zepheter

Oh fuck, forgot one.
 
CONTINENTAL CUP
 

S93 Seattle Bears Season Awards 

 
What a season! We started off being predicted 7th out of 8th in North America, largely missing the playoffs. We made huge signings and numerous massive trades that pushed us into 2nd in the entire VHL and 3 points away from the Victory Cup, awarded to the team finishing with the most points in the regular season. We entered playoffs and did not have an easy ride. New York. DC. London. 3 amazing teams this season and 3 very intense, fun and anxiety packed series. At the end of the day, we got the job done in so many ways. Eagles hit 100 points (which was one of their goals), @Ricer13, @ROOKIE745 won their first ever continental cups with players and we all got to celebrate a win together. Super special! Continuing the celebrations, congrats to the following members/players on the S93 Seattle Bears awards!
 
ALL PLAYERS
Regular Season:
Markus Strauss Award - Most Goals - 49
Severus Targaryen - @Banackock
 
Hulk Hogan Award - Most Assists - 62
Henry Eagles - @Greg_Di
 
Felix Peters Award - Most Points Award - 106
Severus Targaryen - @Banackock
 
Gabriel McMVP Award 
Fuukka Rask - @Jubis
 
James Lefevre Award - Most Penalty Minutes - 181
Toby Kadachi - @ROOKIE745
 
Karsten Olsen Award - Most Hits - 273
Daryl Dixon - @Ricer13
 
Heavyweight Belt - Most Fights - 10
Toby Kadachi - @ROOKIE745
 
Odin Omdahl Award - Most Shots Blocked - 151
Mina - @Baozi
 
Timothy Brown Award - Most Game Winning Goals - 13
Daryl Dixon - @Ricer13
 
Vyacheslav Smirnov Award - Top Rookie Award
Giorgiy Costanzov - @Mongoose87
25-15-4-.907SV%-3.17GAA
 
Playoffs:
Rayz Funk Award - Top Playoff Performer
The Whole Team - @everyone  
 
DMEN
Mitch Higgins Award - Top Overall D-man
Simons Worst Nightmare - @zepheter
 
Maxim Kovalchuk Award - Top Offensive D-man
Simons Worst Nightmare - @zepheter
 
Patrice Reynaud Award - Top Defensive D-man
Simons Worst Nightmare - @zepheter
 
GOALIE
Jakab Holik Award - Goalie Showcase
Fuukka Rask - @Jubis
34-20-3-.927SV%-2.53GAA (total)
21-2-3-.933%-2.21GAA (With Seattle)
 
Giorgiy Costanzov - @Mongoose87
25-15-4-.907SV%-3.17GAA
 
BONUS
Spirit Bear Award - @Mongoose87
 
Previous Winners and Charities Chosen:
S92 - Zepheter and HOPE Family Services
S91 - Oilmandan and Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation
S90 - AJW and Los Angeles Mission Homeless Shelter
S89 - Rory and Boyle Street
 
About the Award:
 
Giorgiy Costanzov, aka @Mongoose87, is a huge reason why we won the Continental Cup this season and if you took a look at the portal and the index, you'd kind of being scratching your head as to why? During the season, he held his own as a developing goalie for the Seattle Bears who has a lot of promise if the development continues. They could be a Bears legend.. and they started off their own personal story here with quite a bang. Good regular season record, but it wasn't so much their playing that got them the award and more so what they did for the team and locker room. As a GM, I'm always moving. I know some people think it's an easy job and very chill, but I don't know. Maybe for some. I'm always doing something, most days - if not every day. I made a lot of moves to help some cores pieces have as much success as possible. I knew if we were going to REALLY try and win, a 1,000 TPA goalie will get the job done better than a 500 TPA one. 

I approached Mongoose and we had a chat. They were very opened to the idea, despite knowing that it likely will be challenging and quite boring to open up sims and once again not see yourself on them. They sacrificed a good chunk of playing time in the regular season, something they didn't have to do. They gave up all playing time in the playoffs. Something they didn't have to do. He's been awesome this entire time - having fun in the locker room, being active as all hell, supporting the team and sacrificing like so many on this team do for everyone else. It's a really cool team and culture we have in Seattle and Mongoose is an INCREDIBLE leader of it all. Thank you for all your efforts and time you put into the VHL and the Seattle Bears. I know it was boring sitting on the sidelines mostly but know that you're just as big of part of this win as everyone else, CHAMP!
 
With that being said, I asked @Mongoose87 the same question I've asked the other 4 Spirit Bear Award winners.. 

 

 

DA BEARZ!
 
It feels good to finally get one but I never did think it would be with @Banackock and Seattle. A great season with great people 🍻 Congrats Bears 🐻 🏆 

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

GGs BEARZ!

GUSTAV MATTIAS GAME WINNING GOAL IN THE CONTINENTAL CUP FINALS GAME 7

Wow, 8th Continental Cup.. 13th trip to the finals.. on a season where we initially started off with low odds and predictions heavily against us. What is kind of neat about this victory is that on May 16th, it will be my 8th year anniversary as Seattle Bears GM - so that is kind of cool. 
 
London, Great series. For whatever reason, I never expect you to get all the way. You, with Teno @aimkin, are an absolute force to be reckoned with. Every sim I was SO nervous it was insane. I know I've been nervous as all hell in the past too, but wow, you had me freaking out the entire time. 
 
DA BEARZ, we did it once again! What a crazy fucking season. Landing the biggest fish @Greg_Di - getting them their 1st 100 point season along with Dixon and Targaryen, making massive huge trades and beating all the odds. You guys were bumping in the LR, earning your TPE and are a huge reason why we're here. HUGE SHOUTOUT to @Mongoose87 who allowed us to make the trade for Rask and take a back seat when we all know, especially as a goalie, it's never easy to do.  Neat we landed @Ricer13 his first ever cup in the league! I could write a short book here guys on how happy and excited I am to win this thing with you all... CONGRATS CHAMPIONS!  Thank you to every single one of you for everything you've done to get us to this point. All your efforts, time and loyalty to the team are so deeply appreciated. 
 
@Banackock @zepheter @ROOKIE745 @Berocka  @Greg_Di  @JB123 @sadie @Bigb33 @CODENAMEJIMMY @Mongoose87 @DustyMclaren @Brent @jhatty8  @Victor @Chillybro @Nathan_8 @Jubis @Ricer13 @Baozi

65. It was wild. They were taking turns slapping each other in the face, running in circles around piles of burning Toronto jerseys, and vandalizing the branding across the city. It was great to see!
 
67. A big whiff of smelling salts always gets the engine going. 
 
68. Nothing out of the ordinary. Show up for games, throw on some tunes, tape my sticks, and help my team win games that's it. 
 
69. Call it L because I don't want anybody touching this league. I like it the way it is. 
 
70. I'll take Acyd. Keeping the "acyd" theme here so the weapon will be an acid launcher. 
 
71. I'm not sure if I would like it but I've always wondered if bacon flavored ice cream, or ice cream with bacon bits would taste good. I generally don't mind mixing foods as long as it's conventional though. 

55. The cup is as good as ours. 
 
56. 10/10. A++. From my unbiased opinion we won the deadline by a landslide.
 
60. Strong finish here. Hope to be above a point per game, but I don’t really care about points right now. I just want us to win. 
 
61. For the model I want a Rolls Royce truck with a Bear holding the Continental Cup. No Ford branding. Line the ceiling with the seasons the Bears have won cups. 
 
62. The goalies just to see them try to make a boat out of sand. 
 
63. Working, playing some adult league hockey, and spending time with friends and family this weekend.

DA BEARZ BABY

Maybe an idea for a third jersey rather than a complete rebrand. Anyways, hope you like it. 

I like the name a lot. It's like naming a team the Murder but having the branding be centered on crows... Cool idea and that in of itself would be awesome.

Maybe an idea for a third jersey rather than a complete rebrand. Anyways, hope you like it. 

Maybe an idea for a third jersey rather than a complete rebrand. Anyways, hope you like it. 

To decide what franchise is most in need of a rebrand it makes the most sense to look at how old each team's logo is. After nearly a quarter-century of VHL seasons of teams slightly modifying and re-using existing logos from other leagues and sports, since S24 all logos have been original, some designed by the VHL's own graphics community, and most of the more recent ones being purchased from third-party designers. Quite a few continue to stand the test of time. Let's count them down.
 
S81: Riga

The newest logo in the VHL belongs to the Riga Reign who avoided a rebrand for nearly 60 seasons beforehand and are only on their third logo overall (all variations of the orange lion). I think this one got quite widespread approval and is certainly an upgrade on the previous version so it would be unlikely to be changed any time soon, even as a big change is about to take place in Riga's GM position.
 
S75: Calgary

Another long-awaited change to an old franchise's appearance took place just six seasons previously, as the beloved derp horse was retired after 50 seasons to make way for a more imposing stallion. The Wranglers have also only gone through three variations of the red horse and the current version is likely here to stay for a while.
 
S73 expansion teams: Chicago, Los Angeles, London, and Warsaw
S68 expansion teams: D.C. and Prague
S65 expansion team (Moscow) and S66 expansion team (Malmo)


                                                       
I am grouping all the expansion teams together (which is actually half of the league) for a specific reason: unlike the rest of the teams' logos, these were purchased using the league's donation money with the thought process that these were long-term investments and won't be replaced on a whim in the short-term. Of course, these expansion teams have all been around for at least 20 seasons now but as we have seen with Calgary and Riga above, and indeed many more examples to come, this is far from a long time in VHL terms. Just as importantly, these are actually a solid set of logos, most of which I think there is no great clamour to replace. The exceptions might be LA and London and purely on a personal level I think LA is the franchise most in need of a fresh start but I'll let someone else dive into that topic in more depth.
 
S53: Helsinki

The Titans aren't far off from being joint-oldest on this list as their logo change in S53 was only a cosmetic one really, polishing up and slightly recolouring the version they got in S24 when all teams rebranded to in-house made logos. However, given Helsinki did give themselves an uplift 30 seasons later, they fall in the midtable of this list. There's nothing that needs improving for them but maybe they'll want another small makeover in the near future.
 
S52: New York

The next three logos are a tale of how logo changes can sometimes seemingly alter history. The Americans had lots of success following the S24 rebrand and were arguably the league's most successful franchise in the following 30 seasons. However, just before their back-to-back championships of S52 and S53 they swapped to this logo and after that initial short-term success.... well you guys probably know most of the story. One finals appearance has followed in the 40 seasons since, so if there's any franchise that needs a rebrand just to dump their loser era it's New York.
 
S47: Toronto

In a similar vein to the Americans, the Legion's logo swap immediately led to threepeat, the first of its kind. It's been a bit of a rollercoaster since but Toronto's logo just seems to work for them and also harks back to the version they used in the league's first decades. In fact, the S47 rebrand replaced a very unpopular logo so this change was welcomed and despite being one of the oldest ones in use now, it doesn't feel like there is much clamour for change at the moment.
 
S44: Davos

Until the recent renaissance under Alex, this, even more than New York's, was the league's most cursed logo. The Dynamo were definitely the league's most successful franchise before S44 and then they just stopped being that. I also personally preferred the logo they replaced, although I am biased as I was the team's GM just 5 seasons previously. Davos has turned things around a bit now but it's the third-oldest logo in the league so I say get them to switch it up and leave that cup drought firmly in the past.
 
S31 expansion team: Quebec, now Vancouver

Funnily enough, given what I said about the “new” expansion franchises above, it seems to be the fate of expansion teams in the VHL that they are stuck with their logo for life. Cologne never replaced theirs and have been resurrected with in in the VHLE, the Quebec's was considered so good that it survived the move to Vancouver (more of a translation rather than a rebrand). In fact, not touching the logo was one of the conditions for the move being allowed to go through. It is still unique in being a logo designed by the team's GM, in this case founding GM Pavel Koradek. What has changed over time is that this is now the second-oldest logo in the league so perhaps popular opinion could be swayed towards a change. It is such a simple yet effective one though.

S24: Seattle

Fittingly, the oldest logo in the VHL is in Seattle, also home to the league's (soon to be by far) longest-serving GM. The Bears logo does predate Bana's reign (yes there was such a time) and is the only logo to survive from S24, when all eight franchises at the time got custom-made logos, having survived until then on versions ripped from existing teams. Seattle until then (ignoring their 1-season stint as the Everblades) had used the Hershey Bears logo, swapped to fairly similar one in S24 and haven't looked back since. Time for a change? Maybe under a new GM...
 

Maybe an idea for a third jersey rather than a complete rebrand. Anyways, hope you like it. 

Maybe an idea for a third jersey rather than a complete rebrand. Anyways, hope you like it. 

Maybe an idea for a third jersey rather than a complete rebrand. Anyways, hope you like it. 

Maybe an idea for a third jersey rather than a complete rebrand. Anyways, hope you like it. 

Gonna keep it short here. You may seen or not my April 1st post in here where I was messing around on stepping down and thing. 
 
Except this was a hint, not joke. Following this season I'm no longer a Riga Reign GM. The reason is pretty basic, nothing left in the tank. My involvement in sim leagues is on the way to non existent at this point. And as Riga is close to competing again, there is a need of a way more energetic GM who can make this happen. I'm fairly sure that this time my interest won't come back the same way it did couple of times before. But it was fun times regardless, especially when I was on my prime. Just wish I had more cups lol (here is the part where I'll blame Simon for one last time). So yeah, nothing much else to say. Thanks everyone for the fish and good luck! 
 
P.S. don't show this thread to Bana, cause he bout to have a heart attack from happiness  

Burz 

This is awesome, and I can’t wait for more members to be honored in the future! As always, you’re a class act, Bana. I hope to stick around as long as I can and continue to help the team win. We’re on the way back up! 
Pretty soon here it might have to be the SWN award. Either way I’d be absolutely honored!

S92 Seattle Bears Season Awards 

Last season Seattle went through quite the rebuild. Not a lot of players on the roster, but everyone understood the assignment. Chances were favourable to stack up the losses, despite trades and line movement. What was most important was trying to have our players statistically produce and continue on with our mission with the goal in our sights. It was quiet, but things have turned around huge for us as we enter into S93. Congrats to those of S92!
 
ALL PLAYERS
Regular Season:
Markus Strauss Award - Most Goals
Severus Targaryen (40) @Banackock
 
Hulk Hogan Award - Most Assists
Severus Targaryen (49) @Banackock
 
Felix Peters Award - Most Points Award
Severus Targaryen (89)  @Banackock
 
Gabriel McMVP Award 
Severus Targaryen and SEA G @Banackock
 
James Lefevre Award - Most Penalty Minutes
Womp Womp Womp Womp Womp Jr (115) @AdamEss
 
Karsten Olsen Award - Most Hits
Toby Kadachi (289) @ROOKIE745
 
Heavyweight Belt - Most Fights
Toby Kadachi (4) @Rookie
 
Matt Thompson Award - Most Shots Blocked
Simons Worst Nightmare (251) @zepheter
 
Timothy Brown Award - Most Game Winning Goals
Lorenzo Cobberson (4) @Hendrix Cobberson
 
Vyacheslav Smirnov Award - Top Rookie Award
NA
 
DMEN
Mitch Higgins Award - Top Overall D-man
Simons Worst Nightmare @zepheter
 
Maxim Kovalchuk Award - Top Offensive D-man
Simons Worst Nightmare @zepheter
 
Patrice Reynaud Award - Top Defensive D-man
Simons Worst Nightmare @zepheter
 
GOALIE
Jakab Holik Award - Goalie Showcase
Justin Lion  @Emperor_Fun
11-40-4 - .916SV% - 3.90GAA - 1SO
 
 BONUS 
Spirit Bear Award - @zepheter
About the Award:
 
Odin Omdalh, Florida Man, Dylan Doyle and Simons Worst Nightmare. 3 of those names have played for Seattle franchises throughout their times. @zepheter has suited up in 121 with Florida Man, 576 with Omdahl and 150 so far with Simons Worst Nightmare for a total of 847 games with the Seattle Bears Franchise. Over this time, they've scored 188 goals, 452 assists, 640 points, 813 hits and blocked 1,730 shots during the regular season. They helped hoist 3 Continental Cups with the Seattle Bears in S71, S73 and S77. They're one of the most loyal Bears in the history of Seattle and they're always there to chit chat in the locker room. They're an excellent example of putting the Team first and would do anything for their teammates to be better and for the team to win. Good dude and I'm very happy to have had the opportunity for you to be such a historic member when it comes to the Seattle franchise. It's very fitting that you get one of these awards with SEATTLE!
 

 
As I mentioned HERE! in Bana Blabs #101, I'll be topping up the donation with an extra $9, 1 for every game we went over for the Anti-Spirit award. Thank you for everything you do and have done for myself, Seattle and the VHL. Appreciate you. Love you long time brother.
 

 
B
 
 

Review:
You did a good job with this design. It is not an easy design to make but you did all the right things that makes this unique. I would say the background is amazing. Multi layered, vibrant and has just the right amount of blur to move the render to the front. The text is stylish and you blend mode looks proper. The render is nice and gritty but has loads of detail. You did a fine job with the correct logos and overall it looks very good. A proper mention to a good player. Great theme. 9/10