Victor

Excuse me?

Beautiful.

It's been a busy few days for Moscow prospect Vladimir Pavlov with the World Juniors starting and a trade from Minnesota to Saskatoon. VHL.com has sat down and interviewed the young center. On being traded: It's a shame because I'd just been finding my feet in Minnesota and of course this is the team that got me my first medal last season, but I kind of saw it coming. Minnesota is in a playoff spot but not really a contender so it makes sense for them to look to the future. I'm excited to see how things go in Saskatoon and maybe I can make it two out of two cups in my time in the VHLM. On the World Juniors: We have a good core coming up in Russia and elsewhere on the continent. I don't think we're a favourite for gold but 2 wins out of the first 3 games is promising and we shouldn't be counted out by anyone. On rumours of a position switch next off-season: So my agent [Moscow GM] Victor [Alfredsson] was looking at how the roster is shaping up in Moscow next season and it looks like we have more forwards than we need and maybe not enough defencemen. It's still up in the air but if the team needs it I will be glad to help out by switching to defence. Victor brought through a defenceman last time he was GM and he ended up in the Hall of Fame so I'm going to trust his judgement. We'll see what happens though.

In the midst of a challenging year for Riga and himself, VHL.com sat down with Podrick Cast to talk about the twilight years of his career. On his worst season yet: Yeah it's frustrating. I don't feel like I'm doing anything differently to how I used to but maybe the game's passing me a bit more. All of us in Riga are going through a bit of a transition, the last two playoff losses hurt, as did the salary cap the past off-season.... whatever happens between now and the end of the season I think we need to sit down and think how we can improve, how we can adapt and continue to be a force in this evolving league. If you stand still you get passed by. On Riga's playoff prospects: Of course we're still going to try to end the season on a high – a cup or even a finals appearance would really lift the mood I think. Really we need to banish the demons of the last couple years and if we win just one series I think that will be a massive weight off the shoulders. Of course, we're in the tougher conference so that won't be easy but if we get past Davos I think we'll get past anyone. On the reports of Preenarnacion's withdrawal from the league: He certainly hasn't been training to his full potential in the last little while but I won't discuss my teammates' private matters here. Naturally we'd all prefer he was fully focused on the VHL as we need all hands on deck right now, but there's no use making excuses, we just have to deal with what life throws at us.

Just the natural talent pulling me through.

Portal link: https://vhlportal.com/teams/drafts/12 Red = VHL Hall of FamerS66, S67 = S66, S67 Continental Cup Champion, etc Round 1 1. RIGA REIGN (from Moscow Menace): C - Hunter Hearst Helmsley 2. VANCOUVER WOLVES (from HC Davos Dynamo): LW - Julius Freeman S67 3. SEATTLE BEARS (from Calgary Wranglers): LW - Shane Mars S68 4. RIGA REIGN (from Vancouver Wolves): RW - Mikko Aaltonen 5. MOSCOW MENACE (from New York Americans): LW - Dimitri Volosenkov 6. HC DAVOS DYNAMO (from Riga Reign): D - Charlie Paddywagon 7. MALMO NIGHTHAWKS : D - Jerry Garcia 8. RIGA REIGN (from Seattle Bears): D - Aron Nielsen 9. RIGA REIGN (from Helsinki Titans): RW - Arnor Sigurdsson 10. MOSCOW MENACE (from Toronto Legion): C - Jet Jaguar S70 Round 2 11. MOSCOW MENACE : G - Owen May 12. CALGARY WRANGLERS : RW - John Frostbeard S68, S69 13. HC DAVOS DYNAMO (from Vancouver Wolves): D - Codrick Past S67, S72 14. VANCOUVER WOLVES (from HC Davos Dynamo): RW - Shawnomir Jagr S67 15. HELSINKI TITANS (from New York Americans): C - Bert Meyers S66 16. RIGA REIGN : D - Apollo Hackett S72 17. MALMO NIGHTHAWKS : D - Rusty Shackleford 18. VANCOUVER WOLVES (from Seattle Bears): LW - Kyle Sabertooth 19. HC DAVOS DYNAMO (from Helsinki Titans): LW - Chico Smeb 20. SEATTLE BEARS (from Toronto Legion): LW - Valeri Morozov Round 3 21. MOSCOW MENACE : D - Beau Buefordsson 22. HELSINKI TITANS (from Calgary Wranglers): C - Ludvig Sederstrom S66 23. NEW YORK AMERICANS (from Vancouver Wolves): C - Maximilian Kirbsson 24. RIGA REIGN (from HC Davos Dynamo): RW - Aleksander Rodriguez S71 25. MOSCOW MENACE (from New York Americans): LW - Edgar Tannahill 26. CALGARY WRANGLERS (from Riga Reign): RW - Nethila Dissanayake 27. SEATTLE BEARS (from Malmo Nighthawks): G - Clayton Park S71 28. VANCOUVER WOLVES (from Seattle Bears): C - Hans Gruber S67 29. HELSINKI TITANS : C - Jordan Tonn 30. HELSINKI TITANS (from Toronto Legion): D - Guillaume Fontenette Round 4 31. MOSCOW MENACE : RW - Mat Tocco S70 32. CALGARY WRANGLERS : D - Rhye Tyr 33. MOSCOW MENACE (from Vancouver Wolves): D - Edward Vigneault 34. HC DAVOS DYNAMO : LW - Blake Gaudette 35. MOSCOW MENACE (from New York Americans): RW - Emil Passerelli 36. RIGA REIGN : D - Anthony Amberback 37. MALMO NIGHTHAWKS : C - Nacho 38. MALMO NIGHTHAWKS (from Seattle Bears): G - Juan Jaundice 39. HELSINKI TITANS : C - Rhys Chism 40. CALGARY WRANGLERS (from Toronto Legion): C - Raphael Nazarians Round 5 41. MOSCOW MENACE : RW - AJ Axelsen 42. CALGARY WRANGLERS : LW - Cody Smith 43. HC DAVOS DYNAMO (from Vancouver Wolves): D - Hiromu Takahashi 44. HC DAVOS DYNAMO : C - Pascal Batz 45. NEW YORK AMERICANS : LW - Hunter Wagner 46. RIGA REIGN : D - Samuel Sparrow 47. MALMO NIGHTHAWKS : LW - Blake Laughton 48. SEATTLE BEARS : LW - Kari Jurri 49. HELSINKI TITANS : G - Kolur Bjoernsson 50. MOSCOW MENACE (from Toronto Legion): LW - Devin Gabella Round 6 51. MOSCOW MENACE : D - Dean Clarke S70 52. CALGARY WRANGLERS : LW - Dylan Doyle 53. VANCOUVER WOLVES : LW - Ben Hafkey S67 54. HC DAVOS DYNAMO : G - Wendy Kandee Cain 55. NEW YORK AMERICANS : C - Walter Clements 56. RIGA REIGN : G - Sunny Burst 57. MALMO NIGHTHAWKS : D - MORPHEUS DESTRUCTIOUS 58. SEATTLE BEARS : LW - John Perdue 59. HELSINKI TITANS : D - Duncan Jeffers 60. MOSCOW MENACE (from Toronto Legion): D - Papa Gage Round 7 61. MOSCOW MENACE : LW - David Clarkson 62. CALGARY WRANGLERS : D - Andreas Sundell 63. VANCOUVER WOLVES : C - BALLS McZehrl 64. HC DAVOS DYNAMO : D - Cody Parkey 65. NEW YORK AMERICANS : D - Richard Hejtsel 66. RIGA REIGN : D - Titus Stone 67. MALMO NIGHTHAWKS : C - Eeli Harju 68. SEATTLE BEARS : G - Luke Derion 69. HELSINKI TITANS : RW - Sami Van Den Dreissche 70. MOSCOW MENACE (from Toronto Legion): D - Srraxxarrakex II Round 8 71. MOSCOW MENACE : D - DWin Championship 72. CALGARY WRANGLERS : D - Dave John OQuinn 73. VANCOUVER WOLVES : G - Patrick Vigneault 74. HC DAVOS DYNAMO : C - Shawn Michaels better than HHH 75. NEW YORK AMERICANS : LW - Jean ClaudePaul 76. :rig: RIGA REIGN : C - Charles Alderson 77. :mal: MALMO NIGHTHAWKS : D - Finn Theismann 78. :sea: SEATTLE BEARS : C - Thomas Kennedy 79. :hel: HELSINKI TITANS : LW - Micheal Rasmussen 80. :mos: MOSCOW MENACE (from Toronto Legion): D - Fabius Adomaitis

Week 2 for Cast.

Week 2 for Pavlov.

Was asked via PM so a further clarification - Toronto being 1 win away from the fourpeat in S51 doesn't count.

We are in this. People should really stop using me as a center though lol.

Unreal by Johnson, who is this kid

Either way and anything in between Cup wins too. How many wins away

Beketov told me to confirm this at gunpoint.

Gonna try to get back on track now. As week 3 was quite a late start I'll leave it running for another day or two, but week 4 is open now: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSftWmpPaLBrwxhUtjaAmmW32gdl_pIXsiM02aoOaII5k-BJcQ/viewform?usp=sf_link ^ Answer for up to 2 capped TPE.

Right, apologies for the delay folks, it's been a pretty hectic couple weeks. First, answers: 1. Ay Ay Ron led the league in assists in 3 separate seasons. Who is the only other player to achieve this feat? Ay Ay Ron is still waiting for his call to the Hall of Fame, but it should certainly help his case that the only player to win the Beketov 3 times is the player all defencemen aspire to be, being Conner Low. In just 5 seasons on defence, Low won the Labatte every time but also led the league in assists thrice in the same period, in S37, S39, and S40. 2. Which defenceman scored the most goals in a single season? (1 uncapped TPE to @SirRupertBarnes for the inspiration for this one) Only one defenceman ever scored 300 career goals, and he was helped by having a 59-goal season in his sophomore year, and following that up with 56 goals the next. No one else has really come come close to challenging Alexander Valiq's performance in S31 (Quebec's first ever season to boot), hence he now has a trophy named after him. Low didn't hit 50 goals until he moved to forward in his last two seasons, while Labatte and Walser scored a lot in the VHL's first decade by not quite enough. Now, TPE: 2 capped TPE goes to: SidTheKid87 @SidTheKid87 Sonnet @Sonnet ItsMcLovin @ItsMcLovin Jubo07 @Jubo07 okocha5 @okocha5 BladeMaiden @BladeMaiden PSanchez55 @Psanchez55 Patpou22 @Patpou22 GustavMattias @GustavMattias Radcow @Radcow xsjack @xsjack Nacho @Nacci25 littleboi @littleboi K1NG LINUS @K1NG LINUS Carl Swaglin @Carl Swaglin No_Dangles @No_Dangles Gaudette @Gaudette Saelven88 @Saelven88 Acydburn @Acydburn Hughjas_ @HughJas_ Beketov @Beketov Matt_O @Matt_O philliefan @Philliefan HulkHogan @HulkHogan berocka @berocka Jables @Jables Quik @Quik DoktorFunk @DoktorFunk Nykonax @Nykonax Esso2264 @Esso2264 Motzaburger @Motzaburger HenrikZoiderberg @HenrikZoiderberg StamkosFan @StamkosFan BOOM @BYE MexicanCow123 @MexicanCow123 FerdaJets @FerdaJets ItssYoBoiDaLegend @ItssYoBoiDaLegend Snussu @Snussu omgitshim @omgitshim Dominus89 @Dominus89 Zepheter @zepheter 11 Eleven @11 Eleven jRuutu @jRuutu Jayrad28 @Jayrad28 rjfryman @rjfryman Beaviss @Beaviss VanCanWin @VanCanWin TheFlash @TheFlash Steve @Steve Velevra @Velevra PenKnight @PenKnight Walter Fizz @Walter Fizz Big Mac @Big Mac ItsFinnishDaniel @ItsFinnishDaniel Tophdaddy78 @Tophdaddy FakeJenton @FakeJenton ahawk2191 @ahawk2191 Matmenzinger @Matmenzinger Birdman @Birdman Renomitsu @Renomitsu GRZ @GRZ Enorama @Enorama Oost @Oost Xdpark @xDParK fonziGG @fonziGG Infernal @Infernal metaltoday @MetalToday Smarch @Smarch bluesfan55 @bluesfan55 gorlab @gorlab mmarcoux98 @mmarcoux98 solas @solas cody73 @cody73 Grape @Grape DMaximus @DMaximus Green @Green LeoKoz3 @LeoKoz3 Patpou22 @Patpou22 Phil @Phil bucky___lastard @Bucky___lastard trevmi @trevmi Zeno @Zeno LeoKoz3 @LeoKoz3 Cran @Cran TacticalHammer @TacticalHammer Sharkstrong @Sharkstrong SlapshotDragon @SlapshotDragon FrostBeard @FrostBeard aleks @aleks SirRupertBarnes @SirRupertBarnes DollarAndADream @DollarAndADream Gabella19 @Gabella19 Boheem @Boheem Thranduil @Thranduil Toasty @Toasty bukss_a @bukss_a Jtv123 @Jtv123 Poptart @Poptart Anthony Matthews @Anthony Matthews Rent A McZ @Rent A McZ RunnerBert11 @RunnerBert11 leafsman @leafsman Kylrad @Kylrad Termancy @Termancy Peace @Peace DilIsPickle @DilIsPickle flyersfan1453 @flyersfan1453 kuch9 @Kuch9 jblock3 @jblock3 FacebookFighter @FacebookFighter hedgehog337 @hedgehog337 Zepheter @zepheter FBR @FBR Toasty @Toasty DoktorFunk @DoktorFunk 1 capped TPE goes to: Beketov @Beketov Oilmandan @oilmandan Velevra @Velevra Jesse Nyman @Jesse Nyman TheLastOlympian07 @TheLastOlympian07 FacePuncher @FacePuncher Josh. @Josh. Strooper99 @Strooper99 Tate @Lincoln Tate frescoelmo @frescoelmo Greg_Di @Greg_Di

Yeah my brother from another mother @flyersfan1453 put it best when he said you have to be there and you can't respond to something hours later like you can on the forum. It's a shame, but I find it much easier to zone out as a result.

I'm not Devise, I'll always have a couple.

Not being funny but this is one of the few sims this season which has made sense (for Riga, cause Moscow beating Vancouver again is about as random as anything else). I'm the league leader in TPE, am barely cracking a point-per-game pace, and am not even in top 10 scorers for centers. I'm the only player in the league with 99 in faceoffs and am not even top 2 in faceoff win %. You'll find no sympathy here.

I just show up when I want.

We're better than you?

MATTEOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OUTTA NOWHERE

Unreal disrespect shown to the league's most entertaining team.

I'll set my alarm.

1. If you had the opportunity to change positions from/to F,D or G, Would you? I wouldn't try goalie again, just because I've set myself a really high bar with the last goalie I made - Greg Clegane. But I might even have to move to D to balance out the team and I'd be open to that, we'll see. 2. Moscow Menace want to create a mascot! How would you design our mascot? What would its name be? I really like the suggestions I just read above. My initial thought was a bear but then isn't that Seattle's thing? I think the king from our logo is absolutely the one, and he'd be called Vladimir. 3. Since Moscow will not sniff the playoffs, is there a team you're supporting on their quest for the cup? I have a vested interest in Riga haha, though I have become so used to disappointment there the last couple of seasons. But yeah, it's Riga or bust for me. 4. We are 8 points from hated rival Malmo! DO YOU HATE MALMO ENOUGH TO WIN OUT OF SPITE?! In reality what are you doing to win and get motivated? Haha, I've found myself thinking whether I want the better draft position or the dubious bragging rights of finishing 8th rather than 9th. But really you have to want to win and that is my motivation - I don't want the team to be seen as a joke, this is a serious project and we all want and will win consistently in the future. 6. Why do you think Moscow is such a bi polar team, leading in both goals for and against? I think psychologically we know we aren't gonna keep a lot of shutouts at this point so we take the game to the opponent. It's better to go down fighting than trying to limit the damage and this way is much more fun for everyone. Except maybe Owen May.... 7. Does Owen May suck? But I don't think Owen May sucks, he's just the victim of being the youngest starting goalie in the league and our gung-ho style. As the team develops and May does too he'll see much better stats and we'll get better results.

Here's part 1: https://vhlforum.com/topic/63670-whos-still-around-from-old-cup-winning-teams/ Let's smash through a few more seasons then shall we... S21 Toronto Legion @sterling @Victor @Bushito Sterling and I (James Bencharski and Lars Berger) combined efforts for a second time here on a team built by David Knight. Several other repeat members here like Zero (J.D. Stormwall), McNeil (Voittu Jannula), and Cameron Davidson (nagger), but this was the first Continental Cup for Bushito, who continued making solid players after Peyton Nydroj and recently both got his first Hall of Fame induction and a Continental Cup as a GM. S22 Helsinki Titans @Advantage @Renomitsu A team with a similar makeup to some older Calgary and Riga teams, with two prominent members being Slobo and Kendrick. Cam Fowler was the first-gen of CoachReilly, a highly vocal member who is sadly no longer with us but remained very active until S50. Noah, inactive at the time and inactive now, got his first championship as Syd Drayson, and the reliable Renomitsu was a depth defenceman for the second time in his career. Adam Schultz was the first player of Frank, famous most for GMing Quebec as recently as S57. Last but not least, Malmo has just become the fourth team he's managed, but back in S22 Advantage was just starting out and got his first cup with Michael Angelo. S23 Calgary Wranglers @JardyB10 @diamond_ace @.sniffuM Jardy completed his career with a third cup in six seasons, now as GM, having built a team of fine members like Munk (Jeff Dar) and Spangle (Mathias Chouinard), among others. The long-term survivors here however are Jason aka diamond_ace (Lars Intranquilo), a key contributor to the VHLM then and in the year since, and Damien aka .sniffuM (Joey Clarence), who was on the player who created the famous snubbed censor. Damien has disappeared at times since, but has been VHLM commissioner and a Hall of Fame inductee and is back again in a more low key role at the moment. S24 and S25 HC Davos Dynamo @tfong A few repeats here, most notably Squinty, DGFX., and of course tfong with Kanou's crowning achievements. He is the sole survivor of these back-to-back winners, with Frank again missing the cut, while Koradek, present in S24 and the creator of so many of the current logos around the league, had a glorious but short time in the VHL. S26 Vasteras Iron Eagles @Tyler @Phil @sterling @.sniffuM @Hybrid1486 Very impressive survival rate here, especially with the recent return of Phil, 40 seasons on from his first ever championship. The second and last Vasteras championship was the brainchild of Tyler, featuring in goal as Andreas Bjorkman, and Scotty, on his real last hurrah as RJ Stafford and featured Sterling, Pensfan, Damien's second player Tukka Reikkinen and provided a first championship for Hybrid (Clint Guite). S27 Helsinki Titans - No one A superbly fun team, but one that really hasn't aged well, with some of its key members long gone like Squinty, Koradek, Boragina, and Claudio. The closest thing to a survivor is Munk, but like in S23, his appearances recently have been far too sporadic to include as a current active. S28 Seattle Bears @gregreg @InstantRockstar @Higgins @JardyB10 Greg built up Seattle's first cup-winning team after S17 on the core of the Seattle Six – Felix Peters (himself), Jarvis Baldwin (CoachReilly), Nikolai Lebedev (Noah), Mitch Higgins (Higgins), Radislav Mjers (Instantrockstar), and CAL G (Jardy). Jardy and Higgins continue to exist in lurk form as former admins/simmers, while the recent returns of Greg and IR have resurrected the active member count of this team. S29 Toronto Legion @sterling @Beketov @Tyler One of the more random cup winners in the VHL's past (the recent Toronto cup winners have clearly used this team as inspiration) gave additional cup rings to Sterling, Beketov, and Tyler, now Alexander Labatte, Jason White, and Connor Evans respectively. Apart from that, no notable new names won this season, with repeat appearances from Sandro and the Funks – a good VHL band name if nothing else. S30 Calgary Wranglers @Victor @diamond_ace @Advantage @flyersfan1453 @solas @BYE A decent retention rate here which makes sense how active this team was at the time. More cups came to Jason, Advantage and myself (Clark Marcellin, Ryan Sullivan, Alexander Chershenko), while the defence featured 3 still active members who won their first cups – flyersfan (Jim Gow) who went on to briefly commish, solas (Klaus Muller), a quiet creator of good to great players ever since, and Boom (Vladimir Boomchenko), who recently found himself burnt out again but has consistently come back to good effect in the past. S31 HC Davos Dynamo @Phil @tfong @gregreg @Bushito @frescoelmo Fittingly, we are getting more names who've stuck around as we get to the halfway stage of the VHL's existence. This was the team of the Knight brothers (David Smalling and Phil Rafter), Fong (again), Greg (again), Sandro (again), Bushito (for the second time, with Satan), and a first cup for frescoelmo, who's more famous for Tarik Saeijs than Emerson Byer but also seemed to reappear in the league recently. S32 New York Americans @Victor @Tyler @.sniffuM @InstantRockstar @Devise Here a random collection of members combined to good effect, but then how can you go wrong with myself, Tyler, Damien, and instantrockstar? At least, if it's S32. The mastermind behind this was Devise however, in just his second season as GM ever, winning his first championship with rookie goaltender Skylar Rift. There will be much more of him to come. S33 Riga Reign @Hybrid1486 A bit of a relapse here, with a few previously prominent members like sherifflobo and Corco now long gone – although Corco's last player Boner only retired a couple seasons ago. However, Felix Leiter was Hybrid's player so he is representing this team today. Not much more to say about this one. S34 Helsinki Titans @Higgins @der meister @Hybrid1486 Higgins built a team of first-gens in his first run with Helsinki and many are only recently inactive in the VHL. That's a list that includes STZ (Ethan Osborne), who went on to GM both Helsinki and New York, Tylar (Brody Hodgson), who would win a few cups with Helsinki in a few more incarnations as Marcel Faux and Sami Zayn, and fever95 (Anatoli Zhumbayev). One first-gen who is still around is der meister (Till Lindemann), although he has not recreated since Casey Jones retired in S64. Finally, there was a second straight championship for Leiter and Hybrid. S35 Quebec City Meute @Kyle @Devise A much hated team, built through free agency and being able to acquire all 3 Valiq brothers retains two members – Kyle, who was one of the Valiqs, and Devise, who was the league-altering free agent in Skylar Rift. Otherwise, Koradek and Squinty have long gone as above, while Jericho famously won his first championship with Wesley Kellinger, but has also been inactive since the mid 50s. S36 HC Davos Dynamo @Victor @Velevra @Trifecta @Molholt @Quik @BYE My crowning achievement as GM has a few members still kicking around, even if you discount the recent departed Boom (Odin Tordahl). My partner on defence was Shane Baker, which was Velevra's first player, he's since made a number of good players including a Hall of Famer in Apollo Skye and one of the more unlucky current players in Veran Dragomir. Da Trifecta got his first cup as Davey Jones and continues to pop in, as does Molholt, more famously the GM of the threepeating Toronto team about a decade later, but first time winner with Jarkko Olsen here. Finally, Quik was inactive at the time but got another ring to his name with Matteo Gallo, my first draft pick as Davos GM. S37 Toronto Legion @Green @xDParK The star of this Toronto team was Remy LeBeau and this was Green's first-gen, who has won many cups with his numerous players since. It appears Adam Warlock was his last player for a while but he still pops in and history suggests he'll be lured back in sooner rather than later. On the other hand, xdPark largely disappeared after Chico Salmon retired, but has only recently come back and might be at his peak VHL form. A notable member who would definitely still be here if he wasn't banned is boubabi, then on his first player Niklas Lindberg and a far cry from the outspoken member he became. S38 HC Davos Dynamo @Victor @Velevra @Trifecta @Molholt @JardyB10 @frescoelmo Davos won the last of the three straight Toronto vs Davos finals, and it was a similar team to the one which triumphed in S36. The main changes were Tordahl and Gallo being replaced by Naomi Young (Jardy) and Felix Zamora (frescoelmo), both of whom are in that strange semi-active limbo state at the moment but we'll class them as active for now. S39 New York Americans @sterling @Smarch @tfong @Tyler @Advantage @BYE A great team built around known, low-risk names, many of whom are still around in some capacity. Sterling and Smarch went back to their days of winning together, with Smarch on his finest player in Conner Low. Fong (Xin Xie Xiao), Tyler (Milos Denis), and Advantage (Brick Wahl) all featured, with another appearance for Tordahl – overall it's little surprise this team won. S40 Riga Reign @flyersfan1453 @Positivefan036 @Phil @Molholt And we'll end the second part of this on the first champion from the 40s. This was the first combined triumph of the Gows, with Phil helping out on defence. Molholt and boubabi also made appearances on their first players' swansongs in a dominant playoff display. Again, no new names to speak of though. That's another 1,500 words so that's a wrap for Pavlov too. I might revisit this concept in 3 weeks' time.