GRZ

Just 1 hour left till the VHLM Dispersal Draft, and this is the first draft for the finnish youngster, we caught up with him to have a quick chat before this exciting and potentially life-changing draft takes place. Q: How are you feeling right now, nervous... excited?? I'm more excited than ever, although with a combination of happy nervousness, as a player its always stressful waiting for your name to be called and for you to get drafted, but I believe I showed enough in the playoffs and with my abilities and the training I've done I have no doubt I'm a good addition for any team. Q: With that, do you have any specific likes towards an organisation where u wanted to land? Not neccesarily, I mean it would be awesome to play for an Expansion team, u know... They are starting building their franchise and you help them start building it. Imagine looking at an Expansion team like 2-3 years from now on and see them being successful, and remembering that you were a part of that history. Sounds awesome to me. Q: With that we wish you a good evening, and we wish you the best of luck in the upcoming draft! Thanks! I appreciate it.

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1)Since I joined the later part of the season I couldn't really observe any problems, I thought we did fine with the type of players we had and in the end, did as best as we could in the playoffs. 2)I don't really care which team tbh, yes it would be awesome to be drafted into a championship winning team, but in the end I just want to play hockey and do my best. 3)Firstly to play a full season, do my best and improve any areas that need improving. 4)In the 11 games I played my guy only got 1 point, but that's fine. I don't see it as anything bad, only upwards from now on. 5)I feel like teams with lots of assets in this draft will do good next year, so a team like Yukon/Oslo, however the current contenders could do damage too, unless they lose key players to the VHL draft. 6)Yeah why not, didn't have any problems with him, always was willing to help out and answer any questions

1) I believe Aces takes it, they have a more well rounded roster and as we know they smashed it in the regular season. 2) I"m going into the VHLM draft, all I hope is to end up on a team that believes in me. 3) Hiking, it's relaxing and always fun exploring new areas and locations 4) All the amazing guys I've met here and the memories that will be made. 5) My player gave absolute everything in the playoff, since he had a rough last games in the season, and I believe he showed a small piece of his potential, more will come with time 6) I'm kinda new around here so I'm anxious to see what there is

Part I - Pick em' (Pick the correct winners of all three games for 2 TPE) Game 4 - Las Vegas Aces @ Halifax 21st Game 5 - Halifax 21st @ Las Vegas Aces Game 6 - Las Vegas Aces @ Halifax 21st Part II - Predict the Score (Predict the correct score and winner of this game for 3 TPE) Game 5 - Halifax 21st 1 : 2 Las Vegas Aces Part III - Player Predictions (Predict the correct player for each category, 1 TPE for each correct answer) Series leader in points: Nathan N Series leader in goals: Diljodh Series leader in assists: Vanderhuge

Today we sat down with one of the newest Oslo Storm additions during the later part of the season, the 17 year old Finnish player Mikko Aaltonen, and discussed his emotions and thoughts on his team's performance in the playoffs, his first season in the VHLM and much more. First of all......Tervetuloa![Greetings] Mikko, how are you today? *laughs* Kiitos[Thanks], I'm impressed with that, did you learn that just so you could say that to me in the interview? Perhaps....... That's awesome, since the start of my career in the VHLM, I've barely spoken finnish at all, everyday is English and so on, so its nice to hear something in my mother tongue So lets start with that, you come from Finland, a country with a pretty rich hockey history, how did it all start for you? Well it all started with my father, he started playing hockey since childhood, and he was one of the best upcoming players in Finland, but because of an injury he had to end his career rather quick at the age of 25, because of that he started to focus on supporting local talents and kids from Finland to make their dreams of playing hockey, then i came along and I guess it just made sense for him to push me into hockey, and I'm grateful to him for that, I love hockey! That's awesome to hear! Is your father proud of where you are right now? *laughs*, I hope so at least! No but for real, he has been always really supportive even since I started playing in the Finnish Leagues, he always came to my games and cheered for me, which was a huge motivation booster. And he knows that this is a big step in my young career and he wishes nothing but the best for me. Since you brought it up, how is the transition from playing back in Finland, to all the way here, what are the main differences that you've picked up on? Woah... I don't even know where to start, I guess the language is a good starting point, everything is in English which is fine for me since in school I didn't have any problems with it, but I find it sometimes difficult to say what I really mean in English, and because of that I don't really say what's on my mind, but other than that its not that bad. A big change is also that the dynamic of hockey is way different than it was back in Finland, here people play much better and they seem more motivated, because of that the skill level almost can't be compared, so that was a big change for me, getting used to this professionalism is something new even till this day, I honestly had no idea different countries could have such a different approach to hockey. Interesting... So you joined the team pretty late in the season, only have played 11 games, and in those games you have gotten only 1 point, is that the transition problem you talked about earlier? In this league everything is different, the speed, the mental/physical game, and that kinda caught me off guard.. About the games, its been a learning curve for me and a really important one. Yes, I got only 1 point, but I think that's pretty good considering the fact, that this is my first time in an international team, with different dynamics, strategies/mindsets and most importantly a new language, getting used to players/positions was also hard, so I don't take it too personal that my points suffered from that, it's only up from here. How was the atmosphere in the team, did you like the guys you were playing with? I mean everyone was nice and I think because most of us are around the same age, we clicked.. We had lots of fun in our practices and prior to games we always were keeping the mood high, even after tough losses we went over our mistakes and didn't really panic or get mad. Alright, the season has ended and you guys played Saskatoon in the WC round, what were your initial thoughts/reactions when you found out that you had to play against them? Well it wasn't really a secret to anyone, Yukon were just too far down in the standings and couldn't catch up, so we knew we would play Saskatoon really early. Our season record was good against them, I believe we went like 7-3 or something among those lines, so we definitely weren't afraid of them. All that I was thinking about was that I need to step up and perform like I know I can. Game 1, a nail-bitter for everyone watching... a game that ended in OT and probably much closer than you anticipated, run me through that match.. We started that game kinda slow, allowed them to get advantages and because of that we were trailing behind them until the 3rd period, where we finally got ourselves together and agreed that this can't continue like this. We just weren't playing to our standards and we felt that we could do so much better. Then we went out in the 3rd period and did our best. It was a much needed victory, the hard work were putting in during that game is insane, it would definitely get in our heads if we lost that game. Obviously we all know that you were the 1st star of the match, getting 1 goal and 3 assists in the game, is this what Mikko looks like when he gets comfortable? Hopefully... Everything clicked that game for me, I felt really good on the skates, I felt like nothing and nobody could stop me, although my stats are not my primary concern and I only noticed them after everyone mentioned them to me after the game, it feels nice, it felt like I did enough to push us through a hard game. Moving onto Game 2, a match where you guys seemed to control the game pretty much the entire time, was this the type of game you expected of yourselves? This was a much cleaner game by us, however again we started relatively slow with them scoring in the 1st period, but this time it didn't feel as bad as it did last game, we controlled the game with shots, out shooting them by a lot, and that goal wasn't a huge letdown for us, it motivated even more to fight twice as hard, and it really showed during the rest of the game. So in the end, you end up with 6 points in 2 games, is this the "stepping up" point you mentioned earlier? Much so, I felt ready and had this extra motivation to prove myself to everyone and myself. Then followed series against the Las Vegas Aces, where you guys unfortunately got blown out 0-4, what were the feelings after these matches? Here's the thing, Aces are the best team in VHLM, at least in my opinion and facing a beast like that is never easy in the playoffs, they have way more experienced players and we didn't expect much going into this, we just tried our best and did whatever we could. These games were much closer than what it seems on the outside, we kept the shots close, killed off some penalties and did what we could. I personally didn't feel that I had much of an impact in those series, but I'm not blaming myself too much, its what happens. With that you’re out of the playoffs, what are some of the things you will take with yourself after this playoff run? Experience is probably the biggest one, I came here as a guy who has never played in this type of a league and barely in this type of an environment, getting that experience is really important and I count that as the biggest upside to anything of this, yes winning against Saskatoon was important as well, but I feel that its just a part of growing and learning. Next up for you is the VHLM Dispersal Draft, any ideas as to where you could rank on there, and do you have any wishes as to in which organisation you'd like to land in? See, the thing is I don't really like to look too much in to things like these, I felt really good when Oslo welcomed me in to their team in the last parts of the regular season, and I didn't care that they weren't the best team out there, I just wanted to play hockey and do my best, and that's probably what I will keep doing whichever team I play for. I guess it would feel nice to play for a championship team and get the trophy, but I'd rather get the experience and ice-time I need to better myself for the future, so I'm not too worried about that, hopefully I'll play for a team that believes in me and that knows what im capable of. That’s pretty much everything, thanks for this interview, and is there anything you want to say to our audience, reading this interview? Yeah, I’d love to thank Oslo Storm for taking me into their family and giving me the chance to prove myself, and I have no doubt it will only get better from here. Also thanks for having me here, was nice reflecting through my first season in the VHLM, and it's only going to get better from here on. 1,586 words, using for weeks Feb 10-17, Feb 17-24, Feb 24 - March 3.

Part I - Pick em' (Pick the correct winners of all three games for 2 TPE) Game 3 - Helsinki Titans @ Toronto Legion Game 4 - Helsinki Titans @ Toronto Legion Game 5 - Toronto Legion @ Helsinki Titans Part II - Predict the Score (Predict the correct score and winner of this game for 3 TPE) Game 5 - Toronto Legion 4 : 3 Helsinki Titans Part III - Player Predictions (Predict the correct player for each category, 1 TPE for each correct answer) Series leader in points: Arroyo Series leader in goals: Ironside Series leader in assists: Tzuyu

Part I - Pick em' (Pick the correct winners of all three games for 2 TPE) Game 3 - Helsinki Titans @ Toronto Legion Game 4 - Helsinki Titans @ Toronto Legion Game 5 - Toronto Legion @ Helsinki Titans Part II - Predict the Score (Predict the correct score and winner of this game for 3 TPE) Game 5 - Toronto Legion 2 : 4 Helsinki Titans Part III - Player Predictions (Predict the correct player for each category, 1 TPE for each correct answer) Series leader in points: Ironside Series leader in goals: Louth Series leader in assists: Arroyo

1)I feel like this move is more beneficial to the league and of course it widens the audience range and fan base, since I'm new to this team, I didn't really get attached to this city and community, but for some this might be a hard change, however I appreciate every fan we've had and I hope we make even more in our new location! 2) I never like to pressure myself with any expectations, all I know is that everyone will try their best and we all know that if we try really hard we can win the whole thing. 3) My guess has to be because of the draft picks and prospects Oslo has acquired recently, shipping off stable players and getting essentials for the future. 4) I Don't think there's a problem within the locker room, at least between me and anyone, everyone is motivated and we're ready to proudly present Oslo one last time. 5) As I said earlier I don't like expecting much of myself, I'll be glad to join any team that finds me fit in their roster and thinks that I am a vital piece of their future/present, since I'm new to the whole pro hockey league, I'll take any experience as a learning curve to better myself for the future. 6) Looking at this past season, we have a pretty good record against them, but then again these are playoffs we are talking about - pretty much anything can happen, but I'm pretty sure that we will win, in the worst case dropping a game. So a safe prediction is 2-1 for us, but I can easily see us overwhelming them and winning 2-0.

Really new to this graphic thing, but tried my best.

I confirm.

To take a break from all the statistics and seriousness, lets have some fun and rate & take a little more in-depth look at the new expansion franchises. Moscow Menace Starting off strong with the newest VHL franchise, the Moscow Menace, and boy does this logo represent the name of the organization well.... This logo gives the cold and brutal vibe personally, you would not want to mess with someone that has a stare that intense... The colors are used very well and give off that intimidating atmosphere Out of the 3 expansion franchises, this might be my favorite one. Houston Bulls Following that, we have the Houston Bulls. Colors used in this logo give me a flame and a burning vibe, maybe that's what they were going for, building a roster that will burn you out with their play, but from the logo alone I can tell you that I don't personally like this one that much... I feel that they could've done something more unique in terms of colors used, Red seems overused in bull-type logo's, but hey.. there's a reason lots of teams have it, because it makes sense, in that case this team has done well. Philadelphia Reapers And lastly we have the Philadelphia Reapers, now let me tell you this logo might be a little underrated, atleast in my opinion. The colors paint a story of something mysterious and silently aggressive with the red colors on the scythe, however the dark blue/green colors hide that vibe and give you a completetly different story, which in my books is a success when making a logo appealing. In the end I'll rate the logos which I liked the most out of these 3 1st place - Moscow Menace As explained above, the logo fits the theme it paints really well, and gives a strong vibe of dominance 2nd place - Philadelphia Reapers Mysterious and silently aggressive - enough words when describing this logo 3rd place - Houston Bulls Remember, this is a subjective opinion, however the Houston Bulls didn't appeal to me as much as the others did, however still a great logo.

1) The VHLM has officially announced expansion, with the new teams seeing action as early as next season! What are your thoughts on the teams they unveiled, or expansion as a whole? I feel like this move is really gonna benefit in the long run, having a surge of new players + giving them a chance to build a legacy of their own and build a new teams legacy at the same time, sounds amazing to me. 2) If you were the GM for a new expansion team, what would be the first order of business? I feel that checking out most active players and viewing the draft class is the best start, getting dedicated players will always be more rewarding than getting inactive but currently strong players, atleast in my opinion. 3) Four teams have now clinched, and two are fighting for the last available playoff spot. Who takes it, Saskatoon or Yukon? I really enjoy underdog stories, and following that statement....lets go Yukon! 4) Which VHL team has the best logo/design to you? Why? I really enjoy Quebec's logo, it looks really simple but the aesthetic works really well, honorable mention - HC Davos, I really love the colors they have incorporated in their logo and the whole composition fits really well in my opinion. 5) When you leave the VHLM to play in the VHL, what legacy do you think you'll leave behind? How will you be remembered for your time in the minors? Hopefully I'll have had fun in the minors and will have made some friends for life, since VHLM is the start to my career of course it will be kinda hard to move on onto the "Big Boy" league, but with time I'm absolutely sure that I will be ready and will do everything in my possibilities to ruin every goalies Save% that stands infront of me. 6) You're eligible for some free TPE if you recruit a friend and they end up sticking around; how would you pitch the VHL to an interested friend? I'd just give them the link to this site and let them experience the awesomeness themselves, this community has really nice people that are always ready to help out with any questions or anything else that you need help with.

+4 Mikko Aaltonen

As we all know that last week we had an announcement that two of our established franchises will be relocating. Oslo Storm will be known as Minnesota Storm, and Quebec Meute will now be known as Vancouver Wolves. So what does this all mean to said franchises' and more coming up next. Focusing now more on each franchise relocated: Oslo Storm(Starting S65 known as Minnesota Storm) Minnesota Storm will be the first franchise team for our Minnesota community, which is quite exciting for everyone... They are currently sitting in the 4th position in the VHLM standings, claiming the 4th playoff spot with 55 points in 61 games(25W/31L/5OTL), with 152GF, 180GA, and a difference of -28, currently having won their last game. Top 3 players from Oslo Storm(Future - Minnesota Storm): (D) James Lombardi - In 61GP, James has gotten 46P to his name(7G/39A), and all of that has netted him a +/- of 20, which is the highest in his team by a large margin, Blocked Shots is also a statistic where he strives in, having 82 Blocked shots, which is the 2nd highest statistic in his team. (D) Burnt Toast - If we were to go by points this player is 1st in his team, having 50P in 61GP(10G/40A), however the +/- is where you can really see how the team has struggled in the current season, -26 unfortunately for the 25 year old Canadian-born player is the worst +/- he has had in his career, in his previous two seasons he had -22 and +14, both seasons were played for the Saskatoon Wild. (RW) Sven Hitz - Sven is currently having himself a pretty decent season, having 32P in 61GP(11G/21A) and a +/- of -11, currently this is his 2nd season with the Oslo Storm, in the first season he had 17P in 68GP(10G/7A) and a +/- of -28. Worth noting that Oslo Storm have acquired couple of rookies as of late, and it seems like they are rebuilding for the future and with the draft picks they have, its only a matter of time this team starts doing damage. Quebec City Meute(Starting S65 known as Vancouver Wolves) Vancouver Wolves - Will be our first Vancouver team, and if you are a fan of Canadian teams, you are in for a treat.... Currently Quebec Meute is sitting comfortably in 5th place in the VHL standings with 69P in 60GP(32W/23L/5OTL) with 165GF, 157GA and a Difference of +8, currently having a 3 game winning-streak. Top 3 players from Quebec Meute(Future - Vancouver Wolves) (C) - Beau Louth - Talk about having an impressive season, this player has 79P in 60GP(38G/41A), and a +/- of +22. This is Beau's 4th season with the Quebec Meute, and so far this is his best season by far, last season achieving 55P in 72GP, and the season before that 59P in 72GP. If you are a Vancouver fan, you should be excited for this player coming to your hometown. (RW) - Jake Davis - Has 68P in 60GP(28G/40A) and a +/- of +18, this is his first season representing Quebec Meute, and so far he has been playing good, last season he netted 84P in 72GP with the Seattle Bears and the season before that 70P in 72GP with the Toronto Legion. (D) - Samuel Gate - The first defenceman on this list, and well deserved, he has 54P in 60GP(9G/45A), and has a +/- of +25, also worth noting that he leads the team in PIM(Penalties in minutes) as he has 118 minutes, and is the 2nd highest hitter, with 184 hits to his name. Conclusion: I believe that both of these relocations will be exciting for both franchises and I wish nothing but the best for both the fans and the players of each team, lets have a great reminder of the season and a banger of the upcoming season!

Player Name: Mikko Aaltonen VHL/VHLM Team: Oslo Storm Cash you have, 1,500,000 Purchase Name: The First Generation Cost of Purchase: 500,000 Cash Left: 1,000,000

Alright, I've decided to sign with Oslo Storm.

Still on the market, looking at every offer that will be made.

Riga Reign > Seattle Bears [6:3]

Riga Reign > Seattle Bears Quebec City Meute > HC Davos Dynamo Helsinki Titans > New York Americans Toronto Legion > Calgary Wranglers

Currently I'm seeing the offers I'll get and then I will decide which one works out the best for me.

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1) I have to say Canada, as an obvious choice, their roster is really solid and I can easily picture them winning the whole thing. 2) Currently I am a free agent, looking for a team that would benefit both parties, hopefully soon enough an offer that interests both parties rises up.... 3) Since I've not played a game, I've been training this whole time, getting my health, strength and overall so that I am in top shape, so no injuries happen during a season 4) I feel that Ottawa Lynx could jump up to the 2nd position in the standings, but we will see. 5) Hopefully established myself in a team, raking points every game and helping out my team, and of course the dream would be to enter playoffs and do good in them. 6) Awesome environment/atmosphere and cool people around here.

Name: Mikko Aaltonen Position: RW Playstyle: Sniper Shoots: Left Age: 17 Height: 75 in Weight: 200 lbs Birthplace: Vihti, Finland Current Status: Playing for Oslo Storm Early Life In his early upbringing, Mikko always looked up to his father and brother playing hockey together in the backyard, he was the youngest in the family and was told that he could only play at an older age. But this didn't stop him, at an age of 6 Mikko stepped into his first skates and soon after that he made his first gallops around the backyard.... "If you showed me this in a video format, I almost wouldn't believe that it would be real, skating at such a young age and making it look effortless is something amazing in the makings" - Ulli Aaltonen [Mikko's father commenting on his son's abilities] From that point, everyone in the family knew that they had something on their hands..... First team Mikko played for was Pelicans of the Finnish Liiga, in his first season he managed to get 33 G, 20 A in his first 76 games, the team itself struggled placing 10th out of 15. Pros Mikko is an excellent skater, and he isn't afraid to get into the tight points to get to the puck, really straight forward - this guy sees the puck sitting on the ice, he races for it. Accompanying that is that he possesses an amazing shot, the power of which he can launch a puck is uncanny. In his early hockey teams back in the motherland Finland, Mikko always managed to win the "Hardest Shot" and "Most Precise Shot" nominations whenever such fun activites were hosted, flattered by comments of people on his shot, Mikko doesn't necceserally think that he has something special... "Well obviously the purpose of the game is to shoot the puck into the net, I don't specifically believe I do it the best, everyone is on that task *laughs*" - the youngster Mikko[when asked about his shot]. While being young Mikko always spent time learning new dekes and trying to learn more maneuvers to outplay his opponents, and as his coach would always say "this kid has magical hands.... its like watching a magic trick, you can never know what he is going to pull out on you, until its too late *laughs*. Cons While Mikko has been praised a lot for his pros, he does catch the end of the straw too, like an ordinary human being, he does have some weaknesses. Temperament has always been a thing Mikko has been battling with, sometimes it does get the better of him, but he has acknowledged it and is working to become more mature and understanding of certain situations, but that of course comes with time and especially at this point in his age. He always apologizes and makes sure nobody is offended afterwards. Lack of experience hurts him aswell, often he found himself in a situation he had never experienced and that kinda impacted on how fast he could react to certain situations, but this is last thing that Mikko worries about. "It's normal that sometimes things don't go as planned and you end up doing a mistake, I am going to use all my previous mistakes to be better next time" - Aaltonen [on his lack of experience]

+4 Mikko Aaltonen