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Gold? USA Silver? Canada Bronze? World MVP? Virgil Ligriv

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I find it very ironic, but after having posted a 500-word media spot earlier in the day, I see the results of today’s sim. Why ironic? Well, in that media spot, I talked about the very different ways that the two newest expansion teams have attained their increased success this year. Prague with two top lines that are very balanced in their production scoring 34 goals on the top line and 31 on the second, whereas D.C. leans into the firepower of star forward Mikko Aaltonen who has 23 goals all by himself. In comparison, the Dragons’ second line has only 17 goals total. That was – until today’s game against those same Phantoms that I wrote about this morning. The Dragons shut out the Phantoms 5-0 and neither Aaltonen, nor any other first liner lit the lamp. Instead, the second line came alive – or rather more precisely center, Balentine Kidd, came alive. Kidd came into the game with the fewest goals on the second line – only 3. And then he doubled it to 6 with a hat trick against Prague! He added an assist on Guy Lesieur’s 10th goal to bring his season total to 12. Lesieur also had an assist on one of Kidd’s 3. Linemate Mac Hooper also chipped in with two assists. Maybe the second line just needed a little push in the right direction!

With D.C.’s excellent progress from S68 to S69, I decided I’d like to take a closer look at the team and how we are putting this improvement on the ice. What am talking about? In S68, our first season, we won 20 games all season. In S69, we have won 15 games at the exact half-way mark which, of course, puts us on a pace to win 30 games this season – an increase of 50% more wins in just one season’s time. Then a second thought hit me – how does our expansion partner, the Prague Phantoms, stack up against our benchmark of improvement. In S68, Prague won 23 games. At the half-way point they have tallied 13 wins putting them on a pace for 26 wins. It’s fairly identical performance from each team versus the other in both of their franchise’s history with D.C. edging out the Phantoms for amount of progress one year over the other. Similar performance, but each team seems to be getting there with very different methods. Prague has a very balanced approach whereas the Dragons look like Captain Mikko Aaaltonen and his supporting cast. Aaltonen has 23 goals to date – on pace for 46 goals on the season and a praiseworthy performance. D.C.’s output drops dramatically from this lofty plateau. The Dragons’ second leading goal scorer, Graves, has half as many at 12 and D.C.’s third leading goal sniper is Lesieur with 9. On the Prague side of the score sheet, things are much more bunched up with a number of scoring options: Pearson 13 Draper 12 Miniti 12 Laughton 12 Dredge 9 Gebauer 9 The Phantoms have a full two lines’s worth of skaters with 9 or more goals (6 players) whereas D.C. has just one “line” playing at this level. This is born out when one analyzes the teams’ production by line . I’m only looking at the top 2 lines as in the VHL one begins serious double shifting when we move past the top 2. The top line for D.C. (Graves, Washington, Aaltonen) scored nearly half of all of the team’s goals – 45.8%. The second line (Lesieur, Kidd, Hooper) only chipped in 20.5%. On the Phantom side of the equation, the first line scored 34% of the goals vs. the second line’s 31%. This more balanced approach has netted Prague 17 more goals on the season than D.C. (100 vs. 83). Not surprisingly the underlying TPA is directly in line with these findings. Aaltonen dominates the first and second lines of both teams (714 TPA) and Prague’s totals are more closely aligned with each other and tower over D.C.’s second line. First Line Second Line D.C. 1564 TPA 872 TPA Prague 1155 TPA 1223 TPA So, the two teams are enjoying nearly identical success, but coming at it in widely divergent ways – D.C. riding a star skater; Prague putting together two very balanced lines. I truly don’t know which is better. It’s great to have a strong skater to build around, but it’s also great to have a nucleus of core players who will all develop at the same pace. I think it’s going to be fascinating to see how this plays out for the balance of this year and in the coming 2-3 seasons.

1. I'm going to say we stay at about the exact same pace and finish with 30. No, I predicted over 30 at the start of the season, so I'm going to say 31. lol 2. Toss up really. We are 9th in goals against and 10th in goal scoring so we need both. I might lean defense, however, with Jerwa regressing and our young forward core continuing to improve. Still, probably BPA. 3. Jerwa. Just believe in Polish Power. 4. Seattle. More fun knocking off last year's winner in our opening round upset. 5. Going with Aaltonen and goals. He's right up there now and Smitty is just a little tough to beat on defense. Though I love me some Valentino! 6. Diner food all day long. Love fresh croissants, but how do you beat bacon and eggs served with a steaming cup of coffee in one of those really thick diner "cups"?

An exciting season continues for the fans of the D.C. Dragons. With more than half the games remaining, the Dragons only need 5 wins to tie their inaugural season win total of 20. An improved season seems a lock for this young team and a playoff birth is not out of the question. In fact, if the season were to end today at game 32, D.C would indeed be competing in their very first playoffs – in just their second season. The last two games have been indicative of this “dream season”. The Dragons beat the NY Americans 4-3 and then went on to defeat the Helskinki Titans, the top team in the entire VHL, in a thrilling 4-3 shootout win. It was a particularly thrilling game for fans of the up and coming French left winger, Guy Lesieur. At 3:15 of the 3rd period, Guy scored the go ahead goal against this tough Helsinki squad. Unfortunately the Titans answered and the two teams stalemated in the overtime period. This brought everything down to a nail biting shootout. First up – the Dragons’ captain, Mikko Aaltonen. No surprise when he lit the lamp. After all, he’s on pace to notch 50 goals on the season. D.C. goalie, Pekka Pouta, came up big against the Titans’ star, Kronos Bailey. Benny Graves, the Dragons’ second leading scorer was stymied and Pouta reciprocated against Julian Borwinn. This brought up the Dragons’ young winger, Lesieur. Guy skated toward the Helsinki goalie, Alexander Pepper, weaving left and right as he came. As he closed in, he faked a back-hand shot moving Pepper out of position and he slammed home a hard wrister for the win! This young D.C. team is a joy to watch and the fans are coming out in full force each night knowing that their boys will give them their money’s worth!

1. Calgary and New York in our conference and Riga and Prague in the European Conference 2. Lesieur. lol Ok, gotta go with one of my linemates - toss up. Let's say Graves, just because I think he turns on the goal scoring jets and voters love to see the lamp lit. 3. Go with Graves for the above reasons. Or Jerwa. 4. No. Tempted to stop there, but he is so obviously head and shoulders above the rest of us and can so often put the team on his back and carry us to a win. But our youth are working hard to keep up! 5. Well, once they were invented. lol I first had pong. But yeah, I spent most of my early video gaming on the PC. Now it's all Nintendo handheld, iPhone or occasional Xbox or PS4. 6. Bacon. And I don't feel guilty. I just enjoy. lol

Mon cher père et ma chère maman, November 26, 2019 It was so good to receive your latest letter and learn all the news of the family back in la belle France! Things have certainly been a whirlwind for me here in the States going all the way back to my arrival to this day. As you know, I was first drafted by Mexico City of the VHLM and what a thrill that was! It was a bit of a shock to be traded midway through that first season to the Las Vegas Aces, but also made for an exciting finish to the season. Mexico City ended the year in 8th place with 67 points, but Las Vegas went on a Cup run. It ended too soon in the playoffs, but we did roll to a second place finish with a final record of 49-18-5 and 103 points. That was fun! But let me get to the even better part. My GM and teammates in the VHLM were fantastic and taught me so much, but then the VHL draft came and I was thrilled to be drafted by the D.C. Dragons. They are an expansion team in only their second year of existence and they play in the nation’s capital. I’ve been trying to see all the incredible sights of the capital, but I’ve really only got the off-season for that. During the season, it’s all hockey for me, as you know. Anyway, I was actually drafted by Riga, but D.C. had enough confidence in my game to make an immediate trade even before the draft had ended. Feels good to have a real VHL team feel that positive about your future. Now that I’m here – wow! The GMs are great and so is the whole LR of guys. And get this – some of my best pals from the Aces came up to the Dragons with me – superstars Jeff Tates and Benny Graves and my excellent center, George Washington, too! There’s an instant comfort level having VHLM teammates go to the VHL with you and there’s that extra excitement as you share their joy as well as your own. So, expansion team, right? You’d expect an absolute struggle as you work to get better, but that’s not the case at all! We have come out in the first 24 games like a house on fire! Last year in all 72 games, we only won 20. Still, respectable for an expansion team in their first year, but last place overall. This season, with only 1/3 of the games played, we already have 12 wins! We are 12-10-2 with 26 points which is good for 4th in our conference (and a playoff spot were the season to end today) and 7th place overall. Here’s the best part – so far I’m a real contributor to the team’s success. You know how I dread being a drag on the team’s performance and my game is still far from our captain, Mikka Aaltonen’s, but I’m actually the second leading goal scorer on the team – ahead of those two incredible former Aces Tates and Graves. Graves has more points than I do and I expect them both to surpass my goal totals at some point, but I’m also determined to make them work for that! I attribute my current success to my linemates. Washington and I are paired together again and I’ve added the incredible Tates on our other wing to just make it feel like the dream team from Las Vegas. Washington is just so accomplished as our captain on the line with his super clear view of the whole ice and with teams having to focus so much on Tates on right wing, I’ve been able to sneak 7 goals past opponents’ net minders. Yes, it’s been an incredible year of improvement for both me and my team and as American Thanksgiving approaches, I truly am grateful to God for where I am and the opportunity to play for such great GMs, great teammates, and great fans in the District of Columbia, USA. Give my love to all back home and let’s please plan for your visit here to the Untied States as soon as possible. All my love – your son, Guy

175 Seattle Bears @ Helsinki Titans 176 Prague Phantoms @ HC Davos Dynamo 177 Calgary Wranglers @ Moscow Menace 178 Riga Reign @ Vancouver Wolves

Helsinki 4-3

I made no secret of the fact that I wanted to come to the D.C. Dragons more than any other VHL team and I have written about it before. I’m coming back to it, because 1) I feel like I haven’t really figured it all out for myself and writing helps, 2) we are at game 20- a little over one fourth of the season in the books and it feels like a good milestone upon which to reflect, and 3) I need something to write about and get that sweet 6 TPE. I feel like it needs to be said each time. The number one and two reasons remain the cool people that are my GMs @Enorama and @McWolf and teammates. None of this makes much difference or is any fun if you can’t share the highs and lows of sim league life with people you genuinely like being around So, kudos to my fellow Dragons. But it goes beyond that as there are great GMs and teammates all over the league. So, what is the appeal of 2nd year expansion franchise D.C.? First, everyone loves an underdog. I feel like this is universal and not just an American thing, but having started as an upstart bunch of “no taxation without representation” rebels, it might be in our very DNA. We love David knocking off Goliath and at the moment, D.C. is definitely David. Second, I love getting in on the ground floor and helping to shape the very culture of a franchise. When I was a church planter establishing a new congregation in the suburbs of Kansas City, someone told me - “Careful what you do in these first years. You and your congregation are setting the DNA of the church. And DNA is very hard to change for good or ill.” Big responsibility, but exciting. If the first GMs and players for D.C. are positive, team-oriented, hard-working, fun-loving folks, chances are that this is the DNA that is set and even when there is turnover in management or players, the Dragons will continue being the same kind of organization. I love being a part of that DNA setting. Third, it’s fun to watch the steady, sometimes dramatic, improvement. You come to a Cup winner and you are just trying to hold on to your excellence. It’s hard to get much better. But when you win 20 games in your first season, there is little place to go, but up. If you win 25 the next year, it’s a success. 30 wins and you’ve improved at a 50% clip. That kind of improvement and march to the Cup is exciting! Right now D.C. is 9-9-2, which puts them on a pace to better even the 30-win mark. 32-32-8 to be precise. Super exciting! An improvement of approximately 60% over last year! Fourth and finally, on a fledgling squad in only its second year of existence, you have opportunities to shine and be important in the success of the team that you would not likely get on a more established team. Hard to crack the top lines of a team of veterans. Julius Caesar is reported as having said, “I would rather be first in a little Iberian village than second in Rome.” I get it. We want our actions to count. On a Cup contending team, Guy Lesieur would likely be on the 3rd or 4th line or more likely racking up points in the VHML. On D.C., Guy is on the second line with his old Las Vegas linemates and has the second most goals on the team with only team captain, Mikko Aaltonen, with more than Guy. He plays on second line of the power play and the penalty kill as well – not something he would likely be able to say if he were playing in Seattle or one of the other top teams. Yes, I wanted to play in the District more than anywhere and for the above reasons, I’m glad I got my wish!

Seattle 5-3

139 Helsinki Titans @ HC Davos Dynamo 140 Moscow Menace @ Vancouver Wolves 141 Calgary Wranglers @ Prague Phantoms 142 Seattle Bears @ Toronto Legion

Titans 4-2

97 HC Davos Dynamo @ Prague Phantoms 98 Toronto Legion @ Vancouver Wolves 99 Moscow Menace @ Calgary Wranglers 100 Riga Reign @ Helsinki Titans

G - Raymond Bernard @SDCore?

D Charlie Paddywagon @@R Jubis

What a surprising start to S69 in the District! Hopes are riding high among Dragons fans for a dramatically better finish in S69 than in their first season S68. If playoffs still seem to be a stretch, a shockingly better season that will turn heads around the league still seems a real possibility – maybe even likely. In their inaugural season, the Dragons picked up 20 wins. So far this season, they already have 5 wins. Only 5 wins, but there have only been 11 games which puts the D.C. squad at 25% of their S68 season already with only approximately 15% of their games played. Their current pace would mean almost 36 wins, but even if they cool off some, 30 wins seems more than doable. That would be a 50% increase in win total in just one year and a real sign to the fans of great things to come. And it only makes sense. Last year, the Dragons had Aaltonen, but now they’ve added an experienced Piotr Jerwa on the blue line and the VHL phenom forwards Benny Graves, Jeff Tates, George Washington, and Guy Lesieur. Goalie Block Buster and the rest of the S68 crew just keep getting better and so it only stands to reason that dramatic improvement is in the cards for the Dragons in S69. Playoffs are a bridge too far, of course…...or are they?

1. I always think of the VHL as an alternate and better (cough, cough) league in the same real world as the NHL. Perhaps the NHL is akin to the WHL of our league. 2. Mexico City. I played there before being traded to the Aces and there's a lot of heart in that organization. 3. Tough one. It's all about the Cup, but Lesieur does not like riding the pine. If depth player is 2nd line, I'll take the Cups. If it is 4th line, not so sure. 4. At least 7 hours with a pre-game nap to top off the tank. 5. I'd like to say Lesieur and I have great confidence in his slightly longer term success, but I'd have to go with Jerwa number one and Graves number two. The crazy stuff Graves did on the ice in Las Vegas was for real! 6. I'll take the easy out and say the Phantoms. No way I'm saying D.C. Don't believe it.

Looks like I need 2 to get back on track: F Jet Jaguar F Don Draper @SDCore

Seattle 4-2

49 Prague Phantoms @ Moscow Menace 50 Calgary Wranglers @ Vancouver Wolves 51 Seattle Bears @ Helsinki Titans 52 HC Davos Dynamo @ Malmo Nighthawks

Review: Good, strong article. It was cool to get some insight as to why certain players were picked when they were and what the opportunity cost might have been in terms of players not available later. Not as crazy about calling out other GMs as "stupid' just because they didn't value everyone in the same way as Calgary.

Review: Sassy article! Love the opening graphic though. And whether you agree or not, the article is laid out well with a clearly marked 5 reasons supporting the article's theme even though the last reason was just a joke.