Hooperorama

Review:
 
Common W.  Some goated stuff out here 🐐.  What can i say!  
It looks so good, text background etc. Love everything you did
here.

∞/10

@gorlab @a_Ferk  @DoktorFunk @DarkSpyro  @Plate   @Crstats23 @.sniffuM  @Da_Berr @dlamb @dasboot

 There are lot more but i am lazy
    

@gorlab @a_Ferk  @DoktorFunk @DarkSpyro  @Plate   @Crstats23 @.sniffuM  @Da_Berr @dlamb @dasboot

 There are lot more but i am lazy
    

@gorlab @a_Ferk  @DoktorFunk @DarkSpyro  @Plate   @Crstats23 @.sniffuM  @Da_Berr @dlamb @dasboot

 There are lot more but i am lazy
    

@gorlab @a_Ferk  @DoktorFunk @DarkSpyro  @Plate   @Crstats23 @.sniffuM  @Da_Berr @dlamb @dasboot

 There are lot more but i am lazy
    

@gorlab @a_Ferk  @DoktorFunk @DarkSpyro  @Plate   @Crstats23 @.sniffuM  @Da_Berr @dlamb @dasboot

 There are lot more but i am lazy
    

Am I actually winning this right now? Holy!

@Cowboy way back when for getting me here.
 
@BOOM™@Noah@Devise@diamond_ace @Advantage@Jericho for being my best friends in my first extended VHL run.
 
@Beaviss for being the reason I stayed active and around for Harding through to now.
 
@Esso2264 for being a great GM, putting up with a lot of bullshit, and dealing with my backseat gaming when I watch him play pokemon.
 
@Da_Berr for being an awesome AGM that helped me a ton getting Warsaw off the ground.
 
@dasboot for being an awesome AGM that has helped us take the next step in our VHL existence and has made my job easier.
 
@dlamb@Hooperorama@KaleebtheMighty@jman9theman9 for being the best first draft class that I could ever ask for.
 
@Infernal@Alex Bridges@Laflamme@efiug for helping Warsaw by setting a strong example in the early years of our franchise.
 
@Renomitsu @AW13@Siddhus@Crstats23@inflastud@Jeffie43 for being a part of a pivotal second Warsaw draft class that has played a massive hand in our come-up this season (and in jeffie's case, coming in from a trade and being a big addition to the squad).
 
@TurnDaddy@kevinscix@Senjo1706@Jake Sumner@SilverMike@williamirc@Nicolai488 for your continued hard work in the Warsaw pipeline.
 
@dasboot@diamond_ace for your players' terrific performances this season.
 
@Hylands@rory @Esso2264 for putting up with me in VC almost every day and being good people.
 
@Garsh@Mr_Hatter@JeffD@Blazzer @Spartan@Da Trifecta@fonziGG@frescoelmo @gorlab@jhatty8@solas@Jeffie43@Renomitsu @a_Ferk@OrbitingDeath @STZ@thadthrasher for being homies.
 
@BladeMaiden for the free therapy, great conversations, and you putting up with my never-ending quest for optimization in Stardew Valley. ❤️
 
@bigAL@Tate for brightening everyone's day whenever y'all come around.
 
@Prout because you deserve a shoutout.
 
@Victor@tfong @Beketov@Quik for your continued work to make this league as great as it is, in most cases even through its darkest times.
 
@Josh for everything that you do, in the league and as a friend.
 
@Banackock@hedgehog337 for setting a great standard for the GM position for so long, and giving the league some stability to lean on in the job while going through a massive influx of members.
 
@Dil for putting up with all the heat and being cool nonetheless.
 
@Enorama@rjfryman@GustavMattias@Berocka@DoktorFunk@Acydburn @FrostBeard@Jubis@Jubo07@Ricer13@Peace@McWolf@Rayzor_7 for being members of the VHL's greatest generation that I haven't mentioned yet but have done great things to make this place much better over the past couple years. If I miss anyone from this category I apologize, there are a lot of you and I've been writing this post for a while already.
 
inb4 I forgot a homie and get shamed
 
@VHL community thanks for making this a great second home where I can RP as a muffin. ❤️ you all
 
@Nykonax I'M SORRY
@MexicanCow123 I'M SORRY

Thx 🐐 and GM and Friend 

Forgot to do this before, I donated during birb's stream (this is one of the transactions which was for $50): 1S0060354V8201325
 
I'm using my extra donation spot for @Hooperorama as well.
 
Confirmed. -sterling

Wooooo Su is now the points leader! In season 71. Looking back on it, it has been a long ride from where I started. When I first made my player as a first-gen, I had no idea what VHL was or how it worked. Truthfully, I had come on the site a week prior by searching for sports sims and immediately left due to not knowing anything. Fortunately, I decided to come back, and I don't regret it one bit. There were definite highs and lows for myself and the VHL as a whole during this time, but to this day I can say that VHL is an amazing experience.
 
First starting out in the league was super confusing for me since I've never done something like this in the past. Thankfully the community was super helpful and got me on my feet. I still remember being signed to MIS after the season had already ended, thinking I would be playing in some games the next day. The LR of MIS was great, with everyone being incredibly kind in it, and I was super happy that I was subsequently drafted by MIS in the VHLM draft. Both Berocka and DoktorFunk (former GM, AGM) were a huge help in getting me started and actually interested in the league itself. I also remember some great teammates that made the LR tons of fun, such as bacon, JBrew42, LastOneUp, joeg, who are all unfortunately inactive now. Being traded to OTT which was DoktorFunk's new team, halfway through the season and winning the cup with them was also a great experience. Spyro who was AGM for the Lynx was also super welcoming and a great presence in the LR.
 
Then came the VHL draft. I remember the hype building up to the draft, and the hope that I would be picked in the first round like all the mock drafts said I would. But, due to my "intentional tanking," I slipped into the second round and was picked by VAN. Today I have to say that slipping to VAN was one of the best things to happen to me. Not only was Spyro on the team, but both Beaviss and the other players on the team were super welcoming. Unfortunately, most of the younger guys that I played with in my rookie season also went IA. Thankfully since then I've gotten some great teammates on the ice and in the LR. My rookie season was rough, to say the least, with a measly 17 points, it was looking like I would be a bust, and I didn't have high expectations for the future. In S73, the expansion draft came, and I was lucky enough to be signed as Warsaw's AGM by Muff. Preparing for the draft was tiring but very rewarding, as now I get to see the team and players flourish. For the one and a half seasons I was AGM there, I had a blast. Thankfully this time around most of the players are still active. dlamb, KaleebtheMighty, Hooperorama, and everyone else keep doing what you're doing. Unfortunately due to school I got too busy and had to resign from being AGM there, Muff sorry for not being able to fulfill my duties well in the later parts of my stint. From S73 and onwards my player must've started doping since he's been on a tear. One of the most satisfying things in VHL has to be seeing your player improve and tear up the league as time goes on. Winning the cup with VAN last season was also a great memory, and as time goes on I hope to make many more memories with VHL.
 
 

Imma stop here for a few days so this doesn’t get out of hand. It is only Beav after all. 
 
$15 for the Spring Rabbits!

:fire: article   

Welcome to Around the VHL - S75 Episode 2 - December 7th, 2020
Note: stats are as of Dec. 6th, 2020 sims -- at time of posting they'll be one set of sims old


 
The VHL season is cruising along, now just past the halfway point and just over a week from the trade deadline! While some separation has been created on the North American side of the draw, it’s still anybody’s game in a very tightly-packed European Conference race. There are just 2 points between 2nd and 6th place in the EU, and even conference-leading Helsinki and 7th-place Davos are in the hunt.
 
The Titans have come around nicely since our last edition of Around the VHL. At that time they were struggling around .500, but they’re not 23-10-6 and are getting big-time play from Ola Vikingstad and Valtteri Vaakanainen up front, especially Vikingstad who’s threatening to break into the top-10 in league scoring with his 51 points. And they just picked up Emi Rune from the Vancouver Wolves after her trade request earlier in the week. With 4 goals and 41 points, Rune’s production offers an upgrade on that of the outgoing Gabriel Akerstrom, and she’s also blocked 90 shots.
 
A couple of other European teams with slower-than-expected starts are also beginning to find their games. The Moscow Menace are up to 2nd in the EU now, with Vin Calia’s high-end production (22 goals, 47 points) offering a secondary threat to superstar Mikko Lahtinen (21 goals, 53 points, 231 hits). Meanwhile, on the back end, we’ve seen Roque Davis and Alex Letang proving to be effective defensive and dangerous threats in transition as well. And the HC Davos Dynamo recently had an 8-game winning streak snapped, but are 9-2 in their last 11 and trying to climb back into contention. What was once an underachieving offense has finally started to find some life, and young forward SS Hornet has averaged close to 2 PPG during that 11-game run, finally looking like the impact player Davos needs him to be. If this squad can keep up their recent play, they might make this European Conference playoff race even more interesting.
 
In the NA, Seattle remains near the top, though they’ve been joined by a red-hot Vancouver team, who are 8-2-0 in their last 10 themselves. Jimmy Spyro is riding a 0.925 save percentage while Andrew Su leads a deep forward group (that has five PPG-or-better players) with 57 points, good enough for a 3rd-place tie league-wide. Calgary has surged to the top spot in the league, in large part due to league-leading netminder Jacques Lafontaine. The Chicago Phoenix are in the midst of their best season since joining the league. Off-season pickup Jeff Downey is paying dividends as one of the highest-scoring blueliners in the league, while L is a rookie sensation who has fit into the league seamlessly after being taken #4 overall, though his running mate and #6 overall pick R hasn’t had the same success.
 
From there, it’s a long way down to where an interesting battle is forming for the 5th playoff spot. The DC Dragons and Toronto Legion sit well back of Chicago but are within two points of each other. DC’s an interesting case with Xavier leFlamant and Groovy Dood both tied for the league lead in scoring at 58 points, and Guy Lesieur isn’t far behind with 51, but from there, the drop off offensively has been steep to Benny Graves (33) and several other players who haven’t broken 30. As a result, despite having the two leading scorers, DC’s only scored 113 goals, 13th most in the VHL. Meanwhile, Toronto is hanging around thanks to strong offensive contributions from John Merrick and Joseph Gainer (52 points each), while Ziaire Anigbogu is surprisingly third in the VHL in defenseman scoring at 45 points, and Oh Sens and Nicholas Sunderbruch, at 41 points a piece, have provided some secondary scoring.
 
At the bottom of the league, the three cellar-dwellers have started to fall off the pace, with Riga nine points out of the playoffs in the EU, while the New York Americans and Los Angeles Stars are both well back of the DC/Toronto battle for 5th in the NA. New York does possess promising breakout 2nd-year defenseman Markus Schauer (second among defenseman with 46 points; 115 shots blocked) and Rookie of the Year candidate Rhynex Entertainment (46 points to lead rookie scoring). The sun has likely set on the playoff hopes for these three teams (meaning the likely end of Riga’s 13-season playoff run), though anything can happen with almost half the season left to play.
While it doesn’t look like anyone will challenge the big scoring numbers we saw from Mikko Lahtinen and Patrik Tallinder last season, this might be the year for goaltending, with three netminders ahead of the pace set by last season’s leader Raymond Bernard. Jacques Lafontaine is again among the best of the best, and joined by sophomore sensation Ajay Krishna, will be the focus of this week’s feature story.
 

 
How do you value a truly elite goaltender?
 
For some, the player between the pipes is playing the most important position in hockey. When they’re on, they can give you a chance to win a game they have no business winning, even if the rest of the team is having an off night. For others, the goaltender position is often a product of their team; an average talent with a quality squad in front of him can do just fine, and building that supporting cast should come first.
 
The VHL’s 75th season has offered up the first half dominance of Jacques Lafontaine and Ajay Krishna as Exhibit A in favour of the former. They are two netminders in contrasting situations: on one hand, a veteran netminder on a veteran squad; an original VHL team with a history of success. On the other hand, a sophomore stepping his game up on a young, expansion team looking for its first post-season berth.
 
The Calgary Wranglers sit at 25-9-6; their 56 points puts them atop the entire VHL. Offensively, though, the Wranglers have not been one of the league’s top teams. In fact, they sit 12th in the league in goals scored, and 13th in goals per game. But they’ve allowed 13 goals fewer than the next closest team in the league, and at the heart of that defense is 2-time Clegane Trophy winner Jacques Lafontaine. “We have a ton of confidence in our group to succeed, and I think that all starts with who is in the crease,” says Wranglers forward Patrik Tallinder, a star scorer acquired by the team in a massive off-season deal with Riga.
 
“Lafontaine has provided so much stability in net, and has stolen us more than a few games. Without him, I find it extremely unlikely that we sit so high in the standings,” Tallinder continues. “He’s also a great locker room presence and is truly an irreplaceable asset to our team.”
 
Despite two previous Clegane Trophy wins, this year has been his best yet. Boasting a 21-9-5 record and a sparking 0.933 save percentage in 35 starts so far, Lafontaine leads the league in save percentage, GAA, and shutouts, while ranking third in wins “I guess I’d say that experience is a big factor, you learn a lot about the game… our D core is also relatively experienced,” he says.
 
Reflecting on his hot first half, though, Lafontaine is quick to compliment the team around him. “Well, I can’t give myself too much credit. While I do like how I’ve played I owe a lot of love to my teammates and my defense. I believe our defense is the best in the league. I mean, the saying is, ‘the best offense is a good defense’... oh. Wait.” Nevertheless, few would argue that Lafontaine has been the best netminder in the VHL this season.
 
But if there’s a Clegane Trophy race to be had in the season’s final half, the veteran’s toughest competition might come from across the pond, in Warsaw’s second-year netminder Ajay Krishna. Following up an unspectacular rookie season, Krishna’s play has taken a massive step up across the board, and with it, the Warsaw Predators are on the hunt for the first playoff spot in franchise history. “The season is going really well for me, I know this is gonna be a turning point for my career,” says a confident Krishna, who sits second to Lafontaine with his 0.928 save percentage, a stark contrast to the 0.908 from his rookie year. “Last season, I wasn’t ready for the league being a rookie. I was not able to convert from VHLM to VHL, unlike (Dakota) Lamb. But this season, we got it all together. Being only my second season, I know I will have a lot more to show in the future. We have a great young group. My companion, Dakota Lamb, last year’s Rookie of the Year is also having a great year and GM Damien Walec is motivating me to do great stuff.”
 
Warsaw has spent their first two seasons near the bottom of the EU, but they look well-equipped to take a step forward this season. Lamb and Krishna are two prominent pieces of a really good young core - also featuring Latrell Mitchell, Victor Grachev, and Aloe Dear among many others - that have the Predators just a few wins away from matching a franchise record with 32 more games on the schedule.
 
In a European Conference where the difference between 2nd and 6th place is 2 points right now, every goal - and every save - can make a difference in not just the game, but the season. It’s safe to say Warsaw probably wouldn’t be where they are without Krishna. “He’s without a doubt been our MVP so far,” says Lamb, the team’s leading scorer. “Throughout our sort of up and down season, the constant has been one thing - the dominance of Ajay. It gives the entire team a sense of relief that even on the nights some of us don’t show up, Ajay will. Not a doubt in my mind he’ll be taking home some awards at the end of the season, and hopefully one of those will be the Contintental Cup.”
 
“The ice seems to change when Ajay steps on the ice,” agrees Dear. “We definitely play differently when he’s in the net, and he really enables us to take some aggressive chances offensively. Take a look at how he stacks up in terms of efficiency with guys that are 2, 3, 4 seasons ahead of him - I think he compares favourably to most, if not all of them. I’m not sure any team with this amount of youth has as much confidence in their keeper as Warsaw does.”
 
And as we pass the halfway point of the season, both netminders have aspirations of backstopping their team to a title. When we asked Krishna about what it would mean to get that first playoff berth for the franchise, he made it known the Predators were after more. “It’s ring season baby! We’ve got the perfect squad and staff to make this into reality. The veterans, Willie Dredge, Dagmar Havlova, and Richard Penisson have all given the confidence to bring out our potential.”
 
Lafontaine shared similar sentiments - perhaps a little bit more measured, but unfailingly confident in his team. “I feel like we have a really good chance at going all the way. I trust in ourselves. We’ve shown that we can make it to the top and we know that we can do it again this season.”
 

 
Welcome back to Fantasy Corner! Just past the halfway point of the season, we’ve got some great competition across our 21 VHFL groups. Let’s give a shout out to the overall leader, Tape-to-Tape, who’s racked up 774.90 points in Group 10.
 
Who’s leading you to your fantasy title? In today’s edition of Fantasy Corner, we’ll take a look at the top performing players at each position and at which players feature on the most group-leading lineups. But first, let’s take a look at the leaders in each group so far.
 

 

 
With all those numbers behind us, what - or who - makes a fantasy champion?
 
Well, so far this year, the answer to that appears to be Timothy Brown. Fantasy’s #1 ranked forward with 141.6 points and 3.54 fantasy points per game, Brown features on an impressive 57% of group leading rosters (12 out of 21). He was only drafted in 17 groups, so he’s actually on the leading team in 70% of the groups that he’s owned in. Brown was coming off the board as the 11th-highest forward with an ADP of 23.62, so he’s proven to be huge value - especially given that there’s a significant drop off in fantasy production from the top-three forwards in Brown, Mikko Lahtinen, and Groovy Dood.
 
Condor Adrienne is the most popular name on the back end of winning rosters, appearing on 38% (8 of 21) such teams. He’s a VHL legend at this point so we shouldn’t be too surprised at this, nor his D#1 ranking. Putting up 3.90 fantasy points per game. You had to use a high pick to get Adrienne, as the first defenseman taken and along with Mikko Lahtinen the two real contenders for the #1 overall pick, but if you got him, you’re in good shape.
Behind Brown and Adrienne, it’s Lahtinen and Jim Bob tying for third-place in the Fantasy MVP race, each appearing on 29% (6 of 21) of group leaders so far, while the most common netminder has been Jacques Lafontaine on 19% (4 of 21) of them.
 
And as far as draft position goes, according to this season’s data, it definitely does matter: 43% (9 of 21) teams that held the first overall pick are currently leading their groups. Interestingly, the second most successful draft position is the #3 hole, but that’s partly influenced by drafts in which Condor Adrienne fell - four of the five teams that are currently leading their groups from the 3rd draft position were able to land Adrienne there.
 
Note: While I think everything presented in Fantasy Corner is accurate, this is not to be considered official in the event of any discrepancy between my work and results/updates posted by anyone in charge of the VHFL.
 
---
 
Players Mentioned: @Dil @Jubo07 @Emi @VinCal @Beketov @Spartan @Josh @McWolf @SlapshotDragon @Da_Berr @Mason @DarkSpyro @JeffD @gorlab @Kylrad @bigAL @KC15 @BarzalGoat @STZ  @ngine4 @joeg @Steve @NickSunderbruch @osens @Rhynex Entertainment @Plate @Renomitsu  @dlamb @dasboot @KaleebtheMighty @Hooperorama @Patrik Tallinder  @Tape-to-Tape @a_Ferk @OrbitingDeath  @jRuutu
 
Extra thank you to @dlamb @Renomitsu  @Patrik Tallinder @SlapshotDragon @Hooperorama for answering some questions to provide quotes for the article!

nO gOaLiE hAs BeEn TaKeN 17tH oVeRaLL

1. yes sir, we can definitely improve !! 100%
2. D lamb, Roty, All star MVP and Goat
3. Being good at the whole Goalie thing i guess
4. Making sure Ajay Doesn t do a lot of work in front of the goal
9. Chocolate, like duhhhhh!!!
10. London, nah wait, WArsaw!!!!!!
 

Dood >>>>> Lamb

Hi hoop
 
cool colours hoop

@Hooperorama

The Warsaw Predators currently find themselves at 9-4-1, second in the European Conference behind fellow expansion team London. The team has been fueled by a star turn from goalie Ajay Krishna, the 17th overall pick of the Season 73 draft, as he is far-and-away the best starting goalie in the league in save percentage and has the lowest GAA among starters as well. Offensively, no one has really taken charge, with Aloe Dear leading the team in goals (tied for 20th in the league at 7) and Latrell Mitchell leading the team in points (tied for 14th in the league at 18, and tied for 1st among defensemen), but the team has had a strong balance of contributions up and down the roster. Warsaw needs to be weary of their current standing, as they allow the third-most shots in the league; they cannot continue to rely on Ajay Krishna standing on his head if they really want to make some noise this season. Improving on a league-worst 7.1% team shooting percentage would go a long way towards helping with this.

smh boomers trying to fight the fact that discord is the future

Why are people commenting here, shouldn't we just have the conversation in discord 
 
/s

The Victory Sports Network presents . . . AROUND THE VHL
 

 
We are making our way through the early days of the S75 VHL schedule and we have a tightly-packed league so far! While a few rebuilding teams like the Riga Reign, Los Angeles Stars, and New York Americans have fallen back, it’s only really been the London United and Seattle Bears that have truly started to separate themselves from the pack. 11 of the league’s 16 teams are bunched up within 6 points in the standings, and none of those teams have a double-digit goal differential (either positive or negative) either. If this trend continues, we should have some really exciting battles for playoff spots and playoff positioning later on in the season!
 
An expansion team in S73, the United have back-to-back last place finishes in the EU so far in their VHL tenure, but this off-season signalled a change in direction for London. In a busy off-season all around, the United stepped up to the plate and made a few big acquisitions, bringing Hugh Jass in from the New York Americans in exchange for 2nd and 3rd round picks, while adding two huge names in Chad Magnum and Erik Killinger as part of a deal that involved sending their next three 1st round picks (including #2 overall in S75) to Toronto. Combined with Julian Nousiainen stepping his game up - he’s got 17 points in 12 games after a 53-point rookie campaign - the big name acquisitions have been transformative. London leads the EU with a 9-2-1 record, thanks in no small part due to the contributions of Jass (15 points), Killinger (11 points), and Magnum (tied for the team lead with 6 goals and second in the VHL with 69 hits).
 
Malmo and Moscow, both of whom made the playoffs last year and had hopes to contend in S75, are sitting 6th and 7th in the conference. After the big off-season pickup of Roque Davis, Moscow in particular has been surprising in their early-season struggles; they need more from their entire roster, in particular some scoring that doesn’t come from Davis and reigning MVP Mikko Lahtinen (who hasn't quite been as dominant as last year, but has still been very effective so far). Malmo, meanwhile, has turned it around after an 0-4 start and are back up to a .500 record, hoping to move past this early-season blip.
 
It hasn’t been a banner year for either of the defending finalists, either, with the Vancouver Wolves and Helsinki Titans combining for just 12 wins (6 each) in 25 games between them. Both are battling inconsistency between the pipes so far, with Jimmy Spyro (VAN) at just a .902 SV% and Helsinki’s Zamboni Driver sitting at just .907. Both of these netminders are capable of better, so these two teams hope to have those issues resolved organically.
 
On a more positive note, the Warsaw Predators are making an early season impact on the strength of strong goaltending from Ajay Krishna, a VHL sophomore who’s posting a sparkling .946 SV% through 13 games. Two other VHL sophomores - Dakota Lamb and Aloe Dear - have been huge pieces of the Warsaw offense while defenseman Latrell Mitchell, the 3rd overall pick in S72, looks to be well on his way to a breakout season in his fourth year in the league.
 
And remember the Seattle Bears? They’ve won four of the last seven Continental Cup Championships and their core is getting older (and Hulk Hogan and Berocka Sundqvist have been lost to retirement) but don’t be too quick to call curtains on their VHL reign of terror. They may have lost in the first round last season, but early in S75, the Bears look reinvigorated, out to an NA-leading (and VHL-leading) 11-3-0 start. The Seattle Bears are this edition’s feature story.
 
The Victory Sports Network presents . . . FEATURE STORY
 
It’s the S74 post-season. The Toronto Legion have just dispatched the Seattle Bears in the first round of the playoffs. It was a five game series that wasn’t all that close, with the Legion winning the last two games by a combined score of 10-2. Hulk Hogan and Berocka Sundqvist, two career Bears and members of the legendary S67 Seattle draft haul, had just played their final games in the league. For fans in Seattle, it was a disappointment that they weren’t used to feeling.
 
The Bears had won Continental Cups in S68, S69, S71, and S73. Even when they didn’t win the Cup, they were a dominant team with an elite core that had some years ahead of them. But this time, maybe it wasn’t that way. There was young talent here, to be sure - the likes of Timothy Brown, Isabella Campbell, Jacob Tonn, Randy Marsh. But losing two of the VHL’s best defensemen at the same time was going to be hard to overcome, and star forward Kris Rice wasn’t getting any younger either. They’d likely be a good team going forward, but could they be a true contender, or was the window closing on a VHL dynasty? For the first time in a long time, this was a legitimate question. “I was a bit worried because we had lost two legendary defensemen that are irreplaceable,” says Rice today, looking back on the end of the S74 season. “We have new up and comers that have to fill the void, and those are some big shoes to fill.”
 
Bears management had no intention of going away quietly. The VHL off-season was a frenzy, with the Riga rebuild and a massive trade sending Erik Killinger and Chad Magnum out of Toronto. The Bears were one of many teams to take advantage and bolster their lineup, getting the opportunity to add Kyl Oferson in exchange for Rocket and a couple of picks in the very deep S75 draft.
 
Oferson was a huge pickup for the Bears. A member of the S71 draft class, Oferson has four years left, so he’ll be in his prime for the rest of Kris Rice’s career and still competitive as the younger members of the Bears hit their primes. He’s a big-time scorer coming off of 194 points in the past two seasons with Riga. Added to Rice, the developing Brown and Campbell, and Uhtred and Jim Bob, the Bears suddenly possessed possibly the best forward group in the league. It was a perfect fit on paper, and restored some measure of optimism to the fanbase. According to Rice, it’s proven to be a perfect fit in the room, too: “Kyl has been great. He has played mostly second line minutes but the guy plays as if he is a first liner. He fits so well with the Seattle system and with him in our lineup that really makes us have the best top-6 in the league.”
 
As S75 started, the Bears roared out to a 10-1-0 start, and they now lead the VHL with an 11-3-0 record. When you look back, you might ask yourself why there was ever any doubt. These, after all, are the Seattle Bears.
 
Back to that that top-6: Jim Bob leads the league in scoring with 24 points. Uhtred, Rice, Brown, and Oferson can all be found inside the league’s top-8 scorers, all on pace for 98+ point seasons. Meanwhile, Odin Omdahl has stepped up after years of playing behind Sundqvist and Hogan, establishing himself as a top defenseman with 15 points and a league-high 44 blocked shots. Behind Omdahl, there’s a young, developing defense that Rice says is learning on the fly but has been permitted to make mistakes in the Seattle system. “The moves made by the GM to bolster our forward group allows the young defensemen to develop knowing they have a high flying offense that will be able to outscore their mistakes,” he explains. As a last line of defense, Jacob Tonn sports a .921 SV% so far.
 
When you look back at the Bears’ teams that won those first two Cups back in S68 and S69, you can see there’s been a passing of the torch since then. Yet these Bears - this time defined by a high-octane offense, though there’s talent throughout the lineup - have every bit the look of a championship contender once again here in S75, and they believe it too. “The locker room is excited yet humble,” says Rice. “No one is getting ahead of themselves because at any moment we could hit a cold streak. But what has gotten us most fired up is seeing longtime players like (Timothy) Brown and (Jim) Bob finally break through and start producing like the elite players we knew they would turn out to be.”
 
The Victory Sports Network presents . . . FANTASY CORNER
 
The VHL season is back underway and with it, the VHFL! So let’s talk some fantasy. Participants draft a team of 3 forwards, 2 defensemen, and 1 goalie in an effort to compile the highest-scoring roster over the course of the VHL regular season. The VHFL scoring system is as follows:
 
Goals: 2 // Assists: 1 // Hits: 0.2 // Shot Blocks: 0.8
Wins: 1 // Shutouts: 5 // Saves: 0.07
 
This year we saw 21 VHFL groups, most of which are finished or close to finished at press time. In this week’s Fantasy Corner, we’re taking a look at some guys that seem positioned for a breakout season who could be impact players for your fantasy team if you were able to get them. One clarification: when talking about a player’s average draft position (ADP), they were assigned a draft position of 40 for groups in which they were not selected.
 
Valtteri Vaakanainen - F - Helsinki Titans (14% owned, ADP 37.31)
To date, Vaakanainen has only been picked in 14% of VHL groups with an average draft position (ADP)** of 37.31 (25.67 in groups which he’s been selected). Helsinki went to the finals last year and they should be a competitive team again this year, so Vaakanainen is dropping simply because he has yet to put up massive numbers. But he’s off to a hot start with 10 goals and 17 points in 12 games this season. He may not be highly physical, but he has a little bit more of an edge to him than some other popular picks like Patrik Tallinder, Uhtred, and Kyl Oferson. Putting up 2.7 fantasy points per game so far and generally available in the fifth round in drafts that he even gets picked at all, Vaakanainen is giving a big return on investment for those who pick him.
 
Roque Davis - D - Moscow Menace (100% owned, ADP 8.86)
Roque Davis is a phenomenal defenseman, one of the most talented players in the league, and is now en route to Moscow, a team that should score more than Davos did in prior seasons. That may not have materialized so far in S75, but there’s a lot of hockey left to be played. Last year, Davis ranked as defenseman #12 with 77 points, 241 hits, and 131 blocked shots (252 fantasy points overall), and he should be in position to put up similar defensive numbers while boosting his offensive ones this season. Davis is no sleeper pick, going off the board as defenseman #3 and at an ADP of 8.86, but he seems to be in position to have the best season of his career and be well worth the pick.
 
Chris Hylands - F - Malmo Nighthawks (19% owned, ADP 33.29)
Malmo should be a good team this year, and they’ve got a lot of offensive talent. Hylands is a young player, in his 3rd VHL season, who just posted a 95-point season, has upside to do it again, and does have a bit of a physical side to his game (albeit not to the level of the best fantasy players). The physicality removes some of the risk associated with him, and the fact that he’s playing first-line minutes on a good team, has an elite shot, and has elite positioning as well makes him a candidate to post some really big numbers if Malmo gets rolling. What makes him a possible sleeper is that he’s only been picked in 19% of VHFL groups so far - if you need a forward late in your draft, you could probably do a lot worse.
 
Calvin Harvey - G - Riga Reign (0% owned, ADP n/a)
Harvey was projected to be Helsinki’s backup prior to being traded to Riga, so he’s not being picked in fantasy. However, if you’re in a group that’s still going on and need to pick up a goalie late, you might want to consider him. Riga are a rebuilding team, so they’re not going to win a bunch of games and he’s not going to rack up the shutouts, but Harvey is going to face a lot of rubber and at 0.07 points per save, he could be a sneaky high scorer. Riga’s currently facing 39.8 shots a game, so to run some quick math: if Harvey maintains a save percentage of even .910 facing that much rubber, he’ll pick up 165 points in saves alone over a regular number of starts. Throw in 20-25 wins and a couple shutouts, and now you have numbers comparable to the #2 and #3 goalies in fantasy last year. There’s some risk in this pick, though, as Riga might give Sirkants Klamasteris a higher workload than a usual backup.
 
 
Note: for lack of a better title, at this time, I am going with VHL Weekly Review, but this will probably actually be more of a bi-weekly review.
 
Players Mentioned:  @Corco  @okochastar @Peace @TheFlash @Josh @Beketov @Tape-to-Tape @Mrpenguin30 @DarkSpyro @Hooperorama @dlamb @Renomitsu  @dasboot @Berocka @Ricer13 @Banackock @jRuutu @Nykonax  @a_Ferk @leafsman @zepheter @MexicanCow123 @oilmandan @Jubo07 @Hylands

This is Jase Hill reporing on a exciting prospect
 
Mike Sterling has been one of the more interesting prospects to watch throughout the S74 season as despite being a young player in the VHLM he posted surprisingly good stats with Mexico City.
Getting just below a .900 save % and a 2.82 GAA is far better than anyone thought he would do. Not to mention he posted 2 shutouts in 12 games which overall is very solid. 
 
This season he'll have the chance to prove he is the real deal with Halifax. He has a solid lineup in front of him he is just going to have to adjust to the new role of leading a team and be more of a force this season. He is far from the best goalie in the VHLM o he'll definitely have a up hill battle in front of him. 
 
Sterling was quoted saying "I really think we have the tools to be one of the best teams in the league for a long time"
 
He also likely isn't getting called up any time soon as Warsaw (the team that drafted him has Ajay Krishna who will likely be the starter in Warsaw for a long time!

(Sorry again for the incomplete post but I've had a very stressful week, haven't had much motivation but still I don't want to miss an update, the word current word count on this is 580)
 
16th London United
Goalie stats                 Games played                Wins                Shutouts                Assists                Goals                Save percentage                 Goals against average
Nils Friedriksen                   64                         23                      4                         2                       0                           .904%                                     3.42
Points leaders                                     Goal leaders                                         Assist leaders                                      Hit leaders                                     Shots blocked leaders
 
 
 
15th Los Angles Stars
Goalie stats                 Games played                Wins                Shutouts                Assists                Goals                Save percentage                 Goals against average
Doug Dimmadome              64                         25                      2                          2                       2                           .916                                        3.22
Points leaders                                     Goal leaders                                         Assist leaders                                      Hit leaders                                     Shots blocked leaders
 
 
 
14th Warsaw Predators
Goalie stats                 Games played                Wins                Shutouts                Assists                Goals                Save percentage                 Goals against average
  Ajay Krishna                        64                         24                      3                         4                       2                           .908                                       3.52 Points leaders                                     Goal leaders                                         Assist leaders                                      Hit leaders                                     Shots blocked leaders
 
 
 
13th New York Americans
Goalie stats                 Games played                Wins                Shutouts                Assists                Goals                Save percentage                 Goals against average
  Samuel Ross                       57                         25                      0                          7                       3                           .909                                       3.55 Points leaders                                     Goal leaders                                         Assist leaders                                      Hit leaders                                     Shots blocked leaders
 
 
 
12th Chicago Phoenix
Goalie stats                 Games played                Wins                Shutouts                Assists                Goals                Save percentage                 Goals against average
  Jean Pierre Camus             66                         28                      1                           1                       0                           .913                                       3.62 Points leaders                                     Goal leaders                                         Assist leaders                                      Hit leaders                                     Shots blocked leaders
 
 
 
11th Calgary Wranglers
Goalie stats                 Games played                Wins                Shutouts                Assists                Goals                Save percentage                 Goals against average
Jacques Lafontaine            64                         34                      3                          1                       4                           .923%                                     2.59
Points leaders                                     Goal leaders                                         Assist leaders                                      Hit leaders                                     Shots blocked leaders
 
 
 
10th D.C. Dragons
Goalie stats                 Games played                Wins                Shutouts                Assists                Goals                Save percentage                 Goals against average
    Stone Wolski                      64                         33                      4                          2                      0                           .918                                         2.67 Points leaders                                     Goal leaders                                         Assist leaders                                      Hit leaders                                     Shots blocked leaders
 
 
 
9th HC Davos Dynamo
Goalie stats                 Games played                Wins                Shutouts                Assists                Goals                Save percentage                 Goals against average
Rayz Funk                            64                         33                     3                           1                       1                           .917%                                     2.86
Points leaders                                     Goal leaders                                         Assist leaders                                      Hit leaders                                     Shots blocked leaders
 
 
 
8th Prague Phantoms
Goalie stats                 Games played                Wins                Shutouts                Assists                Goals                Save percentage                 Goals against average
Woody McPine                   57                         26                      3                          3                      0                            .914%                                    3.24
Points leaders                                     Goal leaders                                         Assist leaders                                      Hit leaders                                     Shots blocked leaders
 
 
 
7th Helsinki Titans
Goalie stats                 Games played                Wins                Shutouts                Assists                Goals                Save percentage                 Goals against average
Zamboni Driver                   65                         33                       1                          3                      5                            .905%                                    3.10
Points leaders                                     Goal leaders                                         Assist leaders                                      Hit leaders                                     Shots blocked leaders
 
 
 
6th Toronto Legion
Goalie stats                 Games played                Wins                Shutouts                Assists                Goals                Save percentage                 Goals against average
Jaxx Hextall                         64                         30                      2                          0                      1                            .917%                                     2.89
Points leaders                                     Goal leaders                                         Assist leaders                                      Hit leaders                                     Shots blocked leaders
 
 
 
5th Riga Reign
Goalie stats                 Games played                Wins                Shutouts                Assists                Goals                Save percentage                 Goals against average
Greg Eagles                         66                         32                      2                          2                      2                            .914%                                   2.96
Points leaders                                     Goal leaders                                         Assist leaders                                      Hit leaders                                     Shots blocked leaders
 
 
 
4th Seattle Bears
Goalie stats                 Games played                Wins                Shutouts                Assists                Goals                Save percentage                 Goals against average
      Jacob Tonn                       68                         37                       5                         3                       4                           .911                                        2.77
Points leaders                                     Goal leaders                                         Assist leaders                                      Hit leaders                                     Shots blocked leaders
 
 
 
3rd Malmo Nighthawks
Goalie stats                 Games played                Wins                Shutouts                Assists                Goals                Save percentage                 Goals against average
  Grekkark Gyrfalcon            64                         36                      1                          4                       1                           .903%                                    3.40 Points leaders                                     Goal leaders                                         Assist leaders                                      Hit leaders                                     Shots blocked leaders
 
 
 
2nd Vancouver Wolves
Goalie stats                 Games played                Wins                Shutouts                Assists                Goals                Save percentage                 Goals against average
  Jimmy Spyro                      64                         38                      4                          0                      2                            .922%                                    2.70 Points leaders                                     Goal leaders                                         Assist leaders                                      Hit leaders                                     Shots blocked leaders
 
 
 
1st Moscow Menace
Goalie stats                 Games played                Wins                Shutouts                Assists                Goals                Save percentage                 Goals against average
Raymond Bernard               65                         46                      5                          1                       0                           .924%                                    2.53
Points leaders                                     Goal leaders                                         Assist leaders                                      Hit leaders                                     Shots blocked leaders