Saelven88

-New York -Malmo -Helsinki -Vancouver

EASTERN CONFERENCE (A2) Boston Bruins vs. (WC1) Carolina Hurricanes Winner: Carolina # of Games: 7 WESTERN CONFERENCE (C3) St. Louis Blues vs. (P2) San Jose Sharks Winner: St. Louis # of Games: 6

Malmo 4-2

Makes it harder to scout and gameplan

?

Game 1 of the 66th VHLM season opened up Wednesday night for Halifax, who welcomed the San Diego Marlins. Additionally this was the VHLM debut of rookie goaltender Thorvald Gunnarsson. Gunnarsson has only been in Halifax for a week after being drafted but seems to be adjusting to the league just fine. In the first period Gunnarsson managed to stop 11 of the 12 shots he faced. The first period goal from Samuel Sparrow was scored while Papa Gage of Halifax was in the box for hooking. Halifax managed to score 3 goals on 12 shots. Trevor Van Lagen's first from Acyd Burn and Dick Rash at 1:37, Papa Gage's first from Anton Edvin at 7:47, and Kenji Hachimura's first from Hugh Chan at 9:33 accounted for the 21st's scoring. The second period saw fast action up and down the rink with Halifax managing to tilt the ice in their favor by registering 12 shots while limiting San Diego to only 4. No goals were scored, despite several good looks from Halifax. 3-1 Halifax after 2. The third saw San Diego try to get back in the game, registering 7 shots and limiting Halifax to 9. Both teams traded goals in this period. Andrei Mikhailov's first from Lexington Lewis and Scotty BigShotty at 10:10 closed the gap to one goal. A late power play gave Halifax the opportunity to seal the victory and Anton Edvin scored his first from Blake Gaudette at 17:43 to finish the scoring. Gunnarson made 21 saves on 23 shots for a 0.913 save percentage in the rookie's first win. Halifax hopes he can continue to provide games like this going forward.

Don't mess with my goalie bro.

Nah, we're buddies. More like a friendly competition.

He's good. Gonna be a star.

F - Veran Dragomir @fonziGG

Im in

1. What is it like being part of Halifax this season? Pretty cool. Looking forward to my first season in the league and hopefully a first championship for Halifax. 2. The captains vote is currently on and besides yourself who is your top choice for captain? Gaudette seems really passionate about the team, so I am happy he is our captain. 3. With the season opener about a week away, how much TPE do you preferably want to have by that point? Hoping to get around 80, but will try to get a bit higher if I can. 4. What are your goals for this season, in terms of both individual and team performance? I want to get a couple shutouts and have a save percentage above .900. Obviously I hope that my performance helps us win a cup, everything else is secondary. 5. What are your thoughts on Halifax's Discord locker-room? Any suggestions on how we could improve it? It's been fun so far. Hopefully we can carry that forward into the season and keep up the energy. 6. What are your overall thoughts on the team and roster that we have here? Where do you think we'll finish in the standings? So far we all seem to be meshing well together. I think with some more time we can become even closer. I think this team has the chance to be special, we should make the playoffs without much fuss, and I think we have the ability to become champions. We have a motivated core who want to win.

Jersey I designed for Halifax.

Yes, all the yes! Keep writing so we can continue to read.

Nice, I like the smash effect.

Welcome to the league.

1. What is it like being part of Halifax this season? Pretty cool so far. Very welcoming atmosphere, and a good competitive fire. 2. The captains vote is currently on and besides yourself who is your top choice for captain? Um, I'm still meeting the team, but Gaudette and Nacho seem to be popular guys in the discord. I want active captains. 3. With the season opener about a week away, how much TPE do you preferably want to have by that point? I'm trying to get about 75. Might be able to find a little more if I am lucky. 4. What are your goals for this season, in terms of both individual and team performance? I would like to see a save percentage above .900. Obviously we are going to get Halifax the first championship. 5. What are your thoughts on Halifax's Discord locker-room? Any suggestions on how we could improve it? I like it so far. Everyone seems to be getting along well. 6. What are your overall thoughts on the team and roster that we have here? Where do you think we'll finish in the standings? I think we are a playoff team for sure, and we should be able to make a championship run. I just hope to be able to do my part to help our team get there.

Player Name: Thorvald Gunnarsson VHL Team: Halifax 21st Cash you have: $1.5 mil Purchase Name: The First Generation Cost of Purchase: $500k Cash Left: $1mil

I looked through several of the recent posts in this area and didn't see this mentioned. Has anyone proposed a draft bonus system? Would provide an extra incentive to players to maximize their TPE. Especially new players who want to quickly increase their career earnings. I think rewarding the first overall, first and second rounders with a monetary bonus that doesn't effect the salary cap could be a fun idea.

Thank you.

As he prepares for the VHLM draft goalie prospect Thorvald Gunnarsson hasn't changed his daily routine much. He still wakes up at 0530 and goes down to the practice facility he has used for the last two years as a Lahti Pelican. He works out for about 2 hours and then heads for a hearty breakfast with lots of bread, cheese, yogurt and washed down with lots of coffee and milk. He spends the rest of his morning doing drills and exercises off ice. A break for a large lunch with several varied meat courses signals the end of the hardest work of his day. He takes a few hours away from the rink running errands for his family and returns around 2 to skate for 30 minutes. He says he feels fine and heads for home. According to Gunnarsson this is a fairly typical day for him during the off-season. Dinner at home with his parents and two sisters is fairly standard, although the past few weeks have seen an uptick in excitement. The anticipation of draft day has been harder to ignore the closer it has gotten. To deal with the stress Gunnarsson has been spending his evenings fishing with his father and friends. It's this time of day that has Gunnarsson worried. "I've never been outside of Finland," he stated, "so I don't know what my life will be like in the VHLM." He says he's not worried about the challenge of playing abroad, but more the living abroad. "I didn't really think about that growing up. I always thought I would stay around Lahti. But when [foreign] scouts started to show a lot of interest in me I thought it could happen." Gunnarson comes from a close knit family that has been in Lahti for many generations. They can trace their family tree back to the 1400's and many members of the family have lived in the area. "I have reached out to [Ottawa Lynx center] Eeli Harju to ask about adjusting to playing outside of Finland. His home is about 90 minutes south of me so I thought he might understand what I was going through. He has been very helpful." Gunnarsson hopes that he and Harju can continue to build a friendship even if they end up on different teams. "That's sports," Gunnarsson says. "We can be friends who play for different teams. Maybe we get to play together for Scandanavia some day." Looking forward Gunnarson says that he and his family will probably spend all day at home during the draft. It will start around 0400 local time for the family. "My mother offered to make all my favorite foods for the day. We are going to have a small party all day with some family and friends. My parent's already took the day off from work." With the possibility of Gunnarsson leaving the family has tried to make the most of the remaining time. As I was saying goodbye Gunnarsson had one final statement. "I just want to play hockey. I don't mind leaving home, as long as I get to play." I asked if he was challenging a potential teammate for playing time. He smiled as he responded, "Chess, soccer, video games, I play to win. Doesn't matter if it's only for fun, it is more fun to win." I guess only time will tell if he can keep those promises at the next level. 573 words, using for PT week 4/22 – 4/28

EASTERN CONFERENCE (A2) Boston Bruins vs. (WC2) Columbus Blue Jackets Winner: Boston # of Games: 6 (M2) New York Islanders vs.(WC1) Carolina Hurricanes Winner: New York # of Games: 5 WESTERN CONFERENCE (C3) St. Louis Blues vs. (WC1) Dallas Stars Winner: Dallas # of Games: 7 (P2) San Jose Sharks vs. (WC2) Colorado Avalanche Winner: San Jose # of Games: 6