Steve

John Merrick - Center Extraordinaire Born in the Rocky Mountains, John loved the snow and ice. Being the only child, his parents were always there to support him in just about anything he wanted to try. Growing up in the mountains made for a very athletic and strong young man. The local pond would freeze early and hosted all the local activities. At a very young age, John was out on the ice skating, and falling, most everyday. Only 5 years old and skating everyday he could was a lot of fun. His parents weren't surprised when he asked about learning how to figure skate. His father, Joe, was a huge hockey fan but didn't even try to push him in that direction. Figure skating has skills that can translate well into hockey, so his dad was supportive and looked for some local class or instructor. After finding out that the local school had a teacher that was also a figure skater, he hired her to coach his son. Growing up was about to get really good at this point of his life. After a few years of coaching and actually competing in a few events, John came to the conclusion that figure skating was great, but not fulfilling enough for him. Plus his buddies were all playing hockey and he was getting teased a bit about the figure skating. John could handle his friends poking fun at him, they were a tight group of friends, even at that early of an age. John went to watch a few games when the light turned on, he wanted to play hockey. His dad was more excited than John was. As soon as John asked if he could tryout for a team, his dad had him in the car and out to buy all the gear he would need. On the way to the store, his dad was telling him all about hockey and what to do and how to do it. John had to calm him down a bit and asked him if he wanted to tryout with him too. Joe realized he was talking a mile a minute and chuckled. John already knew about the sport, he just needed the desire to actually play hockey. All his buddies were excited all most as much as his dad was. This was the start of John Merrick's life in hockey. John went on to play in at every level of hockey he could as he grew older. By the time he finished junior year in high school, he had colleges scouting him. It was a great time in for John, and his dad of course. He was fine with the attention he was getting. He played very well for his age group and was a standout in many of the leagues he played in. He had a very successful 2 seasons at BSU. The pressure and desire to take the next step and go professional was too great for him. He always dreamed about playing in the VHL, what hockey player doesn't. When he showed the desire to play, there was a team that picked him up in a heart beat. Mexico City, why not. So his career has begun. Only time will tell if he can succeed on that high of a level.

1. Another week has passed. The Wranglers have been on an incredible run, going (11-3-2 ) since our last press conference. What is needed to continue winning at this rate ? Whatever has worked so far doesn't need to be changed. 2. Your season record has improved to (33-12-5). This pace would have the Wranglers finish with 48 wins. Would this surpass your expectations ? It looked like things were going to go right this season, no shock at all. 3. Even tho you have been winning a lot of games, Seattle has stayed within a point from you. Tuesday Calgary and Seattle play each other twice. What are your score predictions for those two games? Games can sim strange and it would be hard to call out a winner or even guess at a score. 4. Calgary just pulled the trigger on a deadline deal to aid in solidifying its playoff run. Specifics aside, how happy are you to have a legend , a potential HOFer, like Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen join the team ? Smitty is a hell of a player and LR favorite, great addition. 5. What are your thoughts on the newly announced expansion? Good for the league is what I hear. 6. What expansion team city and logo do you like the best ? I don't really have a favorite.

5 TPE Uncapped- Week ending 7/5

Review: Very clean with great appeal. Well done with this design. Proves you don't need 4 garbage layers of background, splatters and over saturated elements to make a clean sig. I like the render, nice detail without going overboard. I really like you text and all elements are well placed. Great job. 10/10

Review: I really like this sig. Great format. Nice flowing background that doesn't distract. Text is very well done and looks amazing. Great job. 10/10

Playoffs are here. Game day actually. I hope my team mates are as pumped as I am. They sure have been looking forward to getting this show on the road. Mexico is going to do good I believe as the team has really been trying to get some skills and practice sorted out. Prepping for the playoffs is important. Any advantage you can get, you take it. Training and practice until you drop. That is where we are now. We are fully loaded, waiting to pull the trigger. No matter what the outcome of today's games, we have to take each game, each period and each shift with one hundred percent effort. We really do need to be on our toes. Nothing is handed to you in the playoffs. We expect our opponents to bring their “A” game, we need to be a notch better than their A game. With hard work and great leadership, anything could happen. I hope the best of luck to all the teams in the playoffs. Stay safe.

Transaction ID: 31U81329Y0455740C $1M Player Store Cash 5 TPE Uncapped- Week ending 7/5 Doubles Week- Week ending 7/5

5. Who is the best on D? Berocka is having a hell of a season but it takes teamwork for anyone to succeed. 6. Who would you trade away from the team and to where? Can't think of anyone. 7. Who would you want on our team? The team has a winning pedigree, not sure adding to it makes a difference. 8. @Banackock always makes like 30 questions at a time, how do you think he comes up with so many? Too much time on his hands? 9. Can we get a 4th cup? I believe it will happen. 10. Why do you think Seattle has had so much success recently is it cause of Bana or just sheer dumb luck? Takes more than good players to win cups for so many seasons. Bana has the master plan and I would say it works where other teams have failed.

Review: This is a very busy graphic. A lot going on here but the overall feel of it is very good. The render, from what I can tell looks clean cut and sharp. Everything is so over processed it's hard to tell what's going on. I think with this design you text and font choices were great. Colors blend very well and I like this wild project. Great job. 8/10

Review: Render looks low rez but not bad, very clean but not sharp. Good job anyway, I have seen much worse and it all depends on the resolution of the original. Logo/jersey swap was well placed but looks very low rez. Font looks good, not placed in any format that I can see but it seems to work with your design. Blurred background is effective but looks a bit lazy and not sure it isn't part of the original. Maybe a little lighting and shadow work. 5/10

The season is winding down. Only a dozen games to play and the fight for position is very heated. Mexico City Kings are in the mix trying to nail down the forth spot. It has been a tough battle to say the least. Some games click and we win, some go sideways fast. Sound familiar? That's how it goes. Unless a team is really talented, it will be a roll coaster of a season. With all the ups and downs, there are plenty of positives to take from even the worst games. The GM has some ideas about line mix and we could, or should, start to settle in with some set lines. Always something to mess with, more so in the minors where you are playing young players with different skill levels. Everyone needs to be better if we want to make any sort of run in the playoffs. I feel we have to horsepower to do just that. We, as a team will be pushing hard in this last part of the season and hopefully be on a hot streak for the playoffs.

I have been known to fill major holes.............

Go Seattle!!! Go LeGrande you old fuck!!!

Well John got some skills ironed out and is waiting to make his first appearance in the M. Games were delayed for some reason so it looks like at sometime today should be the big day. Interesting and fun locker room here in Mexico. A lot of activity and a big push for everyone to be the best they can be. I have a good vibe about the team and see great things in the future. Training as hard as ever, John has hopes to add to the already solid lineup. Shooting and passing should be his strong suits, but you never know until a good sample size of games are behind you before you see how he will fit in and what needs work. Some players just take off and don't look back, some need to be paired with a certain player to succeed. A lot of factors come into play when you look at a players performance. With the guidance of the GM and other team mates, we should be on the same page and stringing some W's out in short order.

1. What do you think about the choice of Captains this season? Great choice. Great motivators. 2. Who will be our point leader at the end of the year? Greene or Stark 3. Who would you put on the first line? Whoever is playing best or you hate the least. 4. Who is our best Forward? Any of the top three forwards 5. Who is the best on D? Hogan has good pace, I pick him. 6. Who would you trade away from the team and to where? Nobody, for no reason at all.

Review: Good render, great font, elements well placed. Overall design looks complete and executed well. Color choice is subjective so I have no comments on your choice here. 9/10

Review: Good job. Nice render and clean and well placed text. Good logo swap as well. Keep up the good work. 8/10

Signed as a FA with Mexico City, young John Merrick is out to put his mark on the league. Fresh and full of excited to be a part of a growing team. John looks forward to making new friends and winning a few battles. The team was very welcoming and has a friendly atmosphere, a combination that makes for a great team. The GM is well respected and that was a huge reason for signing with the team. Everyone wants to be lead by a competent leader. That looks to be in place with this team. John will go through all the rookie mistakes most do and hopefully learn for those and improve his game. He is not setting any goals in his rookie season as he just wants to learn the system, work on skills that are needed and succeed as a team. Hard work is in his DNA and he should be playing at a high level by the end of the season.

Review: Very good looking design. Good job with the blending from the ice to space. Color choice is spot on. Font choice stays with your theme and for a portrait style graphic, it looks well placed. The render is clean. Overall a very good job with the design and theme. 9/10

Review: Clean render is a plus. Background stock is a good base to start from, more adjustments could have been in play. Text is well done with simple effects that makes it look clean. There are a couple of things that are not that good. Your color palette is not working together for one. Your formatting is way off. Not sure what size this is but the render is too far right and text is not placed well. Work on placement and unifying colors and I think you will do much better. 6/10

1. The WJC have started, what country do you think is going to win? I think Canada, or USA. Could be World... 2. Mexico City just can't seem to gain solid traction, what do you think we need to change in our game? Just good ol hard work and line tweaks. 3. Houston seems to be gunning to beat our 60 lose record from last year, what do you think is the main cause of this? Lack of talent or high skill level in tanking. 4. What VHL team do you think is going to win the cup this season? Seattle of course. 5. What VHL team do you want to eventually play for? Doesn't matter as long as it's not that one team. 6. What is your go to snack during the season? Gummy bears. Gotta love'em right?

@Greg Ernest