Girts

Summer Days & Summer Nights
 
I have been putting this off all week since I really don`t think I have anything interesting to ask since it is the off-season and putting it as nicely as I can I really don`t care about the VHLE play-offs; which my player is taken part or the remainder of the play-offs in the VHL. So what the heck am I supposed to ask you about than? Well, Let’s wing it than….
 
 
1.     The days are getting hotter so where is the best place to try to stay cool during the summer? Explain why?
 
2.     Hot summer night out by the campfire with a bunch of buddies, what is your got drink? Why?
 
3.     Swimming pool or beach? Which one do you prefer and why?
 
4.     Does your community or town do anything special during the summer months that others might find interesting? Explain if it does or state something. You would loke to be part of if they don`t!!
 
5.     Vancouver Wolves prospect went head-to-head against each other in the VHLE final; Does anyone know who won?
 
6.     I guess staying in the VHL for my last question, Who wins the Finals between Moscow & Toronto? Why?
 
7.     Bonus: VHL just turned 17yrs old so trying to think back either all those years ago or just short few years ago; what were you doing or do you remember? Year would have been 2007; if me math is correct!!
 

@Scurvy@leafsman@traphag@Smarch@ScottyP@Girts@okochastar@Subject056@Beketov@KaleebtheMighty@Thunder@ethan tustain@Trepagoat@Gaikoku-hito@Frank

I was going to say 3 but didn't want to put too much pressure on you guys! 😄

I was going to say 3 but didn't want to put too much pressure on you guys! 😄

The Vancouver Wolves had a solid showing in Season 94's post season and for a relatively young team they should be very content with their performance. They started out by coming back on New York in epic fashion in round 1, winning 3 games in a row to knock the Americans out of the post season. This was the first playoff experience for young future Wolves stars Logan Ninefingers, Riley Martin and everyone's favorite defenseman Guntis Gavilrovs, who all played a strong series. The kids produced and gained much needed experience to go deep in future seasons. Round 2 found Vancouver playing a very strong Toronto team who was highly favored, the series didn't go Vancouver's way losing in 4 games but Toronto just dismantled Seattle in 5 games so there's nothing to be ashamed about, unless your Seattle who were expected to do better but let their fans and wives down. Gavilrovs scored his first ever playoff goal against Toronto and fished the post season leading his team in blocks with 20 in 9 games and added 3 points and 18 hits only finishing with a -2. Not bad for the big Latvian defenseman's first post season and he will only improve as will Vancouver each season. Next year watch out because Vancouver will be a serious contender! We expect these Vancouver Wolves to win at least 2 championships before season 100. 

@Frank no pressure!!

The Vancouver Wolves had a solid showing in Season 94's post season and for a relatively young team they should be very content with their performance. They started out by coming back on New York in epic fashion in round 1, winning 3 games in a row to knock the Americans out of the post season. This was the first playoff experience for young future Wolves stars Logan Ninefingers, Riley Martin and everyone's favorite defenseman Guntis Gavilrovs, who all played a strong series. The kids produced and gained much needed experience to go deep in future seasons. Round 2 found Vancouver playing a very strong Toronto team who was highly favored, the series didn't go Vancouver's way losing in 4 games but Toronto just dismantled Seattle in 5 games so there's nothing to be ashamed about, unless your Seattle who were expected to do better but let their fans and wives down. Gavilrovs scored his first ever playoff goal against Toronto and fished the post season leading his team in blocks with 20 in 9 games and added 3 points and 18 hits only finishing with a -2. Not bad for the big Latvian defenseman's first post season and he will only improve as will Vancouver each season. Next year watch out because Vancouver will be a serious contender! We expect these Vancouver Wolves to win at least 2 championships before season 100. 

1. First though was former Wolves star STZ will be hard to beat but we can do it. 
 
2. Honestly I wasn't worried and told Frank we would win the series. 
 
3. Probably Lazaro or Left Alone but Martin with the Game 5 game winner was huge. 
 
4. Well we played them in round 2, I wasn't worried until we were down 0-3. 
 
5. Poopie
 
6. I'd say both, those are strong numbers but also need to play good team defense. 
 
7. I will pay attention because I want to see Riga win because Latvia

Bollos de Trueno joins the Vancouver Wolves this season, and he has yet to show Vancouver GM, @Frank, that using the #4 overall draft pick to acquire  the defensive defenseman was the right move, especially given the talent that was available from the S94 list.  Trueno’s major deficiency thus far in his career has been his lack of aggressiveness and his sacrificing his body to prevent shots.  On a plus note, Trueno has helped with scoring and assists, especially on power plays.
 
Bollos de Trueno began his career with the Saskatoon Wild, and helped the Wild to the Founder’s Cup Trophy, but to be honest, he could have done much better and contributed with the toughness that has always been expected of him.  Instead of crushing opponents with heavy hitting and putting his solid frame in front of shots, he seemed to provide a minimal effort in the hitting and shots blocked category, and was more focused on his puck control, dekes, and passing game.  Trueno took advantage of being surrounded by a plethora of hockey talent and was able to stack the assists and power play numbers, while being deficient in hits and shots blocked.  He was not a menace to the opponents like he should have been, and given the minimal minutes he spent in the penalty box, its a clear indication that Bollos de Trueno was not playing up to the caliber that he should have been playing.  Given the production that Trueno provided Saskatoon, GM @Dadam30 was spot on selecting Trueno at #19 and not wasting an earlier draft pick for him.
 
The Bratislava Watchmen GM, @rory, had high hopes for Bollos de Trueno, and drafted him in the first round, at #6.  The lead up to the draft showed promise that Trueno would be the muscle on a team fighting for a championship.  And as the championship continues at the writing of this scouting report, it’s clear that Trueno has once again failed to live up to the expectations.  In fact, Trueno has become less aggressive in the VHLE, and has spent more time working on his flair than on the grit needed in this league and preparing for the VHL.  If it weren’t for the solid teammates surrounding Trueno, it would be painfully obvious that Bollos de Trueno has been a bust so far in his career.
 
Vancouver GM Frank, has had a heart to heart with Bollos de Trueno, and has given Trueno a prospect plan that should get him out of this funk.  It is clear to Trueno that he must put all his effort into getting tougher and building strength, defense, checking, and even fighting skills, before he learns any more puck handling or deking moves.  Bollos de Trueno physical body has the markings for a legendary defensive defenseman but he has played like a stick and puck sissy.  It is time for Bollos de Trueno to become a player and not a bust.
 
495 words

The VHLE playoffs are wrapping up and a trio of Vancouver Wolves prospects are battling out for that elusive Renaissance Cup.  With regular season leading scorer, Pierre Marc Bouchard @Gaikoku-hito and playmaking defenseman, Bollos de Trueno @Thunder suiting up for the Watchmen they face off against Cologne’s 41 win earning goalie in Soju @Frank.
 
Cologne finds themselves up 2 games to 1 so far after an outstanding performance last night by Soju, stopping 27 of 28 shots.  The biggest shocker is how Soju and Cologne’s defense has kept such a formidable scorer in PMB off the score sheet.  However, with a playoff league leading 57 shots in 8 games I don’t think PMB will stay off the box score for too long.  Could be a chemistry issue in Bratislava so will be interesting to see if some changes are made to try and get Soju and his surging Express off their game. 
 
Either way, the Vancouver locker room will have to stay divided until this series final is played out. 

A week ago I was lying in the grass in Canada with our dog, writing a .com piece. Today I'm sitting in a college music hall, dropping off my 17 year old for a 2 week music camp in preparation for auditions in the coming months. It's cliche, but time flies. The first time I brought my kid here they were in middle school, and now entering their senior year.
 
With that in mind, Konstyantyn Shevchenko's VHLM season seems to have gone by in a flash. Ultimately it was a successful year from a personal statistics perspective, but it feels like a failure to not have made significant progress in the playoffs. 
 
I'm very curious to see how the VHLE draft goes. I never really pay attention to any league other than the one that I'm a part of, so I don't really know if there's a team I should be trying to avoid or anything like that, so I'm happy to play anywhere. I do see that several of the VHLE teams are branded as former VHL squads, so that's pretty cool. I had a pretty great experience with Cologne way back when, but ultimately it doesn't matter. I just want my player to be a positive contributor and hopefully win a title.

I'm so not a graphics guy but I was in the mood to make something for my buddy @Phil (absolutely no obligation to use it lol). It's also really tough to find HD images of Burnaby Joe, sadly.
 

 

@Thunder

You scared bro? Mind ya business.

@Beketov @Josh @Spartan

Mark Calaway has accepted a Signing Offer from Vancouver:

S95: $1,500,000

Review: Real good overview or the teams that made it into the North American Conference playoffs. Nice little overview for each of the five teams that made the playoffs and nice touch adding some stats for the top players from each team. Media spot really drew me up readers attention with tagged players, pictures and underlining the teams names. Nice way to end the piece with a final prediction as well. Great read as always! 

The playoffs are here and last week I looked at the playoff teams in the  European conference so this week I am going to dive into the formidable North American conference.  The NA had a significant battle for placement in the final days of the regular season with NY, Chicago, and Vancouver all tie with 88 points.   We saw Vancouver struggle at the end and lost that coveted 3rd place spot to face Seattle.  As the playoffs have already started, I will start with Wildcard teams:
 
New York Americans:  39-23-10.  
 This was a team I had picked at the beginning of the season to be up near the top of the NA conference battling Toronto for top spot. Loaded with high end talent the Americans ran into some struggles along the way and maybe like Moscow performed a bit under their talent level.  
 
Up front they have Jasper Davis @Josh, FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY Analfist @STZ, Yaroslav Trunov @qripll, and the Great One, Wayne Gretzky @MubbleFubbles.  On defense they have two bruising dmen in Callum Gary Yannick Janser @Daniel JanserDaniel and Tord Yvel @Trazan that can punish on both ends of the ice. 
 
In net, WWWWWWWWWWWWWW @roryis a brick wall and if he gets hot is one of the tougher goalies in the league to score on.   Overall, I think the Americans are a playoff-built hockey club who could spell trouble for opposing teams.  
 
Vancouver Wolves 40-24-8
 Much like the Americans the Wolves had stretches of games when they played way below their level.  Loaded with 4 very good players on defense in Mark Calaway @Beketov, Liv Slater @Subject056, Left Alone @okochastar, and tough guy Guntis Gavilrovs @Girts.  
 
Up front they have a veteran leader in Owen Lazaro @traphag who despite a slow start ended up with 39 goals and 95 points.  Rip Wheeler @ScottyP and late additions in Martin Kemp @leafsman and Keita Kourou @woog have been great as well.  Logan Ninefingers hit a bit of a sophomore slump through most of the season but ended the season on a good streak.  In net, Dalkr Vidarsson @KaleebtheMighty wll be key as well as he is one of the best in the league when hot.  
 
Overall, the Wolves are another team built for playoffs with grit and big bodies.  They are built for the long term with many young players still figuring the game out but look to them to be a playoff team for years to come. 
 
Chicago Phoenix: 43-27-2
 Chicago stood true to their name and came out of the ashes to burn past NY and Vancouver for that third spot in the playoff seed.  A young team that despite not having one player over 1000 TPE yet they play as a complete team and just win games.  Their goalie Ryan Artyomov @Enorama has won 40 games with a young defense in front of him.  Led by YaBoi Oven @Doomsday on defense he amassed 23 goals and 240 hits this season with 5 GWG. 
 
Up front off-season addition Spanish Moon Moth @Renomitsu can also light it up as he had 32 goals and 229 hits during the season with 7 PPG.  This team likes to play physical and can’t be overlooked these playoffs.
 
Seattle Bears: 51-17-4
 Winning 51 games in a season is no joke and very difficult. The defending Cup champs have a very deadly cup contending team that doesn’t have many weaknesses.  From an All-Star goalie in Fukka Rask @Jubis, to shot blocking defense Mina @Baozi, to an intimidating front line in Daryl Dixon @Ricer13, Severus Targaryen @Banackock, Eric White Jr @Mysterious_Fish, and rookie sensation Gianfranco Del Rocco @Victor.  
 
Up front they are deadly, and they had the lowest goals scored against in the entire league in the regular season.  
 
Toronto Legion 52-13-7
 Toronto had the most goals scored during the regular season and a look at their roster you see why.  They are stacked in every way possible with a legendary goalie Joel Castle @animal74, a 111 point scoring defensemen in Bobby Bob @Baby Boomer, and 3 forwards who were in the top ten in scoring with Jimi Jaks @ke1vi (131 points), Diego Machado @Dadam30 (124 points), and Mac Atlas @v.2  (112 points).  
 
I think this club is as close to perfect as you can build.  Let’s see if the long layoff before playoffs makes them rusty.
 
OVERALL PREDICTION
 
 Well I would love to say Vancouver wins it all but realistically I have to pick Toronto to win the NA and face London in the Cup Finals.   Toronto is too stacked and unless they have a meltdown offensively, they will be tough to beat.  That is the great thing about playoffs though, anything can happen. 

@Banackock For Vancouver MVP!! 🤪

Hate to see that. We will re-group and be ready for next season. A lot of players on this team deserve more, it’s a shame to see the season go this way and end this early..
 
GG’s to the Mute. Good luck going forward.