Tagger

1. Its settled you lost to Moscow in a 6 game series in the finals. Obviously not the result you wanted after making the finals but how pleased are you with the Wranglers season as a whole ? Very pleased, it's always good to make a final in your first season 2. Wranglers defenseman and assistant captain Cody Smith has been traded to help with cap relief. Do you have enough D who are ready to step up and fill his roster spot ? Well given it's me who is stepping up, god I hope so. 3. Calgary's unofficial playoff MVP, goalie Jb Rift is unlikely to be resigned due to cap restraints. Can rookie goaltender Jacques Lafontaine fill those skates ? It looks to me like we have enough cap for him, have we considered the backup allowance and Rift's regression? If we don't though, I think Lafontaine should do a solid job for us between the sticks 4. With most of the Wranglers core returning for s71 what are your team's expectations ? Well hopefully the finals again right? 5. What are your stat predictions for yourself for this upcoming season ? A big improvement, at least 40 points for me 6. Which Calgary Wrangler player has the best chance to win a personal award this season? What award ? Slightly biased, but given the extra minutes I'll receive, I think I stand a good chance at Most Improved

It was always going to be difficult for Edwin THE Encarnacion heading into his first VHL regular season. Joining a very deep defensive core on the Calgary Wranglers, THE Encarnacion spent a lot of his first season on the third line (although he would later get second line minutes towards the end of the season and through the playoffs) and didn’t play a single minute on special teams. However with the trading of Cody Smith (the player who moved down to the third line upon THE Encarnacion’s promotion), the Dominican defenseman now finds himself as the team’s fourth best defenseman, meaning he will see a lot more ice time than the 12 minutes per game he saw last season. What will also serve as encouragement for the young (except not really because he’s 50) defenseman is that while his minutes were low, his P/20 of .39 was significantly better than other S70 defensemen who were playing more minutes. So basically, THE Encarnacion for Most Improved Player S71, thank you very much.

So heads up, don't listen to this. Seriously, don't. Somehow I completely forgot about the VHL this week and found myself scrambling for PTs, so here's a podcast I made two months ago about the S70 VHL Draft (mainly about my own situation heading into it) that I didn't post because it was bad. But I need 6 TPE. So yes, this is me, actively shoveling shit onto the VHL to claim TPE. I do do occasional good stuff though (you'll notice them by the lack of these long notices explaining how shit they are), so feel free to give them a listen whenever I post them.

art I - Pick em' (Pick the correct winners of all three games for 2 TPE) Game 3 - Moscow Menace @ Calgary Wranglers Game 4 - Moscow Menace @ Calgary Wranglers Game 5 - Calgary Wranglers @ Moscow Menace Part II - Predict the Score (Predict the correct score and winner of this game for 3 TPE) Game 5 - Calgary Wranglers @ Moscow Menace - 3-1 Moscow Part III - Player Predictions (Predict the correct player for each category, 1 TPE for each correct answer) Series leader in points: Randoms Series leader in goals: Jaguar Series leader in assists: Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen Who has the series PIM lead: Randoms Who scores the series winning goal: Tonn

Claiming Third Week

1. Regular season is officially over. Are you happy with your performance this season? We made the playoffs very comfortably so yeah, very happy 2. Not only have you made the playoffs. You hold a 3 to 1 series lead vs D.C. How are handling all the emotions ? As terribly as usual, I am both terrified and amused. 3. Moscow has already punched their ticket to round 2. Sweeping Prague 4-0. Are they the favourite to win the cup? I'd say yes but I also feel like Prague were the biggest surprise to make playoffs in first place, so it'll be interesting to see how they do against better competition 4. Seattle is currently looking to upset heavy North American favourite Vancouver. Seattle currently holds a 3-1 series lead. What is going on here ? They're fairly evenly matched, but I guess it's an upset. 5. Round 1 is not over yet but: statistically/mathematically speaking a 2nd round matchup would have Calgary with home ice advantage facing Seattle. How would you see that series playing out ? They'd probably enter as the favourites, so we will win 100% 11. May be dreaming but: Fastforward a few weeks. Calgary is in the Finals. Series is tied 3 to 3, game 7, sudden death overtime. The puck trickles up the slot in the offensive zone. Who do you want blasting a slapper to potentially win the game ? If I'm dreaming, then it's gotta be Mewtwo

1. What kind of device do you use to access/participate on VHL? Laptop,PC, tablet, smart phone etc.. I use my Desktop PC to do all my activities, but I will also view the site on my phone at work. 2. If the VHL was to expand by two more teams. One north American and one European. What would be two cities you would suggest ? Los Angeles or Chicago seem obvious for VHL American, think the strongest EU base we haven't covered yet is UK, so probably London or Manchester 3. Very likely your first round opponent will be The Seattle Bears. How do you see that series playing out ? Turns out it'll be D.C., who I believe I said last week wouldn't get in, how little I know! 4. Currently 8 games remaining in the season. Any statistical milestones you will be trying hard to achieve ? I got some points during them, so I'll accept that as a victory. 5. If Rift and Lafontaine unexpectedly get hurt in the same game, do we have a zamboni driver ready to suit up for us ? What you don't know is that I play so few minutes because I'm the Zamboni driver 6. What is more important to you: Personal success or team success ? It depends. Most of the time Team success comes first, but I'd rather avoid personal seasons like this one even with how well we're doing.

Nice to see Reencarnacion clinging on after all these seasons and changes! I was pretty surprised to see THE so high up as well given that I believe he's the highest entry from both the Post-Achievement Tracker and Post-Rookie Profile eras (so essentially 28 less pre-draft TPE), although I guess the XMas bonuses helped balance that out somewhat.

Just using players from the Portal Era and the ones I considered to have best chances of HOF based off of current stats. S+ Tier aka "You don't even have a player that you can suggest for HOF consideration, yet you're going to try it anyway so I can respect the effort" Tier Sterling - N/A S Tier aka "Your player is retired/retiring this season and all I can say is "State of your Career Mate" in regards to how far away they are from the HOF" Tier Matt_O - Matthew Materazo Will - Roger Sterling Diamond Ace - Evan R. Lawson A Tier aka "Your player has yet to retire so, yeah, maybe with something a little extra he will make the HOF eventually, but also calm your farm until it's over" Tier Victor - Vladimir Pavlov Renomitsu - Apollo Hackett ADV - Ryan Sullivan Jr. Devise - J.B Rift B Tier aka "Your player is retired/retiring this season and good career but, hate to say it how I see it, I just don't see you making the HOF" Tier Sonnet - Alexander Pepper Tfong - Tzuyu C Tier aka "Your player has yet to retire and, while he's certainly looking very much like a HOFer, he's still not retired, so wait your turn" Tier Flyersfan - Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen D Tier aka "Your player is retired/retiring this season and, while I'm not seeing HOF personally, maybe there will be room in a weak enough crop to squeeze you in there" Tier Beaviss - Keaton Louth Beketov - Jakab Holik Josh - Jake Davis E Tier aka "If you're the one having to bring up your own player, I am surprised because I don't think you should have had to" Tier Bana - Maxim Kovalchuk DollarAndADream - Sebastien Ironside

Point 7 in there says that the rule on TPA Re-roll is actually what you are suggesting and I didn’t see any further announcements saying that this rule was being scrapped, so I don’t know if it’s a case of it got scrapped behind the scenes or the player store description for the re-roll just never got updated accordingly. I’d say the one I’m not a fan of is the experience points change. Especially with quite a bit of focus in some recent articles talking about the effect of morale in the sim (how it potentially plays more of a part than initially thought) and experience (according to the manual) affecting that, I don’t think reducing the cost is the right move. Plus I’m not a fan of having purchases available outside of the $250k intervals

Claiming Second Week

- There was a thread on whether Practice Facility on the portal was a bad idea and I was gonna contribute but it seems they eventually came to the same conclusion I had anyway, you just need more links on the portal. I would say this specifically for the main page of the portal, which probably could use something to advertise TPE opportunities, especially given the VHL Portal was the link used in the last youtube ad I saw. - Speaking of the main page, looks like we need a new News Manager. I don't understand why that only payed 1 TPE though, like surely if it's updated a decent amount per week, the payout should equal at least the same as say a Press Conference or Trivia? - Speaking of jobs, maybe we should reopen up HOF articles? Maybe I'm biased (correction: definitely biased) given I'm one of the ones awaiting a HOF article, but it's a little strange (especially given the VHL has never been more active than it is now), that it's actually a year today I was inducted into the HOF and my articles still pending. And let's face it, people love extra TPE.

Ah yes, forgot, I'm still living in a world of cross-over

1. The Calgary Wranglers have gone 5-4-3 since last Sunday. This is including a 3 game losing streak. How do you turn it around ? Just seems like we need a bit more decisive finishing atm. Our last three losses we had 8 or more shots than the opposition. 2. The VHL's current hottest team the young D.C Dragons are riding a 5 game win streak. They are currently now in 9th place and only 1 point out of a playoff spot. Do they make the playoffs ? No they won't 3. It is rumoured on the teams last flight to Riga that a arm wrestling competition occured. If this really happened who won ? It was me. The argument that I doctored the video is incorrect. 4. In Seattles most recent press conference all players answered this question: 30. " How is Calgary surpassing all odds ? I can see it in the LR now " I planned this exactly " with more farts coming out of his mouth. Their answers were even more troubling. How do you feel about this ? Well at least our GM doesn't fart out stuff that manages to put off a league from affiliating with us 5. Calgary in fact has been outshooting and statistically outplaying most opponents in recent games. How can we break away from our snake bitten ways ? Just better dice-rolls to be honest 6. Tricks for sleeping during long road trips ? Eat copious amounts of cheese, make sure you're on a screen until the very moment you decide to go to sleep and play extremely loud audio.

1. The Wranglers have gone 10-4-1 since our last weekly press conference. Are you happy with that record through 15 games ? Anything to improve upon ? Given that you don’t really expect to be on a competing team after being taken first overall, I’m very happy 2. We are currently mid way through the season with 36 games played. Calgary sits in 3rd place. What is your mid season projection for where you finish in the standings ? Theres a lot of good teams this season, I see us finishing either 3rd or 4th 3. Today you lost to Moscow 4-0 and D.C 1-0 in OT. You play the same two teams again tomorrow. What are your score predictions for those games ? I get this funny feeling we will win both those games 4. What's your favourite fast food burger ? Don’t really have much fast food, but quarter pounder with cheese always does the trick 5. Who on the team owns the nicest house or condo in Calgary ? ( share a pic if you like) Its mine, I don’t want to reveal the location, but it’s definitely mine 6. Who has been Calgary's MVP so far this season ? Rifts save percentage has been great for a starter but Tonn has also been great on special teams for us this season

So a month ago I made a VHL.com article talking about how I wanted to make some more shorter VHL video tutorials to help members with the more specific portions of the VHL. This video was my first rough draft of what I would use for a video showing how to do Training Camp and I'm making touches on that now (including clearer text and adding in something to make it clear about when the deadline is for it). While Training Camp is obviously one of the easier ones to participate in, I'm hoping small videos like these can maybe help clearer illustrate to newer members how to approach tasks and, say they've claimed for a task incorrectly, there is a video that an updater can potentially link to in order to show how to do it correctly. I'm thinking of approaching trivia next since that's seen a surprising number of false claims recently (quite a few new members have been linking to the google form to claim for trivia before answers have been given), although I feel like a doubles week one may be the most useful as there are quite a few people who misunderstand how a doubles week works in regards to what it can be used with.

As the title says, one random player from each team, see if it’s good enough to win. Worth pointing out that I’m writing this as I’m making the picks (E.g. I don’t know the rest of my roster when I’m writing the description for the first pick) so it might not make complete sense unless read start to finish. Calgary Wranglers RW - Kefka Palazzo That clown from Final Fantasy VI is one of the lower TPA players on the Calgary roster but is still more than good enough to provide something for this random team. With scoring and defense at 95, he’s leaning towards being most effective at both putting the puck in the net and picking up the loose pucks that don’t find the net. While he’s not a strong passer, probably the area of most concern would be how easy he is to force off the puck in comparison to most of his VHL peers, which 83 Puck Handling and 44 Strength DC Dragons C – George Washington Despite only being in his second season, the former president of the United States of America is a very well-rounded player and is already closing in on 700 TPA. With 99 scoring and 90 passing, he’s more than capable of playing the role of both a scorer and a distributor, and his 80 faceoffs are impressive for a young center. Like Palazzo, if there is a weakness in his game, he doesn’t yet have elite puck handling capabilities (85), but his 70 strength will help counter that to some degree. New York Americans RW – Ryo Yamazuki II Yamazuki is very much a hybrid of the first two entries on this list, albeit weaker. Like Palazzo, he leans a lot more towards scoring than passing, however Palazzo edges him in scoring (Ryo has 90) and like Washington, he’s upped his strength to 70 to counter his lower puck handling, but his puck handling is also a bit less than Washington (Ryo has 80). Please random.org, do not give me more forwards. Seattle Bears RW - Jack Lynch Apparently random.org does not care for people who try to sway his randomizer and dumps me with not only a forward, but the only inactive skater on the Bears roster. He’s arguably the second best at handling the puck, with the second highest skating and puck handling on those I’ve picked to this point, but he’s also only at 87 scoring, which considering his passing is at 82, means he leans more towards shooting and 87 scoring may struggle to consistently challenge the top goalies. Toronto Legion RW – Matthew Kai Another inactive, although picking from the Legion, I guess I’m just glad I got one of the better inactives. Kai is simultaneously our most aggressive player to this point (with a whopping 58 checking) and our worst defensive player (his 78 defense is the eighth worst out of all the VHL forwards). His 78 puck handling is also very low for a VHL skater, but at least he’s got 78 strength and 86 skating to help with that deficiency. Vancouver Wolves RW – Jerry Wang At this point, I’m starting to believe random.org has a weird fixation with 400 TPA RW’s given that this is now my fifth of those and I’ve now gotten Wang from a team where every other skater was above 600 TPA. This isn’t a knock on Wang’s activity (he is active, he’s just in the early phases of his career) but it’s crazy how, outside of Washington, everyone has been so alike thus far. Despite his TPA, Wang is actually tied with Washington as the top player in Skating to this point with 90, however his defense is the second lowest so far (85) and Wang also makes us 6/6 in players who favour scoring. Maybe a trip to the European Conference will give us what we need to compete? HC Davos Dynamo C – Bert Meyers OK, nevermind that optimism I had for a second there, it’s Davos. Having not been active since his first VHL season, it’s pretty impressive to see Meyers at 390 TPA, however this does make him our weakest player to this point. Funnily enough, he has as much in faceoffs (80) as Washington does, which at least gives us a consistent face-off presence over multiple lines. He’s also our only player to this point who favours passing, however his 85 passing is not actually that much better than those who lean towards scoring (Washington has 90, Lynch and Kai have 82). Helsinki Titans D – Erik Summers Holy shit, we finally got something that’s not a forward! Honestly I’d have been happy with Summers either way; his skating (90) and defense (95) ties with the best players in those categories on our team and he’s a pretty decent goal threat as well with 90 Scoring. If there’s one thing of interest is that, despite Summers being a defenseman, the team is still lacking in physicality as he only has 50 checking, but this does also mean we aren’t going to be giving any stupid penalties. Malmo Nighthawks D – Jerry Garcia Wow, not only do I get another defenseman to help round out the roster better, but this also is the first time I’ve drawn the highest TPA player on a given team! Garcia gives us that physical edge we’d been missing with his immense 90 checking, but he’s also our new leader in skating, puck handling, passing and defense (all of which are at 99!). A first line of Garcia and Summers would at least put up a strong fight against any other VHL team, but we still really need a goalie in front of them and the window of opportunity to grab one is shrinking. Moscow Menace C – Jet Jaguar Everything’s coming up Milhouse now as we snag our second team-leading player in TPA in a row! While he doesn’t have as many 99’s as Garcia (his lone 99 is in scoring, which ties him with Washington), he is exceptionally well rounded with six attributes over 90 and his passing sitting at a strong 88. He also becomes easily our best player at the face-off, with the second highest face-offs attribute in the VHL (only HHH has more than Jaguar’s 95) accompanied by the fourth highest strength attribute in the VHL. Prague Phantoms G – Brick Wahl Perhaps the greatest comeback since Lazarus, after a shocking first half, the randomizer has given me a third straight team TPA leader and a goalie to boot! While this won’t be mistaken for Wahl at the peak of his ability (currently lying 6th in Overall rating out of the VHL goalies), it’s still very much a reliable goalie that could do a more than good enough job for the team in between the sticks. Given that I’d have settled for Solomon Crawford at this point, I’m more than happy to grab the much better goalie. Riga Reign LW – Patrik Tallinder A bit of a drop off from the last three picks as Tallinder is the second lowest player on the Reign in TPE, but he still ranks as arguably our best winger, so I can’t complain really! Tallinder’s biggest strength in regards to the rest of the roster is his puck handling, as outside of Jaguar, none of the other forwards can top or even match Tallinder’s 90 in that attribute, and he combines that with a very strong 95 scoring to make him a very credible offensive threat. However, as another forward with just 40 checking, this does mean that only Matthew Kai has any form of checking on the front line. Final Roster I’m going to treat this like as if I were the GM of the team, which means I’m able to position change anyone who hasn’t posted in a month. Given Jack Lynch made a one-off post on January 20th, he’s saved from a position change and so I’ll be moving Matthew Kai and Bert Meyers to defensemen. Forwards LW-C-RW Patrik Tallinder – Jet Jaguar – Jerry Wang Kefka Palazzo – George Washington – Ryo Yamazuki II 3rd Line Winger – Jack Lynch Defensemen Jerry Garcia – Erik Summers Bert Meyers – Matthew Kai Goalie Brick Wahl Final Verdict Well thanks to our haul from the European conference, I reckon we’ve got Davos and Toronto beat at least. I don’t think though that the team is quite well rounded enough to be considered favourites though. I think the real question is could this team make the playoffs? Yes, we’ve got elite talents like Jaguar and Garcia and a solid net-minder in Wahl, but our second line of defense leaves a lot to be desired and our wingers, while developing well for the most part, aren’t quite there yet. So I’m going to give this team a rating of fringe playoff team and, if we were to make it to the playoffs, a convincing first round exit. Although then again, the playoffs in STHS are a savage beast that care not for any previous form, so basically I’m saying Simon Tremblay’s got it down for this team winning it all! For 3 Weeks (Starting W/E 2/16)

Reservations Easily my biggest reservation heading into the world of professional hockey was whether I'd be able to adapt to extended periods of not playing hockey. Ever since joining the Wild at the trade deadline of Season 58, I featured as a top line defenseman with close to 30 minutes on the ice every game, but I knew that was going to change heading into my first season in the pros given the team I’d joined. As of the writing of this piece, Calgary sits atop of the VHL standings and that’s in no small part thanks to the exceptionally talented defensemen ahead of me; little needs to be said about the top line of Stropko Jr. and Paddywagon, but the second line of Jordan Tonn and Cody Smith have been surprisingly effective for players that don’t feature on the first line. As a result though, my minutes have been extremely limited and, while it can be difficult to keep upbeat knowing you might only play as little as seven minutes in a game (especially as someone who was drafted first overall), I just have to keep playing hard when I get on the ice and working even harder off it so that, when the playoffs come around and we’re (hopefully) there, I’m ready to contribute when my name is called. Expectations If I can take positives out of this tough rookie season, it’s that despite my extremely limited minutes, I’m still putting up the same amount of points as other defenseman from my draft class who don’t have those same problems. I’m ahead of both Glade Jr. and Omdahl in points and tied with my former Wild teammate David O’Quinn, all three of whom average over twice as many minutes as myself per game. So while the initial numbers don’t look great, I do have faith that I’m on the right track and will continue to play my part on the third line for the remainder of this season. As for the remainder of my rookie contract, I honestly believe that I’ll see a huge upswing in my performance in both my second and third seasons. While I’ll continue to improve my game, my fellow Wranglers defenseman will have their focus centred on fighting off the effects of regression, so I’ll not only get more minutes, but my continued and consistent improvement (I haven’t missed one capped TPE since entering the VHLM) will see my performance on the ice improve and I’m hopeful that, by the end of my third season, I’ll have had one season where I’ve recorded over 60 points

3rd Week of Claim

Just a correction for the 2:32 bit, meant to say easiest thing for an updater is how you got the doubles week. On the topic of doubles weeks, forgot to mention another error that pops up a bit is people who try and double a welfare claim, which isn't a thing.

I agree with the point you make about too many stuff like settings and sliders not being made readily apparent as to what is being used and to what level. I made a similar point in my media article here and Devise mentioned the idea of making a video showing what settings and sliders are currently set, but since then I haven't heard anything more on that.

Ah, the authentic FM experience! When you think everything's set up for you to succeed and then the game just goes "nope!" Out of interest, do you still have Duncan Watmore on the team? He's probably the best player to ever come from my local semi-pro team (work just down the road from the ground they play at).

Talking about the changes to Pension/Welfare and a brief look at a change in philosophy in regards to punishments