Renomitsu

1. How do you feel you've performed thus far into the VHLM season? I feel like my player has not put up the offensive numbers that I would have liked having .5 pts a game but I do have a +5 and +/- is not the best stat but it does show that i have at least bean a positive impact on the ice.

2. Do you have a teammate who you feel you can count on to back you up? I feel I can count on all of my teammates In Houston to back me up as the team culture is really something special where everyone gets along and are having great chats.

3. Is there a player on an opposing team that has her your respect or disdain, if so why? Every player has my respect until they lose it.

4. Is there a team you're particularily interested in getting drafted by? I would be interested in being drafted by Seattle as my current gm AJ is their agm and their gm Banackock has been very nice to me since I joined.

5. Do you believe your Squad is capable of winning the Founders Cup this year? Definitely we already have a great team wee just got off to a slow start and we have a lot room to improve. 

6. Who to you is the scariest opponent right now? (Team/player/goalie) San Diego because we have had so many close games with them already but haven't been able to pull through to get the W.
 
7. What current M player do you feel a sense of rivalry with? No one but with a lot of M teams being close to Houston in player skill level i could see rivalries growing.
 
8. If you had to be stuck on an island with 4 other M players, which would you pick and why? Ondrej Vencko, Benjamin Abenduct, Trimiskez Artav, and Lucy Leitner because we have all had lots of great chats in the Houston lr.
 
9. Pick a M team. What would their mascot be? Look like? What would it’s name be? Houston's mascot should be a Bull (duh) that's name starts with a B for alliteration like Barry the Bull or Benny the bull.
 
10. Is there anything you’d like to say to the amazing new members of the league? We are all straight W's.
 
11. What’s been a surprise to you when it comes to the VHL or your experience in it? How amazing and welcoming the community was because there is not many community's like this and a lot of them are full of pricks.
 
12. Are there any members you look up to and why? AJ, and Banackock for the same reasons I said for why I want to be drafted by Seattle lol.
 
13. How has your 2024 new year gone so far? Great!
 
14. Anything fun and exciting coming up in life for you? The new semester starting inearly February so i will never have to deal with french class again
 
15. Your player was abducted by aliens. They probe you and steal important data from your hockey brain. What do the aliens learn about human life on planet earth because of your player? That our brains are full of the strangest most random shit that we can think of.

New Season means More Fantasy Zone! S92 is underway
 
The Form will close Firday January 12th at 6pm EST or when VHL/VHLE/VHLM Sims happen
 
 
 
RESPONSES
 
If you want to be added or removed from the Ping list let me know!
 

@Jason kranz
 
Hey everybody! Welcome to this season’s VHL Season preview, after a busy offseason, full of roster changes there’s been a considerable shift in team’s outlooks this season with a major shift towards the European Conference. So, without further to do, let’s jump right into it!
 
North American Conference
 
1 - Calgary Wranglers
Forward Rank - 5th
Defense Rank - 4th
Goalie Rank - 3rd
Conference Rank - 1st
League Rank - 3rd
 
New GM @leandrofg, came in and made a splash this offseason, bringing in Skor McFleury @Alex and Pope Francis @nurx to revamp the defensive group. While the majority of the roster is still the same, and it is very well rounded, there is one main area for concern, specifically the lack of a pure goalscoring elite forward. This will likely hinder their offensive production this season. With that being said, they could very well cruise to the top of the conference, barring any scoring issues.
 
2 - D.C. Dragons
Forward Rank - 3rd
Defense Rank - 11th
Goalie Rank - 7th
Conference Rank - 2nd
League Rank - 5th
 
The D.C. Dragons were able to finally find a solution in goal with Henry Tucker Jr @NSG, the hope is that this improvement, along with Mark Calaway @Beketov hopefully stepping into the role of a number 1 defensemen. Overall D.C. is a very well rounded team, and if they can add a 4th defensemen, could be favourites to win the North American Conference. As of right now, the fate of D.C. rests with Jason @Jason kranz and The Frenchman @OrbitingDeath as they will both need to have great seasons for D.C. to succeed.
 
3 - Toronto Legion
Forward Rank - 12th
Defense Rank - 10th
Goalie Rank - 6th
Conference Rank - 5th
League Rank - 10th
 
Toronto is in a weird spot right now, while they do have the top end talent in every position, a lack of depth may hurt them as the season starts. However, It’s very difficult to overlook their core, and some players that are still improving on a weekly basis. Toronto is a bit of a question mark this season, but if they stay in contention until the trade deadline and use their cap space effectively, it won’t be a surprise when they repeat.
 
4 - Los Angeles Stars
Forward Rank - 2nd
Defense Rank - 12th
Goalie Rank - 9th
Conference Rank - 3rd
League Rank - 7th
 
If D.C.’s defense was an area of concern, Los Angeles’ is very much in the same boat. While LA still has one of the league’s best and most proven offenses led by Todd Cooke @KRZY and Larry Abass Jr @RileyL, Elias Lampi @Pifferfish will need to duplicate their S91 if Los Angeles is to be competitive. Los Angeles arguably has a uphill battle this season if they hope to avoid the wildcard round. With the steep drop off to the bottom 3 teams in the conference they should safely make the playoffs at least.
 
5 - New York Americans
Forward Rank - 9th
Defense Rank - 6th
Goalie Rank - 11th
Conference Rank - 4th
League Rank - 8th
 
New York? In the playoffs? That’s what we are predicting this season! @STZ hit the ground running, brining in FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY Analfist, and Malum Maellard @frescoelmo! In combination with the young rookie talents in Callum Gary Yannic Janser @Daniel Janser, WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW @rory, and Rin Kagamine @Rin. New York’s rookies are developing quickly and should make this a top team in no time. Making the playoffs would be huge for New York and for the first time in a while that is the expectation this season.
 
6 - Chicago Phoenix
Forward Rank - 13th
Defense Rank - 13th
Goalie Rank - 12th
Conference Rank - 6th
League Rank - 14th
 
The departure of Scotty Sundin @fromtheinside hurts, while most of the roster has improved, hoping for another miracle season is a far cry from the truth. While the addition of Yaroslav Trunov @qripll is an interesting move, they are similar in skill to Sundin. It will certainly be a tough season in Chicago. They are fairly well rounded and very young, there is a slight chance that Chicago at least makes the playoff race interesting, but it could be over quickly.
 
7 - Vancouver Wolves
Forward Rank - 16th
Defense Rank - 15th
Goalie Rank - 14th
Conference Rank - 8th
League Rank - 16th
 
Outside of Liv Slater @Subject056, there’s not much going on in Vancouver this season, which is expected given that their team is largely built around the S92 draft. While this season is clearly development focused in Vancouver, they should hit the ground running in S93. Vancouver could very well be in a battle for lottery odds with Seattle.
 
8 - Seattle Bears
Forward Rank - 14th
Defense Rank - 16th
Goalie Rank - 16th
Conference Rank - 7th
League Rank - 15th
 
Seattle is really taking their time with their development, while they do have some solid young players this season with Severus Targaryen @Banackock, Gustav Mathias @Berocka, Toby Kadachi @ROOKIE745, and Simons Worth Nightmare @zepheter, outside of them there isn’t much special this season, we can expect Seattle to likely be in a tank battle with Vancouver for most of this season.
 
European Conference
 
1 - Prague Phantoms
Forward Rank - 4th
Defense Rank - 1st
Goalie Rank - 5th
Conference Rank - 2nd
League Rank - 2nd
 
Prague is back! After a disappointing end to S91 which saw the team just miss the playoffs, while their roster is essentially the same as the lone addition is Spanish Moon Moth @Renomitsu, we can expect a classic revenge season here, and don’t be surprised if Prague takes the league by storm this season. John Jameson @Frank is still a top 5 player in the league, and if Matt Murdock @Acydburn can deliver some solid goaltending, Prague should cruise to a top 3 spot in the conference and maybe a Victory Cup.
 
2 - Helsinki Titans
Forward Rank - 6th
Defense Rank - 2nd
Goalie Rank - 4th
Conference Rank - 3rd
League Rank - 4th
 
Helsinki was essentially able to run it back with their S91 roster which made it to the finals, with the lone change being as a result of the Landon Wolanin @jacobcarson877 retirement, as Grimgor Ironside @FrostBeard made the jump to the VHL. With that being said, Helsinki is right behind London with their window quickly coming to a close as Pierre Emile Bouchard @Gaikoku-hito has only 1 season left, and their core is primarily S86 players with Daryl Dixon @Ricer13, Rick Grimes @tinafrombobsburgers, and Fuukka Rask @Jubis. Expect to see Helsinki be a bit more aggressive down the road. With that being said they are definitely in the top tier of teams in the league and should challenge for a cup again.
 
3 - London United
Forward Rank - 1st
Defense Rank - 5th
Goalie Rank - 1st
Conference Rank - 1st
League Rank - 1st
 
Now London is in their twilight of their window, with Molly The Cat @JCarson retiring at the end of this season, and Jesse Teno @aimkin the following season. London may only have one or two more seasons left to compete. While the roster is very complete, they do lack a true number one defensemen. However, with the league’s top offense and goaltending, that’s honestly not much of a concern. If Teno can duplicate their S91, don’t be surprised if London pushes for the top of the conference.
 
4 - Malmo Nighthawks
Forward Rank - 7th
Defense Rank - 3rd
Goalie Rank - 10th
Conference Rank - 4th
League Rank - 6th
 
Malmo is coming off of an interesting offseason, with the salary cap costing them to have to trade away one of their better forwards and also losing one of the league top defensemen. The good news is, Jacob Stone @scoop is ready to step into that number 1 role, and their forward core is still very solid. Ironically, the only question with their roster is the same as last season, Ash Sparks @DarkSpyro has now solidified themselves into the second tier of goaltenders in the league, and while functional, the need for an elite goaltender still exists. The gap from 4th to 7th is very small, and for that reason it was difficult to come to conclusions on our predictions. We have Malmo towards the front of this group, but it’s anyone’s game.
 
5 - Moscow Menace
Forward Rank - 11th
Defense Rank - 9th
Goalie Rank - 13th
Conference Rank - 7th
League Rank - 12th
 
Moscow is probably the league’s biggest question mark heading into this season. While on paper right now the team is 7th in the EU, the roster is very well balanced, and the majority of the players are very high earning meaning that the gap will close and in a hurry. A fast start to the season could be all Moscow needs to make a playoff push down the road. The roster is relatively complete, and time may just be the only thing holding Moscow back this season.
 
6 - Riga Reign
Forward Rank - 8th
Defense Rank - 14th
Goalie Rank - 15th
Conference Rank - 6th
League Rank - 11th
 
Riga turned heads last season, and that made them difficult to place this time around. While they do have offensive talent to make the playoffs again, their defense and goaltending leave something to desire. AK92 Wit da Hoodie @hedgehog337 is coming off of a career season, and could very well be the “Scotty Sundin” of this season and pull Riga to the playoffs. Additionally, while their defense and goaltending is at the lower end of the league right now, they do have plenty of potential to improve and quickly. We have Riga somewhere in the middle of that 4th to 7th area.
 
7 - Warsaw Predators
Forward Rank - 10th
Defense Rank - 7th
Goalie Rank - 8th
Conference Rank - 5th
League Rank - 9th
 
Warsaw had a very busy offseason, bringing in a lot of players to strengthen their existing core. With that being said their recently acquired goaltender only has 1 season left in their career, and with no top goalie in the system, Warsaw is in do or die mode, as with no solution their window is this season. While there could be more long term solutions available next offseason, don’t be surprised if Warsaw moves a lot to push for the cup right now. With that being said they do have a bit of an uphill battle this season as they are lacking a true number one forward and defensemen. While they could finish anywhere between 4th and 7th, it will be close.
 
8 - HC Davos Dynamo
Forward Rank - 15th
Defense Rank - 8th
Goalie Rank - 2nd
Conference Rank - 8th
League Rank - 13th
 
Davos made the move into a much needed rebuild this season, but held onto David Jokinen @Ahma, a number 1 defensemen in the current landscape, and Lachlan Summers @kirbithan, now a franchise icon, potential future Hall of Famer, and the 2nd best goalie in the league. With this Davos does have a very interesting outlook this season, as while their offense won’t be setting the world on fire, they are very solid defensively and could potentially hold out to win a few low scoring games against just about any team. With that being said, those could be few and far between.
 
Thank you for reading this season’s VHL preview! Best of luck to everyone this season!

Prague, Czechia - Under longtime general manager Acyd Burn, Spanish Moon Moth makes the transition from the European league's Stockholm Vikings to the intercontinental big-boy league in the VHL. The Moth made a splash -- sort of, anyways -- as a member of the Vikings, competing fiercely for the scoring title in the league, but ultimately falling short of the mark and an MVP. He emerged rapidly from his VHLM cocoon and a mediocre E debut season, scoring 92 points as a sophomore but still not achieving a positive plus-minus for the season despite the sweltering point total. What, then, do the rookie forward's prospects hold when brought to the big leagues?
 
In the grand scheme of things, Spanish Moon totals out at a fringe second line player who'd push through to the first line on a likely rebuilding team like Vancouver or Davos, but among competitive teams will likely get buried for playing time. The Moth will sit as an outside competitor for rookie of the year -- probably somewhere in the third to tenth range -- unlikely to get the focus required to earn the nod. Given the Moth's response to mediocre seasons thus far in his career, that might be a positive thing!

You know the drill!
 
 

Team World
Forwards
C - Spanish Moon Moth @Renomitsu
C - Mikko Borisyuk @Minebro
C - Theo Allard @InstantRockstar
C - Jeid Rohnson @TopTiddee2
RW - Carson Walker Jr. @Cwalker
RW - Thor Reingaard @N0HBDY
LW - Grimgor Ironhide @FrostBeard
LW - Behrens Minion @UnknownMinion
LW - Olumide Anderson @Theory
 
Defense
D - Leif Reingaard @Zetterberg
D - Lionel Collberg @Masu Chan
D - Celise Periera @asteria
D - Vanellope von Schweetz @Arce
 
Tendies
G - Dalkr Vidarsson @KaleebtheMighty
G - Pipo Popa @npuBeT
 
Come join me in the WJC Discord server https://discord.gg/HpAQ6hKZ
 

Prague, Czech Republic – After just one season in the Seattle Bears’ farm system, Spanish Moon Moth finds himself traded to a new team. He had just been through a week or two of the offseason when the team’s intentions came from the top, and within minutes it’d been leaked to the press at large.
 
Seattle receives:
Steve Lattimer
S92 PRG 1st
S92 PRG 2nd
S92 VAN 4th
 
Prague receives:
Spanish Moon Moth
S93 DAV 2nd
 
After being selected with a high first round pick, Spanish Moon found himself traded for a first – and some change, assuming Davos’ and Prague’s S92 picks remain roughly in the same place. The Moth hadn’t had a chance to play for the Bears before the trade, and unfortunately the Phantoms lost another asset in winger Steve Lattimer – a 50-70 point forward who had just finished his first two seasons in the league and is expected to contribute meaningfully to a contender in the near future.
 
“This did come as something of a surprise to all parties,” a representative for Spanish Moon mentioned in a recent presser, “but Moth is obviously going to continue doing his best to represent any team he’s contracted to and is expected to remain loyal to whichever team he’s on at the end of his expiring contract. No hard feelings to anyone involved in the process.”

Fart Vandelay

It's pretty dang good.
 
Fifteen new attributes. As a returning user who spent the last decade or so primarily in VHL – which has been STHS dependent as long as I’ve known the league, it was weird to return to a system that 1) changed how the attributes we add to improve our players and 2) still have them connected to the inherent attributes of STHS. It was a natural response to the rapidly-developing meta of “hey, let’s max scoring, leave out passing, and leave the rest to RNG because this is clearly the best possible build,” leaving virtually no room for secondary attributes.
 
My initial impression? It’s not a perfect system, but it does allow players to develop attributes in a manner that doesn’t match “turn brain off after maxing scoring and defense,” and finally brings to prominence some important attributes like strength and puck handling. It’s had to accomplish that by tying any competence in scoring to either very poor returns or to less desirable attributes – which is fair, as I imagine very few hockey players can make it to relevance without supporting attributes in real life. There’s certainly still a meta to producing excellent players, but it doesn’t seen quite as uniform as in prior seasons. Scoring is still obtained at an absolute premium, but other attributes are seeing some love largely because scoring is hideously expensive. You either have to 1) tie it to your passing if you want anything resembling a decent attribute to begin with, or 2) raise it at an absolute pittance (0.12 points/attribute increase) which becomes highway robbery as you scale up wrist/slapshots.
 
One could argue it makes the attribute feel “less rewarding” or “unfun” to increase scoring. I’d lean towards the former, as the league was quickly heading in a strictly unfun direction with all teams moving as close to 99 scoring/40 passing as possible. Points leaders at the end of each season – despite the league being close to its peak in COVID-19 membership – were getting rapidly out of control in a league that should have been in its theoretical apex of parity. Any pass-first player was discarded as inefficient and teams like the Vancouver Wolves rapidly became the scorn of the league. I’d know – I was on the team for Aloe Dear’s last season or two and it was a somewhat common occurrence to be told that my team was ruining the league. It’s exciting to see non-1,300 TPE players make differences in decisions when building their players. There are still some that use the checking-type builds, and checking/fighting builds are still obviously in the minority. But lots of players have excellent strength scores – especially centers with their multifaceted faceoff attribute – and virtually nobody has a gap between passing and scoring greater than 20.  There are differences between strength, skating, and puck handling for most teams, with centers having greater strength than their winger and defensive counterparts.
 
Oddly even on the high-tier teams, defensive players don’t have exorbitant strength scores. Some have opted for very high passing attributes. There’s excellent diversity in player builds, long story short, and I hope that’s here to stay.
 
And heck, even a top team like Helsinki has a dude with 56 fighting.
 
That’s awesome.

It's pretty dang good.
 
Fifteen new attributes. As a returning user who spent the last decade or so primarily in VHL – which has been STHS dependent as long as I’ve known the league, it was weird to return to a system that 1) changed how the attributes we add to improve our players and 2) still have them connected to the inherent attributes of STHS. It was a natural response to the rapidly-developing meta of “hey, let’s max scoring, leave out passing, and leave the rest to RNG because this is clearly the best possible build,” leaving virtually no room for secondary attributes.
 
My initial impression? It’s not a perfect system, but it does allow players to develop attributes in a manner that doesn’t match “turn brain off after maxing scoring and defense,” and finally brings to prominence some important attributes like strength and puck handling. It’s had to accomplish that by tying any competence in scoring to either very poor returns or to less desirable attributes – which is fair, as I imagine very few hockey players can make it to relevance without supporting attributes in real life. There’s certainly still a meta to producing excellent players, but it doesn’t seen quite as uniform as in prior seasons. Scoring is still obtained at an absolute premium, but other attributes are seeing some love largely because scoring is hideously expensive. You either have to 1) tie it to your passing if you want anything resembling a decent attribute to begin with, or 2) raise it at an absolute pittance (0.12 points/attribute increase) which becomes highway robbery as you scale up wrist/slapshots.
 
One could argue it makes the attribute feel “less rewarding” or “unfun” to increase scoring. I’d lean towards the former, as the league was quickly heading in a strictly unfun direction with all teams moving as close to 99 scoring/40 passing as possible. Points leaders at the end of each season – despite the league being close to its peak in COVID-19 membership – were getting rapidly out of control in a league that should have been in its theoretical apex of parity. Any pass-first player was discarded as inefficient and teams like the Vancouver Wolves rapidly became the scorn of the league. I’d know – I was on the team for Aloe Dear’s last season or two and it was a somewhat common occurrence to be told that my team was ruining the league. It’s exciting to see non-1,300 TPE players make differences in decisions when building their players. There are still some that use the checking-type builds, and checking/fighting builds are still obviously in the minority. But lots of players have excellent strength scores – especially centers with their multifaceted faceoff attribute – and virtually nobody has a gap between passing and scoring greater than 20.  There are differences between strength, skating, and puck handling for most teams, with centers having greater strength than their winger and defensive counterparts.
 
Oddly even on the high-tier teams, defensive players don’t have exorbitant strength scores. Some have opted for very high passing attributes. There’s excellent diversity in player builds, long story short, and I hope that’s here to stay.
 
And heck, even a top team like Helsinki has a dude with 56 fighting.
 
That’s awesome.

This is the last one of the season
 
The Form Will Close Day 2 of sims or Tuesday December 19th at 6pm EST or when sims start
 
 
 
RESPONSES
If you want to be added or removed from the ping list let me know
 

It's pretty dang good.
 
Fifteen new attributes. As a returning user who spent the last decade or so primarily in VHL – which has been STHS dependent as long as I’ve known the league, it was weird to return to a system that 1) changed how the attributes we add to improve our players and 2) still have them connected to the inherent attributes of STHS. It was a natural response to the rapidly-developing meta of “hey, let’s max scoring, leave out passing, and leave the rest to RNG because this is clearly the best possible build,” leaving virtually no room for secondary attributes.
 
My initial impression? It’s not a perfect system, but it does allow players to develop attributes in a manner that doesn’t match “turn brain off after maxing scoring and defense,” and finally brings to prominence some important attributes like strength and puck handling. It’s had to accomplish that by tying any competence in scoring to either very poor returns or to less desirable attributes – which is fair, as I imagine very few hockey players can make it to relevance without supporting attributes in real life. There’s certainly still a meta to producing excellent players, but it doesn’t seen quite as uniform as in prior seasons. Scoring is still obtained at an absolute premium, but other attributes are seeing some love largely because scoring is hideously expensive. You either have to 1) tie it to your passing if you want anything resembling a decent attribute to begin with, or 2) raise it at an absolute pittance (0.12 points/attribute increase) which becomes highway robbery as you scale up wrist/slapshots.
 
One could argue it makes the attribute feel “less rewarding” or “unfun” to increase scoring. I’d lean towards the former, as the league was quickly heading in a strictly unfun direction with all teams moving as close to 99 scoring/40 passing as possible. Points leaders at the end of each season – despite the league being close to its peak in COVID-19 membership – were getting rapidly out of control in a league that should have been in its theoretical apex of parity. Any pass-first player was discarded as inefficient and teams like the Vancouver Wolves rapidly became the scorn of the league. I’d know – I was on the team for Aloe Dear’s last season or two and it was a somewhat common occurrence to be told that my team was ruining the league. It’s exciting to see non-1,300 TPE players make differences in decisions when building their players. There are still some that use the checking-type builds, and checking/fighting builds are still obviously in the minority. But lots of players have excellent strength scores – especially centers with their multifaceted faceoff attribute – and virtually nobody has a gap between passing and scoring greater than 20.  There are differences between strength, skating, and puck handling for most teams, with centers having greater strength than their winger and defensive counterparts.
 
Oddly even on the high-tier teams, defensive players don’t have exorbitant strength scores. Some have opted for very high passing attributes. There’s excellent diversity in player builds, long story short, and I hope that’s here to stay.
 
And heck, even a top team like Helsinki has a dude with 56 fighting.
 
That’s awesome.

$20, but only because I ❤️ fresco.
 
It's still Golden Monkey.

Have to leave a lot of information out because it includes 1) a hospital I have previously worked at and 2) all of my personal information.
This one is for the Children's Miracle Network and is in USD ($134 CAD equivalent, so 67 entries). I'd like to use 33 for my entries and 34 for @Jeffie43, no particular numbers required. Happy to confirm by sending full screenshot to admins if needed!

It's pretty dang good.
 
Fifteen new attributes. As a returning user who spent the last decade or so primarily in VHL – which has been STHS dependent as long as I’ve known the league, it was weird to return to a system that 1) changed how the attributes we add to improve our players and 2) still have them connected to the inherent attributes of STHS. It was a natural response to the rapidly-developing meta of “hey, let’s max scoring, leave out passing, and leave the rest to RNG because this is clearly the best possible build,” leaving virtually no room for secondary attributes.
 
My initial impression? It’s not a perfect system, but it does allow players to develop attributes in a manner that doesn’t match “turn brain off after maxing scoring and defense,” and finally brings to prominence some important attributes like strength and puck handling. It’s had to accomplish that by tying any competence in scoring to either very poor returns or to less desirable attributes – which is fair, as I imagine very few hockey players can make it to relevance without supporting attributes in real life. There’s certainly still a meta to producing excellent players, but it doesn’t seen quite as uniform as in prior seasons. Scoring is still obtained at an absolute premium, but other attributes are seeing some love largely because scoring is hideously expensive. You either have to 1) tie it to your passing if you want anything resembling a decent attribute to begin with, or 2) raise it at an absolute pittance (0.12 points/attribute increase) which becomes highway robbery as you scale up wrist/slapshots.
 
One could argue it makes the attribute feel “less rewarding” or “unfun” to increase scoring. I’d lean towards the former, as the league was quickly heading in a strictly unfun direction with all teams moving as close to 99 scoring/40 passing as possible. Points leaders at the end of each season – despite the league being close to its peak in COVID-19 membership – were getting rapidly out of control in a league that should have been in its theoretical apex of parity. Any pass-first player was discarded as inefficient and teams like the Vancouver Wolves rapidly became the scorn of the league. I’d know – I was on the team for Aloe Dear’s last season or two and it was a somewhat common occurrence to be told that my team was ruining the league. It’s exciting to see non-1,300 TPE players make differences in decisions when building their players. There are still some that use the checking-type builds, and checking/fighting builds are still obviously in the minority. But lots of players have excellent strength scores – especially centers with their multifaceted faceoff attribute – and virtually nobody has a gap between passing and scoring greater than 20.  There are differences between strength, skating, and puck handling for most teams, with centers having greater strength than their winger and defensive counterparts.
 
Oddly even on the high-tier teams, defensive players don’t have exorbitant strength scores. Some have opted for very high passing attributes. There’s excellent diversity in player builds, long story short, and I hope that’s here to stay.
 
And heck, even a top team like Helsinki has a dude with 56 fighting.
 
That’s awesome.

“I guess it could have been worse.”
 
A dejected set of Stockholm Vikings sat rinkside after a painful sixth game against the Vasteras Iron Eagles – their fourth, now-eliminating loss. It was an incredibly close series, with no game decided by more than a couple of goals including the last, a 5-3 loss in the Vikings’ home arena. It was an especially frustrating loss after an absolute banger in the Iron Eagles’ arena, a 3-4 loss that took overtime to finally hammer out to break a 2-2 series standstill despite Vasteras having an 11-point lead over Stockholm in the regular season. Their strength of victory – represented as a +59 vs +12 goal differential for the regular season – didn’t accurately represent just how crazy close the series was. Indeed, it was the thinnest of margins possible over the course of the series without having a blowout win or loss.
 
But where does this leave the Vikings? Grimgor and Spanish Moon are going to leave at the end of this season as currently capped 400 TPE VHLE players and Oloer Syko, the team’s starting goalie, has to leave. Outside of that, the team will largely stay intact and try for another run at the VHLE title.

It's pretty dang good.
 
Fifteen new attributes. As a returning user who spent the last decade or so primarily in VHL – which has been STHS dependent as long as I’ve known the league, it was weird to return to a system that 1) changed how the attributes we add to improve our players and 2) still have them connected to the inherent attributes of STHS. It was a natural response to the rapidly-developing meta of “hey, let’s max scoring, leave out passing, and leave the rest to RNG because this is clearly the best possible build,” leaving virtually no room for secondary attributes.
 
My initial impression? It’s not a perfect system, but it does allow players to develop attributes in a manner that doesn’t match “turn brain off after maxing scoring and defense,” and finally brings to prominence some important attributes like strength and puck handling. It’s had to accomplish that by tying any competence in scoring to either very poor returns or to less desirable attributes – which is fair, as I imagine very few hockey players can make it to relevance without supporting attributes in real life. There’s certainly still a meta to producing excellent players, but it doesn’t seen quite as uniform as in prior seasons. Scoring is still obtained at an absolute premium, but other attributes are seeing some love largely because scoring is hideously expensive. You either have to 1) tie it to your passing if you want anything resembling a decent attribute to begin with, or 2) raise it at an absolute pittance (0.12 points/attribute increase) which becomes highway robbery as you scale up wrist/slapshots.
 
One could argue it makes the attribute feel “less rewarding” or “unfun” to increase scoring. I’d lean towards the former, as the league was quickly heading in a strictly unfun direction with all teams moving as close to 99 scoring/40 passing as possible. Points leaders at the end of each season – despite the league being close to its peak in COVID-19 membership – were getting rapidly out of control in a league that should have been in its theoretical apex of parity. Any pass-first player was discarded as inefficient and teams like the Vancouver Wolves rapidly became the scorn of the league. I’d know – I was on the team for Aloe Dear’s last season or two and it was a somewhat common occurrence to be told that my team was ruining the league. It’s exciting to see non-1,300 TPE players make differences in decisions when building their players. There are still some that use the checking-type builds, and checking/fighting builds are still obviously in the minority. But lots of players have excellent strength scores – especially centers with their multifaceted faceoff attribute – and virtually nobody has a gap between passing and scoring greater than 20.  There are differences between strength, skating, and puck handling for most teams, with centers having greater strength than their winger and defensive counterparts.
 
Oddly even on the high-tier teams, defensive players don’t have exorbitant strength scores. Some have opted for very high passing attributes. There’s excellent diversity in player builds, long story short, and I hope that’s here to stay.
 
And heck, even a top team like Helsinki has a dude with 56 fighting.
 
That’s awesome.

It's pretty dang good.
 
Fifteen new attributes. As a returning user who spent the last decade or so primarily in VHL – which has been STHS dependent as long as I’ve known the league, it was weird to return to a system that 1) changed how the attributes we add to improve our players and 2) still have them connected to the inherent attributes of STHS. It was a natural response to the rapidly-developing meta of “hey, let’s max scoring, leave out passing, and leave the rest to RNG because this is clearly the best possible build,” leaving virtually no room for secondary attributes.
 
My initial impression? It’s not a perfect system, but it does allow players to develop attributes in a manner that doesn’t match “turn brain off after maxing scoring and defense,” and finally brings to prominence some important attributes like strength and puck handling. It’s had to accomplish that by tying any competence in scoring to either very poor returns or to less desirable attributes – which is fair, as I imagine very few hockey players can make it to relevance without supporting attributes in real life. There’s certainly still a meta to producing excellent players, but it doesn’t seen quite as uniform as in prior seasons. Scoring is still obtained at an absolute premium, but other attributes are seeing some love largely because scoring is hideously expensive. You either have to 1) tie it to your passing if you want anything resembling a decent attribute to begin with, or 2) raise it at an absolute pittance (0.12 points/attribute increase) which becomes highway robbery as you scale up wrist/slapshots.
 
One could argue it makes the attribute feel “less rewarding” or “unfun” to increase scoring. I’d lean towards the former, as the league was quickly heading in a strictly unfun direction with all teams moving as close to 99 scoring/40 passing as possible. Points leaders at the end of each season – despite the league being close to its peak in COVID-19 membership – were getting rapidly out of control in a league that should have been in its theoretical apex of parity. Any pass-first player was discarded as inefficient and teams like the Vancouver Wolves rapidly became the scorn of the league. I’d know – I was on the team for Aloe Dear’s last season or two and it was a somewhat common occurrence to be told that my team was ruining the league. It’s exciting to see non-1,300 TPE players make differences in decisions when building their players. There are still some that use the checking-type builds, and checking/fighting builds are still obviously in the minority. But lots of players have excellent strength scores – especially centers with their multifaceted faceoff attribute – and virtually nobody has a gap between passing and scoring greater than 20.  There are differences between strength, skating, and puck handling for most teams, with centers having greater strength than their winger and defensive counterparts.
 
Oddly even on the high-tier teams, defensive players don’t have exorbitant strength scores. Some have opted for very high passing attributes. There’s excellent diversity in player builds, long story short, and I hope that’s here to stay.
 
And heck, even a top team like Helsinki has a dude with 56 fighting.
 
That’s awesome.

From @Cusemode

Ever wanted to be a guest on @Spartan 's podcast? Now is your opportunity.
 
He's offering a guest spot on his podcast.
You can make fun of him and ask him things like:
Why he falls asleep to Ben Shapiros podcast
Why is he so bad at league of legends
Why does New Jersey always smell
 
Starting bid: $2
Minimum Raise: $2

S91 Seattle Bears Season Awards

 
ALL PLAYERS
Regular Season:
Markus Strauss Award - Most Goals (34)
Svatopluk Puk @Otaznik
 
Hulk Hogan Award - Most Assists
Rex Wolffe Gregor @oilmandan (57)
 
Felix Peters Award - Most Points Award
Rex Wolffe Gregor @oilmandan (79)
 
Gabriel McMVP Award 
Rex Wolffe Gregor  @oilmandan
 
James Lefevre Award - Most Penalty Minutes
Rex Wolffe Gregor @oilmandan (120)
 
Karsten Olsen Award - Most Hits
Rex Wolffe Gregor @oilmandan and Toby Kadachi @ROOKIE745 (165)
 
Heavyweight Belt - Most Fights
Rex Wolffe Gregor @oilmandan and Toby Kadachi @ROOKIE745 (4)
 
Matt Thompson Award - Most Shots Blocked
Simons Worst Nightmare @zepheter (265)
 
Timothy Brown Award - Most Game Winning Goals
Rex Wolffe Gregor @oilmandan  (6)
 
Vyacheslav Smirnov Award - Top Rookie Award
Simons Worst Nightmare - @zepheter
 
Playoffs:
Rayz Funk Award - Top Playoff Performer

DMEN
Mitch Higgins Award - Top Overall D-man
Rex Wolffe Gregor @oilmandan 
 
Maxim Kovalchuk Award - Top Offensive D-man
Rex Wolffe Gregor @oilmandan 
 
Patrice Reynaud Award - Top Defensive D-man
Simons Worst Nightmare @zepheter 
 
GOALIE
Jakab Holik Award - Goalie Showcase
Clueless Wallob @DMaximus
24-30-8 --.926SV% -- 2.94GAA -- 0SO
 
BONUS
Spirit Bear Award  - @oilmandan
 
The Spirit Bear award is chosen each off-season by the GM of the Bears. There could be a lot of reasons why a member might be chosen and each season an explanation will/might be given. It's a thank you. It's an appreciation of what you've done for Seattle or maybe through that the VHL. You're deserving! Maybe you've overcome something crazy in life or have kicked it up an extra notch in the VHL TPE earning department. It's a good award for good things that are good. So, what's the catch?
 
The winner picks a charity of their choosing (I'd like to know why IF you're comfortable with sharing) and I will donate $10! I know it isn't much, but it's something.. and I mean, think of if I would have started this in Season 49.
 
Rex Wolffe Gregor, who goes under the username @oilmandan, has been a Bear more times that I can remember. It all started back with Dan Willinsky and seems to be back with every single player. Before we dive any deeper, sorry about that, Dan, lol. When we traded for him all those seasons ago, he immediately made a huge impact on the team, locker room and behind the scenes. He was a tad more involved when it came to the daily locker room and helping out with the council, but from S69 and onward, his role with the team has never changed. He's collected cups with the team, tons of amazing seasons and has helped me out so much. I have a group of people on here who are the most important. I'm not saying others aren't important but there's just a group I hold dear. They're loyal. They're honest. They're amazing people who don't judge, are kind and just accept everyone for who they are. We've enjoyed hours and hours of talks and keep in touch on what's going on in life - even if we haven't been connected to teams in seasons or even sometimes - YEARS! Dan fits into this group. One of my favourite people on this league and one of the members I trust the most with all of my and Seattle's secrets. Amazing member and an even better person who I'm fortunate enough to have met and continue a VHL relationship with to this day!
 
OMD, OMD, OMD! Thank you for all you've done for Seattle. I know you always chat and mention "this could be the last player" and all that shit, but I truly hope you keep coming back dude to whatever extent is comfortable for you. Age has no limits on these leagues no more. We've all grown with them. It's fantasy hockey and the league and my experience are certainly better with you part of it. CHEERS DUDE! With that being said, I asked,  "What's a charity fund/organization that you would donate to if you could right now? and why?" and Danny boy said "I'm always a fan of the stollery or the Alberta cancer foundation. I give to both every year. If I had to pick one right now I'd go stollery.
 
https://www.childrenshospital.ab.ca/

 
 
 

Huge thanks to @Jason kranz for helping me with this round!
 
The Form Will Close Day 2 of sims or Wednesday December 13th at 6pm EST or when Sims Start
 
 
 
RESPONSES
If you want to be added or removed from the ping list let me know
 

Annual watch fresco drink a six pack of your choosing in one sitting, live on discord voice chat

IT's PLAYOFF TIME!!!
 
The Form Will Close Saturday December 9th at 6pm EST or when Sims Start
 
 
 
RESPONSES
If you want to be added or removed from the ping list let me know
 

Stockholm, Sweden – What started off as a miserable VHLE debut last season has turned into a success story for Spanish Moon Moth. The underperforming winged giant barely made it past the 25 point mark for the Bratislava Watchmen in S90, but two-thirds of the way through this VHLE season has managed a startling 62 points. There’s something left to be desired in the team results department, of course – he’s managing a mere -3 in plus-minus to a scarcely-positive stat last season and the Vikings are now fifth in VHLE playoff contention – but his individual success is on display for all to see.
 
“There’s something to be said about offense, certainly,” a representative for the Moth said at a recent press conference, “but the point of the game is to score more goals than your opponent, and Spanish Moon understands that they are at least as culpable on the defensive end of the ice as he is responsible for goals and assists on the other side. It’s a frustrating process for everyone involved and they want to see it through to the end.”
 
Some players are gearing up for what’s sure to be an eventful VHL draft in a handful of weeks; Spanish Moon, on the other hand, is struggling to make sure his team’s season is a long as it can be.