McWolf

Hit me up at the dl, it's only a matter of time before my Flames go back to being a dumpster fire, so I will probably sell, just don't know what yet. Lost 5-2 twice in the last sim, including once to you.

You got a strong team in BHL right now, you might just do it this year. Just gotta beat the Oilers and whatever the East sends your way in the Finals.

Really? Wow, I figured everyone in BHL was veterans. Congrats on being so good online so fast!

I go wayyyyy back, man. I played freeware EHM from like 2003 to 2010. I used to be in forum sim leagues using it. And there's definitely a good chunk of that 10k from idling too. Hitting the spacebar once every 10 mins while watching TV

I have no shame at all. Clock on EHM is at 1,2k hours according to Steam. That doesn't count the time I played with Wi-Fi turned off, which might be a couple more hundreds. And I have no idea about the exact time for the previous games, but I think I played freeware EHM and EHM 2007 a lot more than I played EHM. Probably 10k hours overall, something like that.

1. If I had to define myself as a player, I'd say I am a good puck moving stay-at-home defenseman. I look up to guys like Marc-Édouard Vlasic. Not pretending I'll ever reach that level of defensive abilities, but I think my skillset resembles his. 2. Are you asking a sport player if he is superstitious? I do. We all do. Those that say they don't care what colour socks they wear or what song they listen to in the locker room are liars. As for me; I always hit a steak with pastas a couple hours before the game, I always lace my right skate first, and I always listen to the same playlist on my phone when I'm gearing up. 3. I don't mind the team I would play for as much as I mind the GM I would play for. I talked with a few VHLM and VHL GMs so far, and I think I connected with a couple of them. I'd see myself playing for them and, unless it happens that I'm not in the team's plans anymore or that relationship with the GM turns to crap, I plan to play for the same GM for most of my career. I won't say what teams I spoke with, though. 4. Posh Spice was the best back then and she still is, but I did like Sporty Spice as well. 5. It's funny you ask that, because back home, I used to play that hockey simulation game called EHM. One thing I would like to do is edit every team in the NHL to create a new 30-team league with random players in. That would create a nice challenge, as compared to playing in the regular, well-known NHL. Among all teams I created over the years, my favourites were the navy-and-gold North Dakota Thunderbirds, the classic Washington Capital-coloured Minnesota HC and the gold-black-and-white Oakland Quakes, so I would probably go with one of these. VHL opens up a lot of European markets though, so maybe I would go with something completely new too.

I don't have high expectations about the round I'm getting selected in. The draft class seems to be massive, with a couple of guys being far above me in terms of talent and experience. Unlike most of these guys, I was only invited to join the league through the draft, I didn't get to play for a team last season, so I don't have any flashy stats to showcase and I'm aware of it. I think I might get drafted around the 4th or 5th round. That being said, I don't mind the position I'm drafted at. I'd be happy to be selected by pretty much any team, and in any round. I wouldn't even mind being this year's Mr. Irrelevant, as the last player drafted in the whole thing.

Today is the day of the VHLM Entry Draft, and Joseph McWolf has made himself available to answer media's questions on the subject.

Thanks a lot, man. I rushed it a bit at the end, when I realized I was at 900 words and the kid was still in high school.

I; Roots Joseph McWolf was born on January 27th 1998, in Worcester Park, a suburban borough in southern London. His parents, Henry and Fannie McWolf, own the Wolf Gardens Café, a coffee bar founded in 1945 by his grandfather, George McWolf. The Wolf Gardens Café never was the most popular coffee shop around town, but it did bring in enough customers so that the family didn't need any outside help to scrape by. For as long as young Joseph can remember, his brother Oliver and he helped the family by cleaning tables and dishes. His childhood was a fairly uneventful one, because he didn't know any better. On weekdays, he'd wake up early and work a hour or two at the café, then he'd attend school. The café wasn't too busy during the evenings, so it gave him the opportunity to play with his younger brother. They both were pretty active as kids and they took great interest in sports in general so, far and away their favourite evening hobby was to go in parks and join other kids there to play football, rugby or any other sport played at the moment. The brothers liked playing on the same team, as they were complimenting each other fairly well. Oliver was the younger one, with more energy to spare. You could always count on him to do everything in his power to be the one to score the goal, or the try, or anything. On the other side, Joseph had always been more of the laidback type. He never needed to be in spotlight and valued teamwork as high as other kids typically valued scoring goals. Him being the older brother and all also meant that he would always stand tall for Oliver when he would inevitably get in trouble after unintentionally kicking the goalie when he was trying to save the ball. Joseph didn’t mind it though, he felt like it was part of his job to protect the sparkplug. II; Something New Joseph was never at the top of the class in school, but he never failed a class either. He did enough work outside class to get through it and that was about it. His parents always tried to push him to take get better grades so he could attend business administration school, so he could help the family’s Café, but this was obviously never the plan for Joseph. For him, everything was about sports. That was all that mattered. He knew from that young age that his future career would be have to do with sports. Probably football. It would only make sense, with him being a top defender in his school’s team for a couple years. Though he was also invited to take part in the selection camp for the school’s ice hockey team. Hockey isn’t the most popular sport in England, so the team staff had to go out of their way to find enough players to actually have a full roster. He never really took interest in the sport which was mainly because he never learned to properly skate, but he was definitely curious, so he loaned some gear from friends and checked-in for the first practice of the training camp. He figured he had nothing to lose if he gave it a try. Worst case scenario, he doesn’t like it or he doesn’t make the cut and he goes back to playing football. The camp was very rough for McWolf. He knew it would be hard, with him having only limited knowledge of the game and him not really knowing how to skate. He never bothered to do more than just casually skate with his buddies in the neighborhood’s ice rink. In summary, the best he could manage to do on skates was to go forward with awkwardly stiff legs, turn slowly to the let and fall on his ass when he tried to break. Joseph surprisingly discovered himself to have a nice natural skillset that could help him become a great stay-at-home defenseman, according to the team’s coach. He looked to instinctively know where he needed to be in his own zone to help his goaltender and he did manage to takeaway a couple pucks from opposing forwards trying to move passed him. But if he wanted to enjoy any level of success in the sport though, he would definitely need to work on his obvious weaknesses, like skating, passing and just basic hockey sense. III; Early Career Joseph McWolf was finally selected to make his school’s team. He obviously was a lot less dominant in hockey compared to football but, after all those years, he started finding football a bit dull. It’s no fun playing as a defender when most games might end with a 0-0 score, even if you don’t show up. Hockey was miles away from that. He was fascinated by the speed of the game and the stickhandling skills of people dangling around him. This would be a tough challenge for him, he knew that, but it was also going to be a fun challenge. He was up for it. As it was expected, the first season was a terrible one for the Worcester Park kid. Most of the opponents would use the speed difference with the defenseman to easily skate past him, often leaving his partner outnumbered in the defensive zone. He still got a couple of shining moments, though. He stole a couple pucks here and there throughout the season. He even got one single assist when a speedy winger literally just stole from him and went on to score, before he threw it away like he would usually do. But, overall, those moments were far apart from each other and the couple games in between two takeaways felt discouraging. Joseph also felt the rest of the team saw him as a liability, which was right for the most part. IV; Defining Moment However, he did get a chance to redeem himself in a big way as the season was nearing the end. The team’s captain dumped the puck in the offensive zone and try to move past an opposing defenseman to chase the puck down. He reached it first but, while his back towards the play, the defenseman slammed him hard into the board, knocking him out. Joseph didn’t even have to think about it; as soon as the hit unfolded, he skated towards the hitter, dropped his gloves and started into on his helmet. He ended up knocking him as well and was sent to locker room. On the way out, he noticed his teammates were clapping and screaming, all fairly proud that the teenager with no real hockey talent dared to step up when no one else did. The school board awarded McWolf a suspension for the couple remaining games of the season, but he didn’t mind at all. He felt proud of himself for what he did. He protected the team’s best player, kind of like he did for his younger brother when they played football together as kids. This fight changed so many things. His teammates’ opinion of him changed for the best and Joseph now felt like he was part of the crew which, in turn, made him like the sport so much more. He spent the next summer practicing with them with rollers and they all tried to help him get a little better at skating, at passing the puck and at making tough decisions on the run. He was ready to turn the page on this tough first season and move on to the next. V; Future The team’s effort to make McWolf into a better player proved efficient as he quickly became one of their best defensive defenseman. It turns out the coach was right with him; he did possess a nice defensive skillset and just needed to learn the game’s basics to unlock them and become a strong player. In every game, he would make less defensive mistakes, take more pucks away and block more shots than in the previous one. Throughout his high school and college career, Joseph never stopped growing. He started playing late in his life compared to others, but he was a natural at it and he was a quick learner. He finished his college career on a high note, with him being named Defenseman of the Year in his final year, an impressive feat for a defensive defenseman who only managed 3 goals and 20 assists in 48 games. This brought some attention to him from some mid-tier leagues around the globe. There were rumours sending him to a couple of EIHL teams, like the Milton Keynes Lightning and the Guildfore Flames, but Joseph McWolf ended up deciding to move to the VHL’s affiliate league, committing to the 62nd VHLM Entry Draft.

I registered two days ago, so I don't any fond memories to pick from. But I'll say this; the welcoming here was heartwarming. You guys are all super supportive and helpful towards new guys like me. Don't change that. Hopefully, I'll have a couple more memories to share for 12th birthday!

Thanks for that, man!

Admit it, it's the #1 reason you want us upvoting you 20 times each

Review; This is goddamn beautiful. The background is mesmerizing. From some angles, I see it as it was a painted canvas. From other angles, it feels there is some depth, some relief in the red splash at the top, like it was 3D. I like Bjugstad's expression there, he looks almost as if he is possessed but it works well there. Favourite part of your piece though, it has to be the player name. I've always loved writings with two very different fonts like that. First name in some beautiful handwritten font, last name in a solid classic font. They just flow together so well. The cut in the last name is a nice touch too. It adds to the kind of crazy atmosphere in the sig, with the background messing with me and Bjugstad's expression.

Well then, as you said, I should be drafted. Thanks for the info!

Good to know! I didn't bother checking the number of rounds in VHLM drafts, but the prospect list that Tagger linked in his newsletter was massive. I thought I might fall through. Well, worst case, I'm getting drafted late and other teams don't know what they're missing.

Review; I like the dark red in the background. I like the lines coming from Keith, like some sort of explosive effect. Those and the fact that the rest of the background isn't too heavy makes it so the player truly is the centerpiece of the signature. One thing I don't like much though is that particular picture of Keith. It looks like he is crazy fat with the shirt waving at the front or something like that. I also thing the writing would be a little easier to read if it was another colour, or there was some effects on it. Black on black is rough to read. But overall it's a good one, man!

Joseph McWolf is currently finding himself in a weird situation. He probably never imagined he’d ever be in this particular situation, especially not at the tender age of 20. For the first time in his life, young Joseph is on a plane, flying from his native England to whatever city holds that next VHLM draft. He had only started training to become a professional hockey player a couple months back but, apparently, he already was known enough for his honest talent to be invited to this year’s VHLM Entry Draft. The letter he received clearly indicated that he was on the official available prospect list and he was clearly not going to miss this event. But the weirdest part in this situation isn’t even the fact that he might get picked by a team that probably realized this McWolf kid existed only a couple days ago. Or the fact that he was ecstatic to go sit in arena stands far away from home and family to hear some team managers call other player’s names for a couple hours, and probably never get drafted himself. No. The weirdest about this whole situation is that Joseph felt he might have better odds of being called on the stage if the league and teams staff knew him better, so he is currently sitting in a fairly comfortable coach seat writing his biography. A damn biography, at 20 damn years old. Just when you think you've seen anything.

Done. How much karma do you got with all of that?

Thanks for the welcome, Tagger! I'll admit I chose for my player to come from England mainly because I figured it'd be easier to play for the Western Europe team in the World Cup than for Team Canada or Team USA. Oh and thanks for the link to the Discord. I joined directly and will be sure to hit you all up with all kinds of dumb questions.

Review; This is great. I love the simplistic take on this one. The font is beautiful. The player's picture is great too, nice choice there. He has a nice expression that fits the whole thing. I'm amazed at how well the two red lines sit on Trocheck's shoulder. Like Eno said, pretty much the only thing bad I can say about this one, and this isn't much, is that I think it would have looked a lot better overall if the right side of the "N" would have cut to fit the player, the same way the red lines do.

Review; I like that a lot. I've always been a fan of art with dull, yet colourful art pieces. The colours make everything flow well together, nothing is overly highlighted. I can focus on the piece as a whole, appreciate the player, the splashy background, the name of the guy. Good job on getting that logo on the jersey too, it suits him just fine. Honestly my only complaint about it is the bubbly font used. I think it would have looked better with only the classic white font. It doesn't look bad, I just think it would have been better without it.

Thanks for the introduction, robot. I'm excited about joining this. This is maybe the third time I see an add for this on various subreddits, mainly /r/hockey and /r/EHM, and the timing just felt right this time, so here I am. Just to let you know a bit about myself; I'm 25, from Quebec City (apologies for bad english), I'm a big hockey fan since as long as I can remember and I've been playing EHM 24/7 for a about a decade now. That's pretty much all you guys need to know about me. See all you guys on the ice!

Player Information Username: McWolf Player Name: Joseph McWolf Recruited By: Age: 20 Position: D Height: 74 in. Weight: 199 lbs. Birthplace: London, England Player Page