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1) Who do you think the breakout start for this coming season will be? Gregg Stallion seems ready to take his game to the next level. I could see him topping 80 points this seasons, and leading the team in production.2) Who will be this seasons Rookie of the Year? I think Rhynex has a good chance, after dominating the VHLM last season. He's also a year younger than Gary Rush, who won the VHLM scoring title, so I think that gives him the advantage, and he seems to be fitting in with that New York squad nicely so far.3) Who do you think will make the best captain in the future? I could see Venus Thightrap being a great captain for the team a few years down the road.4) You're down a 2 goals with 3 minutes left on the clock. Do you pull the goalie or wait and see? I'd pull the goalie.5) If we had to change from the Wolves but stay in Vancouver what would a good idea for a new name? Man, I love the name Wolves, but maybe something like Orcas or Humpbacks, something that people associate with Vancouver whenever they hear the name.6) Who is your favourite Wolf and why? Andrew Su, because he is a heck of a player. He had a big season last year, playing with Beau Louth, and now that Louth is gone, Su is proving that he doesn't need to play with him in order to be successful.

joining

Week 2/2

Review: Wow, that's really good, especially considering this is your first attempt at a graphic on photoshop. The logo swap is done very well, you changed the perspective of the logo perfectly to make it look as if it's really attached to the jersey. The jersey colour change is pretty good as well, and the next and background compliment everything nicely. I always admire when someone is willing to play around with different effects and it looks like you've done that here. Not many suggestions. Maybe I'd consider making the canvas size smaller in proportion to the player. Grahpics tend to look better when the render takes up more of the image. I usually scale my graphics by making them 400 pixels wide, while maintain the aspect ratio. Otherwise though, a great job on this graphic! 9/10

Review: Not too bad! I really like the text you used a lot, though I would have maybe considered making it a little more transparent, or less dominant and centralized. The glowing border around the player is an interesting touch, and really makes him stand out from the background a lot. As far as critiques: I would consider next time making the canvas size smaller vertically, and not making the player transparent. Transparency can look cool when trying to blend some background layers together, but doesn't really work for the player render. I'd also consider trying to do a logo swap and maybe making the jersey match Seattle's uniform a bit better. Most importantly, I'd move the player render off to one side of the canvas, as, though it may seem counterintuitive, images are a lot more interesting to look at when the subject of the photo is not in the middle of the canvas. Overall though, not bad for a first attempt. I like that you were willing to experiment with different effects and layering. 7/10

Alright, will do the article for Canmore.

@Victor any HOF articles available right now? Seeing that a few players still don't have articles, including Jasper Canmore. Could I write for him? If not, is someone else available?

Is this better?

@BladeMaiden Love the sig! Very good Lord of the Rings reference as well. Thumbs up all around on this post.

Clinton Giftopoulos: Against all Odds Clinton Giftopoulos | #24 D | 6' 5" | 234 lb | Age: 16 | Houston Bulls When he was born, Clinton Giftopoulos was, simply put, one of the least likely people to ever play professional hockey. His father, Alexandros Giftopoulos was an infamous, wanted Greek terrorist, who had exiled to Maldives along with his wife Valentina in the year that Clinton would later be born. Clinton was raised in Maldives until he was 4 years old, when his parents were both killed in an incident involving his father and the CIA. Following the incident, Clinton was sent to live at an orphanage in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, but ran away after less than two years. During this time he met an elderly lady named Mrs. Brown who let Clinton live with her. Mrs. Brown decided to send Clinton to elementary school to interact with other children, and that's when he met Arnie, a boy who was in love with the local VHLM hockey team, the Halifax 21st. Arnie took Clinton to some games and Clinton fell in love with the sport. Arnie would later move away, around the same time as Mrs. Brown grew seriously ill. To escape from all the stress, Clinton spent his summer days sneaking into the Halifax 21st arena to watch training camp. He then met John Madden, captain of the Halifax 21st, and after getting to know each other for a while, the two became good friends. John gave Clinton season's tickets to Halifax games and began to teach him the basics of playing hockey. Soon after this, Mrs. Brown passed away. Clinton was devastated to lose another parental figure, but he was glad to have John's friendship. John let Clinton move in with him, and introduced him to the other teammates. The two of them were inseparable and Clinton went to all of Halifax's games, both home and away. After a successful S64 season, the time came for John to move on to the HC Davos Dynamo of the VHL. Knowing he wouldn't be able to take Clinton with him, he sent him to live with his family in Calgary. Already having had 6 children, the Maddens gladly accepted Clinton as one of their own. When Clinton arrived in Calgary, he began playing organized hockey for the first time. Being eight years old at the time, he had to work extra hard to keep up with the other kids, as many of them had a few extra years of experience. Clinton had always been tall for his age, but it took him a while before he realized he could use his size to his advantage. Once he did, he became a force to be reckoned with, often dominating the other players throughout his years in Atoms and Peewee hockey. During his time in Calgary, Clinton watched all of John's games with the Maddens, and took inspiration from him, becoming driven to follow in his footsteps. John's father, Hughie Madden spent lots of time working 1 on 1 with Clinton, the same way he had with John. With Hughie's help, Clinton put all of his natural talent towards defense, realizing that he was best suited to the blueline. John would come home to visit in the summers, and would sometimes take Clinton and the family back to Halifax to visit the team and coach. John gave Clinton lots of advice when he was around, but by this time Clinton was so self-motivated to succeed, that nothing was going to stop him from making it to pro hockey. He cruised through Bantam, now established as one of the top defensemen his age in all of Calgary. When Clinton hit Midget age, he joined the Calgary Buffaloes of the Alberta Midget Hockey League, and at the age of 15, he was made an assistant captain. In his first year with the team, he scored 7 goals and 18 assists for 25 points in 38 games. Clinton began noticing his name being posted on various scouting lists online, and this made him more determined than ever. The largest criticism of his play was that he wasn't taking defense seriously enough. Clinton saw the criticism as a challenge. When John arrived home that summer from his final season in the VHL, the two of them spent all summer working on defense alone. By now Clinton was 16 years old, and well over 200 pounds and six feet, already one of the largest players on his team. In Clinton's second year with the Buffaloes, he was made captain, and John decided to give head coaching a shot. The team was immensely successful under their leadership, starting the season 13-2-1, and sitting at of a record of 20-5-3 after 28 games. Clinton managed 12 goals and 21 assists for 33 points in his first 28 games of the season, and as a result of his stellar play, was offered his first pro contract by the VHLM's Houston Bulls. He gladly accepted, seeing it as a big honour to receive a pro contract at only 16 years of age. Clinton Giftopoulos now plays for the Houston Bulls, and seems to be fitting in nicely. He can't wait to see what the rest of his career will bring to the table.

Review: Nicely done! A lot of things here that I like. Jersery swap is smooth, background is good and blends in well with the color scheme on the player. As far as critiques, I'm not sure what the purpose of the black border around the outside is, though you may very well have a reason for it that I've missed. Not a big fan of the text, looks a little childish. I think you could use more of a futuristic font and it would work well here. I like how you make the text 3D though. For the most part, a very nice graphic. 8.5/10

Review: You really did a lot of cool things here with this graphic. I like how you cut out your player very cleanly. The white border really makes him pop as well. The background is well done with two separate layers, looking like a hockey arena with a red overlay. The text is well-positioned. I only have a few suggestions. One would be to add some kind of effect to the graphic, to blend the player better with the background. And the other would be to consider making your player render a fair bit bigger, as graphics tend to look better when the player takes up more of the canvas. Overall, not a bad graphic though. Well done! 8/10

Today, I attempted to write a 150 to 250-word article about my new player, Clinton Giftopoulos. This clearly was not meant to be, as, by the end of what I had hoped would be a short, breezy article, I had written well over 700 words, more than enough to claim as a media spot. So I have decided to use that as my media spot claim for next week, seeing as I've already done a graphic for this week. But now I'm left with the problem of still having to write my 150-word article for this week, and I couldn't help but think to myself how many damn times this exact thing has happened to me. Why is it such a tricky thing to write 150 words, and then to stop there and not write any further? Normally, not being able to stop writing would be considered a positive thing, so I'm feeling a little stumped right now as you might have guessed. I decided to do some research into the matter, but didn't find any useful information. Not sure what I expected though. Good evening.

HOUSTON - Houston Bulls rookie defenseman Clinton Giftopoulos played the first two games of his VHLM career today, only a day after inking his introductory contract. Playing both games against Western Conference rival Minnesota Storm, the Bulls completed the doubleheader with a 50% win rate, going 1-1 on the day. Giftopoulos, a sixteen-year-old, 230-pound Maldivian blueliner wasn't given a whole lot to do, averaging only 2:24 in ice-time throughout the two games, but he was able to get a small taste of the intense VHLM action as Houston approaches final stretch of what has been a very dominant season for the team. Bulls defenseman, Clinton Giftopoulos makes his VHLM debut on Tuesday, August 18, 2020. In the first of the two games, the Bulls came out flying, with Isabella Campbell scoring the opening goal a mere 48 seconds in. Giftopoulos saw his first glimpse of ice-time during the fifth minute of play in the first period. During this shift, the lanky defender managed to make two quick pass interceptions before heading to the bench. Ten minutes later, Houston scored again, widening their lead to two. Giftopoulos managed to play another brief and uneventful shift in the period, and the Bulls headed into intermission with a 2-0 lead. Similar to the first period, Houston started off the second with a goal in the first minute, as Aloe Dear potted her 37th of the season, just 19 seconds into play. Giftopoulos played his third and final shift midway through the second and was able to make one more interception, bringing his total on the day to three. Drew Minott stopped all 21 shots he faced through the first 40 minutes, and the period ended with Houston leading 3-0. The third period was somewhat quieter, as the Bulls cruised to an easy victory. The only goal came with less than three minutes left, as Venus Thightrap netted the insurance marker, her 33rd of the season. The final score was 4-0 Bulls. Drew Minott managed to preserve his shutout throughout the third period, finishing the game with 31 saves in his 43rd win this year. Giftopoulos finished the game with only 1:14 in ice-time to show for. The Bulls headed North to Minnesota, for the second meeting of the day between the two teams. Once again, Houston opened the scoring, this time after eight minutes of play, with Riley Knight Gee netting his 32nd tally of the season, and 71st of his VHLM career. Cole Newhook evened the score four minutes later with a shorthanded goal. The period concluded with the two teams sitting at a goal apiece. Giftopoulos had more to do in this period, having played three shifts after 20 minutes were up. The second period started off slow, but after the ten-minute mark, Minnesota began to run away with the game, scoring three goals in just over five minutes. One of the goals came from Bo Burrows, and the other two from Cole Newhook, who completed his second hat trick of the season. Venus Thightrap scored with four minutes left in the period to make it 4-2 Storm, but Minnesota answered back with their fourth goal of the period just over two minutes later. The second period ended 5-2 Minnesota. This was the most eventful period for Giftopoulos in either game, as he managed to fit four shifts into the period and was on the ice during the Thightrap goal, resulting in a +1 rating after two. The third period saw Houston's strongest performance. Venus Thightrap scored her second goal of the game 39 seconds into the period. The Storm tied it up less than two minutes later, with a goal from Turner McHugh, his 22nd of the season. Shawty Nananana made it 6-4 at 4:16, knocking in Houston's first powerplay goal of the game. For the rest of the period, the Bulls tried desperately to score but were unable to find another goal. Giftopoulos played only two shifts in the third period and took a hooking penalty during the second one with only 2 minutes left to play, killing any chance the Bulls had of a comeback. The game ended 6-4 for the Storm, with Houston being outshot 40-29 through three periods. Clinton Giftopoulos spoke with the media following the second game. Journalist #1: Thanks for being here Clint. How did it feel to get your first taste of professional hockey today? Giftopoulos: It was definitely a lot of fun. It felt pretty surreal hitting the ice for warm-ups in the first game in Houston, with the whole arena full of Bulls fans. I've been working towards this day for a good portion of my life and now that I'm here, I feel like I'm dreaming. I definitely did not expect the competition to be this tough though. It was a real wake-up call for me to play against the Storm. They're a really good team, and a few of the players made me look bad multiple times. Otherwise, though, I just tried my best to stick to the routine and not attempt anything crazy. I think I need to feel out the competition and get established before I look to score lots of points. Overall, a great day, and I'm looking forward to what the future holds. Journalist #2: This is your first day with the team after signing a brand new contract yesterday. What was it like to get the call from Houston that they wanted you on their team? Giftopoulos: It was so crazy. Just two days ago, though it feels like a lot longer, I was playing for the Calgary Buffaloes midget team, with John Madden coaching me. The team had a good game and I scored a goal and a few assists. Right after the third period, I was approached by a Houston Bulls representative, who asked me if I'd consider cutting my midget season short to come play for Houston. I was a little bit hesitant at first, as I had previously planned to help the Buffaloes win the AMHL championships, but both John and my teammates encouraged me to take the opportunity. So yesterday I flew down to Houston with John and my step-dad, and we talked things over with the GM and coach, before I decided to sign with the Bulls for the end of the season. A day later, I found myself playing my first VHLM games of my career. Journalist #2: Thanks for your time, Clinton. Giftopoulos: Thank you. (1081 words) Claiming for weeks ending August 30 and September 6

Hey guys! It's good to see everyone again. Just wanted to take the time to let everyone know how enjoyable my return to the league has been. I've been having a blast getting to know everyone again, and I couldn't be more impressed by how positive this community has become. Thanks to everyone who's made me feel special in my return. I couldn't be happier to be a part of the VHL again! Thank, Thranduil P.S. Here's a sig I did for my new player, Clinton Giftopoulos.

agreed

Thanks to everyone who sent me offers. I took each one into consideration, but in the end I figured Houston is the right team for me if I want a chance at a cup this season. Best of luck to the rest of you, and see you at the S74 VHLM Draft! @rjfryman

1. What part of the VHL has been your favorite so far? The friendships that I've made and the memories that I'll have for the rest of my life. 2. What is the most impressive part of your game? I am very resilient. I've been knocked down in both hockey and in my life, over and over and over again, so I can take a few hard knocks from time to time. 3. What do you think you are most known for to your teammates? I have yet to play a game yet, but I can't wait to rip rope and make some nicer saucer passes right to Markus Schauer. Hopefully my teammates will know me as the guy who can do what it takes to when, when the team is most in need. 4. If you won the lottery what would you do first? Buy some new hockey gear. Pretty broke right now, but hoping to make some big bucks off my first contract. 5. What movie can you watch nonstop and still love? The Lord of the Rings never gets old. Doesn't matter which one. I can watch any of them time and time again. My favourite is The Return of the King though. 6. What is the oldest piece of equipment you own? Been wearing the same jockstrap for about 8 years now.