Sova

Riga

Seattle

Quebec

Helsinki

Riga 3-1

finally some points

Today we have the rookie vhl center Mark Gebauer with us to ask him a few questions about his first season in the vhl. We will get right into it first of all

Mark what was the hardest part transitioning from the vhlm to the Vhl?

"Well I have to admit I have been struggling a bit in the league so far and haven't been able to score as much as I thought I would be able to which I think comes down to the higher quality of opponents rather than me performing worse. One big part for me is the more physical game many players are able to play in the VHL which makes it harder to create opportunities for myself and the goalies are also way better than in the VHLM and that makes it even more difficult so I think that is the biggest problem for me."

How do you feel about your new team keeping in mind that you already for 4 teams in your career?
"Calgary is a great city and I feel at home there and my team has been great so far also. I already played with Brick Wahl before and value him a lot as a teammate so I think from that aspect there are few teams that would be able to compete with Calgary. My first team in the vhlm, Ottawa, was also a joy to play for even though I have to say it's impossible to compete with @Peace and the Saskatoon wild and I would recommend any rookie to try and play for Peace at one point in their career."

Some people have been asking if you are even rather for the VHL what do you say to your critics?

 "Well I can understand why people are disappointed with my performance since I am as well but you need to keep in mind that I am almost exclusively playing on the right wing and that takes some getting used to for me but I have been working on my game and I have developed aspects of it that I neglected before and I think j have steadily increased my skills and so it's just a matter of time until I will be a force to be reckoned with but time will tell and until then you can feel free to criticize me as much as you want since I try and use it to drive me to train even harder"

Are there any non-hockey players which you would consider yourself a fan of?
"Lukas Cold is an inspiration he is a sophomore LB and plays for the Alabama Crimson Tide and even though there are many other great LB I'm the NCAA at the moment you can make a case that he deserves more recognition than he has been getting. He won the championship in his freshman year and is the LB with the most tackles for loss and is 3rd in sacks at the same time. I think he will be one of the top LBs in the future and his mentality and determination inspire me to train as hard as possible even if the odds are stacked against me"

What do you hope you'll achieve this season?
"Well for me I hope to have some more great games where I can show off my newly learned abilities and as a team I hope we make it to the playoffs even though we are struggling at the moment I have not yet given up hope so I'll try to train as hard as possible to make the dream of playing playoff hockey come true for me"

Who do you think is the best player from your draft class?

"I want to be it but so far I haven't been able to perform so I can't claim that title for myself that's why I would give it to Brick Wahl @Blademaiden since he has been a surprisingly good goalie so far and I know what he is capable of from our time together in Saskatoon and recently he has found his flow and started shutting out other teams such as Davos so I think he can claim that for now. All in all, I think that the players that entered the vhl with me are all outstanding players and many of them also have great personalities and I am always looking forward to meeting them on the ice."

You know have mentioned multiple times that you are struggling in the vhl do you think there are other reasons for that besides the stiffer competition?
"To be honest I don't think I am being utilised in the same way I was in the vhlm and therefore I need to adapt my game. In Saskatoon I was the clear shooter and scorer in my line and I was able to position myself and receive great passes from my linemates that enabled me to take slapshots at the goal from further away and this sniper play style fits me by far better than the kind of game I  am playing at the moment which is more reliant on quick movement along the boards and playing cross passes serving to player such as Karl von Moltke. I am not complaining about my team or the staff I just have to admit that I need to change my style and that takes some getting used to but I think until the end of this season I will have figured it out and should be comfortable in my new position or I would get in touch with management and ask them to shift me back to my old position"

Mark you are still young and have all the possibilities but what do you want to achieve in your career?
"I would be happy to be the MVP of a season leading the league in points but that is quite the high goal just leading the league in goals would also be enough for me but most importantly I want to win a title."

That are quite ambitious goals do you think you will be able to achieve all that in Calgary or are you thinking about moving to another team in the future?
"In all honesty I don't care much about where I play and it's more about with whom I will be playing but Calgary is a great team and the management is outstanding and I think I will win a championship with this team for sure but the more individual goals j might need to pursue on other teams unless some of our current players retire or get traded since I won't be able to lead the league in goals playing on the 2nd or 3rd line but as you said earlier I am young and have enough time to try different things the main focus is the championship which I want in the next 3 seasons for sure."

The last question is a lighter one. What is your weirdest quirk?
"Well, there are a few for one I don't tie my laces I just stuff them into my skates. Many people told me that's dangerous and so on but I just am not comfortable otherwise so that is how I do it. Besides that I started picking up the habit of listening to specific music before each game depending on the opponent to get me in the mood for the game it helps me to focus on the task at hand and the music is different for each opponent makes it less boring as opposed to listening to the same music before every game I guess."

why can't we only play Davos?

"I am working hard on my game and that means I don't have as much spare time as some other people and that is why I need to think about how I use the limited time that I have. It took me a while to figure out which things I want to do in my free time in order to have the best results on the ice. For me, I mainly like to spend my time taking my mind off the game by reading books since it has a calming effect and I can forget about hockey for an hour or two. If it is possible I also like to meet friends or hang out with teammates and explore Calgary since I have not been here for so long yet there are still a lot of things that I don't know about yet and that I can discover and that is awesome. Lastly, I like to spend time studying languages my teammates speak since i have a thing for learning and its a lot of fun for me and allows me to communicate better with them but to be honest it can be tiring"

1. How satisfied are you with your player's performance so far this season?

not so happy I seem to unable to score

2. What about your team, how are things going with the team? Would you run things differently?

Its great I am lucky to have one of the best GMs i have see so far

3. The Las Vegas Aces seem to have separated themselves from the rest of the teams. Do you think they can keep it up until the end?

Saskatoon is gonna make a comeback

4. What other player in the league do you hate to play against?

Any GM goalie they stop me from scoring

5. Besides hockey, obviously, what other sports do you like to play casually or watch?
Lacrosse and Basketball

6. If you had the power to relocate a VHLM team, where would you put it and what would you name it?

Orlando Solar Bears

+1

last claim

I'll would be interested in both and would like to see if it is something I enjoy since I have done podcasts in the past but not scripted ones

Hey is there still an article left that I could write?

NYA

RIG

SEA

CGY

New York 3-2

1 hour ago, Esso2264 said:

don't look at Ylonen stats and you're gonna feel good

Well I mean  you have a plus minus of -3 while on a winning team and your line mates are serving you points on a silver platter so if I was you I would rather be me.

1. How has your team performed so far? Are you happy with how you started?

  Well I think we could have 1 or 2 more wins that we have right now but its okay

2. Who do you think will win the regular season?

Seattle

3. What is your pick for the VHLM MVP?

Anton Edvin

4. How has your player been performing? Do you think he's performing up to his abilities?

No Mark is not 5 points in 10 games is not quite enough in my eyes

 5. What do you think are the best candidates for taking home the Founder's Cup?

Biases but Saskatoon

6. What is a change that you would like to see in the VHLM?

Maybe make VHLM stints longer especially for goalies

+1

Mark Gebauer has started his VHL career playing for Calgary and so far he seems to be still struggling with adjusting to the big leagues.

In his first 10 games, Mark has only been able to score 2 goals with 3 assists to go along with it which puts him at 5 points. The other players that were drafted alongside Mark also seem to be struggling as Dahlberg and Ryan Sullivan both also only have 4 points, this seems to indicate that there is no reason to worry about Mark and he just needs some time in the Majors to get used to the quicker game and the more physical players that he will be playing against.

The only thing concerning about Mark is that he has yet to get close to his scoring ability from last year but seems to be less of a problem when he plays on a higher line wich with time he wants to do anyway so we might see mark unlocking his true potential in the near future when he is allowed to play on the second line but that might take some time.

All in all Mark seems to be adjusting to the VHL as good as most of his fellow rookies but he is having some major problems for sure and will need to step up his game if he wants to make his first season in the VHL memorable but we have seen him practising hard every day so we can assume he will improve and hopefully soon have a breakout performance that shows his true potential to the rest of the league.

Looking back it wasnt off by that much so i guess the prediction worked out

My first star of the game in the VHL now let's keep up the pace

I was hoping for more production out of mark 

riga 3-1

25 Helsinki Titans @ Riga Reign

26 Seattle Bears @ Calgary Wranglers

27 New York Americans @ HC Davos Dynamo 

28 Toronto Legion @ Quebec City Meute

Today was an important day for me playing my first game in the VHL not everything went to plan but all in all, I am pretty happy about everything.

I got up really early to start my pregame routine and getting ready to be at the rink in time which all takes some time also I wanted to take some time to relax before the game since as expected i was pretty nervous but as soon as I was at the arena and the other guys were there I started feeling a lot better. I really feel at home in Calgary and it is really nice that i get to play with players from my minor team as well as one other player that shares his mother tongue with me. Karl has been helping me a lot to get things done for me and helping me transition from team to team so i am really thankful for what he has done off the ice so far on the ice, of course, i am more than happy to have him on my team.

I sadly wasnt able to perform as well as I thought initally but i hope with time i will improve and start being of value to the team but things just need time and I knew that the trantition from VHML to VHL would be a big one so i dont really mind and i kind of expected to struggle a bit in the beginning but I guess we will see how i continue and then we can start discussing what i need to work on and where my problems lie. I have been working a lot on my shot recently and I am hoping that i will be able to showcase my new found abilities by making some alarms ring and some lights come on but we will.