Girts

according to @Ricer13 Dixon is playing this season. Currently says retired on the portal but it’s an error. 

Sounds good thanks @Will 
@Girts you are good
@chikn 7 more hours 🙂

Love it!!!  

@ScottyP@Scurvy

Vancouver Wolves hulking rookie defenseman Guntis Gavilrovs was named to the VHL All-Rookie Team this week! He joins lothario teammate Logan Ninefingers and recent former teammate Vlad Von Carstein who were both given the All-Rookie honor as well! An exceptional showing for the Wolves rookies in season 93 and we're sure Riley Martin was in consideration as well. Goes to show how great Vancouver GM's did in the S92 draft and what a bright future this organization has, even with recent moves to more of a win now line up they did not sacrifice the future. Let's focus on Gavilrovs for a second though, it's nice to see a player with his type of game get recognized. He was dominant as a rookie with hits (253) and blocks (164) and contributed well offensively with 35 points, including 7 goals. Coming off a season in the VHLE that saw him win defenseman of the year, it's a great sign to follow this up with an All-Rookie team nomination, especially with only 2 defenseman being named. Sky is the limit for this bruising beauty and we expect big things in the coming seasons from Gavilrovs, as well as Ninefingers, Martin and even Carstein wherever he is playing. 

@Noodle Enjoyer

Don't feel bad one bit.  He needs a good beating every now and again.  But he is a good dude......just a super punchable face

I feel bad for beating up RIP as he seems like a good dude. Glad we can now win together instead this season! 

Another week closer to the season and my GOD this has seemed like a long ass off-season.  Really feel it when you don’t make the playoffs!  Only real good thing is NHL playoffs are on so gives me a little bit of relief from the waiting game.  So, for this week’s Around the League, I want to talk about the Vancouver Wolves Forwards to get me my delicious TPE.
 
Next week will cover defense and goalie. 

 S94 WOLVES PREVIEW
Now, I am biased but the additions and draft picks the Wolves made this season have me excited.  On the forward front, we have a deadly list of snipers, hitters, and playmakers that are going to have goalies trembling.  
 
The Frenchman
 
The Wolves added legend center with championship experience in The Frenchman @OrbitingDeath .  Hall of Fame numbers are what this guy puts up and the fact he has had his two best seasons statistically (108 points) in the ladder half of his career just shows you how great he is.  Look for him to lead the Wolves offense and mentor the young group moving forward.
S93 stats:  41g 67a 108pts +17 
 
Owen Lazaro @traphag
 
Another great addition and still in his prime.  Lazaro plays a heavy game and likes to hit and shed the mitts if he has to.  273 hits last year and 50 goals.  He brings bags of experience and plays a 200 foot game which will be valuable for young up and comers like Ninefingers and Riley Martin to see and emulate.  
S93 stats: 50g 49a 99pts +12 273hits
 
Rip Wheeler @ScottyP
 
Rip is a bit of a wildcard but did put up some numbers last season.  New teammate Bollos de Trueno @thunder and Logan Ninefingers have been hounding him on a group text to earn and so far it's worked. He maxed last week and “says” he will max this week too.  Time will tell if this is a bust pick or not.  
S93 stats: 34g 45a 79pts 215 hits
 
Annie Oakes @Noodle Enjoyer
 
The 4th overall pick in S93 draft she is playing her first season in the big leagues. She notched 15 goals last season in Europe and looks to add to that in Vancouver.  She brings speed and some grit to a team that rewards that style of play. 
 
Riley Martin @Smarch
 
Martin is the ultimate teammate and locker room presence.  Which is nice since the addition of Rip Wheeler was awkward at first.  This season during a game against Prague, Rip decided to try and tangle with Martin not only earning him an instigator and game misconduct, but Rip also got the brakes beat off of him in front of his hometown crowd.  Martin has all the intangibles.   He plays physical, scores, and plays solid defense.  
S93 stats: 29g 26a 55pts 
 
Logan Ninefingers
 
Despite being somewhat limited in the finger department Logan is growing into a complete player.  Surrounded by good teammates I look for LN to score and hit a lot more this season.  Needs to work on discipline and defense but hopefully continued earning will get him there sooner than later.  
S93 stats: 32g 31a 63pts 110 PIM 242 hits
 
There you have it.  The S94 Vancouver Wolves forward lineup. A deadly mix of talent with lots of hitters.  It looks as if the Wolves are going for a team identity of toughness and grit.  Next week we will cover the S94 defense and netminders.  
 
Have a great weekend.
 
 
 
 
 

@Noodle Enjoyer

When deciding on the players that will make the team, I did a comparison between all their stats for the season. I first looked at number of points to determine their offensive output. Then looked at +/-, hits, shots blocked to see their defensive capabilities. I wanted to choose players that were the most well rounded, as I believe that this would yield the greatest results if they were on the same team. For goalies, I looked at their win-loss record, save percentage, and goal against. There were some players that were an easy choice, but others were more difficult. I know there was a few snubs in there, for sure, due to only being able to choose one player from each position (except defense). I hope I got a good representation of each league and chose players that really deserve recognition. 
 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
 
All-VHL Team
C - John Jameson (PRG) @Frank - 47G-80A-127P, +53, 10.09SHT%, 63SB
LW - Vincent Laroche-Gagnier (DCD) @vincentlg2007 - 55G-54A-109P, 10.78SHT%, 66SB, 29PPP
RW - Maxim Anisimov (WAR) @McLovin - 51G-58A-109P, 39PIM, 10.34SHT%, 34PPP
 
D - Skor McFleury (PRG) @Alex - 24G-78A-102P, +39, 263HIT, 227SB, 19PPP
D - Jacob Stone (MAL) @scoop - 25G-62A-87P, +39, 223HIT, 164SB, 20PPP
 
G - Lachlan Summers (MAL) @kirbithan - 40W-23L-2OTL, 0.935PCT, 2.61GAA, 0.926PS%
 
Retiree John Jameson leads this team through his impressive final season. Overall this team has a ton of fire power, scoring a combined 534 points with 119 of those on the powerplay. Don't discount their defense though. They boast 560 blocked shots all together and a +/- of +142. Lachlan Summers put up great numbers for a middling Warsaw team, especially when facing penalty shots/shootout attempts, where they stopped 25 of 27.
 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
 
All-VHL Rookie Team
C - George Richmond (MOS) @badcolethetitan - 29G-33A-62P, +13, 35PIM, 19PPP
LW - Chris Sanzone (PRG) @handfullofbubba - 21G-30A-51P, +25, 14PIM, 27PPP
RW - James MacAvoy (DAV) @Enraged - 31G-39A-70P, 123HIT, 9.31SHT%, 19PPP
 
D - Vlad Von Carstein (VAN) @Dom - 9G-36A-45P, 22PIM, 153SB
D - Guntis Gavilrovs (VAN) @Girts - 7G-28A-35P, 253HIT, 164SB
 
G - Giorgiy Costanzov (SEA) @Mongoose87 25W-15L-4OTL, 0.907PCT, 3.17GAA
 
A lot of top talent joint the VHL this season. These up and coming players showed a lot of improvement in the first season. They are hoping to continue this momentum into their second season.
 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
 
All-VHLE Team
C - Wayne Gretzky (OSL) @MubbleFubbles - 43G-46A-89P, +36, 16PIM, 10.29SHT%
LW - Gianfranco Del Rocco (VAS) @Victor - 35G-43A-78P, +28, 20PIM, 23PPP
RW - Nathan Ecker (ROM) @Nathan_8 - 41G-45A-86P, 9.47SHT%, 24PPP
 
D - Benjamin Abenduct (OSL) @Schnee - 21G-54A-75P, +15, 68PIM
D - Marty Byrd (STO) @Marty B - 30G-51A-81P, 74PIM, 12.4SHT%, 189SB
 
G - Clark (COL) @cl4rk - 46W-13L-4OTL, 0.933PCT, 2.01GAA, 11SO
 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
 
All-VHLM Team
C - Walter Jinn (PHI) @Adrest245 - 50G-59A-109P, +22, 10.82SHT%, 31PPP
LW - Pombo (LVA) @samx - 51G-51A-102P, +34, 12.23SHT%
RW - Maple Dogwood (HFX) @dogwoodmaple - 35G-50A-85P, +41, 9.09SHT%
 
D - Jillian Woods (OTT) @jacobcarson877 - 18G-60A-78P, +34, 22PIM, 21PPP
D - Carson Tripp (SAS) @Cartripp14 - 17G-59A-76P, +26, 134HIT, 112SB
 
G - Hugo Boss (OTT) @Dil - 50W-13L-8OTL, 0.916PCT, 1.88GAA, 11SO
 
 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
 
All-VHLM First Gen Rookie Team
These are First Gen players who had not played any games in the VHLM prior to S93
 
C - Ender (SDM) @Ender9511 - 22G-40A-62P, 129HIT, 16PPP
LW - Nikita Yolishev (LVA) @Joel Main - 20G-31A-51P, 114HIT, 14PPP
RW - Matteo Stefano (MIS) @mmrs617 - 10G-24A-34P in 41GP, +8, 78HIT, 8PPP
 
D - Andrew Skilton (HFX) @ace_five_ - 12G-42A-54P, 142HIT, 83SB
D - kevin johnathen (SDM) @meandyoc - 14G-31A-45P in 63GP, 218HIT, 122SB
 
G - THE MIGHTY ICE WIZARD (LVA) @Royski - 4W-5L-1OTL in 10GP, 0.891PCT, 4.1GAA
 
I wanted to acknowledge the members/players who just joined and created their first player. These members have been working hard to improve and I look forward to seeing their progress in future seasons.
 

1. I wouldn't even know where to watch the draft but I absolutely love the two players we selected! Bollos and Frank's one name goalie are both going to be superstars in the future. We killed it as usual!
 
2. No not at all, we have a great goalie right now as we try and win the cup then down the road Soju can take over. Should work out well. 
 
3. Yes I think you should be disappointed but there's nothing you can do because you are too good and rightfully went early. That said I expect you will come here in free agency the first chance you get so should work out well for everyone except the team that drafted you. 
 
4. I have no idea what that even is, never heard of it, but let me know if Guntis was involved in it plz! lol
 
5. Again, no idea what this is never heard of it. What I would change is making sure people like me know about it. 
 
6. This is a tourney I know about because I was in it! No I don't follow it anymore tho, but hope our prospects do well if they are in it. 
 
7. You do a great job with VSN articles so follow your gut, but maybe top 10 power forwards in the league right now. 
 
 

RANDY BOBANDY IS LEAVING NORTH AMERICA
 
That's right folks, since playing in the VHLE for Oslo in S86, the veteran Canadian cheeseburger-lar Randy Bobandy is leaving North America and making his return to Europe! With recent news of Calgary undergoing a rebuild, Randy Bobandy's player rights were put up to the market only for the Malmo Nighthawks to be the highest bidders. Randy has never heard of a place called Malmo before, he didn't even know it was in Sweden, but it sounded like his old team the "Sunnyvale Shithawks" so he was pumped!
 
~~~
 
For back story, Randy Bobandy had accepted a player option extension to the Calgary Wranglers in S93 and was interested in some success before his retirement in S95. Calgary GM @leandrofg came to Randy this past off-season with disappointing news, the Wranglers organization would look to enter a rebuild era. This was disappointing to me in two ways:
 
My all time playoff appearance streak of 12 seasons straight since entering the league just ended after Calgary placed behind Chicago's wildcard spot in S93. So I mean cry me a river it was bound to happen one day, but the bigger point being:  Nobody loves getting traded after making a home. A rebuild was best for this team's situation so all is understood of course.  
I enjoyed my time in Calgary with Bobandy and I was ready to play the next two seasons there. Even though the success factor didn't come for Bobandy in Calgary, I am really hoping for a veteran bounce back in Malmo. @SlapshotWrangler we'll find each other again with our next players don't worry ❤️ 
 
~~~
 
Party in the USA - Miley Cyrus
"I hop off the plane at LAX with a dream and my cardigan"
 
Party in the Swēorīċe - Randy Bobandy
"I hop off the plane at MMX with a Freedom 35 and my pack of smokes"
 

 
~~~
 
Randy Bobandy lands in Malmo! After a long flight over Eastern Canada and then the Atlantic Ocean, Randy finds himself on European soil standing in front of Malmo GM @KaleebtheMighty. A quick mingle lead to an SUV ride to the Malmo Nighthawks arena. Randy and Kaleeb toured the beautiful stadium and took some extra time to look at the recent history of back-to-back Victory Cups from Malmo's dominant S92/S93 campaign. Kaleeb expressed Malmo's drive for success and this caught Bobandy's attention, he has not seen a cup finals since the S88 Seattle Bears, he has not held a trophy since the S86 Oslo Storm, Randy Bobandy may be old but he is still extremely hungry. Randy and Kaleeb finished the touring with Randy feeling much more warm hearted for his new team, even making it clear to Malmo's GM that he is determined to finish out his last two remaining seasons in Malmo. Kaleeb seemed thrilled and quickly introduced Randy to some of his new teammates. There were some talks about tacos to be had?
 
3 season Captain, back to back Victory Cup winner, goaltender and former teammate of Randy's for the S87/S88 Seattle Bears, Ash Sparks @DarkSpyro was the first to reach out to Bobandy for a handshake. Sparks and Bobandy entered the VHL together in S87, playing two seasons together as young studs on a talented Bears roster. Bobandy was so pleased to see an old friend lacing the skates up again. Sparks filled the new guy in on how Malmo's team budget consists of a sponsorship from Taco Bell... and to say the least, Randy is seriously considering changing his diet from cheeseburgers to tacos for the next two seasons. The word tacos spawned another teammate into conversation, as a young Philip Rave @tcookie introduced himself to Randy. Philip Rave has completed two seasons in Malmo already with back to back Victory Cups, an 80 point season, and even so much more potential to reach for. Bobandy and Rave will need to drink a beer together sometime so that the Canadian can teach, but also learn some beer drinking techniques from the only currently active VHL player born in Liechtenstein. Randy is ecstatic with this recent move to a new home and ready for the new season to start after a fun training camp with the Nighthawks.
 
~~~
 
I'm also pumped to be playing with @Advantage @comrade cat and @Dom! I got to know ADV and comrade a lot better in S88 when Jensen and Tsevar played for Houston, and I've known Dom since I joined in on this forum. So this almost feels like Sparks and Bobandy in the sense that I always love connecting with old friends. @scoop @Spaz and @RJMW are all members I'm excited to play with as well. All active members that I've just never gotten the chance to actually hangout with yet! Malmo seems like a really fun spot for myself and my player, cheers to you all for making my entrance to the Nighthawks a good one already.

Draft, Off-season Tournaments & Controversy!!
 
Wow, The VHL draft and the lesser VHLE draft took place almost a full week ago and this lazy off-season AGM has finally decided to ask you for some of your thoughts around the draft. WJC is also kicking off with a few prospects taking part, ProAM is wrapping up or wrapped and the JST was …… We continue to wait for the season but that should start next week; maybe? Answer three questions for one TPE or all six questions for two TPE. As always have fun!!
 
1.     Did you actively take part in watching this season VHL draft? And what did you think about the two players that Vancouver selected?
 
2.     Broadcaster mentioned Goaltending controversy likely coming to the Vancouver Wolves due to our second pick of Soju; Do think this will be the situations? Why or Why not?
 
3.     Broadcaster also mentioned this AGM being disappointed or should be put out when his player was selected 3rd overall since he bleeds black & grey of the Wolves? Do you think this is situation that this AGM is disappointed and should managers be disappointed when they are drafted to a different team than the team that they are managing?
 
4.     Did anyone actively take part in the ProAM tournament or even know it was happening? What is a better way to make this tournament more engaging?
 
5.     JST is another interesting tournament that took place as it does most off-season and while I feel like it is a good idea to have a tournament to keep interest in new members higher, It feels like it is starting to fall flat. How would try to bring interest back into the JST tournament and what would you change?
 
6.     WJC championship should have kicked off by now so are you actively following the tournament or any of the prospects in the tournament? Which team in any or which prospect if any?
 
7.     Bonus: Since I am being lazy this week, tell me what would be a great article for the VSN to cover during the off-season Or an article that might be interesting topic to cover in the future? Why?
 
 
Come on Regular season....
 

 
@OrbitingDeath @Noodle Enjoyer@Scurvy@traphag@Smarch@ScottyP@Subject056@Girts@okochastar@Beketov@Frank@Gaikoku-hito@KaleebtheMighty@Thunder@Trepagoat@Demko@ethan tustain

@LucyXpher Congrats!! 🔥🔥🔥 So happy and proud to see how much you’ve done already so early in your VHL career.
 
@Alex Great show! I loved the formats you used and I really liked the top 5 stats for most goals, assists, etc awards.

Wow, I'm honored to be selected for the Elmebeck Trophy!  I've had so much fun on the forum so far and that's owed to all the great people I've met and interacted with here, so thanks to everyone for making this such a wonderful welcoming community!  🙏
 

First All-VHL Team
Wann Kerr @VattghernCZ - John Jameson @Frank - Nikolas Kauppi @Tetricide
Skor McFleury @Alex - Jacob Stone @scoop
Lachlan Summers @kirbithan
 
Second All-VHL Team
King Kisslinger @Kisslinger - Vincent Laroche-Gagnier @vincentlg2007 - Maxim Anisimov @McLovin
David Jokinen @Ahma - Mark Calaway @Beketov
Matt Murdock @Acydburn
 
All-Rookie Team
Theo Allard @InstantRockstar - Logan Ninefingers @Scurvy - James MacAvoy @Enraged
Vlad Von Carstein @Dom - Guntis Gavilrovs @Girts
Giorgiy Costanzov @Mongoose87

With the VHLM Draft in the books, I thought it would be interesting to do a bit of a data examination into winners of the VHL's Scotty Campbell Trophy, awarded to the player deemed the most valuable player during the regular season, with a cross reference of their draft position. I've never done a media spot like this so I'm not exactly sure how to count it, and I only went back as far as the launch of the VHLE, just to have a "modern era" time frame.
 
Season Player VHL Draft Position VHLE Draft Position VHLM Draft Position 80 Duncan Idaho 3rd n/a 3rd 80 Taro Tsujimoto 9th n/a 4th 81 Justin Lose 26th n/a 18th 82 Taro Tsujimoto 9th n/a 4th 83 Saku Kotkakoivu 3rd 2nd 5th 84 Duncan Idaho 3rd n/a 3rd 84 Nico Pearce 10th  64th 3rd 85 Jerome Reinhart 3rd n/a 57th 86 Daniel Janser 8th 9th 36th 86 Dusty Wilson 44th 29th 64th 87 Sirdsvaldis Miglaskems 2nd 8th n/a 88 Xavier Booberry 1st  23rd 6th  89 John Jameson 2nd 1st n/a 90 Todd Cooke 27th  20th  10th  91 Scotty Sundin 1st  n/a 1st  92 Merome Dilson 10th  5th  6th   
 
As far as analyzing the data, at a cursory look it would appear that the VHL's MVP can come from anywhere in the draft, with an expected bias toward first round selections. To add a bit of further detail, here are the average draft spots of those MVPs:
 
 
Average (VHL) Average (VHLE) Average (VHLM) 10 17.8 15.7  
 
Can we extrapolate anything from this? Well, not much, thanks to a small sample size and a few obvious outliers (looking at you, Dustin Wilson and Nico Pearce). Perhaps the most interesting thing here is that there are two 1st overall VHL selections who went on to win the Campbell - Scotty Sundin and Xavier Booberry - and twice as many 3rd overall selections who won the Trophy - Jerome Reinhart, Duncan Idaho twice, and Saku Kotkakoivu. 
 

 
 
Maybe the biggest takeaway I got from looking at this data is that VHLE draft position is an absolute wildcard. A number of these future MVPs either opted out of going to the VHLE altogether, or were so obviously going to bypass the VHLE due to their development that VHLE General Managers didn't bother to take them until considerably later as a shot in the dark pick, see Nico Pearce at 64th overall and Xavier Booberry at 23rd overall. 
 
When I sat down to write this week's article, I didn't intend on doing a data analysis, so apologies to anyone who feels deprived of my normal weekly storytelling exercises; I fully anticipate returning to the regularly-scheduled tale-spinning next week. Either way, I hope someone other than myself found this interesting.
 

1. Probably in the car while driving, which seems dangerous but I'm still alive. 
 
2. Always been a big fan of the undertaker. Excited to bring in Calaway he's a superstar and huge addition. Great move. 
 
3. Lazaro is an incredible player, I'm excited to have him on the Wolves now, I forgot mention him in my article because you guys made so many moves I can barely keep track! 
 
4. Frenchman is a great player and a player we needed on offense, excellent move. 
 
5. I will miss all those guys, I became brothers with them and was looking fwd to winning with them but the business of hockey is tough, we made the team better in the present and still have a future core, so that's how it goes sometimes, wish them all the best! 
 
6. I have no idea what your talking about, but Grimgor Ironhide is a pretty bad ass name so I'd probably side with him based on that alone.  

That's right, Vancouver has won another off-season with fantastic trades and draft picks. Every year this team is exciting to be a part of as GM Frank and Assistant GM Gaiko continue to build this team into a contender in the present and future. It started with some huge trades bringing in this guy Mark Calaway who is always tagging me on the forums, it will be nice to finally play on a team with him. On the ice he's a superstar and I can learn a lot from the type of game he plays out there. Another gigantic trade was bringing in The Frenchman, he's also a star and while I don't have a lot of experience speaking French I know some swear words I will use on him in the locker room. I think we also just traded for Rip Wheeler who I was holding a major grudge against for beating up my boy Logan Ninefingers last season, so he'll have to earn my respect but I plan on testing him in practice with some heavy checks so we'll see how that goes. No doubt Rip is a talented player though who can bring a lot to our offense.  We probably even did more awesome things I don't know about but those standout for now. The draft we killed it again picking up all world defenseman Bollos de Trueno who I can't wait to form a pairing with, guys got it all. Then of course we picked up Frank's goalie Soju, who is so good he doesn't even need a first name. Jesus Christ this team is loaded and fun to be a part of. Can't wait to see what kind of noise we can make this season before we go on to probably win 5 cups in a row with the talented young core Vancouver Management has built. 

@Thunder