animal74

Wow, Moscow (and Papa) does it again. There go my predictions out the window. Moscow getting heroics from many different players including those first two OT wins. Crazy series.

@Shindigs you have probably been the most involved GM I have played under, and I've played under some great GMs. You're thoroughness and dedication have been taken to heart and the Aces have followed you with that same dedication to get to that third Cup Final tonight. I've learned so much from you and I hope you take the time you need to feel refreshed and I hope we work together again. All the best! And we'll get you that Cup!

Vegas!!!

Awesome @eraserfrog! Glad to have you aboard! I'm the GM of the Pickles, so welcome! Below is the Discord link, I hope you'll join us there. https://discord.gg/vUwnWwYT animal74 Pickles GM Joel Castle

Hello, welcome to the VHL! I am the GM of the Pickles, a team in the Junior Showcase, a rookie/prospect tournament currently happening right now. Looking for a place to get into the groove and have some fun right away? This tournament is a great opportunity to get settled and show us what you can do while you wait for the VHLM draft! I can offer you a spot on our 3rd defense pairing with possibly some special teams minutes as well. If you're interested in joining our team, reply to this message with #SlicedToWin We'd love to have you! Please let me know if you have any questions.

Dehli Pickles Press Conference Answer 3 questions for 1 TPE, 6 questions for 2 TPE (Week ending Oct 23) 1. Have you participated in one of the league's off-season tournaments before (with your current or previous players)? Did you win anything? 2. What was your first thought or feeling when you found out you had been drafted to the Pickles? 3. What skill or attribute do you hope to show off most for VHLE and VHL scouts in the Junior Showcase? 4. What will be your goal song for the JST? 5. Do you like pickles? If so, what kind is your favorite? 6. What other food item would make a good hockey team name?

I am super excited to announce the Pickles' roster for the S85 Junior Showcase Tournament. First of all, I would like to thank @Alex and @Shindigs for giving me this opportunity to GM this team and a huge thanks to my AGM @jacobcarson877 who has been most helpful and supportive! It's great to have an AGM with the same perspective that I do. I think we have a very competitive group who can do very well in this tournament. Without further ado, here are your S85 Pickles! FORWARDS: C Antoine Barksdale @CrookedAnt C Mac Atlas @v.2 C Randy Bobandy @AJW C Jacob Bryla @Jakebryla10 C Zlatan Ibrahimovic @Markusbg LW Left Alone @okochastar LW Steve Lattimer @pugsood RW Thor Odinson @GoalPlays RW Tim Stuzle @NineIQ v2 DEFENSE: D Elias Lampi @Pifferfish D Sigma Freud @CODENAMEJIMMY D Frank Forsberg @QcjetsQc D Full Player Name @Matt_O GOALIES: G Joel Castle @animal74 G Shadow Thompson @Kelsey

What an unexpected surprise! Thanks @BOOM! Love it!

1. Late to answering and we already won #1 seed. I think this will help a lot and we've worked hard for this and should enjoy it a bit. 2. We're playing San Diego and up 3-2 so I thing we'll advance. They've given us a good fight so I'm not getting cocky though. 3. Isn't he already married? 4. Very excited. It's going to be a fun season. Hoping my Canucks can put it together and get into the playoffs. 5. There are the usual suspects (McDavid, Matthews, McKinnon) but I'm going to take a wild guess and say Carolina G Frederick Andersen 6. Again, going out on a limb and going to say Carolina vs Calgary, Carolina in 6

Fantastic! Great to have you aboard, Matt! I'll DM you in Discord the server link.

Hello @Matt_O! Welcome back. I am the GM of the Pickles, a team in the Junior Showcase, a rookie/prospect tournament taking place in the off-season. Looking for a place to get back into the groove and have some fun right away? This tournament is a great opportunity to get settled and show us what you can do while you wait for the VHLM draft! I can offer you a spot on our 2nd defense pairing with possibly some special teams minutes as well. If you're interested in joining our team, reply to this message with #SlicedToWin We'd love to have you!

"The author" has a name! *Ahem*

The Aces have recently taken over first place in the VHLM and became the first team to get 100 points and now have 101 points with a game in hand on second place Ottawa Lynx who have 97 points. They are currently the league’s hottest team with a 7-game win streak. The Aces also have four of the leagues top nine scorers and two of the top eight defense scorers. Starting goalie Joel Castle now leads all goalies with 36 wins, is second with 6 shutouts, and ranks third among goalies with at least 20 games with a 2.38 GAA. Las Vegas is gunning to become the first VHLM team since the S15-S17 Minot Gladiators to win three consecutive Prime Minister’s Cup (Top Regular Season Record) and the first team ever to win three straight Founder’s Cups. Castle knows these are both big goals with many obstacles still to overcome. “We’re just taking it one game at time and always looking at what can be tweaked and adjusted. I think we’re constantly trying to improve because all the other teams are too and we know that to repeat, we can’t let up and we have to keep our mistakes to a minimum.”

And thanks for the mentions! Great job, guys!

@DarkSpyro You had to mention the OTLs against Halifax, didn't you?

Wow! 3 save shutout for @StackThePads. That's gotta be a record.

Claim 2/2 (1100+ words)

1. Yes, I believe we can. It might even take until the end of the season as we play two of our final three games against them. 2. That's going to be a tall order even for Barksdale but I think he can get close. 3. Tre Kronor demolished his army pretty thoroughly and now he has to where a tracking devise so any secretive plans or overlong stays at IKEA will no longer go unnoticed. 4. Yes! He will go undefeated this season! 5. Yes, I'm really looking forward to it. For more than one reason... 6. Can't wait! I think the Canucks will do better than last season. Are they a playoff team? I hope so, but time will tell.

No, CBBE is losing confidence in the Aces' frail humanity.

I'll apply. Thanks!

Ace Game: Shindigs vs the IKEA Bots The Discord DM from Aces’ captain Juan Ceson @dylanjj37 had said, “Meet me in the IKEA parking lot at midnight. Bring the team. I have a surprise.” Despite being captain, team bonding was not usually Ceson’s thing but GM Shindigs @Shindigs was intrigued so he told the Las Vegas Aces to meet at the arena at 11:00pm and then they took the team bus through the still busy Vegas streets to the empty parking lot at the IKEA. They parked the bus in a far corner of the lot and the team stood in the cool night air with confused faces. AGM Reid Johnson @TopTiddee2 moved close to Shindigs and whispered, “What’s going on?” Shindigs shrugged, “I’m not sure. Juan wanted the team to meet here. Did you bring the gear?” He thought maybe the team would have a midnight game of road hockey. Johnson nodded, “And I brought bread in case the boys get hungry.” Joel Castle @animal74 and Viktor Hasek @StackThePads were just starting to pull nets from the bus when the parking lot lights dimmed, brightened to a blinding white and then when back to normal. Shindigs felt goosebumps cover his arms. “What the…?” Suddenly, the automatic front doors opened and out started filing people in yellow IKEA shirts. As they continued to march out and fill the parking lot, Johnson peered closer as the moonlight reflected off their metallic bodies. “Shindigs, they’re… bots! What is this?” Fear crept into Johnson’s features. Shindigs swore, “That’s just uppfuckad.” The first yellow-clad bots rhythmically marched out into the parking lot and then stopped to line up about 50 meters in front of the team with more lining up behind the initial row. Shindigs noticed that each bot wielded a large allen wrench. He had to stop this before it got worse. Stepping forward, Shindigs called, “Juan, where are you? What’s going on?” For a moment, nothing happened. Then a rattle of something being wheeled over the rough concrete slowly grew louder and like a shopping cart being pushed through a crowd, the bots made way for blue shopping cart being pushed through by a larger bot. Juan Ceson was seated inside the cart, eating meatballs with his fingers and greedily licking them clean. As the cart came to a stop, Ceson popped another meatball into his mouth and slyly looked at Shindigs and his gaze passed over his huddled teammates. “Greetings, former teammates,” he said demurely, loud enough to be heard across the parking lot. “How cute. You thought we were going to play hockey?” He let out a chuckle and then his voice turned to ice. “There’s a lot more at stake tonight – maybe your lives.” Like all good managers, Shindigs knew when it was time to negotiate. This was one of those times. “Juan, I don’t know what’s wrong, but let’s you and me go into the IKEA and talk about it. Let the boys play some hockey. We can figure things out.” Ceson stood up in the cart, his face contorted with rage. “You want to ‘figure things out’? ‘Talk about it’?” Shindigs gulped. Maybe he was wrong. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Johnson and Wann Kerr @VattghernCZ passing out hockey sticks to the Aces. Castle took a swift practice swing with his goalie stick. “You never fulfilled my wish for crisps!” Ceson pointed a shaking finger at Shindigs. “And you shot down the IKEA sponsorship, Johnson!” he screamed glaring at the AGM. “I was doing this all for the team. For you, Shindigs! Now you’re all going to pay!” He waved a hand at the gathered bots. “Behold! My IKEA bot army that shall be your doom!” He snarled, “You have no idea how long it took to put these bots together with IKEA’s stupid pictograph instructions. Now they’ll take you apart. Attack!” Fortuitously and in good foresight, while Ceson was incessantly ranting, the Aces had fully geared up - minus skates - and stood beside Shindigs ready for battle. @Shindigs He glanced proudly at his team. “I guess it’s too late to say this, but Aces, assemble!” Jens Lekman @Bobcat stepped forward. “I didn’t think this is how I’d get in my first fight of the season but this works.” He rushed toward the closest advancing bot. “For Sweden!!” he cried as he took a mighty swing at the bot’s head, cleaving it completely from its shoulders. He watched the head roll across the parking lot splattering red across the concrete. The rest of the bot stopped in its tracks with more red dripping down its yellow shirt. The bots were… bleeding? Lekman took a sniff of the red liquid on his stick blade, then tentatively touched his tongue to the substance. His eyes widened. “Yum!” he said, as his bewildered teammates watched him. He turned to them with a big grin. “Lingonberry!” Then the battle erupted and chaos ensued. Having a keen eye for his team’s strengths and weaknesses, Shindigs quickly saw that despite the bots' dullness, the Aces would be overrun quickly. “Oh, Sweden, motherland. If only you could send some help somehow,” he breathlessly prayed. “Sir! Look behind you!” gasped Johnson. Shindigs dramatically turned to see another bus pull into the lot, this one glowing and with three crowns and the flag of Sweden on the side. “What is it?” asked Robert Overmeyer @RobBro34 as he shielded his eyes from the glare and licked lingonberry blood off of his sleeve in the same motion. Shindigs grinned and saluted “Tre Kronor!” Ceson was jumping furiously in his cart. “NO FAIR! I have the monopoly on blue and gold outfits!” Yellow and blue clad figures ran off of the glowing bus, each one wearing a flowing Swedish flag as a cape and waving a golden hockey stick, legends of Swedish hockey all. Two of the figures, Nicklas Lidstrom and Peter Forsberg halted before Shindigs. “We heard your prayers and came as quickly as we could,” said Lidstrom, eyeing the bot army before them. He tied a Swedish flag around Shindigs’ shoulders. “Will you lead us?” Shindigs beamed. “Of course, I will.” Forsberg nodded. “Good. Let’s go. I hope I do not hurt myself.” Hakan Loob, Borje Salming, Mats Sundin, Mats Naslund, Markus Naslund, Henrik Zetterberg, Kent Nilsson, Henrik Lundqvist, Daniel Alfredsson, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Fredrik Olausson, among others all lined up in a V-formation behind Shindigs, who basked in their glow for a moment before yelling, “Angrepp!” The Tre Kronor led by Shindigs quickly overcame the bot army and soon everyone was licking lingonberry off their sticks and gloves. Except Juan Ceson. The Aces had flipped over the cart to form a makeshift prison to hold him for the time being. Shindigs made his way over to Ceson. “Tonight was bad, Juan. I’m not sure what to do with you. I’m even considering a trade to Mississauga.” Ceson scoffed, “At least I’d get more playing time, then. And maybe some crisps.” Moral of the Story: Shindigs is a great GM and the Aces would follow him into battle… even against an army of IKEA bots… but maybe after we’ve finished our meatballs.

1. It's a tight race with Ottawa but I think we can keep 1st place for the rest of the season. We have more Hounds games coming so that will help. 2. Maybe he'll be able to get out of the box a few second early... 3. He's a consistent presence in the locker room and has been bringing it every night on the ice this season. 4. I'm a Steelers fan but I don't have the channels or time to watch. I think they lost? 5. Sure! It would be nice to have a few more icebreaker maybe. Get to know each other a bit more. 6. Banking it!

@DarkSpyro That's fine. Aces still in 1st place and I'm still 1st in shutouts. Respect bro!

First OT loss of the season for the Aces.

First!?!