Ricer13

Alright I didn't want to do this but you've forced my hand. I'm Mayor, and I wasn't roleblocked last night.
 
Vote osens x3
 
@GustavMattias 

*Gustav noises*
 
A GUARDIAN ANGEL was watching over @Domg5 last night. No lynching Dom.
 
Today should end on time.
 
 
List of living players (8)

 

I have no idea, I’m usually dead by now and don’t have to worry about end game

This is gold. Absolute fire write up Matty! Love me some mock drafts this time of year!

Yaaaaaaas! Welcome back Spaz. Welcome to the Reinhart family

Accept 

I'll be a welfare bum atm 

Yaaaaaaas! Welcome back Spaz. Welcome to the Reinhart family

Gustav rolls out of bed, finally. *Vivo para dormir*, I suppose.
 
@Sixersfan594 is the latest victim of a yeeting from the MAFIA. Upon further review, the town finds that the Mafia has killed a JESTER.
 
@N0HBDY was also shot by a VIGILANTE. He was a HYPNOTIST.
 
Night phase coming a bit after 10 as I'm at work until 10.
 
 
List of living players (12)

Rip to those applying

Moose Droppings
A.k.a. Moose Tracks 7.0 (Part 1)
 
My first comment in this offering of my series has to do with the off-season and those players who don’t qualify to play in the World Cup.  I think it might be a good idea to have a Series B World Cup for those players who have less than 500 TPE.  They aren’t good enough to be selected by any of the World Cup teams, but many of us would like to be involved rather than outsiders looking in.  This would liven up the off-season for many of us and would provide invaluable experience for those who wish to experience the role of GM or AGM. Another merit to this idea is that it might enhance user retention.  Perhaps something for the Board of Governors to consider.
 
Have you ever looked at the Press Conferences for teams other than your own ?  I have and have found some intriguing questions that call for in-depth answers. I doubt that the person who posed the original question actually considered a better than average response.  Most of these questions either triggered a mini-semi-rant or caused me to wax philosophical (sorta).  I shall start with the teams Isau has played for and move on from there.  The shoutouts that are used are there to recognize the efforts made by people in organizing and running a team.
 
Mexico City Kings
 
Isau DaMoose started off by playing for the Mexico City Kings as a raw beginner and with the help of GM @Hylands managed to get started in, more or less, the right direction.  I reflect on the Kings’ pressers frequently:
 
What is your pregame ritual looking like recently?
 
Pregame rituals have always intrigued me.  I didn’t think I had any until it was pointed out that I always put on my right skate first, but tightened the left before the right.  One of my acquaintances, while waiting to troop on out to the ice, taps his stick on the dressing room floor exactly 93 times.  Shades of Doug Gilmour or what !!  Many players eat their pregame meal at exactly the same time before every game and eat exactly the same thing.
Then there are the guys who, despite the inherent danger of being injured, will use some of the same equipment they used in Junior hockey.  Butch Goring is a case in point, he wore a helmet that his dad had purchased for him.  Check this out, you can literally see his head through the top of the helmet.
 

 
Then, of course, there are the goalie who conduct personal conversations with the goal posts.  But. I can understand that as you have got to be partially crazed to be a goalie anyway.  Who would want to stand in front of a 6 ounce piece of vulcanized rubber going more than 100 mph!!
 
Have you been living up to you pre-season expectations so far?
 
That's a good one.  So, ya, we likely all have expectations upon entering a new season.  I modeled my player after another in the league who experienced a high degree of success and  he stunk.  You could smell him all the way to Helsinki.  My point here is that there are too many variables to try and account for:  linemates, ice time, PP time and just the sim engine itself.  So, I decided to chillax and just build the player with the attributes I would like to see in a real world player.  Maybe not the best in a sim league, but satisfying all the same.
 
The team is at the bar after a great win, you order a round of drinks for everybody, what do you choose ?
 
This is a more intriguing a question as it appears on the surface.  Sure you can step up to the bar and get a few jugs of draft for your teammates because that’s what guys from Northern Ontario do.  It becomes a question of stereotyping. Do we do what we do, in a lot of cases, because that is what is expected of us by societal norms ??  So, back to the bar and to step out of the stereotype I would get a round of Cosmopolitans.  But don’t mistake this pretty pink drink for something for something that fits another stereotype…...it kicks like a mule!!
 
Philadelphia Reapers
 
Isau was fortunate enough to play a full season with @DMaximus and his Philadelphia Reapers, winning a Founder’s Cup during that memorable season.  Isau did not perform particularly well, but he fulfilled his role on that historic team. His name is on the Founder’s Cup along with those of his teammates and they will walk together forever.
 
How has winter been for you ? Has there been any snow? I’m curious.
 
Snow !!   Ya we got snow like a leopard has spots.  Normally we get about 12 feet of snow over the snowfall months.  However, in 2019 we got 14 feet.  I hate the white stuff, but it is a blessing in disguise, at least recently.  Getting the snow off your driveway and walkways provides for a decent outdoor workout.  It’s a hell of a lot better than working out than the treadmill (more commonly known as a trudgemill).  Along with the snow, of course, comes the cold.  Although we experienced a mild winter in 2020 - 21, it is not unusual for us to get a couple of weeks where the temperatures stay around -30C.  
 
The Reapers are looking into enhancing our players with cyborg parts. To become a better hockey player, what part of your body would you ask to be upgraded? Why?
 
I thought about this and went through the litany of hands and wrists to improve my shot, legs and lungs to improve my skating and endurance, But, really, I don’t think a cyborg part could replace what is most needed and that is heart, not the pumping thing in your chest, but rather spirit.  Players with heart are natural leaders and play every game as though it were their last.  How could you go wrong with a team of players like that ?
 
Which do you prefer, pie or cake  and why?  
 
Dumb question, right ?  Wrong !! You can get the best of both worlds.  A few years ago I was introduced to Piecaken.  A piecaken is a cake with a pie inside it.  Talk about indulgent!!  I was invited to a small Piecaken Festival a some time ago.  I made a Black Forest cake with a cherry pie inside.  Another that got raves was a vanilla cake with a chocolate ice cream pie inside.  I think I am just recovering from the diabetic coma that stuff induced (JK).
 

 
If you could pick any city to expand to in the VHL(M), what would it be and why ?  
 
This discussion has been bandied about in several threads recently.  And. predominantly, people suggested large metropolitan areas, which make sense, I guess.  However, I suggested Isau’s hometown of Swords and made a case for it in that Swords is centrally located in Ontario.  It could attract fans from the North, the GTA and as far east as Ottawa.  There is a casino  an hour away and there would be plenty of parking as there are very few other buildings in Swords.  I even went so far as to suggest a name for the expansion team:
 

So far there has been no reaction to this.  I wonder why ??
 
Riga Reign
 
Isau has concluded his rookie season with the Riga Reign.  It wasn’t the greatest season that he could have had, but, on the other hand, chipping in for 54 points isn’t the worst season in the world either.  @hedgehog337 
 
 What would your ideal expansion team be called?
 
Now you might wonder why I include this question when I have just answered one like it in the preceding section.  Well, it occurred to me that this is a theme that ran throughout the various pressers as well as having a thread or two dedicated to this topic in the main forum.  If the Board of Governors does not want expansion, but feels that there are too many players for the jobs available, a possible solution would be to expand the salary cap and expand the number of rostered players on both VHL and VHLM teams.  The advent of the Junior teams was supposed to alleviate this to a certain extent, but to my knowledge, the Junior team concept has not been widely used.
 
What is something not many people know about you?  
 
When Ledge @Ledge_and_Dairy came up with this one, it caused me to pause for a second.  I mean was he asking about Isau or yours truly.  And is there much of a difference as Isau is pretty close to an extension of my real persona?  I was also reluctant to expose anything about me that could breach what little security I have.  Then it occurred to me that people really know a lot about me.  All the places that are mentioned in the Isau saga are real.  The stories involving Nikki Starr are embarrassingly true.  And the tales about Johnny Bigfeets, the self-proclaimed MMA Champ and his fateful ride on the Black Widow are embedded in local folklore ( a small town in Northern Ontario).  Even the graphics I use show part of the real person.
 

 
My response to this was a non-response.  All my secrets come out in what I write and how I respond to others.
 
Calgary Wranglers  @Ricer13
 
What is more important to you — Hits or shots blocked?
 

 
This is one of those chicken or the egg questions.  If you hit a guy, you don’t have to block his shot.  Conversely, if you block a guy’s shot you don’t have to hit him.  I don’t know how the STHS engine is weighted, but in real life you have to be prepared to be bruised either way !!!
 
Chicago Phoenix   @JeffD
 
Do you believe in love at first sight?
 
Not really the type of question one would expect on a hockey sim forum, but intriguing nonetheless.  Whether or not “at first sight”, what is love anyway?  This is a question that has been discussed by philosophers, romantics and, yes, even scientists for as long as there was the written word and, I am sure, before that.  Love is a commonality amongst all us humans.  It has been expressed in many ways over the centuries.  From Neanderthal man feeding his family to the weirdly regimented courtly love of Arthurian legend to modern relationships, love seems to have been around.
 

 
As you can see the “rules” have changed but the feeling hasn’t.  I believe it was Emi Rune @Emi who said that they believed in “enchantment” at first sight. But not love as love would be too expensive.  I doubt that she meant expensive in a dollars and cents way, but too emotionally taxing.  And I believe it !!
 
DC Dragons
 
bigAL @bigAL of the DC Dragons posed this question:
 
Someone on the playground tells you they heard Benny Graves got traded. You run back home to check the VHL news and you go to....
 
Frankly if someone were to have asked me that question on the playground I would be concerned about their mental well-being.  But on a closer look, this question brings up the problem that has been experienced in all online games, whether it be World of Warcraft or a hockey sim, how to ensure that your online life doesn’t take over or adversely affect your real life.  Some time ago I was playing an adversarial online game and had waxed another player unmercifully, laying to waste his little empire.  Subsequent to that I was verbally attacked with such vitriol that I was seriously concerned about how this individual could get so worked up about a dumb game.  There is no denying that there are a number of highly supportive people in the VHL who are concerned about the real lives of all of us.  But, I think it is wise to periodically stand back and put things into perspective.  It's a lot more fun when you are, in fact, having fun !!!
 
I realized now that this project has taken on a life of its own and will span several longer Media Spots, so please stay tuned for the next installment and thanks for reading the meanderings of a rogue moose.
 
Word Count: 2061
 
Using for PT weeks of: April 4
April 11
April 18
April 25

Okay Rara, we see you!

Jabronis gonna hate

Joined: September 30th 2013
Jobs Held: Player Store Manager, Sim File Updater, Updater, Award & All-Star Committee's

     Velevra joined the VHL back in September of 2013. Not many of the new members in this league would know the name Velevra and I myself have to admit I didn't know much about Velevra the member until doing my research for this article. While digging through the record books and speaking with the legend himself I have grown a new appreciation for what Velevra has brought to this league over the last eight years. He has held some of the most crucial jobs in this league before the portal existed and has had impressive careers with a number of players he has built. While being such an a huge part of the VHL community Velevra has done so, modestly. He isn't the loudest or most notable name in the league but from the shadows is a huge part of the VHL and personifies exactly what the VHL is all about. 

      Back in the days of 2013 when the VHL was a lot less automated, there was a lot of data entry that needed to be done. Velevra was a major part of this process in the league. His first job was a Player Store Manager. This involved a lot of what the store manager does now but required all of the information to be entered manually. He had to enter in all of the players in the leagues contracts and manually put in any of the purchases made in order for the player store to operate efficiently. Velevra eventually moved on to become a Sim File Updater for the VHL. Again before everything was automated each player that entered the league had to be manually put into the sim file. This meant that each of their attributes and any changes to their attributes had to be inputted and done so with extreme accuracy. Velevra is most proud of being a sim file updater because of the amount of effort it took and how accurate you had to be to keep the league running smoothly and each player happy. After his many seasons as a Sim File Updater the league became more automated, Velevra transitioned from a Sim File Updater to a Regular Updater. This entailed him to review members point tasks every week and either approve or deny them based on the point task guidelines. Throughout the seasons he has also been apart of Award committees and All-star selection committees. As you can see his history in this league outside of his created players runs deep and he has left his mark on the VHL.

     Although Velevra was a beast behind the scenes putting in some serious work for this league, he also managed to build some really successful players in the process. A few of these players are Shane Baker, Severin Von Karma, Veran Dragomir, legendary goaltender Apollo Skye and most recent player Soren Jensen. The most recent player that everyone might recognize is recently retired winger Soren Jensen. Jensen was an scoring winger who spent his time between New York and Davos during his playing career. While his numbers were slightly underwhelming during his career Jensen did win a Founder's Cup with the Houston in season 68 and won the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy for being the rookie of the year in season 69. While Velevra has had varying success with his players there is one that stands above the rest. Hall of Fame Goaltender Apollo Skye broke on to the scene back in season 51 with the HC Davos Dynamo. He spent two seasons in Davos putting up some impressive numbers which earned him a Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy for rookie of the year. After his time Davos, Skye moved on to play for Quebec. They had a competitive roster and Skye thrived with his new team. In season 53 Apollo Skye won the Scotty Campbell Trophy as the league MVP and the Dustin Funk Trophy as the most improved player. It would be only a few more seasons before Apollo Skye and Quebec would finally earn that coveted trophy and win themselves a Continental Cup. His follow up season to winning a Continental Cup was equally as impressive as he earned himself another Scotty Campbell for the league MVP and brought home the Aidan Shaw Trophy as the top goalie in the VHL. Skye was inducted into the Hall of Fame in season 62 which was only four seasons after he retired. 

     Velevra has proven himself on and off the ice with the important jobs he has had in this league and with the success he has found in building his players. What started as a hobby to help pass the time during his stressful grad school days had turned into a passion and partly due to the amazing community we have in the VHL. When you have members from around the league praising your success and pushing the league to show some recognition for it, that really shows the kind of impact Velevra has made on this community. Even though he would rather do it all from behind the scenes Velevra is absolutely deserved of this HOF Builder recognition and has earned himself a moment in the spotlight. Congratulations @Velevra!

Word Count: 880

I disagree with that last paragraph. It really doesn't take much work to cap out each week and take advantage of all the uncapped opportunities we get. I have had one player who had a very successful career statistically but it took  up until my last season to have my career points at a PPG. I never won any championships, lost in a few finals and took home zero awards but I enjoyed my time with my first player nonetheless and do not regret putting the time in to max out on TPE each week. 

Not every player is going to find success but at the end of the day this is just a game right? Staying positive and building good relationships with members on your team and throughout the league can make a sub par career enjoyable. 

Just my thoughts

Joined: September 30th 2013
Jobs Held: Player Store Manager, Sim File Updater, Updater, Award & All-Star Committee's

     Velevra joined the VHL back in September of 2013. Not many of the new members in this league would know the name Velevra and I myself have to admit I didn't know much about Velevra the member until doing my research for this article. While digging through the record books and speaking with the legend himself I have grown a new appreciation for what Velevra has brought to this league over the last eight years. He has held some of the most crucial jobs in this league before the portal existed and has had impressive careers with a number of players he has built. While being such an a huge part of the VHL community Velevra has done so, modestly. He isn't the loudest or most notable name in the league but from the shadows is a huge part of the VHL and personifies exactly what the VHL is all about. 

      Back in the days of 2013 when the VHL was a lot less automated, there was a lot of data entry that needed to be done. Velevra was a major part of this process in the league. His first job was a Player Store Manager. This involved a lot of what the store manager does now but required all of the information to be entered manually. He had to enter in all of the players in the leagues contracts and manually put in any of the purchases made in order for the player store to operate efficiently. Velevra eventually moved on to become a Sim File Updater for the VHL. Again before everything was automated each player that entered the league had to be manually put into the sim file. This meant that each of their attributes and any changes to their attributes had to be inputted and done so with extreme accuracy. Velevra is most proud of being a sim file updater because of the amount of effort it took and how accurate you had to be to keep the league running smoothly and each player happy. After his many seasons as a Sim File Updater the league became more automated, Velevra transitioned from a Sim File Updater to a Regular Updater. This entailed him to review members point tasks every week and either approve or deny them based on the point task guidelines. Throughout the seasons he has also been apart of Award committees and All-star selection committees. As you can see his history in this league outside of his created players runs deep and he has left his mark on the VHL.

     Although Velevra was a beast behind the scenes putting in some serious work for this league, he also managed to build some really successful players in the process. A few of these players are Shane Baker, Severin Von Karma, Veran Dragomir, legendary goaltender Apollo Skye and most recent player Soren Jensen. The most recent player that everyone might recognize is recently retired winger Soren Jensen. Jensen was an scoring winger who spent his time between New York and Davos during his playing career. While his numbers were slightly underwhelming during his career Jensen did win a Founder's Cup with the Houston in season 68 and won the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy for being the rookie of the year in season 69. While Velevra has had varying success with his players there is one that stands above the rest. Hall of Fame Goaltender Apollo Skye broke on to the scene back in season 51 with the HC Davos Dynamo. He spent two seasons in Davos putting up some impressive numbers which earned him a Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy for rookie of the year. After his time Davos, Skye moved on to play for Quebec. They had a competitive roster and Skye thrived with his new team. In season 53 Apollo Skye won the Scotty Campbell Trophy as the league MVP and the Dustin Funk Trophy as the most improved player. It would be only a few more seasons before Apollo Skye and Quebec would finally earn that coveted trophy and win themselves a Continental Cup. His follow up season to winning a Continental Cup was equally as impressive as he earned himself another Scotty Campbell for the league MVP and brought home the Aidan Shaw Trophy as the top goalie in the VHL. Skye was inducted into the Hall of Fame in season 62 which was only four seasons after he retired. 

     Velevra has proven himself on and off the ice with the important jobs he has had in this league and with the success he has found in building his players. What started as a hobby to help pass the time during his stressful grad school days had turned into a passion and partly due to the amazing community we have in the VHL. When you have members from around the league praising your success and pushing the league to show some recognition for it, that really shows the kind of impact Velevra has made on this community. Even though he would rather do it all from behind the scenes Velevra is absolutely deserved of this HOF Builder recognition and has earned himself a moment in the spotlight. Congratulations @Velevra!

Word Count: 880

❤️ Thornton ❤️ 

Coming into the season, I did not expect tohave a HOF season like Matt Thompson or Ryan Kastelic or whatever it was. A Mikko Lahtinen or a Ola Vikingstad from last season. A John Merrick or a Dakota Lamb in their sophomore or rookie season, but jesus I am very bad compared to a rookie like Red Lite and many others rookies who can get point per game season in their very first season, but it seems to me that I can only achieve that once in a red moon. 350 TPE Rookies are legit worth more than me in this.
 
I'm bad on a good team, I'm bad on a medium team, and I'm bad on a bad team despite having very very very very similar builds or team situations to other GM/AGM/Commish or other well known people in the website players who are all doing extremely good, well MOST of them at least. I'm seeing some of them complaining even though they are a point per game player. One thing that made me laugh is one of them having his team won like 8-1, he was happy that his team won, but was more worried about getting only one point in that game. After looking at his stats, the dude was averaging 2 points a game before that game.
 
A fun fact is, I had 2 players in the VHL so far. A very very small sample size, but I won't be surprised that it still keeps up. The only time I was a point per game player was when it was in my sophomore season around 400 TPE. Is it a sweet spot? I do not know, but maybe I should just retire after each sophomore season.
 
I told to myself, hey you won't be a top 10 player, probably not even a top 20 player because that in itself is a pipe dream for most of us common people in the website, but I thought being in the same kind of situation like a Dakota Lamb or Christian Mingle that had good early season in their career, but the difference is with my +350 TPE right now. It should make sense that I can put up more stats, but the STHS has other ideas
 
So yes newer members, don't waste your time on getting much TPE as possible. Don't expect a lot from your player each season and don't try to replicate other people builds that were good since it only works for them. Just have fun playing outside, it's been a year of covid. Just take 5min of your time to claim welfare and trivia/press conference because it won't make a difference if you work your ass off and it produces nothing in the end. 
 
Welp it was just supposed to be an article about my first 10 games, but it ended up as a media spot. Do not take it seriously. Ranting is fun and easy to get that 6 TPE lol.

It was correct.
 
He did see @MMFLEXvisit @Devisebefore his untimely death.
 
Apparently @Devisewas also listening to kpop on loop so take what you want from that.

Yeet!
 
A bit of circumstantial evidence, and we have us a lynching on Day 2. 
 
@Spartan dies after a pair of contradicting claims--to the surprise of nobody, he was...
 
 
Day 3 starting...I'm not sure when. I may be up around 10, I also may not be.
 
 
List of living players (20)

 

In a season of change for the Calgary Wranglers much of this season is uncertain, but that does not halt the motivation of the General Manager and his young star studded team. 
 
Eight games into this season the Wranglers sit 3-5-0 ( 6 points ) with a minus twelve in goal differential and second last in the division. “We have a ton of new faces this year and it might take some time getting used to each other and finding that right chemistry, but this is a great group in that locker room; I’m positive we will figure it out” said captain Luke Thornton. 
 
At this point in the season there is a four way tie for team lead in points ( 8 ) which includes - Forward Jonas Stormsson , and three DEFENCMEN!! Cowboy Prout , Tom Eagles , and Rolf Fizzlebeef jr.  Behind them with 7 points in 8 games this season is first year Wrangler Nathan Perry; “it has definitely been an adjustment coming to Calgary from across the world in London but Ricer really went out of his way to make me feel comfortable and welcomed! I really like what we are building here” 
 
Calgary’s special teams is running at a respectable 14.71 percent for the powerplay and 79.49% for the penalty kill, I believe the coaching staff knows they can improve on both these fronts but it is not necessarily their down fall to this point in the season.  
 
In net goaltender Vsevolod Askarov is sporting a .897 save percentage and 4.50 goals against average; “I need to be better... bottom line, I know I’m capable of more and I think I can be the best in the league” said Askarov after his teams 6-3 loss to the Los Angeles Stars. In reality Askarov is far from the problem, he is getting peppered with shots game in and game out; he can only do so much while he waits for the rest of the team to catch up to the competition. 
 
General Manager @Ricer13 was recently interviewed about the current state of his team.   “ The first two weeks so far with the team have gone better than expected. Everyone on the roster has bought into the fact that this will be a developmental season for us. Our 3-5 record is something we are proud of not disappointed with”.  
 
@Ricer13would go more in depth on what he realistically expects this season and what he and his staff expect in the near future; “My expectations for this season are for everyone to put the work in to improve each and every week. It’s going to be a group effort to get this team to where we want to be. If each player can buy into that then next season we could be making our way into the playoffs. As for this season from a standings perspective we have no expectations set for ourselves. We want to compete every night, make life miserable for our opponents, and if we manage to sneak into the playoffs then that’s an added bonus. It’s going to take a group effort to achieve a goal like that this season!” 
 
 
 
The Wranglers are primed to get better and better as this season goes along and it won’t be a long wait until they’re into the playoffs and making some noise, maybe even by seasons end. 
 
 
594 words! 
 
 

Yeah I'm stealing @Quik's naming scheme for this.
 
Just a super small and quick announcement today (mostly of concern for the @VHL GM's and @VHLM GM's) that over the off-season the @BOG took a vote to formalize our tiebreaker rules. Historically they were almost never used so they were never really formalized but with so many teams between the VHLM and VHL it's becoming increasingly common to have two teams with the same amount of points. The decision came down mostly to whether we followed the NHL's regulations or if we followed our own former precedent.
 
So, to make it official (and the portal now reflects this) moving forward the order of importance for standings is: Points > Wins > ROW > Goal Differential.
 
If somehow two teams end up tied on all of that (I would be stunned) then we'll have to figure out some extra layer but for not at least we have that finalized.

no I am sad that ricer died the best gm in the league