Peace

Hola

This is actually nice to read. Been a difficult year with COVID, so I'm not sure how many of us actually have a disposable income.

Holiday Raffle, eh? @ROOKIE745 @gregreg @Steve @DoktorFunk @fromtheinside @ngine4 @Matmenzinger @NickSunderbruch @osens @Callahan

This is quite odd for me. Usually I have huge media spot articles about Toronto that cover four weeks, and shortly thereafter a VHL.com article out by Monday or Tuesday... typically. This week, however, I neither prepared or produced either articles for a combined total of eight capped attribute points. Last week I made a quick blurb about London and Killinger, so I figured I'd do one about Toronto and Emi's public trade request; on a different topic, though, I want to quickly address the pending release of Franchise Hockey Manager 7 and reaffirm my opinion the league should look into using that as a sim engine (perhaps the export feature is better this time around?). Continuing. Emi Rune is my first topic, but I'll keep it brief because I don't want to cause a whole lot of drama. Toronto had some interest in Emi Rune; Rune is a defender, and we've got two projected #1 and #2 prospects joining us next season, so Rune could have fit well with our plan; and Rune is a fairly vocal member, something the Legion have been shifting towards lately. I will admit my interest was brief, we had submitted a relatively low offer to Vancouver for them to consider, but honestly the whole situation -- speaking as a GM -- turned sour when I read some potentially destructive name tossing in public. Over the last year or so I've developed a distain for that kind of behavior... that's it, though, so onto the next topic. Toronto. Conflict is a part of team building... prove me wrong. I'm a very open GM within the walls of our locker room; I try to be transparent, I don't hide anything from my team... which includes how I feel be it a positive or negative reaction; I try to be approachable, and as a human being always attempt to look at both pastures; and I fully admit sometimes I blabber on about the stupidest shit that leaves some of my team thinking 'what the fuck is wrong with this guy'. So when there is some seeds of conflict I wind up wondering a few things... but the biggest thing: I sincerely hope that everyone who has ever played under a team I manage felt comfortable enough to be themselves, safe enough to vent and bold enough to be honest with me and the rest of the team. I appreciate those things, I respect those things. Peace out.

So it being Sunday I needed to find something to talk about, so I decided to give a few thoughts on how tight the European Conference really is. This may have been covered in the past, but I can guarantee you it's not plagiarized from someone else, which is apparently something going around this week. Yeah, I only just saw the ban list earlier this morning, but dipped from the forum again until now. Lately my internet has been chugging along as a family member committed to the fifty one gigabyte Star Citizens download. To put that into perspective, I have an internet that downloads at about 100 - 300 Kbps through launchers and updaters. I get about 1 Mbps (1000 Kbps) just through the modem, which makes playing games when I'm the only one around possible, but when the internet is clogged up and people are using it... well I can't really do much. We're paying for 5 Mbps, but the lines running to our house are so old, that we don't get that service and it's the cheapest plan offered by the ISP. So for the entire week I've been gone... yeah, we've been downloading a game! Discord pings? Forget about them, I couldn't check anyway. Mobile data? Doable, but reserved for important things. Seeing how tight the EU Conference is? Important things. So yeah, I'm on mobile data at the moment, although I'll be switching off of it when I press the submit button and hoping my internet doesn't quadruple how many times this article posted on the forum. And I gotta say... I'm only mildly surprised by how tight the EU Conference actually is. I knew London would do well this season, and although it isn't over quite yet, I have full confidence that a growing team will remain in a playoff position. Quite frankly all you have to do is make the playoffs and the possibilities open up, especially when you consider we're in the land of STHS. Just like any other team here in the VHL, I'm certain that there are two opinionated extremes regarding the London United and their season so far; the first extreme surrounds the opinion the United are simply over achieving, which I've referenced in a previous VHL.com article quoting one frustrated EU GM; and two, London's slide lately is uncharacteristic, which is the other extreme I have patriotically pitched my tent. What does surprise me -- despite partially expecting it -- is the mere two points that separate every team from the sixth to the second seed in the conference. I've seen close races before, but I think this is about as close as it can get without deciding half a conference on tie breakers... if it did, though, London would be on top due to having the most ROW wins than other teams. As I said above, I'm not worried though, simply because there are a lot of games against those teams in which London could pull away with some timely wins. United we stand. That should just about cover it. Random rambling over?

1. I'm going to go with Brown, but it'll be someone from Toronto next season. 2. Honestly no real surprises, but I did expect LA to be better. 3. I am management and desperate for some late TPE. 4. I've only played in three cities so far. Riga, Toronto and London -- I'd only play in London or Toronto, if that says anything. 5. I'll be looking at these answers. 6. Well... my government is probably going to ban it altogether, so I'm hoping we can at least have a dinner or something.

Just can't compete with Blade. I'm rolling around in my undies in the cage firing nerf darts at her and she's coming in with huge right hooks! Unfair if you ask me. I'm bound by rules!

I told Us to tell you I told you so while you were telling Us that London could fuck off.

Need x amount of words talking about the VHL for one of these things, so I'll speak briefly about the London United and my opinion as a previous GM player now playing on a different team. I'd like to prefix this and state that I was honestly expecting more from Killinger on a team where he was supposed to be stronger, and considering he's leading the team in points (last I checked) that's a pretty high bar I've set myself. Now I want to talk about something @GustavMattias mentioned in the GM Rule change... adjusting your own player to suit team needs is boring, and I absolutely agree with this. I don't like to play defense in real life, even though I can play the position fairly well and not be out of place or position either in floor hockey, college intermural or beer league ice hockey. I much prefer to play forward. And I took the bullet for Killinger when he was my claimed player for Toronto. I'm kind of regretting it now, but I can live with it for four more seasons. Now about London. Am I the only one who expected this? @Victor is telling us to fuck off, well all I can say is... I fucking told you so. Also @McWolf is a cool dog. The friendly locker room is enjoyable!

I didn't want to head East anyway.

We used to, but I think we're on solid ground now.

Haters hate!

Sums my season up.

1. Whew! Toronto is off to a much better start than we anticipated; do you think that'll all be derailed once TOR G starts getting his starts? He went 8-0-0 last season, but reliability isn't something G knows. 2. Sunderbruch is leading the rookie charge. What are his odds -- in your opinion -- he wins top rookie? \ (For Nick: Do you think you have the talent to win top rookie?) 3. Toronto recently beat London in a thrilling 6-5 victory where Erik Killinger and Chad Magnum brought the pain to the Legion, although Toronto was able to walk away with the victory. Was this a competitive game, or did you enjoy seeing your former Captain and Alternate Captain again? 4. Joseph Gainer is no longer with us as an active member, but if he was... what would you say to him with his player leading the Legion in points? 5. This one is more personal. How do you think you're fitting in with other members in the Toronto locker room? 6. If you had a piece of constructive criticism for Dtayl and I... what would it be? @Steve @joeg @gregreg @NickSunderbruch @osens @Matmenzinger @DaftRaincloud @Gwdjohnson @ngine4 @ROOKIE745

Wow just listening to it back I can tell that so much was lost to those issues we were having. I wish the full episode would have recorded, it was an absolute blast to be there for the podcast, but you can certainly tell that we all experienced some technical issues. Missing banter, comments, entire topics; unfortunate. I'd love to be a guest again even after part two!

I have no issues with this.

Festivals and events are prohibited (indoors and outdoors) So I can't celebrate Christmas indoor even though my family has been together in the same home since before COVID even started here in Canada? Yeah, okay, go fuck yourself. I'm not taking down my Christmas tree.

Toronto had two sims where we played no games last season. We had 8 GP where other teams had 11, one 13, so... ended the season with a five or six game sim IIRC.

Can Killinger fucking do something?

Quik knows that Will and Josh could hold the forum and portal hostage for unfair payout.

Second claim.

While there is still plenty of time to get your point tasks done that is simply not the case for me, a time crunch has been imposed so here I am doing a few quick blurbs about the VHL and the Toronto Legion. I guess the question I have to ask myself is where do I start, so obviously I'm going to the playbook and talking about Toronto's surprising 4-6-1 start when I personally expected much worse. I honestly believe Toronto's record is an overachievement, but one I am happy to see. Our scoring balance is nice, everyone is getting points and contributing on the ice, and a few of our players -- despite lower TPA -- are maintaining a point per game pace or higher at the moment. One thing I'm not so happy about is the amount of shots we're letting through, and as I said in the Legions' locker room... 'at least Hextall isn't bored', but that shouldn't be a joke if there is a solution to the amount of shots he is facing. Might be time to adjust the lineup a little more, try to squeeze some more defense out of two low 400 and two high 200 TPA defenders. I guess that's about the word count I need now, so without any delay I bid you farewell.

And we're off! 1. Toronto started this season 1-2-0... is that better, about or worse than you thought we'd be after the first set of sims? 2. Rookie Strauss registered six points in his first three games, what do you think about that? \ (For gregreg: Strauss has scored two goals and registered four assists in his first three games -- do you think that is a realistic PPG on a team like Toronto?) 3. All of our VHL rookies have scored their first goal! Thoughts? \ (For our rookies: How did it feel when you saw you had scored at the VHL level?) 4. Veteran goaltender Jaxx Hextall recorded a shutout in his first win this season. Thoughts? \ (For Rookie: What do you think about Hextall's performance so far this season?) 5. Everyone got a 2, 000, 000 bonus from management this season. What do you plan on spending it on? (Aside from drugs and hookers, Sunderbruch.) 6. And a random question for everyone this week... favorite Italian dish? @Steve @joeg @gregreg @NickSunderbruch @osens @Matmenzinger @DaftRaincloud @Gwdjohnson @ngine4 @ROOKIE745

James Rose @tcookie25

Oooooh. Drama. Also finally got around to the London - Toronto talk again, but I don't really have much more to add.