HearnNation67

Woody McPine RB +15 (50-65) SC +15 (50-65) HS +15 (50-65) RT +15 (50-65) AG +5 (50-55) PS +5 (50-55)

Game 40 of season 71 saw the Minnesota Storm play arguably their most complete game of the year to date. Backed by solid goaltending (finally) from young tendy Woody McPine and a high powered offense, the Storm surged past the Houston Bulls 9-2. Led by a monster 4 goal, 3 assist performance by top prospect (and former Bulls player) Aleelee Kiak, the Storm seemed unstoppable all night long. Perhaps a sign of what this team can really do if McPine can get his shit together. Robin Winter (2g,3a) and Danny DeYeeto (1g,4a) each chipped in 5 points in the game, while Dick Cheezy put up 3 assists and Valtteri Vaakanainen had 2. Alex Burrows and Squirrely dan each scored once for the Storm, while Jack Feriancek and Latrell Mitchell both contributed an assist. Riley Walker and JJ Johnson scored for the Bulls, with assists coming from Gregg Stallion, Jimothy Frost, and Walker. Word count:152

Woody McPine is a young goaltender with tremendous potential to do big things in the league. Under contract with the Prague Phantoms in the VHL, he is currently the starting goaltender for the VHLMs Minnesota Storm. Everyone knows that goalies are the weirdest players in the league, so we did a little investigating into the off-ice lifestyle of Mr. McPine. Question: First off, Woody, what’s your gameday ritual look like? Woody: Wake up, make breakfast. 3-4 eggs, some bacon, toast, and a smoothie. Go for a pregame skate, go home/ back to the hotel eat lunch and laze around a bit. Probably play some Chel or Fortnite. I’m bad at both. Then have a nap, eat some dinner and head to the rink and pump some tunes and chill until its time to get ready. Q: Any go to songs on your pregame playlist? Or just a random shuffle? W: I start off with just a random playlist, depending on my mood, and then end with some classic pump up tunes. Some Guns N’ Roses, ACDC, Motley Crew, Crazy Frog, and Weird Al are always in there, as well as some local bangers like The Trews, Craymak, Joel Plaskett, Sloan. I always end off with the greatest Nova Scotia party song of all time, The Mull River Shuffle by The Rankin Family. Gets me amped as all hell. Q: What do you do on your days off? W: I like to sleep in and have a late brunch at little local spots. I’m a big fan of discovering new brunch places when I visit a city. Then I head to the gym for a couple hours before heading home to watch Netflix and lose at video games. After dinner I like to go for a walk around the city, get some fresh air. Sometimes I check out antique and thrift stores. I’ve got a huge pin collection back at my parents’ place, so I’m always looking to add to that. Then head home or to one of the boys’ place and have some beers. Q: Now, you grew up in a small town. How has that helped you on your path to success? W: Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money for video games and things, so I was often outside. I think that helped a lot with general fitness because there’s not a lot of sitting around when you’re outside being a little shit. We played a lot of street hockey, backyard baseball, and climbed a lot of trees. I was a bit reckless and was never afraid of hurting myself which I think is part of why I found my place on the ice as a goalie. Q: If you weren’t a hockey player, what do you think you’d be doing? W: I wasn’t a very good student in school, so college or university definitely wouldn’t be an option. I’d probably be at home working the family tree farm, on my way to co-ownership with my brother. Word Count: 501

Woody McPine Goalie No thanks

F - Patrik Tallinder @pennypenny

D - Berocka Sundqvist @solas

1. Thanks! Everyone has been great, very friendly folks. 2. Ultimately, I want to win as many championships as possible, and to become the best goalie that I can be. 3. I'm hoping to learn from their wealth of experience, how to succeed and stay relevant for my whole career. 4. My goals with Minnesota are to train hard and become the best possible goalie to be ready for my big league call up, and in doing so, help the Storm to back to back 'ships. 5. Platypus. Easily the most badass animal. I'd love to be an egg laying, milk sweating, venomous spur having, waterproof mammal that people believed to be fake. Plus the ability to literally close my ears would be very helpful with the media. 6. I think a defenceman. The idea of leveling someone with a huge hipcheck as they skate over the blueline speaks to me.

+10 Woody McPine

F - Shawnomir Jagr @pennypenny

G- Greg Eagles @solas

D - Michael Gary Scott @pennypenny

F - Mat Tocco @solas you're up

Rona Szn Baby Hello hockey fans, quick update from the camp of Woody McPine regarding the Covid-19 pandemic. Woody would like all the fans, players, managers, and anybody else reading this, that he is having no symptoms of the coronavirus. He is still taking precautions, though, staying isolated at his family tree farm for as long as possible before the season starts. He urges everyone to be careful, safe, healthy, and listen to what the experts are saying. They’re experts for a reason. Woody urges everybody to stay home as much as possible. That being said, Woody is very excited to get back on the ice with his new team, the Minnesota Storm. He’s being doing a lot of work in the offseason to prepare for his second year in the VHLM, hoping to have a better year and bring home a championship. He has installed some synthetic ice in his parents’ yard and got his family to shoot pucks at him to keep him in game shape, as well as communicating with professional trainers to come up with a good, at home, fitness routine. He believes he’s in the best shape of his life and hopes that will translate to the new season. Woody would like to extend a huge thank you to diamond_ace of the Prague Phantoms and to Rayzor_7 from the Storm for seeing the potential in his game and drafting him. He was pleasantly surprised at his position in the draft and is working hard to make sure he isn’t a bust. He’s looking forward to meeting the teams and knocking back a few waters with the boys (he is still 17 after all). Everyone he’s been chatting with so far seem very friendly and he feels they’ll all have the good chemistry needed, along with the skill, to make a run for the cup. Looking ahead to the next season, Woody fully expects to stay in Minnesota (barring a trade or injury in Prague), and can’t wait to help the team with their championship defense and run it back for another ‘ship (his first of course). He’s looking to build on that experience in order to help out the Phantoms as soon as possible, potentially S72 as Brick Wahl is retiring, but won’t be disappointed at all if he stays with the Storm for another year to help build his game to the elite level he expects from himself. After the success he had in high school, Woody is looking to regain that feeling as a pro and knows that the key to success is hard work and teamwork. He demonstrated some of that teamwork last year with Las Vegas, leading all VHLM goalies with 8 assists in only 33 games. What a beauty, perhaps he should consider a position change if the whole stopping pucks thing doesn’t work out. I’ll end off with a direct quote from the man himself. “Looking forward to getting back at it with the boys, knocking out a few Ws, lifting that trophy over our heads. See everyone on the ice in a couple days!” Word count:516

1. Thank you! Very happy to go to a team with such a deep history, plus the climate is very similar to home, which I'm looking forward to. Thanks to Rayzor for having faith in me. 2. I hope so! I've been putting in work this offseason to better my game, but Hextall left some big skates to fill. 3. Absolutely, I love designing a fresh mask. I don't have any ideas as of yet, but I'm always thinking. Maybe something to honour the heritage of the team. 4. It's exciting. I'll always be greatful to the team that brought me into the league. But at the same time, looking forward to taking the old boys down! 5. I think we have a real chance, we have a good group of veteran VHML players looking to increase their stock before being called up to the big leagues. But time will tell of course. 6. One or two at least yeah, always open to tips and tricks for quick improvement though!

I'm in

1. I don't really have any expectations as to who or when I'll go, but I guess I'm going to go in one of the middle rounds. 2. Right now, I'm just focusing on what I can control. Working on my reflexes, rebound control, and some other aspects of my game. 3. I am, yeah. Planning on meeting with a goalie coach to focus on technique before the next season starts. 4. That's a tough one. There are so many great goalies out there, but I think JB Rift would be a good mentor. He's been around for a good amount of time and has had some pretty successful seasons. 5. It's a controversial decision for sure, but I think as long as everyone is careful and follows proper precautions, we'll be fine. I'm happy that I'll still get a chance to play. 6. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who is considering drafting me. I look forward to playing with whichever organization wants me and bringing home some championships.

Woody will be available to the media for questioning.

Under The Belt With my first (partial) season in the VHLM finished, I thought I would do a little reflection on the year. It was a huge honor to be signed by the Las Vegas Aces to be their starting goaltender. It started off a bit slow, taking 6 games to get my first win against the Halifax 21st. It felt like fate, I had my friends and family at that game. It was a tight game, Hex Valentine played great for the 21st, but we managed to come back from down 2 goals to send the game to OT, thanks to The Boi getting the tying goal. Big shout out to Julian Dalvao for getting the goal and helping me get that first W, and the rest of the boys who all played their hearts out. The rest of the season was full of ups and downs, and I finished with just 7 wins, along with 23 regulation losses and 3 OT losses. Next season (wherever that may be), I hope I can have a better win percentage, as well as improve my save % (0.855) and goals against average (5.31). While I would’ve liked to get more wins, we still managed to squeak into the playoffs in 8th place to play the mighty Minnesota Storm, who had finished in 1st place. This set the stage for a monumental upset and some great stories. Unfortunately, we couldn’t pull it off and got swept in 4 games. While my save % improved from the regular season (up to 0.877), my GAA took a hit (6.25). Clearly, I have some work to do this offseason if I want to have a long career as a starter in the VHL. My plans for the offseason so far are pretty lowkey. I’ll be heading back home to stay with and help out my parents at the tree farm. I’ve saved up most of the money from my first year salary and plan on buying them some new equipment and maybe some more land. I also have plans to donate some money back to my community, repaying all those who helped me along the way, and as well, I’d like to set up a charity in my sister’s name. Hopefully it will focus on road safety, both for drivers and pedestrians. I have plans to meet up with some former teammates from school throughout the summer to work out, do some general training, and just have some fun. Hopefully I’ll see them in the league next year with me. Toward the end of summer, though, I have plans to meet a goalie coach to work on some aspects of my game that need work. I want to be as focused as possible going into next season and do my best to bring a championship to whichever city drafts me. I’m happy to play anywhere, as long as the team wants me to be there. Looking forward to getting back on the ice and seeing the guys again. - Woody Word count: 505

Part I - Pick em' (Pick the correct winners of all three games for 2 TPE) Game 3 - Moscow Menace @ Calgary Wranglers Game 4 - Moscow Menace @ Calgary Wranglers Game 5 - Calgary Wranglers @ Moscow Menace Part II - Predict the Score (Predict the correct score and winner of this game for 3 TPE) Game 5 - Calgary Wranglers @ Moscow Menace 4-3 Part III - Player Predictions (Predict the correct player for each category, 1 TPE for each correct answer) Series leader in points: Smitty Werbenjagermanjen Series leader in goals: Jet Jaguar Series leader in assists: Smitty Werbenjagermanjen Who has the series PIM lead: Charlie Paddywagon Who scores the series winning goal: Oskar Lagesson

1. Not good enough, unfortunately 2. Minnesota. If they can beat us, they can beat anyone 3. 6 4. Leon Gutzwiler 5. Jaxx Hextall 6. San Diego

1) With the VHL draft coming up, who do you think will go #1? 2) You're 3 games into your career with Yukon, how are you settling in so far? 3) Who do you credit the most to your success so far? 4) You've come into the league as a RW, did you play any other positions growing up? 5) What's your pregame routine like? 6) Any superstitions?

1. It's been a great experience so far! Learned lots about what it takes to win. I still have a lot to improve on though. 2. It just seemed to come naturally to me. Since the first time I stepped on the pond, I was always able to stop pucks. 3. Honestly, I'm not really sure how the drafting process works. It would be nice to be selected by a team where I get the chance to thrive and help bring home a cup. 4.I'm a huge fan of his rebound control and try to work on my own whenever I get the chance. 5. Getting my first career victory in game 243 against Halifax meant a lot to me. 6. No Comment.

Woody McPine is available to the media, answering any and all questions in a somewhat timely manner.

1. Hank McKill seems like a well rounded defender! Looking forward to having him block pucks in front of me. 2. I think we have a good shot of keeping our spot. I plan on cheering from the sidelines as I'm not playing yet. 3. Good drafting and trading by the teams at the top, coupled with several teams going through a rebuild. 4. They're a well rounded team, I think they'll ride the momentum straight to the finals. 5. I'll be honest, I don't know how to tell if someone is recreated or a new create. 6. Still on the sidelines until S71, so I'll continue to train until then!

3-0 Malmo