Matt_O

Player Information
Username: Matt_O
Player Name: Joe Mama
Recruited From: Returning
Age: 18
Position: LW
Height: 75 in.
Weight: 220 lbs.
Birthplace: Gabon

Player Page
@VHLM GM

So apparently today is my 1000th day on the VHL. I only knew this because I must have put it in my phones calendar back in 2019 because I got a calendar notification that said 1000 and was confused for a while until I eventually figured it out. Even though I don't really come on here anymore I still think of this place very fondly and it was really great when I was very active. I have a few really great memories from this site, one of them really sticks out but I don't know if I'm allowed to say it. If you know you know. Anyways, it makes me feel old that it's been 1000 days since my cousin first told me about this site, and I stumbled onto Saskatoon and had no idea what was going on. I relied on the discord to tell me the scores because I didn't know where to find them on the site. I also had the how to earn TPE guide from Will bookmarked and I would check it a lot to make sure I was doing everything I could. I just started my freshman year of high school when I joined this site and now I start my senior year in just a couple weeks. 
 
Being a part of VSN for nearly all of 2019 is what I am most proud of, and it's transformation into what it is today is awesome to see. Being a part of it again in 2020 was pretty great too. It even got me to start liking sports writing even more than I already did and now I just started writing for the New Era Hockey Network, which you probably have never heard of but it's pretty cool. I just wrote my first article where I basically just shat on the Canucks for being horrible with their cap space. That's a bit of an exaggeration but I did write about the Canucks and how Benning is weird. This site also made me not like the Canucks because everyone here was a Canucks fan and I liked to see everyone get sad when they lost. The day they lost to Vegas in 7 was a joyous day for me to just watch the discord, but the day they beat Minnesota was horrible. It was flooded with messages and everyone was acting like they just won the cup, even though they just beat a team who's best player was a 100 year old Eric Staal.
 
Lots of great memories from this place. Being on Malmo in their early years was an incredible experience with the team and the locker room we had, and our cup run in S68 was awesome even though it ended quite disappointingly. The amount of times I would write that the Bears only were good because they were in a weak eastern conference and that in Europe they would barely be in 4th (which by points I think was true) and then they came in and swept us, that was pretty sad for me. Being in Calgary was great too, but again losing to the Bears sucked. I believe it was the conference finals of S73 when we blew a 3-1 lead. When I got drafted to Calgary I was pissed and was set on leaving after three seasons but it ended up being great there, the team was great and Jubis turned that team around. 
 
Thanks to the VHL for all the good times, I hope I will be back eventually. 

Man that team deserved a better ending. Like not even saying “screw Seattle, we should have won” but at least something better than a sweep. Such an amazing club to be apart of for Thompson’s last season.

So apparently today is my 1000th day on the VHL. I only knew this because I must have put it in my phones calendar back in 2019 because I got a calendar notification that said 1000 and was confused for a while until I eventually figured it out. Even though I don't really come on here anymore I still think of this place very fondly and it was really great when I was very active. I have a few really great memories from this site, one of them really sticks out but I don't know if I'm allowed to say it. If you know you know. Anyways, it makes me feel old that it's been 1000 days since my cousin first told me about this site, and I stumbled onto Saskatoon and had no idea what was going on. I relied on the discord to tell me the scores because I didn't know where to find them on the site. I also had the how to earn TPE guide from Will bookmarked and I would check it a lot to make sure I was doing everything I could. I just started my freshman year of high school when I joined this site and now I start my senior year in just a couple weeks. 
 
Being a part of VSN for nearly all of 2019 is what I am most proud of, and it's transformation into what it is today is awesome to see. Being a part of it again in 2020 was pretty great too. It even got me to start liking sports writing even more than I already did and now I just started writing for the New Era Hockey Network, which you probably have never heard of but it's pretty cool. I just wrote my first article where I basically just shat on the Canucks for being horrible with their cap space. That's a bit of an exaggeration but I did write about the Canucks and how Benning is weird. This site also made me not like the Canucks because everyone here was a Canucks fan and I liked to see everyone get sad when they lost. The day they lost to Vegas in 7 was a joyous day for me to just watch the discord, but the day they beat Minnesota was horrible. It was flooded with messages and everyone was acting like they just won the cup, even though they just beat a team who's best player was a 100 year old Eric Staal.
 
Lots of great memories from this place. Being on Malmo in their early years was an incredible experience with the team and the locker room we had, and our cup run in S68 was awesome even though it ended quite disappointingly. The amount of times I would write that the Bears only were good because they were in a weak eastern conference and that in Europe they would barely be in 4th (which by points I think was true) and then they came in and swept us, that was pretty sad for me. Being in Calgary was great too, but again losing to the Bears sucked. I believe it was the conference finals of S73 when we blew a 3-1 lead. When I got drafted to Calgary I was pissed and was set on leaving after three seasons but it ended up being great there, the team was great and Jubis turned that team around. 
 
Thanks to the VHL for all the good times, I hope I will be back eventually. 

So apparently today is my 1000th day on the VHL. I only knew this because I must have put it in my phones calendar back in 2019 because I got a calendar notification that said 1000 and was confused for a while until I eventually figured it out. Even though I don't really come on here anymore I still think of this place very fondly and it was really great when I was very active. I have a few really great memories from this site, one of them really sticks out but I don't know if I'm allowed to say it. If you know you know. Anyways, it makes me feel old that it's been 1000 days since my cousin first told me about this site, and I stumbled onto Saskatoon and had no idea what was going on. I relied on the discord to tell me the scores because I didn't know where to find them on the site. I also had the how to earn TPE guide from Will bookmarked and I would check it a lot to make sure I was doing everything I could. I just started my freshman year of high school when I joined this site and now I start my senior year in just a couple weeks. 
 
Being a part of VSN for nearly all of 2019 is what I am most proud of, and it's transformation into what it is today is awesome to see. Being a part of it again in 2020 was pretty great too. It even got me to start liking sports writing even more than I already did and now I just started writing for the New Era Hockey Network, which you probably have never heard of but it's pretty cool. I just wrote my first article where I basically just shat on the Canucks for being horrible with their cap space. That's a bit of an exaggeration but I did write about the Canucks and how Benning is weird. This site also made me not like the Canucks because everyone here was a Canucks fan and I liked to see everyone get sad when they lost. The day they lost to Vegas in 7 was a joyous day for me to just watch the discord, but the day they beat Minnesota was horrible. It was flooded with messages and everyone was acting like they just won the cup, even though they just beat a team who's best player was a 100 year old Eric Staal.
 
Lots of great memories from this place. Being on Malmo in their early years was an incredible experience with the team and the locker room we had, and our cup run in S68 was awesome even though it ended quite disappointingly. The amount of times I would write that the Bears only were good because they were in a weak eastern conference and that in Europe they would barely be in 4th (which by points I think was true) and then they came in and swept us, that was pretty sad for me. Being in Calgary was great too, but again losing to the Bears sucked. I believe it was the conference finals of S73 when we blew a 3-1 lead. When I got drafted to Calgary I was pissed and was set on leaving after three seasons but it ended up being great there, the team was great and Jubis turned that team around. 
 
Thanks to the VHL for all the good times, I hope I will be back eventually. 

So apparently today is my 1000th day on the VHL. I only knew this because I must have put it in my phones calendar back in 2019 because I got a calendar notification that said 1000 and was confused for a while until I eventually figured it out. Even though I don't really come on here anymore I still think of this place very fondly and it was really great when I was very active. I have a few really great memories from this site, one of them really sticks out but I don't know if I'm allowed to say it. If you know you know. Anyways, it makes me feel old that it's been 1000 days since my cousin first told me about this site, and I stumbled onto Saskatoon and had no idea what was going on. I relied on the discord to tell me the scores because I didn't know where to find them on the site. I also had the how to earn TPE guide from Will bookmarked and I would check it a lot to make sure I was doing everything I could. I just started my freshman year of high school when I joined this site and now I start my senior year in just a couple weeks. 
 
Being a part of VSN for nearly all of 2019 is what I am most proud of, and it's transformation into what it is today is awesome to see. Being a part of it again in 2020 was pretty great too. It even got me to start liking sports writing even more than I already did and now I just started writing for the New Era Hockey Network, which you probably have never heard of but it's pretty cool. I just wrote my first article where I basically just shat on the Canucks for being horrible with their cap space. That's a bit of an exaggeration but I did write about the Canucks and how Benning is weird. This site also made me not like the Canucks because everyone here was a Canucks fan and I liked to see everyone get sad when they lost. The day they lost to Vegas in 7 was a joyous day for me to just watch the discord, but the day they beat Minnesota was horrible. It was flooded with messages and everyone was acting like they just won the cup, even though they just beat a team who's best player was a 100 year old Eric Staal.
 
Lots of great memories from this place. Being on Malmo in their early years was an incredible experience with the team and the locker room we had, and our cup run in S68 was awesome even though it ended quite disappointingly. The amount of times I would write that the Bears only were good because they were in a weak eastern conference and that in Europe they would barely be in 4th (which by points I think was true) and then they came in and swept us, that was pretty sad for me. Being in Calgary was great too, but again losing to the Bears sucked. I believe it was the conference finals of S73 when we blew a 3-1 lead. When I got drafted to Calgary I was pissed and was set on leaving after three seasons but it ended up being great there, the team was great and Jubis turned that team around. 
 
Thanks to the VHL for all the good times, I hope I will be back eventually. 

So apparently today is my 1000th day on the VHL. I only knew this because I must have put it in my phones calendar back in 2019 because I got a calendar notification that said 1000 and was confused for a while until I eventually figured it out. Even though I don't really come on here anymore I still think of this place very fondly and it was really great when I was very active. I have a few really great memories from this site, one of them really sticks out but I don't know if I'm allowed to say it. If you know you know. Anyways, it makes me feel old that it's been 1000 days since my cousin first told me about this site, and I stumbled onto Saskatoon and had no idea what was going on. I relied on the discord to tell me the scores because I didn't know where to find them on the site. I also had the how to earn TPE guide from Will bookmarked and I would check it a lot to make sure I was doing everything I could. I just started my freshman year of high school when I joined this site and now I start my senior year in just a couple weeks. 
 
Being a part of VSN for nearly all of 2019 is what I am most proud of, and it's transformation into what it is today is awesome to see. Being a part of it again in 2020 was pretty great too. It even got me to start liking sports writing even more than I already did and now I just started writing for the New Era Hockey Network, which you probably have never heard of but it's pretty cool. I just wrote my first article where I basically just shat on the Canucks for being horrible with their cap space. That's a bit of an exaggeration but I did write about the Canucks and how Benning is weird. This site also made me not like the Canucks because everyone here was a Canucks fan and I liked to see everyone get sad when they lost. The day they lost to Vegas in 7 was a joyous day for me to just watch the discord, but the day they beat Minnesota was horrible. It was flooded with messages and everyone was acting like they just won the cup, even though they just beat a team who's best player was a 100 year old Eric Staal.
 
Lots of great memories from this place. Being on Malmo in their early years was an incredible experience with the team and the locker room we had, and our cup run in S68 was awesome even though it ended quite disappointingly. The amount of times I would write that the Bears only were good because they were in a weak eastern conference and that in Europe they would barely be in 4th (which by points I think was true) and then they came in and swept us, that was pretty sad for me. Being in Calgary was great too, but again losing to the Bears sucked. I believe it was the conference finals of S73 when we blew a 3-1 lead. When I got drafted to Calgary I was pissed and was set on leaving after three seasons but it ended up being great there, the team was great and Jubis turned that team around. 
 
Thanks to the VHL for all the good times, I hope I will be back eventually. 

What an incredible week this has been for Zod. General Zod is a CHAMPION BABY. It took me 15 seasons and two different players to win one, but we finally got it done. It was a career season for Zod capped off by hoisting the continental cup for the first time in his career. My previous player was on Malmo and we had a couple really good runs, but were thwarted by Seattle in S68 and had a little rivalry with them. It's ironic that now my first championship comes with Seattle now, even though I would always root against them in the playoffs no matter what. After winning it all, it was an easy decision to re-sign with Seattle for Zod's last ever season. I'm excited for my next player, but also kind of sad that Zod's career is over. Zod was actually a really solid defenseman all these years. He wasn't the top guy in the league, but every season he would get lots of hits and blocked shots, and dish out 50-60 assists. Besides my rookie year, the lowest point total Zod ever had was 55. If I compare Zod to my last player I have a feeling Zod is very close, if not ahead of him with point totals. My last player was a forward too, which is kind of sad. But, by the time Zod's career is over I will be able to look at it positively. He was a really strong player during his time in the league and was a champion.
 
Another milestone I will hit this week is 1000 TPE, which I will get with this media spot. I never reached 1000 TPE with my first player, I went inactive around 800-900. It truly is a special achievement to reach this mark, and I'm hoping it's my first of many future players that reach this milestone. I think I'm the 10th or so player to reach 1000 TPE from my draft class, which isn't bad. I was drafted 6th, so technically I should be a little higher but I'm not too worried about it. You could have all the TPE in the world but if your player can't put up points, it doesn't matter.
 
I think my next player will be a forward again, probably a winger so I don't have to put any TPE into faceoffs. I want to make a goalie, but there seems to be a surplus. At the same time, half of those goalies are below 250 TPE so as long as I stay active and earn my TPE I should surpass them fairly easily. I'm still deciding what I want to do, but I did enjoy being a defenseman. I will also have to think of a name for my next player, which should be fun. I have some ideas rolling around my head but I feel like they are just a bit cringe so I'm leaning away from using them. I have at least a month to consider it, since I'm retiring Zod at the deadline to make my next player. I hope depreciation doesn't hit Zod extremely hard, since I bought two different depreciation fighters and have some banked TPE. I hope by the time I retire him, I will have gotten Zod's attributes back to the level they are at now.
 
557 words

750 elo, lets goooo

Around the VHL - Season 78 Preview Edition - May 20th, 2021
 
In S77, the Warsaw Predators captured the European Conference title and were joined in the top-3 of the overall VHL standings by the Helsinki Titans and London United. Eventually, Helsinki would make it through to the finals before falling to Seattle.
 
It was an off-season of relatively little change in the EU, at least compared to the previous season that had seen teams like Riga, London, and Prague all make big moves to try to vault to contender status while Moscow and Malmo had fire sales of sorts. Only London looks significantly different in terms of the team’s core compared to last season.
 
Today we take a look at the EU Conference teams heading into S78 and their biggest off-season changes, in predicted order of finish.
 
1st - 
Forwards: 771.6 (2nd) // Defense: 640.4 (1st) // Goalie: 586.0 (8th) // Grade: 696.9 (1st)
 
Key Addition: RW Gregg Stallion
The Predators’ biggest splashes in the off-season were cap-related selling moves, but in signing Stallion as a Free Agent, they added a talented scorer who has spent his entire career to this point in Vancouver, coming off a career-high 40-goal, 92-point season. Stallion will be more of a depth player than he usually was in Vancouver this season, but is a nice add to the Warsaw forward group.
 
Key Deletion: D Latrell Mitchell
It was obviously difficult for Warsaw to move Mitchell, who has spent the past 3.5 seasons with the team and became one of the league’s best defensemen. The salary cap necessitated a move and he was sent to New York in exchange for Kaladin Kvothe, 1st, and 3rd round picks as well as an option to swap 2nds in S80. Mitchell will be sorely missed, though the Predators still have a very good blueline.
 
Overview
Warsaw posted the league’s best regular season record last year, and also had the league’s best offense with a league-high 291 goals. With a very similar looking team to last season, there isn’t much reason to think they can’t do something similar this year. Led by Aloe Dear and Dakota Lamb up front, Victor Grachev and Chris Hylands on defense, the Predators have one of the best groups of both forwards and defensemen in the EU. Ajay Krishna has been great the past three seasons, but will need to stave off depreciation this year. That’s their one possible weak spot, but Warsaw will be one of the best teams in the EU again this year.
 
2nd - 
Forwards: 787.3 (1st) // Defense: 557.0 (5th) // Goalie: 699.0 (4th) // Grade: 695.8 (3rd)
 
Key Addition: G Jacob Carson
Carson is only the backup goalie, but there’s not much choice here as the only new face on the pro roster. Carson has actually posted very good numbers over two seasons as a backup with Warsaw, with a career 9-7-2 record and 0.930 SV%.
 
Key Deletion: RW Xavier leFlamant
leFlamant left DC for a year to come to Prague, but after one season in the EU he went back to DC as a Free Agent this off-season. His one year overseas resulted in a bit of a drop-off in production from what he had been putting up in DC, but still a respectable 61 points. Prague does have a very deep forward group, so we’ll see what Robert Bouchard and Dan Baillie can do with the increased opportunity.
 
Overview
They’re a good all-around team, with arguably the best forward unit in the league led by Thomas Landry II and his 200 points over the past 2 seasons. It’s the final season for both Landry and Jim Bob, so Prague will be looking to send them out on top, and they’ve got the lineup to contend. Defensively, they could use one more top pairing defenseman but they do have a deep group there too and Grekkark Gyrfalcon has proven to be a star netminder since arriving in trade from Malmo in S76.
 
3rd -
Forwards: 656.7 (5th) // Defense: 615.4 (2nd) // Goalie: 975.0 (1st) // Grade: 696.0 (2nd)
 
Key Addition: D Micah Adrienne
London saw plenty of big names coming in and out over the past season, and this could easily be General Zod, as well. But Erik Killinger won awards last season, so as the piece coming back in the biggest magnitude trade, Adrienne will be the addition under the biggest magnifying glass. The former 3rd overall pick has been a good-to-great defenseman so far in his VHL career, now London will hope he can take it to yet another level.
 
Key Deletion: D Erik Killinger
The United also lost future Hall of Famer Mikko Lahtinen to retirement and D Kasper Kankkunen in a trade. None of those are fun losses, but the biggest immediate impact will be felt in the loss of the defending Wylde and Labatte Trophy winner, Killinger, who had 86 points, 177 hits, and 182 blocked shots last season.
 
Overview
They lack the elite forward group of Warsaw and Prague, but still have solid talent throughout the lineup with Julian Nousianen, The Terrible Trivium, Kevin King, and Alec Volchenkov. They’ve also got one of the best goalies in the league in Jacob Tonn, a former Shaw Trophy winner. London finished second in the EU with a 45-24-3 record, and despite changes and big losses, they have come out of it in pretty decent shape and figure to be among the European Conference contenders again.
 
4th - 
Forwards: 681.5 (4th) // Defense: 568.9 (4th) // Goalie: 829.0 (2nd) // Grade: 668.6 (4th)
 
Key Addition: D Jan Hlozek
The 8th overall pick in S77 moves up to the VHL this season and may be expected to step right into a top-4 role on a team with serious playoff aspirations. Hlozek posted 63 points in 72 games with Miami last season and while he might have expected more, he is a very highly regarded youngster who Riga is happy to have in the lineup this year.
 
Key Deletion: C Ray Sheilds
Sheilds rode off into the sun a year earlier than some thought, probably partially due to a disappointing S77 campaign in Riga where he only put up 62 points and the team failed to live up to expectations. Prior to that, Shields had reeled off four straight 85+ point seasons. Sheilds was a true star, and someone that Riga will have trouble replacing.
 
Overview
Eager to get last season’s mess behind them, Riga kept together their S75 draft core and have built a good roster once again. It will be up to them to live up to it on paper this time. They have a smaller roster this season than the past two, so there will be more opportunity for players like Justin Lose, Addison McLaren, Cabe McJake, and Isau DaMoose - the Reign are counting on a couple of breakout seasons there. Defensively, they’re similar to Prague with a deep group, just no true superstar, while Calvin Harvey has the talent to be one of the league’s better goalies if he can rebound from a tough S77.
 
5th -
Forwards: 721.7 (3rd) // Defense: 475.4 (7th) // Goalie: 735.0 (3rd) // Grade: 641.8 (5th)
 
Key Addition: D Mikael Keef
Keef joins the team as a Free Agent signing after spending four years with the Los Angeles Stars. Last year was his best, as he had 58 points, 185 hits, and 179 blocked shots (also finishing with a positive +/- rating for the first time). With James Rose and Emi Rune outbound, Keef will need to be a contributor.
 
Key Deletion: C Venus Thightrap
Of the players the Titans lost, the biggest challenge will be replacing Thightrap’s 41 goals and 93 points. There’s a good forward group here nonetheless, but 90 point players don’t grow on trees.
 
Overview
Having developed a reputation as perennial contenders, this year brings some challenges for Helsinki losing Thightrap, Rose, and Rune. That’s a big bite out of a lineup with not much help coming in to replace them, but they’ve still got a very good group of forwards. Valtteri Vaakanainen has consistently been a big-time scorer and will have to lead the way again. We all know what Zamboni Driver can do in net, too, but it will be a matter of how well the defense can hold up especially with the big losses.
 
6th - 
Forwards: 476.1 (8th) // Defense: 590.1 (3rd) // Goalie: 670.0 (5th) // Grade: 546.4 (6th)
 
Key Addition: C Luc Tessier
They also added Rocket, who’s the better player in the immediate future, but this is a rebuilding squad and Tessier, the 4th overall pick in S78, is going to be a huge piece of the team going forward. Coming off a 78 point VHLM campaign, there will be plenty of minutes for him as a rookie in Davos this year.
 
Key Deletion: RW Vlad Imir
There were quite a few faces heading out of Davos in the off-season, though none played particularly huge roles. Imir had spent the previous 3 years with the team, with a career high 17 goals and 37 points coming in S77.
 
Overview
Davos seem to always be rebuilding, and here they are again. It’s not all bleak for their future, though, as they have two elite building blocks in Taro Tsujimoto up front (92 points last season) and Reylynn Reinhart on the blueline (S77 2nd overall pick who had 48 points in her rookie season). They’re adding Tessier and David Tavau, two highly regarded prospects from the S78 draft, and Kunibuni UnGuri is developing as a #1 netminder. There is hope for the future with this team, but it’s unlikely this will be the season they get back to the playoffs.
 
7th - 
Forwards: 488.5 (7th) // Defense: 492.9 (6th) // Goalie: 654.0 (6th) // Grade: 517.5 (7th)
 
Key Addition: LW Muffbeav
Muffbeav instantly becomes the best forward in the Malmo lineup and still has four years left in his VHL career. He’s actually spent most of his career to date as a defenseman, but moving up front will give him a chance to make the most of that 6’5, 215 frame in front of the net. With 71 points last season, Malmo hopes they’ve added a point-per-game or better forward here.
 
Key Deletion: RW Gino DiGiannantonio
For Malmo, the real big deletions came at last season’s trade deadline, so DiGiannantonio’s 35 points is the only real asset of consequence that moved on in the summer.  The loss opens up playing time for Druss Deathwalker, who only had 17 points in his rookie season but had a whopping 317 hits.
 
Overview
Malmo snuck into the playoffs last season despite rebuilding and trading some big names at the trade deadline, so it’s entirely possible they pull off something similar again this year, but on paper they seem to lack enough depth to contend for that 5th spot. This is especially the case if Riga plays more to expectations this time around. Talented youngsters like Brendan Telker and Deathwalker will get the best opportunity of their young careers while Artem Tretiak looks to continue to grow in the starter’s role.
 
8th -
Forwards: 495.7 (6th) // Defense: 348.0 (8th) // Goalie: 610.0 (7th) // Grade: 465.5 (8th)
 
Key Addition: D Hard Markinson
The Menace have plenty of young stars up front, including Duncan Idaho, Paul Atreides, Philip Stein, and The Seabasstard. It’s the blueline that needed addressing, and #2 overall pick Hard Markinson figures to be the main piece in the effort to shore that up. Markinson played on the loaded Mississauga team last year and managed to put up 63 points and 198 hits.
 
Key Deletion: C Chad Magnum
Chad Magnum retired after a solid eight-year VHL career last season, though only the last 27 games of that were spent with Moscow. In 576 games he put up 187 goals, 452 points, and 2542 hits. A grizzled veteran with grit is always welcomed for a rebuilding team, but truthfully, the Menace didn’t have too much in the way of consequential off-season losses.
 
Overview
They’ve got a massive roster that might make playing difficult to find for some players, and they are clearly rebuilding. Relative to the rest of the division, they’re near the bottom in all three position groups. That’s primarily due to inexperience, though, as there are a host of very talented youngsters on this squad. Among the rebuilding squads in the EU, this may be the team set up best for the future with the amount of young talent they have. While they are unlikely to be a factor in the standings this season, it won’t be long.
 
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The ratings here are weighted averages of the top-6 F, top-4 D and starting goalie.

Players Mentioned: @SweatyBeaver @dasboot @DangerGolding @dlamb @Renomitsu  @KaleebtheMighty @hylands @Hooperorama @jacobcarson877 @Gaikoku-hito @wcats @jRuutu @Doomsday @Sharkstrong @BarzalGoat @Poptart @Peace  @Matt_O @MexicanCow123 @der meister @okochastar @IamMOOSE @SirRupertBarnes  @16z @Beketov @Zetterberg @Bojovnik @Mrpenguin30 @tcookie @Eynhallow @youloser1337 @RedSus @BladeMaiden @Emi @MattyIce @Jubo @RStar @Tape-to-Tape @Rocket @KC15 @Ricer13 @GustavMattias @Ahma @Berocka @Big Dee @.sniffuM @animal74 @Telkster @Molholt @pennypenny @STZ @OrbitingDeath  @Mr_Hatter @IHateBobNutting @Seabass @Corco

The General is on his fourth team in just a couple months. He was on Calgary last off-season before signing in Riga, which went south quickly. He was then traded to Seattle, won a cup, and then was promptly shipped off to London. Zod has two goals for his final season of his VHL career: win the cup, and don't pick up a British accent while he's in London. It's tough to get traded from a contender, but London is looking pretty good this upcoming season with stud goalie Jacob Tonn, as well as a solid group of forwards and defense. General Zod and Micah Adrienne will headline the London defense, forming a pretty formidable one two punch. Zod is coming off a career season with 69 points (nice), while Adrienne had 78 points last season which was also a career high for him. As long as the offense can stay strong, I don't see any reason why London can't make a nice run in the playoffs.
 
167 words

1. I've been a bit inconsistent with my TPE earning and keeping up, but I'm doing enough to keep my place and know what's going on. I see no reason why we can't go on a deep run.
2. It sucks, but you got the General to replace him. We will be just fine.
3. I already spent it on a TPE package, this will be my last season so I figured I might as well spend the rest of my money on whatever I can.
4. I've only been on the team for a few hours so I don't think I can really make an educated comment on this. But I'm sure whoever is picked will be worthy of the C.
5. Probably some kind of big cat, like a jaguar or a cheetah. 
6. I don't know who would be exciting but my dog would be the most boring. She just sits around all day and if she was a human I imagine she would be a basic white girl obsessed with tiktok and starbucks.

What an incredible week this has been for Zod. General Zod is a CHAMPION BABY. It took me 15 seasons and two different players to win one, but we finally got it done. It was a career season for Zod capped off by hoisting the continental cup for the first time in his career. My previous player was on Malmo and we had a couple really good runs, but were thwarted by Seattle in S68 and had a little rivalry with them. It's ironic that now my first championship comes with Seattle now, even though I would always root against them in the playoffs no matter what. After winning it all, it was an easy decision to re-sign with Seattle for Zod's last ever season. I'm excited for my next player, but also kind of sad that Zod's career is over. Zod was actually a really solid defenseman all these years. He wasn't the top guy in the league, but every season he would get lots of hits and blocked shots, and dish out 50-60 assists. Besides my rookie year, the lowest point total Zod ever had was 55. If I compare Zod to my last player I have a feeling Zod is very close, if not ahead of him with point totals. My last player was a forward too, which is kind of sad. But, by the time Zod's career is over I will be able to look at it positively. He was a really strong player during his time in the league and was a champion.
 
Another milestone I will hit this week is 1000 TPE, which I will get with this media spot. I never reached 1000 TPE with my first player, I went inactive around 800-900. It truly is a special achievement to reach this mark, and I'm hoping it's my first of many future players that reach this milestone. I think I'm the 10th or so player to reach 1000 TPE from my draft class, which isn't bad. I was drafted 6th, so technically I should be a little higher but I'm not too worried about it. You could have all the TPE in the world but if your player can't put up points, it doesn't matter.
 
I think my next player will be a forward again, probably a winger so I don't have to put any TPE into faceoffs. I want to make a goalie, but there seems to be a surplus. At the same time, half of those goalies are below 250 TPE so as long as I stay active and earn my TPE I should surpass them fairly easily. I'm still deciding what I want to do, but I did enjoy being a defenseman. I will also have to think of a name for my next player, which should be fun. I have some ideas rolling around my head but I feel like they are just a bit cringe so I'm leaning away from using them. I have at least a month to consider it, since I'm retiring Zod at the deadline to make my next player. I hope depreciation doesn't hit Zod extremely hard, since I bought two different depreciation fighters and have some banked TPE. I hope by the time I retire him, I will have gotten Zod's attributes back to the level they are at now.
 
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I was so quik to see this thread

Hello out there! We're on the air! It's Bana Blab #11. Oh baby here we go. Make some smoke. Make some noise. We continue on our way into double digits of this VHL.com article title that has helped me make it through the darkest of times where your imagination and motivation for writing have come up blank. Heading into this week, there's a few exciting things to talk about. I'm unsure if I'm going to talk about them because I usually just type out whatever comes into my brain at the very moment when writing these kind of articles so I can get them done and out of the way. With that being said, let's fire up (or fire down) the old brain and see what it spits out!
 
The Bears have been fairly active this year when it comes to trading despite the league being logged jammed from lots of teams being at or near the salary cap and a majority of teams being absolutely full to the brim with their roster amounts. Even with our moves, we were not active when we really wanted to be in the off-season, or not as much. Either way, we've fired off the cannons a few times and have sent a few amazing people going. @oilmandan @Phil @Toast @Dtaylwere all hard to trade. Some I have great history with that goes back quite a ways (3 of em). With Phil, I mean we've been in the league together forever but I think this is the first time our paths crossed. All of them are amazing people and it really was difficult to remove that from the team personally.  With that being said, we brought in a few great pieces and people too. @Matt_O I've tried getting on the organization since his first player and never quite came close enough to doing it. He's always been someone I've liked in the league and I've always appreciated the effort and time he's put into some of his articles and his players. Zod is an exciting piece that we're grateful to have on the team and look forward to his future with us. The next two we'll group together as they're a returning act, but we managed to bring back @FrostBeard and @Rayzor_7 to the team. Both have played massive parts in the teams past, current and future successes, whether it be with their players in the sim or their wonderful, guiding minds on the secret council. They're two of the few people I trust most on here and it's wicked to get them back and on DA BEARZ. Seattle has turned around the season. We were in 1st for a little bit and now we're sitting in 2nd above the Chicago Phoenix and LA Stars. We expected to have a good season but the start was a little off. After we got going, we grounded ourselves and felt a little better with how things are going. Hopefully we're able to make it to playoffs and give it another go at the Continental Cup. There's some amazing teams and people fighting it out this year but the Bears are great too! GO BEARS bye

This was initially what I wanted to write about when I read about the theme week, but I just didn't know enough to write a full media spot about it so I figured I would do a vhl.com. A lot of people on the site may not know about this whole story, so I'll just try to sum it up. @Beketov correct me if I'm wrong, since I'm just going off of what I remember.
 
Beketov joined the site in the first ever draft as a goalie, Robert Sharpe. He was even selected first overall in the inaugural draft. However, there was a scandal. Apparently he had been re-using graphics that he used in other leagues to get easy TPE, and was suspended from earning TPE for an entire year. The punishment was a bit absurd, but it was just the VHL making an example out of him, to show that you wouldn't be able to mess around with the league. Bek was considering leaving the league entirely, but Scotty, the commissioner back in those days, convinced him to stick around. What would of happened if Bek never came back? There is just way too much that would have changed to seriously talk about this, especially since I wasn't even around for the first 63 seasons of the leagues existence. But, this is very clearly the biggest what if in league history. Yeah, you can talk about what if this team won game 7 or what if this team made this trade or whatever, but if Bek leaves the league after the inaugural season, what state is the league in right now? Is there even a league? 
 
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Sharpe would have gone down as an even bigger draft bust and would probably be a lot more of a commonplace meme today. I'm not sure many new people know who the VHL's first-ever draft pick was, but if said pick immediately went inactive we'd probably hear the story told a hundred times more than it currently is.

@GustavMattias is definitely right on the bust front. As it standard Sharpe is a bust mostly for going before Scotty and having the lowest TPE ever for a first overall (on account of the suspension mostly) but it would have been even worse if I had up and left the site 2 weeks after the draft.
 
In any case you did get the facts mostly right, hit the link points at least. The punishment was originally going to be much lower actually but everyone kinda piled on (legs just say we weren’t the kindest site back in the day) so Brooks decided to make an example of me.
 
As for what would have happened, I’m not egotistical enough to think the site would have died without me. It certainly would have gotten on more or less the same for at least 10 years. I’d like to think I’ve evoked a lot of change in the 3.5 years I’ve been blue and I did help save the place but if it wasn’t me it would have been someone else I’m sure.

49. Tis a shame, Phil is a great member but we gotta do what we gotta do to win a chip.
50. I have absolutely no plans except maybe I'll play golf one day if it's nice. 
51. There hasn't really been any trades since I got dealt, so that means either nothing will happen or a ton will happen. I'm pretty sure a lot of teams are slammed up onto the salary cap, but I could be wrong.
53. I have to go with Kendrick, only because he has one extra point. 
54. I have no idea, but it won't be Zod that's for sure. This man's defensive stats have fallen off a cliff this year. A little disappointing, especially since I was on pace to shatter my career high for hits through the first 15-20 games.
55. I'd like to imagine he put all of his retirement savings into crypto currency, made a ton of money at first and got excited and then lost everything. Then, he pulled out his money to get a little bit back and then the price goes way back up again.

This was initially what I wanted to write about when I read about the theme week, but I just didn't know enough to write a full media spot about it so I figured I would do a vhl.com. A lot of people on the site may not know about this whole story, so I'll just try to sum it up. @Beketov correct me if I'm wrong, since I'm just going off of what I remember.
 
Beketov joined the site in the first ever draft as a goalie, Robert Sharpe. He was even selected first overall in the inaugural draft. However, there was a scandal. Apparently he had been re-using graphics that he used in other leagues to get easy TPE, and was suspended from earning TPE for an entire year. The punishment was a bit absurd, but it was just the VHL making an example out of him, to show that you wouldn't be able to mess around with the league. Bek was considering leaving the league entirely, but Scotty, the commissioner back in those days, convinced him to stick around. What would of happened if Bek never came back? There is just way too much that would have changed to seriously talk about this, especially since I wasn't even around for the first 63 seasons of the leagues existence. But, this is very clearly the biggest what if in league history. Yeah, you can talk about what if this team won game 7 or what if this team made this trade or whatever, but if Bek leaves the league after the inaugural season, what state is the league in right now? Is there even a league? 
 
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Some major sports leagues, such as the MLB and NFL, give the top draft picks to the worst teams. Other leagues, like the NHL and NBA, use a draft lottery to determine the top picks in the hopes of discouraging tanking. The VHL has a similar system, but what if we simply gave the top picks to the worst teams? I'm specifically going to look at Davos in the mid S60s, since they got shafted twice by the lottery.
 
In S63, Davos was the laughing stock of the league. They had just finished off a period of competitiveness, featuring a cup run in S61. In S63, they had 15 wins and a putrid -157 goal differential. They had the best odds to land the first overall pick in the S64 draft, which featured defenseman Ryan Sullivan Jr. as the top prospect. In the lottery, the Americans were the team that came out on top, and Davos fell down to second. Davos ending up selecting Elias Dahlberg, certainly a strong selection even though they didn't get the first overall pick. At that point they needed anyone they could get, so moving down to the 2nd pick was pretty negligible. 
 
The next year, Davos was just as awful as the year before. With only 16 wins, they finished well in last place for the second straight year. Unfortunately they lost the lottery to none other than the Americans once again, who selected first gen Carles Puigdemont with the first pick. Davos picked up Smitty Werbenjagermanjenson with the second pick. If Davos had the first pick, would they have selected Puigdemont instead? From what I remember during that time, Puigdemont was a pretty consensus top pick even though he was a first gen. This stroke of bad luck from the lottery actually worked out in Davos' favor, since Werbenjagermanjenson is a hall of famer and one of the best defensemen of this era. He only spent half of his career with Davos, but it still was a great pick. However, if Davos got the first pick there is good reason to believe that Puigdemont would have been the pick, who flamed out after a couple of seasons.
 
Puigdemont was a center when he got selected, meaning that the Rylan Peace trade to Davos likely never would of happened. They never drafted Dahlberg either, since they got Ryan Sullivan Jr. They would have Puigdemont and Svoboda manning the top line, and essentially the same defense core except Sullivan Jr. replaced Smitty. Their offense looks pretty weak from that, so perhaps instead of Rylan Peace, Davos trades Randoms to Riga for a young winger instead, such as Ryuu Crimson. Now you have a very young top line of Crimson-Puigdemont-Svoboda. The biggest problem is Puigdemont, who ended up leaving the league a couple seasons into his career. That leaves Davos with a problem in the S66 draft where they desperately need a center. They have the sixth overall pick, Davos originally selected defenseman Charlie Paddywagon, but now they need a center rather than a defenseman. I think they would end up selecting Jet Jaguar at 6. As we know, Jaguar was a tremendous player in the VHL. Now with the 13th pick, Davos could go for defense to pair alongside Ryan Sullivan Jr., so they select Apollo Hackett. Am I just picking the best players that went after their draft slot? Maybe, since they very easily could have taken Rusty Shackleford instead. However, those players fit what they would have needed.
 
Without the draft lottery, it's fair to say Davos would have actually gotten worse. However, selecting first overall in those drafts would have effected their future decisions, which I think would have benefited them. They could have Ryuu Crimson, Jet Jaguar, Pat Svoboda, Ryan Sullivan Jr., Apollo Hacket, and Finn Davidson in net. Even though their future core looked really solid in S66, this core might just be a little bit better. 
 
Is this what would have actually happened? Maybe, maybe not. However, all this should tell you is that losing the draft lottery isn't really the end of the world.
 
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@Victor @JardyB10 Let's enjoy a bit of a callback here...
 
Back in S51, I was general manager of the Riga Reign. A 18/19 year old with way too much time to obsess over a sim league and hoping for a miracle. In S51 Riga would win the Continental Cup which would be my first in the league after about 20 or so seasons? More importantly however the Finals series between Riga and the Toronto Legion was headlined by something more important. Cleganebowl. 
 
For anyone who wasn’t around at the time or doesn’t know the history, Jardy and Victor both created goalies around this time. Sandro and Greg Clegane were amongst the best in the league and in the playoffs? It wasn’t even close. Victor was the reason that the Legion were able to topple the superteam in Calgary that had many of the league’s top members sign as free agents. 
 
In the Cleganebowl, Sandro ended up posting a .950 save percentage and Greg Clegane was right behind him with a .948%. I’m well aware of how STHS hates goalies but there was nothing stopping this battle from going down as an all-timer. The question for this Alternate Reality article though is what if Greg didn’t stand on his head to eliminate Calgary? 
 
Well, the first thing that comes to mind here is that the Toast curse would have lived on forever. Despite being a general manager for probably five or six seasons at this point and a player since the late S20s, I had zero success when it came to making the Finals or finally winning something. This curse seemed to only effect my Continental Cup appearances though as the World Cup was fine.
 
Being hot-headed back them and coming off an inevitable sweep loss to the Wranglers there is a fair chance that if Cleganebowl doesn’t happen? Young Toast gives up on his VHL aspirations and retires both Kopralkovs and doesn’t end up on the New York Americans team that got me my second Continental Cup. 
 
If Cleganebowl doesn’t happen and Jardy doesn’t get that win? Who knows if he loses inspiration and the VHL finds itself without a simmer sooner than that happens later on in history? I'm sure that it’s definitely the Cleganebowl win that fuels Jardy going forward. 
 
The Cleganebowl was built up to for seasons with moments just not happening until these finals. If this series doesn’t happen it’s possible that the league never gets Cleganebowl and the missed opportunity would’ve been devastating for the league (I don’t think there was ever a clash later on?)
 
Without Cleganebowl, I think Calgary crushes Riga or Cologne in the finals and the rest of the league would have been miserable seeing a super team form up and destroy the rest of the league. During this two player era that may have hurt activity even further.
 
Thankfully these are all hypothetical as Cleganebowl did happen and would result in my first Continental Cup. I can’t remember what I had to trade to get Jardy to Riga but whatever it was made it possible to see the Cleganebowl and break a curse that tormented me on this league for years.
 
Enjoy some good old threads that can provide some further detail too:
 
 
 
 
 
 

Some major sports leagues, such as the MLB and NFL, give the top draft picks to the worst teams. Other leagues, like the NHL and NBA, use a draft lottery to determine the top picks in the hopes of discouraging tanking. The VHL has a similar system, but what if we simply gave the top picks to the worst teams? I'm specifically going to look at Davos in the mid S60s, since they got shafted twice by the lottery.
 
In S63, Davos was the laughing stock of the league. They had just finished off a period of competitiveness, featuring a cup run in S61. In S63, they had 15 wins and a putrid -157 goal differential. They had the best odds to land the first overall pick in the S64 draft, which featured defenseman Ryan Sullivan Jr. as the top prospect. In the lottery, the Americans were the team that came out on top, and Davos fell down to second. Davos ending up selecting Elias Dahlberg, certainly a strong selection even though they didn't get the first overall pick. At that point they needed anyone they could get, so moving down to the 2nd pick was pretty negligible. 
 
The next year, Davos was just as awful as the year before. With only 16 wins, they finished well in last place for the second straight year. Unfortunately they lost the lottery to none other than the Americans once again, who selected first gen Carles Puigdemont with the first pick. Davos picked up Smitty Werbenjagermanjenson with the second pick. If Davos had the first pick, would they have selected Puigdemont instead? From what I remember during that time, Puigdemont was a pretty consensus top pick even though he was a first gen. This stroke of bad luck from the lottery actually worked out in Davos' favor, since Werbenjagermanjenson is a hall of famer and one of the best defensemen of this era. He only spent half of his career with Davos, but it still was a great pick. However, if Davos got the first pick there is good reason to believe that Puigdemont would have been the pick, who flamed out after a couple of seasons.
 
Puigdemont was a center when he got selected, meaning that the Rylan Peace trade to Davos likely never would of happened. They never drafted Dahlberg either, since they got Ryan Sullivan Jr. They would have Puigdemont and Svoboda manning the top line, and essentially the same defense core except Sullivan Jr. replaced Smitty. Their offense looks pretty weak from that, so perhaps instead of Rylan Peace, Davos trades Randoms to Riga for a young winger instead, such as Ryuu Crimson. Now you have a very young top line of Crimson-Puigdemont-Svoboda. The biggest problem is Puigdemont, who ended up leaving the league a couple seasons into his career. That leaves Davos with a problem in the S66 draft where they desperately need a center. They have the sixth overall pick, Davos originally selected defenseman Charlie Paddywagon, but now they need a center rather than a defenseman. I think they would end up selecting Jet Jaguar at 6. As we know, Jaguar was a tremendous player in the VHL. Now with the 13th pick, Davos could go for defense to pair alongside Ryan Sullivan Jr., so they select Apollo Hackett. Am I just picking the best players that went after their draft slot? Maybe, since they very easily could have taken Rusty Shackleford instead. However, those players fit what they would have needed.
 
Without the draft lottery, it's fair to say Davos would have actually gotten worse. However, selecting first overall in those drafts would have effected their future decisions, which I think would have benefited them. They could have Ryuu Crimson, Jet Jaguar, Pat Svoboda, Ryan Sullivan Jr., Apollo Hacket, and Finn Davidson in net. Even though their future core looked really solid in S66, this core might just be a little bit better. 
 
Is this what would have actually happened? Maybe, maybe not. However, all this should tell you is that losing the draft lottery isn't really the end of the world.
 
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1. Of course we can baby, we are cooking right now
2. Any answer other than Riga is wrong. We will come on strong and win it all.
3. Sorry, but the 2000 TPE mark is unbreakable. The changes to TPE earning make it much harder to reach those crazy numbers, and I think recruiting TPE is smaller now which is how Eno got so much TPE, at least I think that's what happened.
4. As Sir Antoine Lavoiser once said, "For any system closed to all transfers of matter and energy, the mass of the system must remain constant over time, as the system's mass cannot change, so quantity can neither be added nor be removed." You would stay exactly the same size.
5. I have no idea, but I would like to imagine that they do and that it all piles up and comes out at once during birth. 
6. A horse the size of a cat, easily. I'm not sure why but I just think that is much better than a mouse sized cat.

@Dtayl We spoke. You know you’re a Bear. Somehow you keep coming back  . We got history. Thanks for it all. Thanks for being a great Bear and teammate. See you around again! 
 
@Matt_O I’ve tried to add you since your last player. I pushed pretty hard with that player and have made a few attempts with Zod too! From Malmo rivalry... to becoming a Bear! Welcome to the family!! DA BEARZ 
 
Thnx Hedge!