Elmebeck

So I personally like how you under the Draft page can see when the last update was made, https://vhlportal.com/teams/drafts/32

I'd love to have that for the team roster view too, would help a lot with lines and keeping on top on players that stop updating for whatever reason.

So I personally like how you under the Draft page can see when the last update was made, https://vhlportal.com/teams/drafts/32

I'd love to have that for the team roster view too, would help a lot with lines and keeping on top on players that stop updating for whatever reason.

So I personally like how you under the Draft page can see when the last update was made, https://vhlportal.com/teams/drafts/32

I'd love to have that for the team roster view too, would help a lot with lines and keeping on top on players that stop updating for whatever reason.

Hey, glad you could join me today. Today we will be talking about the draft, and some others. There’s not to much to talk about right now since it’s the off-season. The playoffs are almost over and Mississauga just finished off Mexico City, to advance to the finals vs Saskatoon. From what we’ve seen all year from both of these teams, I think Saskatoon has just been a juggernaut this year, and they’ll win the Cup. Upsets are a thing though. The draft is coming up in about a week. Saskatoon is loosing a lot of their players, as well as many other teams. As the San Diego AGM, I know we are losing all but 1 player. Luckily for us we have 13 picks in the next 2 drafts. Speaking of me being AGM, @MexicanCow123 left his job as AGM at San Diego to go to Yukon to be the GM there. I got hired as AGM for San Diego. Can MexicanCow turn Yukon around to be the next Juggernaut of the league? I think it’s possible, but it will take a few seasons. And in the draft, there’s not many great players to pick up in the later rounds. They’re all either, new, inactive,  or just low TPE. Hopefully your team scouted well, you’ll need to have good scouting for this draft. That will end it for Week 1 of “Alex Bridge Around The League”. Make sure to tune in Monday, for Part #2 of this weekly series. Have a great Weekend everyone!!

I may have talked about this before, I apologize if I did. On the page that you apply your TPE, I think it would be kind of useful to be able to see how many TPE you need to complete/modify your build. Meaning, it should show a negative value in the  "Banked TPE" display. It won't let you increase any skills unless you have the TPE but it would be good to know how much you need and work towards that number. So, not a game changer, just a fun way to look at your build and plan for the future. Thanks.

So I personally like how you under the Draft page can see when the last update was made, https://vhlportal.com/teams/drafts/32

I'd love to have that for the team roster view too, would help a lot with lines and keeping on top on players that stop updating for whatever reason.

So I personally like how you under the Draft page can see when the last update was made, https://vhlportal.com/teams/drafts/32

I'd love to have that for the team roster view too, would help a lot with lines and keeping on top on players that stop updating for whatever reason.

Honestly, the title is a little click-bait but the idea that I had was I wanted to give a little shout out to some great people from S66 who pushed me or helped me or just influenced me in some way.
 
Hunter Hearst Helmsley/ @Beaviss- You knew you were going to get mentioned. From the time I started in the league, you were at the top of the draft, and you never have left that top spot go. Honestly some times I wish you would just chill and let me be the top guy from S66 but I think that will never happen. It actually has been great having you there pushing me to do everything I can to get more TPE and try and edge you out. It's funny thinking back when I first started and I used you in so many media spots or vhl.com articles as inspiration for Freeman to just try and be better. Honestly It's great that we are teammates now and are able to do some great things on the ice. Also, Beaviss your just an awesome person who I am great to know and have had the pleasure to have dinner with. 
 
Jet Jaguar/ @gorlab - Honestly since our days in Halifax it has always been great keeping up with your career and what you do on and off the ice. It's honestly great to have someone neck and neck with me in TPE and I feel like it has pushed me to keep going more times than not when I see you get higher than me or close to me and I just have to push back. Honestly, you are one of the best graphics guys I know and I am so happy to have been given a sig from you. It makes me smile every time I look at it and It just makes me hope that one day we can be teammates again either with these players or some future players. It was a shame we didn't win together but I still love seeing you do so well. I think what you for graphics is wonderful and that you keep pushing the envelope of what we are capable of.
 
 Shane Mars/ @Spade18 - Like Beaviss you were top of our class when I created and didn't slow down until you left. It was crazy for me to think of you two as rivals but it pushed me to where I am today. We didn't talk much but I know how it is with life sometimes even when you don't know some people all that well they can still push you in ways that you were not expecting. I wish you a great time and hopefully a great player with your new one. Hope everything is good for you in the future. wether you know or not you were a huge inspiration for me when I was starting in the league. It was a shame when I head you were leaving and it made it really hard for a while to find a closer competition than HHH, just glad Gorlab started catching up to me. 
 
Shawnomir Jagr/ @TheLastOlympian07 - Great teammate/linemate whom I did not know that well before we were both selected to the wolves. So glad to have an all S66 line with you and HHH. With you though we both knew the struggle that it was in our first couple seasons here. Life was hard as rookies but we stepped up and got shit done. I'm glad to see your numbers get where they should be based on your skill. Hopefully, we continue to have good seasons together and maybe get more cups in the future. I know its tough sometimes being on the same line as me and HHH where you often get the short end of the stick, but I am glad to have you as a linemate and hope that we can continue to thrive and do great things on the ice.
 
Apollo Hackett/ @Renomitsu - I remember when we first starting talking around the time of the draft. You were worried about dropping to the 3rd or 4th round due to school but Riga took a shot you with in the 2nd. They were silly to have waited that long. Every team was silly to pass on you. Also I always think of and am happy for your kind words with my mock drafts when I did them. Also was always happy when you wanted to do your own with some of the work I did. Hopefully we can still team up sometime in the future. I just want to thank you so much for encouraging me with those early pieces you were always there to give some positive encouragement and it really means a lot to me.
 
Dimitri Volosenkov/ @SirRupertBarnes - You are not active anymore but I still miss you. You were my captain in Halifax and my first competition in the depth chart. I will never forget the kind words of encouragement you had for me that honestly keeps me going some days. If you ever do come back I hope that I can help you the way you helped me soo many moons ago.
 
John Frostbeard/ @FrostBeard - Another person who I have always respect for the hard work they do on and off the ice. I always loved what you did when you were your own media spot but now that you are running the VSN with Bana it has been great watching you and your team do such great work. I hope that I can continue to work with you and build better stuff for you and your team to continue to do more wonderful things for the VHL as a whole. I see your leadership there and it makes me smile to see other people care so much about the VSN from our class and It just warms my heart to see you helping new people get excited about things. Hopefully this next year I can take another step up and get back to writing like I used to more.
 
Words: 1000+

A long time ago, in the galaxy far, far away known as the Archived Media Spots section of the forum, I wrote an article called "So You Want to GM...," which detailed how exactly your friendly neighborhood Gustav came to be supreme dictator of a VHLM team (not in a biographical sense, but in more of a "here's what to do" sense). Anyway, I'm somewhat well-known in the GM community these days as "that guy who sends broken lines from a Mac" (and, as the simmers know, occasionally the client file instead of actual lines). That's somewhat significant as the STHS Client is NOT meant to be run outside of Windows, so doing it outside of Windows is a challenge. So, I'm writing this article to show you the long and difficult process which is getting it to work on Mac, with no guarantee of good results.
 
Note: recently, I bought Parallels for my computer for multiple reasons, both league-related and otherwise, one of which is STHS compatibility. If you're willing to spend the money on Parallels, this is easily your best option. But if you don't have the money to spare on it, or if you don't think it's worth it, I'll show you the long way. This will teach you a perfectly valid way to run it for free--it requires a reasonable short-term memory and a lot of getting used to, but it works.
 
Another note: please don't accuse me of being a Mac fanboy, as I'm not one. The only reason why I've got this computer is for the music programs. Otherwise I'd be using a PC like all you common folk.
 
 
STEP 1: DOWNLOAD WINE 
Go here: http://winebottler.kronenberg.org and click the "download" icon with the green arrow (or, if you're on an old computer, you might need the one with the gray arrow. You'll want the green one if you're running anything higher than OS X Capitan). Hit "download" and wait.
 
1A: Make sure you don't get anything sketchy. When you hit "download," you will be taken to a screen with ads. You may have something pop up that says you need to download something to continue. You may have something pop up which implies in some way that you should be clicking a link, or that you have a virus of some sort, or whatever. CLICK NOTHING EXCEPT THE YELLOW "SKIP AD" BUTTON IN THE TOP RIGHT (which should appear after a short amount of time). The file you want to download is a perfectly good version of what you're actually looking for, but the site may lead you to download something which is not what you're looking for and which you do not want on your computer (I can tell you this from experience, though that's a story for another time). Anyway, make sure you download WineBottler and only WineBottler. 
 
1B: What to do after you've successfully avoided sketchy downloads and gotten Wine... Click the .dmg file to open it. You should see something like this:
 

 
Click and drag both Wine and WineBottler to the Applications folder. I'm not sure if you need to do this with WineBottler for STHS, but it's what I did and it works so I won't tell you to do otherwise.
 
 
STEP 2: CLIENT SETUP
Go here: http://sths.simont.info/Download_En.php and download the client you see in the first set of links. It doesn't matter which one you download, whether it's Windows or Mac, because it's the same file either way. I prefer the Mac one, as it comes in its own folder with a text file that gives instructions that don't work and then basically just says "yeah figure it out yourself idiot." Having the client file in its own folder is actually very important, and I'll explain why in the next part.
 
2A: Get the client to acknowledge that anything other than itself exists. I don't know how to explain this part other than by saying that, when you click "open," there's a drop-down menu at the top which should look something like this when you open it up:
 

 
See those blue folders? If you do this wrong, opening up STHS will, through some stroke of pure idiocy, absolutely not recognize that there are any other files on your computer. You'll see the three white things marked C, H, and Z, and sure, you can click on the Z and find the user folder and find your username and click the downloads folder, but once you get in there nothing will happen--even though you've got a compatible file in there. I HAVE NO IDEA WHY THIS IS THE CASE OR WHAT CAUSES IT, But I can tell you how exactly to place your client so that you will see those blue folders in there, and so the client will show you a client file if you've downloaded one.
If you've downloaded the "Mac and Linux client" (literally the same thing as the Windows one, but in a folder), it will be in your downloads folder. Open Finder, find the folder with the client sitting in Downloads (if for some reason it isn't in Downloads, put it in there) and drag it onto the sidebar.
 

My STHS folder. Note how I've dragged it out to the sidebar rather than leaving it in Downloads or putting it on my desktop or something. THIS IS IMPORTANT. Pictured in my STHS folder: the pointless text file that came with the client, the client itself, a completed lines file, Buff Beav pic (optional), and a folder containing the sim engine itself (unrelated to this article, don't worry about it).
 
If you've downloaded the Windows client (and, again, there is no difference), it will again be sitting in Downloads (and, again, if it is not in Downloads, put it in Downloads). Once it's in Downloads, create a folder, name it whatever you want, and stick the client in there. Take the folder and drag it out to the sidebar in Finder--same process as above with the "Mac" client.
 
Now, all you've done at this point is set up the client so that you should (to the best of my knowledge) be able to open up and run it. You still have to learn how to actually run it; having fun yet?
 
 
STEP 3: ACTUALLY RUNNING THE CLIENT
 
 
First, you'll need a client file from the index. Go to the subforum where all the current season's games are listed, and at the top you'll see the index pinned. Open up the index and go to "Main" --> "STHS Client League File." The file should download automatically, and you should see it in your Downloads folder. Leave it there for now.
 
Go into your STHS folder and right-click on the client. Go Open With --> Wine.
 

What it should look like. Ignore all the other stuff--Parallels is the superior program that I've spent money on, File Explorer is a part of that, and I've tried PlayOnMac with this and it does not work (or, more accurately, it uses Wine, so there's no difference--but with PlayOnMac, I can't find a way around that stupid "you have nothing in your downloads folder" thing I mentioned earlier). Anyway, click Wine.
 
Once you've clicked Wine, you may get some sort of error message saying that some setting has to be changed so that you can allow the client to be run with Wine. I don't remember what it was specifically, but I can tell you that I got past it by just looking it up. If you get something like this, look it up and you should be able to get past it.
 
Anyway, before (or after, I don't know) this error pops up, you should get this window:
 

 
ALWAYS choose the first option. If you choose the second, it will actually make the client into a nice app for you--but then you'll also get the stupid "you don't have anything downloaded" thing that's (as far as I know) impossible to work around. Run it directly every time without exception.
 

 
When you finally get it opened up, click File, then Open. You should see this picture. Look familiar?
 

 
If you see this picture, you have done it right and you've avoided that stupid bullshit thing where it won't recognize that there are any other files in your computer. If it doesn't look like this (if you don't see all the blue folders right away) you haven't done it right and you will be hit with that stupid bullshit thing. Get rid of the client you have downloaded, download another one, and follow all the steps again. If you do everything exactly as I've told you to do, and you get this, I've explained it wrong and I don't know what to tell you. I got it to work through pure trial and error; maybe you will too eventually.
 
Anyway...
 
Click Downloads.
 

 
The stuff in everyone's Downloads folder is different, but note the presence of the STHS folder I mentioned earlier in this one. I do not know this for sure, but I believe that having the client folder in your Downloads folder forces the client to look through everything else in your Downloads folder--in this case, the client file you've just downloaded. Double click that.
 

 
You should see this. Double click your team.
 

 
Now you should see this. The "Roster" tab is where you'll assign captain status to players, as well as determine which players are actually on your roster (due to roster limits, you should never have a surplus. But, if for some reason a player isn't on your roster, you should check this tab each time you do lines). I'll skip that one because it's fairly self-explanatory. Now, click "Lines." Here's where the Mac idiocy sets in...
 

 
When you click Lines, this will happen. Just click OK. You will be able to move on without issue, so I have no idea why this pops up.
 

 
Now, here's where the real Mac idiocy sets in. Guess what: these lines are COMPLETE. There is a player sitting in every one of those white bars in the above image. The Mac client doesn't show who's where; you just have to remember it (which is near impossible at first, but after a few seasons I've gotten used to it enough that I'm pretty good at it). You can figure it out, one player at a time, by clicking on one player and looking at the space on the bottom--from this image, we can see that in these lines I've got Ola Vikingstad on the second line, the second power-play line, as well as second in line in the penalty shot chain of succession. I can also see what Vikingstad's ratings are, through the row on the bottom. 
 
Hit "Wipe Lines" first, unless you're only making minor changes. Redoing lines entirely without clearing them out with this system is a nightmare and too much to keep track of.
 
With forwards, the positions in here are not labeled, but they are, from top to bottom:
Center
Left Wing
Right Wing
...on each line. Place a player in a position by clicking the player, then clicking the corresponding slot (single clicks will do; double clicking isn't necessary).
 
When you're done, hit "Copy All Lines." THIS IS IMPORTANT. Hit "Exit," then on this screen again...
 

 
...hit "Save to File." Save it as your team name (i.e. "don't change the name it gives you") to make the simmers' lives easier. When you've saved it, it should appear nicely in your STHS folder, right back where you started.
 
Send the file you just made (NOT the file you downloaded from the index) to the simmers. Delete both the lines file and the client file, so the next time you do lines both of these files will appear under the same name (the simmers will hate you forever if your line file isn't) and your folders won't be cluttered.
 
 
Anyway, those are the basics (laughs and cries simultaneously). Will this work? I don't even know. It's what I'm pretty sure works, and it's what I'm pretty sure I did, and I can tell you that it's at the very least very close. I'm afraid to touch the setup I have now, as I did somehow get it to work and that's a miracle. If this works, then great, glad to help! If it doesn't, then...well, I tried.
 
I don't even know if anyone will use this, but if anyone does, good luck.
 
 
2,082 words, I'll claim for 4 weeks if I end up having to but I don't think I will...you'll see what I mean soon enough.

Apollo Hackett is notorious on Riga for his bad passes. Many of the team's players complain about them, the biggest critic being Elias Dahlberg, who retired because of Hackett's horrible passes. Many times when someone is wide open in the slot, or on a 2 on 1 with Hackett they never end up scoring, but Hackett does. And every single time, Hackett tries to pass, but it just ends up in the back of net. GM Benjamin Zeptenbergs has tried many things with Hackett, even putting mini hockey nets on teammate's sticks so Hackett passes there, but it just doesn't work. Now Elias Dahlberg, at a recent press conference after Riga's series win over Moscow, was fed up after Hackett scored another goal, after a little give and go he tried with Hackett. HE said, quite irritably "Listen, I'm tired of Hackett's dogshit passes, it'll be the softest thing ever, but it somehow ends up in the net. These VHL goalies need to start saving his passes, they are just encouraging Hackett to make bad passes because they also go in, it's ridiculous."
 
@Renomitsu

The bear meat I have eaten was not that enjoyable, but I would try this! [perhaps not the whole 12 pounds]

(Titans players after their Game 6 OT loss to Moscow)
 
And with that, the Helsinki Titans playoff run is over in an abrupt and heartbreaking fashion. For the players, it's time to rest and prepare for next year, but for me, the grind continues. On a lighter note though, this season did have a lot of highs as well, and on that topic of discussion we have a lot to talk about. To wrap up the season, let's review the entire year, all the trades, contracts, records, and post-season disappointment and all, everything. This is an entire season in review after all, so we gotta get into the nitty-gritty for this one.
 
Trades: 
The Titans made a couple of off-season moves before the year started in FA as well as in the trading market. Four trades in total were made in the off-season, with one coming later towards the first couple games of the season. The first of these were acquiring Aston Martin, Hans Gruber and a S71 fourth round pick for a S70 second and S71 third. While Hans Gruber never really did anything for Helsinki, (or for any other team for that matter.) the real prize was in Aston Martin. Aston would end up going on an absolute tear this year, shattering his previously career high in points with a very solid 73 points in 72 games. That on top of him only playing on the second line definitely has him as a legit 2C, but whether he resigns with Helsinki is a whole other question. The second trade involved acquiring rookie Joakim Sakic & a second rounder in S70 for Dan Wilinsky. This trade is okay if you look at it from a "preparing for the future" or "salary dump" point of view. Joakim Sakic looks to be a career welfare getter, but he did just come off a 132 point season with Ottawa in the VHLM, so maybe he'll turn some heads should he make it to the VHL. Dan Wilinsky on the other hand is a grizzled veteran of the league and is looking to get his second Continental Cup before Old Father Time catches up to him. Third trade was a decent roster player swap, with Brian Strong and a S71 coming to Helsinki, while Jordan Tonn and a fourth in S71 got shipped off to Toronto. Honestly not much can be said other than this was just a good deal for both teams, and no one really lost. Fourth trade was a biggy as only 4 days after trading for him, Hans Gruber (as well as a S69 second which became Markus Nygren) got sent off to New York for Nethila Dissanayake, a S69 third rounder (which became Gary Tarantino) and a S71 fourth. To not call Helsinki the winner of this trade would be criminal. Hans Gruber went on to score a WHOPPING 9 points in 72 games. I wish that was an exaggeration. Little can be said other than that's just a rough trade for New York. We'll see how they manage that contract as he's still signed for 3 more years. Last of these trades involved getting Ben Hafkey, a S70 second & fourth from Vancouver for ACL TEAR. It's also very hard to say that Helsinki didn't win this trade. Even though ACL TEAR and the Wolves are moving onto the second round, ACL has more or less hit a brick wall on his development, and even looks to not be signing with any VHL team after this season. Ben Hafkey has matched his production and is still signed through next year, with rumors he'll be swapping to center should Aston Martin not resign. This would be a steal for Helsinki already, but on top of that they got a free second and fourth to go along with it, so they'll take that every day of the week and twice of Tuesday.
 
Contracts:
This shouldn't nearly be as long as the trade sections, but there are still some interesting points to make out of the contracts handed out this last off-season. A grand total of 9 players signed this year, so let's rapid fire through them and get to the post-season section of the article. Julian Borwinn was signed through S70, and this looks to be his last chance at a Cup consider his inevitable retirement at the conclusion of his contract. Coming off a 93 point season this year and leading the VHL in points, one can only hope he has a chance to lift the Cup once again. Virgil Ligriv, the future of Helsinki's goaltending was signed into S72, and as previously mentioned in articles before looks to take over Alexander Pepper's starter role, though living up to the player Pepper has become for Helsinki will be hard. It's safe to say he'll be a good player nonetheless. Jesse Nyman looks unfortunately to be a career VHLM'er, so a contract through S71 is more or less just there to hold onto his rights in case he decides to play in the pros, but don't hold your breath. Jesse Wilson is another case of veteran signing into his retirement in hopes of winning one last cup. With him announcing his retirement at the conclusion of his contract, fingers crossed on this guys getting a solid chance at glory. Gary Tarantino was also signed, and coming off a Bronze medal with Team USA in the WJC, and over a point per game production in the VHLM so far, he's looking to become a very solid player for Helsinki. Daldo, Erik Summers & Jack Russel all signed identical contracts and are the future of Helsinki. With all of them finding regular and post-season success, the future looks bright for the Titans.
 
Regular Season:
Not much can be said about the strong regular season Helsinki put together other than it was full of narratives. Whether it be Alexander Pepper becoming the winningest goalie in Titans history, the emergence of players like Aston Martin, Guillaume Fontenette or Ben Hafkey, or anything else, the Titans had a very good regular season. Tons of winning streaks and strong production by veterans and youth alike had this team finishing third in the league, second among European teams. Expectations were varying depending on who you asked, but the narratives certainly became the main topic of discussion for this team at the conclusion of the year. To start, Alexander Pepper having the most wins in Titan history is huge, and has been covered before. To oversimplify, expect to see his name and jersey number retired and forever in the rafters at the conclusion of his career. With that, Virgil Ligriv had an amazing start to his VHL career with a 7-1 record, .936 sv% and only 1.62 GAA. If this isn't a glimpse of what's to come, I don't know what is. On top of that, the previously mentioned production of Aston Martin surprised many, but with his future in question, we'll stop beating the dead horse that is bringing it up again. Guillaume Fontenette becoming a solid point producer as defenseman this early in his career is going to help pick up where Sidney Crosby and company left off. Ben Hafkey is just getting started too, and if he switches to center watch out for a similar point production explosion like Martin had this year.
 
Playoffs & The Future
Unfortunately, the adrenaline of momentum would wear off as Helsinki came into the playoffs against the underdog Moscow Menace. They would live up to their name as they took Helsinki to six, beating them in OT and securing their spot to the second round. Offensive inconsistency would prove to be their undoing as in multiple games got held to only one or fewer goals despite Moscow coming into the playoffs with the most goals against among playoff teams, and Helsinki having the fourth most goals for in the league. Little can be said other than this loss shocked Titans Nation and put a strain on the morale of older players, who may exercise options to go onto contenders should Helsinki enter a rebuild this year. Personally, I think the time of Helsinki making deep playoff runs is nearing a temporary end as veterans will only be declining from here on out, and the youth isn't ready to take over the positions the legends have settled themselves into over the years. That's why I suggested a retool for a strong push this off-season, because I doubt many players want to actually leave the team that's given them the opportunities Helsinki has given them, not to mention they're still a strong team at it's core. I do believe though that this team is in excellent hands, both managerially and on the ice, and whether the answers come now or later, this team is going to come back strong and hungry for a title, for themselves and all of Titans Nation that's been wanting more success from this very good team. Let's Go Titans!
 
For Titans Nation, reporting from Helsinki, this is Marcus Svedberg.
 
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1,511 words, claiming for next three weeks.

Palo vs Marleu
 
Most goals, most powerplay goals, most shorthanded goals, and most fights - if I would try to describe my performance in the playoffs so far, I would use two words - too good. Further proof of my dominance can be seen in the most game-winning goals category, listed as the number one despite multiple other players have the same total. I´m simply amazing right now, to those who have not watched Rauno Palo play in the playoffs, now is your chance, last time ever and look at the performance - unreal.
 
Of course, hockey is a team game and its true that without great teammates you can not win, but as the most experienced player in the league - I know when to take credit and when to give out credit. When you analyze round one for Riga and look for key reasons why the team goes through to the second round - the search starts and stops on the name Palo, did I do anything poorly? I don´t think so, even the 8-3 game where Marleau seemingly looked stronger in our fight was not something where I did badly,  just two different fighters and schools went head to head, street fighter Marleau who came in hot and started swinging before I even managed to take my gloves off and then you had me, the gentleman fighter who almost poetically moves his hands and never misses due to calculating every punch five times before actually throwing them. If anything, that fight shows the referees don´t have any idea what they are doing, letting that fight continue after a start like that from Marleu - unprofessional.
 

 
The first round is history now though, everything starts from the beginning, next we play against Moscow. The Russian team is a tough one, they beat Helsinki 4-2 in the first round and finished 8 points behind us in the regular season, so I´m expecting close series. Despite some of their top scorers from the regular season have not hit the net as often as they maybe hoped in the playoffs so far - they are still dangerous offensively. Jaguar had 85 points in the regular season, but ´only´ two goals in the playoffs, he is one player we need to keep an eye out, but Moscow also has solid depth in scoring, Baillie leads the team in scoring right now, Nano, Tocco and Gritty right behind Baillie, so we cant focus just on the bigger names, need to bring the A-game in every shift.
 
I´m confident in our chances though, the first round showed we in Riga can turn tight games into our victory and we also have a killer powerplay, second-best in the playoffs at the moment and Moscow in return has the worst penalty kill, but those statistics are not set in stone. Still, you don't have to be much of a fortune teller to say that the special teams will play a big part in the Riga-Moscow series, which team manages to spend the least time in the box is most likely going to win, interesting series coming up!
 

Seattle Bears Pizza
 
A local pizza chain in Seattle will begin serving a very hair-raising new dish. Called "The Cub", the new pizza is a 40" across pie featuring 12 pounds of bear meat on the pie. The chain, Little Joe's Exotic and Orgasmic Pizza/Delicatessen of Pure Culinary Delights, is hoping that this new pizza becomes their best seller. "It costs $200 to make, so we plan on selling one for $1200 a slice. It's a little steep, but we feel the citizens of Seattle will love it," says restaurant owner Little Joe. "It's 12 pounds of bear meat. What's not to like?"
 
Animal rights groups in Seattle have called the serving of this pizza "barbaric" and are calling for it's removal from the menu. "Listen, the only bears that we killed for this were one's who escaped the zoo. Frankly, we gotta do something with this meat, cause it ain't gonna keep forever," says Little Joe. The pizza goes on sale tomorrow at all Little Joe's Exotic and Orgasmic Pizza/Delicatessen of Pure Culinary Delights locations. 

Happy New Years, folks! Hope 2020 has started off well for you guys. As usual, it's time to take a look at this draft's players and rankings. Here's my current top 10:
 

Edwin THE Encarnacion 1
Mikko Lahtinen 1
Odin Omdahl -
Jacques Lafontaine 1
Shawn Glade Jr 1
Chad Magnum -
Iangenere Risteneen -
Lewis Dawson -
Kyle Andersen -
Jared Spaz New
 
Jared Spaz makes his first appearance in the top 10, and Encarnacion retakes his position at number 1. I also believe this is the first week Damien Wolfe has not been in the top 10.
 
Like I said last week, I have a TPE earning spreadsheet I would love if you guys checked out. I've updated both the S70 and S71 pages, so if there's any S71 draftees who would like to see the TPE earning so far in their draft class, feel free to do so. Here's the link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Z3UmjHIkmoBNTRdw8dgQdp4kOVhVLVRgPADZOndKJUY/edit?usp=sharing
 
Stats

Name
Goals
Name 
Assists
Name
Points
Odin Omdahl
48
Edwin THE Encarnacion
94
Shawn Glade Jr
129
Mikko Lahtinen
44
Shawn Glade Jr
91
Edwin THE Encarnacion
122
Iangenere Risteneen
39
Odin Omdahl
68
Odin Omdahl
116
Shawn Glade Jr
38
Iangenere Risteneen
52
Mikko Lahtnen
93
Gabriel Gutzwiler
35
Mikko Lahtinen
49
Iangenere Risteneen
91
Leon Gutzwiler
34
Leon Gutzwiler
47
Leon Gutzwiler
81
Edwin THE Encarnacion
28
Teddy Smith
45
Gabriel Gutzwiler
73
Owen Kaitanaq
24
Kyle Andersen
44
Kyle Andersen
65
Kyle Andersen
21
Gabriel Gutzwiler
38
Jimothy Frost
56
Jimothy Frost
20
Jimothy Frost
36
Derek Eriksson
55


 
Name
Save %
Jacques Lafontaine
.900
Jaxx Hextall
.871
Aleksandr Aleksandrov
.863
Jacob buchholz
.858
Jack Goff
.852
 
News
- Mikko Lahtinen hit 300 TPE this week.
- Odin Omdahl hit the VHLM cap of 250 TPA this week.
- Justin Graves hit 100 TPE this week.
- Chad Magnum earned the most TPE this week, with 31.
- Edward THE Encarnacion leads the S70 class with 14 playoff points
- Mikko Lahtninen leads the S70 class with 5 playoff goals
- Kyle Andersen leads the S70 class with 10 playoff assists
Profiles

Jack Feriancek - C - 93 TPE
Feriancek is a player who has been earning steadily and nicely ever since entering the league. With 61 TPE earned over the past 5 weeks (averaging out as 12 TPE per week), he has proven to me that he could be a steal in this draft. Although the offense wasn't coming as much in the regular season, the American center's scoring talent really came through in the playoffs, scoring 3 goals and 5 points in 6 games. He has a very balanced build, but his scoring and faceoff ability really stick out. In the regular season, Feriancek posted an impressive 55% win rate in the faceoff dot. I feel like he could end up being a sneaky good pick for the team that drafts him.
 

Aleelee Kiak - RW - 113 TPE
Since joining the league, Kiak has been increasing and increasing the rate at which they earn TPE. The young winger has great offensive tools that are sure to shine in next year's VHLM season, being fantastic vision and a deadly shot that provides zero predictability for opposing defensemen. Defensive awareness could be improved a bit, but overall Kiak is a great player who will be dangerous as soon as the puck is on their stick. 28 points in 52 games is a solid start to a VHLM career, and those numbers are sure to skyrocket next year. It's unfortunate Houston didn't make the playoffs, because I would have liked to see the forward's offensive talent shine on the biggest stage in the VHLM.
 

Ike Bennett - LW - 77 TPE
Ike Bennett is probably the biggest hidden gem in this season's draft. He joined in S70's last week of eligibility, and has earned TPE at a nice rate so far. Because he has been in the league for such little time, many people he is outproducing in TPE earning every week are well above him in total TPE, and therefore he receives much less attention than them. With 17 points in 27 regular season games and 4 points in 5 playoff games, his offensive production has also been very good for just joining. He plays a very flashy game, with elusive speed and a quick release that have fooled VHLM defenseman and goalers so far in his career. His defensive game definitely needs a lot of work, but the potential is very much there.

This week's log is brought to you by "Lots of Stress From Work"... Do you have a job that you need to keep paying the bills? Do you have a job that keeps you up at night? Do you have a job that even when you are away you think about all the time, then "Lots of Stress From Work" is just for you. After that word from our Sponsor. Our update this week is kinda sad. Life have been stressful from work, the holidays have been crazy with family and just trying to keep my head above water. But I'll share some things that are going on.
 
Updating:
Honestly the thing I usually love so much kinda made me sad this last week, or was it a few weeks ago. Either way there was an update that went back and forth a bunch and ultimately ended up not being my call but caused a lot of stress because I just want to help people get their TPE and it kinda made me feel like if I don't just rubber stamp some updates people will be upset. I didn't know what to do but honestly it was some of the most stress I have had to deal with in this league. I try my hardest but that was stressful and honestly made we want to take a step back for a little. Luckily it was weird holiday time so I was able to get some rest and others did a great job filling in where I normally do a bunch of updates they filled in the gapes. Thank your updaters if you have not today.
 
VSN:
I know its playoffs and holidays so hopefully my stuff will help eventually and maybe they ask for more and other cool stuff but for the time being Im just waiting to see what they need and want to do.
 
Draft Rankings:
I have the data I need to start doing the older rankings again just need to finish the front end code to get the right info to display depending on the settings. Should be good soon. Just need to get a little time but our sponsors are always doing their stuff.
 
VHL:
We are in the second round of the playoffs our team is tied 2-2 and its hard to just sit and wait to see what is going to happen. Hopefully we go far but who knows anymore. And honestly its tough I'm at my final build basically and idk if I'm going to be putting more tpe or just full on fight depreciation. 

So I was a bit bored and didn't have any short article ideas so I made this: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12xp3wd8OWG_NB9JKJ4KjAVzusY8K6lzjMR1GSnaG_OM/edit?usp=sharing
Based on the thing I did at the start of 2019: https://vhlforum.com/forum/505-greatest-players-of-all-time-s64/
 
I was curious to see whether there was any one era when it was easier to be good and if the current generation was at a disadvantage. Keep in mind these are S64 articles so don't include the 4 likeliest players to join the ranking (Thompson, Cast, Stopko, Johnsson), although realistically they're likelier to join the top playoff performers list than any other.
 
Anyway, looks like the sweet spot was playing between S20 and S40. I'm not really sure why, the 20s had a fair amount of parity, enough for expansion. It kinda makes sense that the 30s were nice to the top players as there were more bad teams for a bit. Hence, you have 4 players drafted in S27 (Chershenko, Rafter, Incognito, Smalling), and then a few players around the same time (Rybak, Sullivan).
 
It doesn't really help to be from the high-scoring early days because there's now a bias against that so only the very best made the cut (Campbell, Labatte, Boulet, the real legends). It helped to be from the late 40s and 50s when things got so polarised you could put up the best stats AND have less competition - hence McAllister, Cornerstone, Wingate, the Cleganes, Velvet.
 
But right now we're in the equivalent of the early 40s when there was a similar amount of contenders. And you can see there's a bit of a gap there but then we got O'Malley, the 2nd best forward ever. Are we about to get an O'Malley? It does feel like someone is on the verge of exploding and dominating the league and all the chatter about how to adjust HOF discussions will become redundant.
 
Anyway, this was a bit of a pointless exercise but I wanted to do it back when I made the list, my brain just couldn't figure out how to best present it. And now I have. Happy 2020! Hope some of you nerds enjoy this x.

Killing Time
 
At the midway point of the second round of the VHLM playoffs, the Mexico City Kings and the Mississauga Hounds are tied 2-2 in their series. After the first two games, I wrote an article about how Everyone in Mexico City Sucked, however, in the next two games, Mexico City rallied and fixed almost every shortcoming shown in the first two games. In that article, I also highlighted the very few things I thought were going right for the Kings. One of those things was Penalty Killing, and boy has it been good.
 
Through four games, the Kings have been on the PK twenty two times. That is bad. Mexico City needs to play a move disciplined game if they are going to succeed. However, their PK unit has bailed them out big time in this series. The Cartel has given up zero goals while a man down and even scored a shorthanded goal in game two. Summers, Daldo, Dawson and Omdahl lead the team in PK minutes and, despite not always showing up on the points sheet, Mexico City is going to have to give these four a lot of credit if they make it to the finals.

League donation to Make a Wish. In total we received $807 directly and decided the league matching needed to do more than $200 since you guys all hit that in about half an hour. So we added an extra $500.
 
This is on top of the $565 we raised that the individuals donated straight to multiple charities. Including @tfong's record $400 donation to the Calgary Food Bank!
The total that the league and its member base donated was $1,872.00!
 
Good job everyone! Special thanks to @Banackock for bringing this up and pushing us to do this drive.
 
As a reward all members, regardless of if they donated or not, will receive a free doubles week (6 uncapped with the completion of a Media Spot/Graphic etc)
 
Now we can strive to beat this amount next year!
 
-Blue Team

While watching the elimination game
 
Well, Well, Well. Like the legendary Stephen A. Smith would of said in this world. HOW BOUT DEM SEATTLE!
 
Coming off of a fresh cup run and improving there roster considerably with at least high expectations to compete in the playoff to just lose in the first round against Vanco…. NEW YORK!?! Who would of expected that development? 
Welp I don't want to be cocky, but I kind of did ever since they got LeGrande when I wrote that Media Spot about why New York could win the cup.
 
Why am I happy? I don't want to get into the details because I know that some people will catch some feelings in the comments once I post this, but I will say that a lot of people thought that I was really stupid (which I am) to think that New York can even beat Seattle, yet even make the playoff after there mediocre start and that they won't even face off in the first round. Now that Im looking at all those old comments, I just can't keep smiling you know?
 
Now then, into the juicy stuff (This is my death letter before getting abused from every cylinder from you guys):
My English is shit again right now 'cuz I just don't care right now. PARTY IN NEW YORK.
 

 
First off, LeGrande. I was happy for him that he decided to leave New York after having a rough start in the season since he wanted to win a cup? Win more games? Make the playoff? Have better stats? I don't know, but I don't think he ever even think playing against New York in the playoff this year AND lose to them in the first round. Fortunately, there is nothing to worry about him. He will still put up his cool face and probably diss me with something later on to feel better (or maybe say nothing since I knew he was thinking about it already. We shall see). Anyway, let the guy off the hook. He did good in the playoff with his new squad.  
The amazing GM Banad*ck. Nothing to say here really? He will end my career soon enough. I just hope he keeps LeGrande, but I guess he can have an excuse not to if things doesn't work out the next few years.  
Rayz Funk is still one of the best goalie in the VHL despite this situation, but I'm not going to be surprised if he exposes me later anyway lmao. (Yes I can read people minds)  
NOOOOO DANNN WILINSKYYY. I forgot that he signed with Seattle! I would never wish bad things to happen to him and I really just want to see him do good. He was a FA last season if I'm not being stupid again and decided to sign with the champions Seattle. I'm expecting that he thought that this move will bring him one step closer to touch the cup, but didn't he really think that something bad was bound to happen when a superstar like him sign with a championship team. I still hope that he will get the cup soon enough. Why not sign back to New York or to the Titans? xD  (No sarcasm)  
 My buddy Henrik Zoiderberg. You already know what's going down in the DMs if the other dude contacted you. Just need to be in touch with Fontennete now heheheheehe.  
Finnaly, good retirement Maxim Kovalchuk and Leph Twinger! Future HOFs?  
 
Welp I know Seattle will comeback back stronger then ever next season...hopefully.
 
 

Esso when they actually won
 
 
NOW TIME TO HAVE MY FUN.
 
Since shit went down between the trade with Seattle and New York. I started thinking for once in my life and told to myself WHAT IF New York makes the playoff now?
They were creeping back up and Kevan (or Kevin?) Low was more suited in there roster anyway. I said that was really possible. After that, I thought that maybe Seattle would face them in the first round! That could of  been quite fun with the story behind of it. Then I thought, if New York BEATS Seattle? I was quietly watching the series hoping that New York will win without paying attention to my own games and THEY DID JUST THAT AHAHAHAHAHHA. I love New York baby.
 
Now what? AIM FOR THE CUP BECAUSE WHY NOT? HISTORY WILL BE MADE!
 

 
 
Ok Im ready to get fisted in the hole. Come at me Seattle, I shall accept all your frustration.
 

1. Yeah, they did place low in the standings and we have dished out big wins against them before.
2. Well, since we leading 3-1, time to just move on.
3. Not really. Well, other than Halifax beating us.
4. I'm not aware. But if it's really bad, apologies for anybody affected.
5. Well, somewhere in Canada to balance out the amounts of American and Canadian teams. I'd guess somewhere in Manitoba because it doesn't have a VHL or VHLM team. Maybe the Winnipeg Spruce (named after Manitoba's provincial tree). You could also make them the Winnipeg Bisons (Manitoba's provincial animal).
6. Oui. It was nice to just chill.
7. My little sister got an Alex Tanguay (Flames) jersey.
8. Haha, I don't get paid at all.
9. Nothing really, just a family party.
10. Get good grades, probably. Not like my grades are particularly bad or anything, I just wanna excel in school.

@Esso2264 would like a word ?
 

Let me become the most active frenchie, but stupid VSN writer in VHL history

League history sounds cool I’m interested