Matt_O

Part I - Pick em' (Pick the correct winners of all three games for 2 TPE) Game 3 - Moscow Menace @ Calgary Wranglers Game 4 - Moscow Menace @ Calgary Wranglers Game 5 - Calgary Wranglers @ Moscow Menace Part II - Predict the Score (Predict the correct score and winner of this game for 3 TPE) Game 5 - Calgary Wranglers @ Moscow Menace 3-1 Part III - Player Predictions (Predict the correct player for each category, 1 TPE for each correct answer) Series leader in points: Jet Jaguar Series leader in goals: Jet Jaguar Series leader in assists: Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen Who has the series PIM lead: Charlie Paddywagon Who scores the series winning goal: Jet Jaguar

As many of you know, I took a break from the VHL for about two months or so, but even before that I had much less activity than normal, so I missed out on some things, One of those things was the sudden dramatic increase in VHLM scoring that has taken place in the last few years. I won't try to explain it in this article, I just am here to point out that this is a real thing thats happening, but I'm sure many of you have already figured that out. Lets go back to my first full VHLM season, S64. The leading point scorer was Nathan N, with 113 points, while Diljodh Starload had 112 points. I was in 8th place with 90 points, while Carles Puigdemont was in 10th with 89 points. This was what can be considered a normal year. Lets look at S65 to see if we find similar stats. In S65 there was a noticeable increase in scoring. Hunter Hearst Helmsley of the Yukon Rush scored 125 points to have the most in the league, with Orion Slade finishing at 121 in second place. Tenth place finished with 99 points that year, which would have been fifth most in S64. We already can see the increase in scoring. In S66, scoring was back to normal. The top scorer (Callum MacElroy) had 107 points, there were five guys with 100 or more points, and tenth place finished with 91 points that year. These are similar totals to S64, which we can consider a normal year. S65 seems to be a bit of an outlier already, but it wasn't too far out there, it still is something that can be believable. S67 is where, in my opinion, things start to change around and get a little crazy. In S67, the top goal scorer was Zeno Miniti, who finished with 134 points, which was an incredible total at the time. This was the most anyone had scored in many seasons, at least five, it may have been the most since Adam Warlocks 255 point campaign in S58, but that would need a fact check. Second place Thorny Underyew had 119 points, which would put him in first place had he done this in S64 or S66. However, there was a significant drop off, and tenth place Brandon LeBanc had only 89 points, similar to both S64 and S66. Even though the point totals evened out, I believe Zeno Miniti was the start of the recent offensive surge in the VHLM. S68 was also a huge turning point with the incredible duo in Las Vegas. In S68, Benny Graves and Jeff Tates absolutely dominated the league. Tates had 149 points and Graves had 143 points, and Tates nearly finished at a goal per game average for the year, finishing just one shy (71 goals). They took the league by storm, but they still had good competition behind them. Roadkill Steve had 128 points, Chad Gilbert had 127. Yet once again, it seemed to even out towards the bottom of the top 10. Tenth place finished with 92 points, very comparable to years prior. However, the top goal scorers are continuing to put up more and more points every year. Lets go to S69. S69 was the year the offensive surge took off. Everyone in the top 10 had 115+ points! That is incredible. First place Danny DeYeeto had 145 points, and four people had over 130 points. The 11th placed scorer that year (David O'Quinn) would have been first place in S64, and 17th placed Ben Storm would have been tied for first in S66 with 107 points. S70 is continuing this, but to an even more unbelievable extreme. 19 guys had 100 or more points, and nine of those guys had 130 or more points. What is going on? I'm not going to try to answer that, but this is a very interesting trend. Will it continue in S71? Since my player is a physical defensive defenseman, I would hope it cools down a little bit.

When I signed with Houston, I had a few thoughts in mind. Firstly, they were a contender, but not the favorite. I would never want to sign with the favorite, that makes me feel cheap. It's like the time Philadelphia was amazing in S67 and then the top deadline recreates signed there anyways, making them even better. They still lost in the playoffs, which put a smile on my face. With other top notch recreates signing in Houston, I thought we had a really good shot at winning it all. They also didn't have too many defenseman, so I could slot into the second line and get good minutes, which is important to me. I had a solid season all in all. 12 points in 20 games with 35 hits and 15 blocked shots, pretty good for a new defenseman. Next year I'm hoping for 50 points, 200 hits, and over 100 blocked shots. General Zod is a physical, defensive defenseman after all. Right now I am ranked 7th in the draft class but I will probably move to 5th after I claim my TPE for this week. The top 8 have a decent cushion on everyone else, so I'm hoping by the time the draft comes maybe I can be top 5 in TPE rankings, maybe even top 3 but thats a bit of a stretch. Depending on team needs, I could be a top 3 pick, since I'm the second best defenseman the last time I checked.

https://vhlforum.com/topic/78288-my-case-for-hall-of-fame/ For extra uncapped TPE

The S64 draft class was very eventful for first gen players. Many infamous users have came from this draft class, including Nyko and Dil, as well as Blade, Poptart, Thranduil and myself. Lets look at three of the players that came from the class to see who has a chance at the hall of fame. *Numbers dictate draft position* 1) Ryan Sullivan Jr. Talk about underwhelming. Son of the great Ryan Sullivan, a hall of famer, Ryan Sullivan Jr. spent his first few years in New York, before being shipped to Toronto after a couple of seasons. He was a defenseman all four years on these teams, and had some really good seasons for a defenseman. Four straight 50+ point seasons, with 120+ blocked shots and 130+ hits in every year. However, he decided to switch to winger when he was traded to the Malmo Nighthawks, where he played alongside elite sniper Matt Thompson. He put together an incredible year, with 103 points. But when Thompson left, he had back to back seasons with less than 50 points to end his career. If he continued to have elite years in his last couple seasons maybe he would have somewhat of a chance. But he has no chance to make it after that. 2) Elias Dahlberg While he had a better career than Sullivan Jr., he still will not be making the hall of fame. His sophomore season with 105 points sadly was not replicated since then, but he did become extremely consistent. He finished between 70 and 80 points for the next four years after that, which is a solid career. He barely finished above a point per game. He had a good career but not a hall of fame one. He also only played six seasons, so he will not be making the hall of fame. 7) Diljodh Starload Ah, everyones favorite player. He only played five seasons, and put up some very strong stats after he switched to defense. His loyalty to Calgary was well documented, and eaglesfan's ability to take him down in every playoff series they played each other in was astonishing (this may be inaccurate depending on S69 playoff results). After getting traded to Vancouver, he temporarily retired and everyone yelled at him until he came back. See, sometimes bullying does work. His chances at the hall of fame are non existent, since he didn't have enough good seasons to have a high point total. He only exceeded point per game in two seasons he played. No one in the S64 draft looks to make the hall of fame. It was a disappointing class in terms of player production. TPE value is a different story, it was pretty successful with that. The only players that could make it from this class are the two goalies, Brick Wahl and Finn Davidson, but it's still extremely unlikely this happens. The VHL may need to change Hall of Fame standards eventually because new age players are putting up are not as high as what players used to put up. 512 words

Before I start this, I'll acknowledge that my old player has no chance at the hall of fame. This is obvious, since he could never really break onto the scene, but put together some very solid seasons but nothing incredible. A mediocre rookie season was followed by an improved sophomore campaign, which was his first as a Nighthawk after being taken in the expansion draft. The season after that, he had a career year, riding a hot start which saw him first in the league in points after 10 games, he finished with an astonishing 74 points. Wait 74 points? After 10 games, I had nearly 20 points. I only had 50 points in the next 60 games. My player was extremely inconsistent, even though his point totals evened out in the final season of his career. Lets not forget that I finished with 280 hits this year, 4th in the league. How did this happen? I have no idea but it's cool anyways. This player has no chance for the hall of fame. But perhaps my next player does. I come into this with the advantage of more knowledge on how to build players, and have a few player models to base off of. I also started my player much earlier than I did my previous player, and I got the sweet recreate bonus. Will my next player make the hall of fame? Probably not, if you played the odds. But you never know.

1. Building up my new player into a beast! I have some tough recreates to compete with so I need to keep pace to stay in the first round, which I believe is very obtainable. 2. General Zod can beat anyone, and I would choose Hulk Hogan to show him who's boss. 3. I wasn't paying much attention. But yes, considering what some deadlines have been like in previous years, this is definitely a surprise. 4. I have no idea, maybe he is just too good. His TPE totals didn't skyrocket or anything, but his games played went up by a lot. I don't know what this means but it's kind of weird. 5. Go for Pat Svoboda and see if Ryan Sullivan Jr is up to be dealt since Malmo's run is over sadly. Can't believe we couldn't win it all at least once, especially when we had Matt Thompson in S68 I think. 6. Thanks for the party! My career will be best remembered in Malmo but Davos was a good final stop. I like what @Tbeez99 decided to bring, he's a real one.

When my parents put me into that tiny, closed in space ship and sent me off into outer space, I had no idea what would come my way, what was going on, or anything at all, for that matter. I haven't seen my parents since, I wonder how they are doing. Do they have intergalactic mail services? I would like to send them Christmas cards this year. Anyways, I arrived on Earth and I'm not sure how old I was, but all I remember was a big crash and all the sudden I stopped moving, and I could see a bright blue sky, with little white things they call clouds. A man was standing over me, and all I could see was his big bald head reflecting the sunlight. He lifted me up out of the ship, and said to me "Hey kid, my names Johnny. Welcome to Houston." He adopted me and he was a father to me. He taught me the basics of hockey at a young age, and I had a love for the game from the start. Not only did he teach me how to play hockey, he also kept me extremely fit. I became absolutely shredded, with muscles popping out all over my big beautiful body. Unfortunately, my large frame scared the other kids from him, and some travel teams simply refused to believe that I was actually a child, and not a man just trying to get onto a kids ice hockey team. Eventually, I said forget all those teams. I'll practice on my own, and screw the NHL. I'll play for the VHL instead. Naturally, living in Houston, I grew an infatuation with the new expansion team Houston Bulls, and after a very successful first season, I fell in love with them. My room was covered in posters, with Jerry Garcia being my idol. I wanted to be like him, a hard nosed, physical defensive defensemen that could still pick up points if needed. Some ask me if I would rather be in the Hall of Fame or win championships, I think it's a stupid question. Why not both? The only hockey team that would accept me as a kid was my high school teams, no travel teams would accept that I was the correct age. Naturally, I shredded up the league with penalty minutes and suspensions, but when I was actually playing, I was a force to be reckoned with. I hope to keep the same energy here in the VHLM. And I hope to make Johnny proud. 426 words

I joined this league in November of 2018, where I was just a new guy in sim leagues. I had a very solid VHLM career with two cup wins, including a 90 point season for the Aces in S64. I frequently looked out for jobs in the league but didn't get anything until VSN put out an application. I thought this would be perfect for me since I liked writing and I thought I was pretty good at it, and I was hired. I focused a lot on VHL history in my time with VSN that spanned about 8 months, and I was there for all the highs and lows they faced. The shift from dil to shawn, and then shawn to bana and frost, who are doing a tremendous job. Being apart of VSN for so long is probably what I'm most proud of for the year long tenure I was around for. I was drafted to New York in the S64 draft and I would like to believe I was a steal, as my activity was strong and I entered the top 10 TPE earners for my draft class despite being drafted 18th and joining much later than everyone else. In my first year in the VHL, we made the wildcard but were quickly dispatched by Helsinki, and my first season wasn't so great. However, the biggest change in my career happened that off season. I was left unprotected in the expansion draft and taken by the Malmo Nighthawks. I was, at first, upset about this, I wanted to stay in New York. But I quickly came around to love Malmo, and they were my home for many years and I would have retired with them most likely. That team was the absolute best, and it's a shame we couldn't win a cup during our peak years. I don't have many regrets with my first player, the only thing I maybe regret is not waiting like three extra days for the trade deadline because I could have been an S65 player and gotten a high draft position, much higher than where I was in S64. For my next player General Zod, I want to make a defensive defenseman that is physical, but eventually I want him to be able to make some plays if needed. For now, I'm focusing on defense in the early part of my career but not too much defense, I remember in Malmo @GustavMattias got defense to 99 way too early and it completely threw off his build for an entire season or two. I didn't want to sign with the first placed team to try to win an easy ring in my shortened VHLM season, but I still wanted to have a team with a chance to win it all while I also can get quality playing time. The two teams that fit that description seemed to be Ottawa and Houston, but I chose Houston since the Lynx never offered, and also I swore I would never play for Ottawa for some reason back in the day. 516 words

Ask me some questions you mere mortals

It feels good to be back. Now, instead of getting home after a long day and just watching tiktoks, I have something else to keep myself busy, which is nice. I'm excited for a fresh start with my new defenseman General Zod, which I got from a youtuber 2bcproductions who is a legend ( @InstantRockstar knows) . I originally always had in mind I wanted to play for the Hounds, but Gustav is no longer GM, and they aren't exactly successful so my plans changed. If they were good I likely would have signed there. I chose Houston because they are a very good team but they don't have an elite defense, so I could get first pairing minutes after a week or so, or maybe even right off the bat depending on what our GM does. For my VHLM player I want a good playoff contender but I still want to get minutes so I thought Houston would be a great fit. We shall see, but it's good to be back after about two months of inactivity.

I accept this offer. Thanks to all the GMs that sent offers, lets go Bulls!

Player Information Username: Matt_O Player Name: General Zod Recruited From: Member (trevorc11) Age: 18 Position: D Height: 80 in. Weight: 240 lbs. Birthplace: United States of America Player Page @VHLM GM

I assume I can earn TPE for my S72 player even before the deadline right? I just want to make sure I don't mess anything up, I'm excited to come back

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It’s March 20th, 2012, and we are in the city of Vasteras for game five of the Continental Cup Finals between the Iron Eagles and the Americans. How did these teams even get here? And why is this particular moment significant at all? We need a deep rewind. In the original S1 entry draft, Vasteras picked up Scotty Campbell with the second pick and then selected goaltender Matt Pogge with the ninth overall pick. They proved to be a deadly duo, and both players would end up being Hall of Famers. Unfortunately for them, the Calgary Wranglers were just plain better. Led by Scott Boulet, the Wranglers won a whopping 69 games that year, only losing three games the entire season! This is where things get touchy, as Vasteras and Calgary met in the finals. While no one truly knows what happened during the sim, it is suspected that there was some foul play by the simmer. It is very hard to believe that the Wranglers would lose more games in one series than they did the entire season. While no one can confirm or deny this, there is a definite possibility that the S1 finals were rigged. Is this what brought the curse on Vasteras? After this cup win, everything went rapidly downhill for Vasteras. They traded Scotty Campbell to the Seattle Bears and they were never the same until the S20s, where they finally got back on track. Even though they missed the playoffs in S24, they started to build a winning culture. By the time the next season rolled around, they finished one point behind the division-leading HC Davos Dynamo and had 48 wins. Good things were happening in Vasteras for the first time in what felt like an eternity. The Americans also were reaching the end of their rebuild after many hard campaigns to open up the S20s. In S25 they made it to the finals before getting dominated by the experienced Dynamo squad, but the Americans young core was bound to be back. In S26 they won the North American Conference again, with Adam Schultz, Kristian Carlsson, Keon Anderson and goaltender Benjamin Glover leading the way. Vasteras thrived in S26 as well, with an incredible 58 wins. They owned the league's best defence and the third-best offence. When I was looking through the stat sheets I noticed something about Vasteras that was absolutely incredible. They had nine non-computer players on their roster, and eight of them had 70 or more points. The depth of the Iron Eagles was really incredible that season, but they also had an elite defence to shut down other teams. Goaltender Andreas Bjorkman won the Aidan Shaw trophy for a top goaltender that year with a 1.89 GAA. The pieces were finally coming together for Vasteras. I briefly mentioned “the curse” earlier but I should have explained more. After their S1 cup, they had not won the cup since then. It’s been 25 seasons. Not only that, but they have not even gone to the finals in that time span. They were the most miserable team in the history of the VHL and it’s not entirely closed. It wasn’t only the VHL team that suffered either. The VHLM Vasteras team had to suffer as well. In S26, the Vasteras VHLM team held the first 16 selections in that years draft. This was when draft classes were only 10-15 players deep, so they had practically the entire draft to themselves. They still did not win the Founders Cup that year, in case you were wondering. Vasteras was legitimately cursed, but in S26 they hoped to be able to turn it around. In the first round, the Iron Eagles had to take on the Titan’s high flying offence, headlined by Leeroy Jenkins, David Walcott and Pavel Koradek. The Iron Eagles were capable of outscoring teams and shutting them down, and they proved that. With the series tied after two games, Vasteras held Helsinki to just one goal in the next games to take a 3-1 series lead. In-game five Helsinki put up more of a fight, but Vasteras used their ability to outscore them with a 5-3 win to secure their first trip to the finals in 25 years. The only thing stopping them was the New York Americans. In-game one, Andreas Bjorkman stopped all 23 shots he faced and Kevin Hesje’s goal in the second period gave Vasteras a 1-0 win. It was a similar story in game two where Bjorkman stopped all 20 of the Americans shots and Vasteras would win 2-0. Vasteras would keep rolling with a 5-2 game three win on the road and found themselves one game away from their first cup win in 25 years. Naturally, this is where it should all fall apart. Knowing the history of Vasteras, it would hardly be a surprise if the Americans were to complete an improbable 3-0 comeback to deny Vasteras their long-awaited cup win. In-game four, the Americans went out and pulled out a much needed 4-3 win, finally making Andreas Bjorkman look human. Unfortunately for New York, they could only do that for so long. Bjorkman bounced back with a strong game five that led to a 3-2 Vasteras win, and the Vasteras Iron Eagles became the S26 Continental Cup Champions. The Vasteras curse was broken! Or was it? After the S26 cup win, Vasteras would never return to the finals for the rest of the team’s existence; they were moved to Stockholm in the S40s and were disbanded in S57. The Americans would make the finals in S27 and S28 but lose both times, making it four consecutive finals trips with no cups, much like the Buffalo Bills in the 1990s. They made it back to the finals in S31 before losing to Davos, but they finally got their much-deserved cup in S32. ---------------- If you have any moments that you want to see a rewind on, feel free to leave suggestions!

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It’s June 20th, 2015. Game seven of the continental cup features the Bears and the Cologne Express, where the Express entered as heavy favourites. But how did we get here? How did the Bears and Express make it to this point, and who got them to this point? The Cologne Express, a now-defunct franchise, where in the middle of one of the most successful runs their franchise had. They had just won the Continental Cup in S42, dismantling the Quebec City Meute in five games. They continued their success in S43 with a 56 win season that saw them finish second in the European Conference, only behind the Stockholm Vikings by a single point. Thomas O’Malley, the superstar centre for the Express, had 131 points and won the Mike Szatkowski trophy for most points. Martin Brookside, a Cologne goaltender, put up gaudy stats that gave him his second consecutive Aidan Shaw trophy for the best goaltender, with his .930 save percentage and 1.84 GAA. Let’s not forget about the supporting cast of the Hall of Famer Xin Xie Xiao, with 124 points in S43. They also had second-line centre Bismark Koenig, who finished with 100 points that year. All three of those players had 50 or more goals that season, and the Express had five total players with 70 or more points that year. They were a complete team from start to finish. Thomas O'Malley Credit to @solas The Bears, however, were a mess. The team itself wasn’t atrocious, but it was truly chaotic in Seattle. Despite winning 39 games and having 86 points, their top point scorer had only 64 points, which would have been the seventh-highest point total on Cologne. That player was James Faraday, and this would be his worst season besides his rookie campaign. He played from S39 to S46, and had a very solid career, even scoring 101 points in his final season in the league. Niklaus Mikaelson, the Bears netminder, was absolutely their best player throughout this chaotic season. He put up really strong numbers with a .922 Save Percentage and a 2.04 GAA. So far it may not seem crazy, but we haven’t gotten started on management yet. The GM of the Seattle Bears in S43 was Bushito, now the GM of the Calgary Wranglers. In S43 he went inactive, causing the VHL to replace him with Higgins for the rest of the season. This was a trivia question a few seasons ago if anyone remembers. The only modern case similar to this would be the unfortunate story of Spade18 and the New York Americans, but let’s not get into that. The Cologne Express, a complete team top to bottom, will be playing a game one of their wild card series against the HC Davos Dynamo. The Seattle Bears, a team that had to replace their GM midway through the season and is very mediocre on offence will also be playing game one of their wild card series, but it’s against the favoured Toronto Legion. The Bears and Express couldn’t be more different than each other, but they are both playing for the same thing. After a 5-0 blowout win for the Express in game one of their series, the Dynamo kept their offence somewhat in check, which was not an easy thing to do. They averaged 3.5 goals per game during the regular season and averaged 2.6 goals per game during this series, most of that coming from the game one victory. They would win in game six courtesy of a great performance from goaltender Martin Brookside, allowing only one goal all night. The Bears, on the other hand, completely dominated the Legion. They swept them, and the offence that struggled all season looked pretty good against a really solid Legion defence. They would go on to face the reigning North American Conference champions in the Quebec City Meute, while the Cologne Express would take on the Stockholm Vikings. Both series were very similar. Both the Express and the Bears offences soared against what was the statistically best defences in the league. Both first seeds were upset in a mere five games, none more shocking than the Meutes failure. The Meute had all the hype in the world. A great offence, great defence and a truly elite goalie. They even have Jake Wylde, now known for the award named after him that is given out to the leagues top offensive defenseman. And yet, they only had one playoff win against a team that wasn’t as good as them in net, on the blue line, and they weren’t even close to as good as them on offence. It was a rough postseason for the Meute. The finals were finally set, with the underdog Bears facing the heavy favourite in the Cologne Express. The Bears had the underdog mentality throughout the entire postseason. The Legion were favoured against them and it was a clean sweep. The Meute were heavy favourites and the Bears only lost one game against them. Even after that, they still found themselves as pretty big underdogs to the Cologne Express, and for good reason. Surely I don’t have to repeat what I said earlier about the talent gap between the two teams. The Express were a far better team. In-game one, they would have to go out and prove it. Even though the Express won game one, it certainly wasn’t convincing at all. The Bears outshot them by 9 and they barely scraped out the 2-1 win at home. They certainly hoped they could head to Seattle up 2-0, but the Bears played feisty, just like they had all postseason, They got the 3-2 win despite being outshot by 13, as James Faraday’s hat trick led the Bears to the win. With the series tied, the Bears were showing the world what they could really do. And then game three happened. James Faraday Credit to @Frank Game three was what most people probably expected this series to be like. The Bears couldn’t score while the Express breezed by with a 5-0 win, and this was supposed to be the point in the series where the Express start to run away with it. They would go and win game four 4-3 and outshot the Bears once again. They had a 3-1 series lead headed back home and it looked as if the Bears cinderella run was over. We know it wasn’t, because it went to a game seven, but at the moment after game four, the run looked over. The Bears were a resilient team all year. They bounced back after a game one loss to the Meute and won four in a row. They ended the year off on a 2-8 stretch, while Toronto ended it on an 8-2 stretch. They swept Toronto. This was no different, as they won 3-0 in game five in Cologne to send the series back to Seattle for game six. Mikaelsons 27 saves helped the Bears keep their season alive, but they still had work to do. Game six was much of the same story, as the Bears dominated the shots and Wolfgang Strauss’s goal late in the third period put the game away for good, a 3-1 win in game six for the Bears and a trip back to Cologne was set. It was going to game seven. Imagine being on the Bears team in S43. Your GM is inactive, the team can’t score, and you are heavily doubted all throughout the regular season. Now you are here, in a game seven of the cup finals. Now imagine being a member of the Express in S43. You won the cup last year and are back for more. You are the heavy favourites, with an amazing offence and goaltender. You’ve been waiting for this all year, and had a 3-1 lead in the finals. And yet, you are here in game seven, and your amazing offence has only scored once in the last two games. This game seven was about to be insane. Game seven was one of the grittiest contests you could ask for. Neither team broke the 25 shot marker. An early powerplay goal from Brady Stropko gave the Bears the lead quickly, but Bismark Koenig would respond five minutes later to tie the game for the Express. In the second period, the Express scored with five minutes to go, but the Bears weren’t done, and their resiliency led to a goal by depth player Borje Samuelsson to tie the game with 45 seconds to go in the second. It was tied at two now, with just twenty minutes left to play. Borje Samuellson Credit to @KitRas Borje Samuelsson had just one goal in the postseason heading into this game. He scored his second goal in the second period but decided that wasn’t good enough. He scored again about halfway through the third period to give the Bears a 3-2 lead they wouldn’t relinquish. The Bears entered the playoffs as underdogs in every single series but won each series. The Bears went on to win that game and the S43 Continental Cup in one of the best underdog stories in VHL history. Was this a fluke? It might have been since the Bears missed the playoffs the following year and started the rebuild the year after that. But does it matter? They won the cup in S43 and no one can ever take that away from them. The Cologne Express would make it back to the finals in S44 but lost in six games. After that, the rebuild would eventually start. People Mentioned: @Higgins as James Faraday @OrbitingDeath as Thomas O Malley @tfong as Xin Xie Xiao @R1c3Muncher as Borje Samuelsson @Wasty as Wolfgang Strauss @diamond_ace as Martin Brookside @Bushito What moment do you think needs a rewind? Leave your suggestions below! -----------------------------------------------------------------

It’s November 19th, 2016. The greatest finals in VHL history all comes down to a winner take all Game 7 between the Riga Reign and Toronto Legion. Sandro Clegane and Greg Clegane, who are brothers playing netminder for their respective teams, have both had spectacular series but they saved the best for tonight. But how did we get here? What happened in the other six games? What happened to make this series even happen? This moment needs a deep rewind. The brothers Greg Clegane and Sandro Clegane both created in the S45 draft year as goaltenders. Both were top five picks, with Greg Clegane heading to Helsinki with the number two selection while Sandro Clegane was taken fourth overall by Cologne. So how did they both get onto Riga and Toronto? Greg Clegane should have been heading to Toronto right from the start of his career. During S43 the Legion traded their S45 first-rounder to Helsinki for the veteran Tyson Stokes. The Legion would flop two seasons later, and end up gifting the second overall pick and one of the best netminders of all time to Helsinki. Greg would later be traded to Vancouver during the S49 offseason for a couple of draft picks. Vancouver would also acquire Aleksi Koponen, another Hall of Famer. Greg Clegane would end up signing in Toronto when he became a free agent. Aleksi Koponen during his time with the Wranglers Sandro Clegane was the darling of all GM’s when it came to being traded; as he was dealt four different times throughout his career. It started before he ever even belonged to a VHL franchise, as Cologne traded up in Riga’s place to draft Sandro Clegane fourth overall. He would be traded to Seattle after a couple of seasons in Cologne but was traded the very next season to Davos for Jakob Holik, another elite goaltender, and a couple of other pieces. Two seasons after that Sandro would be dealt to the team that traded away the pick that he was taken with, as the Riga Reign would put together a blockbuster deal with Davos to get Sandro. Now we know how both goaltenders got it, but how did this series go to game seven? To put it lightly, the Legion were never even supposed to be here. The Calgary Wranglers were by far the best team and it wasn’t even close. We all know the time they went 69-3 in S1 and lost to Vasteras in the finals. This year they were hoping things would be different, as they had a 64-4-4 record that was 19 points more than the second-placed Riga Reign. When the Legion just scraped by the Bears in the wild card round, most people expected the Wranglers to put on a clinic. After all, the Wranglers offence scored 283 goals during the regular season, by far the most that season. They managed to score 5 goals over the course of 5 games. To say Greg Clegane was amazing that series is an understatement, as the Legion breezed by a Calgary team that was trying to be considered one of the greatest teams ever. Riga, on the other hand, was the top seed in the European Conference. A battle between them and the Cologne Express was a given, considering how third-placed HC Davos had a mere 54 points that year. It was a tremendous battle, but the Reign found themselves down 3-1 after four games. They didn’t let that get to their head, as they rattled off three straight wins in order to clinch a finals appearance against the Toronto Legion. With two of the greatest goaltenders in league history finally going head to head in a finals series, you would expect it to be a defensive series, especially since Riga and Toronto were both one of the leagues, top defensive teams. There was only one game in the finals where one of the goalies had a save percentage below .900, and that was Greg Clegane in game three. Sandro Clegane held the Legion to only two goals in the first two games of the series to take a 2-0 series lead early, and in-game three, this series looked like it was over. Heading into the third period, the score was tied 1-1. Sandro Clegane was having a decent game, but Greg Clegane was in the middle of one of the greatest finals performances the league has ever seen. He had stopped 35 of 36 shots heading into the third period, while Sandro had only faced 12 shots up to that point. Even with three third period powerplays, the Reign simply couldn’t put the puck in the net and the game headed into overtime. It took double overtime to decide this one. The Reign had poured on 61 shots throughout the game, but only scored once courtesy of Shawn Muller in the second period. The Legion had 35 shots on net, but it didn’t matter. LeAndre St. Pierre of Toronto scored in double overtime to win the game and swing the momentum into the Legions favour, and they would promptly win game four and game five. In-game six it looked over for the Reign, as they let up two first period goals and fell down 2-0, but Pietro Maximoff’s hat trick heroics saved the series for Riga. This was before Maximoff’s legendary S52 season, where he had the most points and goals in the VHL. Now, we headed to game seven. As I said before, this game seven has been nothing short of incredible. It was a heavily contested matchup that had tight defence all over it. The Reign found themselves with a slim edge in the shots total after two periods but it wouldn’t matter, because the score was still tied at zero. It was fitting that the series most well known for the goalies was going to end on this note, a true defensive grind out of a game. This was until one of the weirdest and probably most infuriating mistakes ever made in VHL history comes into play. No, I am not exaggerating when I say that. In-game 7 of a continental cup finals, you don’t have your computer players playing, especially when it’s a tie game with less than two minutes left. Somehow, someway, TOR C2 found himself on the ice and promptly took a hooking penalty with 1:08 left in the third period. That brings us back to where we started, with a loose puck in front of Greg Clegane, as Richard Hamilton attempts to get control of the puck. He does so and fires home the game-winner with 24 seconds left in game 7. Riga would ultimately follow up the S51 Continental Cup win with a finals appearance the next year, but they lost to New York in five games. The Toronto Legion would not return to the finals until their shocking back to back cup wins in S64 and S65. Both Sandro Clegane and Greg Clegane would be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and this series would live on in infamy. Sandro Clegane: @JardyB10 Greg Clegane: @Victor Aleksi Koponen graphic courtesy of @Mr.Baller Greg Clegane graphic courtesy of @solas ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So happy to see my AGM take the next step and become the full GM! Congrats @Poptart

My reign in Vegas can be described in three stints. A horrific first season that might be the worst GM season in the history of the league (to be fair the trades I made weren't terrible at the time I made them, they just ended up blowing up in my face), to a solid second season that saw us put up incredible offensive numbers but we still underachieved because we didn't have an elite goalie. This year I would like to think that I became a respectable GM and learned from my many mistakes. I traded Lahtinen to the Wild for a good return and Gutzwiler to Halifax for a good return as well. My first season was capped by a couple terrible trades, where I learned the key lesson of not to make trades just for the sake of trading. This lesson was learned in the Finnegan MacBurn trade, where he became much more active as soon as I traded him, while the guy I got back went inactive quickly. I also learned not to force trades just because I have messaged a GM back and forth. I did this a couple times but I don't remember an exact instance off the top of my head. I also have made some drafting miscues to say the least. In S68 I drafted a retired player (in my defense there was never a post made in the retirement section but still pretty embarrassing on my part) and also drafted a goalie that would end up playing in the VHL. That wasn't as bad of a move since it was a good risk to take in the third round, but still unfortunate. It's unfortunate that as soon as I start to learn from my mistakes, my activity takes a hit and I no longer am going to be a GM. But what can you do. All in all my horrible first season clouded the rest of what was a somewhat respectable GMing career. I hope my acquisitions of S71 draft picks can help the future Aces GM win a chip.