Greg_Di

pick me pick me

With the WJC tournament arriving soon, the new GM of Team Asia will have some tough decisions to make during the roster building phase. Unlike last year, the Team Asia pool is slim this year and all players selected will have to play at their best if the team wants to succeed. The biggest problem with Asia is the lack of Goalies.
 
" We will see what we can do, we may have to pull someone from one of the other country eligibility lists but as of right now, Asia just isn't producing any goalies " Said new GM Eagles " We will definitely try to put together the best team possible to challenge for a medal and even with a smaller eligibility list I believe we can contend. We have some great forwards and defenders available to us"

The team is set to be announced in the near future and we look forward to seeing who GM Eagles will select for his team. It is an exciting time for all the VHL prospects as they will get to showcase their talents on the world stage.

Today we will highlight just a few of our very successful Marlins "candidates" who have either garnered success on another VHLM team through the most recent draft, or have already grown their big boy wings and have climbed their way up to the VHL. The Marlins have had a lot of players come and go, so not everyone is highlighted here, but keep in mind, I will likely make this a two or three part "piece" to cover everyone I can. 
 
In this article, we're going to talk about our S67 players who were on the team that have moved on to bigger, and better things. 
 
In Total, SDM "created" 6 eventual players who would become VHLers, they were as follows: 
 
Alex Pearson - Jayrad28 - 311 TPE - Prague Phantoms
Charles Drumm - frescoelmo - 238 TPE - D.C Dragons
Greg Eagles - greg_di - 502 TPE - Vancouver Wolves
Lincoln Tate - Tate - 545 TPE - Riga Reign
Phil Marleau - Phil - 555 TPE - Malmo Nighthawks
Scotty BigShotty - Ferdajets - 317 TPE - Prague Phantoms
 
As we can see here, out of the six who made it "big", three of them have hit or exceeded 500 TPE, but all of them seem to be having good careers for their respective teams. It's funny, because out of this list, four of the players from San Diego were actually waiver-wire pick-ups and the other two were draft picks. Phil Marleau ended up living up to his hype as he was our top selection in his draft and is now leading the pack of players from the Marlins in the VHL. 
 
We're happy to see that the Marlins organization is able to produce VHL caliber players, and we hope this trend continues! We will follow-up next week with our S68 players. 
 
 

First off I want to thank everyone for applying. It was a tough choice since everyone had something great to bring to the table. I just want everyone who applied know that I am grateful for their excitement and passion toward the WJC. With all that being said let's get into it.
 
?? Team Canada ?? 
@MexicanCow123
?? Team USA ??
 @berocka
?? Team Europe ??
 @Elmebeck
? Team Asia ?
 @Greg_Di
?️ Team World ?️
 @Motzaburger
 
Congratulations to those selected.
If you did not get the job don't be discouraged and please apply again next season.

After a great start to the season, Eagles has been struggling over the last few games to keep the puck out of the net. There has been rumors that game sheets and lineups were mixed up due to a clerical error but Eagles does not blame his play on any of those issues.
 
" Last few games have been a little rough, there was some goals I wish I could get back but that is the life of a goalie sometimes " Said Eagles " Some days you're stopping everything and some days everything is going in. All I can do is keep training and working on my game, I have been staying late to work with out goalie coach and im hoping it will pay off soon"
 
Vancouver has lost their last 3 games and currently sit 6th in the league. The team will have to return to early season form if they want to get back on track.
 
" I believe we will be back on track in no time, just a small blip on a long season, everyone is determined to get back into form " Eagles said

The Vancouver Wolves started their morning pre-game skate during a recent game vs Malmo, with a steady stream of rush drills at both ends of ice designed to get the players feet moving and their hands warm. However the Wolves players were only able to use one net on one side of the rink.
 
Wolves goalie, Greg Eagles, was using the other net with the Wolves goalie coach to do lateral recovery pushes from his knees into controlled shots instead of getting swarmed by point blank shots from teammates.
 
Amidst a busy VHL season, where 2 new teams were added, and with less practice time due to traveling, Eagles and his coach believes it more important than ever to make sure he gets his position-specific practice done whenever he gets a chance, even if that means extending his game-day practice or taking over one net that the rest of the team can’t use.
 
"I think I've had one regular practice with the whole team in maybe 2 weeks” Eagles said “ The coach just needs me to focus on my play and yeah while it sucks I can’t practice with the team, I know in the long run this will be better for the team as a whole”
 
The Wolves coaching team know that it is necessary to get position-specific work done during game day skates this season but does this come at a cost? Are the goalies following this training regime getting more fatigued? 

Others around the VHL believe that making your starting goalie spend extra time in practice is decreasing the save percentage, causing fatigue and a few uncharacteristic slumps from proven goalies. There has been no stats or proven facts correlating to this but it is just something being seen around the VHL.
 
"It's been a weird season," Eagles said. " I started off great and now all of a sudden I can’t stop a beach ball but it seems to be happening throughout the League. I think there is a little bit of fatigue setting in with certain teams and certain players, and it is important to be able to manage that. If we don’t manage it goalies and players will get tired and that’s where you will start seeing slumps and losing streaks"
 
Managing rest sometimes comes at the expense of spending extra time on the ice managing the fine details of a goaltender's game. It's a balance goalies often have to find for themselves, especially when they make the transition from backup to being the starting goalie. This has been the change for Eagles in this season where he went from starting 19 games as a backup to now being the only goalie on the team.

“ It’s been a tough transition but I am starting to feel more comfortable, I appreciate the team giving me the opportunity to be the starter and having patience while I work out all the kinks to my game “ Eagles said after the most recent loss to Malmo.
 
"That's probably the biggest challenge for every goalie in this league when you are playing a lot is to get good quality practice" Wolves goalie coach said. "They have to think about resting their body physically, but also mentally. They need to save their energy for a game, so you can't drain yourself in practice and then have nothing left. It's something that as a coach I have to help manage”
 
We are hoping Eagles and the Wolves can help recover their form as the recent 3 games losing streak has seen them drop in the standings.

@Greg_Di 4. Vancouver Wolves , Jeff Downey 3 (Micheal Gary Scott 11, Greg Eagles) at 15:39 (PP)
PP QB confirmed

67*

@Greg_Di thanks for stealing us this one!

G- Greg Eagles
 
F- Hunter Hearst Helmsley 
 
F- Roll fizzlebeef 
 
sorry for the delay - draft all done now 

As the league begins another season, we took a moment to sit down with Greg Eagles to discuss His and Vancouver's hot start to the season and everything else that has happened in the off-season
 
R: Welcome Greg, glad you can join us

G: No problem, always happy to sit with the Wroclaw Times. You guys have always been great to me and I always look forward to these interviews

R: Vancouver is coming of a cup win last season, do you think the Wolves can repeat?

G: I believe so, we have a great group of players who are hungry for more success. We know it will be a hard road but everyone in that locker room is willing to put in the time and effort in practice to ensure we return for a 3rd straight final appearance. 
 
R: How was your day with the cup?

G: It was amazing, I took the cup back to Poland and spent the day in Wroclaw. I am trying to encourage more kids to play hockey and I think that trip will help in the long run. We haven't had many polish players in the league so I am hoping for more to join.

R:  We were there covering the event and we could see all the joy that you brought to your fans, moving on how do you think the Wolves start to the season has been?

G: I think we are off to a great start, we are currently 7-2-1 and tied for first in the league with Calgary. Everyone in the locker rooms believes we can keep up the pace.

R: You also have gotten off to a hot start, do you think you can continue with this hot start?

G: I know it is a long and tough season but I have trained hard and came into this season knowing what I need to do to succeed as a starter. I am thankful Vancouver has given me the opportunity and I am working hard to pay them back. Even though I have been off to a great start with some pretty good stats, I know I can get better and I am working towards that end

R: You currently sit 9th in Save % with a .921 and 3rd overall in GAA with a 1.96, do you believe you can maintain these numbers or will the increase/decrease?

G: I can only hope to maintain these numbers for the rest of the season, that would be amazing. I have a great team in front of me and they are the ones who are the reasons my numbers have been great. My goal is to get better numbers but I will be happy if they stay around the same range. I never thought that 10 games into the season I would be 3rd overall in GAA. There are so many great goalies in the league so it was definitely a surprise but it's also showing me that my hard work is paying off

R: Thanks Greg, that is all the time we have for today. Good luck the rest of the season

G: Thanks it was a pleasure

S68 is underway and it couldn't have been a better start for the Vancouver Wolves. After 8 games the Wolves are 6-1-1 and sit atop of the league with 13 points and a massive 16 goal differential.

Wolves scoring has been lead by Captain Rauno Palo who leads the team and league with 17 points. Palo will have to keep up this pace if the Wolves want to compete for another cup.

Also playing well has been Greg Eagles who is off to a surprising start. After 8 games Eagles is 6th in save % with a .924 and 3rd in GAA with a 1.84
 
" It has been a great start for sure, I wasn't expecting to be playing so well but I have a lot to prove" Said Eagles " I was entrusted with being the starter and I have to show everyone that I am capable of this role, this hot start has been great and I hope I can keep it going"

Vancouver will look to keep the hot streak going as they play the Prague Phantoms next

Eagles stood on his head for this one and Phillifan is filling in for Glade it seems.

C - Rauno Palo @jRuutu
A - Julius Freeman @rjfryman
A - Denver Wolfe @InstantRockstar
 
These are the Wolves captains for the season! Wolfe after leading the Wolves wanted to give Palo a shot at leading us back to the promised land!
 
Congrats guys and lets get back to the finals!

1) It's about as surprising as the sun rising in the morning. If I owned a diner I would make a meal called the DT special and give it half off to all retirees.
2) On a scale of 1-10, probably a 3.1415927. While it is funny that I remain to be better than you at everything, this league is supposed to be for fun so you do you.
3) Because Gritty is the greatest mascot of all time
4) It's not that hard to at least do welfare, press conference, and vhl.com every week, literally takes 10 minutes. The hard part for me is updating
5) Most likely, I give that a 95% chance with a 5% confidence interval. 
 
@gorlab
1) Probably @Greg_Di for being so patient in remaining the backup but being such a supportive teammate the whole time! 
 

Ill take my first shutout of my career!

Ill take my first shutout of my career!

Lucky win is what I says

We should of won it, only lost in OT

Great start for Vancouver! should have been 3-0!

Sensing a trend with your picks @TukTukTheGreat ?

@Advantage care to explain why this was posted 38 minutes ago, but is being claimed for the weeks ending August 11/18/25 and September 01?
 
Also, why there's 2 claims on the birthday 12 for both your players?
 

VHL goaltenders always prepare for the unexpected and unpredictable, ready for pucks deflecting off sticks, bodies, feet or even a small divot in the ice that gets the puck past all the gear designed to help defend their net. The freaky, flukey or simply weird goals can be laughed off by goalies who know sometimes the puck just takes a funny bounce.
 
The goals that eat away at a goalie though, are those he believes he could have stopped. That’s why this off-season, as Greg Eagles prepares to take the reigns of the starting role in Vancouver, has been training all summer on reaction time, tracking puck movement and how to counter those funny bounces.
 
“It really sucks any time you give up a goal,” Eagles Said “Those kind of goals that take a weird bounce, there’s nothing really you could do except hope that it hits you and stays out of the net, most of the time it does but sometimes it doesn’t. But yeah, the ones that hurt the most as a goalie, it’s the ones that you feel like you should’ve had it.”
 
Goaltenders have to be ready for the next skill moves trained up by the VHL top stars to put the puck over the line. Every season a few players have new tricks up their sleeves.
 
“Maybe it’s the skill of the players finding that one spot,” Eagles Continued. “Most of the top players in the league are so sneaky in terms of what they want to do and what they don’t want to do. They put the puck in spots that catch you off guard. For example maybe they shoot in order to get a weird bounce, hit a guy’s shin pad or something like that and then it goes in. It has been happening more and more and I need to make sure I am better at stopping those.”
 
Sometimes goalies get lucky, too.
 
Last season during Greg’s final start of the season, he appeared to be losing his balance in the final period when the opposing team was handed a breakaway. Eagles put his glove down at the exact moment the opposing player tried to slip the puck between his legs.
 
“You definitely get some flukey saves where you’re beat and a guy just hits you, I mean I tripped over a divot in the ice and still somehow made the save” Eagles said. “ These kind of things go both ways but it’s always better when luck is on your side”
 
The Wolves goalie also recalls being on his goal line when the puck came up, rolled over the top of the net, hit the back of his mask and went in.
“ At the end of the day it is all luck, we do our best to train for these situations but you just never know, we just have to always be at our best and be aware of where the puck is at all times “ Eagles said as we wrapped up the article.

We now wait to see if Eagle’s off-season training has paid off as he looks forward to his first ever season as a starter in the VHL

After a season in which the Wolves won the Continental Cup there was a few big moves that happened. One of the leading scorers in Beau Louth retired. Then the Wolves traded Shawn Glade back to Davos before also losing Ismond Kingfisher to F.A. It was a offseason which saw the Wolves lose an important player at each position. Look for Shawnomir Jagr to break out and help offset the loss of Louth. Look for Gritty to also take a bigger role. Newly drafted Jeff Downey will be joining the team, look for him to step right in and contribute but expect bigger things from Jagger Philliefan as well. Look for Greg Eagles to step into the starters role and be more consistent than Kingfisher as well, he bided his time on the bench as the backup but now is his time to shine.
 
The new look lineup should look like this:
Julius Freeman (747) - Rauno Palo (893) - Shawnomir Jagr (600)
Gritty (597) - MGS (505) - Hans Gruber (501)
Ben Hafkey (346)
 
Jagger Philliefan (665) - Denver Wolfe (625)
Konstantin Mulligan (505) - Codrick Past (476)
Jeff Downey (320)
 
Greg Eagles (462)
Pekka Pouta (387)

For those of you that don’t recall, I said back in late July, “With 5 of the top 10 prospects being defensemen, General Manager Beaviss and co. look primed to take one in the first round…  it would not be surprising to see the Wolves either trade up for a 2nd first-rounder or... to climb higher on the draft board.” Well, wouldn’t you know it, I was right. Was there a bit of insider info? Perhaps. But, regardless, I was right. Vancouver ended up trading up to 4th overall, where they took stud defenseman Jeff Downey. After this steal of a pick and the absolute robbery of a trade GM Beaviss previously made, which notably acquired him another D-man in Konstantin Mulligan, who promptly re-signed with the club, Vancouver now has 5 contracted defensemen through S69. While 4 tends to be the league-average number of defensemen rostered, the quality and depth of Vancouver’s defense are certain to help them chase a Continental Cup repeat. In fact, in the S68 Entry Draft, Vancouver only had 2 picks in the first four rounds and used both of those on defensemen. Rumor has it that those two D-men were particularly high on AGM Jagger Philliefan’s draft board, with Downey being his 2nd-ranked skater and 4th rounder Tony Bolonee ranking somewhere in the late teens, making him an incredible steal at 36th overall.