Erik Summers

Unsung Heroes of Team Europe With their recent gold medal victory, Team Europe is celebrating another victory on the international stage. However, after the WJC awards, I think it is important to spotlight the importance players that didn't light it up on the score sheet. Falling just off a point per game pace, Erik Summers ended the tournament with one goal and seven assists. Teammate, Fernando Jokinen, received much of the buzz of the tournament, leading in scoring during the round robin with eleven points, all assists. However, Jokinen went ice cold in the medal round with zero points. However, both of these players dominated in a different way. In the Gold Medal game against Asia, Summers and Jokinen, former Houston Bulls teammates, combined for nine blocked shots, 50% more than the rest of their team combined. Typically playing on different lines, the two combined for sixty minutes of ice time, so there was rarely a moment when one of these defensive juggernauts was on the ice. Despite both being FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY in favor of their teammate, Andrej Petrovic, for the tournament's all-star team, these two made a huge impact in bringing the Gold to Europe. Perhaps, after their win in Houston and now with Team Europe, these two will begin to see some recognition as the defensive force that they are. @Ahma

Unsung Hero of Team Asia With the closing of the World Juniors Championship, Team Asia astounded many with their Silver Medal finish. Several heroes have been mentioned when it comes to who was responsible for their unexpected run, from the MVP goal tending from Spyro, to the absolute dominance of Asia's top line, but I believe that one important name hasn't been mentioned nearly enough. Second line center, Dagmar Havlova, played with incredible consistency and leadership throughout the tournament. The Stats In ten games, Team Asia's second line was on the ice for sixteen goals. Dagmar got points on seven of those sixteen goals, but being a play-maker isn't always about getting on the point sheet. Havlova played a physical but disciplined style with seventeen hits and only two penalties; one of which was for a fight. That fight was at a pivotal moment for Asia in the middle of the tournament. The Fight In a chippy game six of the round robin against Team World, Dagmar dropped gloves against the evenly sized Ben McGirr. McGirr has a history of physical, and often dirty, play, so when he took a cheap shot at Havlova's line mate, Shush Nyko, one of the tournaments top scorers at this point, Dagmar didn't hesitate to make a statement. McGirr was happy to oblige and they both dropped gloves. The fight drug out, with each side landing some solid blows, but in the end the refs broke it up before a clear winner could be determined. This served as a turning point, not only in the game, but in the team. Despite their winning record, Team Asia had struggled with discipline issues throughout the tournament, racking up more penalty minutes than any other team. However, from that point on, they became one of the least penalized teams in the tournament. Seeing their leader put it all on the line brought the team together to play for the group rather than for the individual. The Goal Dagmar capped off the game against Team World with an assist on the final nail in the coffin, guaranteeing them then first seed in the medal round, but that wasn't his most important point of the tournament. Early on, in their first match against Team Europe, the two teams were going back and forth, with neither side able to take a convincing lead. After a promising second period, Team Asia went down 3-2 early on in the third. That was when Havlova's line turned it on. First it was Ryo Yamazuki on the feed from Manzer to tie the game halfway through the period. Then, in closing minutes of the game, Manzer moves the puck into the Europe zone, dishes the puck to Yamazuki and, in his greatest highlight of the tournament, Havlova fire the game winner past Isak Sjostrom. The crowd went crazy. The expected punching bag of the tournament had just taken a 4-3 lead late in the third period against the team many were ready to crown champions already. Sadly, despite defeating them twice in the round robin, Asia wasn't able to achieve the same result in the Gold Medal game. However, all of Asia's played, especially Dagmar and the rest of the second line should be extremely proud of overcoming the world's expectations and putting together a performance that will be remember for years to come. @diamond_ace

Yeet!

Moscow 3-2

408 Vancouver Wolves @ Moscow Menace 409 Prague Phantoms @ Malmo Nighthawks 410 Helsinki Titans @ HC Davos Dynamo 411 New York Americans @ Calgary Wranglers

Congratulations man! It was great to have you on the team.

Yeet!

Yeet!

Yeet!

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Stocking Stuffer!

Yeah, the joke was just too easy, I couldn't help myself. I see what everyone is saying, and I totally get it. I got inspired by a conversation that happened in discord. I think you can really tell the difference between an article that took 2 hours to write and one that took 6 and a part of me would love to see that extra work rewarded. But yeah, I understand how hard it would be to make an effective system for doing that.

Millennials - Maybe you could pay us for our work? Boomers - Knowing you did a good job should be payment enough.

With the hiring of a new position designated to putting new articles on the front page of the portal I had an idea. What if getting featured came with a bonus? 1-2 uncapped TPE if your article gets selected for the portal. It incentivizes writing pieces with a high production value and broad appeal. The draw back obviously, is that it gives one person the power to dole out uncapped TPE and this power can be abused. What do you think? Will the added incentive increase high-quality content on the site? Will the curation of the portal news become a corrupt cesspit of free TPE?

Interview With the Team Asia GM After day two of the WJC, Erik, the GM of Team Asia sat down for a small presser. When asked about his feeling on Team Asia's start, Erik responded, "There was a lot of doubt about Team Asia in the press ahead of the tournament. I admit that some of that was justified, a new GM, some concerns about depth, stuff like that. Hopefully, we have proven to everyone now that we are for real. Obviously we have our vision set on a high goal, but I think it is also important to celebrate the accomplishments we have already achieved." He continued, "We have beaten every other team in the tournament. I think that fact alone means that, no matter what happens from here, we will be considered a contended, which wasn't true at the start of the WJC." When asked to highlight specific players, the young GM replied. "Above any individual accolades, I want to highlight that every single player on our roster has points and has a +/- above 0. That being said, I also think we have a couple of strong candidates for tournament MVP on our roster. Wang and Yamazuki are both top performers, but I think Okada has been excellent in creating scoring opportunities and I expect that his scoring numbers will go up as well. I also want to highlight the work Shush Nyko has done on our second line. That line has put in some of the hardest work on the ice I have seen in my career. I couldn't be happier with their play."

Malmo 3-2

319 HC Davos Dynamo @ New York Americans 320 Vancouver Wolves @ Malmo Nighthawks 321 Toronto Legion @ Seattle Bears 322 Prague Phantoms @ Helsinki Titans

Hot WJC Start for Asia The WJC got under way today with it's first six games and a lot of people came away shocked by the results. First off, lets look at how things stand: Asia: 2-0-0 Europe: 2-1-0 World: 1-1-1 Canada: 1-1-0 USA: 0-2-0 The pre-tournament coverage from the VSN was spot on so far. They got the order of four of the teams correct, but Asia proved to be even more polarizing than expected. Instead of being the last place team, they are currently undefeated. What is more impressive is that they have handed losses to both Europe and World, the teams many predicted to make the gold medal game. A hot start isn't everything, but when only eight games decide who plays for gold, winning your first to goes a long way. So how do we account for Asia's unexpected success? It seems likely that most teams would be planning against the dominant top line of Asia, but the second line of forward has step up to perform well above what was expected. Five of Asia's eight goals so far have come with the second line forwards on the ice. Ryo Yamazuki II has been on a tear with five points in two games, throwing his name into contention for WJC MVP if he keeps this pace. This second line came in especially clutch in the game against Team Europe. With ten minutes remaining, Europe was up 3-2 after two goals early in the third. Team Asia had been playing in spurts all game, and they were able to sustain some offensive zone pressure. After forcing Sjostrom to cover the puck, they lined up for an offensive zone face-off. Despite losing the draw, Shush Nyko was able to body Kidd off of the puck. Manzer stepped in to lay a perfect pass across to the tape of Yamazuki and a quick shot resulted in the tying goal. Team Asia then followed that up with a goal of the tournament candidate, winning a face-off in their own zone and then working the puck down the ice unimpeded before a sniper shot from the Ovi-Spot by Havlova. You can't talk about over-performing on Asia's roster without mentioning their blue line. Omdahl and Clark have been putting excellent offensive production on the ice, and Manzer and Fitzwell played a major part in Asia's shutdown of Team World's offense. Team world has one of the weaker forward groups in the tournament, but out-shooting a team 47-20 in a measure of defensive dominance. Finally, we have to talk about the goal-tending. When you take one of the best goalies in the VHLM and they continue to perform in a tournament like this, it is hard to call it over-performing. However, it still seems that many had their doubts about Team Asia's goalie situation, so this needs to be said. The kid is for real! Maybe this WJC will finally put Spyro's doubters to rest as he looks not only for a gold here, but also to unseat Saskatoon at the top of the VHLM. We will see how the rest of the games play out, but first-time GM Erik couldn't be happier with how his team has performed this year.

This was definitely some bulletin board material! We're doing great in our first two games. I still predict that someone on that line takes tournament MVP.

Ditto

Team Asia Prepares for the WJC Administrative changes have shaken up the Team Asia front office. With Greg on his way to lead Team Europe, Asia has announce GM Erik as his replacement. While most of staff will stay the same, a change at the top always brings uncertainty and excitement. The new GM announced a press conference to discuss the future of team Asia in the upcoming Juniors tournament, but first he held a series of internal meetings. At the presser, he was asked what he discussed with the rest of the front office staff at these closed-door meetings. "I wanted to get on the same page as the rest of the organization. I think it is important for a new GM to arrive with a vision of the future but also with open ears to correctly assess the situation at hand." He continued. "I think the overtime loss to Canada six years ago broke the spirit of this team in a way. Every season, it is clear that it is going to be an uphill battle for a region like Asia. We simply don't have as many players playing hockey as in other parts of the world. I still believe that we can put together excellent play on the ice. However, it does make those close losses that much more bitter when you know it will likely be years before you get another crack at it." When asked about his predecessor Erik responded, "The Bronze Medal was very successful outcome for the limitations that last year's roster provided. I think GM Greg was deserving of a shot at running Europe. That being said, if they have to go through us, Greg and Team Europe aren't making it to the Goal Medal game this year." Reporters tried to ask questions about Erik's doppelganger on team Europe but were unsuccessful, with the new GM shutting down the press conference as soon as it was mentioned. From the presser, Erik hopped on a plane to go watch HC Davos playing the Helsinki Titans. Why he felt so strongly about seeing this particular game, no one knows, but he didn't get to watch Team Asia winger Jerry Wang in action. It was a slow night for Wang, but against the defensive juggernaut that is Helsinki, that isn't a surprise. Caught after the game, Erik commented about how impressed he has been with his Wang's performance and he looks forward to seeing what it can do against other young competition. "I intend to shine a spotlight on the often overlooked talent that is produced in this continent." He continued. "That is going to take creative lines, aggressive strategies, and a superior level of discipline. I believe Wang is the type of disciple I've been looking for." Erik again evade reporters when they began asking questions he wasn't interested in answering. This time, those questions revolved around the rumors that he had been scouting defenseman to play wing in a strange new offensive strategy. "I'm not going to comment on strategic details or lines at this time." Was the only comment Erik gave before flying back to the Team Asia front office. It is time to get to work, and this version of Team Asia will definitely have it's work cut out for it. How will this brand new GM perform under the pressure? Will Erik be able to motivate a team to success? Only time and ice will tell.

Don't question my genius.