DarkSpyro

Answers 1) I’m on my 4th player and this is the 3rd time I’ve made a goalie so I’d take the Shaw or Glegane and have them renamed after Ash Sparks who was my last goalie. 2) I’m not sure what the “keeper league” is (or I’m just drawing a blank on it rn) so idk, sorry 3) The best part is when you finally enter the food coma stage and pass tf out Questions 1) Do you have any family members that you honour on Remembrance Day? 2) With the trade deadline here, how do you think your team will fair for the rest of the season? 3) Do you watch any sports and if so, who is your favourite team?

There has been many strange and sometimes bizarre moments in our community that have seemingly spawned out of nowhere. Most of the time these moments spawn after multiple events that went barely noticed would lead into something that etches itself into the history of our community. I myself have experienced such a phenomenon with my last goalie, Ash Sparks, when something truly unexpected happened nearing his final seasons. I want to take everyone back to the beginning and give you all some lore behind how Ash Sparks became 1 of the most loved and hated goaltender we have seen in recent history. Let’s start with S87 in the VHLM that I commonly look back on as the “season of memes”. Sparks would be drafted to the Halifax 21st behind the 6 other “Heavenly 7” goaltenders but he managed to outperform them all. The “Heavenly 7” refers to the 7 goaltenders that were all near the tpe cap for the VHLM draft, making it 1 of the most goalie heavy drafts we have seen in recent history. This meant that 7 VHLM teams would have maxed out goalies this season which was pretty crazy back then. Despite being drafted behind almost every other goalie and to a weaker team by comparison, Sparks played remarkably well in the regular season. The results was many funny moments and memes being thrown around in the game threads. It was a fun time in the M but ultimately his team fell in the 1st round of the playoffs, so not much else to note here. After moving up to the E and sharing the crease with Joel Castle who would become a Toronto Legion legend, this season is where the 2 became good friends and rivals for the remainder of their careers. Nothing really here to mention as far as the lore goes, but that’s about to change as we move into the VHL. Something to note is that Ash Sparks would be drafted the highest among the “Heavenly 7” goalies in the VHL draft at 6th overall. With the pressure now on after being the underdog his whole career, it’s time to explore the VHL part of his career and where the lore finally begins. After 2 rough seasons in Seattle as a backup and only playing a total of 18 games, he would be shipped out and be considered a bust. This was almost the end of the Sparks era before it even really started, which means none of this would have happened at all if not for Bana and Kaleeb urging him to stay and give it a chance. So in this timeline, we got to witness Sparks go off in S89 as the most dominant goalie with an insanely good season to the point he was in the conversation to win multiple awards.. except sadly he wasn’t. It’s arguable that Sparks should have won multiple awards this season but instead, he didn’t get any votes for what he was nominated for. Personally that’s not the first time I experienced this and it didn’t bother me that much, but I was really not expecting it to be a precursor to what was to come for the rest of his career. Sparks would be disrespected countless times in VSN articles and get shafted from many many many more awards to the point where a lot of people in the community started to take note of the apparent bias that was going on. It even got to the point that Sparks was to win a statistical based award in his final season (meaning they could not vote for the winner) and they changed the requirements to win it just before the awards ceremony. A goalie who played half the regular season and 20 fewer games than Sparks, would steal the award and the bias was clearer than ever before now. Lots of wonderful members started to take up arms and come to Sparks’ defence, but all it did was create a rift for a small period of time. Even if no justice would be served, the love of so many who would be accused of being in an “Ash Sparks cult” kept a long time member here in the community. I do believe that Ash Sparks is not HoF material despite having an extraordinary career and being that greatest goalie the Nighthawks franchise has ever seen. With that being said a few of the awards that he should’ve captured along the way would‘ve most likely changed that, and Sparks could have very possibly found his way into the HoF if he managed to ever win a Continental Cup. That’s not the case either though so ultimately I don’t think more hardware would’ve changed much but statistically he was undeniably a force to be feared, a highlight reel machine, and a game breaker that would straight up steal games for his team. Ash Sparks was honoured by his Malmo Nighthawks with the retirement of his #39 almost immediately after he retired in S94. He set the all-time wins and shutout records for goalies in Nighthawks history, and left a legacy for future goalies to chase after. (853 words)

Answers 1. oblate spheroid 2. leading goalies for assists and top 3 in shutouts, but with a not so good w/l ratio 3. pepperoni sticks Questions 1. How much candy did you give out this Halloween? 2. What did you (or your player) dress up as for Halloween? 3. Do you think your team would make the playoffs if the season ended tomorrow?

@AJW

Answers (Ricky will not be present for this press conference so you get boring answers this week) 1. Need at least 1 more half decent forward to inject into the lines to give us our spark back. 2. Blue and Yellow is fine but I do think gold could work as well. 3. Probably not tbh. Ricky started playing poorly once the entire team did so isn’t too happy about it all. Less playing team could also mean less likelihood of getting back to peak form once you take his “easy games” away from him and only play him against top teams 4. Don’t play games very often anymore but Destiny has been pretty fun whenever I get the chance to play. 5. Can’t go wrong with mini chocolate bars or gummy candies. 6. I think of the jerseys I made a few seasons ago. I was just making some new threads for this season too so that’s probably why

Answers (Been busy so no time for a lot of gifs this time around. Also Ricky is answering all of these soooo ..you’ve been warned) 1. Feelin pretty good! This is my first pretzeller concert here in Sam’s Diego so I’m really excited to be here! I played hard and got us a few shunt-outs in a row there. Bubs is playing great D and so are the other d-men. J.P. keeps on scoring. And you suit-dummies all look pretty happy so yeah! I’m feelin fan-f******-tastic! 2. Well the flying over here was f*****. You can’t smoke in airports anymore which I don’t know until 3 mall-cops dummies tried to chase me and take my smokes. It’s hard to find good **** over here too but our Mascot has been helping me with that so I can stay focused on pancticing. 3. I thought drafting Bubbles 1st over-them-all was the big deal? You mean there was bigger signings than just me and Bubs? Well that’s news to me. I thought all of these guys were already here in Sam Diegos. 4. Well I didn’t realize I was playing for a team whose mascot is a f****** fish. Turns out he smokes a lot of **** and is pretty chill. Obviously he’s my favourite kinda fish- and he should be all of yours too. What’s wrong with you guys? 5. Well I know Bubs loves Hall-between. I just do the holiday stuff for him and my daughter Trin. I won’t be seeing her for Christmas this year because I’m over here in Samins Dieto but I’ll be asking the big guy up the stairs to get her something for me. 6. Sorry but I’m still trying to remember all of the guys names and faces. I can’t tell you something that I don’t remember but I can tell you that every one on the Marlins is f****** awesome!

The first week of S96 has come to a close and there has been a few interesting storylines brewing early on in the VHLM. The San Diego Marlins having a poor showing in their first 5 games was among them.. ..but not for long. Despite the rough 2-3-0 losing record to start the season, they became red hot and won their last 5 straight to become 7-3-0. This all started when Ricky LaFleur decided to become the best goalie in the league and won games 6, 7, and 8 with 3 shutouts in a row! A feat seldomly seen throughout the course of history, let alone in the 1st week of a new season! The Marlins then went on to win against the Las Vegas Aces 3-1 and then 4-1. This means Ricky has only let in 2 goals over the past 5 games. Another interesting stat is that Ricky already has 2 assists this season, making him the leader in points for goalies on top of being the current leader for wins and shutouts. This incredibly dominant showing in the 2nd half of the 1st week has put Ricky LaFleur on a lot of other teams radars as a game breaker to watch out for. (204 words)

Ricky with 3 SHUTOUTS IN A ROW GM 30(vs MIS): Ricky LaFleur (SDM), 13 saves from 13 shots - (1.000), W, 3-3-0, 60:00 minutes GM 31(vs SSK): Ricky LaFleur (SDM), 13 saves from 13 shots - (1.000), W, 4-3-0, 60:00 minutes GM 39(vs SSK): Ricky LaFleur (SDM), 30 saves from 30 shots - (1.000), W, 5-3-0, 60:00 minutes

Answers 1) I’m not drafted to a VHL team, yet. So I’m not sure 2) Ricky LaFleur is looking to start his first full season as a starting goalie, and hopefully carry them through the playoffs when the time comes. 3) Survive. Questions 1) What are you most excited for this upcoming season? (VHL or VHLM) 2) What is your player/goalie’s guilty pleasure during the offseason? 3) Do you have any plans for Halloween?

Hello again, it’s Ricky’s agent here. I am currently waiting in the Toronto airport with Ricky and Bubbles @AJW for our flight out to San Diego. We arrived here from Halifax about an hour ago and so far it’s been.. an interesting venture to say the least. I asked Bubbles if getting Ricky all the way to San Diego from Halifax would be a very difficult task.. he put it to me bluntly. Thankfully I do have Bubbles here to help me keep him in check. This was also a great opportunity for me to ask Bubbles how he felt about being the 1st overall draft pick. The boys apparently celebrated really hard after the draft and almost went to jail again.. which obviously could’ve prevented them from even playing. Thankfully Ricky talked their way out of it or this would be a very different article. I was actually more surprised to hear how much playing time Ricky got this off-season in multiple tournaments despite the amount of partying he actually does.. god I hope he doesn’t get pinched for something down in the States. It’s good to see that he is willing to put the work in, even if his methods can be crude at times. Ok it’s time for our next flight. See you all next time, but from San Diego. (222 words)

Answers: 1. My last player retired at the end of S94 and I took most of the season off before recreating. No rivals yet, but with how my player tends to behave I bet he will have some soon enough. 2. It’s extremely difficult for me to only select 1 user because I’ve loved sooo many different people’s content over the years. I gotta shout out @Gustav here simply due to how many banger articles he’s put out over the years. 3. I’ll be taking my kids trick-or-treating so it’s going to be a really busy day Definitely worth it tho! Questions: 1. Do you celebrate thanksgiving and if so, when do you celebrate it? 2. How do you think the VHLM is going to look with the new cap and recent closing of the VHLE? 3. NHL pre-season is just about over, how does your favourite time look so far heading into the regular season?

Hello again, it’s Ricky’s agent here. Last week I took a trip to Sunnyvale to keep tabs on Ricky and his brother Bubbles @AJW to make sure their needs were met for this off-season which went about as well as you’d expect.. Thank god that Bubbles is so reliable in conveying to Ricky what is actually being said to him. Today I took another drive out there again to inform them in-person that the VHLM draft is scheduled for this Sunday night, and to once again make sure they are not slacking off. Once Ricky got over the confusion, they were both delighted when I offered them a ride to the event. The 2 of them together have been laser focused this off-season to ensure they are in peak form, utilizing all sorts of techniques and gearing up for the upcoming draft. Currently the boys are playing in the JST but sadly they are not on the same team. This is a good chance to see how they play when they don’t have the other to support them and so far, they have both been playing very well. Ricky was selected by a familiar face in his first GM @LucyXpher to play for her team, the Steel (which is kinda ironic considering Ricky’s extensive rap sheet for multiple theft charges). Ricky is very familiar with Lucy and she is no stranger to his antics, but somehow still manages to keep him in line. He’s split the goaltending duties with fellow rising star Deadpanda @Alex and they have been performing marvellously as a tandem. Despite Ricky being the obvious back-up (with an impressive 0.922 save%), he’s played in 13/27 games so far. Let’s hope this continues onward as this has been a good opportunity for Ricky to get more ice-time during the off-season. (292 words)

[S97] Ricky LaFleur - Goaltender Ricky LaFleur is a larger than life personality that was born and raised in a small town trailer park just outside of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He was a born trouble maker who has resided in Sunnyvale Trailer Park his entire life, except for when he was serving time in prison on.. multiple different occasions over the years. Despite his tendencies to constantly commit crimes, he has a really big heart and has very little fear in any situation he’s confronted with. After a big drug heist went sideways, Ricky found himself in jail once again but the timing couldn’t have been any better for once. He ended up playing ball hockey as a goalie for the inmates, leading them to countless victories over the prison guards who oversee them on the regular. Ricky was such a potent goaltender that the Warden of the jail demanded he be pardoned and released, just so that Ricky wouldn’t keep stealing games with dominating performances. The downfalls with Ricky are aplenty for sure, and he may not be the brightest member of your team if you do choose to sign him. Fortunately this is where his brother, Bubbles @AJW, enters the picture. Bubbles is excellent at keeping Ricky out of trouble and in game shape. The 2 entered the VHL as brothers even though they’re not biologically related, and have openly stated to the public that they wish to play on the same team together wherever they are drafted or choose to sign. Bubbles and Ricky are incredibly underrated on and off the ice. Bubbles is a very skilled and smart defensive hockey player which mixes perfectly with Ricky’s “unorthodox” goaltending style. The 2 have made several plays, including last season where Bubbles scored a hat-trick while Ricky had 2 assists in that game (as a goalie!). Ricky only played in 4 games but he managed to put up 3 assists in his 2nd and 3rd appearances for the Halifax 21st, while maintaining a stout 0.911 save% and surprisingly good 2.26 GAA! I believe Ricky’s greatest asset isn’t just his on-ice play though. He’s an incredible voice to have in any locker room and on the bench as well.. just be wary that he may tell the refs to “f*** off” occasionally which could spiral out of control into a series of penalties and fights. As long as you have Bubbles on your team to keep Ricky in check, signing these brothers together certainly has more pros than cons. (420 words)