Victor

Haven't had enough @Members tags from me? The seasonal Fredrik Elmebeck Memorial Trophy nominations are now open! Every member can nominate one other member who they feel demonstrated great work ethic, passion for the VHL, and/or made some notable contribution which in your eyes made them stand out in S78. There are no restrictions on who you nominate, but we will not necessarily vote for someone in a position of power. This should whittle it down to a few candidates which the BOG will vote on prior to the off-season awards ceremony. To nominate a fellow member, simply fill out the short form linked here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScQoMpKFRwBtbPiSIJnmjhHmXL0ff-1A-9jsh3JzMxAyKC05w/viewform?usp=sf_link

Press F for Helsinki

Moscow legend

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1. Which goaltender has won the most regular season MVP trophies? (Credit and 1 uncapped TPE to @Mrpenguin30) No goalie has won more than 2 MVPs yet, an honour shared by Tuomas Tukio and Apollo Skye (Daisuke Kanou owned the playoff MVP record until being usurped by Rayz Funk). You could have found that by going through the Kanou Trophy page or the handy spreadsheet here: https://vhlforum.com/topic/52100-repeat-award-winners/ 2. TRUE/FALSE: Ryuu Crimson is the only rookie to win playoff MVP (note: there were no rookies in S1) (Credit and 1 uncapped TPE to @IamMOOSE) That is true, we waited until S63 for the first rookie to win the playoff MVP, as the cup winner from Riga shared it with the losing finalist's goalie, one Norris Stopko. Crimson might hold the record for a while. Although most Kanou winners are Hall of Famers and therefore you could check this fact quite easily, you probably wouldn't have been able to figure out that Brandon Azevedo in S14 for example wasn't a rookie - but I'm sure a search for Crimson's name in the forum would have gotten you to the answer anyway.

Alright, it's time for the big one. 6 VHLE teams need to be decided and we have 9 excellent options to choose from. You can find all the logo concepts below although these are not necessarily final - we have plenty of time to refine the 6 winners. A couple points to note - First, you may notice a slightly unfamiliar Berlin Steel concept. Acyd's and mine initial reaction to the fair criticism of the winning Berlin concept was to remove the city altogether as it didn't feel like we found a balance between a good concept and one that didn't have some unintended connotations. But this seems to be a good middle ground so we'll throw it in there. Secondly, we do want a good mix of old and new teams in the final 6, so although the top 6 teams in this poll are very likely to be the 6 we see in the VHLE in S80, don't be shocked if this isn't the case. Again, this is unlikely to be the case but just note that is more a league-wide consultation than a binding poll. Anyway, let's present the 9 final candidates... PLEASE VOTE FOR UP TO 3 TEAMS YOU LIKE BEST @Members Berlin Steel Bern Royals Bratislava Watchmen Cologne Express Istanbul Red Wolves Paris Revolution Rome Gladiators Stockholm Vikings Vasteras Iron Eagles

fuck

Week 2 of 2

Malmao

I possess powers you can not fathom.

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1. Which of these goalies did not post 15+ shutouts in a season two or more times in their careers? (Credit and 1 uncapped TPE to @animal74) Ariel Weinstein 2. What is the southernmost city ever to host a VHL or VHLM franchise? Mexico City

It's been a couple weeks now since the S77 playoffs ended with another Seattle championship and what seems like the inevitable goalie playoff MVP win. Although I was the beneficiary of Rara Rasputin's Kanou Trophy and it was merited at least through the first 60% of Seattle's run, my own vote went to Bears top scorer Timothy Brown, who also came up with some clutch goals along the way. However, the statline that also caught my attention was on the losing team – Valtteri Vaakanainen putting up nearly a 2 point per game pace in Helsinki's runners-up campaign. It's been a while since we gave the Kanou to a player on the losing team, especially a non-goalie, but if Vaakanainen couldn't do it (he only ended up receiving one vote) then who possibly could? To investigate whether Vaakanainen's lack of recognition was a true outlier, I decided to look at an exclusive list of players who got 30+ points in one postseason. S32: Connor Evans (NYA) – 31 points, Radislav Mjers (NYA) – 30 points in 17 games We start in S32 not out of laziness but because S31 was the first season where teams could potentially play 3 rounds in a single playoffs, meaning the maximum games played in the first 30 seasons was 14. It would take a superhuman effort to get 30 points in such a short space of time – so obviously Scotty Campbell managed to do it once – but otherwise there's little to see for our purposes. S32 was a pretty wild year as New York ended a long cup drought by discarding defence, running a rookie goaltender and adopting a shoot on sight policy. With two all-time great forwards in Tukka Reikkinen and Alexander Chershenko on the team this was a sensible approach and although they got 27 and 26 points respectively, the heroes were the less heralded Connor Evans and defenceman Radislav Mjers, the latter getting the Kanou. Although clearly this was a high-scoring team effort, the defenceman's stat line was deemed the most impressive of his teammates which doesn't really help this research in any way. S33: Elijah Incognito (RIG) – 34 points in 20 games Riga exacted their revenge on New York in S33 but following the exact same formula (including downgrading in net by shipping their starter to New York) with one nuance – their offence came from their star defenceman. Elijah Incognito had a postseason for the ages, arguably securing his Hall of Fame place and a clear-cut playoff MVP. Again, not very comparable to Vaakanainen because Incognito was a defenceman and on the cup-winning team. We move on. S34: Alexander Chershenko (CGY) – 36 points, Volodymyr Rybak (CGY) – 31 points in 21 games OK, now here is a very comparable scenario. Chershenko set a still-standing playoff points record with his teammate and compatriot Rybak not far behind as Calgary made it within a win of an unlikely championship (again with an average goalie and with not much depth on defence). Vaakanainen's point-per-game pace is actually more impressive than Chershenko's was (as the Wranglers went to Game 7 in each playoff series in S34), although Chershenko had double the goals (18 vs 9). That, along with the cup-winning goalie in S34 only posting a .919 save percentage might explain the voter love not being spread to Vaakanainen in the same way 43 seasons later. S44: Tyler Cote (CGY) – 31 points in 16 games The roaring 30s seemed to come to an end after that triple punch and there is actually one other entry on this list before the 70s. Unheralded center Tyler Cote took a page out of Connor Evans' book and took the attacking reins for Calgary's underdog run in S44, ending up as a deserved playoff MVP after their shock cup win, with only some criticism of stat-padding in the early rounds (the same argument was actually levied at New York's S32 squad). Although a forward, the lack of real competition made this a cakewalk for Cote and doesn't really compare to the situation in S77. S74: Brock Louth (VAN) – 32 points in 19 games A similar situation to Cote, 30 seasons removed, although slightly more controversial as Louth edged out teammate Jeff Downey based largely on his finals performance, despite Downey nearly matching with 11 goals and 29 points as a defenceman. However, as teammates on the cup-winning team, Louth and Downey were the obvious favourites and there was no one with a strong case from the losing side. S77: Valtteri Vaakanainen (HSK) – 32 points in 18 games So where does that leave us? When I set out writing this article, I thought Vaakanainen was unfortunate to be an afterthought in the Kanou discussion, being only the eighth player ever to put up 30 points in the postseason. Every single player before either was crowned playoff MVP or saw a teammate get the award, but only two (Chershenko and Rybak) were on a losing team like Vaakanainen. The Finn having fewer than 10 goals also evidently worked against him, as did two impressive candidates from the cup-winning team. It appears that in addition to having a phenomenal run as a skater, you also need the perfect storm of all goalies having a terrible time and probably a very balanced final (it's been over 10 seasons since a cup final reached Game 7). Unfortunately for Vaakanainen, that didn't fall into place – although I suppose regardless he'd have preferred a championship after Helsinki came so close 3 times during his career so far. Therefore, despite the clickbait title, I hereby decree that Vaakanainen was not in fact snubbed of the Daisuke Kanou Trophy in Season 77 and was instead a solid option on a strong ballot – and who knows, with the Titans' overall impressive playoff record, he may still have a chance to make amends before retiring. It may be one to follow as his career winds down and also whether this, like the early 30s, opens the floodgates for more high-scoring playoffs, especially after rosters are trimmed once the VHLE is up and running.

All I can say is good luck. It's a scary new world for goalies.

Neither city might get a team in the end - this is just to get popular opinions to represent them.

Rara Rasputin enters game at 11:09 of 1st period Aksu Maronen enters game at 17:52 of 1st period big 7 minutes

So you voted, we listened, Rome, Paris, and Berlin will be on the final poll for the VHLE. Rome will be represented by the Gladiators, but Paris and Berlin? We've got a few options. Note that the logos below are not necessarily final, but can be completed once a name is chosen. PARIS Revolution: https://vhlforum.com/topic/104710-vhle-paris-revolution-2/ Guardians: https://vhlforum.com/topic/104444-vhle-paris-team-concept/ / https://vhlforum.com/topic/104528-vhle-concept-guardians/ BERLIN Steel: https://vhlforum.com/topic/104386-vhle-berlin-team-concept/?do=findComment&comment=854055 Fox/Foxes: https://vhlforum.com/topic/104392-vhle-romeberlin-team-concept-2-electric-boogaloo/ @Members

CUATRO https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSewDa1341Bf0X8SAe-yboNhFVkOieOqw-BXQVKMqTacWHAx7g/viewform?usp=sf_link Each correct answer is worth 1 capped TPE at the end of the week. Don't reveal the answer in public, but if you're not sure, ask around, here, or in the special trivia Discord channel.

yes

DA BEARZ

No worries we've been on the internet long enough to not get offended by this I'm sure.