Molholt

Here's the full message:

 
 
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If you'd like further context, there have been a handful of discussions that have happened - I've stayed out of them for the most part and let the BOD handle them, or the people that Beketov has reached out to. With that being said, we've gone in circles for a few months, like Beketov said, and I never saw anything that warranted a serious revisit of our decision. So I decided to save everyone the time. 
 
Let's be honest - there is no partnership here, and there wasn't before. We weren't working together - we were just giving people credit for being on the other site. I championed the partnership to begin with in the hopes of building something bigger than all of our individual leagues, a true community and not just a collection of separate parts. We're focusing on actual partnerships that benefit both sides. 
 
The VHL made a lot of good decisions in the aftermath of the split and I commend them for that. But, Beketov is being a bit disingenuous to say that we didn't come to actually discuss the situation. We were clear about the things we saw as issues and were repeatedly told that identifying them meant we weren't willing to negotiate. Well, that's just not true. We just thought, given the situation, that people shouldn't be going around the VHL's own code of conduct and continuing to make a mockery of the entire situation. 
 
In fact, I sent this message as a direct response to a message we received from Beketov, in which he expressed a similar sentiment. Specifically, he said "I think it might just be time to accept our differences and say we’ll revisit this far down the line but right now it just doesn’t seem likely. I don’t like it but I can’t keep knocking just to have a door slammed in my face and I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume everyone is gonna play nicely when they are constantly told it’s not enough and isn’t going to be." For context: a couple of SBA admins had identified a number of members (including VHL admins) continuing to mock the SBA and our position around the use of slurs as problems we wanted to resolve before resuming any sort of affiliation. As I understand it, Bek asked to be notified of instances when this occurred.
 
SBA admins pointed out these instances and received the above response (original is much longer), which essentially told us that doing what he had asked meant we'd clearly never change our decision (again, not true). Given that this type of "discussion" has been going on for months, I agreed that it wasn't worth either side's time. We felt like the VHL shouldn't have administration publicly shitting on a potential partner, Beketov thought that was unreasonable to ask. That's why we are where we are.
 
I'm not here to admire my handy work @Beketov, just providing some context for those curious. As a member with a HoF player, a spectacular run as GM (a three-peat, the first and only of it's kind) and long-time relationships with a lot of the members here (some of which aren't even in the SBA), my goal was never to sever this relationship for some personal issues. I'd have thought better of those of you who seem to believe that. I've built and ran leagues with @Doomsday and you Bek. I got my start in leagues with @Advantage. I guess your opinion of me is much lower than mine was of you. I'm sorry to hear that. 

Here's the full message:

 
 
---
 
If you'd like further context, there have been a handful of discussions that have happened - I've stayed out of them for the most part and let the BOD handle them, or the people that Beketov has reached out to. With that being said, we've gone in circles for a few months, like Beketov said, and I never saw anything that warranted a serious revisit of our decision. So I decided to save everyone the time. 
 
Let's be honest - there is no partnership here, and there wasn't before. We weren't working together - we were just giving people credit for being on the other site. I championed the partnership to begin with in the hopes of building something bigger than all of our individual leagues, a true community and not just a collection of separate parts. We're focusing on actual partnerships that benefit both sides. 
 
The VHL made a lot of good decisions in the aftermath of the split and I commend them for that. But, Beketov is being a bit disingenuous to say that we didn't come to actually discuss the situation. We were clear about the things we saw as issues and were repeatedly told that identifying them meant we weren't willing to negotiate. Well, that's just not true. We just thought, given the situation, that people shouldn't be going around the VHL's own code of conduct and continuing to make a mockery of the entire situation. 
 
In fact, I sent this message as a direct response to a message we received from Beketov, in which he expressed a similar sentiment. Specifically, he said "I think it might just be time to accept our differences and say we’ll revisit this far down the line but right now it just doesn’t seem likely. I don’t like it but I can’t keep knocking just to have a door slammed in my face and I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume everyone is gonna play nicely when they are constantly told it’s not enough and isn’t going to be." For context: a couple of SBA admins had identified a number of members (including VHL admins) continuing to mock the SBA and our position around the use of slurs as problems we wanted to resolve before resuming any sort of affiliation. As I understand it, Bek asked to be notified of instances when this occurred.
 
SBA admins pointed out these instances and received the above response (original is much longer), which essentially told us that doing what he had asked meant we'd clearly never change our decision (again, not true). Given that this type of "discussion" has been going on for months, I agreed that it wasn't worth either side's time. We felt like the VHL shouldn't have administration publicly shitting on a potential partner, Beketov thought that was unreasonable to ask. That's why we are where we are.
 
I'm not here to admire my handy work @Beketov, just providing some context for those curious. As a member with a HoF player, a spectacular run as GM (a three-peat, the first and only of it's kind) and long-time relationships with a lot of the members here (some of which aren't even in the SBA), my goal was never to sever this relationship for some personal issues. I'd have thought better of those of you who seem to believe that. I've built and ran leagues with @Doomsday and you Bek. I got my start in leagues with @Advantage. I guess your opinion of me is much lower than mine was of you. I'm sorry to hear that. 

Here's the full message:

 
 
---
 
If you'd like further context, there have been a handful of discussions that have happened - I've stayed out of them for the most part and let the BOD handle them, or the people that Beketov has reached out to. With that being said, we've gone in circles for a few months, like Beketov said, and I never saw anything that warranted a serious revisit of our decision. So I decided to save everyone the time. 
 
Let's be honest - there is no partnership here, and there wasn't before. We weren't working together - we were just giving people credit for being on the other site. I championed the partnership to begin with in the hopes of building something bigger than all of our individual leagues, a true community and not just a collection of separate parts. We're focusing on actual partnerships that benefit both sides. 
 
The VHL made a lot of good decisions in the aftermath of the split and I commend them for that. But, Beketov is being a bit disingenuous to say that we didn't come to actually discuss the situation. We were clear about the things we saw as issues and were repeatedly told that identifying them meant we weren't willing to negotiate. Well, that's just not true. We just thought, given the situation, that people shouldn't be going around the VHL's own code of conduct and continuing to make a mockery of the entire situation. 
 
In fact, I sent this message as a direct response to a message we received from Beketov, in which he expressed a similar sentiment. Specifically, he said "I think it might just be time to accept our differences and say we’ll revisit this far down the line but right now it just doesn’t seem likely. I don’t like it but I can’t keep knocking just to have a door slammed in my face and I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume everyone is gonna play nicely when they are constantly told it’s not enough and isn’t going to be." For context: a couple of SBA admins had identified a number of members (including VHL admins) continuing to mock the SBA and our position around the use of slurs as problems we wanted to resolve before resuming any sort of affiliation. As I understand it, Bek asked to be notified of instances when this occurred.
 
SBA admins pointed out these instances and received the above response (original is much longer), which essentially told us that doing what he had asked meant we'd clearly never change our decision (again, not true). Given that this type of "discussion" has been going on for months, I agreed that it wasn't worth either side's time. We felt like the VHL shouldn't have administration publicly shitting on a potential partner, Beketov thought that was unreasonable to ask. That's why we are where we are.
 
I'm not here to admire my handy work @Beketov, just providing some context for those curious. As a member with a HoF player, a spectacular run as GM (a three-peat, the first and only of it's kind) and long-time relationships with a lot of the members here (some of which aren't even in the SBA), my goal was never to sever this relationship for some personal issues. I'd have thought better of those of you who seem to believe that. I've built and ran leagues with @Doomsday and you Bek. I got my start in leagues with @Advantage. I guess your opinion of me is much lower than mine was of you. I'm sorry to hear that. 

For the record, it never was until you made it so. I'm not sure what kind of power trip you're on but this isn't the man I once worked with. I haven't seen him in the past 2 years at least. Enjoy running the league I once helped save and I'll enjoy running the league you once called home.

Here's the full message:

 
 
---
 
If you'd like further context, there have been a handful of discussions that have happened - I've stayed out of them for the most part and let the BOD handle them, or the people that Beketov has reached out to. With that being said, we've gone in circles for a few months, like Beketov said, and I never saw anything that warranted a serious revisit of our decision. So I decided to save everyone the time. 
 
Let's be honest - there is no partnership here, and there wasn't before. We weren't working together - we were just giving people credit for being on the other site. I championed the partnership to begin with in the hopes of building something bigger than all of our individual leagues, a true community and not just a collection of separate parts. We're focusing on actual partnerships that benefit both sides. 
 
The VHL made a lot of good decisions in the aftermath of the split and I commend them for that. But, Beketov is being a bit disingenuous to say that we didn't come to actually discuss the situation. We were clear about the things we saw as issues and were repeatedly told that identifying them meant we weren't willing to negotiate. Well, that's just not true. We just thought, given the situation, that people shouldn't be going around the VHL's own code of conduct and continuing to make a mockery of the entire situation. 
 
In fact, I sent this message as a direct response to a message we received from Beketov, in which he expressed a similar sentiment. Specifically, he said "I think it might just be time to accept our differences and say we’ll revisit this far down the line but right now it just doesn’t seem likely. I don’t like it but I can’t keep knocking just to have a door slammed in my face and I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume everyone is gonna play nicely when they are constantly told it’s not enough and isn’t going to be." For context: a couple of SBA admins had identified a number of members (including VHL admins) continuing to mock the SBA and our position around the use of slurs as problems we wanted to resolve before resuming any sort of affiliation. As I understand it, Bek asked to be notified of instances when this occurred.
 
SBA admins pointed out these instances and received the above response (original is much longer), which essentially told us that doing what he had asked meant we'd clearly never change our decision (again, not true). Given that this type of "discussion" has been going on for months, I agreed that it wasn't worth either side's time. We felt like the VHL shouldn't have administration publicly shitting on a potential partner, Beketov thought that was unreasonable to ask. That's why we are where we are.
 
I'm not here to admire my handy work @Beketov, just providing some context for those curious. As a member with a HoF player, a spectacular run as GM (a three-peat, the first and only of it's kind) and long-time relationships with a lot of the members here (some of which aren't even in the SBA), my goal was never to sever this relationship for some personal issues. I'd have thought better of those of you who seem to believe that. I've built and ran leagues with @Doomsday and you Bek. I got my start in leagues with @Advantage. I guess your opinion of me is much lower than mine was of you. I'm sorry to hear that. 

Here's the full message:

 
 
---
 
If you'd like further context, there have been a handful of discussions that have happened - I've stayed out of them for the most part and let the BOD handle them, or the people that Beketov has reached out to. With that being said, we've gone in circles for a few months, like Beketov said, and I never saw anything that warranted a serious revisit of our decision. So I decided to save everyone the time. 
 
Let's be honest - there is no partnership here, and there wasn't before. We weren't working together - we were just giving people credit for being on the other site. I championed the partnership to begin with in the hopes of building something bigger than all of our individual leagues, a true community and not just a collection of separate parts. We're focusing on actual partnerships that benefit both sides. 
 
The VHL made a lot of good decisions in the aftermath of the split and I commend them for that. But, Beketov is being a bit disingenuous to say that we didn't come to actually discuss the situation. We were clear about the things we saw as issues and were repeatedly told that identifying them meant we weren't willing to negotiate. Well, that's just not true. We just thought, given the situation, that people shouldn't be going around the VHL's own code of conduct and continuing to make a mockery of the entire situation. 
 
In fact, I sent this message as a direct response to a message we received from Beketov, in which he expressed a similar sentiment. Specifically, he said "I think it might just be time to accept our differences and say we’ll revisit this far down the line but right now it just doesn’t seem likely. I don’t like it but I can’t keep knocking just to have a door slammed in my face and I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume everyone is gonna play nicely when they are constantly told it’s not enough and isn’t going to be." For context: a couple of SBA admins had identified a number of members (including VHL admins) continuing to mock the SBA and our position around the use of slurs as problems we wanted to resolve before resuming any sort of affiliation. As I understand it, Bek asked to be notified of instances when this occurred.
 
SBA admins pointed out these instances and received the above response (original is much longer), which essentially told us that doing what he had asked meant we'd clearly never change our decision (again, not true). Given that this type of "discussion" has been going on for months, I agreed that it wasn't worth either side's time. We felt like the VHL shouldn't have administration publicly shitting on a potential partner, Beketov thought that was unreasonable to ask. That's why we are where we are.
 
I'm not here to admire my handy work @Beketov, just providing some context for those curious. As a member with a HoF player, a spectacular run as GM (a three-peat, the first and only of it's kind) and long-time relationships with a lot of the members here (some of which aren't even in the SBA), my goal was never to sever this relationship for some personal issues. I'd have thought better of those of you who seem to believe that. I've built and ran leagues with @Doomsday and you Bek. I got my start in leagues with @Advantage. I guess your opinion of me is much lower than mine was of you. I'm sorry to hear that. 

Here's the full message:

 
 
---
 
If you'd like further context, there have been a handful of discussions that have happened - I've stayed out of them for the most part and let the BOD handle them, or the people that Beketov has reached out to. With that being said, we've gone in circles for a few months, like Beketov said, and I never saw anything that warranted a serious revisit of our decision. So I decided to save everyone the time. 
 
Let's be honest - there is no partnership here, and there wasn't before. We weren't working together - we were just giving people credit for being on the other site. I championed the partnership to begin with in the hopes of building something bigger than all of our individual leagues, a true community and not just a collection of separate parts. We're focusing on actual partnerships that benefit both sides. 
 
The VHL made a lot of good decisions in the aftermath of the split and I commend them for that. But, Beketov is being a bit disingenuous to say that we didn't come to actually discuss the situation. We were clear about the things we saw as issues and were repeatedly told that identifying them meant we weren't willing to negotiate. Well, that's just not true. We just thought, given the situation, that people shouldn't be going around the VHL's own code of conduct and continuing to make a mockery of the entire situation. 
 
In fact, I sent this message as a direct response to a message we received from Beketov, in which he expressed a similar sentiment. Specifically, he said "I think it might just be time to accept our differences and say we’ll revisit this far down the line but right now it just doesn’t seem likely. I don’t like it but I can’t keep knocking just to have a door slammed in my face and I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume everyone is gonna play nicely when they are constantly told it’s not enough and isn’t going to be." For context: a couple of SBA admins had identified a number of members (including VHL admins) continuing to mock the SBA and our position around the use of slurs as problems we wanted to resolve before resuming any sort of affiliation. As I understand it, Bek asked to be notified of instances when this occurred.
 
SBA admins pointed out these instances and received the above response (original is much longer), which essentially told us that doing what he had asked meant we'd clearly never change our decision (again, not true). Given that this type of "discussion" has been going on for months, I agreed that it wasn't worth either side's time. We felt like the VHL shouldn't have administration publicly shitting on a potential partner, Beketov thought that was unreasonable to ask. That's why we are where we are.
 
I'm not here to admire my handy work @Beketov, just providing some context for those curious. As a member with a HoF player, a spectacular run as GM (a three-peat, the first and only of it's kind) and long-time relationships with a lot of the members here (some of which aren't even in the SBA), my goal was never to sever this relationship for some personal issues. I'd have thought better of those of you who seem to believe that. I've built and ran leagues with @Doomsday and you Bek. I got my start in leagues with @Advantage. I guess your opinion of me is much lower than mine was of you. I'm sorry to hear that. 

Good decision.  Sad it came to this but clearly nothing will change Molholt's mind as we wont fit his "business" goals for his dictatorship.

The unfortunate part, this makes my only threepeat in VHL history meme rather sad and unusable.

Update on SBA Partnership
 
Yesterday morning the VHL received notice from the heads of the SBA that stated, in no uncertain terms, that the affiliation partnership we once had will never be returning. While we here in the VHL tried our hardest to get the partnership back it is ultimately not a 1 way street and the decision could not be made solely by us. We regret having this happen of course but it is the decision that has been made and we must live with that.
 
With that said, we have honoured SBA point tasks as welfare for months now and will continue to do so. Affiliation does not need to pass both ways for us to do this and we do not wish to punish those members that rely on it in order to enjoy multiple leagues. With that said, unfortunately, 1 change is necessary. Effective immediately the claiming of the full 12 cap for SBA staff is being removed. While we recognize this may affect a few it is ultimately something we were leaving in place in good faith hoping to have the partnership one day renewed. Since that will not be happening we do not think it fair to our members to be allowing staff of another league to claim pay when they do not wish to honour our previous agreement. 
 
Anyone who has claimed this pay from the SBA within the last 4 weeks will be authorized to have it be used as a Regular affiliate welfare claim (6 TPE) instead of the full cap in future weeks. We offer this as a show of good faith to those members that have been actively participating in both leagues recently and continue to do so.
 
 EFL affiliation claims of all varieties remain unchanged.
 
Thank You,
@Commissioner
@BOG

You realize that 6 CST is the same as 7 EST? So, you don't have to time travel to meet the trade deadline - you just have to know how to do an addition of 1.

This perhaps will become the first of many articles that will only be claimed for this league. I have EFL as well, but the motivation was lost very quicckly. Need more vacations or sick leaves for coming back lol. That feeling when my second league is NSFL. And lowkey I think I can even try another another player who obviously will be kicker. It's so fun to collect awards, even if this is kicker/punter ones. 
 
Anyways, back to subject. I won't tell much about my opinion on this situation, just going to tell what was happening with me during this debacle. 
 
So, the game 6 was simmed and everybody were ready to congratulate Houston with the championship. For obvious reasons I wasn't immediately checking this game log because the only team I care is Riga. And sort of a care for Moscow as long as Randoms is there. After some time, I checked that thread and saw Josh saying the ''gay'' word which was doubled by Bana moments later. Honestly, I didn't care about these posts for simple reason - wasn't the first time I saw these words and won't be the last time either. And it seemed like some guys weren't paying attention to that either cause...they just don't care about minors altogether. 
 
Then, the Friday came. I finished working and was waiting for a bus. To kill the time I checked the VHL through phone (which became my habit for the past 2 years or so). Nothing special...until I saw that game 6 thread. It appeared that Doc popped in to voice his displeasure about Josh and Bana posts. I almost immediately replied this with Conceited gif. As much I like to see the drama at times, this was the one I was not a fan of. My immediate reaction on this was like ''ugh, here we go with this bullshit''. It was only a matter of time before this could turn into a major shitstorm. This always is happening when someone is mentioning sensitive topics. Hell, I experienced this 4 years ago so I know what's up. 
 
No surprises occured during that time. This indeed turned into a hysteria. First in forums, then in discord. And then Howe's just retired their players. Honestly, I wasn't sad about it as I never believed they could make something more than depth players. The only difference is they abruptly ended their careers here. Shrug. People still were going with this all day all night long, but I decided to do my sleepy job and the see how it unfolds next morning. 
 
I wake up early and my first move was reaching my hand up to the phone. I checked the VHL and saw a post from Beketov about affiliation welfare. VHL was ending their programm with SBA. I was kind of suspicios about that, but didn't pay much attention to this. After all, I never saw the same announcement from SBA and I'm doing all of my PT's here anyways. I never paid enough attention to every sentence from Bek from that post and pretty much missed the ''it wasn't our choice'' part...For the sake of interest I checked the basketball league as well. And the first thing I saw that they did the same thing! Needless to say I was pissed by this decision. The minute I saw that I knew - my time in SBA is coming to an end. They really stripped innocent members from TPE because of this bullshit. And I don't wanna hear that shitty ass explanation about ''we were monitoring this league before, this is not the only case of using slurs blah blah blah'' crap. My selfish nature is telling me that I'm just not hearing this shit. You took away the main stuff that allowed me to have some fun there? Ok, I have nothing to do there either. Bye, Felicia. Can't wait for the ending of their season to finish it all for good with a smile on my face. I didn't want to screw the Lightning because their coach was heavily banking for this particular season so I didn't retire immediately. But God damn, please finish that season asap. 
 
So I guess you know my opinion on this. I didn't support their decision then, don't support it now and most likely will never support it in future. Yeah, that happens when I'm not getting what I want. You can check to some game threads here when Kallis was garbage and see what I'm talking about.
 
That's it and I'm out. 
 
6 TPE to Cricket. 

Your team sucks and so do you as a person. Cheers mate. 

How does anyone read "big gay" when talking about a game you lost and not see it as you saying gay=bad? You're being a troll if you're seriously trying to make that argument.

Considering this a "generic comment" is exactly the problem. Using slurs adds nothing to a conversation and only serves to be hurtful to others. It is immature, plain and simple.

Your Houston Bulls are S68 Founder's Cup Champions!

We have good and bad seasons boys but here we are, making history. I know that next season will be tough because of many reasons - Sean McGee, our backbone and the best goalie in VHLM will probably move to VHL, Khalabib Stiopic, beast from Cocos islands is heading to VHL, Soren Jensen, one of the best players I have had pleasure having on the roster, Nate Telker is going to make a name for himself in VHL. All of the Howe's that are going into VHLM Draft will be scattered around and we will see them on many different teams. We did it with guys who will become legends and win cups and awards in VHL, guys who are amazing presence in the LR and I am fortunate to have you all on our team. We can't pass on without saying a word about our captain Edu Stava who has been amazing as our 2nd line centre and guys like Ferdinando Jokinen and Erik Summers who helped us be the best defensive team in VHLM!

This is for all of you guys and I can't say big enough thanks! Let's party now and enjoy every moment of it!

WE DID IT!

@SweetMike666 @Telkster @Velevra @Edustava @Erik Summers @Ahma @Strooper99 @Beowoof @Molholt @MWHazard @emidas @Klrpizza @diamond_ace @Jesse Nyman @Frank @TheNano74 @Doc Holliday

1. How many of the inducted Builders do not currently have a Hall of Fame player? (Credit and 1 uncapped TPE to @Beaviss)
Proving that you don't need to have sim luck to be inducted into the HOF for your achievements as a member, the following six members have not yet seen one of their players honoured with a HOF induction:
Sandro Desaulniers - currently inactive and without a player
Lucas Tannahill aka Pensfan101 - as above
Austin Gow aka @eaglesfan036
Jim Gow aka @flyersfan1453
Ryan Power aka @Devise
Jason Glasser aka @diamond_ace
 
2. What is the longest Continental Cup streak achieved by one team? (Credit and 1 uncapped TPE to @uphillmoss)
We had many repeats in the VHL - Calgary in S2 and S3, most recently Toronto in S64 and S65, but only one ever threepeat, making the correct answer. The threepeat, the only one of its kind, was achieved by @Molholt's Toronto Legion of S48-S50 (and god was it close to a fourpeat ?).
 
 
2 capped TPE goes to:
HenrikZoiderberg @HenrikZoiderberg
GustavMattias @GustavMattias
Krice13 @Krice13
cxsquared @Cxsquared
Matt_O @Matt_O
Steve @Steve
gorlab @gorlab
Patrik Tallinder @Patrik Tallinder
Betocka @Berocka
Banana2311 @Banana2311
Beowoof @Beowoof
Telkster @Telkster
SweetMike666 @SweetMike666
Beketov @Beketov
Liberty_Cabbage @Liberty_Cabbage
FrostBeard @FrostBeard
OrbitingDeath @OrbitingDeath
GRZ @GRZ
philliefan @Philliefan
Josh @Josh
JBeezy76 @Jbeezy76
DilIsPickle @DilIsPickle
Enorama @Enorama
Kekzkrieg @Kekzkrieg
TheLastOlympian07 @TheLastOlympian07
Mr_Hatter @Mr_Hatter
VanCanWin @VanCanWin
Greg_Di @Greg_Di
Midnite @Midnite
Velevra @Velevra
Dalton Wilcox @Dalton Wilcox
ItsMcLovin @ItsMcLovin
Edustava @Edustava
motzaburger @Motzaburger
majesiu @majesiu
McWolf @McWolf
leafsman @leafsman
frescoelmo @frescoelmo
Erik Summers @Erik Summers
Tate @Tate
Tagger @Tagger
Elmebeck @Elmebeck
Tbeez99 @Tbeez99
R jubis @R Jubis
Kekzkrieg @Kekzkrieg
Anthony Matthews @Anthony Matthews
wcats @wcats
JohnOQuinn @JohnOQuinn
Phil @Phil
Esso2264 @Esso2264
zepheter @zepheter
Numberj5 @NumberJ5
Cornholio @Cornholio
jRuutu @jRuutu
Juddy @Juddy
DMaximus @DMaximus
KC15 @KC15
enigmatic @enigmatic
DoktorFunk @DoktorFunk
sebster03 @Sebster03
BladeMaiden @BladeMaiden
poptart @Poptart
Larry Five Hole @Larry Five Hole
Omgitshim @omgitshim
sjs88speed @sjs88speed
Acydburn @Acydburn
Sixersfan549 @Sixersfan549
BigBallerFromDownUnder @BigBallerFromDownUnder
Jayrad28 @Jayrad28
Grape @Grape
Bushito @Bushito
Garsh @Garsh
PotatoKing @PotatoKing
Patpou22 @Patpou22
Renomitsu @Renomitsu
Joubo @Joubo
fonziGG @fonziGG
Jtv123 @Jtv123
flyersfan1453 @flyersfan1453
Rayzor_7 @Rayzor_7
DollarAndADream @DollarAndADream
hedgehog337 @hedgehog337
Hulkhogan @HulkHogan
Spyro @Spyro
CowboyinAmerica @CowboyinAmerica
studentized @studentized
VanCanWin @VanCanWin
.sniffuM @.sniffuM
MexicanCow123 @MexicanCow123
Harpskii @Harpskii
Kylrad @Kylrad
fever95 @fever95
Big Mac @Big Mac
diacope @diacope
JeffD @JeffD
stevo @stevo
Hughjas_ @HughJas_
Beaviss @Beaviss
 
 
1 capped TPE goes to:
animal74 @animal74
Jubo07 @Jubo07
Goliathus @Goliathus
Murphy @Murphy

Revisiting the Goalie Shortage in the S68 Dispersal Draft
 
 
My Previous Work
 
Prior to the S68 Dispersal Draft, I wrote about the shortage of goalies in the upcoming draft. After submitting my piece, the situation became even more dire, with Prague declaring their intentions to call up rookie goal tender Bruce Grimaldi, my projected first overall pick. This meant that the remaining two goalies would likely end up going in the first round instead of being spread across the first two. I also predicted that Mississauga would take a goalie with the first overall pick. Obviously, for reasons that I will talk about later, Mississauga ended up with the second overall because they believed that they would get their guy at second. In the VHL, sometimes narratives write themselves, and this is one of those situations. In the first round of the playoffs, the five seed Mississauga Hounds are facing the four seed Yukon Rush and the goalie that was once theirs, Block Buster.
 
The History
 
When Mississauga joined the league in S66, they were blessed with one thing above all else, incredible defense. The pairing of Hulk Hogan and Noah Hanley carried the Hounds to the playoffs in their first season. These two made Rayz Funk look like a top-tier goalie, and despite their first round loss, really made this team look like a contender. However, the loss of Hogan, Funk, and forward Callum MacElroy, left Mississauga in a rough spot in S67. The team plummeted. The only bright spot of that season was the addition of goal tending superstar, Block Buster. Despite having significantly less defensive support and facing nearly three hundred more shots, Buster had nearly the same SV% as Funk. This still developing goalie was playing out of his mind, and with the core of young players around him and the multiple first round picks in the upcoming draft, it looked like Mississauga was about to make the breakthrough.
 
In this time frame, Yukon had been on an opposite trajectory. S66 had been the bottom of a hard rebuild for Yukon, but the tank had earned them a high draft position and they managed to snatch up A. Red Guy. Guy helped Yukon reach the playoffs in S67, but just as Mississauga had the season before, the Rush left the playoffs in the first round. They simply lacked the depth to make a deep run into the playoffs, but the core was there and a lot of eye were watching to see what Yukon would be able to do with it. Entering S68, it was clear that Guy was going to get called up to play for the Americans, so high on Yukon's shopping list would be a replacement goalie as well as some new offensive weapons to win potentially high-scoring games.
 
It is worth mentioning that there were two other teams in dire need of goalie going into the S68 draft, Mexico City and Las Vegas. So, with four teams and only two goalies, I had predicted that goalies would be going for a high price in S68.
 
The Draft
 
Coming into the S68 Dispersal Draft, Missisauga had the first and ninth overall picks, while Mexico City had the second, Las Vegas had the third, forth, and seventh, and Yukon had the eighth. While goalies were in short supply, this draft offered more offensive options than possibly any that came before it. It had high-scoring defenseman, generational talents at center, and more play-making wingers than you could shake a stick at. So, teams in need of a goalie had seven of the first nine picks, and shortly before the draft we all learned that the pool of goalies had just gone from three to two. To get an idea of how this affected the draft strategies of these teams, I interviewed @GustavMattias, and asked him about his thoughts looking back at the S68 draft.
 
"What was your thought process going into the S69 Dispersal Draft?"
 
"In just about any draft, I don't really head in with a strategy, but instead I look at the board and take whoever happens to look good to me when my pick comes up. Most of the time, I've got my very first pick planned out (i.e. I want this player, but if they're taken I'll take this player, and if they're taken I'll take this one, and so on), but after the fact I'll just look at who's there when I'm up and take who I think is best."
 
This was interesting to me, because I have been asking myself whether or not you would have to reconsider all decision made in the draft if you imagine the first round differently. But what Gustav is saying here somewhat confirmed what I had already believed. GMs plan out their first round, but after that it is more about taking the best player on the board than about filling specific roles on your team. Later, that is the logic I will be using when considering how the draft could have gone differently and what that might have changed.
 
"Did you consider drafting a goalie in the first of second round?"
 
"I certainly did, and I can say that I was heavily considering taking Block Buster later in the first or early in the second. Yukon ended up picking Buster at #8, though, if I remember correctly... ...After Buster went off the board, there was simply nobody left--the only remaining goaltender was Bruce Grimaldi. I almost picked him, too, but learned at the last second that he'd been drafted by Prague and had expressed a desire to be called up. So, that wasn't a chance I was willing to take, at least not with a first or second round pick."
 
This implied that Buster hadn't been a consideration for Gustav's first pick. According to Mattias, he had his guy with Brock Louth. But this begs the question, why? Was Louth worth the first overall pick, or could have they gotten a comparable player later in the draft? What made the chance of missing out on a goalie worth not picking Buster right away? Maybe this was a tactical decision, but perhaps it was more? I continued my interview to find out.
 
"Were there any behind the scene's conflicts that contributed to your decision not to use your first overall pick to secure him for S68?"
 
 
"Not at all; in fact, I was very happy with how Buster did (if I remember correctly, Buster's SV% was within 5 points of that of Rayz Funk the season before, and in that season, Funk was playing with a much better team). I had my eye on Buster during the draft, but goal tending is just one of many positions out there. In the VHL, you don't need an elite goalie to win games; you need an elite offense, and an OK goalie will get the job done. I try not to put a ton of emphasis on the goalie, and regardless of what happens in our series against Yukon, we've proven that we can beat good teams this season without having elite goal tending talent.
 
I actually never tried to go for a goalie. I feel that this may end up drawing a bit of criticism, and that's understandable. Throughout the season, though, I was focused on getting some of our less experienced active goalies some good starting time--first Lukas Schweitzer, then Nicolas Fomba, and finally Aleksander Aleksandrov."
 
But this is only one side of the story. I interviewed Block Buster as well, to get his side of the story.
 
"Were you expecting to stay in Mississauga after S67?"
 
"I thought that I would be selected in the draft by Mississauga... ...I am not one to talk much but the Locker Room is quieter in Yukon."
 
Beyond that, Buster didn't want to say much about his former team or the circumstances of his departure. He said that he was just focused on winning at the moment, regardless of who the opponent was.
 
Before we take a look at how things could have gone differently, lets take a dive into how these decisions turned out for these two teams throughout the season.
 
The Season
 
I'm going to break the season down into twelve six-game section and discuss each.
Mississauga:
1-6: It was a rough start for the Hounds. They opened up with a five game losing streak, including a shut out. Something had to change.
7-12: Things started to turn around, but slowly. They managed to go .500 through this stretch.
13-18: While improved, Mississauga was extremely erratic early on, within four games of each other, the Hounds were shutout by the Aces 0-4 and then turned around and shut them out 4-0.
19-24: Strangely enough, while still unable to manage a winning record yet in the season, Mississauga had beaten all of the top teams, LVA, Minnesota, and Houston. The potential is certainly here.
25-30: And BAM! The team took off, something finally clicked on the offense. 6-0 through these six games and finally above .500 on the year.
31-36: Probably the largest thorn in the side of the Hounds this season were the Minnesota storm, breaking their winning streak with two mid-season defeats.
37-42: Slowing off of their offensive explosion, it seemed like it was time for Gustav to decide whether to sell assets and prepare for next season or double down and make a run.
43-48: A couple of trades made it look like the Hounds might have given up on their playoff dreams, but that was just to fool the rest of us.
49-54: Another run of beating top teams behind them, Mississauga showed that they were still a serious contender.
55-60: Up against teams that made big late-season acquisitions, the Hounds struggled at times, but they had nearly secured their spot in the playoffs.
61-66: Keeping their head above water, now it is just a question of positioning. Would they be able to push the Storm out of third overall?
67-72: Fate had spoken. It was meant to be. The Hounds would be facing the bizzaro-world version of themselves in the first round of the playoffs.
 
Yukon:
1-6: It was a hot start 4-2 start for Yukon. They came out of the gate ready to go.
7-12: Fighting for the #1 spot with Houston, Yukon looked unstoppable early. Despite lacking offensive superstars, they were winning high-scoring games and defensive slug-fests.
13-18:  Then it came crashing down. It is had to explain this collapse, but the hottest team in the league went on a five game skid and fell to the middle of the pack.
19-24: What is a good way to bring yourself back from a near-collapse? Beating up on your rival in three straight games. Yukon looked like they were back.
25-30: Just as the Hounds were taking off, the Rush were struggling to keep their heads above water. A bit of a mid-season lull.
31-36: Back on their feet and beating some of the top teams in the league. Yukon was showing that they could still be a contender.
37-42: And just like that, the offense showed back up. Like at the beginning of the season, Yukon was burying teams and not looking back.
43-48: After splitting games with the Bulls, it really looked like these teams might go number one and number two over the course of the season.
49-54: Every time you make late-season acquisitions, you run the risk of disrupting the momentum of the team. You have to wonder if that is what happened to Yukon here.
55-60: As their new star defenseman got acclimated to the team, the strong back end of Yukon kept the team afloat as the offense struggled.
61-66: It was clear that Yukon was a serious team, but the question remained open about whether or not they could make themselves into a top contender.
67-72: Yukon wanted to answer that question with two shutouts in their last three games. Although sliding in the standings over the second half of the season, Yukon refused to be counted out.
 
The Playoffs
 
As if destined by the hockey gods, Mississauga and Yukon ended up facing each other in the first round of the S68 playoffs. Here's a breakdown of the series.
 
Game 1:
Twenty one shots, twenty one saves. I couldn't have asked for a better game to fit the narrative of this article. Block Buster took over the game and no one was going to take it back. This game simply couldn't have been won by Mississauga. No series is decided in the first game, but Yukon made the strongest possible statement with this game.
 
Game 2:
If it takes twenty four shots to get a goal past this team, none of us stand a chance, let alone 45 shots. We haven't seen a goalie perform like this in the playoffs in a generation. But perhaps this first goal will prove to be a turning point for Mississauga. Regardless, Yukon did their job and won their home games and are in control of the series at this point.
 
Game 3:
Things are getting dire for Mississauga. They were finally able to break through and score some goals against this Yukon defense, but that wasn't enough as the Rush put up four of their own. However, Yukon's offense has been inconsistent and if the Hounds finally found a way to score against Buster, this could be the turning point.
 
Game 4:
And just like that, the Hounds turned the corner, putting up five in a crushing victory. Regardless of where the series goes from here, Mississauga was looking to make a statement that they weren't here by mistake. Can Yukon regroup and find a way to close out the series?
 
Game 5:
THAT.. WAS.. BRUTAL.. Nate Wright, early in the third, scoring the only goal of the night. Both goal tenders played lights out in what might go down as the most exciting match up of the playoffs this season.
 
Alternate Reality
 
All of this has been building to one thing. What would happen if we imagined a world in which Mississauga didn't choose Brock Louth first and had instead gone with their S67 goalie? Obviously we can't know for sure. When I asked Gustav in my interview with he, this was his take.
 
"I think things certainly would have been different, but whether better or worse, I really couldn't tell you. Had we picked a good goalie with our first pick, the only pick where one was available, we would have missed out on our top defenseman. That likely would have changed the whole draft for us."
 
This kind of contradicted his earlier statement that after the first round he mostly just takes whoever he thinks the best player on the board is, regardless of position. So I'm not sure that it would have changed their entire draft, and because I don't want to have to try to redraft the entire thing, I'm going to assume it wouldn't. Now the rest here is conjecture, but here is how I think that draft might have gone.
 
1. Mexico City takes Crawford
2. Mississauga takes Buster
3. LVA takes Louth
4. LVA takes Graves
5. San Diego takes Washington
6. Houston takes Jensen
7. LVA takes Gilbert
8. Yukon takes Kidd
9. Mississauga takes Block
 
But what would this change? It is hard to say, but I have a few ideas.
 
Mississauga
Until Yukon acquired Alyksander Hunter late in the season, the Hounds undoubtedly had the better defense. However, over the course of the season, their goalies gave up thirty more goals than Buster. I think, behind Mississauga's defense, we might be talking about Block Buster as the regular season MVP and Mississauga as a favorite to win the cup. But what would they have done with Cinnamon Block instead of Brock Louth? Exactly the same. They are both physical defenders, they both scored 87 points this season. While Block is slightly more defensive and Louth takes more shots, you could argue that difference is as much about circumstance as anything.
 
I obviously can't say for certain, but I think in hindsight, the Hounds would have very likely been a better team if they had taken Buster and missed out on Kidd. There were just too many good substitutes at forward for me to believe that they would have been offensively hindered. Gustav was pretty candid in his interview about the possibility of drawing some public criticism for undervaluing not just Buster, but goalies in general. However, he truly believes that he has a strategy that will work going into the future, and only time will tell if he can bring better results to this young team.
 
Las Vegas
What if we took the highest scoring defenseman and put him on this season's goals leader? Well, we wouldn't have just had an offensive juggernaut in Las Vegas, we would have had one the highest scoring teams the VHLM has ever seen. It would have been a spectacle, but I'm not confident it would have been highly successful. They say defense wins championships, but this would have challenged the very notion of that.
 
San Diego
It is hard to overstate how big of an upgrade Washington is over Gilbert. I don't think this would have been enough on it's own, but it may have inspired the Marlins to sell future prospects to build a team around George now.
 
Yukon
Without elite goal tending, this team wouldn't have survived. You could argue that a forward like Balentine Kidd would have solved some of Yukon's offensive woes, but the slow spots in the Rush's season would have been twice as devastating without Block Buster keeping them in every close game. This may be bold, but I think Yukon may have missed the playoffs entirely with him. But the hockey gods have spoken and if Buster stays in the minors another season we might just see a dominate Yukon team like in the days of old.

Please tell me this is satire

Howe Are They Doing?
A look at the latest additions to the VHLM's greatest team.
 
Just before the trade deadline, the Houston Bulls added six new players, the Howe brothers. This full line (including goalie) has only added to the excitement growing down in Houston about their chances at a cup run this season. So let's take a look at how these newest additions have impacted their team.
 
In the eleven games since the Howes joined the Bulls, Houston is 7-1-3. Seventeen points in eleven games is impressive, but what is even more impressive is that they just keep getting better. Two of those four losses came in their first two games with the team. Since then, the Bulls have had three straight wins against 5th-ranked Mississauga and a win against 3rd-ranked Minnesota; both of these are teams that have given the BUlls trouble earlier in the season.
 
So how are each of the Howe boy's doing individually?
 

 
As you can see, Moe has been a hits machine, and he and Doc have each sat for ten penalty minutes. Although his group hasn't had major offensive production yet, they are still a young group of players and are developing quickly. The being, said Midas's 11.11% shooting percentage definitely isn't a bad showing.
 
However, easily the most impressive player in this group so far has been Haz Howe. In his first three starts, he has had two wins and a shootout loss. While he has certainly benefited from having the best defense in the league in front of him, it has still been a great start for the young rookie.
 
@MWHazard @emidas @TheNano74 @Molholt @Beowoof @Doc Holliday

yes, I made this.

Ez.

Damn only 3 top prospects, Howe it stings.

Got that 2 carryover though boi

All of that drama... for nothing.