With probably the most exciting off-season in VHL history for movement, the European Conference ended up stacked. That said, any team can make the playoffs or even further and finish at the top. The Riga Reign brought in a new GM and made moves along with everyone else. They brought in a bunch of talent to help win now and so far it has looked good.
With it being early in the season, fans and the team can't get too excited but a 6-2-0 start after rebuilding and missing the playoffs for the past three seasons, you can't help but get a bit of hope. Bronson Faux, the third year captain of the team especially is enjoying it; "It's nice to see the team finally winning, something I haven't felt since my junior days. It's especially been nice on me to have Aksel come in and take the pressure off me for being the top line centre. Now I can play my game more on the 2nd line which I feel I'm suited for. Hopefully we can keep it up."
As mentioned, it is early, but if this continues this could be a quick turn around for the franchise. We'll keep you updated!
With probably the most exciting off-season in VHL history for movement, the European Conference ended up stacked. That said, any team can make the playoffs or even further and finish at the top. The Riga Reign brought in a new GM and made moves along with everyone else. They brought in a bunch of talent to help win now and so far it has looked good.
With it being early in the season, fans and the team can't get too excited but a 6-2-0 start after rebuilding and missing the playoffs for the past three seasons, you can't help but get a bit of hope. Bronson Faux, the third year captain of the team especially is enjoying it; "It's nice to see the team finally winning, something I haven't felt since my junior days. It's especially been nice on me to have Aksel come in and take the pressure off me for being the top line centre. Now I can play my game more on the 2nd line which I feel I'm suited for. Hopefully we can keep it up."
As mentioned, it is early, but if this continues this could be a quick turn around for the franchise. We'll keep you updated!
RIGA - After arriving with the Riga Reign through an off-season trade, Jack Kowalski finds himself with a lot to prove. A former second overall selection in Season 41, he now finds himself joining his third team in his career, never quite having lived up to his, or the Victory Hockey League's expectations. However, that stands to change in Season 45.
"A fire has been lit under me for sure," said Kowalski during Riga's off-season training camp. "I've got a lot to prove and a lot of expectations to deliver if I'm going to help Riga this season. I'm going to have to be great for the Reign to meet our expectations for this season, so that's exactly what they're going to get."
Kowalski has been seen training at a level not seen for nearly three seasons, one that has brought quite the smile to General Manager Steve Smeall's face.
"It's sure looking like we right the right choice in acquiring Jack," Smeall gleamed at a press conference this afternoon. "We definitely need him to keep this up and get even better though, but if he does, the VHL will certainly be on notice this year."
Jethro Novacek is a writer for the MSFL Magazine, which still fucking exists. He enjoys clean cars, Twizzler bites and uncivil warfare.
It's been an underwhelming tournament for the team that was psyched to go all the way. They finished 4-5-1 but when the team was assembled they were sure that they were the best team by far. That wasn't the story though. Luckily all teams in the Super Cup make the playoffs and that's why they'll be looking for redemption when they play.
I think the problem was that the team went in expecting that they were to play 20 games in the tournament before the playoffs but then that turned into only play 10 games and they weren't able to get it going. But that's all going to change as the team which is full of active players from top to bottom has a vendetta to beat anyone and everyone that gets in their way. That's right, you're going to have to look out if you think you have a chance at beating Team Cowboy, because we're going all the way to the finals and winning that championship whether you like it or not.
It’s a different experience, being a Super Cup GM. Unlike the VHL, where you can have a long-term plan or make trades if something goes wrong, or the World Cup, where your team is predetermined for you, you have one shot not to screw up. It’s a frightening feeling, but it’s also one that rewards preparedness and knowledge of the league. Luckily, those are two of my relative strengths.
The Season 44 Super Cup draft was a marathon, ultimately lasting 3.5 hours. For all of that time, I was at work in my downtown Chicago office, and the walk home among abandoned Friday night offices was a bit odd. But it also gave me time to reflect on my draft, and my team, for this upcoming Super Cup.
So here is a look behind the scenes at one GM’s thought process through the draft. Since I had two picks in a row in the sixth slot of the snake draft, I’ll be treating each selection and each explanation as a pair.
Picks 6/7
6. D Jake Wylde
7. C Aksel Thomassen
When I received the sixth and seventh picks in the draft lottery, I was ecstatic. There were eight players that I saw on a clear tier from everybody else, and this draft slot had me taking two of them. Of course, at the time I wasn’t anticipating that Waldron and Mikaelson would go so high in the draft either, but either way, I was happy. In a normal draft, my goal would have been clear: Take the two highest forwards on the board, no questions asked. However, the given crop of defensemen made this a bit different. There were plenty of forwards that I could reasonably take in the third/fourth round range. However, once Wylde, Richardson and Poole went off the board, the next-best active defenseman (since Light was a GM player) had just 439 TPE. This meant that if I had an opportunity to gain a relative advantage at D, I had to take it. As for Thomassen, I wanted playmaking and faceoff ability more than checking, which made him a natural selection over Wolf and Karnage.
Picks 18/19
18. LW Kristoph Klose
19. RW Kurtis Hunter
After picking up a center and a defenseman in the first two rounds, I knew without a doubt I wanted two wingers to finish out my first line here. Now, I would have been having a center play one of these positions. However, the one with the greatest TPE, Devin Sundberg, had 41 of his 694 TPE banked, and an additional 65 TPE sunk into face offs, which wouldn’t have helped on this line. Klose and Hunter, however, both had it all. Both have built their players specifically as wingers, both are active and fun players to have on board, and both have won these sorts of tournaments recently with Western Europe last year. I was praying that both would last to pick 18, and I was ecstatic when they did (even if Ahma cursed me for it).
Picks 30/31
30. C Bronson Faux
31. LW Edwin Reencarnacion
Once Jaime Hill went early in round five, and since I already had GM player Hans Wingate in net, I knew it was highly likely I would be building my second line with my fifth and sixth rounds. Just taking the highest TPE players, however, doesn’t always work. Shadhu Rathod has a ton of TPE banked. Milos Denis is relatively even on passing and scoring and has been hit by depreciation. I knew I wanted players that had a complementary set of skills, as well as were active as could be. That’s why I was ecstatic when Faux in particular fell. The high checking was something that was missing off this current team, and with well-built passing and puck handling, I could easily slot Faux in the middle with two more readily-available scoring-built players on the outside. I found the first of those players in Reencarnacion, who with his 99 skating and 90 scoring fit perfectly as a complement, not to mention the energy he brings to the team.
Picks 42/43
42. D Golden Jedtsson
43. D Francis York Morgan
By this point, I had neglected defense too long. While I wasn’t expecting Wylde’s partner to be blowing the world away with stats, I still needed someone who would be strong enough to hold his own on the top line and wouldn’t be a liability. With his recent growth, Jedtsson was perfect. His 90 defense and skating allows him to slot right in; he’s not a scorer, but with our first line, he doesn’t have to be. I didn’t stop there, however. Selecting York Morgan was all about tiers; defensemen went off the board early in our draft, and if I didn’t select him there, the next-highest active defenseman was Hamilton, way down at 50 TPE lower.
Picks 54/55
54. C Gifford Shock
55. G Greg Clegane
Frankly, I was shocked (pun intended) that Shock fell that low. With 437 TPE, he was the most talented semi-active forward since the beginning of round seven, but partially because of the glut of centers and partially because of that semi-activity, he fell. With only 70 face offs and no banked points, however, he doesn’t lose too much by moving to winger on the line alongside Faux and Reencarnacion. The Clegane selection, however, was a bit less of a no-brainer. Did I really want to take a backup goalie this early instead of my third line or second defensive line? In the end, it came down to relative advantages. Everyone will have to play their backup goalie; not many teams will experience very little drop off when they do so. Clegane was strong enough to be a starter, but once Streetlight passed on him, I knew my team could have a strength relative to all others in its quest for a first round bye. It was worth passing on Kurri, who would have been my third line center otherwise.
Picks 66/67
66. D Benjamin Dupont
67. C Aleksi Koponen
Picks 60 through 65 saw a large run on young, active defensemen, all of which I was looking at to pair with York Morgan. I almost missed the boat. However, at the end of the day, Dupont fell in my lap, which was just fine by me. Advantage brings leadership experience to the team as well, which can help with my lines. Perhaps as much as Dupont, though, I was surprised that Koponen fell as far as he did. Draper has been perhaps quieter building up TPE with this player, and I think he’s fallen under a lot of people’s radars. That will absolutely change with Helsinki next year though (I personally will be predicting him RotY), and having him as the leader of my third line is a nice place for a breakout party.
Coming down to the end of the draft, I was looking at solely at two things: activity, and then fit. Kaminogi gave me both – while Kylrad might not be the loudest player on the boards, he’s certainly active and a great player to have on the team, and his 90 scoring and 80 skating gives me a solid complement to Koponen’s playmaking on the third line. Nezhmetdinov, meanwhile, was all about activity. I could have gone with Zeptenbergs, but I wanted a player that has worked hard to improve in recent days, and Nezhmetdinov has certainly earned his spot playing winger in the Super Cup. His high puck handling and passing provides another funnel to Kaminogi’s scoring as well.
Picks 90/91/After Draft
90. D Saul Hackett
91. D Sean Blacker
AD. C Bitch Higgins
Finally, with my last selections, I wanted to get some guys that have only recently created a chance at the Super Cup. Hackett has worked hard since creating at the trade deadline, and seeing as how I had an open spot on the third line at defense, he was a perfect fit. Similarly, fellow S46 prospect Blacker has been active since his agent came back in the fold, and although he’s a natural forward, I wanted him to find a team. I was hoping that another agent would follow my lead and pick up the third guy I was looking at, Higgins, but it wasn’t meant to be. So, why not pick him up to play as well? I will be tinkering with the lines to make sure Higgins sees ice time in this tournament as well, and I’m hoping all three S46 prospects will use it as a springboard to big things in the VHLM next season.
With the Super Cup Draft being completed last night, I have to say that I'm super excited this year! The past three seasons for me haven't been that exciting as I haven't really been on an active/competitive team and it's kind of lowered my interest in the VHL. I want to get back to being on a good team and having rivalries but that just hasn't been the case.
When the Super Cup first came out it was fun, everyone was really excited. I even won the first ever championship with McQueen but then the past two or whatever how many there has been has really died down for me. Phil and Molholt have done an excellent job so far and I'm very happy with the team I've been drafted to and can't wait to get our LR access.
Look out, whatever our team name is going to be the team to beat this year so everyone else can get the hell out of our way or we will have to run you over.
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Jamie got a reaction from eaglesfan036 in CGY/RIG; S46
Jamie got a reaction from Toast in S46: Do It For Them
Jamie reacted to Higgins in [S46] -- (S39) LW - James Faraday
Jamie got a reaction from CowboyinAmerica in Team Cowboy Looks To Bounce Back
Jamie got a reaction from scoop in Top Leader or: Who a Select Group Likes.thumb.jpg.c5de175b6a198da1b4fc71d8573d9ba0.jpg)
Jamie got a reaction from Ahma in This Super Cup Duo = Game Over for You.thumb.jpg.2875ea06fe8381deea08be18f4bebdc0.jpg)
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