KC15

D.C. 4-2

Helsinki Titans @ Malmo Nighthawks D.C. Dragons @ Calgary Wranglers Toronto Legion @ Vancouver Wolves Riga Reign @ Moscow Menace

With the D.C. Dragons comfortably tied for 3rd in the North American Conference of the VHL with 59 points (11 points ahead of both New York and Toronto), it seems like a good time for another quick update on Guy Lesieur’s breakout season. Actually, before I shift from the team’s success, it should be noted that if D.C. were in the European Conference, we would be the number one seed in the playoffs out of that Conference – one point ahead of Moscow. My hat is of to GM @Enorama for getting us to this point so quickly in this young team’s existence. Enorama has made many moves, but one of his better IMHO (lol) was believing in Lesieur’s user enough to make the trade to get Lesieur in the first round after we had already gone one pick before D.C. was on the clock. With 48 games played, it is clear that his status as one of the Dragons’ best and brightest is no fluke. He is here to stay. Guy has lit the lamp 21 times which puts him on pace for over 31 goals on the season – good for second on the team only trailing D.C.’s superstar Mikko Aaltonen (5 goals ahead of Guy). It also puts him tied for 13th in the entire VHL. Guy’s 23 assists (over 34 projected goals) put him 6th on the team proving that he doesn’t just hog the puck and score, but knows how to pass to talented teammates as well. Finally, and this may be Guy’s proudest accomplishment, Guy’s 10.19% shot percentage is the best on the team and makes him the only one scoring at a double digit pace. Looking very much forward to the playoffs this year as we hope to go much deeper in S71!

DC wins 5 - 3

259 New York Americans @ Calgary Wranglers 260 HC Davos Dynamo @ Vancouver Wolves 261 Malmo Nighthawks @ Riga Reign 262 Toronto Legion @ D.C. Dragons

1. How are you feeling in this pandemic? It's such an odd time, but my family and my church help keep me anchored. Incredibly, we had 83 for our online celebration of Easter Sunday. Less than a normal Easter, but not a lot less and 83 is quite a few to gather together online. Felt really uplifting. 2. What is your favourite hobbies besides sports? Fun question: Not sure if all of these are hobbies, pastimes, interests or whatever, but film, theater, reading, genealogy, metal detecting. 3. What individual awards are you going for this season? Don't know that I am looking at awards just yet in Guy's career, but I do very much want to improve in all areas of his game from season to season: goals, assists, shooting percentage, +/-, etc. 4. How have you been keeping fit during this crazy time? Not sure I'm "keeping fit", but we have a new dog in the house and we've been going on regular walks. 5. Who is your bestest VHL buddy? Ooooh. A bit of a dangerous question ranking friends and teammates. I'll just say my GM, @Enorama as a safe, but not untrue answer. 6. Who is your favourite NHL player of all time? Crazy because he is not a star by any stretch of the imagination, but Ken Daneyko of the NJ Devils. Epitome of a hard-working hockey guy who "carried the mail". The Gretzkys of the world are so much fun to watch on the ice, but the backbone of the league that make it all possible are the Daneykos of the NHL.

Regular old +4

The Dragons are certainly on the rise. In their third season in the league, they made the playoffs and this season they are holding on to the fourth slot, but have a more comfortable margin than last year. However, the big news in the Lesieur family home back in France is the rise of their son, Guy. S70 saw a ton of improvement for the young RW, but this year is off to an incredible start and with getting close to half the games played (34 to be exact), it seems fair to say that it is not a fluke. Last season Guy lit the lamp a career best 25 times and not bad for any player in the league, however this season Guy already has 17 goals which puts him on pace for 36 on the year! This is good enough to edge out even the great Mikko Aaltonen and Benny Graves by one goal to hold the lead for goal scoring among all D.C. Dragons and puts him 8th league-wide. And it’s not all volume either. Guy has the best shot percentage on the team at 10.76%. There are still a lot more games to play in the VHL and much could change, but what is clear is that Guy Lesieur has established himself in the league and has a bright future ahead of him.

Regular Old Welfare +4

1. What are you doing to keep yourself busy during this pandemic? Still have some work planning services and keeping in touch with people, but also reading and just hanging out with the family. 2. If you had to watch any sport other than the big four North American ones, which would it be? Probably tennis. Played enough when younger that I can at least follow some of the strategy and appreciate the players' greatness. 3. Who would win in a fight, Charles Drumm or Hulk Hogan? Charles Drumm, I hope. 4. If you could only drink one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be? As much as I love my Gin & Tonic, if it were truly only one thing it would have to be water. 5. Stranded on a desert island, what's the one thing you bring with you? Maybe a Bible or a Book of Common Prayer - or maybe a solar powered laptop with cellular data capability. 6. What is your favourite video game you have ever played? Mass Effect, Oblivion or Jeanne d'Arc for PSP.

Malmo 2-1

109 Malmo Nighthawks @ Vancouver Wolves 110 Toronto Legion @ Prague Phantoms 112 Helsinki Titans @ HC Davos Dynamo 113 Riga Reign @ Moscow Menace

1. 10 games in, what's the more surprising story: Toronto being .500 or New York being tied for last? New York being tied for last. They fought us pretty hard last season, if I remember right. Still. Only 10 games. 2. We currently find ourselves sitting in 4th place in the league, 2nd in the NA conference, but we're at a -1 goal differential. How can we prod our offense into producing more? Give Lesieur the puck more. lol 3. Do regular season results dictate who wins the expansion race between us and Prague or does none of that matter until one of us wins a cup? I think there is something in consistently winning more in the regular season, but I will say, we all play for the Cup! 4. Michael Johnson sports a .953SV% for Malmo after ten games. How sustainable is this? Seems pretty high. I say it comes down. 5. Once again, our scoring has started out quite even. By around the game 7 mark everyone had at least one point. What are your thoughts on the evenness of the lineup? Not sure it's that uneven. Four of our top 6 forwards have 3 goals each and Mikko has one extra. Spread on points is only 5-8. 6. Our man Frostbeard has started the season angry, leading the league with nearly 5 hits per game, what made him so mad? I heard that after one of our early wins, he heard a yapper say, "fluke".

PBE Affiliate PT for VHL.com Article +2 TPE

Welfare +4 TPE

1. Where do we fall in the NA conference this year? (1st-6th) Won't be so bold as to go #1 - though it could happen. I'll slot us in at third. 2. Who wins the race for last place between Toronto and Davos? Poor Davos. 3. What is your VHL hot take for S71? Lesieur increases his scoring by 50%. 4. We've got a little bit of cap room going into the season, should we; a) pick up an inactive dman to take ice time away from our bots, b) accrue some to buy some help at the deadline, or c) hand out some bonuses? We'll make the playoffs so bots are not a huge issue. But depending on where we are, we might want a boost at deadline. 5. Our friend Pekka Pouta was sent away to Davos to make room for FA pickup JB Rift. Do you have any nice words to send Pouta on his way? It was great playing on the Dragons with you. Much success in Davos. 6. Will rookie goaltender Wolski push Rift for starts by the end of the season? I'm guessing yes, indeed.

PBE Affiliate PT for VHL 590 Article +2 TPE

Regular old +4 for Lesieur

Guy Lesiuer, claiming 7 experience

1. What have you been doing in in training to get an edge on the upcoming season? Been doing a lot of video work on my positioning as well as working with the coaches on my pure skating skills. 2. The draft took place last night and we traded up to fourth to get Stone Wolski. What are your thoughts on that transaction? Brilliant! We've had some good goal tending all along, but it was important to get a franchise goalie for the future. 3. Now that you've had a brief meeting with the new young players for DC, what do you think of the future for DC? Brighter than ever! 4. When you were a rookie, how was the entire draft process for you? I really enjoyed it. Stream was well-done and I enjoyed the commentary. Felt very welcomed in both by Mexico City in the VHLM and the Dragons (via draft day trade) in the VHL. 5. Now that the draft has concluded, how do you think DC will fare in the upcoming season? Playoffs again, but with a deeper push. Maybe all the way if we can catch lightning in a bottle. 6. Which team are you raring to go against in the upcoming season? All of them! Bring 'em on!

Sure, why not?

Regular old Welfare +4 TPE

PBE PT for VHL 590 Article +2 TPE

So, I just ticked off another first for my career in the VHL. In fact, it’s almost a first in my entire sim experience across multiple leagues: PBE, SHL, VHL, GOMHL, NSFL and EFL. I listened to a podcast. I tend to listen to a ton of podcasts in real life: baseball, fantasy baseball, genealogy, current events, spiritual, birds, etc. So, it’s funny that I haven’t taken on many sim league pods. It may be that my first experience did not go so well. It was just a long rambling monologue and a bit boring, but I wanted to support my teammate who had recorded it. But then I saw that VSN Australia @Berocka was interviewing my GM @Enorama. Ok – no monologue. Hurrah! I was briefly in Berocka’s cricket sim league and thought he did a superb job with that. (If you have the time and any feeling for cricket, I recommend it.) So, that seemed a good sign. And every single interaction with Enorama has been so positive that also made it seem worth a listen. My short review – that was some good listening! I think I heard somewhere that Berocka did not feel that prepared, but it didn’t come off that way. He kept the conversation rolling at a nice pace with some interesting questions. Enorama, for his part, knocked it out of the park! Very interesting to hear his insights on the building of a franchise and the league in general. More of this please!

1. If you had to play for any other team in the league, who would you play for? Lesieur doesn't play for anyone but D.C. 2. What is one change you would make in the league if you had the power to do it? Have to say that I'm pretty happy with the league. Nothing really on my mind. 3. Do you listen to any podcasts on the site? If so, which one(s)? It's funny. Actually listening to you on the VSN Australia pod as I do this presser. But that's the first one I've every listened to. 4. The draft lottery is finished. Will Riga take Roque Davis or Kyl Oferson 1st overall? No idea. Don't follow the draft well enough to know. 5. We hold the 7th overall pick, but rumours abound that we may be trading it. Are we trading up, trading down, or trading it for a player? I could see us trading up for a goalie, but we may not need to do that to get who we want, so I wouldn't bet the farm. 6. Moscow and Calgary are facing off in the finals. Moscow is heavily favored, but would Calgary winning make our 4-2 series against them feel a little better? Yeah, I'm actually one of those guys who tends to say, "Well, we were knocked out by the eventual Cup winner - and we took them to 6 in the first round.