hockeyis66

With the VHLM season winding down and teams having either 7 or 8 games left in their respective seasons, lets take a look at how the playoff races are shaping up as we come into the last sims of the season. 1ST OVERALL SEED – Philadelphia: they are firmly set as the #1 seed overall in the league as they have a 9 point lead over second place Houston. It will be interesting to see how they finish the season up since we see teams with big point leads coast at the end of the regular season and then come out flat in the playoffs versus a team that has been fighting for their playoff lives. 2nd / 3rd SEEDS - Houston, San Diego: Houston has 95 points and 7 games left while San Diego has 91 points and 8 games left. Both teams have pretty easy schedules to finish the season with Houston having a slight advantage since the top team they play is Mexico City while San Diego has both Philadelphia and Mississauga on their schedule. The two teams do not play each other the rest of the season. Also on the line could be home ice advantage in the semifinals of the playoffs if the seedings hold and these two teams play each. If a series goes to game 7, having that game at home is a huge plus. 4th / 5th SEEDS - Mexico City, Mississauga: These 2 teams will be playing in the first round against each other and just 4 points seperate them as Mexico City has 75 points and Mississauga has 71. Both teams have 8 games left in their seasons. Mexico City finishes their season with 4 straight games against Halifax while playing Philly and Houston once each. Oddly enough, Mississauga plays Halifax twice in addition to playing San Diego and Philly twice as well too. Halifax, who is chasing both of these teams as well, could have a direct say in who gets home ice advantage or could potentially fall to the 6th seed if Halifax wins these games against these teams 6th / 7th / 8th SEEDS - Here is where things get a little crazy with 5 teams battling for 3 spots with Halifax having the upper hand currently in points and total wins: Halifax, Ottawa, Miami:: Halifax sits in 6th with 62 points, Ottawa is 7th with 56 and Miami is 8th with 54 points. Halifax has played 65 games while the other two teams have played 64. Halifax has a heavy dose of Mexico City on their schedule as they play the Kings 4 times in the final 7 games while playing Mississauga twice in their next two games and Ottawa once. Ottawa plays the two best teams in each conference twice, Houston and Philadelphia, along with Saskatoon twice and then both San Diego and Halifax once. Miami has Houston, San Diego and Saskatoon twice while getting Mississauga and Las Vegas once each. Halifax has the easier schedule since they avoid the top 3 teams in the league (Philly, Houston and San Diego) while the other two teams basically play them 4 or 5 times each. Halifax also has a huge tiebreaker advantage with the amount of wins they have in total compared to the other teams that are trying to catch them. Las Vegas, Saskatoon: Las Vegas sits in 9th with 52 points and 7 games left while Saskatoon is 10th has 49 points and 8 games to play. They do have one game against each other in the next set of sims which if Saskatoon looses, it could make it real tough for them to have to climb over two teams to grab that 8th and final playoff spot. Vegas does play Miami once but will also face San Diego twice and Philly once with both games against San Diego coming at the end of their regular season. Saskatoon will face Miami and Ottawa twice which means they have 5 out of their 8 games against teams directly ahead of them in the standings, but then also have Houston twice as well too. In the final handful of games in the VHLM season, while only Philly probably is the only team so far with their true seeding set in stone, there is still a lot to be figured out. There are some key head to head matchups among the teams still fighting for similar seedings and while the better teams in the league have already clinched a playoff spot, they will still have a direct say in who makes the playoffs since they end up playing the teams fighting for those final 2 or 3 spots.

“I like the way we have been playing recently and played Philadelphia tough in most of the games we played against them. Our goaltending has been spectacular as of late and the main reason why we are winning games and in the hunt for not only the 4th spot in our conference but also sniffing around 3rd as well too. We just have to keep plugging away each shift and take it one shift at a time and go out on the ice and out work the other team and beat them to the puck and win those loose puck battles to take the pressure off of our defense. Getting more offensive zone time is key to keeping our shot total down.” “While my goal total has gone up and am happy with that, I still need to do a better job in the defensive end to help our goalies out. We seem to be clicking very well on the power play and cashing in on a lot of chances and I have been seeing some penalty killing time too. Defense, skating and puck control will probably be my focus for the rest of the season to help round out my game. Offensively, I am finding open looks at the net and taking my shots and if its not there, trying to find open space to get my teammates the puck.”

1. Our management team has done a great job in bringing in folks to fill out the roster and we have started to see the benefits of our hard work by starting to win games and get points and with 30ish games left in the season, i think we will continue to climb up the standings 2. The M - Miami has been great so far and the locker room atomsphere is fun so i see myself staying in the M another season no matter where i end up 3. these goalies were a big get and having 2 active goalies updating will only help our rise up the standings 4. lackluster - the goalie market turned out to be a dud and while some big names switched teams, it just didnt seem as exciting as it has been in the past 5. Stan-dingyouup has a 10+ hit lead over the next player on the list so i will still with the current hit leader and say that player will have the most hits 6. astronomy has always been a big subject that has interested me since i was young - looking at the stars and planets and being able to identify the night sky has been a fun little hobby

It has been a whirlwind first dozen games in the VHLM career for Alexandre Crosby after he signed with the Miami Marauders. Not only has Crosby chipped in with goals and assists, the Marauders have started winning and are gaining ground on the teams ahead of them in the standings for the 4th and final playoff spot. Game 174 – Miami at Ottawa In Crosby’s first game, he played over 20 minutes and after a scoreless first period, Ottawa took a 1-0 lead, but just less than a minute later, Crosby would get the secondary assist on a goal by Jahey for his first professional point in the VHLM. After Ottawa would score the next 2 goals, Miami would go on the power play and Crosby would once again get the secondary assist for his first multi-point game. However, that would be the last goal of the game as the Marauders would lose 3-2. “It took me a couple of shifts to get use to the speed and skill level of the players at this level, but once I got my feet set, I was able to start to see the game and anticipate better. I was happy to assist on both of our goals, but would have rather taken home the win as a team.” Game 179 – Miami at Mississauga After Mississauga took a 3-0 lead, the Marauders went on the power play about halfway through the second period and Crosby fed a pass back to Destroyer at the point who fired a slap shot and got Miami on the board. The Hounds would take a 4-1 lead on another goal, but just over 4 minutes into the third period, Crosby would get the first goal of his career on a pass from Jahey. The Marauders would cut the lead to 4-3 before the Hounds would get a late goal to win 5 to 3. “I was a little more aggressive in this game after looking at the tape from the Ottawa game and the coaches wanted me to take more chances on the net. Once I saw that pass coming from Jahey, my instincts took over and I just fired a one timer and beat the goalie over the blocker in the top corner. I was glad to get the goal early on in my career and once again we lost, but I feel a win is coming soon.” Game 190 – Ottawa at Miami After losing another game to Mississauga, Miami hosted Ottawa in search of their first win with Crosby in the lineup. The Marauders would jump out to a 2-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game with Crosby getting the secondary assist on the second goal. The Marauders would get an early power play goal in the second period with Crosby getting the primary assist, but Ottawa would come back with 3 unanswered goals in the period to tie the game at 3-3. However, with 4 minutes left in the game, Crosby got a shot on goal that was stopped but Oinas put in the rebound to give the Marauders a 4-3 win their first with Crosby on board. “As good as it was to have 3 assists in the game, I am most proud of the team not giving up when the game was tied and battle for a win. We can only go up from here and start to catch the teams in front of us now that we have a solid group of players in place.”

“I have been glad that we have started winning as a team here recently now that we have gotten some more active players on the team. The GM’s have done a great job getting new players in here and keeping on us to make sure we are improving and doing what we need to do improve the team and ourselves. We have made up some ground on the teams ahead of us, but still have a long road ahead of us and just have to keep working hard each shift and do the best we can to get at least one point if not two points out of each game.” “As for my game, I have been pretty happy so far with the results I am getting. I am able to set my teammates up for goals and score goals too. I just want to be that guy out there in all situations and play all 60 minutes and do whatever I can to help the team win. I am going to continue to work on all aspects of my game and really focus on my defense and skating so I can force the other team into turnovers and use my speed and skating in a full 200 foot game.”

CHILDHOOD Bored in Italy to parents that are scientists, Crosby moved to Canada when he was only 2 years old as his parents got better jobs there and settled outside of Toronto, where his parents worked, in a town called Brampton. In the summers, he would play soccer of course being from Italy, but when he was 4, his parents got him into ice skating and learn to play hockey programs in and around Brampton. Crosby was able to pick up skating and hockey pretty easily and quickly moved into play club at the age of 6 while being able to travel around the Toronto area playing other teams. He often found himself as one of the , if not , the biggest kid on the ice so he was able to do almost anything at will on the ice leading his team to many tournament championships. By the time he was 8, Crosby was easily the biggest and fastest player on the ice at his age level which didn’t really pose any competition for him so he was moved up to the next age level to go against 10 year olds. He didn’t miss a beat after a short transition time to get used to the more skilled players at that age group and still continued to rank up points and trophies, both individually and team, against the older competition and even traveling further north into Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec to play against the best players and teams in those cities. It was pretty clear at this point of his young career that he not only needed to move up one level past 12 and under, but take on the very best at the 14 and under level which now introduces body checking for the first time. Being that he was already as tall, if not taller, than most 14 year olds, he still needed to fill his frame out weight wise. He was certainly targeted by both players and parents not only due to his age versus everyone else but also his skill level compared to this age group but Crosby held strong and was able to start to travel all over Canada to face different levels of competition. MIDDLE YEARS As more and more people saw him play, more and more people wanted to be around him and be a part of his hockey career. However, Alexandre’s parents were pretty particular and protective of him and found a couple of trainers to continue to work on his skating and skills. Being one of the higher ranked AAA players in the Toronto area led to lots of hours training along with school and not much time for anything else, but Crosby loved being on the ice, loved shooting the puck, loved scoring but most importantly, loved winning as a team and took the most pride in championship trophies. His parents taught him to be humble and not act like he was the best player on the team to keep him grounded. By age 12, Crosby was playing against 14 and 16 year olds all across Canada and even into the United States. Through his training, he was starting to put some weight on and gain some strength which helped him to control the puck more and gain some speed on his shots and passes. While he didn’t throw a lot of body checks at this level, he learned he had to be more physical than most in order to send a ‘message’ to the other teams that he wasn’t a push over being the youngest player on the ice. At the age of 14, Crosby was now 6’1” and about 180 pounds and was able to start to travel internationally as he tried out for and made Canada’s 16U team and play in the world championships in Europe. While he only was able to score 2 goals and have 2 assists in 8 games, he got a taste of what major big league hockey was as Canada brought home the bronze medal. He grew to 6’3 and nearly 200 pounds at the age of 15 and once again made Canada’s U16 team and played in the world championships which were held in Toronto and in front of his family and friends as the captain of the team due to his increasing strong leadership skills and the ability to connect to all his teammates. Crosby just utterly dominated the tournament with his size and skills to the tune of 17 goals and 13 assists in 8 games as he helped Team Canada to bring home the gold medal just miles from the town he grew up in. DECISION TO JOIN VHLM At age 16, Crosby had a lot of opportunities and offers to continue his hockey career from schooling in both Canada and the United States at the top academic institutions to various amateur leagues across both countries. In the end though, the lure and idea of getting to go up against players the same age or a couple of years older and along the same skill level as Crosby was just too much to pass up. He was lucky enough to hear from a few teams and hear a lot of great pitches to join a VHLM team. After talking it over with his parents and former coaches that he is close to, Crosby decided to join the Miami Marauders and will end up playing about 15-20 minutes per game including time on the power play. So far through 6 games, he has one goal and 7 assists for 8 points with 18 shots and 10 hits while being a -2 on the season as Miami looks to climb out of the 5th spot and into a playoff spot in the second half of the VHLM season.

Scouting Report: Alexandre Crosby Position: Left Wing, but can play right wing as well Team: Miami Mauraders Age: 16 Height: 6’3” Weight: 205 lbs Crosby isn’t going to be the player that blows you away with a ton of goals or points each season, but is rather going to be that hard working, two-way second / third line type of player that is going to be a pain in the butt to play against. PROS: DEFENSE: This is an area of his game that Crosby is going to take the most pride in and play a full 200 foot game by playing in both the defensive and offensive zones. He wants to play on the penalty killing units and make life difficult at the points for the defensemen. He wants to be out there on the ice at the end of the game with his team up a goal and do whatever it takes to stop the other team from scoring whether it be back checking his opponents or knocking them off the puck in the corners. SCORING: Crosby has worked on his wrist and slap shots to get them on net from anywhere in the offensive zones. He can fire off a wrist shot while being covered by the other team or unleash a slap shot on net from a pass from a teammate. Crosby can shoot off of either foot and is effective on getting a shot on goal as a pass to a teammate from the rebound. SKATING: Even though Crosby is a big body, one of the things he prides himself on is being able to skate and use his edges to make tight turns on the ice and catch up with opponents going through the neutral zone. He can stop on a dime and quickly make the transition in the other direction with quick acceleration. CONS: CHECKING: One would think being 6’3” 205, that Crosby would be a hitting machine, but that is not the case. He will still be aggressive in the corners and use his wide frame to his advantage but he is not going to go out of his way to knock someone to the ice in the open areas or punish defensemen on the forecheck once they get rid of the puck. PASSING: An area Crosby will need improve on will be looking for and finding that open teammate when he is covered by the opposing team. Not making cross ice passes in the neutral zone and creating easy turnovers for the other team to take advantage of will be areas of focus for his game in the VHLM. PUCK CONTROL: Crosby needs to use his frame to shield opponents from getting the puck off of him and use his hockey IQ to make quick decisions to either get rid of the puck sooner or use his body to fend off defenders. On defense, he needs to use his long stick to poke check opponents and make the quick transition from defense to offense to set his team up for a scoring opportunity. Crosby has only played 6 games so far in the VHLM and has a goal and 7 assists for 8 points and a -2. He has taken 18 shots and given out 10 hits while blocking just one shot so far. He has definitely received a lot of great advice from his coaches and teammates which only help him grow in his hockey career in North America.

For this season's theme week, I came up with 3 ideas that I would like to implement for my commissioner for a day: 1 – VHL Relocation of North American conference teams from NHL cities to non-NHL markets Its time to give the non-NHL traditional markets some love, so one of the first things I would do as commish for the day is to move the 8 North American franchises to different markets. Also keeping in mind regional travel and hopefully setting up rivals as well based on location. Getting promoted from the VHLM would be: San Diego, Houston and Saskatoon These 3 are already Mid-Western to Western on the map, so I would add one more west coast franchise in Portland, Oregon. Now this leaves me with the opportunity to pick all 4 east coast teams from scratch – adding 2 Canadian teams within relative distance to each other is pretty easy in Hamilton and Quebec City and would leave the new VHL with 3 Canadian teams out of 8. The 7th team to add is a pretty easy one and its time to bring back the Whalers to the city of Hartford. There are lot of great choices for the 8th and final team and while I could start to look to go a little toward the Midwest, I am going to keep that east coast feel and give the final relocation to the city of Baltimore. VHL North American Conference would be: Baltimore Hartford Hamilton Quebec Houston Portland San Diego Saskatoon 2 – Relocation and addition of 2 more franchises to the VHLM With the VHLM losing 3 franchises to the VHL, this will leave openings that will need to be filled and lets make the league 12 teams now with 6 franchises in each division instead of 10 cause I like 12 teams in that league and it will help support #3 down below. Keeping to the same idea as the VHL in that no NHL cities and an east of the Mississippi and west of the Mississippi divisions. In the Western Division, Mexico City is the only one that would stay. I would add a desert / southwestern team in Albuquerque and a midwestern team in Kansas City especially so players can enjoy the wonderful BBQ there if for nothing else. This gives 3 teams that are relatively close wise and then I would start to move more north and place a team in Salt Lake City. Rounding out the 6 team Western Division would be two Canadian cities in Regina and Kelowna. In the Eastern Division, Mississauga and Halifax would be the lone 2 franchises staying, leaving 4 open spots. I like the close idea of having Thunder Bay, Milwaukee (free beer at games?) and Indianapolis together in a mid-western feel to the league which then leaves one spot left. I cant do Cleveland here, just cant. Which leaves me down to Cincinnati v Charlotte as I just cant go into the deeper Southern US here either. I like how Cincy is closer to the other cities than Charlotte but Charlotte is at least getting a foot print into a decent market into the South and not having as many teams in the Midwest. It comes down to a coin toss….and Charlotte (nicknamed the Flair’s?) will be the 6th and final team in the new VHLM. 3 – Addition of a second player for some users One of the fascinating aspects of a sim league is the opportunity to have a second player and to be able to tinker with a different player build that you normally would not have the chance or tried to do with your normal player. Having a second player would only be available to those users who have had at least 2 players reach over 1000 tpe as a reward for their loyalty and longevity in the league. The second player would not be allowed to have carryover, play on the same team as their other player or take advantage of special tpe giveaways to keep the second player’s tpe totals lower than the first player’s. Users would not have to do double tasks as the tasks could be assigned to both players except for the career type of tasks which would have to be done separately. This will also help aid in the expansion of the VHLM and hopefully get rid of some of the bot players as well and encourage more users to stick around and hit this tpe mark. Maybe a user has been shy about becoming a goalie or being more of a defensive type of player whether it be a forward or defensemen and this opportunity would allow for that while still being able to enjoy the build and performance of the user’s main player. Hopefully this would also allow the types of builds to become more diversified as well too allowing other users to follow in the footsteps of more veteran users with a different type of player and TPE placement to follow along to.

1. I think with a fuller roster now and a solid game plan in place , we can definitely make up ground in the second half of the season and make the playoffs. 2. happy with the first couple of games but would have rather gotten the team wins instead of losses. 3. greatly. Having a little jolt of tpe and updating each week should help us sneak into the top 4 and playoffs 4. am just swimming and relaxing and hitting a picnic later in the day 5. Swift or Aky look to be the front runners and I ll go with swift 6. not until beginning of august to cape cod area of Massachusetts

“I was lucky enough to get a couple of assists in my first game with Miami, but would have rather gotten the win for the team as we lost 3-2. We definitely didn’t get enough shots on goal and I certainly had some chances to shoot more and looking at the tape after the game, the coaches pointed that out as something for me to work on in the next game.” “Against Mississauga in my second game, I assisted on our first goal on the power play and then early in the third period, I was able to get my first goal of the season on a one timer from the right circle on a great pass from Jahey and beat the goalie to the blocker side under the cross bar. We made it 4-3 a few minutes later but the Hounds got a late goal and we lost 5-3." “I am thankful for the Miami franchise giving me the opportunity to come right into the lineup and play over 20 minutes a game so far and my coaches have been very helpful so far in practice giving me areas to work on in my game and making sure I am taking my shots on goal and looking for open teammates to set them up as well.”

Transaction ID: 9YJ86460RA3383611 Doubles Week 5 Uncapped TPE (claim 7/2) Free Week (claim 7/2)

Player Information Username: hockeyis66 Player Name: Alexandre Crosby Recruited From: Returning Age: 16 Position: LW Height: 75 in. Weight: 205 lbs. Birthplace: Italy Player Page @VHLM GM

1 -- the team that wins their last game of the season, malmo 2 -- havent really looked or paid attention enough to see the logos and stuff 3 -- basketball 4 -- probably not and will probably not pay attention 5 -- anywhere that has a beach and is warm 6 -- BBQ easily

The Moscow Menace came into the season with hopes of contending for a playoff spot with their younger roster and while the season started off promising, their youth showed throughout the middle and second half of the season as the team fell out of playoff contention in the European Conference. The Menace finished the season with a 23-40-9 record which was good for 55 points and a 7th place finish in the conference. They were 20 points out of the 5th and final playoff spot and 9 points back of 6th place. Moscow ranked 11th out of 16 teams with 237 goals scored and ranked 12th in defense with 283 goals scored against. The average for both was 252 goals, so the Menace were just short of average in goals scored and above average in goals given up. The goal difference of -46 ranked third worst in the league. The Menace were also the most penalized team in the league which put a lot of pressure on the penalty killing units to deliver but they were 12th in the league at 77% stoppage rate which was below league average. The power play converted on about 19% of its chances which also was slightly below league average as well. The team did like to throw the body around and ranked 8th in hits and was slightly above average in that category. Idaho scoring one of his team high 41 goals on the season The Menace won 5 out of 6 games against Helsinki with the other game being a loss in a shootout and won 3 of 4 games against Toronto. The team also went 2 and 2 against New York and Riga while having a losing record against the other teams in the league. The Menace goalie duo of Andrew Bowman and Papa Emeritus faced a lot of shots during the season with Bowman seeing the bulk of action in 56 games. He posted a 17-27-4 record with a 4.11 GAA and a .896 save percentage. He did post one shutout on the season and had a .444 penalty shot percentage. Emeritus saw action as a rookie in 31 games and had a .924 save percentage and a 3.20 GAA. He did not have a shutout and posted a .636 penalty shot save percentage. Rookie Emeritus making a save in his VHL debut Winger Philip Stein led the team in assists with 64 and points with 87 on the season. He also had the most power play points on the team with 26 while playing around 25 minutes per game. Winger Duncan Idaho was first on the team in goals with 41 and scoring the second most points with 84. He also had the most penalty minutes with 185, hits with 329 and shots with 453. Center Paul Atreides was the only other Menace player to average more than a point a game with 82 points on 32 goals and 50 assists. The defense was led by the duo of Aurelien Moreau and Hard Markinson as they complied 66 and 64 points respectively. Markinson had 27 goals which ranked 4th on the team and his 18 power play goals led the team as well. More importantly, both players were above a +14 on the season and logged over 27 minutes a game while averaging less than a penalty per game. The offseason is interesting really for any team and more so now for the Menace as they do have their own first round pick. Will they try to nab a free agent or two or continue with the current course of adding a veteran through a trade and letting the younger players develop? The next week or two will be telling as a trip to the playoffs are on the horizon. word count: 610

It was a tough end to the season for us especially since we went up 3-0 on Calgary in the last game of the season, but then ended up losing 5-4 as they scored two third period goals to win the game. We lost a lot of games not only by one goal this season but also in the third period, so that is definitely something as a team that we will have to work on during the offseason and coming into next season. We will be more mature as a group and the consistency level should be better among our younger players to ensure we start winning games like that which should help propel us toward the playoffs next season. I was glad to hit my goal of 50 points on the season and over 20 goals, but I was really expecting closer to 60 or more points on the season so it was a disappointed from that standpoint. I have to work on getting my shooting percentage up cause the shots are there no doubt, I just need to do a better job on hitting the back of the net. Will also continue to work on my skating and puck handling during the off season too and will not lose focus on playing solid two way hockey either.

1 -- young team compared to a lot of the other teams in the league, we should see a good leap next season 2 -- depth and leadership 3 -- it is what it is with the pick but i am still going out and showing Moscow what i can do as a player 4 -- probably will not pay attention to much if any of the playoffs in either league 5 -- better all around play -- skating, passing, handling, etc 6 -- Idaho

The Rookie of the Year race was wide open to start the season and then it boiled down to 3 players for a while – Jerome and Tyler Reinhart both of Vancouver and Jaromir Lemieux of Moscow. However, the two Reinhart brothers have both separated themselves from the pack and will be dueling it out for the award over the final 15 games or so of the season. Jerome Reinhart currently leads all rookies with 30 goals and 62 points while only playing 19 minutes per game. He has a shooting percentage of 12%, a plus rating of +15, only 20 penalty minutes but has been crazy good on the power play so far this season with 8 goals and 15 assists for 23 out of his 62 points. He isn’t afraid to throw the body around as well with over 70+ hits. His brother, Tyler, has 25 goals and 33 assists which is good for 58 points and the second best point total among rookies so far. He is a +12 on the season and plays just over 21 minutes per game. He too has over 70 hits on the season and a shooting percentage of 9%. He has a few more points on the power play with 12 goals and 16 assists for 28 points. Both players play on the first and fourth lines and have helped the Wolves to a 61 point season to put the team in 6th place in the North American Conference. They currently sit 6 points out of the 5th and final playoff spot. The Reinhart brothers have very similar stat lines and there really isn’t much to separate them both from the award. Jerome would slightly get the nod for me as he is a little more productive in less minutes and 30 goals as a rookie looks mighty good as well. Jaromir Lemieux currently sits in 3rd place among all rookies with 46 points on 20 goals and 26 assists while playing just over 28 minutes per game for the Menace. He is a -13 on the season with a shooting percentage of 8%. He doesn’t hit much with only 19 checks on the season and his power play points are significantly lower than the Reinhart brothers as Lemiuex only has 1 goal and 8 assists for 9 points to go along with one shorthanded goal. The Menace are in 7th place in the European Conference with 48 points and are 13 points out of a playoff spot. In 4th place with 16 goals and 18 assists for 34 points is Riga winger, Anze Miklavz. Anze has played nearly 27 minutes per game with a shooting percentage just under 10% and is only a -4 on the season. He has also been pretty efficient on the power play with 5 goals and 9 assists in helping the Reign to currently hold down the 3rd spot in the European Conference. Lastly, 3 players are tied for 5th in points with 32 points each – Shane Lazeski – 10 goals and 22 assists, Bogdan Trunov – 14 goals and 18 assists and the lone defenseman in the top 5 is Nathan Powers with 6 goals and 26 assists. His 26 assists is tied for 3rd best among all rookies. Word count: 542

1 -- more excitement around new members -- weekly spotlight, interviews, etc -- wouldo help to make them feel more part of the league on the forums 2 -- have some sort of prospect game before the draft, even if its just 4 teams, would help lead up to more excitement before the draft and you get to see how your player performs vs the other players in the draft 3 -- some sort of game like we do in the SBA where you can build your own team with different builds -- you get "x" amount of tpe to spend and players have to between "x" and "y" tpe spent on them. you could have 9 F, 6 D and a goalie and would allow folks who are not familar with the sim or player builds to tinker with different combos to see how everything in the sim interacts

It has been a rough go of it for not only the Menace but also myself here the past couple of weeks. As a team, we win a game and then have trouble putting together a couple in a row to give ourselves some momentum. Its hard to stay around that 5th spot in the conference by having a few 3 or 4 game losing streaks even if they are in overtime or in a shootout and then win a game and then lose 3 or 4 more again in a row. We are a young team and that is something we will have to work on next season in order to put ourselves in a position to make the playoffs. Its been a tough time for me as well as I haven’t been getting the points like I did in the beginning of season. I did hit the 20 goal mark and have 42 points in the first 52 games and I should hit my goal of a 50 point season. It’s a much different than being in the VHLM as in the VHL has the bigger, faster and stronger players and it takes a toll on your body especially since I am playing 28+ minutes a game and something that I will work on during the off season.

1 -- it is an ok topic, good if you follow the VHL closely but bad if you dont -- i will probably just write about rookie of the year 2 -- i think we are good for now, just need to get another season or two of growth under our belt 3 -- adding a season pass like the sba does 4 -- aliens are living among us 5 -- maybe just lower passing a bit and put into puck handling and/or skating 6 -- nhl 94 cause its the mecca of hockey games

1 -- we are a young team so i think it just growth and our younger players clicking at the same time 2 -- listen to music 3 -- Idaho for sure -- all around best player on the team so far 4 -- getting Francis and Ulf from Hartford back in 90-91 season to win our first cup 5 -- 10-9, love me some offense 6-- Thunderstruck by AC/DC

Through 29 games this season, the Moscow Menace sit in 6th place in the European Conference with a 11-15-3 record which is good for 25 points on the season. They currently sit just one point out of the 5th spot and 2 ahead of the 7th place team. However, Moscow has played 3 more games than both of those teams. They have scored 93 goals on the season while giving up 111 which is a goal difference of -18. Wingers Duncan Idaho and Philip Stein are the only two players on the team so far that are averaging more than a point per game as Idaho leads the team with 39 points and Stein is second with 31. Idaho also leads the team with 19 goals and is only one of 3 players on the team with more than 10 goals as Grapes is second 12 and defenseman Hard Markinson is third with 10. Stein leads the team in assists with 25 and tied for second with 20 each are Idaho and the newly acquired defenseman, Aurelien Moreau. Markinson and center Paul Atreides each have 18 assists. Idaho also leads the team in hits with 149 and shots with 192. From a goaltending standpoint, Andrew Bowman has played in 25 games and currently has a 9-13 record with a .904 save percentage and a GAA of 3.92. His backup and rookie Papa Emeritus has seen action in 10 games so far with a 2-2-3 record. His save percentage is .928 and has a GAA of 3.04. Neither goalie has a shutout so far this season and Bowman does have 1 assist on the season. GAME OF THE WEEK MOSCOW MENACE AT SEATTLE BEARS The first period of the game was all Seattle even though it was tied early in the game. Seattle opened the scoring just under 3 minutes into the game on a goal by Brown. The Menace would tie the game at 1-1 as Markinson scored a power play as it was his 10th goal of the season. However, the Bears scored 2 goals in about a 90 second span later in the first to take a 3-1 lead after the first. They also outshot the Menace 18 to 15 in the period. It was a weird second period as the Bears totally dominated in terms of shots, 22 to 7, but they could only manage one goal as Su netted his second of the game to give the Bears a 4 to 1 lead heading into the third period as they kept the Menace off the scoreboard. The momentum of the game shifted in the first two minutes of the third period when Glass scored his 4th of the season for the Menace to cut the lead to 4 to 2. Just over 4 minutes later, Idaho netted his 19th of the season and it was a one goal game at 4 to 3. Moscow would receive a late power play chance and the newcomer Moreau would cash in on the man advantage to tie the game and send it into overtime. Both teams had 2 shots on goal in the overtime, but no one scored as we head toward the shootout. Each team scored once through the first 3 shooters, then the goalies stopped each of the team’s next two shooters as we are still tied at 1-1 through five rounds. The sixth shooters scored for each team and once again the goalies stood tall in the seventh round. In the eighth round, Fertitta scored for the Menace and then SEA RW1 missed the net as the Menace won 5 to 4 in the shootout by coming from 3 goals down to claim the two points. words: 620

Expectations: I do not any expectations coming into my rookie season with Moscow other than I know the players in the league are going to be bigger, stronger and faster and I will have to use my hockey IQ to keep up with them. I put in a lot of work on my offensive and defensive game from moving up from the WHLM. From a goal standpoint, I would like to be around 12-15% shooting percentage and score 20+ goals on the season. Overall, I would like to hit the 50 point mark especially since I will be playing on one of the top two lines. I will also see action on the power play unit and hopefully be able to contribute on the penalty kill as well too. My goal is to be a solid two way player that can contribute in all situations. Someone who can score late in the game or shut down the other team with the game on the line. I ll be pretty quiet in the locker room and take in everything that are veterans have to offer. My first season will be a learning experience and it will probably get a little overwhelming at times, but I know I will have my teammates to lean on and I will continue to work hard both on and off the ice. Reservations: I don’t really have any reservations coming into my rookie season other than how am I going to match up and compete with the other solid players on the other teams when I match up with them. I need to make sure I am getting into open ice so my teammates can make a pass to me or I need to keep my head up and looking for options on the ice whether be a pass or just taking the shot. Defensively, I need to hustle back into the neutral zone and our own defensive zone to make sure I am covering my player and to break up any odd man rushes against us. Same goes on the penalty killing unit and need to make sure I have an active stick in the passing lanes, block shots and get the puck out of our zone. It will be a little intimidating going into the locker room for the first time and being surrounded by the veterans of the team especially since a couple of them have won rookie of the year before. I just need to be myself and play my game to help the team win. Word count: 424

1 -- good solid pickup to help at the blueline and should help reduce our shots against while providing a ton of offense from the blueline 2 -- i think we are all set and just need to continue to improve and grab tpe 3 -- any type of card or board game is always a good time 4 -- can jump right into the lineup and play a significant amount of minutes 5 -- its been fine so far, just have to keep working on skating, defense and puck control to be successful for the team 6 -- work and driving kids around

“It has been an OK start to the season for me. It took a few games to get the speed of the VHL under my belt and more suited to the bigger, faster, stronger players but once I was accustomed to the difference of play versus the VHLM, I have become more confident in my game. There is still a lot for me to work on my game though. I have to continue skating hard and out working the opposition to the puck and fight for the puck in the corners, better puck control and make sure I am making good passes and not turning the puck over in the neutral zone.” “As for the team, we continue to hang around that 5th and final playoff spot , but there are also a couple of other teams that are knocking on that playoff spot’s door as well too so its going to be a season long battle for that spot. We have to continue to grow and play well as a team and make sure we are getting points out of each game we play and eliminate any losing streaks that could potentially put us in a tough spot. No doubt we are a young team and will continue to grow as the season goes along.”