Banackock

I haven't been this excited about the league in so long. I mean, the last time I felt this excited was when I made it to the finals with the Bears and went dancing all the way. Best moment of my time so far on this site and this expansion and everything else going on in both leagues is up there in my personal rankings. In the VHL, you got @Victor returning to GMing - while we can bump heads or whatever, I still like the guy, respect him and see him as an extremely valuable member to the VHL. It's fun to see him get another GM job and it's more fun and exciting to see the new team and logo. It's amazing. I love the location, logo and all the above. It's a place for sure I'd be interested in playing for, once I am outside of my GMing days. For the VHLM, you got Philadelphia finally getting a team after so, so long of preaching the love. The Reapers. Cool logo. I found it. Thank you, thank you. @Beketov made him looking heavily less obese too, so right on there. He saved members a lot of issues with not being able to not notice it once you had. The other, also my finding (pump those tires with air, boy!), is amazing. As the commissioner of the VHLM, I'll play for any team and love it - but I'd be lying if I said I Houston and their logo/management isn't a team I'd be most down for (wink, wink). Lastly, what I'm excited for, is the future. The league has grown so much and the @Recruitment Crew has done a really great job in bringing in a bulk load of members - with lots being amazing new members. What this means is one day we may very well be seeing expansion again - and maybe a lot sooner than some think with how great things have been. So, with all the buzz about the new locations, it's awesome to think about where we could go next time with expansion. My thoughts? Let's stay an ALL USA/Canada league Colorado or Denver - Always a good place to through a hockey team. For me, everything about Colorado spells hockey and their history is so rich with it! I think the name possibilities could be very fun and enjoyable and with that, you could come out with a very solid logo. It's central-isa USA and close to Vegas, but not too close. Thus, good flights and hopefully cheaper upkeep for the VHLM, hehe. Either way, I like Colorado/Denver as an option. Somewhere in Florida, or, Florida - We popped a team in Minnesota, Vegas, Houston, Philly etc. We're kind of keeping to the outside-sh areas or states of the USA. Or, they're more closer to an ocean, gulf or whatever, than the middle of USA. Keep the style going? Florida. Tampa Bay, Miami, Orlando, Sarasota. I think the logos and names could be amazing with this! Even if you added this and a 2nd expansion as Colorado - you are picking up good general areas of the map and basically being perfectly spread out and not too clustered with other teams. San Jose, LA, Anaheim, Oakland, Malibu - It's warm, there's no ice. I've never been - what's winter like? lol. -25 here today, feel bad for the suckers in Ontario and Winnipeg blah blah. -50? Shit. I love all these places and the two that stand out to me most would be San Jose and Oakland. Man, you could have amazing options for logos and names with both places and to me, Oakland ____ in the VHLM would be good shit. Either of for me would be interesting Edmonton - Calgary is in it. Don't be too generic and be like any other league who has both Calgary and Edmonton - though, I would never hate the blues for making the choice. EDMONTON needs a team! So, let's fuckin put er in the VHLM. I'm from around Edmonton. Sounds to me like we have a lot of members from around the area or in Alberta that they could get excited about this. Count me in for every player on a VHLM Albertan team. Winnipeg - Share the brotherly love, Canada. Especially if Edmonton got a team! (though, if we stayed Canada/USA and expanded 2 teams, we'd split CA/USA). Split the provinces up and bit and spread it out. Lots of guys from Winnipeg too and always lots of love for the hockey team - to me, not a bad idea. Also may warm their spirits up on the cool, fresh -50 c day! Montreal - Same thing. I don't love it much though for some odd reason, but as we seen Quebec move, it may be a nice tribute to add Montreal to the basket. The French need love too! We're a bilingual nation! North America - stick to it. Mexico City/Mexico - Really the only one of the top of my head, but it's cool to still branch outside of the normal CA/USA. Mexico isn't a hockey place, which maybe makes it better. That's so different. Members like @Trifecta always mention they're running out of stuff to talk about. I mean, some call him crazy but after doing it for so long (especially due to him having a new player every 3 seasons), it does tend to happen sometimes. I've struggled with writing. What better way than to change? Always has to be a hockey place, why not just have fun with it to some extent? Mexico is an amazing location and I really feel it's a team member would get behind and has the potential for an amazing, meaningful name and logo. International? Coming to you soon. Don't want to spoil all the fun and secrets right away. Where would you, as a member, like to see a VHLM team end up? Ideas and league opinions are always appreciated. It's a big reason why Philadelphia now has a team! 2 weeks - 28th to 3rd (12 TPE theme week) 4th t0 10th (6 TPE)

QUE and RIG.

Their 4th of 7 against Riga*

GG

Eyyyy

@boubabi is turning over in his “ban” grave right now and really kicking up a fuss with this - I know that much.

Predictions next game:

Could be worse... USA, USA! Though, Mexico would be neat. As the league expands in the future, which I'm sure it will, there's a strong chance of once again branching off. Time will tell

ooooh so fast...GOT EM! THANKS @Peace Good luck!

oh damn

Best of luck. YES!

Fun read! To be honest, I'm not a fan of Yukon much either, but it is what it is. Still sounds good, people still like it and yeah VHLM gonna be greatER next season!

Malenko @Beaviss @pennypenny

Right as I literally did this! Fortunately, I pre-wrote it- so Id imagine I can use it for this thankkkks

GG Riga Lol closeess

Too close... win though!

Awesome to read. I'm excited to one day play for one of the two new ones. Either is fine for me

The Process So the ball got rolling a little ways through the season - despite it actually being brought up by yours truly at some point last season that expansion was potentially needed. Was it needed then? Well, basing it off how things are very tight right now in the VHLM world in regards to rosters, waiver claims and all of that stuff - mixed in with the recruitment team either doing a good job or itching to do another one, I'd say yes. A single team could have been added in that season, but maybe it wasn't absolutely needed. No harm there. Now we brought up the questions and while initially some members were skeptical, once it became under study - facts and numbers were shown and with future recruitment drives in mind, it was best to add a team. Well, actually, it was best to add 2. What we seen was the VHL expanding alongside with the VHLM, so it makes sense, if one leagues growing, the other will follow presently or at least sometime in the nearish future. With the league growing so quickly the last few seasons and all the wheels all working effectively in the grand scheme of things, the VHLM is saying hello to two brand new teams, in brand new cities with brand new logos. That's a lot of brand new. For the cities, it didn't take too long to narrow down where we wanted. Initially, I presented a bunch of logos - which are extremely easy to find online for the most part - with exclusive rights (we are the true owners, and the only ones of that logo) and came up with a few ideas. As the process went along, I presented another list of logos and everyone came to an agreement on two of them - your now Houston Bulls and Philadelphia Reapers. With minor work done to the logos, it was actually - for the most part, a very easy and quick decision that was handled appropriately by everyone involved. It was a serious matter and unlike previous expansions in the VHLM, this one was about as smooth as smooth comes. The logos look amazing and I REALLY like the Bulls logos. I think both of the cities are excellent hockey markets, especially for a minor league team in the VHLM and Philadelphia, from the sounds of it, was long over due. When it was first brought up, we were instructed by those of higher power "either two new, or two old" for choosing teams. So, either an old VHLM team brought back to life - or two completely brand new teams. I pushed for 2 new! That's exciting, that make the league feel alive, fresh, bold and new. All things that VHL and VHLM have actually become over the last 10 seasons. The league is new. The league is alive. It's fresh. Then, we moved Oslo to North America - now Minnesota. It didn't make sense to have one international and the rest North American. USA was an obvious location as we now have 4 in Canada and 4 in the States. I actually like a North American league - but who knows, maybe in the future we branch off again (but I wouldn't count on this anytime soon). And on a lighter side of things, for what it's worth, never listen to @Peace and his attempts to bring Saskatoon to Brampton. We will never give into his demands. The majority of the stuff was fairly easy to decide on too. The rules for the drafts - expansion and VHLM went fairly quickly, a we came about with a lottery and playoff format that is 100% the VHL in it's current state. We kept it simple and similar, because both of those work really well together so it should keep things running smoothly and could even make things a little better and efficient. Picking the GM's was somewhat of a task! I narrowed it down to a group of people who have done an amazing job representing themselves on the Forums or on Discord. They were people who talk lots, help lots and contribute to the league in so many great ways. These people got messages with questions, letting them know I was interested in potentially adding them to the VHLM GM ranks. It's a different way of doing things, maybe. A lot of people expected hiring threads - the jobs to be open and the chance to GM. I totally get it and I would likely be disappointed too - especially for an expansion team as those are always really fun! However, the groups of guys I sent messages out to, were the best candidates for the job. After receiving messages back and all of that, I narrowed it down to a final 3 which eventually found @BladeMaiden and @Sonnet taking over the newest expansion teams for the VHLM. I think by now, everyone knows who these 2 people are - even some of the newest members on the site. Overtime I go onto the forums or discord, they're kicking up conversations, talking to new members and simply taking part in the leagues community. To me, they were top candidates for the role and there couldn't have been better options for hiring. Not a diss to anyone else, but I fully believe in the abilities which these two possess to successfully lead a VHLM organization. It's an exciting time for both leagues with so much going on. It's also a chaotic time for those involved prepping and planning for it - leading the show. With real lives outside of this crazy league, It can be tough to manage and everyone involved did an amazing job - so the league should largely applaud them. Both leagues are looking better than they have in so, so, so many seasons and the it continues to get better and more enjoyable. I think next season is going to be the most fun yet and this off-season is going to be full of changes, moves and a lot of excitement. I'd keep eyes on both leagues - the VHL with the awesome new Moscow team and Quebec moving the Vancouver, but trust me when I say this VHLM off-season is likely going to be a crazy one because your wonderful, amazing and hardworking @VHLM GM 's like to keep myself and company on their feet at all times. Happy Sunday! 2x6= 2 weeks KOVALCHUK jan 28 to feb 3 AND feb 4 to 10

YES!

Good luck

GOT EM

Yes!

gg!!