Smarch

Lets Get Ready to Rumble The Seventy-Seventh VHL is finally expected to get underway tomorrow after a off-season that was much like the great Lambs Chops Song, The Song That Never Ends. The landscape of course no different than any new season will look different than last, with new teams emerging from the pack from pretender to contender. One team looking to improve from last season, is the North American Conferences’ Toronto Legion. After a sixty-four point performance that was good enough to miss the playoffs as the sixth seed in the Conference, the Legion made a few moves to shore up some of the teams most glaring weaknesses. The biggest move in my opinion for the Legion was having Asher Reinhart falling in the draft for the Legion to pick up with the Sixth Overall pick. While we won’t go much into what happened next, all I can say as a member of the Legion is, we are extremely grateful to have landed Reinhart and Jon Webber. With two number one goalies dressing again for us this season, I think this might be the biggest deciding factor in the Legion making the VHL playoffs in Season Seventy-Seven. #WinForHextall.

1. Another week in the off season... is there anything I can do to keep you entertained? Yea another week in the off-season, while anyways no you cannot do anything. Enjoy being in the LR! 2. I'm running out of questions for the off season, so I'm going to start asking random ones... what is your favorite game genre? I play basically just sports. Odd other game here and there, but I have a fantasy team with Sterling in football and a fantasy team myself I’m hockey on PS4 3. What about your favorite music genre? I can and will listen to just about most main types of genres but my favourite it classic rock. 4. What about movies? I don’t watch tons of movies, but I guess I would go with. a comedy or documentary if I was to watch one. 5. Favorite snack to munch on while watching a movie/playing a game? chips, can finish a whole bag, sadly. So I stopped buying them and now they are a nice treat every month or so. 6. Do you crank your music loud, or do you listen to it at a reasonable volume? Depends on the situation, alone in a room loudish.

3/3

Review: Good write up hedge. It was nice to read about Rigas off-season in trades and drafts so far. Enjoyed the finishing part on each teams off-season. Hopefully we can both make noise in Riga and Toronto this season. pretty bland appearance, but otherwise good read. 8.5/10

Review: Good predraft interview. What I enjoyed most was it was not a straight question and answer, but had some quotes from Hlozek throughout the piece. Glad you enjoyed yourself and were able to put in the work to become a 1st round VHL pick. You’re in great hands in Riga. Good article, glad to know more about Hlozek then I died before. 9/10

@Josh as per your instructions, please see the purchase in the player store thanks!

1. The S77 VHL Entry Draft is approaching... will you be paying attention? Yes I hope to watch. I know it's Friday and I have a VHL alumni supposed to be at my place, so who knows if we will get around to actually taking it in. Hoping for exciting results at number six. 2. What do you think about the management and leadership movement on the sim lately? (GMs retiring/leaving, Beaviss' resignation, etc) It is interesting. Gives new blood in the room, not that it was necessarily needed, but who knows what will come of it 3. Are you participating in the World Cup? Yes I am U.S.A baby! We didn't start so hot, but its all about that finish. 4. What is your favorite thing about the off season? Nothing, its boring as all fuck 5. What are you expecting from Toronto in S77? Playoffs, number one. If we don't make the playoffs with our current roster in the North American Conference, then I would say its a bad year. After that anything can happen in the playoffs. 6. What are your individual aspirations for S77? I want to be a top five player in my position and a top three player on the Legion. I am one of the higher TPE players and its time to put up in year four.

Transaction ID: 20554595631191550 Doubles Week 5 uncapped Free week - Used May 2021

2/3

Review: I think everyone that’s been in the league and been active has been in your position, don’t feel afraid to reach out in the LR for ideas as well! Good stuff on your player and what he wants to do next when he hits the TPE gym. Hopefully you can fond your minor LR activity in the majors! 7.5/10

Review: I remember my first draft, I didn’t know much about the league and wasn’t nearly as invested, but was excited when I logged on! In a league that only requires 16 starters, going in the top of the third is a great feat for a first Gen goalie, don’t be discouraged or worry where you fall, putting in the work will get the results you want. Good review 8/10

VHL Storyline – Expansion Finals At the time of writing this article, the Victory Hockey League is awaiting the first day of the Continental Cup Finals. The finals this season will see the Chicago Phoenix and Warsaw Predators facing off against each other, an amazing feat for franchises that both saw their first seasons in the league in Season Seventy-Three. Today we will take a quick look at the two franchises that are looking to hoist their first VHL championship in just their fourth VHL season, and how they got themselves in this position. Chicago Phoenix: The Phoenix have come a long way since their eighteen-win inaugural season back in Season Seventy-Three. Chicago’s General Manager Geoffrey Dee started off his career with the Phoenix, with the Season Seventy-Three VHL Expansion Draft back on July 13th, 2020. Chicago was awarded the Second Overall pick in the expansion draft, along with five other picks spread out through the twenty-four picks. Dee used the Second Overall pick in the draft to pick up another pick in the VHL Entry Draft, picking up Slot A, which was Seventh Overall. That pick turned out to be the first franchise building block Dee would put into place, selecting the team’s starting goaltender for the past four seasons, Jean Pierre Camus. Fifteen selections later, Dee pulled another gem out of the Season Seventy-Three draft, when Dee and the Phoenix selected Canadian born defesenman Matty Socks. Chicago would of course as mentioned earlier go onto win only eighteen games in Season Seventy-Three, something that did set them up for long-term success, as the team through the draft lottery was awarded the Second Overall pick in the Season Seventy-Four VHL Entry Draft. Although the team missed out on winning the draft lottery, picking Second Overall allowed the team to find their franchise forward in Christian Mingle. While Mingle was able to bring some extra firepower to the roster, Season Seventy-Four still saw the Phoenix put up a losing record, however they did add twelve win from the previous season. As is the theme with this article and the Phoenix, another losing season allowed the team to enter the draft with the sixth overall pick. At this time with an up incoming roster that seemed ready to break out, Dee saw a unique opportunity to pick up two franchises defining defenseman in the Season Seventy-Five VHL Entry Draft. Dee flipped his Season Seventy-Six First and Third draft picks to Calgary in exchange for the Fourth Overall pick in Season Seventy-Five and a Season Seventy-Six fourth. This move allowed the Phoenix to pick up for L and R to finish building their impressive defensive core. All the moves in the draft, along with some savvy trades put the Phoenix in the spotlight as the team now headed into their third VHL season in Season Seventy-Five. After winning thirty-games the season before, the Phoenix continued to improve each season, as the team saw its first winning season in Season Seventy-Five, posting a thirty-seven-win season, good enough for the team’s first playoff appearance. In their first playoff appearance in the league, Chicago was tasked with facing one of the best VHL franchises over the past decade, the Seattle Bears, in the North American Wildcard round. In a three game sweep of the best of five series, the Phoenix swept the Bears in a surprising turn of events. Chicago would then see another first as they would head into the Conference Semi-Finals against the best team in the league, the Calgary Wranglers. Unlike the Wildcard round, Chicago was put to the test against the Wranglers, with the series finally being decided in overtime of game seven. That’s where the team’s second draft pick from their first VHL Entry Draft, Matty Socks came to the franchises rescue. Just like that after experiencing their first playoff berth just a few weeks ago, The Phoenix were now headed to the Conference Finals to take on the D.C. Dragons. Again the Phoenix were back and forth against their opponent in the Conference Finals, and just like the previous round, the Phoenix found themselves in a game seven. Unfortunately for the team, a rough second period would be the undoing of the team and the end of their great Cinderella playoff run. Six goals were scored between the two teams in the second period, but Ove Dyrdahl put the final nail in the Phoenix coffin, with the Dragons fourth goal and the eventual game winner with just under 5 minutes left in the second period. A great season and great run, set the team up for where they find themselves now. Fast forward to today, the Phoenix and the city of Chicago are looking forward to first Continental Cup finals in the city. After going 1-1 to start the playoffs, the Phoenix have gone on to win the last seven playoff games, a very rare hot streak for VHL teams in the playoffs. The next week will be full of highs and lows, while Phoenix management and friends go on the wild last ride with the team. Warsaw Predators: Like Chicago, the Predators came into the league in Season Seventy-Three and immediately held court near the bottom of the European Conference standings. This of course is not a knock on Warsaw of their management, the expansion franchises in the VHL are not expected to be world beaters when they enter the league. Like Chicago the first real action that Predator General Manager Damien Walec saw with the team was the Season Seventy-Three VHL Expansion Draft. The best selection for the Predators in the VHL Expansion draft was the third last pick in the draft, when Warsaw took the S73 VHL Entry Draft Slot C (10TH Overall). With that selection in the Entry Draft, Warsaw was able to select centerman Dakota Lamb. Lamb who currently is the highest TPE player on the team, was a great first building block for Walec and the Predators. Like Chicago, Warsaw used the great Season Seventy-Three VHL Entry draft to stock the cupboards, selecting goaltender Ajay Krishna and defenseman Victor Grachev in the Second Round of their first VHL Entry draft. After the first season in Season Seventy-Three that saw the team finish with twenty-three wins, which was good enough for fourteenth place in a sixteen team league. While the first season had its share of growing pains, Walec and the Predators new better things were ahead for the new franchise. Season Seventy-Four started off for the Predators by selecting Aloe Dear First Overall in the Season Seventy-Four VHL Entry Draft. While Dear was the belle of the ball in Warsaw, one shouldn’t overlook the selections the Predators made at Twenty-Second and Twenty-Third Overall. With those back to back selections in the Second Round, the Predators were able to pick up two quality pieces to help the team in Tim Waters and Lexi Glass. While Glass has been the better of the two up to this point in their careers, Waters has been a stable contributor on the Predators blue-line. Warsaw headed into their second VHL season in Season Seventy-Four with a better roster, but one that had a lot of learning and growing to do. This was evident in the regular season, as the Predators did improve their wins from twenty-three to twenty-seven wins, the biggest indicator of the learning and growing the team did was in the goal difference between the two seasons. The Predators ended with a minus sixty in the goal difference category in Season Seventy-Three, but improved that number to a minus thirty-four in Season Seventy-Four. Behind the scene and on the ice, the players and management were doing everything in their power to ensure the team was headed in the right direction, that direction took a real shot in the arm heading into Season Seventy-Five. Walec started working the trade wire in the off-season, starting with a deal with Riga that say a Second Round pick head to Riga in exchange for Jeffrenomitsu The 3rd. In the next few weeks, Warsaw would go onto pick up four draft picks, alongside veteran centeramn Dagmar Havlova. Warsaw then headed into the draft to complete the slight roster overhaul. The Predators used one of those picks they were able to grab in a trade with Toronto to pick up defenseman Muffbeav. Now with a more complete roster in their third VHL season, the Predators were ready to move from pretender to contender in Season Seventy-Five. I don’t think many that follow the VHL expected the leap Warsaw took from year two to year three, but after a twenty-seven-win season the season prior, Warsaw broke out in a big way with a forty-win season in Season Seventy-Five. Warsaw would see their first VHL playoff matchup in their history in the Conference Semi-Finals in Season Seventy-Five, unfortunately they would run into the eventual Continental Cup champions, Malmo in that round. Warsaws’ great season would end in that game seven defeat at the hands of the Malmo, but much like Chicago the Predators first playoff appearance would go a long way the following season. As the off-season began in Warsaw leading into Season Seventy-Six, Predators GM Walec, again took to the trade wire to upgrade his roster. Seattle and Warsaw would strike a deal that would see a First and Second head to Seattle in exchange for a Third round pick and six-year forward Uhtred. Now as the team and their fans await game one to be played in the Polish capital, Predator fans hope that the team’s first championship appear ends in success. 1,599 Words For weeks: February 28-March 6 March 7-March 13 March 14-20

1. Have you been following the VHL or VHLM playoffs? I actually looked at the conference finals game seven, which was the first playoff game I have viewed. Ain't nobody got time for that! 2. What do you think about the upcoming lotto tournament? Well I wasn't looking forward to it for sure, and now that it has happened it was even worse going from a possible third to now sixth. Yikes! 3. Where do you predict Toronto will draft? I predict the next time Toronto drafts in the first round will be the S79 OR S80 first round. So I predict we will see Toronto pick in the Fourth Round in the S77 Entry draft. 4. What are some of your favorite offseason activities? Getting some me time in with the family. 5. Food time: Pancakes or Waffles, you have to choose one or the other. Pancakes 6. What kind of ingredients to you add to it? Vinegar to the milk and let sour for 3-5 minutes

The green gang re-unites of the international stage @DoktorFunk

Well then he’s more quality than first imagined. Also you two are real quick to jump to his defense, @gorlab got people on edge. Also I understand my poorly typed pooping message earlier made it seem make aggressive and thus maybe the reply Thanks for the clarification tho

Sorry let me be clear, I was asking how could someone so invested in the league make this mistake. I don’t care if he’s tanking, I’d respect that more than just forgetting.

Lol, how does a team run by a commissioner get to play a computer goalie in these games?

I expected 100% more mall hatred talk. Very disappointed.

Review: First off, walking up the entire Eiffel Tower? Crazy. Nice Mikey got recognized as a VHLMer, now you got to work harder to make sure you don't disappoint the faithful now. Lots of phots of the tower on your phone now, lol My only critic would be, possibly a title, some color and a graphic or picture would help spruce up the article. Otherwise good job; 8/10

Where do you go now? After a flurry of moves just a handful of games into Season Seventy-Six that saw the Toronto Legion move out the two best players on the roster, one can now start to look forward to see what is up next for the Legion. Currently the Legion haven’t been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, so first we will start there. Seven Points Out: After today’s three wins, the Legion currently have a 26-33-8 record, good enough for sixty points in sixty-seven games. They are currently chasing the Calgary Wranglers for a wildcard playoff position, a race they are currently seven points behind. Calgary does have a pretty tough schedule ahead of them with Moscow twice, D.C, Seattle and Malmo. Four of those five games are against current VHL teams in a playoff position, with only Malmo currently on the outside looking in, but a very slight margin we may add. Toronto doesn’t have it any easier in the last five regular season games either, as they will face, Moscow twice, New York, Helsinki and Seattle. Like Calgary, Toronto will only face one club outside the playoffs currently, that being the Americans who are two points behind Toronto, nine points out of the last playoff position. Draft: If the team doesn’t catch Calgary for the last playoff position, which wouldn’t surprise many around the league with the gap with only five games remaining, the Legion will then turn their attention then to the off-season. If the team misses the post-season, they unfortunately don’t own their first round pick to reap those rewards of missing the post-season. They do however hold the London United’s’ First Round pick in the Season Seventy-Seven VHL Entry Draft, one that might be around the same selection if they did in fact own their rights to their own pick. London is currently in seventh place in the European Conference, although they are only four points out of the wildcard playoff position, currently held by the Riga Reign. There is a lot let in play before the final draft standings will be finalized, including the draft lottery tournament and subsequent draft lottery, but the main consensus around the league is that the Legion will be looking at forward no matter the position their ball lands in the lottery. With possibly only 5-7 prospects ready to make the jump right now to the VHL, the Legion are no doubt hoping for some lottery luck in a few weeks. Remainder of the Off-Season: Last season on the sixth day of the VHL off-season free agency opened at 12:00PM EST. This will be another big day for the Legion, who are on the very cusp of moving from pretender to contender. The Legion went through some changes as quickly mentioned at the beginning of the article, ones that were done to better the culture of the team. From an insider standpoint, I enjoy being in the locker-room and find it to be the right amount of active, and hopefully others around the league are intrigued by our culture and desire to win. Hopefully with the open door policy the Legion manager has along with the stable of young exciting players in the stable, free agents will be able to see the Legion locker-room with the positive attitudes and vibes it brings along.

VHL Storylines – Warsaw Predators Last season the Warsaw Predators were in the same position they currently find themselves in the European Conference, that is sitting in second place heading into the playoffs. In Season Seventy-Five the Predators and the majority of their roster was partaking in their first VHL playoffs, a playoff that eventually only lasted one round, as the Predators would fall to the eventual Continental Cup Champions, the Malmo Nighthawks, in game seven of the Conference Semi-Finals. Now with a bit more experience and fire-power under their belts with only eight games left in the Predators regular season and only three points behind first place Moscow, fans in Warsaw are hoping for a great last week of the regular-season which may allow them to jump frog Moscow and obtain very valuable home ice advantage for most of the playoffs. The Predators are currently being led offensively through the first sixty-four regular season games by Season Sixty-Nine draftee Dagmar Havlova. After a career best year in his first season in Warsaw in Season Seventy-Five, Havlova is looking to match that pace this season, with total currently sitting at twenty-three goals and sixty-five assists, good enough for eight-eight points. With eight games remaining and ten points separating Havlova from putting up career numbers in his eighth and final VHL eligible season, all eyes in Poland will be on the forward as his time winds down.

1.The end of an era is quickly approaching... thoughts? The end of being in the bottom of the VHL standings? I mean I'm not sure how that will go over with the social club, asking them to start winning? 2. Juice and BOOM have a little bit of a bromance going on... let's be honest, what games do you think they're playing when not at the rink? I believe I keep hear them talking about a POGO stick? 3. Who among the Legion has the best puns? We have personalities on the roster? I assumed you had to just conform to the GMs ways when your in the locker room? 4. What are some of your favorite pranks to play on your teammates? I like to pretend i'm going to pay for supper, then I walk out the front door 5. Who is the easiest target to prank? Boom. He likes to be pranked, I swear he enjoys it 6. On a scale of one to 'hold me tightly'... how was your valentines day? It was nice. Had Dennys for breakfast and Chinese Food for supper. Nice food day

Review: Norway and Switzerland sound like great places for a visit, never been myself, but you sure talk them up enough to see it’s a great choice! Nice GRR reference as well to keep it league related, along with the Hounds reference to close it out. Good luck on the end of the season and booking those tickets sooner than later. 9/10

Vacation, all I ever wanted Can't seem to get my mind off of you, back here at home there's nothin' to do. Those lyrics sung by the Go-Gos and a great Rugrats episode with the same name, are more true than ever right now. Most of the world is still dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic. First off, I want to wish my condolences to those who’ve been affected by this terrible disease, not matter how you were affected. Now with the Victory Hockey Leagues annual theme week just about to wrap up, I would like to tell you about a vacation myself as Lester Greens agent and my significant other look forward to taking once things get back to normal. First Location: Orlando Florida First stop on the trip will be the Orlando International Airport. From my current location I highly doubt there will be direct flight to Orlando, but none the less we will give Orlando the number one position. First thing I am going to do is head over to the gift shop in the airport. I know I will be able to find Rays, Lightning, Panthers, Buccaneers, Seminoles, Magic, and Florida Marlins gear, but what I will be looking for in my first trip back to the United States will be San Diego Marlins swag. I haven’t bought anything from the store yet, but this will be a great opportunity to pick something up, while also saving on customs and shipping chargers. Next it will be looking for transit to our hotel to get settled and ready for a great week. Second Location: Comfort Suites Near Universal/Walt Disney World After a quick trip to unload and likely take a bit of a break after a long flight at our hotel, it will be Walt Disney World as the next stop. I myself have never been to Disney in my life, but I know I will be in good hands with the experienced company I will be with. I myself will be looking more towards the food options available at Disney. Obviously there will be some areas I will be looking forward including the rides, but more important is the great food options. It will be a few days spent at Disney World, so I don’t want to put you to sleep with all the details, but let’s just say food, shopping, rides, sleep and repeat. Third Location: Dunedin Florida Since we will be going to Florida in late February, early March, I also plan on going an linking up with some of the other sports stars in Toronto, the Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays hold their Spring Training in Dunedin each February, pending Pandemic, and they have just renovated their stadium in 2020, so I plan on visiting to tour the place. I hope to meet up with some of the guys on the Roster during Greens stay in Toronto but we will have to see how that plays out. No matter what I still plan on heading on over to Dunedin to wrap up the work long trip. Final Location: Toronto Ontario Back to where we will be calling home for the next three seasons with Green signing that extension a few weeks ago. Hopefully the trip can actually go ahead in 2021, if not here is to 2022.

1. There's been plenty of trades this season from Toronto. Did you expect this much movement from management when the season started, or has it caught you by surprise? Being on the the pieces brought in, I would have never expected to be brought over to the Legion. Good surprise for me. 2. Our recent acquisition -- Gunnar Odinsson -- has joined the club and has already imprinted himself into our culture. What are your thoughts about him joining the team and immediately associating with us? / (TO BOOM: What are your thoughts about the Legions' LR culture?) Boom is a great member and a needed personality around the league. When booms engaged its great for the teams he’s on and the league is what I’m getting at, so I’m glad he’s re-engaged as a member of the Legion as he’s brought those good vibes along. 3. The term 'the future is bright' is usually applied to optimistic expectations for the near future, and is a shared opinion among the entire LR. As an individual what are your expectations for S77? I expect my player to still take penalties unfortunately, but better point production wise. Also think the team will take a step forward and look to compete for a playoff spot, possibly a wildcard spot. 4. The trade deadline is still a fair distance away, yet the majority of the teams who wanted to sell have already sold. Do you anticipate a quiet trade deadline or do you think there will be one or two more 'woah' trades between now and then? Yes, like most VHL trade deadlines I anticipated a slow trade deadline with the majority of the deals getting done prior to deadline day. 5. What are your thoughts about this seasons theme week? I’m indifferent to the idea. I don’t want to shit on the member that submitted it, but I’m not the most interested in the idea. 6. If you could change one thing about the VHL what would it be? Nice if we could find a way to update the sim engine. Seems to be a consistent review as the sim is a pain in the ass no matter the version.