Mr_Hatter

Calgary Toronto Malmo Moscow

Glad I made your lawyers earn their retainer and not just sit on their asses

Thanks for the shout out my dude, it's a pleasure holding down the fort with you!

514 words, claiming week ending 8/11 #5 Wednesday, August 6th: There’s been a lot of new additions to the league, some high talent and high upside rookies have gotten picked up right before playoffs. It’s a tricky thing to balance, because these new guys seem to have a lot of skills, but I wonder if they have the experience to immediately help their teams. We have picked up a few guys, and I’m super excited to welcome them to the team. I know if they put in the work like the rest of the guys have over the course of the year, they will really start to impact our results. Speaking of results, damn this team has been firing on all cylinders! I think we’ve won like 14 games in a row (with a couple of those being overtime wins sprinkled in). The Reapers and us are more or less a class ahead of the rest of the league. We are at 86 and 85 points with us in second, while Minnesota is back at 73. Don’t get me wrong, Minnie still has a great shot; really, any of the teams in like the top 6 have a reasonable chance. Now, would I bet that anyone is likely to win that’s not Philly or us? No comment on that brother. But I don’t know, I don’t want to be too optimistic. Hockey is such a difficult game to predict, that it’s really stupid to even pretend like we know what will happen. All I gotta say is even though we are just one point back, I know most of the pundits are going to have us losing to Philadelphia in the finals, so I think it will be motivating to be considered the “underdog.” It’s weird thinking we might be the underdog (at least in that matchup) though, considering how good some of our guys are scoring right now. We have the top 3 points leaders, with another in the top 10. And that number one points leader is Zeno Miniti. Wow. What a player. He’s at 106(!!!) points right now, at 50 games played, which is higher than just about any points total I have ever seen. Don’t get me wrong, there might have been some better totals in history, but not that I know off the top of my head. What Zeno is putting out right now is absolutely incredible. It really is a pleasure to watch him play, and to be his teammate for it. And I’m going to be honest, it takes a lot of pressure of me as the goalie when my 1C is putting out over 2 points a game on average, I can tell you that. Our next game isn’t looking like it will be too difficult, we are playing a Mississauga team that isn’t doing to hot. I really like their goalie, Block Buster has been performing well, but it’s hard to carry a team that has only put up 75 goals in 49 games. We still have to take them seriously, but here’s to hoping for another result going our way!

USA World Europe Dallas Jones

@Nykonax Sorry for slagging off your team a little

The Music of the VHLM By A. Simon-Cowell-Type Part 6 Welcome back to The Music of the VHLM! This is the 6th installment of this series. Last week, we looked at the Philadelphia Reapers, who maintain a 3 point lead over Ottawa with one more game played. Certainly the top is a battle, but this week, we are going to shift our gaze from the top teams in the league to one that isn’t doing so hot - at least not in the standings. Folks I’m talking about Mexico City. Mexico City Kings Mexico, by Cake The Kings have had a rough season so far. Currently, they are leading the league in both losses and overtime losses, which is a nice way of saying they are last place. The team has been more or less gutted of talent, with only ten skaters and a single goalie on the roster. However, the Kings still control their first three draft picks for S68, with an additional first rounder from Ottawa and two additional third rounders from Yukon and Halifax. With a kind lottery they have a good chance of landing some real talent and then either making a push for the cup or catapulting it into further rebuilding for S69. The song I’ve chosen today for Mexico City is from geek rock darlings Cake, and it’s called simply “Mexico.” This bittersweet, western-style waltz has just a touch of blues that is perfect for a team in the middle of a rebuild. The lyrics “Oh baby, I was bound for Mexico // Oh baby, I was bound to let you go,” resonates for those first round picks that get drafted and subsequently flipped for the rebound process. Let’s just hope that they step out of this waltz sooner rather than later, and really start to dance. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned next week as we continue the coverage

Damn ok ?

1. Not including post-season? I think he'll hit 150 2. Well as far as goalie stats are concerned, I think my save percentage and GAA will both improve. Considering I started the season at like 50 and I've gotten much better since then. 3. I think the funniest part so far is going into the main discord general chat and looking at the ~drama~ 4. No predictions for me, but I'm hoping I will go in the first round. I'm unsure though, a lot of teams have goalies locked up for a while. 5. I think it has. To be honest, I'm only human, so I like to win, and that makes the whole experience more fun. But that being said, if I were on a worse team, I think it would be really interesting to see how I would do facing 30 shots rather than 15. 6. I think that's very true, but it's interesting. It's a lot easier to use but I think you miss out on a lot of content that is being created in the point tasks, so I think it's important to have a healthy mix of both.

Toronto 3-1

Seattle Riga Calgary Toronto RIP my self esteem

Seattle Riga Calgary Toronto I cringe

Seattle Riga Calgary Toronto This is awkward It didn't seem like it was working but it did every time

Seattle Riga Calgary Toronto

Toronto 5-3

Moscow Riga Calgary Toronto

Word Count: 563 words, claiming for week ending 8/4 #4 Monday, July 29th: So we have just about reached the midway point of the season now, and let me tell you, things are really going well. There is an attitude in the locker room right now that with enough work, we can do anything. We are only two games back on the Reapers, and one up on Minnesota, so things are definitely up in the air right now, but if you took us to a seven game series against any team in the VHL I don’t think anyone would be shocked if we win the series. Now I’m not saying it’s guaranteed or anything crazy like that; hockey is a game with a whole lot of variance, and I’m not crazy. You know, I actually saw some article the other day, that said something like it would take a 52 game hockey series for the “better” team to have the same win likelihood that the “better” team has in a 7 game basketball series. So like, if your average 1-seed beats your average 8-seed in the NBA, say, 75% of the time across a 7 game series, it would take the equivalent teams in hockey 52 games to win 75% of the time too. Crazy right? Just goes to show, the better team doesn’t always win. It’s funny then, that in a game upon which so much relies on more or less chance, it is all decided in a high intensity playoff structure. Like Europen soccer, for example, separates their cup competitions from their league competitions. At the end of the season, the team that has the highest points - the “best” team across the whole season - wins the league. Clean, plain and simple. Then they also have the cup competitions, which work the same way playoffs do (though they sometimes have a brief group stage too). I think that model is a lot more fair overall, but if I’m being honest, as a goalie, the hockey model is a lot more attractive, if you really believe in yourself. ‘Cause as a goalie, if you carry the team through the postseason, you can just win the cup like that. I can’t wait for the opportunity to be honest, but I’m not going to pretend it doesn’t make me the slightest bit nervous. But it’s coming closer and closer, the postseason that is. I know we still have like 40 games left or so, but it felt like the season was just beginning only yesterday, so who knows, tomorrow might be the finals! Joking of course, there’s a long road ahead. Speaking of the road ahead, I’ll go over the next game really quik. We are taking on the San Diego Marlins. We have only played them once so far this season, and it was a fairly comfortable 5-1 win in one of the first few games of the season. So in theory, this should be another comfortable game, but you never know. The Marlins are right on the borderline of playoffs right now, so I’m sure that there is a lot of pressure in that locker room right now to make a play against one of the top teams in the league, and it’s been a long time since we’ve played them. I mean, we have improved a lot, but they could have too. Well, we’ll find out soon enough! Until next time.

Sure! I can help out

The Music of the VHLM By A. Simon-Cowell-Type Part 5 Welcome back to The Music of the VHLM! Welcome to the 5th installment of this series. Last week, we looked at Minnesota, but since then, a new team has risen to the top of the table. Last years cup champs, the Philadelphia Reapers, have taken the leagues top place again, though they are closely followed by both Ottawa and Minnesota. Philadelphia Reapers (Don’t Fear) The Reaper, by Blue Öyster Cult Choosing a song/artist for this team was tricky for me, as there is a plethora of good music coming out of and focusing on Philadelphia. So, to turn that on its head, I decided to choose a song that has nothing to do with Philadelphia, and instead focus on the “Reapers.” Blue Öyster Cult’s magnum opus (Don’t Fear) The Reaper is a classic rock standard that lulls the listener into a false sense of peace; which is exactly the opposite of what teams looking to best Philadelphia should do. Last season’s cup winners will not stand by and let some other team come in and take their spot on top. Look to the Reapers as a standard for good hockey this year, and enjoy the show. Needs more cowbell! Thanks for reading, and stay tuned next week as we continue the coverage

1) I'm a Shark's fan personally. It's what I grew up with, and my roommates and I watch all the games on tv, and when we are in town from college we sometimes go to them! 2) I am a huge sports fan in general, but mostly soccer (probably bigger soccer fan than hockey fan tbh). I watch a lot of basketball as well, and some other sports like baseball and football but not much. 3) I've thought about it. I'd never join another hockey sim league while I'm in this one, but I might consider a soccer league. 4) I think we will probably flirt with it along with Philadelphia and Minnesota for most of the season. It doesn't seem like any of us three team are going anywhere soon. 5) I think I plan on moving up. At the pace I'm on, it would really set me back to stay below the cap until next season starts in terms of TPE. 6) That's really tough. To be honest I'm not even sure how many games we will play haha. Lets go with 55-15-3. But could just as easily go up or down by 5 games.

Calgary over Seattle, 4-1

Moscow Toronto Calgary Helsinki

Canada USA World EDIT: I'm dumb

Lol right??