51 seasons to do it.

#5: The Boston Battalion/Chicago Hitmen/St. Louis Scarecrows  Scarecrows

The Scarecrows just barely edge out the Falcons because of their one additional Cup win. It took the Scarecrows two rebrands and 12 seasons to win anything, but since then they have had many competitive teams. Their most recent wins took place by one of the most dominant force in SMJHL history, winning back-to-back-to-back Four-Star Cups in seasons 44 to 46. This makes the Scarecrows only the 2nd team to do so, after the Kelowna Knights in seasons 40 to 42.

#4. The new Anaheim Outlaws  Outlaws

Now we're getting into the truly elite teams. These modern-day Outlaws haven't been around for very long, but in their 11 season existence they've already been able to win two Four-Star Cups. This means that they have won the Cup in 18% of the seasons that they have competed, and what's even more impressive is that each have been in a 10 team league. Now all that remains to be seen is whether or not they'll be able to sustain this success, or if they'll drop off like the Halifax Raiders/Maine Timber did.

#3. The Brandon Blazers/Montreal Impact/Montreal Militia/Carolina Kraken  Kraken

Next we have our defending Four-Star Cup champion. The modern-day Kraken have nine Four-Star Cup wins in their 55 season history for a win percentage of 16%. This number is lower than the Outlaws, but it's hard to argue against the sustained success that the Kraken have had. It's like comparing Elias Pettersson to Daniel Sedin. Sure Pettersson has shown that he has the potential to be the better player over his career, as of right now you can't argue against Daniel Sedin at his peak (don't think too much about this analogy, the more I'm thinking about it the more it's falling apart). The point is that a 2% advantage is not enough to forget about the seven additional Four-Star Cup wins that the Kraken have on the Outlaws.

#2. The Vancouver Whalers  Whalers

I'm surprised it wasn't the Whalers that were terminated with the Patriots in season 8, seeing as they were the only other team with no Four-Star Cup to their name at the time. It's a good thing they weren't though, as they turned things around and left no room for doubt that the Vancouver Whalers are here to stay. They have 10 Four-Star Cup wins to their name, and as the 4th team on this list that's been around since season 1, they have a Cup winning percentage of 18%, same as the Outlaws. This means that they're Elias Pettersson when he reaches his full potential, which is fitting for this Vancouver team.

#1. The Kelowna Knights  Knights

This should come as a surprise to absolutely nobody. From the very start it's been easy to see that the Kelowna Knights are one of the premier teams in the league. They won their first Four-Star Cup in their first season of play, the SMJHL's second. They then followed that up with another Four-Star Cup win, becoming back-to-back champions before any other team except the Firebirds had even won once. Eight more seasons passed, and as fans were debating whether Prince George (with their three Cups in their 11 seasons) or Detroit (with their two cups in their seven seasons) was the most successful franchise, Kelowna would shut all that discussion down with another Four-Star Cup win. Another 10 seasons would pass, where during that time the Vancouver Whalers, the Montreal Impact, and occasionally the St. Louis Scarecrows were starting to emerge as the dominant teams in the League, so Kelowna went and won back-to-back Cups plus one more three seasons later for good measure, shutting down any discussion that the Knights wouldn't be able to win while there were eight teams in the league. Seasons 23 to 30 would have the most parity the League had ever seen, with each season having a different winner including Kelowna in season 25, but then in season 31 the Knights decided that they hate parity and they've had enough of it, so they won two more back-to-back cups. The Knights would quiet down for seven more seasons until season 40, when they became the first team to win back-to-back-to-back Four-Star Cups in SMJHL history. Kelowna hasn't won a Cup in the 12 seasons since then, but the fact that despite this they are still the most successful franchise in the League's history just goes to show how dominant they were for awhile there. Today, in Kelowna's 54 seasons, they have won a league-leading 11 Four-Star Cups, for a win percentage just over 20% - more than one out of every five Cups. What's even more crazy is that if I had made this list in season 42 after Kelowna won their three back-to-back Cups, they would have a Cup winning percentage of 27% - More than a quarter of all Four-Star Cups from the time that Kelowna joined until season 42 went to them. All in all, the Kelowna Knights have been consistently good for most of their existence, even if sometimes that means they've been consistently streaky. Right now they're going through their longest stretch without a Cup that they've ever experienced, but with the group they have now I don't see how that doesn't end in the next couple seasons.

2225 words but if you want to send a little bit extra for that sweet sweet spreadsheet I wouldn't say no  Wink

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#2

Knights Knights Knights

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#3

The spreadsheet is so useful I was able to learn a lot about the histories in just a few minutes!  Citadelles

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#4

08-13-2020, 04:44 PMKeven Wrote: The spreadsheet is so useful I was able to learn a lot about the histories in just a few minutes!  Citadelles

You're too kind  Cheers  Citadelles

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#5

Makes sense, I've won Four Star Cups with KEL, VAN and CAR Smile

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#6

Knights

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#7

S21-S22 Kelowna Knights were OP

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#8

08-13-2020, 04:27 PMMatteo Wrote: Only the modern-day Anchorage Armada has had a longer drought, spanning 29 seasons from season 9 to 38. The Raptors can only hope they turn things around soon, but it will be tough as they are currently a middling team in the standings.

Oh baby
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#9

Only team to hold two spots on this list, get fucked SMJHL.

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#10

08-15-2020, 01:52 AMJNH Wrote: Only team to hold two spots on this list, get fucked SMJHL.

Hmm

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#11

Knights

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#12

08-15-2020, 02:09 AMBDonini Wrote:
08-15-2020, 01:52 AMJNH Wrote: Only team to hold two spots on this list, get fucked SMJHL.

Hmm

Sir do you expect me to read past the first few paragraphs?

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#13

This thread lost all cred when you placed Carolina at 3rd.

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#14

All that matters is that you're on my side that Daniel was the superior brother.
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