jblock3

1. I'm pretty content with this season. My player wasn't dominant by any means but definitely made an impact. 
2. I'll be sticking around for another season. 
3. We were matched up against a very solid goaltender. 
4. Not that I am aware of. 
5. It would be fun to play with Roy Krishna again. 
6. He's going to relax as much as possible, keep working out, and look ahead to next season. 

1. Will I get cut from the team if I don't say 10-0?
2. Winning is more exciting when you're the underdog.
3. I honestly haven't started thinking about that yet. At this point I don't think any particular teams have stood out as favorites for me.
4. He'll be #1 when it's all said and done.
5. I do not currently have any pets, but I'd like to get a dog once I'm in a different living situation. 
6. My job is pretty physical so I don't work out much during my down time. 

1. Will I get cut from the team if I don't say 10-0?
2. Winning is more exciting when you're the underdog.
3. I honestly haven't started thinking about that yet. At this point I don't think any particular teams have stood out as favorites for me.
4. He'll be #1 when it's all said and done.
5. I do not currently have any pets, but I'd like to get a dog once I'm in a different living situation. 
6. My job is pretty physical so I don't work out much during my down time. 

The Houston Bulls are, by no means, a favourite for the cup this season.
 
Let’s be honest with ourselves and look at the standings, Mississauga, Mexico City, and San Diego are easily the leaders for the Founder’s Cup, with Halifax not too far outside that group. When you look at the stat leaders, you’ll see those 4 teams running the show.
 
So why should you support the Houston Bulls these coming playoffs?
 
The answer is simple, really.
 
Who doesn’t love a good underdog? Who doesn’t love the narrative of a team from a tough division clawing their way to the top of the mountain, kicking and screaming the whole way until they get the honour of lifting the trophy above their heads with nothing but sheer joy and wonderment?
 
The Bulls haven’t seen success in the postseason since S68, and there’s a buzz in the locker-room about bringing the cup to Houston, especially for the longest serving Bulls, captain Roy Krishna and Grunkle Stan-Dingyouup.
 
So there you have it. Are you a fan of veterans searching for a cup? Are you a fan of underdog teams in tough divisions? If so, the Houston Bulls would love nothing more than to bring you on the bandwagon.

1. I may be biased, but any move that gives us another D-man is a good move.
2. Couldn't hurt to shake things up, but I think we're solid either way.
3. It was fun to write about my old player, and even see him mentioned in someone else's media!
4. Nope, I have no problems with it.
5. No, I'll still have plenty of time for my level of production.
6. I'll never get over my Mountain Dew addiction. My go-to alcohol is gin, or just beer.

It hasn't been an easy season for Viktor Jensen as he was expected to tear the league apart as a member of a top team, and those expectations haven't necessarily been met.  While he has been above a point per game and has been leading the team in points, it has been his goal scoring abilities leading the way.  Jensen finds himself just four goals back of the league lead and on pace for a 40 goal season. 
 
"It hadn't really been what he was known for in the past.  Good face-off guy, excellent playmaker, decent zone to zone two way center...sure.  But I don't think I've ever seen him as a sniper or a trigger man, but that's exactly what he has been for Houston this season.  It's an intriguing element to someone who will challenge for number one overall pick in the upcoming VHL Draft."
- Anonymous VHL Scout
 
Jensen will look to help guide the Houston Bulls to a solid playoff run and hopefully with some of the moves they have been making, they can start to challenge the top contenders in the VHLM.

Today we are here to take a look at the career of Icelandic goaltender Kolur Bjoernsson. Bjoernsson first appeared during S65 when he signed with the Las Vegas Aces in the VHLM. Appearing in just 36 games for the Aces, his career started slowly with a record of 6-25-4 and a save percentage of 0.864. Despite the rough beginnings, Bjoernsson was able to use this partial season to start learning the league and motivate himself to improve heading into his first full season. In S66, he would eventually be selected with the 90th overall pick in the VHLM draft by the Philadelphia Reapers.
 
Taken so late in the draft and with everything yet to prove, he would end up beating out Sunny Burst for the starting job between the pipes for the Reapers and quickly proved that it was the right decision. In total, the Reapers earned 116 points over the course of the season in an effort that would see them win the Prime Minister's Cup for the first time in their history. Bjoernsson saw action in 67 games that season, totaling 4044 minutes in goal. He finished the season with a record of 52-11-4 and had 9 shutouts. He would end up making 1335 saves and allowing just 122 goals over the course of the regular season. With a save percentage of 0.909 and a goals allowed average of 1.81 (he maintained a GAA less then 2.00 for the entire season), Bjoernsson was selected as the top goaltender in of S66 of the VHLM and was given the Benoit Devereux Trophy. 
 
Next came the S66 playoffs, where Philadelphia would eventually go on to win their first ever Founder's Cup. In this post season run, Bjoernsson would make 14 appearances and earn a record of 12-2-0. He made 345 saves and gave up 32 goals in these playoffs, finishing with a save percentage of 0.907 and a goals allowed average of 2.23. This season would unfortunately be the peak of Kolur's career, and he ended it by making 5 appearances for Team Europe in the World Junior Championship tournament and won 4 of those games. 
 
In the S66 VHL draft, Bjoernsson had been selected 49th overall by the New York Americans and in S67 he would have his most active VHL season before he would quickly become irrelevant. He made 44 starts that season and won only 7 games while allowing over 4 goals per game. His career would extend through S73, and in that time he would play for a total of 5 different teams and appeared in only 97 games when it was all said and done. He ended his career with a record of 17-54-7 and a save percentage of 0.898. Interestingly, in S69, Bjoernsson recorded a save percentage of 0.948 which is the sixth highest single season save percentage in VHL history. He made only 4 appearances that season, played 120 minutes, and had a record of 0-0-0 but I personally choose to ignore that part. 
 
Despite his career largely being a failure, Philadelphia Reapers legend Kolur Bjoernsson did manage to leave his mark on VHL history and is an interesting topic of discussion. 

Kolur Bjoernsson week 👁️

Nice to see a Bjoernsson mention haha in S66 he helped bring the Reapers their first championship and won the VHLM top goaltender award that season. I then promptly went inactive and just recently made my return!

GOOD EVENING VHL! Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.
 
As many of you may know from the times I've mentioned it in my articles, I joined our lovely little community back in S65, with my first player coming in the S66 draft class. I've focused a few articles on things surrounding that time of mine in the league, from my first-ever mock draft featuring my own rookie class to two of my Hall of Not Bad articles about players who were stars in my rookie season to countless amounts of media created on the current state of things over my first career as a whole. What I've never done, though, is a look back at what made S66 as great as it was. At the time, it was almost unheard of that an article such as this one featuring a full lineup would be possible to take from any single class, and though we've seen more impressive classes since, this was one of the first that ever lived up to our modern standard. I'm hoping that some members who weren't around to see these players will recognize a few names--and even if not, learn a few things. 
 
Let's take a look at my best possible 6-4-2 lineup entirely from S66, and hope that it's as fun for you as it is for me.
 
 
**denotes HoF player
 
 
FORWARDS
 
Julius Freeman**
@rjfryman | 2nd overall | Vancouver Wolves
 
Freeman shocked a few pundits by going second overall as a first-gen player, but lived up to the pick well enough to be named the best player of the class in my longest article ever. Though this could be seen as a somewhat controversial pick (as it's very close between Freeman and our next player), Freeman would lead the league in goals three times and provide an important piece of the puzzle for Vancouver in S67, when the team would break a long championship drought and finally give @Beaviss a Cup as GM. 
 
Jet Jaguar**
@gorlab | 10th overall | Moscow Menace
 
Jaguar is the other co-contender for best in show, and it is close--leading the league in points in S70 in a season that would take a groundbreaking Moscow team to the Cup, he would also make the Hall of Fame on the first ballot with a career that, like Freeman's, would add a scary two-way dimension later on. Jaguar's career is perfectly indicative of how times have changed--a new player might never see this as impressive, but his career-high 97 points in S70 was amazing for S70, and those fortunate enough to experience a full career from gorlab generally didn't regret it. Jaguar's mark on the league would be left mainly in Moscow, but also for a season and a half on my Davos teams, and with 645 points at the end, certainly amounted to one of the defining careers of the dead puck era.
 
Hunter Hearst Helmsley**
@Beaviss | 1st overall | Riga Reign
 
At the time one of the best earners ever, and at the time of the draft one of the most hyped prospects ever, it was always taken as a given that HHH would be something special. So much so, in fact, that this eventual HoFer's not-entirely-unimpressive early career with the Reign was often written off as a failure. Upon movement to Beav's own team in Vancouver, though, HHH would take off, becoming one of the league's best on both ends of the ice for the bulk of his career. He would never win a championship, but put up an especially defining S71 in which he led the league in points (88) and win the league's top two-way forward award. Also, though a shade under our other two in points, he's the only one here to break 100, with 113 put up in a final season spent in Warsaw. 
 
Mikko Aaltonen
@GRZ | 4th overall | Riga Reign
 
Aaltonen's once max-earning agent had some people worried after dropping into welfare+ territory after a while (in fact, I remembered completely falsely that Aaltonen was a post-draft inactive bust), but it turned out that this was nothing to worry about as this was where the player's earning would remain fairly consistently. One might expect a 4th-overall player to have a higher ceiling, but the floor is always entirely inactive, no matter the pick, and this wasn't the case here. Moving to DC after just two seasons, Aaltonen would be cursed with mostly bad teams and mostly negative +/- ratings throughout a full VHL career, but managed to break 500 points on the way to becoming one of the most underrated players that this class had to offer.
 
Mat Tocco
@Matmenzinger | 31st overall | Moscow Menace
 
In some old drafts, finding a player who was active enough to make it at even 10th overall could be a challenge, but Tocco at #31 would put up 435 points and earn exactly 1000 TPE in an 8-season career spent mostly with Moscow. Yet another player with a strong S73 (93 points), I'd also put Tocco in the "underrated" category as a low-1st-high-2nd-liner on a handful of decent teams and a S70 championship winner.
 
Codrick Past
@Kylrad | 13th overall | HC Davos Dynamo
 
Starting out on defense, Past did the opposite of many others on this list by being drafted to not-Riga and moving to Riga later on. Mostly a quiet welfare earner, Past would be consistent enough to contribute to two championship teams and would even put up an 88-point season in S73. In total, Past would put up 377 points and live up to the expectations of an early 2nd-rounder for a whole career.
 
 
DEFENSE
 
Apollo Hackett
@Renomitsu | 16th overall | Riga Reign
 
Riga is heavily involved in this article, and this pick is no exception--Hackett is the first Riga pick here to actually stay with Riga for a whole (in this case 7-season) career. Though never winning an individual award, I remember that he was at least nominated for something at some point, and he ended up winning a Cup in S72 as part of a scary combo with eventual HoFer Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen. Curiously, this crazy-good dead-puck-era draft class doesn't have a single HoFer on defense (reeeeeeeeee) but Hackett was instantly recognizable in his time and was the closest anyone got.
 
Charlie Paddywagon
@DMaximus  | 6th overall | HC Davos Dynamo
 
Another top first-gen earner in the S66 class, Paddywagon would go on to break 1450 TPE between two teams--first Davos, then Calgary, and then back to Davos for his last season, becoming the third player on this list to play for a team I managed. Though never anything close to a goal-scorer (his career high, 11, was achieved three different times), and never a player who showed up on leaderboards, I like to think that a player of this caliber TPE-wise was good enough to show up off the stat sheet. At least, I hope so, because our next player was also a hot first-gen and an underachieving defenseman who happened to play for Davos in S73...
 
Jerry Garcia
@Gustav  | 7th overall | Malmo Nighthawks
 
...yep, that's me. There's actually room for debate on where Garcia goes on this list, and I say as much between him and Paddywagon in this article where I establish that (at the time) he was easily the worst player to ever hit 1500 TPE. Because of that designation, though, I think he gets put down in third. It's also hard to evaluate Jerry because he had a couple good seasons at forward in Davos (!) but it feels a bit unfair to compare offensive stats in that respect. In total, Jerry would put up 420 points (coincidence?) and at least had his name brought up enough by me to be recognizable--though not much else.
 
Dean Clarke
@Kyle | 51st overall | Moscow Menace
 
It's super interesting to think that a veteran member of the league, who's gone 1st overall in the distant past, would drop to #51--and then proceed to make a mildly successful career out of it--but here we are. Clarke got off to a very slow start with a season spent in the minors and another that amounted to 8 points, but he would block at least 100 shots in all but one season and would be part of Moscow's Cup team in S70. In all, Clarke put up 7 seasons with Moscow and was a quality component to their run of success.
 
 
GOALERS
 
Owen May
@FacebookFighter | 11th overall | Moscow Menace
 
Look, another Moscow pick! Unfortunately, this draft wasn't able to produce a top-level goaltender, but May was one who showed a great deal of promise up until the draft hit. He would go inactive a season or so after, but served as Moscow's first-ever starter and helped the team tough out three seasons before moving elsewhere. For an inactive player, May would enjoy an impressive amount of action, starting for both Toronto and Prague through S70 before regression hit and he was relegated to backup roles. Somehow, he would make it a full 8 seasons on VHL rosters, gathering 124 wins and a SV% of .908.
 
Kolur Bjoernsson
@jblock3 | 49th overall | Helsinki Titans
 
Another inactive player who found a place as a journeyman, Bjoernsson was exclusively a backup and was entirely unimpressive on the stat sheet. That said, there's one interesting thing I'd like to bring up--he was a part of 6 different organizations and only ended up with one team for more than one season once. So yes, he didn't do much, but he brought "at least we don't have a bot" to many different places and likely handed a win or two to a team who needed one.
 
 
Hopefully this wasn't just interesting for me! It was special to be part of the S66 class, and if you weren't there, I wish you could have been. 
 
1,657 words | 3 weeks

1. All very well-deserved, all vital to the team.
2. I wouldn't say I'm worried but there's more work to be done.
3. Krishna, lots of assists between those two 
4. Probably not at this point in time, no
5. Not really, no. It's fun for everyone, whether you want to be more committed or be more casual with it. I've been in a handful of sim leagues and after burning out and quitting them for awhile, this is the only one I considered coming back to and I'm glad I did.
6. Yes, I love camping. I grew up in a fairly remote area so I've always enjoyed outdoorsy things like camping.

1. I think he's performing better than I anticipated, which makes me hopeful that it'll only get better as the season progresses.
2. I want to invest more effort into scoring, while continuing to invest in defense.
3. Mexico City. They don't lose much and have scored an impressively nice 69 goals thus far.
4. People in the locker room seem to talk about San Diego as our rivals so I'll go with them.
5. Gonna go with Edmonton, but as a Red Wings fan I've been checked out NHL-wise for awhile now. 
6. Nothing major, but I took a week off in May so I'll have time to go out and look for birds during migration.

VHLM Player Spotlight
 
Houston Bulls defenseman Joe Block has impressed early on in his first season as a professional hockey player. After a mostly quiet performance with Team Clue in the Junior Showcase Tournament, Block didn't receive much scouting from VHLM clubs leading up to the draft and was expecting to fall to the late rounds. To his surprise, the Bulls selected Block in the second round with the 17th overall pick. Heading into the season, Block was placed on the first line alongside Roy Krishna and knew he had a lot to prove. Through 12 games, Block has proven to be an important cog in the Houston Bulls machine. With 5 goals and 6 assists, his 11 points are equal with star forward Viktor Jensen as the second highest point total on the team. 3 of his goals have come on the powerplay, which has him tied for the second most powerplay goals in the league. Defensively, Block has registered 36 hits and leads Houston with 28 blocked shots (3rd most in the VHLM). The American-born blueliner's efforts have resulted in a plus/minus of +2. 
 
At 5-6-1, Houston is off to a bit of a slower start than anticipated. Things are expected to improve as the team's chemistry continues to develop over time. Block is surrounded by a roster of promising talent that is sure to push for a deep postseason run, and you can count on his bone-crushing hits and powerful slapshot to play a vital role. 

VHLM Player Spotlight
 
Houston Bulls defenseman Joe Block has impressed early on in his first season as a professional hockey player. After a mostly quiet performance with Team Clue in the Junior Showcase Tournament, Block didn't receive much scouting from VHLM clubs leading up to the draft and was expecting to fall to the late rounds. To his surprise, the Bulls selected Block in the second round with the 17th overall pick. Heading into the season, Block was placed on the first line alongside Roy Krishna and knew he had a lot to prove. Through 12 games, Block has proven to be an important cog in the Houston Bulls machine. With 5 goals and 6 assists, his 11 points are equal with star forward Viktor Jensen as the second highest point total on the team. 3 of his goals have come on the powerplay, which has him tied for the second most powerplay goals in the league. Defensively, Block has registered 36 hits and leads Houston with 28 blocked shots (3rd most in the VHLM). The American-born blueliner's efforts have resulted in a plus/minus of +2. 
 
At 5-6-1, Houston is off to a bit of a slower start than anticipated. Things are expected to improve as the team's chemistry continues to develop over time. Block is surrounded by a roster of promising talent that is sure to push for a deep postseason run, and you can count on his bone-crushing hits and powerful slapshot to play a vital role. 

1. Finishing on offence, we are getting lots of shots off but not scoring many goals.
2. Having an active group of players, and maybe a bit of luck.
3. I would mostly like to see team success, but I'd also like to see my player playing a big role in that success.
4. I think it looks pretty cool, I'm a big fan of anything red.
5. I'm definitely not but I'd like to think my player can dish it out.
6. I haven't seen any talk about it, but I'm not surprised that AI is involved in those things.

1. Finishing on offence, we are getting lots of shots off but not scoring many goals.
2. Having an active group of players, and maybe a bit of luck.
3. I would mostly like to see team success, but I'd also like to see my player playing a big role in that success.
4. I think it looks pretty cool, I'm a big fan of anything red.
5. I'm definitely not but I'd like to think my player can dish it out.
6. I haven't seen any talk about it, but I'm not surprised that AI is involved in those things.

Game 1 vs. Ottawa Lynx 
Bulls Arena
Houston, TX
 
The Houston Bulls had the priviledge of hosting their first game of the season. Tickets for the Bull's home opener sold out in less than 30 minutes the night before, and the arena was buzzing now. The Houston fans are hungry after an upsetting game 7 loss to the Mexico City Kings in S87. The Ottawa Lynx rolled to town as the reigning Founder's Cup Champions. The puck dropped at 8:30 and the VHLM's S88 had officially begun. Houston came off to a hot start with 2nd overall pick, Viktor Jensen putting in the first of the game. Ottawa would reply after five minutes and tie the game at 1. The Bulls entered the second period confused, outshooting Ottawa 14-7, but tied on the score board. Roy Krishna would end the debate by scoring a powerplay goal halfway through the second period, giving Houston a 2-1 lead. The game remained scoreless nearing the end of the third period. Houston pounded shots away at the Lynx's netminder and eventually on his 10th shot of the game, 47th overall pick Erik Andersson found twine and secured the 3-1 victory for the Bulls. It was a great feeling to win the first game of the season. The locker room was energetic and fired up for a fresh season.
 
Krishna 1G, 1A
Jensen 1G
Anderssen 1G
Stan-dingyouup 1A
Younca 1A
 
  
Game 2 at Mexico City Kings
Kings Arena
Mexico City, MEX
 
Blood was boiling for the start of this one. Mexico City knocked the Bulls out of the playoffs last season in the second round. The Bulls lead the series 3-2, but Mexico came out victorious. Houston and Mexico City have recently created some sort of rivalry and to have a game this early in the season is pure entertainment. The game would start off on the wrong foot with Mexico sneaking a quick one less than a minute into the game. Viktor Jensen would answer 30 seconds later by extending his goal streak to two games, and evening the score to one all. Mexico wanted more though and the Bulls headed to the locker room down 2-1. Erik Andersson looked to extend his goal streak to two games as well, tying the game at 2-2. Mexico would reply once again, shocker, on the powerplay putting the lead back in their hands to end the second period. But like ping pong you always hit it back, and Houston tied the game once again from Roy Krishna's second goal of the season. The game would need not only over time but shoot out to decide a winner. The first three shooters shot blanks until Grunkle Stan-dingyouup scored for the good guys. Mexico would score on the next shooter and the then the next shooter for each club missed their attempts. So then with the chance to win the game, Erik Andersson stepped up and hit a grand slam for Houston's second win of the night.
 
Jensen 1G
Anderssen 1G
Krishna 1G
Younca  2A
Stan-dingyouup 1A
Chin 1A
 
 
Houston had a great start of the season, 2-0 through the first sims and hopefully a lot more wins to come. Congrats to @shaun1979 as well for winning the first Flaming Bulls Award of the season. 🔥
 
 

1. I think it looks like a pretty promising group, I'm excited to be apart of it!
2. Yes, I have been playing in the Junior Showcase Tournament. It'll be nice to be warmed up and ready for the upcoming season!
3. I'm hoping to block a lot of shots and have a good +/- 
4. Top 2 but not 2, because we have the players and the management to win it all. 
5. I felt lazy and used my actual name. 
6. I am from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan! 

1. I think it looks like a pretty promising group, I'm excited to be apart of it!
2. Yes, I have been playing in the Junior Showcase Tournament. It'll be nice to be warmed up and ready for the upcoming season!
3. I'm hoping to block a lot of shots and have a good +/- 
4. Top 2 but not 2, because we have the players and the management to win it all. 
5. I felt lazy and used my actual name. 
6. I am from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan! 

Hello everyone,
 
Not gonna bother with a members tag on this, if you see it then great, you will be rewarded for that. If you don’t then…. Well why am I writing this because if you don’t see it how can you read this part?
 
Anyway, today marks 5717 days (that’s 15 years, 7 months, and 26 days if you’re curious) since the VHL opened its doors. What a random number you might say, why does that matter? Well if I do the math, and I have, I was born 5717 days before the start of the VHL. Given that I joined on day one and have been here ever since that means today marks the official day that I have been in the VHL just as long as I was outside of it. Is that a stupid thing to celebrate? Probably but that won’t stop me; so please let me indulge in a bit of sentimentality for a moment.
 
When the VHL started I had not yet completed high school, I had never had a girlfriend, hell I had never kissed a girl. I was a lonely nerd turning to the internet to find something to do; and I found it. The VHL was not my first sim league, wasn’t even the first one I joined ran by the people who ran it, but it was the first that felt different and felt like it had a good chance of surviving which so few at that point had done. I found a community here. I cannot honestly say that everything went perfectly or that my start in the VHL was without fault; I very nearly left for good within 2 months, but I stayed. I have now not only finished high school but university and going on 10 years working post-schooling. I have now not only had a steady relationship but a wife and two children, a life. All the while the VHL has been there, constantly evolving with the times sure but present. Over 5 years ago I took up the mantel of commissioner. I did it not because I thought I was necessarily the best person for the job but because I thought the league needed something, it was in trouble and I didn’t want to see it fail. I like to think that in these 5 years of growth I have at least stalled that failure.
 
5717 days likely means nothing to any of you, just as that paragraph likely means nothing to any of you, but it means something to me. This league, this place, this community has been a standard in my life for longer than most anything else. I’m not going anywhere right now, that’s not what this is, but I did want to mark the occasion because this league does mean a lot to me.
 
So if you’ve made it this far feel free to take 5 uncapped TPE for your troubles, on me. I’m not sure the insane total I’ve had over the years (probably over 10k by now) so 5 for everyone that I bored with this story should suffice as a thank you for being my weird extended internet family.

Welcome back!

Player Information
Username: jblock3
Player Name: Joe Block
Recruited From: Other (email)
Age: 22
Position: D
Height: 77 in.
Weight: 192 lbs.
Birthplace: United States of America

Player Page
@VHLM GM

Good luck in New York @jblock3! They can give you a lot more starts than we can
 

@Devise can you put him in for Iseult whenever you sim thanks ❤️ @jblock3 welcome to the team!

Finnish side look to remain atop VHL
 
Helsinki, FINLAND - Heading into last season, only 29 of 117 submitted VHL Predictions selected the Helsinki Titans to win the Continental Cup. Compare that to this season, where, as of this moment, they are the overwhelming favourites with 48/83 selections, it is clear that league perception of the team has changed. After winning their first Continental Cup in three straight tries, the Titans feel they are finally getting the respect they deserve.
 
On paper, the team has done nothing to lose the trust of its fanbase, or VHL fans in general, as they are returning nearly their entire roster that ran through the league last season, with only 4th defenceman Bald Guy leaving the team, through trade. In his place will be inspiring rookie defenders Guillaume Fontenette (@okocha5), drafted 30th overall in the S66 Draft, and Derek England (@PenKnight), drafted 16th Overall in the more recent S67 Draft. Also joining the fray for Helsinki will be rookie Center Jordan Tonn (@MexicanCow123), taken one spot ahead of Fontenette in the '66 draft, as well as goaltender Kolur Bjoernsson (@jblock3), who will look to spell incumbent starter Alexander Pepper (@Sonnet) during a long season.
 
Among Titans returnees, Pepper, Julian Borwinn (@Jubo07), Matt Thompson (@Beketov), and Dan Montgomery (@BarzalGoat) will look not only to defend the team's Continental Cup title, but the 10 individual awards that were won, among them, in S66. Sidney Crosby (@SidTheKid87) and Jesse Wilson (@monkeywrench15) also look to continue their progression, after being arguably the league's best defensive pair last season, putting up a combined 151 points, 280 hits and 253 shot blocks.
 
With the team doing naught but improving, they head into the season looking to make good on their status as Continental Cup favourites, with sights set on a 4th straight Finals appearance!