Victor

Probably @Devise's fault.

My people will reach out to your people.

My boys @Kylrad and @tunedtorock bringing me one step closer to the holy grail.

Nah Riga is safe from an all time perspective (unlike Seattle, the American Vasteras).

hype

Last one of the season folks! Answer below for up to 2 capped TPE: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScRotlsUTeaz-xHyhNlLNBWct224l0XFnM8jBT3YIvlV-kBMQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

With Seattle's elimination in the first round of the playoffs, this means that cumulatively, Seattle and Riga have made one finals appearance in the past three seasons. This is in spite of finishing top two in the regular season in each of those three seasons – all they have to show for it is the Reign's Continental Cup win in Season 63. It's not unheard of for Victory Cup winners to fall short in the playoffs, but usually that's to the next best team and generally that's made up somehow along the way. For the current incarnation of the Bears, you have to wonder when they'll get fed up with performing below expectations for seven games a season. This is especially tragic for them because within living memory Seattle has already blown two Victory Cups, failing to make the finals in S52 and S53. That was part of perhaps of the most similar stretch in VHL history, with this disappointment being preceded by Calgary's upset by Toronto in S51. However, that didn't feel quite as controversial as the recent high-profile playoff defeats, perhaps because neither had a superstar feel about it, plus both Calgary and Seattle lost to effectively the second best team in the league. In the more recent cases, the underachievement has been quite baffling. How do Riga and Seattle pick themselves up from this? The VHL is an unforgiving league and the time to win it all is limited, as career limits and a tough salary cap limit the window of true contention to a very short period of time. Some teams have it in them to reinvent themselves and come back for one last hurrah – the smart money would probably be on the Reign given the lack of any large 'farm-selling' trades in the last 3-4 seasons while building up possibly the finest prospect pool in the league. But what is long-term planning worth these days anyway, when both Seattle and Riga are being outperformed by a Toronto team which last drafted a core team member in the S63 first round with Tzuyu and won't be adding to that any time soon. In a league with ever-growing parity thanks to unprecedented consistent strength in draft depth, two strong teams in Vancouver and Davos missed out on the playoffs despite having a very healthy pipeline and rosters good enough to go deep in the postseason comfortably in previous seasons. This is the new reality of the VHL but one which will take some getting accustomed to. It's in theory easier than ever to build a dynasty because the prospect pool should never dry up even if some top picks are moved out. In practice though, it's becoming increasingly difficult to guarantee success because the top teams and players are so hard to separate. Is this reactionary? Just a bit, perhaps, but the ultimate judge will be whether the stories of Seattle and Riga will repeat themselves in the future or whether this was the exception. Chances are, this is just the beginning.

you can't kill me

I'm 5th hahaha what

Wow Helsinki won a game this time.

Well that's my Media Spot for this week sorted.

Sleep was needed.

Codrick Past, tears in my eyes

Yeah, question 2 annoys me a bit now because it's not massively difficult but making it easier would just give away the answer. Oh well. 1. Which Helsinki GM has won the most Continental Cups? (credit to @Matt_O - 1 uncapped TPE) This one's pretty simple - Mitch Higgins won 4 championships across two stints as GM, as can be most easily seen here: https://vhlforum.com/topic/1060-vhl-all-time-gms/ William Shaw is the only other Titans GM with 2. 2. The S43 Seattle Bears are unique for what reason? There's a reason I often say this was the worst ever team to win the Continental Cup - because all 4 statements are true. Their GM, Bushito, went inactive during their cup-winning season and was replaced by Higgins. However, this was not the first time this happened to Bushito - he was also replaced midway through S31 just before Davos won the cup. Again, that can be found by scanning this list: https://vhlforum.com/topic/1060-vhl-all-time-gms/ They won the cup despite going into the playoffs as the third seed in their conference - note this is the correct answer, because I wouldn't classify the third placed team in the current set-up as equivalent to third seed in a conference (i.e. 5th/6th placed team in the league). This probably caused some confusion which is unfortunate but really teams could only qualify for this criteria from S31 to S57 (and maybe in the future), but none did. Easiest place to find that? Probably here: https://vhlforum.com/topic/52282-an-all-encompassing-playoff-spreadsheet/ Indeed, the Bears also had no Hall of Famers, but so did a few other teams - S16 Riga was the first, but more obviously S64 Toronto and S63 Riga and a few other recent winners. Finally, Seattle did miss the playoffs in S42 and in S44, but Toronto, winners in S29, missed in both S28 and S30, so the Bears are not alone there. 2 capped TPE goes to: solas @solas Enorama @Enorama Smarch @Smarch bucky___lastard @Bucky___lastard Anthony Matthews @Anthony Matthews Gabella19 @Gabella19 SlapshotDragon @SlapshotDragon DollarAndADream @DollarAndADream gorlab @gorlab Kylrad @Kylrad littleboi @littleboi rjfryman @rjfryman Thranduil @Thranduil Matmenzinger @Matmenzinger BladeMaiden @BladeMaiden hedgehog337 @hedgehog337 1 capped TPE goes to: Velevra @Velevra SirRupertBarnes @SirRupertBarnes TheLastOlympian07 @TheLastOlympian07 Beketov @Beketov MexicanCow123 @MexicanCow jblock3 @jblock3 Matt_O @Matt_O bluesfan55 @bluesfan55 11 Eleven @11 Eleven DMaximus @DMaximus GRZ @GRZ philliefan @Philliefan Oilmandan @oilmandan jRuutu @jRuutu Patpou22 @Patpou22 Jubo07 @Jubo07 zepheter @zepheter omgitshim @omgitshim TacticalHammer @TacticalHammer ItsMcLovin @ItsMcLovin Jayhawk @Jayhawk Sonnet @Sonnet DilIsPickle @DilIsPickle nethi99 @nethi99 GustavMattias @GustavMattias Hybrid1486 @Hybrid1486 RunnerBert11 @RunnerBert11 Sharkstrong @Sharkstrong Renomitsu @Renomitsu Sogarn @Sogarn K1NG LINUS @K1NG LINUS Spade18 @Spade18 gregreg @gregreg PSanchez55 @Psanchez55 Kuch9 @Kuch9 xsjack @xsjack Xdpark @xDParK Theflash @TheFlash Grape @Grape efiug @efiug okocha5 @okocha5 FacebookFighter @FacebookFighter Infernal @Infernal Nykonax @Nykonax Rayzor_7 @Rayzor_7 Radcow @Radcow flyersfan1453 @flyersfan1453 Snussu @Snussu SparrowLTD @SparrowLTD StamkosFan @StamkosFan Toasty @Toasty bushito @Bushito Kirby @Kirby SidTheKid87 @SidTheKid87 FrostBeard @FrostBeard Week 7, probably the last one of the season, will commence tomorrow. Final word on changing answers: Honestly, I'm fine with it. It's not like you can cheat because 1) I'll obviously see if you just made 4 entries guessing every possible answers and 2) if you arrive at the right answer in the end I feel like that's fair play. I don't think it should happen often - it doesn't, but on a tougher question why not. Not going to accept changes to the above list from this point though. I've little sympathy for the trivia cartel which basically feeds answers to most of everyone else, especially when for some reason you went for the answer which is one of the easiest to unprove (by checking the GM list or asking Bushito). Or you could have reached out to me as several people did - I'm not going to give away the answer but I did clarify the point about the 3rd seed. Anyway, long story short, it's 1 TPE, I'm sure some have got that TPE by other means, the final season leaderboard is 1) not skewed by 1 TPE margins as it's grouped by 2 TPE, and 2) most people lost out here so not much ground is lost.

good didn't want to talk to you.

https://www.4shared.com/music/etyn8trqda/APWNP_Ep_14.html I talk about Riga, Cast, and Moscow with music playing in the background so it's all probably inaudible.

+5 Cast

Still surely someone has to step up, usually someone is favoured by the sim if nothing else. Lots of guys I couldn't even mention like you or Borwinn or Crimson etc etc. It's baffling.

Not to alarm you, but this was the fourth season in the VHL for the S62 draft class, with S63s about to come off their entry-level contracts. This is effectively the midpoint of VHL careers, when we start to separate the superstars from the busts, and really see who's on track for the Hall of Fame. Given the high standards set by previous generations, there's a lot of ground to make up if you aren't putting up big stats and challenging for awards for at least some of the first half of your career. The odd thing is, none of this has really happened for these two drafts yet. This is despite having potentially the most fertile ground for production since Season 1, with lots of mediocre to outright bad drafts immediately preceding S62. Following the retirement of the (very defense-heavy) remnants of the last good draft class, S57, last year, and now Jasper Canmore after this season, the TPE leaderboard is increasingly S62/S63-centric. There are currently seven older players with whom this generation needs to compete. You've got Veran Dragomir and Oyorra Arroyo, the only elite players from S60, who have finally strung together seasons befitting their ability, as well as Podrick Cast and Matt Thompson, probably the only two active players who can be pretty confident about their Hall of Fame chances. Cast and Thompson are joined by three other S61 – Louth, Preencarnacion, and Ironside, who have taken different routes to the top but are all firmly in the elite tier of the VHL. So that's really not that much to compete with. Yes, the players who have stuck around from earlier drafts should now have an advantage of S62s and younger players for the rest of this careers, but there is only a handful of them and they are all forwards. However, there just hasn't been a challenge from anyone. If we look at everyone who hit 90 points this season (13 players, which is quite low), seven of them are the players mentioned above. There's an even older player in The Charm from S59 with a career season with 97 points, and quite surprisingly two S64 players – Elias Dahlberg and Mark Gebauer who made massive strides from their rookie seasons. The remaining three slots are the only ones which go to S62-S63 generation, with Vyacheslav Smirnov, Rylan Peace, and Jake Davis all hitting 100 points this season. Smirnov is indeed probably the only players from the drafts who can be fully content with his career so far (playoffs notwithstanding), largely thanks to a historic rookie season. Why is this the case? It's not immediately clear to be honest. There's no quirky player builds which would explain the lack of production, other than with 864 TPE Rauno Palo, but he seems broadly content, despite just having his best season yet eith a mere 66 points. There's no terrible goalies in the league (other than rookie Joe Nixon in Moscow this season), but also it's very clearly not a goalie-dominated era, with guys like Pepper, Kriketers, and Kingfisher still struggling for consistency. There is a good level of league parity and few teams which would be expected to be blown out of the water because of terrible defences... but at the same time, no defenceman has shone particularly brightly either. Joseph McWolf looked like he broke through last season but then reverted back to his rookie numbers in S65. Maxim Kovalchuk has had a good time of it so far, with Valiq and Wylde Trophies to his name already, with more to very likely come this season but is again an exception that proves the rule. All in all, it's a strange dynamic in the league at the moment, with well-known names thriving in the exact same conditions in which the younger generation can't seem to take the next step. This could and should change soon but can only be frustrating, with for instance first overall picks Ryan Kastelic and Leph Twinger still finding their feet in the VHL despite not letting up on TPE earning. Certainly Vesto Slipher had enough when he announced his retirement at the trade deadline and it wouldn't be a suprise to see others follow soon if the situation doesn't change. That would probably be the biggest shame of them all.

This is top quality

I think there was some general misleading going on (looking at the fact one of the answers for q2 became quite popular all of a sudden for no other obvious reason). That said, maybe it is the fault of those who trust the first person to post the answers.

Agreed, at least Quebec could make the playoffs as well.

Leading the VHLM despite missing 75% of the season. Bush league.

The Minnesota Storm are one win away from reaching the Founder's Cup finals which they will be favoured to win, but one man in particular has been doing absolutely nothing for his team's cause. “Well that's not really fair,” says an aggrieved Vladimir Pavlov, “I shout motivational things at the guys coming on and off the bench, give the occasional pat on the back or the helmet – team morale is really important and I'd say I'm a pretty big contibutor to our success.” Despite signing for the Storm shortly after the trade deadline, Pavlov has yet to see a minute of ice time in his time in Minnesota, or at least it looks like it from the few games we checked. Instead, the Russian center is content sitting on the bench and potentially earning a cup ring that way, doing nothing to his image as an undrafted, spoiled local kid taking the shortcut to VHL success. “Look, my agent sat me down and said 'Kid, I want to win a Founder's Cup.' He doesn't care about my 3 weeks in Season 65 and told me neither should I, and hey, the guy is about successful as they come in this league so who am I to argue? I've got a nice pay packet out of it.” With those words, Pavlov did a quick skate around the rink and went back to his favourite spot, just one from the left of the Minnesota bench.