Renomitsu

Happy 14th Birthday, VHL!

Is this a stock photo? You're darned right it is. "I Don't Have Much Free Time. How Do I Maximize My Sim League Experience?" I wish I had a clever intro for you, good reader. But I want to cut to the point: with limited free time, what strategies work to make sim leagues and their vibrant communities enjoyable? 1) Be intentional about WHEN you engage with sim leagues. I know that the busier I am with work, the less I want to do it. It's tempting to try to alt-tab to or pop the app open for Discord depending on whether I'm sitting at my laptop or trying to escape to my phone while I'm in the hospital or in clinic. As a result, it's not uncommon for me to ditch my phone in the team room while at work, or just close out of Discord entirely if I know I have work to do remotely. Whether you're an adult with a job or a student with a particularly busy schedule, it's important to set expectations for when you can access sim leagues. I'm firmly of the opinion that adults are just big kids with more responsibility – and as much as I'd like to goof off at work, I know constantly distracting myself with sim leagues will make me more anxious about the work I already have to do (to say nothing of incoming calls or consults I'll eventually need to make). The quick dopamine burst I get from interacting with sim communities for a few seconds during the day is nothing compared to the dread I feel if I fall behind what I need to do, whether that's at home or in a clinical setting. If I get my work done, I feel infinitely freer knowing that the time I spend on sim leagues is mine to enjoy without anyone else suffering. 2) Know your boundaries – don't be afraid to set league servers to MUTE when you need to get a lot of work done. Access to recreational activities is often the largest driver of whether they're used or not. In my case, seeing the little white tab next to a league that's currently active almost feels mandatory to check (for those of you in a ton of servers that might not be the case). And I know I'm not great at completely ignoring the big red dot on Discord on desktop or push notifications on my phone when I get a chance to check the screen during the day. So what do I do? I turn all of it off. At the end of the day, whether I respond to a PM, locker room message, or main server message in 1 minute or 1 day won't change the course of my experience in a league – or at least it hasn't thus far. I do like being prompt in responding to DMs (as it avoids any likelihood of me forgetting about said message, as I've done a handful of times). I've actually extended my mutes to just about everything in sim leagues, though I still do get a good chance to respond to them when I'm off work. While that means I haven't been seen as much around sim leagues – even on my 'off' days – it means I have a much healthier relationship with how and whom I choose to engage sim leagues and users. Not everything has to be on my terms, but it's awfully helpful when I can feel a semblance of control. As I said in my last bullet, adults are just big kids with more responsibility. Nothing about age necessarily makes you more mature, even if you get more chances to express your maturity and grow from your experiences. When I taught 4th grade math and science a half-dozen years ago or so, I learned the importance of setting expectations with my students. I do the very same for myself and it's helped my relationship with and enjoyment of sim leagues immensely. It helps me understand the gravity of my actions and the opportunity cost I pay if I violate the expectations I set. 3) Find a single day (or a primary day + backup day later in the week) to get all of your updating done. This might be the most helpful bit of advice. My schedule is a little more amorphous than it was during my schooling, primarily because I don't know 1) which day each week I'll have off and 2) modifiers like clinic half-days, medical education, cross-coverage of admissions, or 24 hour shifts until perhaps a month or so before they happen (and it's not always easy to remember perfectly without a calendar). Having a singular day during the week when you do your updates is nice, but not always perfect if there are time-sensitive, non-weekly tasks (it also applies to leagues that have rolling update approval like the VHL!). If you know you'll always have a given day 'off' each week where you can get your tasks done, a single day can be enough. But if you have a schedule that shifts from week to week like me, sometimes it's nice just to have a backup day to make sure you can get your updates in. For me, writing point tasks happens on Saturday. As a matter of fact, I've got several lengthy articles stored up because I knowingly dedicate a specific amount of time on a specific day to writing them. If I don't have Saturday off (as is the case this week), I default to Sunday. Since I have several articles going at once, I can usually get weekly claims done in about 15 minutes by doing sim attendances (as applicable), press conferences, and job pay as needed. Similarly, I have a specific time each day (while working days) to check sim leagues who update with weekly point tasks that are time-limited to the same week – for example, EFL's weekly games or VHL Fantasy at the start of each season. Sometimes this check is 10 seconds long, but I always allocate a very limited amount of time to them (5 minutes at maximum). Does that mean my answers are always the best-researched and perfect? Well, no. I don't get many VHL or EFL predictions correct. But it does mean I tend to earn even more than most capped earners, as many don't participate in extras (or occasionally forget practice facility – oops!). But really, these three points are more or less the same. Set boundaries and expectations for yourself and it's pretty hard to go wrong once you get into a routine. 4) Keep people in the loop; communication is key. There are few users GMs like more than those that are responsible, high earners, and good communicators – or at least that's what I've garnered from GMing in the EFL. For example – I drafted Frostbeard's defensive back and J.Dragon's running back to the Minnesota Frontier early on in my tenure. The former of the two went inactive within a couple of seasons to pursue real-life aspirations, and the latter said "hey, this is the month I'm going to stop being active." Getting communication early on in that period helped me glean their true draft value, and both understood that their role would be reduced in Minnesota (though I still stand firm that Frostbeard's defensive back deserved DRotY – 5 INTs is no joke at safety!). I've tried to be as clear as possible with my intentions, both with Aloe Dear this offseason, as a GM, and with any role that I've taken. When being hired as a mod, for example, I was exceedingly clear with Fong that my set end date coincided with entering residency. For Historian in EFL, I wanted to be clear about what I set out to accomplish with respect to seasonal & career records, and I wanted to be transparent about limited activity with regards to awards committee over there, too. Giving others a baseline understanding of what to expect from you helps them make informed decisions about hires for jobs; if you stick with the baseline you set, it's difficult to be disappointed with the work you do. If you exceed expectations with regards to activity and contribution, great! Everyone's happy. Eventually, as is the case in the real world, your track record starts to speak for itself. If you stick to your plans, others understand they can take you at your word even if life happens. 5) Make your off-time productive! Multiclaiming is your friend. This has been a real lifesaver for me. I would not be active in sim leagues anymore if I had to make a new 500 word article every single week (sometimes you just wanna write 2,000 words, amirite?). Some people consider writing articles to be a drag; it's not for everyone and nobody should be judged for avoiding writing media. But for me, getting words out on the page is infinitely easier than expending creative energy on graphics – especially since I'd want to hold myself to a given standard and would burn out of making graphics comparatively quickly (all the more power to you if you can regularly make quality graphics). As I said above, setting aside a specific time of the week for updating and getting point tasks written is key. I just sit down for about 45 minutes or so to write each week, and that's made it very easy for me to stockpile media. This doesn't really apply to students on summer break or anyone with a ton of free time (again, this applies to people struggling with work hours and other obligations), though it can be helpful for making your time on sim leagues more productive if that's your goal. Even if I stopped working on sim league material permanently and could only dedicate 10 minutes a week, I'd still be able to claim 6-point PTs for a while at the very least. 6) If it feels like a chore, don't do it. Sim leagues are meant to be fun – at least from my perspective, they should never feel like an obligation or a job unless that's what you want (or you really don't want to hand off your precious sim league to someone else as an individual in a position of authority). GMing in the EFL – which I truly did enjoy many aspects of – began to feel like a chore a handful of seasons in, though I still do see it as a job with a ton of positive aspects. But after a certain point, I stopped having fun with GMing. It wasn't my team's fault, as I had a lot of really nice users in my locker room; I don't think it was entirely my fault, though I should certainly shoulder some of the blame; and I don't think it was the league leadership or the users at large that were responsible. But it was eating into how I experienced other parts of the league: I didn't really pay attention to my players' success (individual statistics or team success), updating felt like an duty rather than a recreational activity, and I always worried about what decision I made that might hurt my team's long-term success. Some of that is expected and even in the job description. But I felt less and less inclined to do the other parts of sim leagues that kept me initially motivated to take the job in the first place. That's not the case for other GMs, commissioners, moderators, etc. – that was specific to my experience. And when I realized that was the case, I made it clear that I intended to step down. I continue to appreciate all of the fun sim leagues have to offer all the more tangibly when I made it less of an obligation. This bullet point might mean that you take a break for a week… or a month… or a few years until you find yourself in the right mental space to really enjoy doing it again. I did as much with the VHL between my first and second, as well as between my second and third players. It's also part of the reason why I retired my first EFL players when I did. That doesn't mean do everything you want on a whim (as tempting as that is) – I still tried to give my GMs a heads-up well in advance of retiring my players, usually a couple of seasons. Occasionally that luxury of far-in-advance notice isn't possible, especially when real life crops up. And I'd like to think that's okay, too. [2,101 Words; Claimable for 4 Weeks; Claim 1 of 4 for Week Ending 7/25/21 (7/24/21 in EFL)]

Warsaw, Poland - Well, just some 32 hours into free agency, the theoretical biggest agent on the market has made their decision: it's back to Warsaw for reigning MVP Aloe Dear. She signed a 1-year, $5,500,000 deal with the eastern European team, who capped off last season with a finals series for the ages after placing first in the European Conference during the regular season. "I'm beyond pleased to remain here in Poland for one last go," she commented, waving her Predators flags at a recent presser, "after Dakota's agent was named GM of the team and he clearly wasn't going to be traded, it felt like an inevitability for this season." "I think there's still excellent talent here, and that we can make all of this work despite some aging parts," she continued. "Do I think we can place an easy first? Well, no. Anyone who tells you with certainty how the next season's going to go before the free agency period is done -- let alone the first 30 games or so -- is just hype building. Can we compete for first? I think we have a core that can, definitely. But last season wasn't exactly a cake walk, and we had just come off of a razor-thin margin of defeat in the European semis in Season 77. We need to make sure we have that same fire this season, too."

Transaction ID: 20699740207446346 Doubles Week 5 Uncapped TPE $1,000,000 Player Store Cash

1. After winning our 1st cup in franchise history, where does the team go from here? I think we should try to run it back. Depending on how the team looks after free agency, that's a distinct possibility. 2. Describe former Warsaw GM .sniffuM's tenure in 3 words. Bottom to top! 3. What player, NHL or VHL, do you model your game after? NHL? What is the NHL? I model my game after Mike Szatkowski, one of the original great scorers; this is especially the case after switching to center. 4. Is there a city that you thought deserved a VHLE franchise? If so, why them? I would have liked to see a city in Denmark get the nod; Copenhagen deserves a chance! 5. Warsaw has the 9th pick in the S79 draft, any prospects specifically you think they should target? No. I do not want the team to be disappointed if they are available and we do not take them; and similarly, I do not want expectations of our new draftee to be too high. 6. Where do you plan on taking the Continental Cup on your "day with the cup" this offseason? I think Lexi and I will spend the day together on mine! Maybe we'll gather some friends and go out on the water.

Review Drafting goalies is always tricky! I feel like we've seen them drop so much further than anticipated (especially with excellent classes) in prior drafts because there are so few slots, and oftentimes middle earners don't get a good shot at playing anything beyond a backup role. You did a good job in reading these four teams' current goalie situations (especially Chicago/Prague, as it's easy to have rose-colored glasses on when a team is really good). One consideration for this article I'd have put forth was Warsaw, who has an IA goalie who's right around the middle in TPE (500-600) without a true good backup option (Bustard is OK but barely over the 200 mark). As far as future article ideas, when do you think VHLE teams will take their netminders? Overall nice work!

Review Free agent prognostication! This is one of my favorite parts of the off-season, and perhaps even moreso this season since both dlamb and I are up to go to different teams. I think it's interesting that you've thrown several factors into play, e.g. Lamb's current GM candidacy and Su's prior stint with Vancouver as motivations for their likely future destinations. But I also would've liked to see some more consideration for teams that would be willing to offload some players to rebuilding teams so that more options outside of Davos & NY could be considered. Overall, I think this is a good start and I'm excited to see what you do with future FA options.

In! Don't have enough time to manage though

Warsaw, Poland - As the Predators lifted the cup -- a grueling six-game series against a dynastic Seattle franchise that's claimed five championships from the last ten seasons -- forward Aloe Dear couldn't help but sit back and bask in the glory just a little. "I was speechless," Dear commented, just an hour or so after scoring the game-winning goal, "I know things can't be the same in the VHL - it changes too fast - but realizing we finished the season on top was incredible." The Dane, now five full seasons into her career, shared her rookie season (S74) with fellow center Dakota Lamb, though Dear started her VHL story as a winger, not a center. And that transition, while difficult, was punctuated almost poetically with the team's final win against Seattle. "There are a lot of thoughts on my mind," she said, "but the first is pointing out the incredible job Dakota's done for this franchise. Just look at the point total, the 'eye test' on the ice, and the fact that he's taught me how to play center over the last few seasons! His leadership has helped so many of us grow; just think of how many fresh new faces have joined this franchise and are considered staples in the league now. I hope he gets the recognition he deserves."

1. We just won the first cup in franchise history. WARSAW WHERE YOU AT??? Asleep. Because I'm so tired FROM LIFTING THE CUP AYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY 2. Got an early prediction for next season's cup winner? This one's hard to say. Lots of possible off-season movement this time around, so I don't think we're likely to see the same landscape we do now. 3. How do you think the addition of the VHLE in S80 will affect the quality of VHL play? It'll be tougher to be a star with stand-out stats now that the 'floor' of the league will be higher. 6. What shape pasta is best? There are some fun shapes like macaroni and bowties, but I've always been partial to linguine and penne myself. 7. Who was the biggest unsung hero of our playoff run? Lexi @AW13, of course!! My girl killed it this time around. 8. If every day of the week got into a fight who would win? Sunday. They've been saving up their energy for millennia, all to be unleashed in this one fight.

4 July Season 78 – "Even when I'm in Prague or Warsaw I hear so much about the American Independence Day!" Predators forward Aloe Dear followed up a narrow 2-1 Warsaw victory over Prague with the above exclamation after a reporter asked her about her old VHLM teammates in Houston and Las Vegas. Relatively few of her minors teammates were actually American, but the veteran had nothing but positive words for them. "I think it's always exciting to celebrate the birth of a nation! Chris [Reynolds, winger and linemate] is an American and we have had little flags flying around his locker in the stadium all day today. When I was in the States there was always a bit of ceremony around the flag and anthem pre-game; the Americans certainly aren't afraid to show they're proud of their nation!" A Game 5 win was probably met with some celebration across the Warsaw team, American or not, but there's still plenty of work left to be done for the Predators, who took a slim 3-2 series lead.

1. We survived an early scare from Malmo to take the series 4-1. How do we stay fresh going up against Prague in the European Conference finals? We'll do what we can from the player perspective. Our approach to the game comes from coaching down otherwise. 2. What has been the most surprising moment of the postseason so far? Dropping the 2OT game to Malmo. That was pretty unexpected and a bit frustrating, but we turned it around in quick order. 3. Who was our MVP in the Malmo series? I would have to think Uhtred and Dakota would be our MVPs. They had multiple games with 2-4 points apiece and were part of the turnaround after the early loss. 4. Do you prefer your ice cubed or crushed? A singular giant cube, of course! It's the best way for ice to look fancy. 5. Which VHLE locations would you most prefer to see selected? Secret Denmark locations of course. They're not listed in the poll, but we all deserve to go to Denmark periodically. 6. Which team do you believe will make the finals from the North American Conference? Seattle. They've got that weird playoff magic nonsense that seems to crop up every season. 7. What's the deal with "cubed" ice from fridge dispensers being shaped like semicircles??? Do they really expect us to believe this piece of ice shaped like a goddamn orange slice is a cube?? I think it's less likely to clog the ice machine. You can push the semicircular ice chip through with a little force, but a cube may be more difficult to break. 8. What is your favorite hot beverage? Tea. It's calming and gives you a kick of energy afterward if it's caffeinated.

Warsaw, Poland - After a full regulation and two overtimes, the Warsaw Predators found themselves at a loss, literally. Malmo's Tui Sova -- assisted by Muffbeav, the former Predators defenseman-turned-forward who joined Malmo this offseason -- knocked the puck in just over eight minutes into the period to hand a 1-0 series lead to the Nighthawks. "It's frustrating to face Malmo," Warsaw forward Aloe Dear commented in the post-game presser, "we were 1-4 against them in the regular season in spite of a clean 12-point margin of victory for first in the conference. They squeaked into the playoffs with a tiebreaker over Riga and had just 6 more goals than their opponents all season; ours was +55. I don't know what it is about them. We'll shoot twice as many shots as them, all quality, and we'll take the loss. You tell me what's up - I couldn't figure it out through five regular season games, clearly." "Crazily enough, we have a significantly better goal differential against Chicago than Malmo, and Chicago had a fantastic showing in the regular season. But we'll make our adjustments and find a way through this series, one game at a time." The Predators proceeded to win game 2, 6-3. But with just one win apiece, both Malmo and Warsaw have quite some ways to go before moving past this best of 7.

This may interest you!

1. We have made the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season. What can you take from past playoff experiences into this latest round of postseason play? More experience. My stat for experience literally went up this past season, but otherwise my build is pretty similar to how it's been. 2. We won the Victory Cup for the second consecutive season, this time sharing the award with Chicago. What does taking this award mean to our team and the legacy of this group of players? I know some people say it's cursed (it really isn't), but I think it's a double-edged sword at the very least. It may encourage some teams to sit on their laurels if they've done unusually well in the regular season, I don't know. 3. What are your predictions for New York-DC and Helsinki-Malmo? DC over New York (surprise, I already know they're up 3-1) and Helsinki. I think we had a better time in the regular season vs. Helsinki, but they're also generally the more talented team I think. 4. What is your favorite flavor of gum? Ooh, definitely some kind of mint. Spearmint, peppermint... I like them all! 6. Which team that missed the playoffs are you most surprised about? I feel like L.A. is the most obvious answer to this. Riga and Moscow are still relatively young and probably want higher picks anyways. L.A., on the other hand, has an aging roster and couldn't make it in over D.C. Can't give you a good reason for that. 8. If you could be any animal, which animal would you be and why? An otter! Look at how cuddly those little guys are! But I probably wouldn't want to be able to smell myself if that were the case. 9. Which league leader in any category are you most impressed with for their performance this season? I'm not surprised by any of them in particular. I do think it's impressive that Brian Strong Jr. managed to have the best +/- in the league with a team that barely scraped into the playoffs. 10. Light or dark liquor? Neither! I'm not much of an alcohol gal.

i was gonna say that we're at the top together with a heart emoji but okay ;-;

Review Most people enjoy a redemption arc, and I'm certainly among them. This is written well, offers sincere appreciation for members that do hard work, and more importantly offers constructive criticism both for the site/community and self-reflection presented in a manner that flows logically from paragraph to paragraph. I think it's incredibly important to examine your past actions whether you're well-respected or even beloved in the VHL -- or, as you've ostensibly personally experienced, feeling looked down upon or even turned away at your low points. Both the VHL as a whole and you seem to have grown in the last year or so and I'm looking forward to whatever future impact you have on the site. =]

Review Well, I think we know how this one is going to go. 0/10, does not agree with my list, do not claim for TPE, do not pass go, do not collect 200 VHLBucks. All joking aside, it takes some guts to release a list like this whether it's in order or not. There are a lot of sad emojis that can be added to this post, be it in jest or semi-seriousness, if anyone takes a look at it without being tagged here. I definitely appreciate your bravery. I like the subtle digs (sorry Gus, Davos is still a meme), it's clearly and directly league relevant, and I don't have a ton of grammar or spelling comments to make for this media spot. Plus, it has my former boss over in Riga on the list. What's not to like?

This is what I like to read! I can't say much about the graphics, as I think the best I ever did was try a couple in Paint or GIMP my first time around with the league (and they were bad), but I'm glad the sense of community and being able to nerd out about stats was valuable to you. I still definitely don't understand any advanced hockey stats particularly well, but I think it's very telling of the community that someone who 1) nerds out about hockey stats and 2) someone who doesn't even follow hockey both choose to stick around. Not gonna lie I still lose track of the days and weeks from time to time

Hi all! I figured I'd do an out-of-league oriented vhl.com article, since all of my other four or five this season so far have been essentially 'in character.' I want you to think about when you first joined this site -- or your first sim league in general, if you'd found one very similar to VHL before coming here. If I were to try and describe sim leagues to a friend without any preparation, well, it'd be tough. There are some aspects to sim leagues - like TPE, updating, and salary minimums - that might not be difficult to explain in concept, but how would you explain feeling 'success' in sim leagues? That is, what's your motivation for staying here, whether you've been here for 0.5 seasons or 50? When you first joined from another sim league or social media (Reddit, YouTube, maybe a friend's Facebook message, who knows), you may have had your first sim league described in a specific way. Does it measure up to what you thought it'd be? Did you think there would be quite this many people invested in the league, or did you expect there to be thousands upon thousands of users crammed into a singular league? Had you tried other types of online sports leagues before (e.g. GM leagues, owner leagues, or player leagues that were kind of like multi-page 'browser,' non-forum based games), or was this your first step into online non-real-life sports? I know there are a fair number of members who don't give leagues like the VHL, SBA, EFL, or the parallel money-based leagues like PBE or ISFL a fair shake once they realize they won't be playing as their player in real time (e.g. MyCareer or whatever in video games). What kept you in the sim league, and has the concept exceeded or failed to meet your expectations? How so? [This VHL.com article is also being claimed for the uncapped TPE package, #5 of 5.]

2. Which EU team do you feel stands as our biggest threat in the postseason? London. McWolf is a cunning GM and is constantly changing things up to make his team better, be it through transactions or changes in strategy. 3. What were your thoughts on the flurry of trade deadline activity? It's nice. I'm glad we didn't flip the team upside down, because we've been consistently good the last two seasons and have continued to do so despite our earlier-than-anticipated playoff exist last season. 5. Youtube or Twitch? For now? Youtube, mostly because you can install an adblocker with ease and get past their ads. Twitch ads are like... baked into the platform and you need to do a lot more legwork to keep up with them. 6. Which of the 10 teams currently in playoff positions do you think is most likely to miss the playoffs and why? D.C. is the closest to missing the playoffs, both in terms of points and the competitiveness of the team underneath them. Jeffrey Pines and L.A. are utterly relentless, and I wouldn't be surprised if they made a big push to take over the Dragons' spot. 7. How would you grade your player's performance this season on a scale of 1 to 10? 6.5 out of 10. There is still room for me to utilize my teammates better, and I want our team to continue climbing up in the rankings. There are still plenty of adjustments for me personally to make before the end of the season. 8. How would you grade the team's performance this season on a scale of 1 to 10? 8 out of 10 is what I'd give us. We've played well enough to clearly float to the top of the European Conference, but there's still plenty of growth left for us this season; we've lost some games we definitely shouldn't have, and there are some 50/50s we could have turned into wins I think.

This one was inspired by idle curiosity. A few people had mentioned in the last few weeks that the Victory Cup (or maybe the #1 seed in general) is cursed, i.e. those that win it generally can't win the title. And looking at the last few seasons' worth of Victory Cup winners (Moscow, Calgary, Moscow, Warsaw from S74-77), you might think that's true, provided literally none of them ended up taking home the title. But in going through a bit of history, I'd found that 33 of the 77 seasons' Victory Cup winners actually won the Continental Cup. And that's pretty surprising, provided that (especially in recent history) we've had so few cases. But the quantity of teams and users in the VHL have fluctuated significantly over the last, let's say, thirty seasons - with the low point happening in the S50s and clearer highs in the mid-late 60s and early 70s. The first true expansion (not a renaming of Vasteras/Madrid/Stockholm) occurred in Season 31 with the Quebec City Meute (now the Vancouver Wolves) and Cologne Express as the league went from 8 to 10 teams. But after considerable loss of its user base through the 50s, the VHL contracted both Vasteras (now Stockholm) and Cologne to drop to its original 8 (albeit with slightly different composition). Moscow entered the league as the ninth and Malmo as the tenth in the mid-60s, yet another expansion happened in S68 with DC and Prague, and the league capitulated to massive growth one last time in Season 73 with four teams (Warsaw, Los Angeles, London, and Phoenix Chicago). And with the league quite literally doubling in size over the course of a dozen seasons but still not able to keep up with its growth, the VHLE was announced just this past season. So maybe it shouldn't be surprising that, especially with the expansion of the playoffs from 4 to 5 teams per conference in S73. After all, the playoffs were composed of just 5 teams until Malmo was added to the league in Season 66. It went from 6 to 8 teams with the addition of Prague and DC, and then to 10 with the addition of the four S73 teams. So I looked at the percentages for each "era" - though admittedly S65-68's turnaround was incredibly short for what amounted to three expansions. S1-30 (8 teams, 4 playoff) - 16/30 (53.3%) S31-57 (10 teams, 6 playoff) - 11/27 (40.7%) S58-65 (8 teams, 5 playoff) - 3/8 (37.5%) S66-68 (9-10 teams, 6-8 playoff) - 1/3 (33.0%) S69 (nice)-S72 (12 teams) - 1/4 (25.0%) S73-present (16 teams, 10 playoff) - 1/5 (20.0%) Ultimately, the more recent seasons do seem to suffer from a small sample size, as some don't even get a full 5 seasons to pan out. Regardless, the league has seen a gradual trend downwards in its Victory/Continental Cup concurrence. There is a bit of a curious drop in S58-65, where there's a contraction of the playoffs from 6 to 5, but note here that the league also contracted by two teams and talent may have been unevenly distributed favoring top teams (i.e. the Victory Cup winner's greatest competition) because of the era. Teams have also gradually gotten more chances to be weeded out, particularly with the shift to 8 team playoffs, where the Victory Cup winner needs to play three opponents instead of 2. It's very well-demonstrated with the expansions to an 8 team playoff in the late 60s (we're 3/12 or 25.0% since). [This VHL.com article is also being claimed for the uncapped TPE package, #4 of 5.]

1. Coming off our roughest sim of the season, what can we do to get back on course? Get our offensive rhythm back on the second line. It's been our trump card for the last few dozen games and we need to right the ship. 5. Aloe Dear has established herself as the league's points and assists leader for some time now. Is there perhaps a Campbell or Slobodzian trophy coming to a Warsaw player this season? I was in the lead for a good portion of last season, and that kind of fell apart after the trade deadline. So I'm not going to jinx myself by saying one way or the other; I just hope it happens. 6. Chris Reynolds is one goal off the VHL lead, pushing to be the first Warsaw player to lead the VHL in the goalscoring category. What can we do to get him there? Oh, I'll get Reynolds to top goalscorer with all of my power. He deserves it after being so patient with this team the last few seasons. 7. We're on pace to top our franchise record of 291 goals from last season, being the first VHL team in nearly 20 seasons to score 300 goals if we maintain pace. Do you believe we'll get there? I hope we do, but I don't think assuming or believing will get us there. We've got to prove it on the ice. 8. How high can you jump? I can touch the rim of a basketball hoop with some effort! But I'm not sure how high that means I can jump (I'm pretty short). 9. Aloe Dear finished last season 1 point shy of tying Hunter Heart Helmsley's franchise record of 113 points in a season, but is on pace to shatter it this year with 130. How confident are you that Dear will pass up HHH's season franchise record? Oof, well our last 6 games or so have been pretty dreadful for me so far. I want to succeed, of course, but not at the cost of the team's success.

Warsaw, Poland - When asked who she least liked playing against, Warsaw forward Aloe Dear was quick and vocal with her answer. "Malmo has had our number! We have not even come close to defeating those green guys this season," she commented at a presser following an overtime loss to Vancouver, "and it is frustrating, to say the least. And it was a... surprising way to open the season." Dear makes reference to a 2-5 blowout loss against the Nighthawks, a match where she could not make anything happen on four separate power play attempts and allowed a couple of goals while on the penalty kill. Warsaw is well-known for its high scoring games (on both ends of the ice), but the team managed to score 6 goals across two games. That wouldn't be anything unusual for most teams in the VHL -- but because Malmo scored 13 goals in those same two games, it's become a cause for concern. "We face them a few more times this season, and you can bet I will hop on the ice with a chip on my shoulder," she commented with a smile, "they deserve better than fifth in the European Conference and I suspect cross-conference play will begin to reveal that. But against us? We are going to leave everything on the ice. Be ready." [This VHL.com article is also being claimed for the uncapped TPE package, #3 of 5.]

1. Which team have you most enjoyed facing so far this season? It's tempting to say Toronto since we've done rather well against them, but I think it's London. They have done increasingly well over the last few seasons and I appreciate the challenge. 2. What has been more surprising to you: Toronto's recent collapse or Moscow's recent surge? Toronto's collapse. There's no good reason they should be doing this poorly unless they're playing their backup every game; they may not have any truly elite forwards outside of Hornet, but the remainder of their forwards are solid and their defense should be excellent. 3. Who is the leading candidate to get Warsaw's nomination for Most Improved Player in this early stretch of the season? Uh, Chris. C'mon now, he's the league leader in goals and is now top-ten there, too! 4. Got any words of advice for WAR-G so he stops being such a scrub and holding us back when we have to play him? We love you, WAR-G, and just want to see you succeed. I know you can't control your bad attributes, so... do what you can. 6. Despite being by far the worst team in the standings, Vancouver has given us a run for our money every time we've played them. What can we do to avoid playing down to our competition in those games? Shut down Sandstrom. He's been one of the three stars in every game we've played against Chicago I think, so we need a more targeted defensive strategy vs. him. 7. Which non-Warsaw player do you think has been the most impressive so far this season and why? Lee Xin, of course! They have a ton of points and is one of the primary reasons Chicago is doing so well. 8. Why is Aloe Dear getting hit so much more than every other player in the league? I don't know. Why they hate me?