ahockeyguy

Excellent work. And now I feel that we at Miami are due for some kind of fall. That is nearly impossible to live up to!

The following is a guest-post written by Wolf Stansson. His unique perspective allows him to write a brief season preview for the Miami Marauders. This season there are twelve forwards and four defensemen who will see significant ice time for the Miami Marauders. Many people were surprised last season when my teammates and I made it to the playoffs in our inaugural season. That surprise will not be present this year. It was also no secret last season we had relatively few players overall who played with us for the entire season. We had only two active D-men, one of whom, Kramerev, has departed for the VHL. So who do we have this year? First, the forwards: We have Dakota Lamb. Lamb is maxed out at 250 and he’s ready for goal-scoring action. He’s a strong skater and has a great sense of defense (something I am partial to). Next, we have the man with the C, Andre Lebastard. Lebastard is the heart and soul of the Miami spirit, and he too will soon be maxed out. I expect Lebastard to lead the forwards in the assists department. Next, we have newcomer Patrik Laine of Finland. Laine is a guy whose scoring is cranked and from whom we can all expect great things! He’s a right-winger by nature and has a heck of a finish. Oh Sens is great with the media—you guys should love him—and he’s going to be even better as a player this year. Kevin King is a newbie center who’s attracting a lot of attention as he’s shooting up the charts with his skill level. If you’re looking for a trio of left-wingers, look no further than Jared Willis, Luke Thornton, and Rocket. The re-acquiring of Rocket was one of Krice’s best moves as GM yet, and Willis and Thornton are sure to add scoring and passing, respectively. The final three are the lowest in TPE but are going to have chances to be great earners. They are: Center Janiina Juutila, the teenager of Finland, center Shawn Aalto, the faceoff master of Finland, and center Kirk Holloway, the all-around player out of Canada. Basically we have more centers than we know what to do with. Now for the D-men. The only returning active D-man for the entire season from Miami’s roster is yours truly. I am currently the only maxed out defenseman, but that is sure to change. Why? Because of Matty Socks. His team-high defensive rating and excellent stats in nearly every other area basically make him our number one defender, as far as I’m concerned. Next is Victor Grachev, who is also likely to hit 250 very soon. He’s a well-rounded defenseman, with skating, puckhandling, and passing making up for his lack in scoring. Last, but not least, we have Eoin Byrne. Byrne came on as a very late-season addition and was thrust into the spotlight for the playoffs. Many would have buckled, but Byrne persevered and came back this season to play. Byrne is a D-man’s d-man, someone who is not going to be afraid to mix it up when things need to be. Expect him to be a mainstay on the penalty kill. Finally we have the goalies. Specifically, two of them this year! Bacon returns as the presumptive starter to save our, well, bacon. He excels at coming up big when being peppered with a lot of shots. It may be interesting to see how he reacts when facing fewer shots. Russell Rattie is starting out, but is already well-rounded in each of the areas. It remains to be seen what Rattie will focus on for his skillset. Are we expecting a championship? That’s not really something that one dude should say to another dude, to quote Evil Medical School’s most famous graduate. Nonetheless, it should be an awesome season! Note: This is my triples week PT.

1. At the start of the season, everyone is always so optimistic! What is your individual goal for S73? To get more assists than I did last season, and to help other players where I can. I would also like to learn more. 2. But, hockey isn't an individual sport. What are your S73 expectations for Miami? "Expectations" is a funny word. I expect that we will make the playoffs as a 1 or 2 seed. I expect to make the finals. I don't expect a championship; it'll be awesome if it happens, but such things can't literally be expectations. 3. Lots of VHLM pundits have labelled the S73 Marauders as a "heel" team, the supervillain that you love to hate and hate to love. Will you embrace the bad-boy reputation our team has earned this season, or did you prefer the underdog role we had last season? I haven't heard that, honestly. As Stansson, I am always on the edge of underdog and villain. It could go either way. But I really enjoyed being the underdog last season! 4. Do you think you'll still be in a Marauder uniform at the end of the regular season? Yes. And I greatly look forward to it! 5. Which team do you think will be our VHLM rivals this season, and why? Minnesota. They don't have Groovy Dood, but we have history, and it should be fun playing them. 6. What point tasks do you enjoy doing most, and why? I enjoy writing media spots. They allow me to pursue a story and to tell things from Wolf's perspective.

When I was 13, I was being homeschooled for the first year. That would have been lonely, except every day I would go outside and play some kind of sport in the cul-de-sac with my friends. Street hockey, baseball with a tennis ball (hooray, home runs!), soccer, you name it, we played it. It was awesome!

Welcome to Miami! Getting jiggy with it!

Looking to defend my group title.

I'm only replying so everyone can see my bland username and giant picture. :D

I can't believe I won my group!

Oh heck yeah. I love this stuff, man!

Wolf Stansson, as has been well established, is a family man. When he came to North America to work out in anticipation of the VHLM Draft last year, he came as a 17-year-old who was only used to the Icelandic style of hockey. He wasn’t used to rough-and-tumble, and he needed to learn it. He came only with his father, leaving his mother and two other siblings behind. After a great season spent with the Miami Marauders, the VHL draft finally came. When he was taken in the first round, 13th overall, by the Moscow Menace, he was thrilled. But so were his family. “We were watching from the couch at home, and we were so excited,” said his mother, Ingrid. “This was more exciting than that time Iceland made it to Eurovision finals!” While this may be true, it goes without saying that fewer people showed as much interest in the draft as in Eurovision. His younger siblings really look up to him, especially now. For the Stansson family, he may as well have won Eurovision! Singing aside, he will hopefully get to play one more season in Miami, and maybe even win a championship, before heading to Moscow to join his VHL teammates.

Wolf Stansson waited patiently. He knew his time would come. It was just a matter of time. Breathe, he told himself. He knew he wasn’t going in the top five picks of this season’s VHL Entry Draft. And yet he had been contacted by several GMs in recent days about being drafted by their team. Stansson honestly had figured they were talking early second-round picks. But with the most recent mock drafts and scouting reports, Stansson found himself looking at a 9-16 draft range. He knew what this meant. First round, he thought. Breathe. So Stansson heard the name of his frenemy (because Stansson is, at heart, a teenage girl, I suppose), Groovy Dood, called as the number one overall pick. He was a little jealous. “I’m happy for him,” Stansson would say later. And I think he believed it. But you could tell there was a part of him that wishes it was him going in that first spot. Nonetheless, he knew his name would be called—maybe in the first round, maybe the second—but it would indeed be called soon enough. And he would be plenty happy! So when the 13th pick was announced he was thrilled. “With the 13th pick in the VHL Entry Draft, the Moscow Menace select…Wolf Stansson, defenseman, Miami Marauders!” His time had finally come. All that preparation growing up in Iceland, all that time and hard work in improving skating, defense, puckhandling, shooting, hitting, etc. It was all finally paying off. “I trained in North America, you know? For this moment. I came to Miami and I didn’t have a care in the world outside of trying to get better.” And get better he did. In playing all 72 games and logging significant ice time for Miami, Wolf scored 30 goals and added 53 assists for 83 points in 72 games. These are excellent numbers for a rookie. 15 of those goals were scored on the power play, meaning Wolf had become a threat to score on special teams. “He’d just blast it from the point. He was almost like a quarterback out there, moving, waiting, and shooting when he needed to,” said a teammate. On special teams Stansson proved so valuable it helped him net his first (and only) hat trick of the season. “I’ll never forget that one. That was a special game,” he laughed. Getting drafted by Moscow in the first round is no small thing. “I am truly honored to have my future in Moscow. Being back in Europe is something I am very happy about,” he adds. When I asked him what his plans were for next season, Stansson said, “I am wanting to finish up what we started in Miami. I want to win a championship. But that’s what I bring to Moscow. I won’t necessarily be the most talented player they have ever seen. But I will work hard, finish what I start. And that is valuable.” Indeed. Only time will tell what Wolf Stansson will accomplish in Moscow—and when.

Thanks for the humorous history lesson! I loved the bit at the end about boosting his legend. Just a personal preference: it would have been nice to hear from someone on how it happened (I know McWolf has a quote that he has no idea, but did anyone find out? Is there any way of finding out? Oh well; I suppose it's not very important. Still interesting!). I especially liked the "reverse" linear nature of the story, in that you covered the reaction (bewilderment, amusement, etc.) and then delved into the details of the games. It's kind of fun when stories do that, and this was no exception. The ending is abrupt, but, as I mentioned, humorous, which goes with the article. Good work! Score: 9.5/10

Good stuff here! I enjoyed reading his journey along in the VHL to getting this Cup win. I would've liked to read more about what struggles Eagles might have overcome from the previous season. Good dialogue, and good introduction to it. I liked ending on the quote because it framed the previous points made in the article in a believable and non-contrived way. There were some "clunky" portions of writing (e.g., the goal Reign coach--I got the point, but it took a second!), but overall this is a good entry! Score: 7.5/10

1. There's a lot of action going on this week. First up is the VHL Draft. Do you plan on getting drafted to the VHL? Where do you hope you go? 1b. If you're already drafted, how much do you think you'll play in the VHL next season? I mean I do plan on getting drafted; hopefully first round, but early second would be good, too. I don't mind where I go; I look forward to the challenge wherever that may be. 2. Next up is the VHLM Draft on Wednesday. What should management be looking for with our plethora of draft picks? I think we need more D men and more wingers. We should look for those who have shown signs of being active. 3. Well, none of our playoff predictions were right. We thought the winner of the MIA-MIN season would win the Cup. What do you have to say about the Saskatoon Wild, S72 Founders Cup Champions? They were good all year, and good when it counted, and thus I believe they are quite worthy champions. Congrats to them! 4. What skill or stat do you hope to improve on this off-season? I want to improve defense to an 80. It's going to be very important next season! 5. How would you assess your TPE earning this season? Is there anything you will do differently next season? Pretty good. I got 14 per week pretty much every week. I will probably keep at this level of activity next season as well. 6. It's the offseason, and I don't want to hurt your brain too much. What's your favourite number? I love 88, and 81. Those are two great ones! Of course, now that Stansson is 22, I like that one also!

Great stuff guys. I will always recommend Miami as long as you guys are heading it up. Great year!

@Patrik Tallinder !

Great work, man! I think this is a good compilation. I was wondering if it might have been helped by some teammate testimonials as well. That could illustrate your leadership (I don't think you mentioned you wore the C for us!) and your contributions both on and off the ice. Another thing that may have worked would be to toot your own horn, explaining how a draft pick used on you is not a risk. This was good stuff overall, and I loved being your teammate this year (let's make it two in a row here)! Score: 8.5/10

I still enjoyed this read, and I know nothing about your guy or really much about how VHL works (as opposed to VHLM). It was good! It was a great interview format with good questions. I would think that Marc Andre-Fleury got a decent deal, didn't he? I mean since he went to the Stanley Cup. This was well done, so what I am about to say is crazy nit-picky and pretty much only personal preference: I thought it would have been better if, since this reads like a transcript, there were not quotation marks. I would've liked to hear a little more about your experience with the Wolves--why you might make a logical choice to stay or go. I'll definitely be reading more from you in the future, I'm sure! Score: 8.5/10

The offseason has come for both the VHL and VHLM, and for the Stansson family, it is finally a long-awaited reunion. Wolf has flown back to Iceland. He originally wanted to stay, having his father look in on him now and again, working on developing aspects of his game. But his father, Jan, convinced him he didn’t need to do that. Rather, he convinced him that what he did need was a nice break. This break didn’t mean he stopped all work outs or all on-ice shootarounds. It did mean that he was going back to Iceland to rest with his family. Wolf needs to recharge both his mind and his body, and doing that means hanging out at home. What kind of activities will he be doing there? Visiting some geothermal spas might do the trick for relaxation. Nature walks, hikes, and just sleeping in til a late hour of the morning are all things in which he could engage. Playing board games with family is another option. What does Wolf like to do the most? “You know,” he starts. “Now that I am an adult I love just talking. I haven’t been with my mother, brother, or sister for a year now. I want to know what they have been doing, what they’ve been up to. I want to know how hockey season went. I feel like I’ve missed so much.” Wolf looks down, possibly out of sadness. But then he perks back up. “I can’t wait to see what we’ll do together next.”

This week is the upcoming Season 73 VHL draft. With every draft comes speculation, and that means some fun interviews! This week, we’re sitting down with VHLM’s Miami Marauders defenseman Wolf Stansson to find out what he thinks about all of this. US: Thanks for talking with us, Wolf. Are you excited for the draft? WS: Of course I am! This is a huge moment and lets me know where I am going to begin my VHL career. Playing for any of the teams will be exciting. US: Why is that? WS: Well, for one thing, every team is either pursuing a championship, trying to make a run at the playoffs, or looking to rebuild. When you are pursuing a title, you usually need only one piece or so to make a good run. That would be awesome! When you’re making a run at the playoffs, just a good draft and a trade, and some luck, and you can be in contention. When you’re in a rebuild, you have an opportunity to build something great and see how it turns out. US: That’s true. Speaking of which, how do you feel about what you’ve done with the Miami Marauders? WS: That is such a great franchise, right there. We gave it our all in the playoffs, and just came up short, but we still accomplished a lot of what we wanted to. The guys in the locker room were wonderful, and it felt like we were constantly making improvements, in leaps and bounds. US: How do you think you did, as a player, throughout the season? WS, laughing a little: I think you’ll find my experience to be the same as a lot of VHLM rookies. You get there and you don’t quite know what you’re doing, but as the season goes on, you find your place a little bit. US: Being on an expansion franchise actually helped, don’t you think? WS: Oh, without a doubt! I got to be first pairing with Kosmo [ @Mongoose87 ]. There wasn’t a better guy I could learn from, as far as I’m concerned. You get a ton of ice time and experience from that. US: Where do you see yourself going in the VHL draft? Is there any team you would Lindros? WS: Lindros? US: Yeah, you know, refuse to go to and hold out until they traded your rights, like Eric Lindros did back in the early 90s? WS: No, I wouldn’t do that! I would be happy to play where I was drafted and contribute what I could to the organization. US: And where you think you’ll be drafted? WS: I’m not sure exactly where, but I would think late first round or early second round is where I belong. I have no delusions I am a top 5 player, but I’ll give a top 5 effort! US: Last question: Miami has a real chance to be a contender next season. Are you coming back, or moving on to the VHL? WS: I really want to see it through next season. That’s part of my appeal I think. Being willing to build something and then seeing the payoff.

so now that the season's over...:)

1. Darn, we lost. How would you assess your play during the playoffs? It was OK, but I disappeared when it came to goals. I don't know why. 2. Nominate a Miami Marauder Playoff MVP. Kosmo Kramerev. He was killing it. 3. What advice would you give to players who are about to go through their first VHLM draft? Don't sweat it. Where you get drafted doesn't matter as much as the culture and your growth! 4. What was the first thing you did or first place you went after we got eliminated? Went right back to work. Vacation is later. 5. Now that we don’t have to eat the diet of an in-season professional athlete, what’s your favourite unhealthy food? I honestly love Twinkie's. 6. SSK or MEX? The Founder’s Cup can only go to one team! Mex.

Oh, heck yeah! Great stuff, man!

So it is all down to this. Down to Game 7. One might say the Miami Marauders are feeling the pressure. After all, they had a 3-1 lead on Minnesota in the first-round matchup of the VHLM playoffs. But is this really true? Miami is an expansion franchise in their inaugural season. Minnesota is a seasoned team who has performed fairly well at virtually all points this season. Miami should feel lucky just to be involved in the playoffs conversation, while Minnesota should have title aspirations. At this point, one might be forgiven for thinking the Marauders are preparing excuses ahead of time. As if they are anticipating losing Game 7 and heading for vacation spots for the off-season. But one need not think that. All this article’s burden maintains is that Minnesota is the one who should be feeling the pressure. Kosmo Kramerev is leading the VHLM playoffs in scoring. Not only is he a D-man but he’s on an expansion franchise as well! Both Kramerev and Wolf Stansson are in the top 10 in blocked shots. Basically, on offense and defense these blueliners have it covered. But what about offense? With Andre LeBastard leading the way, the forward lines are scoring well. Bacon is between the pipes, often stealing games. The Miami Marauders just have to be sure they don’t give this game away and the series is theirs!

The Miami Marauders are five games into their playoff series against Minnesota. Wolf Stansson, the offensive defenseman, has scored 30 goals throughout his rookie campaign in the VHLM. He added 53 assists to average more than a point per game. So it’s only natural to assume that he’s blowing away opposing defenses while providing some crushing hits along the boards to retrieve the puck for his team. Right? Not so fast. First, the playoffs are a completely different animal when compared to the regular season. The competition is not only more talented when compared to average, but the individuals on these teams are more motivated than in the regular season. Next, Stansson’s role on Miami may change. Not formally. But it may change in virtue of what the team needs in their matchup with Minnesota. The Marauders currently hold a 3-2 series advantage and can close it all out tonight. Nothing is a guarantee. Stansson has needed to play conservatively; he needed not to be careless, but not too careful either; in short, he could not be afraid to lose. All of that has contributed to his current performance. From an offensive standpoint, it’s not even a huge drop-off from the regular season. With zero goals and six assists, he is contributing at exactly a point-per-game pace. How does the lack of goals affect him? “It’s not great,” he admits with a small smile. “I love lighting the lamp. But we do what we need to for the team. Kosmo, D-Lamb, and Vericel are playing lights-out right now, and I am happy to get the puck to them when we need to.” This means Stansson will often be collecting the puck around the end boards and sending it forward to start a breakout; or he may hit someone and the puck sails to a teammate to start an odd-man rush. Stansson is there to do whatever it takes to win. “I don’t want to lead the league in playoff scoring but fall short of a championship. I’d rather have zero points and a title than that!” Wolf is an interesting study in personality. He’s fairly quiet but enjoys joking around. He doesn’t mind blasting a shot from the point on special-teams play, but he’ll also gladly defer. That mentality has been borne out this playoff series, where he has registered just 10 shots on goal. Normally he would have at least 15 by this point. We asked him whether he thought he was playing too timidly; should he be taking more shots? “We’re up 3-2, aren’t we?” Good point. Only time will tell whether Stansson’s and Miami’s adjustments were good enough to win. That much seems clear. Some things to look for in Game 6 include: Stansson’s ice time (whether he is playing on special teams), his hits (a larger number indicates Miami has the puck less often), shots blocked (a higher number both indicates value for Wolf and also that Miami may be getting outshot), and assists (his continued gameplan seems to rest on his feeding the puck to teammates). Will Miami finish off Minnesota? Or will we see a Game 7? We know which one Stansson prefers.