Erik Summers

I think we should elect a town undertaker to write obituaries and bury the dead in our town. Who would like to run for the position?

What are you, some kinda vigilante?

Yo! How's it going?

Claiming this for week 2 of 4.

*read the entire thing looking for draft dates* *misses very first line*

Instead of rivals, we will end up as teammates. We can only hope, lol.

The VHL is not a place free of drama and it never will be. We are a diverse community that will often not see eye to eye on things. In situations with people of diverse experience, I think it would be helpful to have more clearly defined expectations. I want to use two recent examples to make this case and then give a couple ideas for improvement. In @Tate's recent "How to Fix Retention" thread. There was a clear mismatch between Tate's expectations of what staff should be doing to retain players and what certain staff members understand as the expectation. And here's the thing, they were both right. Since there are no clearly and publicly stated expectations of the conduct or responsibilities of staff, everyone was just working off of their own internal guess at what those expectations were. Similarly, in @GustavMattias's recent thread about the VSN, there was much debate about who was doing a good job and who wasn't over at the VSN. But once again, here's the thing, there is no clear and public record of what the expectations are of VSN staffers. So everyone is operating under a different expectation of what those staffers should be doing. Consequently, whether or not a person thought the current VSN staff was doing a good job was directly tied to their interpretation of what that job entailed. Finally, in a recent game thread, @Josh and @Banackock were called out for some offensive language/slurs, and the ensuing hubbub revealed again that there was no consensus on expectations. Some members thought what they did was clearly wrong, while others took it to even further depths in discord. All of this could have been solved if there were clear and public expectations of community conduct. So here are my suggestions to make this a more enjoyable place for everyone! Detailed Job Responsibilities for All Roles What does a GM do? Is it the same in the VHL as in the M? How about the Head of Recruitment? What are the expectations places on a Commissioner? I don't have any clue and I can't find it explained anywhere on the forum. Having a stickied thread with each job role detailed would be extremely helpful. It would let everyone know exactly what realms each job oversees and what those staffers are expected to accomplish. That way, no staff member will be expected to do more than they are required to do and the community can clearly recognize when someone isn't fulfilling their responsibilities and the leadership can make appropriate adjustments. Community Standards of Conduct I don't think we need a comprehensive list of approved words and unapproved words. But I do think we need some clear and specific lines that shouldn't be crossed. This is a sports league, we want trash talk and good-natured fun, but it is important that we prevent that from turning into trolling and harassment. I don't claim to have all the answers on this one, but I think it is a necessity for allowing members, especially newer ones, to know what to expect and what is permitted. I believe that these would be helpful to people on both sides of these types of conflicts. If there are clear expectations, no one will have excuse to be surprised when something they do is considered wrong by others or when something someone else does is permitted. Sometimes conflict is necessary, but it is rarely fun. I believe that these changes would help everyone to understand their place here and appropriate ways to interact with each other.

How does anyone read "big gay" when talking about a game you lost and not see it as you saying gay=bad? You're being a troll if you're seriously trying to make that argument.

Considering this a "generic comment" is exactly the problem. Using slurs adds nothing to a conversation and only serves to be hurtful to others. It is immature, plain and simple.

WOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!

I have only been here for a couple months, but hopefully my long-form media spots are a good example of the type of work I can produce. I'd be really excited to get to work on pieces for the VSN.

Each team has a shutout in this series now. The goal tending has been on a whole different level.

Malmo Malmo Malmo Malmo 3-2 Points: Matt Thompson Goals: Matt Thompson Assists: Ryan Sullivan Jr. PIM: Hulk Hogan Series-winning goal: Matt Thompson

I was going to keep liking everyone's responses because I really appreciate all the engagement on this topic. But sadly, I'm out of reactions. NEW SUGGESTION! Get rid of reaction limits!

Alright, you've convinced me, and I'm the one who wrote the suggestion, lol. As a new player, I was looking at it purely from the competition standpoint, and I still think my points a valid from that viewpoint. However, I agree with you completely that isn't the primary purpose of the VLHM. I really appreciate the look you guys gave me into the view of the league from management's perspective.

Honestly, this is a really good point that I hadn't considered. Player engagement is probably the single most important thing in the VHLM and if having more players in the playoffs helps that, then I completely see it as valid to have more teams.

I think you could make the argument that a team with a losing record in the regular season doesn't deserve a chance to compete in the off-season. If a 7 or 8 seed is never going to win, then having the games is just for show, and if they do win, is that going to be an incredible feel good moment or feel like a fluke that cheated the top seeded team out of their playoff hopes? I feel like it would be a latter, but that might just be me.

That is the ugliest bracket I have ever seen. I'm not saying that it is inherently bad but... man. It starts out as double elimination and then changes halfway through? I used to be really into brackets and I have never seen one set up that that. Really interesting.

@Banackock Thanks for the reply! I really don't think it is hurting anything to have the 8 team playoff, and I think it would be great to see the league grow into it. Consistency alone might be a good enough reason to keep it at eight teams, but I just thought it was strange that teams with really pretty bad regular season records got a shot at playing spoiler to the top seeded teams. Thank you for taking the time to consider my idea! I'm having a lot of fun in the league and that starts at the top.

In the 3 seasons since the VHL expanded to 11 teams and an 8 team playoff, we have seen 4 teams make the playoffs with losing records. In those 4 series, the teams with a losing record have won a total of 1 game. This means that the number 1 seed already functionally has a bye. So what about the 2v7 seed game? S68 was the first time we saw the 7 seed win more than one game against the 2 seed. I don't see this as a big threat to the 2 seed and we would like average less than 1 in 10 7 seeds advancing to the second round. I think we would have a more exciting, condensed playoff, if we returned to a 6 game playoff in the VHLM. Here is my proposed format. Round 1: 3 Seed Vs 6 Seed - 5 Game Series 4 Seed Vs 5 Seed - 5 Game Series Round 2: 1 Seed Vs. Lowest Remaining Seed - 7 Game Series 2 Seed Vs. Highest Remaining Seed - 7 Game Series Round 3: Championship - 7 Game Series I think it is concise, but it also provides tons of competitive hockey while giving teams an incentive to play for top seeding in the regular season while cutting out series that aren't competitive. That's my idea, and I don't have any knowledge of why the VHLM went to a 8 team playoff, so maybe this has already been debated, but I couldn't find the thread.

Defense Wins Championships You know the old adage, "Defense Wins Championships"? Well, it has proven true in the VHLM. We now know that the Houston Bulls will be facing the Yukon Rush in the VHLM finals, and these teams have both shown off some impressive defensive stats this off-season. Houston has held opponents to an average of just twenty two shots per game and allowed only 2.2 goals per game. That means Sean McGee is sporting a .900 SV% after nine games. He also recorded his first playoff shutout against Halifax in game four. Similarly, Yukon has only allowed an average on one more shot per game with twenty three and even fewer goals at 1.6 per game. Yukon's goal tending has been unbeatable up to this point with Block Buster carrying the team with a .930 SV% and a whopping three shutouts in ten games. These finals are shaping up to be the best defensive hockey we have seen in the VHLM in a very long time, and while it isn't the flashiest thing in the world we are in for an exciting final series.

This is now my profile header!