DMaximus

December 11, 2023

Clueless Wallob - SZ

October 11, 2023

Clueless Wallob - SZ

Banackock · July 21, 2023

Happy Birthday VHL!

STZ · June 26, 2023

13 hours ago, STZ said:

Larry Abass Jr is taken

Sorry about that.

F - Yaroslav Bogatyrev

June 25, 2023

G - Jesse Teno
F - Larry Abass Jr

@STZ

June 21, 2023

D - AK92 Wit da Hoodie
F - Napoleon Dynamite

@STZ

June 18, 2023

D - Ryuji Sakamoto
F - John Jameson

@STZ

April 8, 2023

F - Igor Molotov
G - Clueless Wallob

@Tetricide

April 6, 2023

F - The Board Game Clue On Skates
D - Callum Murray

opps, I picked a guy already selected, fixed that with an edit.

@Tetricide

April 3, 2023

F - Leandro Goncalves
D - Max Torq

@Tetricide - back on the clock

March 28, 2023

week 4 claim

March 20, 2023

week 3 claim

March 13, 2023

week 2 claim

March 12, 2023

1. Are you shocked that Seattle Bears beat Vancouver Wolves?

Not really. Seattle has the best GM of all-time, so you can never count them out. Vancouver was a really good team, so it is somewhat surprising. But not shocking.

2. What VHL playoff series has shocked you the most so far?

I think the most shocking thing was our team not even making it into the playoffs. We were in the finals last season! Now not in the playoffs!

3. Did you join the Victory ProAM tournament?

I did not. I need the time off to rest up for next season.

Garsh · March 12, 2023

22nd Annual Unofficial VHL Regular Season Awards – S87

Another exciting regular season has come to a close. That means we can dole out some regular season awards! Welcome everyone to the 22nd Annual Unofficial VHL Regular Season Awards honoring the highs and lows of S87! Thank you to everyone that reads this.

These awards have been created by me. There is no voting process and they are not officially recognized by the VHL Board of Governors.

For each award, I list the winners from the last 5 seasons. If you want to check out the award winners from every season, use this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sAZtX3bxVpPTIsKe1rSRVOenH1-iyWzbQEdR9ZvYOdU/edit?usp=sharing

I also document the “all-time” record for each category. Of course, by that I mean all-time for the existence of these awards, not all-time, all-time. Clear? Ok, good. Let’s get things underway!

The Pylon Award (worst +/- rating) – Reid Johnson @TopTiddee2 :hel:

Helsinki claimed the top 6 spots in this category, but Reid Johnson led them all with a -49. Repeat winner Daniel Clarke @Danzoshowed some improvement, ending 33^rd worst with a -16.

All-time record: S82 – creed -156

Last 5 Pylon Award Winners:

Season	Player	+ / -
S87	Reid Johnson	-49
S86	Daniel Clarke	-55
S85	Daniel Clarke	-65
S84	Ryan Li	-60
S83	Barron Kruulenstien	-66

The Gandhi Award (least penalty minutes, min 1,000 minutes played) – Todd Cooke @KRZY :la:

Todd Cooke wins the award outright by being the only player to record the league low 2 PIM, while playing 2,138 minutes. After a couple of seasons of some higher PIM totals winning this award, it’s nice to get back to lower PIM. Here’s hoping for a 0 PIM next season.

All-time record: S81 - Brendan Telker - 0 PIM, 2211 Minutes Played

Last 5 Gandhi Award Winners:

Season	Player	PIM	Minutes Played
S87	Todd Cooke	2	2138
S86	Mason Jones	6	2175
S85	Girts Galvins	6	2153
S84	Florida Man	2	1880
S83	Mason Jones	2	2146

The Major² Award (most major penalties) - Zaza Colors @McWolf :nya:

Zaza Colors went major penalty happy this season, recording more PIM in majors this season than their total PIM from any previous season. Their 10 major penalties is enough to claim this award.

All-time Record: S77 – Randy Marsh - 14 Majors

Previous Major2 Award Winners:

Season	Player	Major Penalties
S87	Zaza Colors	10
S86	Jared Carter the 2st	10
S85	Vinny Detroit	12
S84	Cadmael Ixazaluoh	9
S83	Brian Payne	11

The Timex Award (received most hits) – Leandro Goncalves @leandrofg

Leandro Goncalves was hit exactly 300 times during the season. It seems like a lot of hits and I’m sure Leandro would agree, but it’s actually the lowest winning total since Anthony Matthews won with 274 hits received in S72.

All-time Record: S82 – Bogdan Trunov - 408 Hits taken

Last 5 Timex Award Winners:

Season	Player	Hits Taken
S87	Leandro Goncalves	300
S86	Perry Laperriere	337
S85	Perry Laperriere	339
S84	Duncan Idaho	316
S83	Saku Kotkakoivu	346

The John Wayne Award (most shots on goal) - Brendan Marner @MetalToday :war:

For the second straight season Brendan Marner wins this award by being the only player in the league to record over 600 shots. Their 622 shots are 40 more than the next closest player, Ronan Lavelle @Arce .

All-time record: S82 – Jerome Reinhart - 713 Shots on goal

Last 5 John Wayne Award Winners:

Season	Player	Shots on Goal
S87	Brendan Marner	622
S86	Brendan Marner	602
S85	Zaza Colors	566
S84	Duncan Idaho	621
S83	Saku Kotkakoivu	692

The “Hit the Broadside of the Barn” Award (most own shots blocked) - Ronan Lavelle @Arce :mos:

Ronan may have finished 2^nd in shots on goal, but they finished 1^st in having their shots blocked with a total of 170 of their shots blocked.

All-time record: S81 – Jerome Reinhart - 204 Own shots blocked

Last 5 HtBotB Award Winners:

Season	Player	Own Shots Blocked
S87	Ronan Lavelle	170
S86	Landon Wolanin	171
S85	Alex Johnston	168
S84	Alex Johnston	187
S83	Saku Kotkakoivu	189

The “Can’t Hit the Broadside of the Barn” Award (most own shots missed) – Ronan Lavelle @Arce :mos:

Lavelle wins this award with 450 shots missed, barely beating Brendan Marner in both this and the previous category.

All-time record: S81 – Jerome Reinhart - 532 Shots missed

Last 5 CHtBotB Award Winners:

Season	Player	Shots Missed
S87	Ronan Lavelle	450
S86	Brendan Marner	436
S85	Zaza Colors	406
S84	Baby Bob	415
S83	Saku Kotkakoivu	509

The New Shin Pads Award (most blocked shots) – Bo Johansson @Shindigs :chi:

Bo knows blocking shots. As proved by their performance this season where they blocked 210 shots.

All-time record: S82 – creed - 460 Shots blocked

Last 5 New Shin Pads Award Winners:

Season	Player	Shots Blocked
S87	Bo Johansson	210
S86	James Marino	243
S85	Deron Nesbitt	222
S84	Jaromir Lemiuex	268
S83	Barron Kruulenstien	261

The Tired Legs Award (most minutes played) - Scoish Velociraptor Maloish @youloser1337 :la:

Scoish showed they are a different animal by playing 2,441 total minutes.

All-time record: S82 – Chicken Wing – 2,512 Minutes played

Last 5 Tired Legs Award Winners:

Season	Player	Minutes Played
S87	Scoish Velociraptor Maloish	2441
S86	James Marino	2422
S85	Florida Man	2221
S84	Jerome Reinhart	2400
S83	Rhys Trenton	2374

The Snap! Award (most power play minutes) - Brendan Marner @MetalToday :war:

Back-to-back wins for Brendan Marner. Maybe we’re discovering a secret to their success, powerplay minutes. They spent 404 minutes on the powerplay, where they recorded 39 points.

All-time record: S79 - Muffbeav - 454 power play minutes

Last 5 Snap! Award Winners:

Season	Player	PP Minutes
S87	Brendan Marner	404
S86	Brendan Marner	335
S85	Bo Johansson	344
S84	Napoleon Dynamite	369
S83	Battre Sandstrom	339

The 1 vs. 100 Award (most time on penalty kill) - Babushka @BrutalBoost :tor:

Babushka and Biggie Cheese @a_Ferk both tied with 337 minutes on the penalty kill. Babushka wins the award based on the tiebreaker of playing less total minutes, meaning a larger percentage of their minutes on the ice were spent killing penalties.

All-time record: S79 - Gustislav Nasherov - 447 penalty kill minutes

Last 5 1 vs. 100 Award Winners:

Season	Player	PK Minutes
S87	Babushka	337
S86	Doug Matchett	336
S85	Hari Singh Nalwa	317
S84	Deron Nesbitt	335
S83	Zeedayno Chara	340

The Sean Archer Award (highest face-off win %, min 1,000 faceoffs) – Daniel Janser @Daniel Janser

Daniel Janser wins this award for the second consecutive season. Their 60.34% face-off win percentage is a slight dip from the mark they set last season, but still a great total.

All-time record: S74 - Brock Louth - 63.72% face-offs won

Last 5 Sean Archer Award Winners:

Season	Player	Face Off Pct
S87	Daniel Janser	60.34%
S86	Daniel Janser	62.90%
S85	N/A
S84	Paul Atreides	61.22%
S83	Zeedayno Chara	63.17%

The Castor Troy Award (lowest face-off win %, min 1,000 faceoffs) – Nic McMuffin @Ente2997 :hel:

Nic McMuffin may need to change their breakfast strategy. The had a league worst 32.22 winning percentage on their faceoffs.

All-time record: S79 - Gustislav Nasherov – 29.60% face-offs won.

Last 5 Castor Troy Award Winners:

Season	Player	Face Off Pct
S87	Nic McMuffin	32.22%
S86	William Futch	34.87%
S85	N/A
S84*	Pistol Pete	43.73%
S83	Gregory Bates	31.86%

The Triple Deke Award (most penalty shot goals) - Daniel Weaver @ThePerfectNut :rig:

Daniel Weaver won this award outright as they were the only player to score 6 penalty shot goals.

All-time record: S86 – Daniel Janser - 9 penalty shot goals

Last 5 Triple Deke Award Winners:

Season	Player	Penalty Shot Goals
S87	Daniel Weaver	6
S86	Daniel Janser	9
S85	Hammar Voss	6
S84	Zach Kisslinger II	7
S83	Zeedayno Chara	7

The Rocky Award (most fights won) – Ivan Retoslav @eagle_3450 :ldn:

Ivan Retoslav, Ronan Lavelle @Arce , and Zaza Colors @McWolf all tied with 4 fight wins. Retoslav wins it on their tie-breaker thanks to their 4-0-5 fight record, better than Lavelle (4-0-2) and Colors (4-1-5)

All-time record: S83 Brian Payne – 7 fights won

Last 5 Rocky Award Winners:

Season	Player	Fights Won
S87	Ivan Retoslav	4
S86	Jared Carter the 2st	5
S85	Vinny Detroit	5
S84	Paul Atreides	4
S83	Brian Payne	7

The Glass Joe Award (most fights lost) – Daniel Clarke @Danzo :rig:

There was a 4-way tie for this award, all with 3 fights lost. Clarke gets the nod there thanks to their abysmal 0-3-1 fight record.

All-time record: S86 – Jason Argos, S74 - Lee Xin, and S69 Rusty Shackleford - 5 fights lost

Last 5 Glass Joe Award Winners:

Season	Player	Fights Lost
S87	Daniel Clarke	3
S86	Jason Argos	5
S85	Henri le Massif	3
S84	Deagun Rust	3
S83	Kyle Glass	3

The Stars Award (most stars won) – Daniel Janser @Daniel Janser

Another back-to-back award win for Daniel Janser! This was a close one as both him and Vasile Lamb @dlamb had 26 total stars, but Janser had more 1^st stars, so they win the award. Special recognition to Landon Wolanin @jacobcarson877who led the league with 12 first stars. And of course a shout out to Art Vandelay @Gustav for leading all goalies with 12 first stars and 22 total stars.

All-time record: S76 - Mikko Lahtinen – 34 total stars

Last 5 Stars Award Winners:

Season	Player	Total Stars
S87	Daniel Janser	26
S86	Daniel Janser	33
S85	Saku Kotkakoivu	28
S84	Duncan Idaho	33
S83	Zeedayno Chara	31

The “Always a Bridesmaid” Award (most stars without winning 1st star) – Brian Payne @Scurvy :war:

Brian Payne received 11 stars this season, none of them were first stars.

All-time record: S85 – Hard Markinson - 16 stars

Last 5 Bridesmaid Award Winners:

Season	Player	Stars
S87	Brian Payne	11
S86	The Frenchman	9
S85	Hard Markinson	16
S84	Asher Reinhart	13
S83	Tui Sova	12

The Biggest Backpack Award (player with the largest difference in points from the rest of their team) - Ryan Vidot @Enorama :dcd:

Vidot showed they have the physique to carry their team, as they scored 27 more points than the next closest player on the team.

All-time record: S82 – Taro Tsujimoto - 52 points more than nearest teammate

Last 5 Backpack Award Winners:

Season	Player	Point Difference from nearest teammate
S87	Ryan Vidot	27
S86	Daniel Janser	21
S85	Jerome Reinhart	20
S84	Nico Pearce	32
S83	Saku Kotkakoivu	23

The Anniversary Award (rank in total points matches season number) - Reid Johnson @TopTiddee2 :hel:

This is season 87, so the award goes to the player in 87th place in total points. Congratulations to Reid Johnson! They recorded 51 points this season, good enough for 87th place.

Last 5 Anniversary Award Winners:

Season	Player	Points
S87	Reid Johnson	51
S86	Callum Murray	49
S85	Sting Chameleon	51
S84	DB III	51
S83	Robert Wilk	54

The Eggshell Award (goalie with most overtime losses) - Xavier Booberry @CowboyinAmerica :dav:

Sometimes the puck bounces your way, other times it doesn’t. The later appears to be the case for Xavier Booberry this season. They had 11 OT losses. Tied for the most all-time.

All-time record: S87 - Xavier Booberry, S82 - Sirkants Klamasteris, S78 – Calvin Harvey, S75 - Doug Dimmadome, and S71 Jaxx Hextall - 11 OT games lost

Previous Eggshell Award Winners:

Season	Player	Overtime Games Lost
S87	Xavier Booberry	11
S86	Ben Dahl	10
S85	Boris Tsezar	8
S84	Cole Pearce	9
S83	David Davis	9

The Jason Voorhees Award (most PIM by a Goalie) - Henry Tucker Jr @NSG :rig:

Tucker Jr may have taken some notes from his father’s playing days. Tucker Jr led all goalies with 12 PIM this season.

All-time record: S76 - Doug Dimmadome - 29 PIM

Previous Jason Voorhees Award Winners:

Season	Player	PIM
S87	Henry Tucker Jr	12
S86	Augustus Kennedy	16
S85	Oskar Lindbergh	12
S84	Oskar Lindbergh	16
S83	Ben Dahl	14

The Poke Check Award (highest % of penalty shots stopped, min 10 penalty shots against) - Joel Castle @animal74 :tor:

Joel Castle rooked his opponents by stopping 88.5% of the 26 penalty shots he faced. A great showing for the goalie’s first season!

All-time record: S86 – Matt Murdock – 100% penalty shots stopped (12 shots faced)

Previous Poke Check Award Winners:

Season	Player	Penalty Shots Stopped
S87	Joel Castle	88.5%
S86	Matt Murdock	100.0%
S85	Oskar Lindbergh	88.5%
S84	David Davis	80.0%
S83	Dexter Vaughn	80.0%

That wraps it up for this season! Another year, another successful award ceremony! Congratulations and/or condolences to all the winners! As always, please provide any suggestions, insights, or thoughts in the comments. Thank you all for reading and continuing to make this a successful column!

February 20, 2023

Q1) What do you think would make a great theme week topic

I think a good theme week would be about the history of franchises. It’d be fun to read articles about VHL articles and people would learn more about the league’s history by writing articles, which is a great thing.

Q2) If you were to add something to the player store what would it be and how much would it cost.

Definitely would add equipment to the store. Items that would give you boost in attribute categories. They would expire after a certain amount of time.

Q3) What is your dream job in the VHL?

The one I have, being an updater. I think it’s a great way help the league. You get to teach recently joined members about how claiming and TPE works.

My questions:

1) How long do you plan to be active in the VHL? How come?

2) Who do you think the MVP of the league is right now?

3) You’re now the commissioner of the league. What is the first rule you would implement?

February 20, 2023

Rivalries are forged in the fire of the playoffs. The high stakes, the high pressure, the high expectations of the fans all lead to an environment that creates a hatred for an opponent that is the seedling of a rivalry. Rinse and repeat through multiple playoff encounters and you have a true rivalry. In this article, I’m going to look at one of the major rivalries in the VHL, Seattle and Toronto.

These two teams have met each other a league-high 18 times in the playoffs. Toronto has won 10 of the playoff series. Seattle has won 8. That evenness only increases the rivalry.

Let’s review all of the playoff encounters between these franchises.

S10 conference finals – Toronto beats Seattle. Not much is known about this as the details have been lost to history. Toronto went on to lose to Riga in the finals.

S16 conference finals – Toronto beats Seattle. Another series with scant details. And just like season 10. Toronto went on the lose to Riga in the finals.

S17 conference finals – Seattle beats Toronto. Seattle conquered ghosts of previous playoffs, including going on the beat Riga in the finals.

S20 conference finals – Toronto sweeps Seattle 4-0. Toronto had control of this series, winning two games by 3 goals. Toronto lost to Davos in the finals.

S21 conference finals – Toronto wins 4-3. A great back and forth series with each game decided by two goals. Seattle won games 4 and 5 to take a 3 games to 2 lead, but Toronto came back strong to win both games 6 and 7. Toronto avenged their previous season’s loss and beat Davos in the finals to win the cup.

S37 conference finals – Toronto wins 4-2. Toronto took advantage of Seattle’s tough 7 game opening round battle against Quebec by winning the opening two games. Seattle battled back, winning the next two. But Toronto closed the door winning games 5 and 6. Toronto went on the beat Davos in the finals.

S38 first round – Toronto wins 4-2. Although the series went to 6 games. Toronto won this series in convincing fashion, winning 3 games by 3 or more goals, including a game 6 4-0 shutout. Toronto then beat New York in the conference finals but lost to Davos in the finals.

S43 first round – Seattle wins 4-0. Three one goal games makes this seem somewhat close. But a sweep is a sweep. Seattle went on to win the cup by beating Cologne in the finals.

S48 conference finals – Toronto wins 4-2. Another series where Toronto won three games by 3 goals. Toronto went on the win the finals against Helsinki. The first of 3 consecutive cups for Toronto.

S51 first round – Toronto wins 4-2. You’re probably shocked to find out that Toronto won three of the games by 3 or more goals. Riga beat Toronto in the finals, preventing the four-peat.

S58 semi-final – Seattle wins 4-3. An amazingly close series where four of the games went to overtime. Seattle lost to Riga in the finals.

S59 semi-final – Seattle wins 4-2. Seattle won the last two games to end the series, including a 7-5 shootout in game 5. Seattle won the cup after beating Helsinki in the finals.

S64 semi-final – Toronto wins 4-2. A wild series that saw both teams win some blowout games. Ultimately it took an overtime winner in game 6 for Toronto to win. Toronto swept Helsinki in the final to win the cup.

S68 first round – Seattle wins 4-2. Seattle rode an OT victory in game 5 to victory in game 6. Seattle ended up sweeping their next two opponents to win the cup.

S74 wild card – Toronto wins 4-1. Seattle won game 1, but Toronto came roaring back to win four straight. Toronto lost to Vancouver in the conference finals.

S77 first round – Seattle wins 4-2. Toronto won the first two games in OT. Seattle won 4 straight, including another OT game. Seattle won the cup over Helsinki.

S82 wild card – Seattle wins 3-1. This was the wild card, so best of 5. All games were 1 goal games, including one OT game.

S83 conference finals – Seattle 4-2. In a reversal of tradition, Seattle won three games by 3 or more goals. Seattle went on to beat Moscow in the finals.

There’s a great tradition between these two teams and a great rivalry. I hope this rivalry continues in the future.

February 20, 2023