sterling

Time to put @sterling back in charge of the money

The Freak Draft

Aside from the original dispersal draft, I don’t think any draft comes close to the Season 18 draft in terms of depth. I’ve been around since just after said dispersal draft and while I’ve seen good players get drafted out of the 3rd round (Harvey Singh, Matt Fletcher, Mason Dixon, Jardy Bunclewirth), they were always guys who came out of no where, and had no expectations. Meanwhile, we had guys like Joey Clarence get drafted in the 3rd round of the Season 18 draft. Nobody had low expectations for him. The strength of this draft goes from top to bottom, with one of the best prospects in VHL history, Daisuke Kanou, headlining the class. In the end, I can’t see any draft ever topping Season 18, because Season 18 was easily stronger than any other draft class. No other draft class really comes close, which is why the Season 18 draft has been named “The Freak Draft”.

Even though the draft only happened two seasons ago, and many of the draftees have still yet to make their full impact on the league, we are already saying that the Season 18 draft is the best we’ll ever see. The Season 18 draft is to VHL drafts what Shaun White is to freestyle snowboarding. Nobody comes close to them at the top.

Was the talent of the Season 18 draft easy to detect from the beginning, when players just started to declare for it? Many of these players, before entering The Freak Draft, were entered into the Season 17 VHLM draft. General Managers like Alex Stoyanovich of the Kolari Panthers were the first people who had the opportunity to realize what was coming up in the future.

”When I made my draft board during the offseason, the talent of both the highly scouted players and the unknown commodities already intrigued me. Then, after the preseason started, so much more top-end talent declared their VHL draft eligibility that the player I targeted for fourth overall before the draft ended up falling to us at the tenth spot.” – Alex Stoyanovich

Even at this point, the draft class looked stronger than any other in VHL history. However, it was up to the draftees to remain diligent in their practice, and to stay active. Other drafts have had a good amount of talent at the beginning of their draft season, but at the end, several had gone inactive. This was hardly the case for the Season 18 class. In fact, more players had joined the mix such as Aidan Shaw, Mathias Chouinard, Hamza Ahmed, Roman Andreev, and Abdullah Jabir.

So what motivated these players to go on? Many players, especially those with newer agents, fade away during the season because of discouragement. Especially in such a deep draft, with so much talent, what made some of these guys stick around?

"I think anyone wants to make a name for themselves when people are focusing on other individuals. While it's nice to get attention as a higher pick, I felt pretty motivated because I could be that steal of the draft. Whether or not I was in the spotlight at the time of the draft, I know if I work hard enough that I will be in that light eventually." – Michael Angelo

”On one side, I felt as though that despite my great work ethic coming into the VHL, people considered the other prospects to be better than me and that I could maybe never be as good as any of them. However, this motivated me to try and prove that I could do it to others and to myself. Right now, I consider myself the best prospect heading up to the VHL, so while I was discouraged at first, that discouragement quickly changed to motivation for me.” – Mathias Chouinard

”I hated being thought of as inferior, but a lot of people thought down on me as a prospect because of my inexperience. The thought that Shaw is better than me is one of the biggest things that keeps me working hard, and the fact that he's on a rival team makes it sweeter.” – Joey Clarence


Joey Clarence going to Seattle

The mindset displayed by these players is a mindset that many players should demonstrate. This draft took place when players were getting unheralded amounts of carry-over from previous players. Now, with the TPE carry-over cap coming into play, we hope to see more new players with this mindset in the future.

Coming into draft day, there was no question as to who would go first overall to the HC Davos Dynamo. The 6’4”, 200 lbs Japanese goaltender from Tokyo, Daisuke Kanou, was a shoe-in for that position. The man they call “Godzilla” back in his homeland was seen as one of the greatest prospects we’ve ever encountered in our league’s great history. It just added to the theory that when Japan makes something, they make sure they do it best.

”Goaltending wise, I'd say he's the best prospect ever and it will definitely take a long time (if ever) for another goaltender to bypass what Kanou did pre-draft. He has all the potential in the world and although he wasn't the first goalie taken first overall, he definitely had the most hype.” – Lars Berger

To nobody’s surprise, the big man ended up going 1st overall. After Kanou, however, is where things got interesting. While the Japanese goalie was easily ahead of everyone else, after him was anybody’s guess. There were a number of players who could have gone 2nd overall, and some of those players even fell to the 2nd round.

”Well, with such a deep draft, I honestly had no idea where I would end up going, I only spoke with two teams before the draft. As I was listening in, I was very nervous and had no idea where I would go. Davos finally selected me at 16th and I was very happy to be going there.” – Pekka Jarmuth

From a General Manager’s perspective, there was a lot of work that went into constructing a good draft list. With such a deep draft, it didn’t come down to picking the best player available in round 1, and then picking a random nobody in rounds 2 and 3. Preparing for a draft like this involved much more work prior to the event in order for GMs to ensure that they knew who they wanted at which position. As a former GM, I can say that I never did all that much work on draft day, but I can also say that I was a crummy GM. However, in my defense, most of the drafts I was a general manager for had a clear hierarchy in terms of player rankings. For example, the Season 11 draft featured a clearly defined top 3. Another Japanese player, Ginzou Fujiwara, would be the 1st overall pick to the now defunct Vasteras IK. Leander Kaelin would go 2nd to Calgary, and that left me to pick Carl Jacobs at 3rd overall.


Carl Jacobs on draft day

The toughest draft that I was involved in would be my last draft: the Season 12 draft. That was the year of the big 3: Geoff Gartner, Devon De La Soul, and Matt Bailey. For me, my 1st overall pick would not only become the face of the franchise, but would also take over for me as the general manager of the Helsinki Titans. I contacted all 3 of these men, asking them if they were interested in the job. De La Soul told me that he was not interested, and Gartner told me that he was. I got no response from Bailey until the day of the draft, when everyone (myself included) thought I was picking Geoff Gartner 1st overall. Bailey told me that he was interested in GMing the team, and since he had more TPE than Gartner, I changed my mind at the last minute and surprised everyone. In hindsight, it was the right pick. Gartner would retire only a couple seasons in to his career, while Bailey would take Helsinki to a Continental Cup, and played 8 glorious seasons. He eventually became a teammate of my new client, J.D. Stormwall. What I’m trying to say is that the draft can change things drastically for your team. Without Jacobs and Bailey, the Titans would not have won their 2nd Continental Cup, and I likely would have been known as one of the worst GMs of all time.

In a draft as deep as Season 18, even more pressure is put on the GMs to make the right choices, as they are more at risk to criticism if their picked player fails while everyone around them succeeds. Think of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, where the New York Rangers drafted Hugh Jessiman. Jessiman, at the time, was a great pick, but he is now known as the only player drafted in the 1st round of that draft to never player an NHL game.

”Making the actual picks wasn't all that difficult, but preparing for the draft took a lot of work. I spent a lot of time contacting practically every draftee, from Daisuke Kanou to Kobe Bryant. I began making lists of what the draftees had done and how they had progressed about halfway through Season 17. When it came to making the actual picks, though, I was pretty sure on whom I wanted; there wasn't even that much deliberation before the draft.” – Geno Esposito

Esposito would pick big Finnish center, Jukka Hakkinen, 3rd overall. Following his pick wee the Seattle Bears, who would end up taking Anton Brekker, which began a series of issues between draftee and team.

”After the draft, it didn’t take long before the attitude came out. Brekker had said to Sandro that he didn’t want to play in Seattle because we were not in the process of winning. I had no idea this had been said until after the draft had taken place. We ended up getting him to play in Seattle, but only for a season before we were forced to trade him.” – Greg Harbinson

”Anton had come to me multiple times complaining about being on a losing team and threatening to stop showing up to practice. I managed to calm him down the first couple of times, and everything seemed to go back to normal, but the third and final time, he said he said he would retire unless I traded him. So I started searching for a deal; we needed defensemen badly at the time and had a large pool of forwards, so I wasn't super worried. Greg had been talking to Madrid while I was speaking to New York, and I wasn't ecstatic over the deal that was lined up. But Anton had now started causing problems in the locker room, and drove our captain, Markus Strauss, to tell me to choose between him or Brekker. Considering Brekker was the one that wanted out, I complied, taking the deal from Madrid for Mason Dixon. Brekker bounced around to a few more teams and I just laughed when he wore out his welcome so quickly in Madrid and Calgary. We got rid of a cancer with a $5,000,000 salary.” – Sandro Desaulniers


Anton Brekker on draft day, pretending to be happy?

It is clear that the two general managers of the Seattle Bears were less than impressed by Brekker’s antics, but Brekker made sure that I knew his side of the story as well.

”I decided that I wanted to go back to school and study, instead of practicing in the VHL. I contacted GM Sandro Desaulniers and he did everything he could to get me to stay. It was good on his part because it bought him a few weeks to decide what he wants to do. I then requested a trade, in order to help the team that drafted me get something in return for a prospect who will likely stop coming to practice. The thing is, I decided that I wanted to just stop practicing, but stay on a contending team in hopes of having a cup or two when I came back to the league in full. I questioned GM Sandro on trading me to Madrid, when his co-GM said some things about me that I didn’t like. That's when the motivation kicked in. I decided not to avoid practices, and to keep playing. Seattle has been hurting from the trade, since the recent retirement of Dixon. This makes me happy. – Anton Brekker

While there was no shortage of drama within the top few picks of this draft, the real interesting part of the draft came was we exited the first 10-12 picks and started to see if we would find any steals, even amongst all the amazing depth this draft boasted. I decided to ask a few players about who they thought has been the steal of the draft so far, and while some were humble…

"That is a very difficult question to answer. With the season eighteen draft class, there is more then just a few names. As you can see with the Calgary Wranglers’ picks, there is quality late in the draft as well. I would have to say Mathias Chouinard is the steal of that draft class. He has been a dominant factor for Minot and is incredibly hard to handle on the rush. Hats off to Calgary for that pick." – Michael Angelo

”For now, I have to say that it’s Joey Clarence. Seattle is an up-and-coming team at the moment and his performance has not gone unnoticed. The fact that he went one pick before myself and still managed to hit the VHL this season is a testament to his work ethic. Seattle has a real gem on their hands if he keeps it up.” – Mathias Chouinard

…Others were not as modest.

”I think it’s me. Not even being biased here, but when a team can get a franchise goalie - a guy who shows tons of potential in his first pro season - in the third round of a draft, I just don't think anything can top that. Any of those who say that its Aidan Shaw are just idiotic Toronto fans that don't realize that he has a lot of talent in front of him.” – Joey Clarence

Every draft has people forecasting its “winners and losers”. A winner is a team that gets the best value possible out of as many picks as possible, while a loser is the exact opposite. They either get no value out of their picks, or have no picks at all. Especially in the Season 18 draft, it hurt teams like Madrid and Helsinki to have no picks until later in the draft. However, a team like Calgary was able to make the best of it, and got 2 strong players out of the 3rd round.


Mathias Chouinard going to Calgary on draft day

”It's hard to pick a winner, because so many teams won in their own way. Toronto laid the foundation of a team that will win at least one Continental Cup. Calgary didn't pick in the first two rounds and somehow still ended up with some great players. Riga and New York both ended up with players who now reside in their front offices. Even Seattle, who doesn't have the player they picked fourth anymore, got their franchise goaltender in the third round.” – Alex Stoyanovich

When we look back at the first 20 seasons of the VHL, there is no draft that stands out more than the season 18 draft, despite the fact that it is still a very young draft. Comparing other drafts to this one is difficult, but both late round picks and top picks of the season 18 draft had different experiences than those in other drafts.

"For the most part, it was a completely different experience. There's definitely some similarities between the two draft class' 3rd rounders, as we were both somewhat forgotten, but it was for completely different reasons. Players like myself were practically unknown at the time, and were selected as an afterthought crapshoot, pretty much. The late-round picks in the S18 draft were known, but they were simply buried by the plethora of talent before them. Look at a guy like Joey Clarence; he would be a slam-dunk 1st rounder in any other draft, possibly even a top four pick. But he fell all the way to 19th, because only about two teams needed goalies, and there were other prospects better than him at that point. I was drafted 18th overall in my draft, but I just as easily could have gone later, or not at all. Guys like Eric Lajeunesse, Roman Andreev, Mathias Chouinard, and Hamza Ahmed would have never gone undrafted. In most other drafts, they were 2nd rounders at worst. Players like Mason Dixon and myself would have went 4th round in that draft. Someone like Harvey Singh wouldn't have been drafted at all." – Jardy Bunclewirth

“My draft was viewed as a very weak draft just because it couldn't compare to season 18. The 18th season received a blessing from God, and although season 19 was still a very strong draft, not a single draft in VHL history could compare to season 18.” – Jaroslav Oslig

From Daisuke Kanou at #1 to Abdullah Jabir at #22, this draft is an anomaly in VHL history. Nothing like this has ever been seen before, and it’s doubtful that anything like this will ever happen again. Having 3 full rounds of (at the time) active players is something the VHL had, prior to season 18, only dreamt of, and our dreams came true when this star-studded class came through.

The scary thing is that these players only have 2 seasons as professionals under their belt, and they can stay for up to 6 more. The season 18 draft’s growing influence on the VHL has only begun, and by the time Season 25 comes to a close, we could have some new VHL legends to look up to.

End of Part 3
Special thanks to everyone who responded to my PMs.  

Yes, I think it went Scotty - Slobo - me - Walser

LOL I thought the same thing when I read this. Although I did write some of them, many were written by others. 1-20 would primarily belong to Zero.

Yes, I think it went Scotty - Slobo - me - Walser

Agreed.

Buying equipment reminds me of like 2007 sim league days.

There's no time like the present!

My God, inflation has even made it to the VHL!

My God, inflation has even made it to the VHL!

My God, inflation has even made it to the VHL!

My God, inflation has even made it to the VHL!

My God, inflation has even made it to the VHL!

My God, inflation has even made it to the VHL!

You've become the forum old man. Sad!
 
But good to see you're still alive, friend.

This is an impressive article indeed. To answer your question, no I did not write that HOF article LOL. Additionally, I don't recall anyone ever comparing Grimm to the next Campbell. His career started off pretty mild with a sudden defensive era of the VHL and being drafted by the New York American team that was one of the worst of all-time (affectionately known as the 'shortbus' at the time).

Tomorrow I’ll be leaving to the mountains for a week, so I’ll be inactive in BC instead of SK. ✌️

I don't miss Kanou

The Shortbus

A lot of people have been waiting for this one, but the wait is finally over. The Shortbus was the nickname for the New York Americans team that existed between Season 7 and Season 9 inclusively. The name was coined by radio DJ Laker12 on his now defunct “Ode to Aramark” podcast. The short bus is generally a smaller school bus that is used to drive kids with mental or physical disabilities to school. When the Americans got a group of players together that were not very well-liked around the league, and were led by one of the most controversial figures the league has ever seen, it was only a matter of time before people reacted to it. Time to go inside the Shortbus and see how things really were in New York back then.

***DISCLAIMER***
I interviewed Robbie Zimmers for this article – you should know what to expect. For the documentary purposes of this series, I’ve decided to leave it uncensored. Proceed at your own risk.

At the beginning of Season 5, the Hamilton Canucks were riding high as they were coming off their first ever playoffs birth in Season 4, and were looking forward to more of the same. Shortly into that season, however, they realized that they were in for another long season. The fans, originally filled with hope and excitement, soon reverted to the typical, careless nature that the Canucks players were used to. It was at about the midway mark of Season 5 that current General Manager, Jesus Christ, stepped down from his position, getting ready to retire from the league. He was eventually placed on waivers, and was involved in what many people referred to as one of the least classy moves in VHL history.

To digress for a moment, Christ was put on waivers so that he could go attempt to help the Stockholm Rams win a first Continental Cup, but he was claimed by the last place, regulation winless Toronto Legion – a useless move for a franchise whose season was already lost. Christ’s career ended in disappointment. Meanwhile, nobody was left to take the now vacant GM job. There certainly were some qualified candidates. David Knight, who is currently the GM of the Toronto Legion, was a man who many thought was next in line for the job of Canucks GM. That wouldn’t happen, though, and instead, the notorious Robbie Zimmers was brought into office.

”Jesus Christ, who was the GM at the time, was stepping down. He asked around the team to see who wanted the job, but no one really wanted it. I said I would do it, thinking I would only do it for 1-2 seasons before I got bored. Well, as we all know, that didn't happen.” – Robbie Zimmers

In Season 6, the Hamilton Canucks endured perhaps the worst season in VHL history with a disgraceful record of 5-66-1, for a total of 11 points on the season. The fans reacted negatively to this utterly poor performance, and simply stopped showing up to home games altogether. There were games where the attendance was below 1,000 people, and most of them were fans of the other team who were looking to watch a blowout. Zimmers, a man who lived in the spotlight, took this as an insult and decided that Hamilton’s unsuccessful VHL tenure was over, and that it was time for the team to move. Setting his sights on the biggest stage of them all, he moved the franchise to New York, and the New York Americans were born. To this day, Zimmers has no regrets about moving the franchise, and has some harsh words for Steeltown.


The Canucks became the Americans after Season 6

”I moved the team because Hamilton sucks. It’s a shit hole city and I thought: ‘why not move the team to one of the biggest markets out there?’ “ – Robbie Zimmers

In Season 7, Zimmers started to bring together these players of questionable backgrounds and began to build his legacy as a general manager in the VHL. I could go through all 3 of the peak Shortbus years 1 by 1, but I figure that you, the reader, do not need me to do that as you can easily check that out for yourself. Instead, I will outline some of the central figures of this team and why they received the hate that they received in their time.

I feel like I need to begin with the Dubnikov brothers. Andrei, the older brother, only spent 1 season on the Shortbus, but consistently received criticism from people around the league for being immature and starting feuds where there was no need to do so. He was also known for not being a very good performer during practice, and was consistently criticized for showing little improvement over the seasons. Also, he tried to start many independent leagues in direct competition with the VHL, all of which have failed. To this day, he continues to make new leagues, but instead of competing with the VHL, he now wishes simply to co-exist with it. It was easy to dislike Andrei, as he made himself an easy target for criticism and satire, and didn’t seem to learn from it.

Dragged into this mess was brother Pavel, who was a Shortbus team member throughout its 3 peak years. Unfortunately, Pavel was never able to find his game during that period, and was then called out not only for being a Dubnikov, but for also being an unimpressive player on the ice. What really soured Pavel to the rest of the VHL? He was an old school, Russian nationalist, believing in Communism and proclaiming it to be a good solution to the problems we see in Capitalist countries today. Naturally, this was met with a lot of heat as well because it was an uncommon viewpoint, especially coming from someone so young, who was not around to see the days of true Communism back in his home country of Russia.

”It was a long time ago, and I don't remember a lot of the heat we got, but I do know that if one of us did something wrong, or immature, then we were both going to take the heat for it. It was unfair, but that was how it was and we didn't exactly do anything to change it. – Pavel Dubnikov

Despite the critics, the younger Dubnikov remained loyal to the team throughout its years of struggle and strife. Where others only saw stupidity, uselessness, and futility, Pavel Dubnikov saw shelter, understanding, and empathy. Imagine being a player coming all the way over to New York City from Russia, barely knowing any English, not knowing anyone but his own brother. Naturally, being criticized right off the bat for your views is something that can be a bit intimidating. Because of this, Pavel remained in New York where there were others like him, who had come under fire. With them, he felt like he belonged.

”I didn't know many people, in the game or out of it so I felt I had to stick with the few people who showed any respect towards me. I didn't get along with everyone, but I felt they respected me and I was part of a team. Maybe I was wrong, but I felt that they were the only people in the entire league who would respect me. – Pavel Dubnikov


The Dubnikov brothers

Another big name in the Shortbus era was Fabian Brunnstrom. Brunnstrom was originally drafted by Hamilton, but was traded to Avangard much to his displeasure. The Swede was very vocal about not wanting to join the Havoc, but eventually pulled through and won a Continental Cup with the team in Season 7. After that, however, he went back to New York, the franchise that drafted him, for Seasons 8 and 9 of the Shortbus era. It was the aforementioned temper tantrum that really made Brunnstrom look bad in the eyes of the VHL public, and once you do something like that, you don’t live it down for a long time, and people find even more reasons to hate you. Brunnstrom, however, was a consistently strong player, and is even a member of the VHL’s exclusive Triple Crown club (Founder’s Cup, Continental Cup, World Cup Gold Medal). In retrospect, he’s definitely had a successful career, but did that earn him people’s respect? Since that incident, it seems everything he’s done had earned him some heat from his biggest critics, and he’s been unable to escape it. Even with the hate, he still chose to willingly return to New York in the middle of the Shortbus era.

” Brandon Best, the Co-GM of the Americans at the time, had very good plans for what he wanted to do with the team and after a lot of discussions with him, I felt we could build a championship-caliber team in New York. Unfortunately, Robbie Zimmers had a say in what happened as well, and that made things more difficult to do. In the end, we were just a middling team, trading away our draft picks and being stuck behind two better teams in our conference. – Fabian Brunnstrom

Sergei Trepanov only spent most of one season with the team during this period, but he was one of the main figures of the Shortbus when it first began. I don’t remember too much about what Trepanov was like in terms of off-ice personality, but he was fat and Jewish, which made him an easy target for any VHLer looking for someone to pick on, myself included. On the ice, however, he was very good and managed to put up a 117-point seasons as a member of the Americans. Also only spending one season – season 7 - with the team was Alex Kachur, who is really only known for making a “death threat” towards Lennowitcz Schalkwinzz (who, coincidentally, also played for New York for a small portion of season 7). Other than that, there is not much to note about Alex Kachur, other than the fact that people probably thought he fit the Shortbus mold very well because of that one incident.

Edward Eldred was a journeyman player who started out as a member of the early dynasty Calgary Wranglers. It is rumored that he was one of the players who got into a confrontation with Brett Slobodzian and caused, in addition to Slobodzian’s injury, the legend’s premature retirement. Eldred carried that stigma for a while, often receiving hate for ruining the beloved Slobodzian’s career, and was also thought to be a good fit in New York’s Shortbus team, where he stayed for 2 seasons. A final player we’ll look at is Cole Hagstrom. Hagstrom was disliked not so much because of what he did while he was in the VHL, but more because of what he did before he came to the VHL. There was one rumor where he was said to have been behind the collapse of one of Sandro Desaulniers’ (Fabian Brunnstrom’s agent) leagues, and also claimed to have taken heroin at one point in his life. This, naturally, got some of the VHL’s wittier members to come out and poke fun at him for it.


Cole Hagstrom

Still, amidst these characters, there were some good guys who were in New York during the Shortbus era that may have gotten lumped in with the group simply by association. The aforementioned Schalkwinzz, Shawn Crowley, Ilya Kliment, Kevin Francis, and Markus Lidstrom were among those who spent some time for the Shortbus Americans during those rough years. However, two names stand above the rest as being truly persevering. The New York Americans drafted Kyle McLeod in season 7 when top draft choices Layken Heidt and Torsten Schwartz both went on record to say they would not play for New York. McLeod quietly went about his business for the 3 Shortbus seasons in New York as he developed into one of the game’s premier defensemen without anybody noticing. McLeod would eventually go on to win a Continental Cup with the Riga Reign.

”If anyone was unfairly lumped into that group, it was Brandon Best. He's a great guy, he knew what we needed to do to build that team, and as soon as ownership got rid of Zimmers, he turned the franchise around into one of the best in the league for the last 10 seasons. – Fabian Brunnstrom

Indeed, if there was one big loser during the Shortbus area, it was Brandon Best. Best acted more as a consultant to Robbie Zimmers during that era, and was consistently one of New York’s best players throughout his tenure with the team. Despite that, not only were his accomplishments ignored, but he was also lumped into the Shortbus category by outsiders to the team, and written off as being just like the rest of them. Surely Best had said some things that were less than acceptable, but probably none more than your average league member. It was simply because of his status as a “Shortbus member” that caused his slip-ups to be worse. In the end, Best would get the last laugh, as he’d eventually help the Americans to a Continental Cup in Season 14, though not as a player. His client, Brandon Azevedo, was there to win the Cup as a player, but Best’s hard work was not to be disregarded.

Still, it all comes back to Robbie Zimmers. Rumors swirled around the league grapevine about whether this gathering of the peanut gallery was intentional or not. Everyone had his own theory. Many thought that “it was Robbie”, and therefore it was absolutely intentional. Others thought that “it was Robbie”, and therefore he was bound to be a terrible general manager. Either way, the team was put together as such and performed as it did, receiving critical remarks along the way.

”I think at the start, he was just doing what he thought was best. However, as time went on and he realized how horrible his moves were, he decided to have some fun with it. I have to blame the league here as they didn't step in quickly enough to stop his stupidity, but alas, it would have been impossible to argue that he was doing the moves to intentionally hurt his team.” – Pavel Dubnikov


Robbie Zimmers at one his legendary parties

Essentially, Robbie’s reputation around the league made it impossible for people to determine whether Robbie was truly trying to turn this team into one of the worst organizations that any sports league has ever seen, or whether he was simply an idiot who had no idea how to manage a team and was given a role he was unsuitable for. Robbie, however, seems to have a pretty good idea of how things went down.

”I did it on purpose. Just by being around the league, everyone knew who the "undesirables" were, so I went around asking about those players. When I assembled them, I thought we had a good team, not a great one, but a good one. I didn't care if the team contended for a playoffs spot or not. I just sat back and let my core group of guys do and say what they wanted.” – Robbie Zimmers

Where a lot of people seem to go wrong is when they say that the Shortbus was a terrible team. This wasn’t overly true. They never made the playoffs, but they never even finished last in their own conference. From season 7 to season 9, they finished 3rd in the conference. Surely they were not a great team, but they were not a horrible team either. A lot of people associate the Shortbus not just with bad personalities, but with bad players also. The players on that team, while often annoying, were rather talented, and had as much pride in themselves as anyone else did. It was only natural to assume that they wouldn’t play the loser role if they didn’t have to.

”I would like to think that it was the worst team ever because I built that team to suck. I really didn't give a shit. Hell, I would make trades just for the fuck of it. I would trade 1st round picks like they were candy. I was trying to see how much the league could take before they stepped in and said "ok Robbie, you’re fired", but that didn't happen. I was allowed to do whatever I wanted with that team. In the end, my boredom with the job caught up with my passion for fucking around. I announced I was going to step down, and handed the team over to Brandon. The only reason why I stepped down was because, at that point, I was completely bored of the job and I didn’t even have the passion to even make dumb trades on purpose.” – Robbie Zimmers

With the way Robbie handled his team, it wouldn’t surprise me if the players on that team lost their motivation to perform. They were pawns used by Robbie to gain even more notoriety. However, at the same time, I would be just as unsurprised if this only served to motivate them more. According the Fabian Brunnstrom, the locker room, which one would expect to be hectic and filled with stupidity, was actually rather calm and nice.

”You'd think that with all the faces in there that weren't well-received by the general public, it would be a mess. However, the locker room wasn't that bad. There were one or two guys that came along that people would get into fights with, but it was really never an issue in the locker room. Most of us got along quite well in there. It was frustrating to be stuck in hockey limbo, so to speak. To be honest, I think the media created the Shortbus, and they ran with it and blew it up. There were some maturity issues on that team and we decided we'd run with it as well, and it just blew up for us.” – Fabian Brunnstrom


Grimm Jonsson

Though Robbie Zimmers will say that the Shortbus era ended when he stepped down, and he’s not wrong, I believe it truly ended with the arrival of Grimm Jonsson. Grimm Jonsson, managed by Sterling Labatte, was one of the most respected people in the league, and for him to go there was a major statement made by the Icelandic youngster – that statement was that changes needed to be made to save this flailing franchise from being ruined beyond the point of repair.

”It was piss poor when I got there, to be honest. We had very few players and voices in the locker room. I wasn't even welcomed to the team with so much as a personal message. I wasn't offered a contract for days, and it wasn't a good start. Moreover, the reputation of the franchise was enough to make a fella want to quit before he even started. I tried to bring a more welcoming atmosphere in from there on out. – Grimm Jonsson

It was a difficult task, but Jonsson, along with Brandon Best, would help orchestrate an amazing comeback for the franchise. Eventually, a non-name goalie named Vase Trikamaki was drafted to the team and would eventually become the general manager there after the Jonsson/Best era ended. It was due to these guys that New York was able to recover from the Shortbus days and ended up finally winning a Continental Cup – they were the last franchise to do so.

”It seems that at some point in the VHL's history, the league was divided into the "cool" guys and the guys considered annoying by these "cool" guys. Robbie Zimmers collected all of those "annoying guys" into one team and chaos ensued. It definitely hurt New York's reputation for seasons to come, even when they won the Continental Cup. It was really sad how a few stupid decisions and personalities ruined a franchise. – Vase Trikamaki

I don’t intend to make Zimmers out to be some evil villain, despite the fact that he seems to enjoy that role very much. Zimmers could have been a solid GM if he really tried to do what was best for the team. Unfortunately, he found the option of “messing around” the be more appealing, and it cost some players a lot of opportunities at success. In my opinion, Robbie Zimmers is likely the worst VHL GM of all time, and I’m not alone in thinking that.

”I would love to say that I was the best GM ever, because even though I didn't really care about the team and winning, I stuck around and my antics made the league fun. All joking aside, though, if I'm not the worst GM in VHL history, then I would be upset.” – Robbie Zimmers

In retrospect, it’s difficult to determine whether or not the franchise was truly worthy of its Shortbus moniker. I’m inclined to say it was, because many of the personalities involved with the team at that time were rather close to what they were accused of being. However, everyone sees people differently. We aren’t all the same, and because some guys acted differently than the norm, we felt we had the right to lump them together and essentially refer to them as mentally disabled. It was fun to make fun of them, but it was at the expense of these players, and I give a ton of credit to the agents who have stuck around despite the criticism. Personally, I’m not sure I could say the same if I were in that same position, but thankfully, I never was.

End of part 10
Special thanks to Pavel Dubnikov, Fabian Brunnstrom, Grimm Jonsson, Vase Trikamaki, and Robbie Zimmers  

Who let this guy back in?

Only two paragraphs?!?! What are you getting soft in your old age?

Only two paragraphs?!?! What are you getting soft in your old age?

Phil used to do it back in the day and it worked well. If he's still around you can ask him about the process he followed. He pretty much had a PM conversation with them and helped answer any questions they had when they first joined.

Joined: September 28, 2013 (Actual date unknown)
Positions Held: VHLM GM, VHLM Commissioner, Board of Governor, VHL GM, Grader
A shout-out is in order for @Jubo07 for compiling the original builder article here: https://vhlforum.com/topic/52099-s56-hof-class-frank-chadwick-builder -This is certainly not a task that would be easy for a newer member to the site. Here’s what Jubo wrote about Frank:
“Frank Chadwick has been a member of the VHL for over 40 seasons, holding a number of respected positions and built two hall of fame skaters in Adam Schultz and Aksel Thomassen.  
 
Chadwick was a GM for over 1000 games for the Davos and Quebec City franchises and achieved three continental cups including back to back championships in his first two seasons at the helm. Through his 15 seasons as a GM, his clubs appeared in the playoffs a total of 10 times winning a combined 51 games. Following his most recent championship (S56), Frank was inducted into the hall of fame and will forever be remembered as one of the leagues most formidable builders. On top of being a general manager, Frank held other prestigious positions including VHLM GM, VHLM Commissioner, and a seat on the board of governors.  
 
As new members of the VHL begin their journeys into the vastness of all it has to offer, Chadwick provides an excellent example of dedication meets success.  
 
His track record of successful skaters and management tactics provides inspiration and adoration to those surrounding him.”
 
 
Most certainly well said, but for the proper tribute to a builder article, there does have to be some element of a personal touch, and that’s what I’ll provide. I haven’t talked to Frank in a few years now and suspect that his activity has gone the way of mine, but I can talk to the early years of Frank with the VHL and the impact he had on the league during his high activity tenure here.
 
Thinking of Frank, there’s a few things that immediately come to mind. The first thought being his association with Davos as a team being a long-time player there and later the General Manager for a few seasons. Davos was consistently a thorn in the side of many of the teams I played for and generally, Frank was a large reason for the successes of those teams in the S20s. As a member of the Toronto Legion, Davos got the better of us more times than we’d care to admit.
 
The second memory I have of Frank is that he’ll likely go down as the greatest VHLM Commissioner of all-time, having held the role for a very long time and doing a very proficient job with it over his tenure. As some of you probably know, being the VHLM Commish was a challenging and often thankless job where you had a lot of responsibilities and didn’t really get paid well. You also didn’t get much respect from the community as a whole despite the importance of your role. Needless to say, the job changed hands often, but that wasn’t the case with Frank. Eventually we added a second commish to help with the workload. I believe Frank and Smarch worked together very successfully for seasons. In terms of Frank’s greatest contribution to the VHL, this was it in my opinion.
 
My third memory of Frank was his later association with the Quebec City Meute. I think he’s as synonymous with the Meute has Koradek originally was, he probably even surpassed him as an icon for the franchise. The only time I played with Frank (to my knowledge) was in Quebec with my last player. At the time, Quebec was a powerhouse in the league, but we weren’t able to win. Notably, Frank later built the team into a Cup winner. My season and a half there was enjoyable thanks to a really good group of teammates.
 
Finally, I think I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Frank’s personality, which was probably his greatest asset here. He was a genuinely nice and funny guy. He was a good member who was equally dependable as he was witty. You knew that if Frank took on a role in the league, that it would be done well. I haven’t talked to Frank in recent years, but he’s certainly one of the best members in the league I can remember. I remember Frank asking me one time about my career as he was thinking of switching over to it. Sometimes I wonder about that because I always thought he had a good personality for it. He was a good people person and that’s why he was so successful in the VHL.
So here’s to you Frank, I hope you’re happy and healthy and I hope to see you around the boards again someday soon.
-sterling