ontanis

- Childhood -
 
Tauras Karazija hails from a small, peaceful and a beautiful country of 3 million people called Lithuania.
 

 
Lithuania is mainly known for its three stereotypes: beautiful women, great beer and basketball.
 
Tauras Karazija was born in 15th of February 2001 in an enterprising railway town of Telsiai, Lithuania. Telsiai is one the smaller towns in Lithuania with just over 25.000 people inhabiting the town with a bad stadium and even worse infrastructure for other sports. So, as you can probably sense it already – not the best place for ice hockey greatness.
Tauras' not-so-yet-thrilling hockey career started in the Telsiai ice rink, located near the Telsiai town stadium. It was one Tauras‘ first hockey memories, as his dad, an ice hockey enthusiast took him down there to see him play with his fellow friends: „I remember being five years old and wobbling my way around the rink, trying not to fall over and smash my nose on the ice as my dad laughed on seeing me struggle“. But something about that wobbling and struggling made Tauras feel strange. It was that strange feeling of gliding through the ice so effortlessly. And that feeling is what made Tauras to fall in love with the beautiful game of hockey.
 

 
 
While attending school in Telsiai, Tauras practiced hockey in the nearest town that had an open-24/7 ice arena in the town of Mazeikiai, a 1-hour bus ride each day from Telsiai. Tauras played centre for local minor hockey teams, helping and leading them to various successes, including the Lithuania Little Hockey League championship.
 
- Teenage years -
 
After turning 14 years-old Tauras Karazija was called up to the Lithuania U-16 team and off to his first national team training camp. And the good thing about hockey in Lithuania, is that the funding for it is so low that all levels of the national team use only one ice rink arena. So that means when U-16 train with, there‘s always a couple of players from the National team, taping their sticks, shin pads or just getting ready for their practice after ours, because ice time was limited. Just as Tauras was finishing up his practice and he was pulled to the side by Mantas Armalis.
 
Mantas Armalis was the starting goalkeeper for Lithuania National team and quite a known hockey player around. But he was a good player, playing hockey overseas. “You are quite a player”, said Armalis. Tauras could feel the sense of achievement bubbling up inside of him. But a second later, Mantas made sure that Tauras would not get his head up in the clouds for a very long time: “You don’t look right. Your balance is all wrong. You don’t look up enough. You keep your head down too much… You will get murdered by proper defenders if you keep those habits up.” But then, he kept on going with that emotional rollercoaster of a conversation: “Do you ever want to play professional, Tauras?” And at that moment Tauras realized that he has never thought about playing hockey for a living. He never thought about making money off of it. Tauras was a kid who was just happy to put on skates five times a week and just play for the love of the game. But that was the crystallizing moment of his life when Tauras had to decide if he wanted to do this properly or not. All Tauras could mutter out was squeaky “Yeah… Who wouldn’t?”
 

 
- Skating towards the ultimate goal -
 
After Tauras‘ first U-16 tournament in Liepaja, Latvia he was picked up by Dinamo Riga. Dinamo Riga were going to be playing a friendly match with HC Spartak Moscow and invited Tauras to watch the game. Tauras and his father knew what was in the play. A few days later Tauras was in the car on his way to Latvia’s capital city Riga.
 
Once in Riga, Tauras Karazija was liked for his skating and his size, so coaches decided that playing defense would be a better fit for Tauras. Truth be told, HK Rīga had very few defensemen, so they needed another guy back on the blue line anyhow. One coach in particular, Aigars Cipruss was the one who taught Tauras how to really play defense, and that’s where Tauras‘ career took off.
Tauras made their team and ended up playing junior for the HK Rīga of the Russian Junior Hockey League (JHL) because it was the best youth league in the Eurasia region.
 

 
Aigars Cipruss taught Tauras how to play in a position that was different and new to him - offensive defenseman. It combined Tauras' strengths with team needs. Tauras was moulded as an offensive defenseman that possesses a high level of puck skills, broad rink vision and sense, and smooth skating skills. He was taught that rink vision and passing skills are critical to breaking the puck out of the defensive zone. It’s the ability to complete the first pass successfully that leads to the second, third and fourth passes up ice.
But for a defenseman to play in the biggest minutes of a game, besides being gifted offensively, he must be a responsible defensive player. A defenseman must be able to defend late in periods, execute on the power play and penalty kill, and defend when the game is on the line.
 
And Tauras really wanted to be that player. So he soaked up every bit and piece of knowledge the coaches gave him. Tauras studied every second of film. Watched every minute of videos that showed how great offensive defensemen played. And he tried to emulate what he heard, saw and learned.
The first year after moving to the bigger club - Dinamo Riga, he was sent to affiliate HK Riga and their junior academy. There Tauras Karazija ended up having a season that did not stand out of the rest very much: 29 games played, 6 goals scored, 9 assists, 15 points in total.
 

 
After continuing to work on his skills, fitness and skating, Tauras immediately showed that hard work pays off. Tauras Karazija was given the chance he needed and finished his last season with HK Riga, scoring impressive 13 goals, contributing with 24 assists and 37 points total in 47 regular season games. He scored most points and assists among all defensemen in the JHL. His play in the juniors also contributed to him during the end of the season regularly being a member of Dinamo Riga senior team and sitting on the bench during KHL regular season games.
 
Time went on, seasons passed and Tauras became more and more comfortable with the notion that he will be a professional hockey player. That he will be doing what he really loved and what felt closest to his heart. The world of hockey and the people that were involved in hockey on and off the field were also getting quite comfortable with the thought of Tauras Karazija playing professionally. Not long after his last season with HK Riga concluded - Tauras Karazija declares himself eligible for the upcoming VHLM draft. 
 

Lookin forward to the VHLM draft!

@ontanis
Alright, so this is a player card. Usually player cards aren't the big PT's worth 6 TPE. They're to be posted in the VHL.com section for 2 TPE.
Not much was done here besides throw the name on and a VHL logo, and that's fine for a first attempt and a new member. I can accept that. I hope you keep improving!

Just came to say I'm a big Father John fan ?

Review: I like this. Simple, to the point, it's a player card. You know what you need to do now? Make a backside for the card, all the stats, the bio info. Only thing I would maybe make an alteration to here is the slant the VHL logo is on. I think just having it at a normal angle would be more appealing, but that's just nit picking; it does look great the way it is. Good job!

What's up VHLM'ers? The finals are under way in both leagues, and the off-season is nearly here! Fret not newbies, the off-season will be when you can finally start to be involved and be well on your way to joining a team! The season should be over by Monday at the latest (one game per day of finals, each series could go seven!) and then a schedule for the off-season will be released. This will tell you when the draft is, when training camp starts (TPE!!!), etc. Stay tuned! Here's what this week's issue will include.
 
 
1) Uncapped TPE Opportunities: Any time there's a one-off or once-a-season point task available to enter, you'll find out about it in the early headlines of the article.
2) League Recap: The middle of the Newsletter is generally based around keeping you up to speed with what's going on around the league, be that changes to how the league works, new features or how the current VHLM season is progressing.
3) TPE Earning Guide: The bottom section of the Newsletter follows the same format each week. There, you will be provided with the links you need to get to the regular TPE earning activities. 
 
Before we start with anything I would like to remind you about the Official VHL Discord Server. The discord is a great place for you to connect with other members of the site and get help with anything you need! I would highly recommend joining and being apart of the community there. Like the last VHLM Newsletter, some of this newsletter will re-tread on the old ground as, with this being a VHLM newsletter, there will inevitably be new members reading this for the first time that won’t be aware of what was in previous newsletters. So what I’ll do is put a bold *NEW* next to any information specifically made for this newsletter so players who have read these before knowing where to go to find the new info!  
 
League Announcements  
 
This will be a new section, with general league news (non-game related)  or threads of interest to VHLMers.
 
S66 VHLM Achievement Tracker- Click here to check the tracker and earn up to 20 TPE for your performance this past season! Ask your GM or any member of the recruitment team if you need help figuring it out. Math is hard!  
1) Uncapped TPE Opportunities
 
 
Weekly Reddit Threads 
Do this for 1 uncapped TPE!
 
Recruit a Friend TPE 
Probably the best way to earn some uncapped TPE is to recruit a friend! You can receive some hefty uncapped TPE bonuses by recruiting a friend and helping them make a player! You can earn up to 15 Uncapped TPE from a single recruitment! For more information, click this link.
 
Practice Facility
Every week, players in the VHLM are granted 2 free TPE every week for simply posting in the practice facility thread. If you haven't already, go post your player name and "+2" here.
 
Career PT - Player Biography
Once per career, you can write a biography about your player for a whopping TEN uncapped TPE! The biography must be at least 1000 words in length while detailing the history of your player's life, starting off the ice and eventually working up toward it. A more specific rubric can be found on the page here. When claiming the TPE for this task, make sure you submit it under via portal as "Other" --> "Biography"
 
Career PT - Rookie Profile
Once per career, you can write a rookie profile that specifically details your player's strengths and weaknesses on the ice. Think of this like a scouting report, where you're telling GMs what to expect out of your player. A more detailed rubric for the rookie profile can be found on this page. This report must be at least 500 words in length, and focus only on your player's on-ice attributes. When turning this task in, be sure to submit it under "Other" --> "Rookie Profile"
 
 
The VHL Fantasy Zone
Every week, players are given the chance to guess the results of upcoming VHL games. This comes in two different forms- the weekly Pick 'Em's (which are worth 2 uncapped TPE for getting all of them correct), and the weekly Score Prediction (which is worth 3 uncapped TPE for getting correct). Even if you don't get it right, it's worth a shot to take a look at the games and give it your best guess! If you want, you can even cheat and copy the guesses of a member that's already posted. These will be posted in this subforum every week.
 
Player Store- First Generation Doubles Week
If you've got the money (1.5m in player store cash, the amount of every VHLM contract) you can purchase a doubles week if you're on your first player. For those who haven't had one before, a doubles week allows you to claim an extra 6 uncapped TPE if you submit a media spot, graphic, or podcast! 
 
The VHLM Fantasy Zone
The VHL Fantasy Zone's younger brother allows you to earn even more uncapped TPE for guessing the correct winners and scores. However, these predictions are only available to players within the VHLM, so make use of them while you can! The VHLM Fantasy Zone differs in its TPE rewards, in that the weekly Pick 'Em's are only worth 2 uncapped TPE, but guessing the correct score is worth 4! These will be posted in this subforum every week.
 
The First Generation Bonus
As a thank you to the newer members for sticking around and participating in the league, we're offering 10 free uncapped TPE for your first player, once they cross the 100 TPE milestone! If you've passed that mark, or are about to pass that mark, make a post in this thread and use it to submit an update. To make the job of the updates easier, please select "Other" when applying the update and fill out the box as seen below:

 
2) League Recap
 
So, the playoffs are almost over. Eight teams fought hard, but only two remain. The Ottawa Lynx and the Philadelphia Reapers. Both teams have had terrific seasons, and have an equal 8-1 record in the playoffs thus far. The Reapers got here by dispatching the Saskatoon Wild, and the Lynx paved their way by sweeping the Halifax 21st (though 3 of their 4 wins were in overtime!). This should be a good series, and could certainly go the distance. Game 1 should be simmed sometime Tuesday (today!) evening. 
3) TPE Earning Guide
 
Player Store *NEW*
-          The new Player Store makes purchasing things for your player very easy! Click the "Player Store" option under "Player Menu" on the Player Management screen. Or by just clicking this link. 
-          You can claim your contract money by clicking this button "Claim Income" button under the "Menu" heading.
-          You can click the blue "Purchase" button under the item you wish to buy, and it will be approved or denied by staff.
-          TPE purchases can be applied under the "Other" option when claiming TPE. You do not need a link to claim these items. Updaters can check if you have successfully purchased it or not.
 
First Generation Bonus
Some of you will soon be reaching the point where you will surpass 100 TPE and to offer some thanks for sticking around with us for that long, we give you guys 10 Free TPE! If you are over 100 TPE or have an update that will take you over 100 TPE, you can claim your 10 Free TPE by going to the Player Management screen, going to Claim Other TPE and filling in the box that pops up as displayed in the image below using this link (https://vhlforum.com/topic/49868-first-generation-bonus/) in the link box.
  
 
Recruitment
Recruiting new members to the league not only helps the league by filling out team rosters, but it also sets you up to earn some lucrative TPE! To find out more about the rewards for recruiting members, go HERE. On top of that, there is a 1 uncapped TPE reward for upvoting the weekly Reddit post (It has not yet been released for this week, but I recommend keeping an eye out for it).
 
Weekly Capped Point Task Opportunities (You Can Earn Up To 12 TPE From The Following)
-          You can submit either a Media article of 500 words, a Graphic or a ten minute Podcast for 6 TPE. If you don’t have time to submit for any of these this week though, there is Welfare available to claim for at least 4 TPE.
-          You can submit a 150 word article and a Player Card for 2 TPE each. You can also submit a five minute Podcast for 3 TPE.
-          You can get a maximum of 2 TPE by answering and asking questions in the Press Conferences. If you are short of answers, you can answer questions in the VHLM Press Conference for 2 TPE.
-          You can receive a maximum of 2 TPE by reviewing other people’s Media/Graphics/Podcasts. Check out the guide to reviewing HERE.
-          There is weekly VHL Trivia where you are asked two VHL-related questions, answer both correctly and you will earn 2 TPE for the week. In addition, players will be able to earn up to 6 uncapped TPE at the end of the season, 1 TPE for every week they submitted for trivia. 
 
Uncapped Point Task Opportunities
-          There is 2 TPE to be earned from posting in this week’s Practice Facility
-          There is the VHLM Pickem and Predict the Score (in the VHLM Fantasy Zone). If you correctly guess the results, you will earn uncapped TPE for your player! You'll be able to participate in the VHL Fantasy Zone as well.
-          You can submit a 500-word Rookie Profile for 8 TPE and a 1000 word Biography for 10 TPE. These two are one time only point tasks.
-          If you haven't already, make sure to spend some of your contract/sponsorship money on the First Generation Package in the Player Store. It's an exceptionally cheap purchase that gives you five uncapped TPE.
 
 
Video Tutorial
 
(I'll post this when I get home, no Youtube on the work computers)
 
 
 
This is a video tutorial of how to improve your player through point tasks that was made a while back. The time stamps are stated below so you can easily maneuver around the video and find the help you looking for:
 
Capped TPE
0:27 - Overview of Capped TPE
1:38 - Media Spots
2:39 - Graphics
4:16 - Podcast
5:09 - VHL.com/Player Cards/VHL Radio
7:06 - Press Conferences
9:00 - Trivia
11:59 - Reviewing
13:22 - Jobs
14:13 - Welfare
Uncapped TPE
16:14 - VHL/VHLM Fantasy Zone
17:08 - Practice Facility
17:44 - Yearly Award Predictions
18:35 - VHFL
19:33 - VHL Lottery (out of date)
20:35 - Rookie Profile
21:21 - Biography
22:30 - Donations (out of date)
Adding TPE to your Player
24:00 - Updating
 
 
That concludes the 33rd issue of the VHLM Newsletter! If you feel like there is something I can improve or change, let me know! See you next week!!
 
 

- Childhood -
 
Tauras Karazija hails from a small, peaceful and a beautiful country of 3 million people called Lithuania.
 

 
Lithuania is mainly known for its three stereotypes: beautiful women, great beer and basketball.
 
Tauras Karazija was born in 15th of February 2001 in an enterprising railway town of Telsiai, Lithuania. Telsiai is one the smaller towns in Lithuania with just over 25.000 people inhabiting the town with a bad stadium and even worse infrastructure for other sports. So, as you can probably sense it already – not the best place for ice hockey greatness.
Tauras' not-so-yet-thrilling hockey career started in the Telsiai ice rink, located near the Telsiai town stadium. It was one Tauras‘ first hockey memories, as his dad, an ice hockey enthusiast took him down there to see him play with his fellow friends: „I remember being five years old and wobbling my way around the rink, trying not to fall over and smash my nose on the ice as my dad laughed on seeing me struggle“. But something about that wobbling and struggling made Tauras feel strange. It was that strange feeling of gliding through the ice so effortlessly. And that feeling is what made Tauras to fall in love with the beautiful game of hockey.
 

 
 
While attending school in Telsiai, Tauras practiced hockey in the nearest town that had an open-24/7 ice arena in the town of Mazeikiai, a 1-hour bus ride each day from Telsiai. Tauras played centre for local minor hockey teams, helping and leading them to various successes, including the Lithuania Little Hockey League championship.
 
- Teenage years -
 
After turning 14 years-old Tauras Karazija was called up to the Lithuania U-16 team and off to his first national team training camp. And the good thing about hockey in Lithuania, is that the funding for it is so low that all levels of the national team use only one ice rink arena. So that means when U-16 train with, there‘s always a couple of players from the National team, taping their sticks, shin pads or just getting ready for their practice after ours, because ice time was limited. Just as Tauras was finishing up his practice and he was pulled to the side by Mantas Armalis.
 
Mantas Armalis was the starting goalkeeper for Lithuania National team and quite a known hockey player around. But he was a good player, playing hockey overseas. “You are quite a player”, said Armalis. Tauras could feel the sense of achievement bubbling up inside of him. But a second later, Mantas made sure that Tauras would not get his head up in the clouds for a very long time: “You don’t look right. Your balance is all wrong. You don’t look up enough. You keep your head down too much… You will get murdered by proper defenders if you keep those habits up.” But then, he kept on going with that emotional rollercoaster of a conversation: “Do you ever want to play professional, Tauras?” And at that moment Tauras realized that he has never thought about playing hockey for a living. He never thought about making money off of it. Tauras was a kid who was just happy to put on skates five times a week and just play for the love of the game. But that was the crystallizing moment of his life when Tauras had to decide if he wanted to do this properly or not. All Tauras could mutter out was squeaky “Yeah… Who wouldn’t?”
 

 
- Skating towards the ultimate goal -
 
After Tauras‘ first U-16 tournament in Liepaja, Latvia he was picked up by Dinamo Riga. Dinamo Riga were going to be playing a friendly match with HC Spartak Moscow and invited Tauras to watch the game. Tauras and his father knew what was in the play. A few days later Tauras was in the car on his way to Latvia’s capital city Riga.
 
Once in Riga, Tauras Karazija was liked for his skating and his size, so coaches decided that playing defense would be a better fit for Tauras. Truth be told, HK Rīga had very few defensemen, so they needed another guy back on the blue line anyhow. One coach in particular, Aigars Cipruss was the one who taught Tauras how to really play defense, and that’s where Tauras‘ career took off.
Tauras made their team and ended up playing junior for the HK Rīga of the Russian Junior Hockey League (JHL) because it was the best youth league in the Eurasia region.
 

 
Aigars Cipruss taught Tauras how to play in a position that was different and new to him - offensive defenseman. It combined Tauras' strengths with team needs. Tauras was moulded as an offensive defenseman that possesses a high level of puck skills, broad rink vision and sense, and smooth skating skills. He was taught that rink vision and passing skills are critical to breaking the puck out of the defensive zone. It’s the ability to complete the first pass successfully that leads to the second, third and fourth passes up ice.
But for a defenseman to play in the biggest minutes of a game, besides being gifted offensively, he must be a responsible defensive player. A defenseman must be able to defend late in periods, execute on the power play and penalty kill, and defend when the game is on the line.
 
And Tauras really wanted to be that player. So he soaked up every bit and piece of knowledge the coaches gave him. Tauras studied every second of film. Watched every minute of videos that showed how great offensive defensemen played. And he tried to emulate what he heard, saw and learned.
The first year after moving to the bigger club - Dinamo Riga, he was sent to affiliate HK Riga and their junior academy. There Tauras Karazija ended up having a season that did not stand out of the rest very much: 29 games played, 6 goals scored, 9 assists, 15 points in total.
 

 
After continuing to work on his skills, fitness and skating, Tauras immediately showed that hard work pays off. Tauras Karazija was given the chance he needed and finished his last season with HK Riga, scoring impressive 13 goals, contributing with 24 assists and 37 points total in 47 regular season games. He scored most points and assists among all defensemen in the JHL. His play in the juniors also contributed to him during the end of the season regularly being a member of Dinamo Riga senior team and sitting on the bench during KHL regular season games.
 
Time went on, seasons passed and Tauras became more and more comfortable with the notion that he will be a professional hockey player. That he will be doing what he really loved and what felt closest to his heart. The world of hockey and the people that were involved in hockey on and off the field were also getting quite comfortable with the thought of Tauras Karazija playing professionally. Not long after his last season with HK Riga concluded - Tauras Karazija declares himself eligible for the upcoming VHLM draft. 
 

What team do you want to be drafted to? 
What kind of forward are you going to build?
Cake or Pie?
Favorite VHL/M Moment?
Forums vs Discord?
Worst Topping on a pizza?

thanks, y'all!!

thanks, y'all!!

Hey, @ontanis I would just like to welcome you to the league! If you have any question don't be afraid to pm me or anyone. Were all here to help! There is also a discord which is a great place to chat it up with people! https://discord.gg/YJEPMw Once again I welcome you and hope you enjoy your time here! 

Can you taste the rainbow? 

If you have any questions feel free to ask

Welcome to VHL! I truly hope you will have an awesome time here and see you around!

Welcome to the league! While the playoffs are going on, you can start to earn TPE in preparation for the VHLM draft! Message me or others if you need any h

@ontanis everything you need is above!

that name tho

Welcome to the league!
 
Let me know if you have any questions or need any assistance!