Da_Berr

F - Benny Graves

D - Jeff Downey 

@Syzygy

Going into season 75, the Vancouver Wolves have hopes of getting a repeat cup and establish themselves as a dynasty. By winning a single cup in S74, the Wolves have already engraved their names in VHL history as a good team and champions. In the history of the VHL, there have many good teams, some who won cups and some which haven't. In order to be able to be considered as a dynasty, a team must win multiple cups. Today I'm going be looking at the current roster Vancouver will be bringing into S75 and estimating the chance that they have of being repeats. With the trading away of an old franchise cornerstone and fan favourite Jeff Downey, the roster is going to quite a bit different from S74.

OFFENCE
In all honesty, their offence has not changed much going into S75. Apart from the young core developing and becoming better, there hasn't been the departure or coming of anyone. Other than the retirement of Brock Louth. If we are strictly comparing this offence to last seasons, they are much better overall, purely due to the solid development and advancements each player has made. Despite that, the loss of Louth still definitely hurts the team in terms of top-end talent. Andrew Su, this season will be stepping into the void left by Louth in the 1-C position. Truthfully speaking even with the great seasons that Su has had, he still isn't quite on Louth's level. Depth has always been Vancouver's strong point, and it stays true this season also. The rest of the offence, such as Stallion are great players, and they outshine the majority of the league's depth. 

DEFENCE
Now the defence has weakened a decent amount. Despite the continued presence of Griff Manzer, the leaving of Jeff Downey is a huge hole that is hard to fill. In terms of potential, Micah Adrienne already is close to matching Manzer and can one day be more dominant than Downey. Emi Rune is another solid prospect that will be filling a second line slot with Shawn Glade III. Compared to last year, one could say that everyone but the #1 D spot on the team improved. Despite that, I don't think that the improvements that the other D made can match the loss of Downey. Not only was he a great player, but also an unmatched leader both on and off the ice. Downey was the quarterback of VAN's offence for the past few seasons, but we will see if any of the promising prospects can fill his spot.

GOALIE
Well, this is the one section that I can say with confidence that VAN has improved in. The reason being is that Jimmy Spyro is still with the team. Despite starting to regress he is still one of the best goalies in the league and can match any goaltender. Coming off of a cup win, he must be very excited for the upcoming season. He will also be the sole goaltender for VAN this season, so he'll have plenty of time to show the league how good he is.

Overall I think VAN as a team stayed more or less the same in talent. Louth and Downey leaving are both huge losses, but the solid prospects on VAN help offset that loss. Spyro who has also been the heart of the team is also still here which is huge. Although they are a solid team, I don't think they'll be able to repeat. The reason why is that although VAN didn't regress, many other teams improved and are now aiming for the cup.

The WC has finished and team Nordic is going to be taking home the gold after a tightly contested match with Canada. Team Canada was able to strike right off the bat, with Jeff Downey scoring the first goal of the game just 4 minutes in, on a PP. Unfortunately for team Canada they then gave up the momentum by giving up a short-handed goal to Ray Sheilds and Nordic. From their team, Nordic didn't let up at all scoring another two goals before the end of the first period. Despite the rough goings in the first, team Canada continued to persevere and score another two goals in the second, but Nordic answered back with a goal of their own. The third period was as intense as the first two, but neither team could find the back of the net, and with that Nordic was able to win the World Cup. Their early advantage was just too much for Canada to handle.

On 11/10/2020 at 4:03 AM, Emi said:

Assistant GM asks:

 

1) How do you think we did in the draft?

2) we traded out Downey this season. Do you think that's going to hurt us?

3) Do you think we're in with a change for a repeat?

4) What is one stat you're looking to improve this season?

5) It's one of your teammates birthday soon and you're tasked with planning a party. What do you do?

6) You're given a do over of any trade made is history. Is there any trade you'd like to take back?

1. Pretty good, Didn't pay too much attention, but it seems like we got a decent crop of guys.

2. For sure, hopefully we'll be able to find someone to fill the hole he leaves.

3. Yeah I don't think we'll be as good as last season, but we have a chance.

4. Faceoffs and Defence

5. Bar time

6. Kinda wish we kept Jungkok 

Yeah

Another last night rush to get my 2 TPE and here are some of my thoughts.

1. WOO VAN has won the cup! From the start of the season, I honestly didn't have too high of expectations for VAN since we were a young team, but this playoff run completely blew me away. It's a promising team with a lot of growth potential in the furture, or at least until the cap hits.
2. Su has been selected for the WC. It's nice to be selected for the first time ever, and it's even nicer to see some familiar faces from when I was on WJC Canada. SS Hornet and T Brown are all here after great seasons.
3. Su has also become an all-star. In his third season, Su has finally become an Allstar which is fantastic. I honestly thought that Su would never be this good, especially with his tendency to fall off later in the season.

What a season it has been for Andrew Su. Coming off a solid sophomore season, he came into season 74 with moderate expectations for both himself and the Vancouver team as a whole. A 77 point season for a sophomore season is great, but with the departure of many well-known faces such as HHH and Freeman, and a lot of old prospects such as Jungkok it was a huge unknown how the team and Su were going to perform. The team's expectations going into the season was to make the playoffs and then maybe make the second round. After all, VAN is a young team mainly composed of prospects. For Su, his personal goal was to break 80 points this season, as he failed to do so last season.

This season was a huge one for Su, as although he wasn't able to bring home any individual medals, VAN won the cup! It was a huge surprise for VAN to even place 1st in the regular season in the NA, not to mention 2nd overall in the entire league. Su showed considerable improvements and contributions throughout the playoffs, being 3rd in scoring with 22 points in 19 games. Last season's early wild card exit and miserable showing with 1 single assist in 5 games definitely was an experience that he took and learned from. Also huge applause for everyone who played on VAN this season. They played through adversity and climbed up the ranks this season to become the winners of the cup. Beav has made an excellent team that seems to be set for multiple seasons to come and can only get better with time. Apart from the cap hell that awaits VAN a few seasons down the line, they are going to be a formidable team in the NA for a long time.

Su's point totals also shot through the roof this season, hitting 100 points. A huge part of it was playing on the second line, behind Louth, but it also showed his great growth and potential for the future. Going from 34 goals, 43 assists and 77 points, to 44 goals 56 assists and 100 points isn't anything to scoff at and it also definitely shows the improvements that Su has made this season, but it was also in large part due to the team that surrounded him. This season one of the biggest factors was the team chemistry, everyone seemed to get along with one another and it showed in everyone's play.

A cup is definitely something everyone wants to end their season with, but for Su, this offseason also marks the first time he was ever selected to play in the all-star game and in the World Cup for Canada. Two huge honours that only ever go to the best of the best. For Su, who is about to go into his fourth season, there will be many expectations for how he'll perform. Especially with Louth retiring, and him being promoted to 1st line.

Nice to see some familiar faces around here. LETS GO CANADA!

On 11/2/2020 at 12:38 AM, Emi said:

AGM Asks.

1) We made it to the finals! What do you think we can do to make sure we come out as champions!
2)Who do you think is going to be the MVP of this coming series?
3)Who has been the MVP of the entire Playoffs so far?
4) Who would you say is the rookie of the year candidate?
5) What should we do to continue building on this?

6) Should we do team based awards?

1. Do what we just did baby!!!! 

2. Louth was killing it.

3. Louth or Downey, two of our top guys, Spyro has also been great for us.

4. Dakota Lamb, destroyed the league this season.

5. Replace leaving pieces, keep the prospect core together.

6. Yes

7 minutes ago, Beketov said:

So did you send him one without the reigns that he just never showed the rest of us?

I honestly forgot about the chat with everyone and the CGY logo until beav sent me a discord message like 3 days ago, from there I assumed it would've been shared with the higher ups, I could send it to the chat rn.

11 hours ago, Beketov said:

We wrote you and Motza months ago and you both completely ghosted us....

Oh yeah... Uh sorry about that, beav sent me a discord message a few days ago and asked me for the edited logo and i sent it to him, I thought you guys would have been informed. Really sorry about that mate.

10 minutes until the TPE deadline, so it's time to crank another one of these out. 

1. Wow the VAN and TOR series had me worried there. Super close and intense series, which I'd say ended with our lucky win. Even though I didn't expect our team to make it far in the playoffs this season, I'm super hyped to see us win and move on to the finals.
2. HSK is spooky. 11-1 is an insane record for the playoffs. Especially when HSK had to go through MAL and MOS which not only were the best teams in the EU but also in the league. Although VAN was 2nd in the league in the regular season, I'm unsure of how this series is gonna end.
3. Although the new CGY logo was made by me (months ago), looking back at it, I honestly don't like it that much. There were some concepts floating around in VHL gen chat back when I first drew the logo, that I thought was way better than mine.

OOO baby, it is time for the final showdown. That can only mean one thing it's time for the VHL finals! This year we see two familiar faces in the finals. On one side, we have the Helsinki Titans, who we saw last season in the finals facing off against a dominant Seattle Bears. They lost that series 4-2 but it seems like their experience from last season has helped them come in this season's playoffs on fire. Going 11-1 this playoff run, with their only loss coming from Moscow, who was by far the best team in the regular season. With how dominant they've been it's hard to imagine how they even ended up in the wild card spot. Their matchups have all been tough, going up against Moscow and Malmo, the two leaders in the EU division and 1st and 3rd in the league respectively. Their opponent this time in the finals is the Vancouver Wolves. We saw Vancouver last year in the playoffs as well. They were in a wildcard spot but was unable to do a run such as Helsinki, losing 3-2 to the D.C Dragons. This year after the development of a few young prospects, and the filling of the holes left by the leaving of HHH and Freeman, they have turned their team completely around. This season they were able to breeze through the regular season being the number 1 seed in NA and 2nd overall in the entire league. Their playoff run so far has been a bit shakey with an 8-5 record, but they've managed to pull through and show their tenacity. With close calls in a 4-2 series win over D.C and an even closer shave with a 4-3 series with Toronto, Vancouver has shown their ability again and again. 

Now that the two team's introductions are out of the way it's time for some predictions. I'm going to be basing my prediction on 2 things, talent and performance. I'll also be doing position matchups for each of the two teams. 

In terms of forwards talent-wise, Helsinki is better by a wide margin. Of course, VAN has the best forward in terms of talent in Louth, but the difference in depth is too much. When you compare the #2 and #3 guys on VAN to HSK it's insane how much of a difference there is. Su and Stallion are by no means bad players, but compared to Vaakanainen and Vikingstad, they pale in comparison. The rest of the forwards share the same story, by no means bad, but worse than HSK's. Defence shares the same story. The top guys on each team Summers and Downey are comparable to one another, but past that HSK has more talent. Finally, in terms of goaltending, this is where VAN makes up the difference, Spyro is a truly elite goalie who has had one of his best years this season. And although HSK's goalies are still good, they aren't close to Spyro.

Now in terms of performance, I'd say the two teams are almost equal. Both sides have 3 of their top scorers over 15 points. The rest of the players are not far behind with 5 players on VAN with 10-15 points and 6 on HSK. Overall VAN looks like the grittier team, playing more physical, which can be a huge aid to them but can also lead to more PIM, as seen before.

In the end, as much as I hate to say it I think HSK is going to win. They just have VAN beat in most categories and I think the series will be 4-2 for HSK. VAN has a chance if they're able to keep their PIM down and if Spyro becomes a brick wall.

Bruh what happened to removing the reigns? Also ngl there were some other concept CGY logos that were floating around when this was first released that look way better.

On 10/27/2020 at 9:12 PM, Emi said:

AGM ASKS:

1) What's everyone playing on bus journeys between games?
2) Who is the person paying for the team meal next?
3) What do you think we will do next season?
4) If you had to enter a celebrity boxing match against another memeber in the league who would it be against?
5) Should we get a team pet?

6) Do you think anyone will be leaving this off-season?

1. Some early 20s rock

2. Beav since he's GM

3. Win

4. Funk since whoever wins gets to GM the lynx

5. Yes, a wolf 

6. No we are in a great postion right now

Discord in VHL seems to be a heavily debated topic revolving around user activity, so here are some of my thoughts on it (specifically the small changes around the VHL bot).

Removing the game links from discord is a good idea to keep people on the forum, but make a specific forum channel where games are posted. It'll help people find links to the games easier, especially if they are only checking in. Also if possible, make it so the discord bot only shows scores and doesn't have a link to the stats page or instead have it link to the forum page. This will make it so people that are busy and just want to know scores can easily see what happened, and it'll still make people go to the forum which helps with user involvement. A major pro of discord is the ability to open up the app and view all the important details of what happened in VHL. So make it so discord only shows the most important details, and have everything/details in the forum.

Playoffs have been here for a while now, and with the wildcard round done, we can officially look over some of our first-round matchups. In the wild card round, we saw both favourites from the regular season sweep their rivals 3-0, with D.C and Helsinki moving on while Calgary and Davos going home for an early offseason. Since I'm lazy and it's almost the deadline for TPE posting this week, I'll just talk about NA predictions this time.

In our first round faceoff, we have Vancouver vs D.C, Toronto vs Seattle, Helskini vs Moscow, and Riga vs Malmo. So far all the series have been tied up at 1-1, which is nice as it allows me to make some predictions without being completely biased to teams with an early series advantage. 

Our first matchup has Vancouver vs D.C. Now, this is a series that has some history from last season. Last year we saw VAN, the 5th seed, and DC, 4th seed, faceoff with one another in the wildcard round, with D.C coming out on top with a close 3-2 series win. This year it's a bit different as although D.C is still the 4th seed, VAN this year has seen massive strides and improvements and is the 1st seed in the NA. Despite the ranking difference, I still expect a tough fight in this series and that VAN will win 4-3. Both teams are very comparable with most top players having around the same TPE. D.C still has the advantage when talking about pure TPE, but VAN has a lot more depth. Honestly, it all comes down to how STHS works, whether it favours depth or top-end talent. Either team has a good chance of winning, and it all depends on a coin toss. 

Our next matchup is Toronto(3rd) vs Seattle (2nd). For this series, I believe Seattle will win 4-2, as their talent is too much for Toronto to handle. Although Toronto's roster is also filled with talent, Seattle is just too much. Once again we see the case of top-end talent vs depth, but Seattle's and Toronto talent is not too close to one another. The top 2 or 3 guys on each team are comparable, but past that the 4th and 5th guys of Seattle are much better than those of Toronto. I'd also say that Seattle has a better performance and experience on their roster. In the history of the VHL, Seattle these past few seasons can rank among some of the best teams ever. GM Bana also is one of the best GMs in the game, with a few cups under his belt. Despite that, Toronto still has a solid chance with a much better goalie. Hextall could definitely steal a few games for them, but I don't think he'll be able to carry them to a series win. In this series, I definitely want Toronto to win as I don't want to see Seattle lifting another cup so soon, but it's unlikely. 

And that's it for first-round matchups NA edition. Maybe I'll do an EU version but I'll probably be too late and the first round should be over by then.

On 10/19/2020 at 1:25 AM, Emi said:

New questions! 

 

1) What's the plan for your player going forward?

 

2) If you was to make a show using players on the team who'd be in it and what kind of show would it be?

 

3) what kind of music do you use to pump yourself up before the game.

 

4) the season is nearly over. What do you expect for your point totals?

 

5) How do you expect us to do in the playoffs?

 

6) Is their anything you miss about minors?

1. 95 FO, 99 scoring, 99 defence

2. Def featuring all the players, and it's gonna just be a show about us drinking.

3. Hip-pop, anything with a strong beat and percussion.

4. Well the season ended today and I got a clean 100, which was less than I expected.

5. CUP 

6. Not really, the activity in LRs if anything

TPE, TPE. With the ending of another Sunday comes another day where I grind out my TPE. All I have to ask is to PLEASE give me the TPE I need. Here are my thoughts on my TPE.

1. I've started slowing down. In recent games, Su has started to pick it back up again, but the slowdown in scoring is a bad sign. Usually when it's time for playoffs you want to be improving and red hot, unfortunately, that's not the case and hopefully, I can get back into the groove.
2. Man with Covid going around I never realized that consistently updating would be so draining. Back during when I joined nothing was going on, with the jump to Uni its started to become tiresome. I'm still updating but it's getting harder and harder to do so.
3. We should have trivia even in the offseason. Offseason is one of my least favourite times since we don't get tpe for trivia and have to do other tasks.

Uh oh, it's now almost past midnight in my timezone, so I got to pump out one of these media spots real quick. I want my contract money and to not be labelled as a bust. Maybe that meme I made before the draft about me going inactive was true... Only that it'd take 3 or so months before I disappear off the face of the earth. But don't worry, I'm here to stay with my below-average writing skills and posts on the forums that'll make you cry if you see them. Now with all of that filler out of the way, (woo 100 words down) I'm going to start talking about league stuff.

Despite the EU seemingly being the better division this year, it might not be completely true. In past seasons we have seen a huge disparity between the divisions, with NA reigning on top for a few seasons. This season it seems more reasonable between the two. Obviously, we have the monstrous Moscow Menace, with 49 wins and 99 points so far. They are by far the best team this season and favourites to win the cup. But after that, most of the other teams are neck and neck when comparing the two divisions. With 86 points, Malmo is second overall in the league, 83 points, Vancouver is close behind and the first NA team here, 82 points with Riga, and finally 81 points for Seattle. The top teams this season are all very close in points, and even the mid-ranking teams are all around the same. 6 teams, 3 from NA, 3 from EU are all within 3 points of one another in the mid-tier. So why have the league balanced out?

During the expansion draft two seasons ago, we saw a lot of players leave their respective teams, and the majority of them were picked from NA teams. There was always the underlying thought of how it would weaken teams but not to a great extent. The reasoning behind this thought was that the number of protection slots was enough for most teams to protect their key players and prospects. Along with that, not many players were actually taken over the juicy choice of extra draft picks. Overall many wrote off the expansion draft as having little impact on existing teams. But despite that, there were a few gems that were stolen over the draft. In this case, I'm not going to talk about the high TPE, almost going to retire players being picked, but rather some nice prospects that have shown up this season. The biggest names that I can remember is Squirrly Dan, James Rose, and Arthur Dayne. All of which are having great seasons right now.

Another reason could be that every team has the expansion teams and New York to beat up on. In both divisions, even middle-tier teams have some freebies (or equivalent to). In the past, they had to fight tooth and nail to get their points, but now they can easily get a decent amount of points by beating up the low tier of teams.

On 10/12/2020 at 2:41 AM, Emi said:

Early week Press confrence!

 

1) We're getting near the trade deadline and we're in a good spot for the playoffs. So what is one type of player we should look into bringing in to make us surefire contenders? Do we even need to bring anyone in?

2) If you could upgrade one stat by 10 points what would it be and why?

 

3) Do you think your player is playing to the best of their ability? Why is this?

 

4) What is something you got to learn as soon as you joined the league?

 

5) Are you looking forward to the off-season?

 

6) Do you think we should expand in the future to new territories such as asia?

1. I think the team is good as it is. I don't want to mess up the chemistry.

2. Scoring, more goals = gud.

3. No, been dropping off recently.

4. How confusing everything is for new players.

5. No, no more trivia

6. Yes

Vroom, Vroom its another day and another rush for TPE at the last minute deadline. I want my TPE and I'm going to get it, so here are 150 words of regurgitated bullshit and thoughts.

1. Is this the fall of Su??? Just joking but man the feeling you get when you going on a tear and suddenly hit a slump sucks. Especially when you're aiming for the top goals spot. In the last 3 games, I've only had 1 assist, and it's killing my chances.
2. Warsaw good now, they've been winning more, and it's probably just the rookies and young guns gaining more TPE, but it still kinda stings to see. I really wish I could've stuck around for longer, at least until we actually got good. But life happens and you never know when something might pop up.
3. EU good, EU gonna be champs this year. Obviously, I want VAN to win it all, but almost all the teams in the EU have been stomping this season

On 10/6/2020 at 3:21 AM, Emi said:

1) Who's equipment smells the worst?

2) who's the most likely to get lost on a road trip?

3) Who's the biggest Nerd on the team?

4) who's the most likely to become a politician on the team?

5) What show do you binge watch on long flights?

6) What do you do the celebrate a win?

1. Spyro, Goalie equip always smells nasty.

2. Probably Louth.

3. Def Emi.

4. Beaviss, as GM he already has half the skills needed to run for office.

5. Always watch the friday the 13th movies.

6. A couple of brewskis.

G

S69 Rayz Funk

S72 Jacques Lafontaine

D

S73 Lincoln Tate

S73 Jeff Downey

C

S73 Brock Louth

W

S73 Sigard Gunnar

S73 Patrik Tallinder

VHL has a long and cherished history, with over 70 seasons of play. During that time, we have seen both highs and lows, and historic players pass through the league. As in any sport, we often wonder which of these historic players was the best and what would be the best team you could build with these historic players. Unfortunately, I don't have a great grasp of VHL history, as I only joined in season 72. For my own sake, and to prevent just picking the top TPE players in VHL history. My team is only going to be made of players that are currently playing from their prime seasons. I will be assembling a group of players who are solely judged on their best season for my team. For my dream team, I'm going to attempt to fill 1 full line, which includes 3 forwards, 2 defencemen, and 1 goalie. *NOTE* After finishing this I realized that almost all of my players are from S73 which makes sense as it was the season when all stats were greatly increased due to the expansion teams.

Our primary starter and absolute brick wall in the net is Rayz Funk from season 69. Despite him comparable numbers and more wins in season 73, I still think that Funk in season 69 was something special. Posting impressive stats of 39 wins, a0.923 SV%, 2.25 GAA and 8 SO, Funk was the type of goalie that could steal games that season. He was also able to perform in high-stress situations as seen with his cup win and playoff MVP trophy in the same season. With him in net, our team has a solid foundation to build out from. 

Moving out from net we have our defence pairing of Lincoln Tate and Jeff Downey, both from S73. Tate that season posted 20 goals, 85 assists and    105 points, all the while having a +/- of 40, 250 hits and 130 shots blocked. As seen from the stats Tate is an impressive two-way threat, with great vision and ability to move the puck. Not only does he bring a huge physical presence to our backend, but also a much-needed puck-moving playstyle that helps compliant the rest of the skaters on the team. Downey that season, just beat out in the points category with 32 goals, 74 assists and 106 points. That coupled with a +/- of 34, 149 hits, and 138 SB, he is wholly deserving to be on this team. His playstyle is a bit different from Tate, with a larger emphasis on scoring, and less on physicality. Despite that, he is still a force to be reckoned with in the defensive zone. He along with Tate makes a very dangerous one-two punch for our Dmen.

For our forwards, we have all season 73 players in Brock Louth, Sigard Gunnar and Patrik Tallinder. Louth put up 46 goals, 59 assists and 105 points that season while having over 200 hits. Playing very physical for a forward, Louth is currently one of the best two-way forwards in the league and along with that brings a deadly shot. Gunnar is almost the same as Louth, with 60 goals, 59 assists, 119 points and over 150 hits. He is more of a sniper than Louth, for the trade-off of a bit less physicality. Finally, we have Tallinder, who is a bit younger than the rest of the guys here. With 41 goals, 58 assists and 99 points in season 73, he is the perfect supporting skater you need for a team. Although he isn't as physical as the others, he is a great all-around offensive tool for any team.
 

Well, it had to happen sooner than later, but I still hoped it would happen later. I have decided to officially step down from my AGM role in Warsaw. Now I know apart from the team, more than 99% of members don't remember AGM at all. It's a bittersweet goodbye as I really wanted to stay on at least until our first successful season and playoff push, but I guess looking in on the sidelines is fine also.

Warsaw was a fun place to be, and I will always remember my time there. The experience of helping out a brand new team was great and the people in the LR although a bit quiet at times were also fantastic. Unfortunately, real life still does exist, and Uni has been eating up most of my time and I've been unable to fulfill AGM duties. Big thank you and sorry to Muff and the guys in the LR. And most of all best of luck to Warsaw in the future.