Mr_Hatter

The Music of the VHLM
By  A. Simon-Cowell-Type

 

Part 2

 

Welcome back to The Music of the VHLM! Last week we looked at Ottawa and Halifax, and this week we will be taking a look at a couple more VHLM teams, Houston Bulls and Las Vegas Aces. First up, the Houston Bulls!

 

Houston Bulls
I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me), by Whitney Houston

 

What can you say about the team that finished bottom of the regular season with just 6 wins over the course of the season? Obviously this new season provides an opportunity for a rebuild, and a re-branding of the Houston Bulls as a competitive team, and one that GM FrostBeard is sure to take full advantage of. But first, Houston has to be competitive again, and this is why Whitney Houston’s seminal work “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” is perfect for this team that just wants to get a chance to make the playoffs again, and dance with somebody in the first round of the VHLM Playoffs.

 

Las Vegas Aces
Viva Las Vegas, by Elvis Presley

 

In perhaps the most expected song in this series, the famous Elvis Presley song is a perfect fit for the Aces this off-season. Second only to the Bulls in terms of losses last season, Las Vegas has a lot to fix coming into the new season, but Las Vegas remains an iconic city, and for good reason. The draw for free agents and new talent to ply their trade in the City of Lights remains ever high, regardless of the team’s performance. As Elvis sings in this song, “If I wind up broke up well // I'll always remember that I had a swingin' time.”

 

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned next week as we continue the coverage
 

11 hours ago, Acydburn said:

1.) How do you think Ottawa did in the draft? Any hits or misses?

2.) Do you think the VSN covered the draft well? What would you improve?

3.) What do you think of our current roster?

4.) What do you think of the Lynx LR?

5.) What are your goals for the season?

6.) Way to early predictions. Who do you think is going to win the cup this season?

7.) What do you think the team could improve upon?

8.) Tell me something the GM and AGM should know about you?

 

1) In my humble opinion I think Raymond Bernard is the steal of the draft \s. In all seriousness, I think so! I'm loving the atmosphere of the team right now at least, so all the personalities seem to mesh well at least. Other than that, I feel like we will have to wait and see for who performs. 

 

2) I loved the fact that the draft was covered at all, it was really cool seeing my name being called out. One comment I would have is I feel like it would be cool if they covered the players a little more, though I understand since it's the VHLM draft there isn't exactly a lot of history to cover. 

 

3) I like what I see! I know that from the draft we focused heavily on defensemen which can be a little scary in principle, but I think we've been doing a good job picking up some extra forwards during the offseason post-draft. 

 

4) I love the LR atmosphere! Everyone has been very helpful in orienting newer players like myself, and I think its a really good look for the team and the league as a whole. 

 

5) My goal for the season is to train hard every week and try to maximize what I can accomplish every week. Other than that, I guess zero goals allowed the whole season? I don't know but that seems super realistic and doable, definitely gonna happen. 

 

6) I think that without a doubt in my mind, the Ottawa Lynx will win the cup. I mean, it's basically impossible that we don't. I am completely unbiased in this prediction by the way. 

Claiming for week ending 7/14

+2 electric boogaloo

Media Spots:

 

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8.

 

Total:

8 Media Spots

 

@DollarAndADream

 

Also, let me know if I did anything wrong please, this is my first time reviewing  

Review: I like the things that you focused on in this media spot, particularly the specific goals that Chism has for the season. Specifically, I think it really helped give some insight to the grit the player has, and paints a picture of the player's personality, and the locker room presence. Great job!

Review: Overall, this is just a very well written media spot. Everything is spaced very nicely, with useful bold to denote questions, and to separate the questions. The questions themselves are really useful, and I think do a good job to introduce the reader to the newest expansion team! Great job. 

Review: Great content guys! I like how the question asked and answers given really helped give a good feeling of an insider scoop of what the locker room and overall experience is like. One small critique I have would be to better space out where the questions and answers are, perhaps the use of bold or italics could help delineate this better. Great work!

Review: I really find the premise of this media spot interesting/funny, and I think you did a really good job coming up with this content. Additionally, great use of pictures and headers to space out the piece. Good analysis in your writing, and overall great job!

Review: I really liked how in-depth you went into the context of each pick, not just who the pick was, but the meta of the draft surrounding the pick, the reason behind the pick in particular, and the history of the player in question. A small critique, I think the article could be spaced a little better, perhaps with an extra line between players, for readability sake. Great job!

Review: I think you had a really strong personal narrative on this media spot, and overall your writing was very good! The only points of critique I have is that I think the piece would benefit by being broken up a little. Perhaps an image, or a headline, or even just breaking up the paragraphs to smaller pieces. Overall, good job though!

Review: I really liked your use of under-picture captions to clearly describe what the article was about, it was a nice professional touch. I also liked how you integrated personal details while still giving a very good overview of how the draft process went on. Great job!

Review: Very well structured article, the use of bold and italics helped to clearly delineate and flavor the different sections. I really liked how in-depth and professional all the descriptions were. Picture added to the article as well. Great job!

 

The Music of the VHLM

By   A. Simon-Cowell-Type

 

Part 1

As we approach the beginning of yet another VHLM season, we here at VHL.com like to look at all aspects of the VHLM teams that are about to go toe to toe, and give our take on their respective capabilities. For this series, we are going to look at the artists/songs that we like to think embody the spirit and nature of the team in question. So without further ado, here is the music of the VHLM.

 

Ottawa Lynx

No More Love Songs, by Ottawa

 

For our first team, we choose a band, that although not from Ottawa, shares the same name. An upbeat indie-rock outfit with energetic and captivating hooks, Ottawa outlines the same upbeat, peppy spirit that has taken hold of the Ottawa Lynx locker room. 
 

Halifax 21st

The Gunner, by Machine Gun Kelly

 

Looking at the next team in our list, we decided to theme the title after Halifax’s 3rd highest TPE player, their goalie Thorvald Gunnarsson. This song oozes swagger and frustration, a perfect vibe for the 21st’s semifinal exit from the VHLM S66 playoffs. Watch out VHLM, the Gunnar is waiting. 
 

 

Stay tuned for next week as we cover more teams!

 

Claiming for Raymond Bernard, Week ending in 7/7

Plz free tp and also e

 

Youth

 

Raymond Bernard was born in a small town in the Central Valley of California, near the state capitol of Sacramento. His father, owned a small restaurant on the banks of the delta, while his mother worked as a physical therapist for a practice in the city. In elementary school, his life was more or less a normal, middle America sort of existence. Both his parents worked, and when he wasn’t at school or in the restaurant, he was running around the fields with his friends, playing all sorts of games, but particularly soccer. Since none of his friends wanted to play goalkeeper, they all wanted to be the ones to score, so Raymond, being the tallest, always ended up in front of the net. He didn’t mind though, and enjoyed the challenge of winning a game simply by not losing it. Around the time he turned 10, however, his life began to change. 

 

Just as he was finishing up 4th grade, the clinic his mother worked for in Sacramento closed down. During her search for a job, an old professor of hers reached out to her and offered her a job as a lecturer for the PT program at UBC in Vancouver. She didn’t accept at first, but as the summer dragged on, and money got tight it was obvious that she needed to start work again. The restaurant wasn’t doing so well, and his parents relationship worsened. By the end of the summer, his mother accepted the position in Vancouver, his parents decided they needed a break, and Raymond went to Vancouver with his mother to start a new life. 

 

Although his mother was Canadian, Raymond had only briefly visited family, and Vancouver was miles apart from the small town Raymond grew up in. Settling in was difficult at first, but once the school year started, and he met other kids, he began to bond with some of the athletic boys over their love of sports - the only problem was, he had barely seen any hockey games, let alone played in one. But one of Raymond’s new friends took it upon himself to “re-educate the American,” and took him out skating with his youth team. To put it kindly, Raymond wasn’t exactly comfortable on the ice, at least not for that first practice; but he knew that he had to keep at it, and so he did. Early on in his training, a coach suggested that he try goalie; after all, it had been his position in soccer most of the time. It was at this moment that Raymond began to shine. Although he certainly was behind his peers, he had a lot of talent for stopping the puck from hitting the back of the net. 

 

And so Raymond worked. He practiced every day, improved his skating, and would beg his friends to come out to shoot on him whenever he could. And he got better. He improved his puck handling, his skating ability, his reaction time, and his game sense. He improved like only a kid who had never played ice hockey before but had all the desire could, and he loved every minute of it. Soon enough, he joined the youth league, and started making his way through the minor hockey ranks of Canada. 
 

 

Teenage Years

 

Raymond started playing his first year of hockey in a simple recreational hockey league, but quickly began to play at a competitive level, and moved up through the ranks. By the time he was 14, Raymond was playing AA hockey, but couldn’t seem to break into the absolute top level of his age group. He felt uneasy, and out of place. He had only been playing hockey for about 4 years, and was playing against kids who had been in skates practically since they could walk. Not to mention the other kids targeted him, trying to unnerve him in their games. There was always chatter, and the older he got, and the higher the level he played at, the more his opponents seemed to take it as a personal affront that he was on the ice. He began gaining a reputation, not through any action of his own, but by simply existing. 

 

Consequently, he began making uncharacteristic mistakes on the ice, and his coaches noticed. After a particularly poor practice, one of them pulled Raymond aside and asked him what was wrong. Unable to articulate exactly what he was feeling, Raymond simply said that he wasn’t cut out for it anymore, and that he thought he should just stop playing. And if it wasn’t for that coaches response, he would have. His coach said, 

 

Quote

 

“You know Ray, I’ve been coaching for a long time now, and I’ve seen a lot of kids burn out and quit. I don’t think you’re that kid. I know you feel like you aren’t going to make it right now, but I’ve seen how happy you are in front of the net, making saves, and I gotta say, if you quit now, you are going to miss that. I heard a quote once, and it goes like this - ‘What makes something special is not just what you have to gain, but what you feel there is to lose.’ So sure, you might have something to gain by playing hockey, if you ‘make it’, but I know for a fact that if you quit now, you will lose something special for yourself. And let me tell you, you don’t get too many do-overs on the special things in your life.”

 

 

It was at this point that Raymond realized just what hockey had come to mean for him, and realized that to quit now wouldn’t just mean it was all for nothing - he didn’t care about that. It would mean that the one special thing in his life, that he enjoyed more than anything else, would go away. It was this love of the game that propelled him forward, as it had from the very first time he stopped a puck.

 

So he persisted. Another year passed, another season of improvement and work, and he was recruited by the top AAA team in Vancouver. Finally, Raymond was playing with some of the top talent in the area. These were guys that had been scouted by the VHLM from the time they were 12. Raymond was tested a lot in his first year in AAA, but he didn’t crack. He stepped up to the challenge, and recorded top level save percentages, and came in the top 5 for AAA teams in BC in shutouts. He was playing some of the best hockey of his life, and after another two years at the AAA level, Raymond was recruited to play NCAA hockey by the University of Denver. He was headed back to America. 

 

 

Raymond played for three seasons with the Pioneers, and by the end of his second season was named one of the alternate captains for his on-ice presence and good-natured leadership in the locker room. While in playing collegiate hockey, continued his development as one of the emerging goalie stars in amateur hockey. 
 

 

The Future

 

Although collegiate hockey was instrumental in continuing Raymond’s development, he yearned for something more, and so following the completion of the 66th season of the VHLM, he declared candidacy for the S67 VHLM Entry Draft. Although Raymond had decent chances of being picked up in the draft due to the lack of proven talent at his position, he was slated to be a late round draft by most experts. However, on July 2nd, 2019 Raymond was selected 40th overall in the 4th round of the draft by the Ottawa Lynx. So for the first time, he signed a contract and went off to training camp in the Canadian capital, and began his professional hockey career. 

 

 

On 7/1/2019 at 8:43 AM, Acydburn said:

1 ) What VHL team is your favorite? Who are you hoping to get drafter by? (if you're already drafted: What do you wish to accomplish your first year in the VHL?)

2 ) With the VHL draft coming up, what do you have to say to the VHL scouts? (if you're already drafted: Is there anything you wish you did differently before your draft?)

3 ) What does your ideal Ottawa alternate jersey look like?

4 ) Who do you think the most underrated player in the VHLM was last season?

5 ) What is your player usually doing during their day off?

6 ) Who do you model your player after?

7 ) Did you accomplish your season goals?

8 ) Did you get as much TPE from the achievement tracker as you thought you would?

9 ) With the season being over, were there any changes you wished you made to your build?

 

Raymond Bernard

 

1) Although I spent my early childhood in California, my first exposure to VHL hockey was the Vancouver Wolves; so I have to say I am a Wolves supporter.

 

2) I was just drafted into the VHLM, so I'm not thinking that far ahead, but I would tell VHL scouts to keep an eye on my progress!

 

3) My ideal Ottawa alternative jersey is something flashy, maybe a third color mixed in, like a blue or pink or something fun.

 

5) During my day off I like to play music (bass guitar baby)

 

7) My season goals? I suppose that so far I have! Getting drafted was step one.

 

8 ) Since I just started out, I haven't really had much in the way of achievements, but look to that to change! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday, July 1^st, 2019:

 

I remember the first time I saved a shot. Well, saved might not exactly be the right word. It’s more like I fell flat on my face, and just happened to catch the puck on my way down. You see, I didn’t start off playing hockey as a kid like most of these guys; I was a soccer goalkeeper until I was 10. The only time I remember skating before I moved to Vancouver was at one of those pop-up rinks in the winter time that stays for two months and then disappears until next year, almost like the ice just melted into the gutter. But when I moved up to Canada from my hometown in California, the only sport that kids I met seemed to talk about was hockey. So I figured I’d give it a shot, and I started to go to some open-skate practice for a local rec-league.

 

Not going to lie, it was pretty rough at the beginning. Skating did not come second nature to me; I was never going to be a flashy playmaker, moving up and down the ice with ease. I wasn’t going to be that guy weaving in and out of the defense with ease, or even a brutish defenseman; hell, if I got in a fight on ice as a kid the ice would have won more than the other guy. But in my first couple weeks, when I got put in the crease for that first time, and made that first save (albeit with my teeth rather than my blocker), I knew that I had found my calling. The way I saw it, as long as I could stop the puck, it didn’t matter how slow I might be sprinting down the ice.

 

Of course, I’ve worked on it, and since 10 years ago I’ve improved my skating skills a lot, but the core of my game has and will always be getting myself between the puck and the net. And that’s really all that matters right? Zero goals against, shutouts, clean sheets, however you want to call it. But I’m going to be honest; I’ve always had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder. Growing up, I heard the chatter, the funny little “nicknames” kids seem to come up with for those who were different; but all that has only served to make me hungrier to succeed, and to work, and work, and work on it. And if all goes right tomorrow in the VHLM entry draft, all that work will soon pay off. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a long road ahead, but I think I can make it. I’m just excited to be given the opportunity to succeed, and to make my mark. I love the sport, and just because I wasn’t born with skates on my feet doesn’t mean I won’t be able to lace up just like any other player, go out there, and make some stops. But first, I need to get some sleep. Tomorrow is a big day.

 

 

 

Tuesday, July 2, 2019:

 

9:32 a.m. PDT

I woke up this morning feeling nauseous. I know that at this point, there is nothing I can really do to change my draft stock. I looked at the mock draft, and I wasn’t even mentioned until the blanket list they put out for probable late-rounder’s. Next to my name, the analysts wrote: Late-bloomer, only expect to see him because of the utter lack of goalies in this draft class. Talk about encouragement.

So I barely ate, just some toast and a glass of milk, and got ready for the day. I got some texts of encouragement from family and friends. Even my first coach sent me a long email saying how proud he was of the work I put in (and taking all the credit for my success, of course). It was nice to see the support, but if anything it made me more anxious not to disappoint them. Not like there is anything I could do otherwise, but it leaves a knot in my stomach all the same. Anyway, I think it’s time for me to head out!

 

3:58 p.m. PDT

This is stressful man, but I have some good news! A couple GM’s have reached out to me and asked if I’d be interested in playing for their team. It’s not like anyone has given me a distinct offer or said they’d pick me at any given slot, but it’s really promising! I think I might at least be able to sneak in the draft, somewhere in the last couple rounds, but that’s good enough for me. As long as I’m given a chance, even as an undrafted free-agent, I’ll be happy. I’m sure if I just get some playing time then I can convince some teams to give me a chance. I can do this!

 

8:14 p.m. PDT

I can’t believe it, but it actually happened! I was drafted by Ottawa, 40^th overall! I’m absolutely floored, but it turns out they needed a goalie, and liked my attitude enough to take a chance on me in the 4^th round. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in myself and I think that I have the skills to perform well, and the potential to go far, but I am just stunned that I went in the 4^th round. Now it’s not like I was some lottery pick or anything, but still, it feels pretty unbelievable. Getting that phone call was like a breath of fresh air. I’m just so excited to be a part of the team that came just shy of winning it all last season. I really think we can be a contender this year, and I hope I can put up the performances night in and night out to justify my GM’s decision to pick me when they did. It’s going to be a long road, but I know I can do it, and I know it’s the right road for me. For now I can’t wait to meet the rest of my team! And for tonight, it’s time to celebrate!

 

 

1023 words, using for weeks 6/30-7/6 and 7/7-7/13. First time posting so please let me know if there are any issues

+2 Raymond Bernard

40 minutes ago, Peace said:

 

Welcome to the Victory Hockey League! 

I'm the general manager of the Saskatoon Wild and I'll be keeping my eye on you as the VHLM Dispersal Draft approaches. If I may make a few suggestions, it would look amazing to GMs if you acquired TPE between now and the draft. You'd be intentionally targeted as a late round steal, so here's to a successful career!

 

Thanks for the advice! I briefly did some with the reddit upvote/comment thread. Unfortunately I may or may not be at work until the draft begins (west coast!!) So a little limited on actually getting more done

Thanks for the nice welcomes! I joined the discord, and now I'm just excited for the draft!

Player Information

Username: Mr_Hatter

Player Name: Raymond Bernard

Recruited From: Reddit

Age: 20

Position: G

Height: 74 in.

Weight: 190 lbs.

Birthplace: United States of America

Player Page

@VHLM GM