DMaximus

1.     What is your feeling about the VHLE's first season so far?

It’s exciting to see all the teams so close in the standings. It still feels like any team can win it all.

2.     We used to have an all-star game live stream. What should we do, if anything to have an all-star game?

I think it was cool to have a live sim in NHL. If it’s not possible to resurrect that, we should just do a sim in STHS with an all-star roster.

 3.     What are your favorite burger toppings?

I’m pretty straight forward with the classics. Lettuce, tomato, onions, ketchup, mustard. But there’s a ton of stuff that works on a burger, so you can’t really go wrong.

 

 

Ask 3

1)    What has surprised you the most about the season so far?

2)    Does your player’s performance meet your expectations? Why or why not?

3)    If you could add any superhero to your roster, who would you add and why?

week 2 claim

G - Doug Dimmadome

 

@chiknGreat job running the draft. Take the last pick!

Since we have this amazing opportunity of a brand-new league, I wanted to document the first occurrence of various events. I’m operating under the assumption that all games on the same day occur at the exact same time. I’m comparing all the opening games to figure when the first occurrence of an event actually happened. Maybe someday there will be a wing in the VHL Hall of Fame where pucks, stick, and jerseys from these events will hang. Maybe with a highlight video set to rousing music with a far too boring narrator (likely a celebrity who has some insignificant, tangential relationship to hockey) playing on repeat in the background. Anyway, let's get on to honoring the people to accomplish these feats first.

 

First Face-off win – well since all games open with a face-off, there is a 3-way tie for this one. At 0:00 of the 1^st period all 3 of these players won a face-off.

Jlloyoid Blloyoiderson @Cxsquared Bratislava Watchmen won a face-off against Darth Kaprizov @Darth Kaprizov Cologne Express

Kman @Kman Istanbul Red Wolves won a face-off against Otto Numminen @Otto Numminen Rome Gladiators

Omi Aberg @osens Stockholm Vikings won a face-off against Saku Kotkakoivu @DollarAndADream Vasteras Iron Eagles

 

First completed pass – Now there may be some controversy on this one. According to the sim when someone wins a face-off it is always followed by “Pass to”. I don’t count that as a pass because it’s just the result of winning the face-off. So this is the first pass after the face-off. And the sim doesn’t give exact time for events like passing, but based on the opening events in all the games, I think this pass was the first completed pass.

Jannik Nylen @DreMin15 to Jakub Brozik @Viper Bratislava Watchmen

 

First Intercepted Pass – I’m a little surprised this happened so early. This was the first pass attempt of the game.

Shaggy Tipton @TheTiptonKing Vasteras Iron Eagles intercepted a pass from The Loch Ness Monster @LuluSalesAway Stockholm Vikings

 

First Shot Attempt – Not all shots make it to the goal. But there’s props to be given just for attempting a shot. At 0:12 of the 1^st period, the first shot was attempted.

Tynan Sylvester @diamond_ace Vasteras Iron Eagles

 

First Shot Block – The reason the first shot was just an attempt is because it was blocked. Also at 0:12 of the 1^st period, we have our first shot block.

The Loch Ness Monster @LuluSalesAway Stockholm Vikings

 

First Shot on Goal - It took a couple of tries but Vasteras was able to finally put a shot on goal. The first shot on goal happened at 0:18 of the 1^st period.

Kyle Peace @Peace Vasteras Iron Eagles

 

First Save – With shots on goal come saves. Also at 0:18 of the 1^st period we have our first save.

Em Em Flex @oilmandan Stockholm Vikings

 

First Rebound – With saves come rebounds. Also at 0:18 of the 1^st period we have our first rebound.

Em Em Flex @oilmandanStockholm Vikings

 

First Icing – It’s weird what things STHS decides to put exact time stamps on, but icing is one of them. At 0:22 of the 1^st period the first icing in the history of the VHLE occurred.

Hari Singh Nalwa @Dil Rome Gladiators

 

First Hit – Hitting is one of the best parts of hockey. The first hit lands at exactly 1:00 minute into the 1^st period.

Logain Ablar @Kelsier Bratislava Watchmen

 

First Save without Rebound – Goalies love to be able to corral and hold onto the puck after making a save. The first save without a rebound happened at 1:02 of the 1^st period.

Tobias Reinhart @Spaz Rome Gladiators

 

First Ejection from Face-Off – The linesman can kick you out of the face-off if you don’t line up properly or move too soon. At 1:02 of the 1^st period we had our first player ejected from the face-off.

Deke Rike @JCV Rome Gladiators

 

First Penalty – It didn’t take long to break the rules. The first penalty was recorded at 1:20 in the 1^st period.

Rocket @Rocket Cologne Express

 

First Offside – The sim isn’t too clear as to who the actual player was who was off-side, so we’ll just give it to the team. At 1:49 of the 1^st period, the first offside was committed by:

The Stockholm Vikings

 

First Goal – The moment we’ve all been waiting for… 2:10 into the 1^st period we have the first goal ever scored in the VHLE!

Pippo Coca @pippo Bratislava Watchmen

 

First First Assist – Recorded at 2:10 in the 1^st period

Donny Carter @TheNeonShaman Bratislava Watchmen

 

First Second Assist - Recorded at 2:10 in the 1^st period

Tony Adams @fonziGG Bratislava Watchmen

 

First Power Play Goal – It just so happens the first goal was also a power play goal (2:10 of the 1^st period).

Pippo Coca @pippo Bratislava Watchmen

 

First Goal Allowed – Unfortunately someone had to allow the 1^st goal (2:10 of the 1^st period)

David Davis @Josh Cologne Express

 

First Even Strength Goal – This one happened 6:47 into the 1^st period

Deke Rike @JCV Rome Gladiators

 

First Post Hit – So close yet so far away. 14:08 into the 1^st period we had our first shot ring off the post.

Sunrise van de Schubbekuteveen @Thunfish Cologne Express

 

First Fight – With so much emotion flowing it’s hard to believe it took until 11 seconds into the 3^rd period for our first fight. The fight ended in a draw.

Aldwin Craig @Eldredman Stockholm Vikings

Saku Kotkakoivu @DollarAndADream Vasteras Iron Eagles

 

First Overtime Goal – Crazily enough, all 3 opening games went into overtime. There was one overtime goal.

Darth Kaprizov @Darth Kaprizov Cologne Express

 

First Penalty Shot Goal – The remaining 2 games went into a shootout. One player scored in the first round of shots.

Zach Kisslinger II @Kisslinger Stockholm Vikings

 

First Game Winning Shootout Goal – Two of the opening games had to be decided by a shootout. One ended earlier than the other thanks to a goal scored in the 3^rd shootout round to win.

Aldwin Craig @Eldredman Stockholm Vikings

 

First Hat Trick – There were no hat tricks in the opening game so now we’re looking at Game 2. Interestingly enough, there were two hat tricks in the same game. But one player scored their 3^rd goal first.

Russell Dixon @Rjdixon01 Rome Gladiators

 

First Shorthanded Goal – This was the 2^nd goal of the other het trick in that game. Also happened to be the 1^st shorthanded goal in VHLE history.

Kman @Kman Istanbul Red Wolves

 

That’s everything I can think of that has happened so far. At the time of this writing there are still some “firsts” out there like first shutout, first ejection, first fight win. Lots of things for the dreamers in the VHLE to chase after!

 

Tagging the GMs: @FrostBeard @Advantage @KaleebtheMighty @InstantRockstar @thadthrasher @rjfryman

 

Over 1,000 words, will claim for 2 weeks.

This entire story is just a testament to how amazing this community is. So many people positively influencing each other. It's just really beautiful. Thank you Justin for being you and for being such a great member of this league! 

F - Phil The Rock Johnson

 

@Peace

D - Battre Sandstrom 

 

@chiknyou're up for the next 2

@Blazzer you can make your pick at any time

D - Tom Eagles

 

@Peace you're on the clock for 2 picks.

I'll take 

F - Cabe McJake

 

@chiknyou're up for the next 2 picks.

@Peaceyou can make your pending pick at any time

1.     What are your goals for the season?

I had a great season last season. I’d like to play at that same level or even better. In terms of raw numbers, getting over 100 points is a great goal for me.

 

2.     Who is going to be our toughest competition?

I think New York is the other best team in NA. Both Moscow and of course Malmo look really good from Europe.

 

3.     What were the biggest offseason moves?

I think Moscow made a ton of moves to make themselves a real contender.

 

4.     Do you workout and train during the offseason? Or do you relax and enjoy the vacation?

Of course you have to take some time to relax and breathe a sign of relief. But being a professional athlete is a full-time job, there is no off-season.

 

5.     Chocolate or other sweets?

I love chocolate. That’s not to say there’s not a million other good sweets, because there are. But if I’m forced to choose, chocolate wins out every time.

 

6.     What is your favorite kind of bread?

Depends on the situation really. I’m a sucker for sweeter bread like banana or zucchini chocolate chip. But a good old fashioned loaf of Italian bread fits almost every situation.

Week 4 claim

F - Red Lite

 

@Peace

I’m in. I can manage and fill as needed.

Week 3 claim

Week 2 claim. Thanks for reading the article and all the comments!

Chicago was 1 point better than us and it took us 7 games to beat them. Seattle is 10 points better than us. That means we’ll win 10 times faster. Look for this series to be over in the middle of the first game. 

1.     Who has been the standout playoff performer so far?

I was a standout during the first two games, but have cooled off considerably. Merrick has been great for the entire series.

 

2.     Any surprises from the first rounds?

Not really. Even our series going the distance isn’t a big surprise.

 

3.     What should the team do in the draft?

Need to shore up the defense for sure, but we also need to get a young goalie in here, let them learn under Dimmadome before they leave.

 

4.     Do you enjoy autumn?

I do. Our dog is waiting for the leaves to start to fall so they can go crazy in leaf piles.

 

5.     How are you enjoying the long weekend?

Had time to go on a hike around a nearby lake yesterday. Doing stuff around the house today. Probably will do more stuff around the house tomorrow. Marquee event is making our first batch of homemade ice cream tonight.

 

6.     How did your player spend their first majors paycheque?

Pistil sent almost every penny back to his village in Brazil. Only kept enough for himself to get a stylish American haircut.

14th Annual Unofficial VHL Regular Season Awards – S79

Another exciting regular season has come to a close. That means we can dole out some regular season awards! Welcome everyone to the 14^th Annual Unofficial VHL Regular Season Awards honoring the highs and lows of S79! 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. I wrote descriptions for most of these award names in the original award post.

 

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) – Jared Carter @jaredc7 

 

Toronto and Helsinki both battled to win this one, claiming the bottom 13 spots in the league for plus/minus. Spots 2-13 were relatively close, only separated by 8 points. Carter must have really wanted this award because they were 10 points worse than 2^nd place. They win it with a -49 on the season.

 

All-time record: S73 - Balentine Kidd -  -74

 

Last 5 Pylon Award Winners:

Season	Player	+ / -
S79	Jared Carter	-49
S78	David Tavau	-40
S77	Ove Dyrdahl	-43
S76	Tyler Walker	-35
S75	Pistil Stamen	-35

 

The Gandhi Award (least penalty minutes, min 1,000 minutes played) – The Terrible Trivium @der meister 

 

The Terrible Trivium keeps the award in London for the third consecutive season, reclaiming the award they won in S77. They were 8 minutes short of claiming the all-time record. They had 0 PIM in 2,084 minutes played.

 

All-time record: S67 - Diljodh Starload - 0 PIM, 2091 Minutes Played

 

Last 5 Gandhi Award Winners:

Season	Player	PIM	Minutes Played
S79	The Terrible Trivium	0	2084
S78	Sven Reikkinen	0	2007
S77	The Terrible Trivium	4	2136
S76	John Brewitt	0	1320
S75	Jonas Stormsson	4	1700

 

The Major² Award (most major penalties) - Henry Tucker @NSG88 

 

Someone must have upset Tucker in the offseason because they went from sub 100PIM seasons to leading the league in PIM this season. Their league leading 11 majors helped their total PIM and win them this award.

 

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

 

Previous Major² Award Winners:

Season	Player	Major Penalties
S79	Henry Tucker	11
S78	Bob Tristan	11
S77	Randy Marsh	14
S76	Riley Knight Gee	9
S75	Gary Tarantino	12

 

 

The Timex Award (received most hits) – Dakota Lamb @dlamb 

 

Lamb watched teammate Aloe Dear win this award last season and thought to themselves, buy it must be fun to get hit a lot. I’m going to try that out. Not sure how fun it was, but they win the award by getting hit 310 times this season.

 

All-time Record: S69 - John Madden - 357 Hits taken

 

Last 5 Timex Award Winners:

Season	Player	Hits Taken
S79	Dakota Lamb	310
S78	Aloe Dear	312
S77	Taro Tsujimoto	307
S76	Thomas Landry II	329
S75	John Merrick	311

 

The John Wayne Award (most shots on goal) - Gunnar Odinsson @BOOM 

 

Well there’s record setting seasons and then there’s record shattering seasons. This was a record shattering season for Odinsson. The beat Lexi Glass’s all-time record from S77 by 44 shots! Their 614 shots were over 200 more shots than the S71 winning total (Scott Greene 402 shots)!

 

All-time record: S79 – Gunnar Odinsson - 614 Shots on goal

 

Last 5 John Wayne Award Winners:

Season	Player	Shots on Goal
S79	Gunnar Odinsson	614
S78	Muffbeav	531
S77	Lexi Glass	570
S76	Andrew Su	483
S75	Mikko Lahtinen	510

 

 

The “Hit the Broadside of the Barn” Award (most own shots blocked) - Groovy Dood @bigAL 

 

It takes a special talent to win one of the shots awards in a season when the all-time shot record is shattered by someone else. I have no idea how Dood did it, but they have one more shot blocked than Gunnar Odinsson, a total of 165. That ties the all-time record!

 

All-time record:  S76 - Chris Hylands and S79 – Groovy Dood - 165 Own shots blocked

 

Last 5 HtBotB Award Winners:

Season	Player	Own Shots Blocked
S79	Groovy Dood	165
S78	Aloe Dear	161
S77	Patrik Laine	150
S76	Chris Hylands	165
S75	Mikko Lahtinen	146

 

 

The “Can’t Hit the Broadside of the Barn” Award (most own shots missed) – Gunnar Odinsson @BOOM 

 

I don’t think it’s much of a surprise that Odinsson won this award after smashing the shots on goal award. What is surprising is they barely set the all-time record, recording just 4 more shots missed than the previous record set by Brock Louth in S74 (429).

 

All-time record: S79 – Gunnar Odinsson - 433 Shots missed

 

Last 5 CHtBotB Award Winners:

Season	Player	Shots Missed
S79	Gunnar Odinsson	433
S78	Aloe Dear	407
S77	Lexi Glass	424
S76	Andrew Su	373
S75	Mikko Lahtinen	375

 

 

The New Shin Pads Award (most blocked shots) – Han Jae Kuk @Dtayl 

 

Han Jae Kuk ran away with this one, beating the next closest player by 26 shots blocked. They also set the all-time mark for the third consecutive season. A great way to end their career. Congratulations!

 

All-time record: S79 – Han Jae Kuk - 242 Shots blocked

 

Last 5 New Shin Pads Award Winners:

Season	Player	Shots Blocked
S79	Han Jae Kuk	242
S78	Robin Galante Nilsson	229
S77	Viktor Alexei Kamenov	223
S76	Hulk Hogan Jr	188
S75	Fernando Jokinen	200

 

The Tired Legs Award (most minutes played) - Han Jae Kuk @Dtayl 

 

Just like last season the Shin Pads winner also win the Tired Legs award. Toronto occupied the top 3 spots for minutes played. Han takes home the award with 2,343 minutes played

 

All-time record: S73 - Alex Bridges - 2401 Minutes played

 

Last 5 Tired Legs Award Winners:

Season	Player	Minutes Played
S79	Han Jae Kuk	2343
S78	Robin Galante Nilsson	2398
S77	Andrew Su	2248
S76	Chicken Wing	2213
S75	Alek Andreshnikov	2303

 

The Snap! Award (most power play minutes) - Muffbeav @.sniffuM 

 

I wonder how much diving Muffbeav did to get so much time on the powerplay? Our first repeat winner since Juilius Freeman @rjfryman in S70 and S71. Muffbeav set the all-time mark with 454 minutes on the powerplay, breaking the 12 season old mark set by Beau Louth @Beaviss

 

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

 

Last 5 Snap! Award Winners:

Season	Player	PP Minutes
S79	Muffbeav	454
S78	Muffbeav	412
S77	Onde Sandstrom	422
S76	Alex Letang	351
S75	Micah Adrienne	414

 

 

The 1 vs. 100 Award (most time on penalty kill) - Gustislav Nasherov @Vat 

 

This must have been a season filled with penalties. We had the all-time mark set for powerplay minutes. We also have the penalty kill minutes all-time record set. Nasherov spent 447 minutes on the ice killing penalties.

 

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

               

Last 5 1 vs. 100 Award Winners:

Season	Player	PK Minutes
S79	Gustislav Nasherov	447
S78	Kevin Wu	368
S77	Viktor Alexei Kamenov	418
S76	Mikeal Keef	359
S75	Dakota Lamb	369

 

 

The Sean Archer Award (highest face-off win %, min 1,000 faceoffs) – Pistil Stamen @DMaximus  

 

Woo hoo! I get an award. Stamen won 59.00% of their faceoffs, just beating out last year’s winner Aloe Dear @Renomitsu, who won a tantalizingly close 58.93% of their faceoffs.

 

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

               

Last 5 Sean Archer Award Winners:

Season	Player	Face Off Pct
S79	Pistil Stamen	59.00%
S78	Aloe Dear	57.89%
S77	Christian Mingle	58.42%
S76	Benny Graves	59.91%
S75	Benny Graves	60.14%

 

The Castor Troy Award (lowest face-off win %, min 1,000 faceoffs) - Gustislav Nasherov @Vat 

 

Maybe because they spent so much time killing penalties, they were sapped of the strength required to win faceoffs. Whatever the reason, Gustislav set the all-time low mark for faceoffs won with 29.60%

 

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

               

Last 5 Castor Troy Award Winners:

Season	Player	Face Off Pct
S79	Gustislav Nasherov	29.60%
S78	Luc Tessier	42.80%
S77	Pietro Angellini	44.71%
S76	Nero Endrizzi	43.87%
S75	Jeff Odinson	32.74%

 

 

The Triple Deke Award (most penalty shot goals) - Nathan Perry @tinafrombobsburgers 

 

There was a three-way tie between Cabe McJake @Red, Taro Tsujimoto @GustavMattias, and Nathan Perry. Perry won with 5 goals on the least number of attempts, 6.

 

All-time record: S67 - Veran Dragomir and S78 - Thomas Landry II - 8 penalty shot goals

               

Last 5 Triple Deke Award Winners:

Season	Player	Penalty Shot Goals
S79	Nathan Perry	5
S78	Thomas Landry II	8
S77	Arthur Dayne	5
S76	Kris Rice	5
S75	Ola Vikingstad	6

 

 

The Rocky Award (most fights won) – Calvin Hobbes @2hawk 

 

Hobbes burst onto the fight scene with an impressive 5 fights won, going 5-2-2 in their fights this season. More surprising was that the previous back-to-back winner Riley Knight Gee @KnightRiley didn’t even get into a fight this season!

 

All-time record: S77,S78 - Riley Knight Gee, S74 - Kristopher McDagg, and S67 ACL TEAR - 6 fights won

               

Last 5 Rocky Award Winners:

Season	Player	Fights Won
S79	Calvin Hobbes	5
S78	Riley Knight Gee	6
S77	Riley Knight Gee	6
S76	Cabe McJake and Randy Marsh	3
S75	Vin Calia	4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Glass Joe Award (most fights lost) – Rusty Knale @HatrickRoy 

 

Rusty could use some oil to loosen up a little. They won the award outright by losing 3 fights this season.

 

All-time record: S74 - Lee Xin and S69 Rusty Shackleford - 5 fights lost

               

Last 5 Glass Joe Award Winners:

Season	Player	Fights Lost
S79	Rusty Knale	3
S78	Matt thunder	3
S77	Randy Marsh	4
S76	Riley Knight Gee	4
S75	Jared Willis	3

 

 

The Stars Award (most stars won) – Gunnar Odinsson @BOOM 

 

This one should come as no surprise. Odinsson dominated all season. That includes winning the most stars in the league with 32 total stars. They also led the league with 14 1^st stars. Special recognition to Zamboni Driver @Tape-to-Tape and Sirkants Klamasteris @hedgehog337 for leading the goalies with 15 total stars.

 

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

               

Last 5 Stars Award Winners:

Season	Player	Total Stars
S79	Gunnar Odinsson	32
S78	Robin Winter	26
S77	Jim Bob	26
S76	Mikko Lahtinen	34
S75	Mikko Lahtinen	24

 

 

The “Always a Bridesmaid” Award (most stars without winning 1^st star) – Tim Waters @Siddhus

 

Water won 11 stars this season without winning a single 1^st star. An impressive feat for the retiring Predator.

 

All-time record: S72 - Lewis Dawson and S67 Dan Baillie - 13 stars

               

Last 5 Bridesmaid Award Winners:

Season	Player	Stars
S79	Tim Waters	11
S78	Jim Bob	8
S77	Mikeal Keef	9
S76	Dan Baillie Jr	12
S75	Jacob Perry	7

 

The Biggest Backpack Award (player with the largest difference in points from the rest of their team) - Red Lite @Tate

 

Red Lite showed how dominant they are by setting a new all-time record by scoring 40 points more than their closest teammate.

 

All-time record: S79 – Red Lite - 40 points more than nearest teammate

           

Last 5 Backpack Award Winners:

Season	Player	Point Difference from nearest teammate
S79	Red Lite	40
S78	Taro Tsujimoto	22
S77	Groovy Dood	26
S76	Chris Hylands	36
S75	Dagmar Havlova	22

 

 

The Anniversary Award (rank in total points matches season number) - Tim Waters @Siddhus

 

This is season 79, so the award goes to the player in 79^th place in total points. Congratulations to the retiring Tim Waters with their second award of the evening!

 

Last 5 Anniversary Award Winners:

Season	Player	Points
S79	Tim Waters	64
S78	Erik Killinger	63
S77	Vin Calia	62
S76	Jonas Stormsson	59
S75	Seabass Perrin	62

 

 

 

The Eggshell Award (goalie with most overtime losses) - Kevin Malone @WentzKneeFan036 

 

A career best season for Malone except for their career worst 8 overtime losses.

 

All-time record: S78 – Calvin Harvey, S75 - Doug Dimmadome, and S71 Jaxx Hextall - 11 OT games lost

 

Previous Eggshell Award Winners:

Season	Player	Overtime Games Lost
S79	Kevin Malone	8
S78	Calvin Harvey	11
S77	Thadius Sales	7
S76	Doug Dimmadome	9
S75	Doug Dimmadome	11

 

 

The Jason Voorhees Award (most PIM by a Goalie) - Jean Pierre Camus @solas 

 

A strong showing from Camus getting 23 penalty minutes this season. I always like it when it’s an odd number because you know there was a major penalty in there. Something serious must have gone down.

 

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

 

Previous Jason Voorhees Award Winners:

Season	Player	PIM
S79	Jean Pierre Camus	23
S78	Michael Olson	15
S77	Rara Rasputin	10
S76	Doug Dimmadome	29
S75	Jaxx Hextall	12

 

 

The Poke Check Award (highest % of penalty shots stopped, min 10 penalty shots against) - Zamboni Driver @Tape-to-Tape 

 

This will always be a tough award to win with the legendary, three-time winner, Grekkark Gyrfalcon @Sharkstrong in the game. But Driver had a fantastic season stopping 85.7% of the penalty shots they faced and took home the award.

 

All-time record: S75 - Grekkark Gyrfalcon – 88.9% penalty shots stopped.

 

Previous Poke Check Award Winners:

Season	Player	Penalty Shots Stopped
S79	Zamboni Driver	85.7%
S78	Grekkark Gyrfalcon	78.3%
S77	Jacob Carson	80.0%
S76	Grekkark Gyrfalcon	79.5%
S75	Grekkark Gyrfalcon	88.9%

 

 

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!

 

2,000+ words. Will claim for 4 weeks.

Great job! Love the screen share and seeing you show what you're talking about! It really opens up a world of opportunity for things you could do. I think it would have been really cool if you had another screen up with your list of rankings, maybe like a slide show where you can reveal the rankings as you move from team to team. Hope you keep doing this in the future! 

I love this. Thank you for taking the idea and running with it! Great job @bigAL! 

1.     Last time we played Chicago in the playoffs we swept them. What can we do to ensure victory again?

We’ve really come together at the end of the season. I think we carry that momentum into the playoff series and we’ll do great.

 

2.     Merrick, Stamen, Gucci and Letang have all had amazing years, who is your team MVP?

It’s a really tough call. Obviously, I think I played great. But Letang had an all-time great season for a defenseman. You have to give it to him.

 

3.     What do you do to ensure the locker room remains a positive place (discord or the fictional locker room)?

I try to stay positive. It’s a long season and there can be ups and downs. Focusing on the good things helps everyone stay positive.

 

4.     Does your player have any secret talents?

Stamen is from Brazil so he can juggle a soccer ball 500 times in a row on command.

 

5.     If your player had to play another sport, which sport would they play and why?

Soccer, because it’s the game I grew up playing along with hockey.

 

6.     If your player had to work a non-sport related job, which job would they do and why?

I think I would be one of those home renovator guys that redo whole houses. I think it’s awesome to build something completely new from an old house.

A true Reaper legend!!! Congratulations on a great career. Looking forward to your next one!

DMaximus saying welcome back to Maximus D!

As some of you may know, I created my own unofficial awards that I hand out at the end of every year in an awards ceremony. One of the main reasons I created the awards was to highlight some players who might not receive any recognition otherwise. To make my life easier, the awards I created for that ceremony are all objective. Meaning they’re all based on actual statistics in STHS. That means all I have to do is look at the index for a category and boom, the winner is right there.

 

Those awards are great and all, but there’s an entirely separate category of awards that hasn’t been touched yet, subjective awards. Subjective awards are given out based on what people think, not based on cold, hard statistics. (I’m sure the cynics are making a joke, while isn’t that just the official VHL awards?)

I propose we come up with some subjective award categories and then have the whole league vote on who should win them. I raided some old high school yearbooks for some of these categories. In the high school yearbook parlance, they're known as superlative awards. I would love to hear additional categories you can come up with.

 

Here’s some suggestions to start us off:

 

Most Likely to Succeed – One of the all-time classic yearbook awards can work in the VHL universe as well. Nominees would be first-gen VHLM players.

Biggest Flirt – There’s a thin line between flirting and being in horny jail. Who can toe that line the best? Who has the best pickup lines in the league?

Class Clown – Who can cause an entire locker room to laugh hysterically? They’re the nominees we’d want for this category.

Best Dressed – Who has the finest threads in the VHL? We could probably use player graphic signatures to figure out who to nominate. Or even better, people post pictures of their players in great looking outfits to get nominated.

Most Unique – When it comes down to it, aren’t we all unique? But these nominees are more unique than others and one is most unique.

Best Name – With so many great names in the VHL we should be ashamed of ourselves that this award doesn’t already exist.

Best Hair – This is a lot like the Best Dressed category except for hair.

Best Dancer – This might be the toughest to figure out, because we don’t see our players move. But still, I feel like this is a good category to have and we should be able to make it happen.

Most Likely to be Late to a Game – Pretty self-explanatory one here. If it were possible, who would be late to a game?

Most Likely to Become a Motivational Speaker – Sometimes the team needs a great pep talk. Who the best motivator in the VHL?

Most Likely to be on a Reality Show – Let’s face it some people are born to star in reality TV. Who in the VHL world best fits that description?

Best Singer – Maybe a little like the best dancer category, but maybe we could actually hear people sing through voice chat on Discord. If that doesn’t work out, we can just nominate random people and vote.

 

I’m throwing these out as suggestions because I don’t think there’s a way I could pull off these awards on my own. I think there would need to be a fair amount of collaboration to be able to pick nominees and then to have voting happen. I guess I’m just throwing this idea out there and see if anyone wants to run with it. Maybe it’s not worth doing anyway, but I had fun coming up with some categories. Who knows, maybe some day I’ll expand the unofficial awards to include some of my favorites from here.

1.     The NA is in a tight race to the finish. Who doesn't make playoffs of the bubble teams?

I mean it seems like the standings change on a day-to-day basis, so it’s going to be really close. I think when it’s all said and done, Vancouver is on the outside looking in.

 

2.     Who's gonna win the NA?

I said Chicago at the beginning of the season. I’ll stick with that prediction.

 

3.     How is your players performance matching up to your expectations?

I’m thrilled with how Pistil is playing this season, makes last season even more confusing as this is how he should have been playing. I had high expectations and he exceeded those.

 

4.     How was your summer?

Pretty good, just got back from a family reunion which was cancelled last year. Really nice to have it happen this year.

 

5.     What is your favorite beverage during a game?

Really nothing beats good ol’ fashioned water. But I need some Gatorade in there on occasion, keep the electrolytes up.

 

6.     What about after?

It might not fit with the whole hockey motif, but I love sipping on a Caipirinha, a famous drink from Brazil that has cahaca (a rum like alcohol) as its star ingredient.