Laine

Laine (pictured above) at the first Team Europe practice on Tuesday, August 11th, 2020 LONDON - With the opening day of the S73 World Junior Championships upon us, the players are excited to get out on the ice. However, Team Europe RW Patrik Laine is probably the most excited out of everyone to get out there and play. "It's not every day you get to play for Team Europe" Laine said during a press conference "My season has been good so far but if I am able to perform at a high level in this tournament, I would feel really good about it. Even if I don't do good personally, the goal is for our team to win gold and I will be willing to do anything to win it." In 43 games so far this season with the Miami Marauders, Laine has recorded 18 goals and 29 assists for 47 points. His game has also been more physical, recording 69 hits in those 43 games. Laine says the stat sheet from the VHLM won't bother him and that this is a completely new slate. "I can't let myself look back on my year in the VHLM so far. This tournament has a lot of world class players, I'll even be clashing with some teammates. This is a completely new environment and I can't wait to jump right into the first game." The players will be staying in a bubble of hotels close to the rink. Laine says this doesn't bother him though. "For some reason, no one wanted to room up with me" says Laine, when asked about how it has been at the hotel "I think it is the playoff beard that throws everyone off. Hopefully I can get a medal and a trophy with the beard. Venus and Aloe are in the room across from me and I think Emi is just down the hall so I got a few friends here. It's gonna be a fun week for sure." Laine also had an interest response when asked about playing against some of his teammates. "You know, guys like Lamb. We play together in Miami on a line, but when we play at the Juniors this week, we are enemies." Laine said "Off the ice, we are great friends and we get along quite well, but for 60 minutes when we play against each other, there are no friends out there on the other team." The first games of the World Juniors will start on Wednesday, August 12, 2020.

Now, as some of you may know, I'm not very good working with graphics, but that doesn't mean I haven't tried. This graphic here is one that I tried for fun. It is the first edit of mine in which I have tried a logo swap. I think it turned out pretty good compared to the previous graphics that I did.

I see what you did there with the goalies @JigglyGumballs ? In all seriousness, good article though

VHL THEME WEEK SIGS! Please keep an open mind that I am not the best at designing sigs, but I tried. @Bacon @Ricer13 @Snussu @BlueMaple @DreMin15 @BladeMaiden

My Recruits: JigglyGumballs (500 TPE +15) JB123 (Under 100 TPE + 0)

I want to see what you can do in terms of a Laine render. It might also help you learn something. Who knows. Name and Number: Patrik Laine #29 Team: Helsinki Titans Background Colour: Doesn't Matter Player Render: Patrik Laine

Bro that's so sick!

Now, as you all may remember, Miami got blown out last week by Houston 7-2. The game was frustrating but I still did manage to get my old buddy Drew Minott back. Before the game, I convinced my friend and Houston Bulls forward Venus Thightrap to let me into the Houston locker room before Drew Minott got there. She agreed and let me in. I proceeded to tie the arms of his jersey, but that's just the intro. I also put some ink into his mask and taped his skates. The final one was the kicker though. I filled his goaltender stick up with water. It felt like it was 100 pounds when I tried to lift it. I have no idea how he played the game with that stick, but props to him. Just a little friendly fun before the play begins to ramp up in the playoffs. I'm not gonna lie, watching him fall down in warmups due to the tape was pretty funny. I am now preparing for the inevitable, which is either him or Ottawa Lynx Defender Jiggly Gumballs to get me with a prank, but I'll be ready for them. I've still got a few pranks up my sleeve to try down the stretch. People mentioned: 209 words, 1056 characters

1. It was frustrating, but it is the exact game we needed to wake ourselves up. We can't be sleeping against top teams. We gotta have our best game ready every night. 2. I might do a few graphics or a media spot. 3. I don't see any weaknesses on this team, but I'll leave the moving to management. 4. I would probably choose super-speed. 5. I always go off the ice last and tape my sticks right before warmups. 6. I think we'll do good. We aren't too far behind the pack and if we get rolling, we'll be okay. We have to not sleep on any opponents. Even lower ranked teams can still be dangerous, so we have to be prepared for anything.

MIAMI MARAUDERS PRESS CONFERENCE Week Ending 8/16 1. Miami was recently blown out by the Houston Bulls 7-2. What did you take away from that game and how will we play better down the stretch? 2. This week is VHL Theme Week! What do you plan to do to get the bonus 6 uncapped TPE? 3. Next Monday is the Trade Deadline. Which players or what positions do you think we should take a look at? 4. If you could choose any superpower to use for the rest of your life, which one would you choose? 5. Do you have any pre-game rituals? 6. How do you think we will perform in our games leading up until the playoffs? What do you think we have to do to take our game to the next level?

WJC Render for @JigglyGumballs

I've only claimed 1 TPE off of you so far.....later on though....... ?

and I am still collecting TPE off of you joining ?

Frostbeard-Thightrap-Laine ?

Hey Cole, I'm interested. Just coming off of a few short stints as AGM in Houston and Mexico City. I can be active in the locker room, create pressers on the weekly and anything else you need me to do. Only problem would be I don't have access to STHS, but we could find a way around it. Cheers! - Patrik Laine

Patrik Laine during a Miami Marauders practice on Monday, August 4th, 2020 MIAMI - Miami has been rolling this season. So far in 31 games, they have a record of 24-5-2. Good for 50 points and tied for 1st place in the VHL with the Houston Bulls. However, not everything is good in Miami. Patrik Laine knows this all too well. He had a 15 game goalless streak 2 years ago while he was playing with the Winnipeg Jets in the NHL. His inconsistency is coming back. Laine has been goalless in 12 out of his last 15 and pointless in 10 of his last 15. "It f**king sucks, I know the team is winning but when you haven’t been able to do anything to help your team win, it frustrates you.” Said Laine, when asked about the point drought “I don’t blame my teammates or ice time. The team has been playing well and I average 22 minutes a game. This is more of an issue with me not being able to score. Like when we lost our first game to Vegas is when the streak started. We’ve lost only 7 games this year, 2 of them in OT or a shootout. I just feel like if I was scoring, even if it is just a goal or an assist per game, we could have won those games.” Laine had 59 points in 58 games last year for the Houston Bulls. He also led the team in goals, scoring 27 throughout the season. Laine has 34 points in 31 games this year, 14 of them being goals. A majority of those points came in the first 20 games. Laine believes it is just a slump and is optimistic he will bounce back. "You know, we’ve seen before I can get really hot and be scoring at will almost, but I want to be a consistent player. I just want to prove that I can be that go-to player and I haven’t been doing that yet. As you, unfortunately, saw in the one game against Minnesota, when it rains, it pours." Laine was referring to a game from earlier this year, a 3-1 loss to the rival Minnesota Storm where Laine accidentally shot the puck into his own net. The own goal ended up being the game winner. Miami Marauders captain Andre LeBastard comforts Laine after he accidentally shot the puck into his own net for the game-winning goal against the Minnesota Storm "That goal will haunt me for a while. I basically gift-wrapped them 2 points. I was livid after that game, I thought I had lost the game for the team. Going back to the bench for me was hard. As soon as I sat down, LeBastard came over and told me not to worry about it. I was just so hard on myself. I even had a talk with Rice about it after the game. He told me not to worry about it too much and that I would get my mojo back soon.” Laine said when asked about the incident. “My teammates have been playing well. Matty has gone off. Lamb is back producing at a point/game rate. They’ve also been really nice given I haven’t been scoring a lot. I know I just gotta keep playing my game and one day I’ll be right back to my best hockey." (564 words, 2852 characters)

Welcome to the second edition of VSN’s S73 Weekly recap (Games 127-235). We’ll cover a host of things in this recap each week including highlights of important VSN happenings, three stars of the week, power rankings, rookie profiles, and anything else of importance. Speaking of other VSN content, make sure to check out the other great work from the greater VSN family! Here are a few handy links to check out, from our weekly podcasts to in-depth history articles, scouting reports, and more! S73 Season Preview | VHL Awards | VHLM Awards Recap In the second week of S73, games began to pick up the pace. Almost every game was faster and more physical than the first week. Goalies were very good this week, recording 8 shutouts across the second week, up one from 7 shutouts last week. Hat Tricks took a slight fall, dropping from 19 last week to 17 this week. Not a steep fall, but the goaltenders are beginning to settle in this season. We saw our first brawl of the year earlier this week. Numerous fights occurred and the physical play rose in intensity as the teams began to settle in and push for those top spots. 3-Stars First Star Rayz Funk (SEA) - 1.92 GAA, 0.940 SV%, 2 Shutouts Second Star Benny Graves (DCD) - 10 G, 18 A, 37 Hits Third Star Luciano Valentino (DCD) - 4 G, 19 A, 36 Shots Blocked Power Rankings Featured on this week’s graphic are Scott Greene of the Seattle Bears, Joakim Bruden from HC Davos and Alex Letang playing for the Moscow Menace. Shoutout to @Pengu for the sig! Another week in the books and we have a huge shake-up at the top of our power rankings. Last week’s top team the New York Americans have completely fallen out of the rankings after struggling, and we have some brand new teams that have earned a spot in our Top 8 after some stellar play. Coming in at #1, and rightfully so, we have the Seattle Bears. The Bears went on an absolute tear this week, with a 10-2-2 record after some magnificent performances from star netminder Rayz Funk. They are currently hot on the heels of their conference rivals, the New York Americans, and are now just 2 points shy of the top seed. Our #2 ranking goes to none other than HC Davos who continue their great start to the season and are currently holding the top spot in the European Conference. A great 10-4-0 record this week has ensured that they lock down their place in the VHL standings, and gain 3 spots in our Power Rankings. Next up, a newcomer to the rankings this week, we have the Moscow Menace. This young team put together a solid week of performances and relied heavily on their star rookies, Alex Letang and Lucas Brandt, and they now find themselves holding a playoff spot after a not so great start to the season. At #4, we have another newcomer to the rankings and that is the D.C. Dragons. The Dragons had a horrible start to the season, with only 5 wins in their first 16 games, but they have stormed back this week and added themselves to the playoff mix. This week’s 1st Star, Benny Graves, was the standout performer, racking up an impressive 28 points in 14 games. They are currently on the outside of the playoff picture right now, but are keeping touch with the teams around them and will be looking to carry on from there. The Helsinki Titans are the first fallers of this week, dropping from #2 down to #5. That’s not to say they had a bad week, 8 wins from 14 is no easy task, but the performance of the teams above them were just that good. They are only 2 points behind the conference leaders, Davos, and if they continue winning games at the rate they are, we’re gonna have an extremely interesting race for 1st. Another faller this week is the Riga Reign, who are perhaps the victim of playing one less game than everybody else, but nonetheless couldn’t quite keep up the same level of play like last week. The European Conference is extremely tight this season, with just 10 points separating 1st and 6th. The defending champs find themselves right in the middle of it and will no doubt be looking at a run for 1st, rather than a battle to make the playoffs. Our 2nd biggest faller of the week, going from #3 all the way down to #7 is the Calgary Wranglers. They just about evenly split their 14 games, going 7-6-1, but after a 10-5-1 start, last year’s finalists will probably be disappointed. They have fallen 4 points back of Seattle, but are keeping pace and will be hoping to find their groove again and push for that top spot. The 8th and final spot is held by the first expansion team to feature in this season’s Power Rankings, the Los Angeles Stars! It’s basically a two-man showdown in Hollywood this season. Sigard Gunnar and Tyler Barabash Jr are absolutely tearing it up, and are #1 and #2 in the league for scoring, respectively. Will they be able to pull the Stars to a shock playoff appearance? They are only 3 points out as of now, and who knows, crazier things have happened. That wraps up this week’s Power Rankings. An amazing week all around, and a few surprises as is often the case. Join us next week to see who will take our top spot. Notable Games Game 131 - Riga Reign vs New York Americans In this marquee matchup between the defending champions and the hottest club in the VHL, the results did not disappoint. It didn’t take long for the Americans to get started as just 16 seconds in, Owen Nolan would open the scoring on the power-play. New York would add to their lead midway through the first as Jerry Wang would score on a breakaway to make it 2-0. It would remain 2-0 through the first period, leading us to period number two. Both teams came out firing in this period, as Riga outshot New York 22-14 in the second period. We would see our first goal of the second halfway through as Hugh Jass would get one of the power-play to make it 3-0. Micheal Gary Scott would make it 4-0 with just 1:18 to go in the middle frame. The third period was the story of one man, A Red Guy. He stopped 24 shots in the third and 63 shots across the entire game to record a shutout. Bjorn Scoringsonn would tack on one more halfway through the third to conclude the game, which ends in a 5-0 win for New York. Game 160 - Calgary Wranglers vs Malmo Nighthawks This was the game this week that had everything in it. Malmo has just come off of a good performance last week and hoped to continue this streak against Calgary, who began surging at the end of last week. Calgary came out getting the puck on net, as they outshot Malmo 20-8 in the opening frame. However, Malmo would strike first on a goal from Ray Sheilds to make it 1-0. Calgary wasn’t happy about this goal and just 17 seconds later, Mickey Dickson would drop the gloves with Kris Rice. Rice would end up winning this fight with some right-hand punches and Dickson would be ejected from the game. The fight win brought some energy to that Calgary bench and just 8 minutes after the fight, Calgary would tie it up off of an even-strength goal from ACL TEAR. We would end the first period with a 1-1 tie. Malmo was very undisciplined in the second frame, taking 3 penalties to Calgary’s 0. Calgary would make them pay and on the power-play, Mikko Lahtinen would feed a one-timer to RJ Jubis to put Calgary on top 2-1. It would stay like this heading into the 3rd period. Malmo was really pushing in that third and about midway through, we saw that emotion start to boil over with some undisciplined penalties. One thing leads to another and at the 14:22 mark of the 3rd, we saw our first line brawl of the season. ACL TEAR and Chris Hylands duked it out first, but there was no true winner as the fight ended in a draw. Second to drop the gloves were Willie Dredge and Zyrok12, but they also ended in a draw. The final fight and probably the most interesting one was Latrell Mitchell and Ray Sheilds. This fight also ended in a draw but the energy on both benches was flowing after that. After all the penalties were sorted out, Malmo would have two minutes for a 4 on 3 power-play and after that 2 minutes of a 5 on 4 power play. They didn’t waste their chance as late in the 5 on 4, Tyler Walker gave Lewis Dawson a pass on a tee and he makes no mistake to tie the game up 2-2 with just 2:22 to go in the 3rd. The rest of the third would be quiet and we would head to overtime. Overtime was an absolute thriller, as both teams would go up and down the ice. Both teams hit posts and crossbars multiple times, but the score would remain 2-2 as the game needed a shootout to decide the winner. Malmo would shoot first, sending Lewis Dawson. Dawson would make a great backhand to forehand move, but he would be stopped by Jacques LaFontaine. Mikko Lahtinen would be the first shooter for the Wranglers and he made no mistake. He walked in and slapped and absolutely bullet top cheese to put Calgary up 1-0 in the shootout. Condor Adrienne would be up next to shoot for the Nighthawks. He made a fantastic move to get the puck through the five-hole of LaFontaine, but the puck would amazingly stop on the goal line to keep Calgary’s lead. RJ Jubis could end the game on Calgary’s second shot. Jubis walked in, pulled the puck between his legs and then pulled off the one-handed tuck to seal a 3-2 shootout victory for the Calgary Wranglers. Game 206 - Chicago Phoenix vs Calgary Wranglers Another one of the week’s interesting matchups involved the Calgary Wranglers. This time, facing the expansion Chicago Phoenix. The first couple minutes of the first were back and forth down the ice and Chicago’s persistence would pay off as they would draw a holding call on General Zod at the 5:03 mark. On the ensuing power-play, Milos Slavik would rip a perfect wrister above Calgary’s backup. No chance on that play, 1-0 Chicago early. However, it didn’t take long for Calgary to respond and just 6 minutes later, RJ Jubis would bury his 16th of the season to tie the game up. Calgary would keep coming and just 2:57 later, Jubis would net his second of the period to make it 2-1. As the first period was winding down, Willie Dredge would find the back of the net to expand the lead to 3-1 Calgary. It would stay 3-1 heading into the intermission. Calgary came out in the second with great defensive sticks which gave them more puck possession and they would make it count as around 12 minutes in, Jubis would complete the hat trick to put Calgary up by 3. Chicago wouldn’t stop though and just 41 seconds later, Squirrely dan would rip one into the back of the net to cut the Calgary lead to 4-2. Chicago was getting undisciplined near the end of the second and it would cost them. Milos Slavik would take a hooking penalty and on that power-play, Willie Dredge would pot his second of the game on a booming slapshot from the point to expand the lead to 5-2. The second period would come to a quiet end with a 5-2 Calgary lead. Calgary would come out flying early in the 3rd and just 3:18 into the final frame, Willie Dredge would pot his hat trick goal, making it 2 Calgary hat tricks in this game and a 6-2 lead. Calgary absolutely dominated the rest of the 3rd, outshooting Chicago 19-5 in the final frame. The game would end with a 6-2 Calgary win. Events of the Week Fights Game 130 - Mikko Aaltonen vs Jet Jaguar Aaltonen and Jaguar would drop the gloves midway through the second period in a game between D.C. and Davos. Jaguar would get some good right hands in but Aaltonen would stand his ground and even push back. The linesmen eventually would break these two up and the fight would end in a draw. Game 148 - Thomas Landry II vs Randy Marsh Trying to set a tone for the last two minutes after a late Prague goal gave them the lead, Randy Marsh would challenge Thomas Landry II. Landry would come out aiming for the face and Marsh would be leaking a little bit after the fight, but Marsh would hit Landry in the jaw, enough to stun him for a minute. As he went in to try and get another hit, Landry would block the punch and the linemen would eventually come in to pull the two combatants apart, with the fight ending in a draw. Game 155 - Luciano Valentino vs SS Hornet The second fight in a game between D.C. and Davos this week, Luciano Valentino would drop the gloves with SS Hornet. Hornet would do a good job with some blocks and punches, but Valentino would get some solid right hands in. I think the linesmen broke this fight up too soon and I thought there was going to be a winner here, but it ends in a draw. Game 160 - BRAWL! Emotions began to boil over in a highly contested game between Calgary and Malmo. There were 3 fights at the 14:22 mark of the 3rd period. We saw ACL TEAR and Chris Hylands fight to a draw, Willie Dredge and Zyrok12 fight to a draw and lastly Latrell Mitchell and Ray Sheilds fight to a draw. I wanted to see someone win a fight, but the linesmen did a good job breaking the fights up before it got out of hand. Game 169 - Hiroshi Okada vs Andrew Su Okada and Su would drop the gloves in the first period in a game between Helsinki and Vancouver. Okada would land some right hands and Su just didn’t have enough power. Okada would end up winning the fight. Helsinki would ride that energy to win the game after that. Game 221 - Scott Greene vs Jay Jones Greene and Jones would drop the mitts just 17 seconds into the third period. Both players would dish out punches and blocks but no one had the upper hand and eventually, the linesmen would separate the two combatants. Game 223 - Brock Louth vs Richard Penisson Our last fight of week two takes us to Vancouver to see Brock Louth fight Richard Penisson. Louth did a great job evading the punches from Penisson and when Louth saw an opening, he hit Penisson right in the jaw and down to the mat he went. Louth won this fight, and they had to take Penisson off for some repairs but he was okay. Hat-Tricks Game 133 - Kefka Palazzo Our first hat trick of the week would come from Kefka Palazzo, who potted 3 goals against the Los Angeles Stars. All 3 of his goals were even-strength tallies. Unfortunately, LA would win the game 4-3. It doesn’t take away the hat trick from Palazzo, who certainly had a night to remember. Game 136 - Willie Dredge Willie Dredge would record a hat trick against the Malmo Nighthawks. His first two goals came within the first 2:05 of the game and his 3rd goal would come with 41 seconds remaining in the second period. An impressive performance for Dredge. Game 140 - Scott Greene Continuing on the theme of a great week for Seattle, Scott Greene would record a hat trick, scoring 3 goals in a 4-0 beatdown of the expansion LA Stars. This is sure to be a confidence booster for Greene. Game 142 - Dagmar Halvova In an absolutely dominating performance by the Prague Phantoms, Dagmar Halvova would record a hat trick. He potted 3 goals to go along with an assist in a 7-1 win for the Phantoms against their conference rival, the London United. Game 144 - Lucas Brandt In a statement win for the Moscow Menace, Lucas Brandt would record a hat trick. He scored the first goal in the second period which ended up being the game-winner and tacked on 2 at the end of the third to seal a 5-1 statement win over the red-hot HC Davos Dynamo. Game 149 - Mat Tocco Mat Tocco would score all 3 goals in a gutsy win for the Vancouver Wolves. They would end up beating the D.C. Dragons 3-0. Tocco would score in all 3 periods of the game and this performance is certainly a confidence booster for him. Game 150 - Sigard Gunnar Sigard Gunnar would continue a streak of dominate games for him, recording a hat trick during a 5-2 win over the Chicago Phoenix. He certainly has been a catalyst for the Stars so far this season. Game 151 - Henrik Zoiderberg Another hat trick for the Moscow Menace this week. This time, it would be Henrik Zoiderberg getting the hats. He scored 3 goals in an interesting 5-3 win over the London United. He has been playing very good this season. Game 167 - Lewis Dawson Yet another hat trick recorded against the London United. This time, coming from rookie Lewis Dawson and the Malmo Nighthawks. Dawson recorded the hat trick to go along with 1 assist in a 5-2 win for the Nighthawks. Game 193 - Jungkok Jungkok would record a hat trick for the Vancouver Wolves. He had 3 goals to go along with 3 hits in a 5-3 win over the Moscow Menace. Game 206 - RJ Jubis and Willie Dredge When is the last time you saw 2 hat tricks in one game, let alone 2 hat tricks for a pair of teammates? Both RJ Jubis and Willie Dredge would record 3 goals each in a dominate 6-2 win for the Calgary Wranglers over the Chicago Phoenix. Game 207 - Dagmar Halvova Dagmar Halvova would record his second hat trick of the week. This time, against the Seattle Bears. The hat trick would not be enough though, as the Phantoms would fall 4-3 to Seattle. Game 213 - Sigard Gunnar In a high scoring game that had 7 first period goals between the two teams, Sigard Gunnar would record his second hat trick of the week. He scored 2 in the first and 1 in the second in an impressive 6-3 win for the Los Angeles Stars. Game 216 - Lewis Dawson Lewis Dawson would also record his second hat trick of the week. He would pot all 3 goals for the Nighthawks, including the OT winner in a key 3-2 overtime victory for Malmo over the Prague Phantoms. Game 228 - Groovy Dood D.C. Dragons rookie Groovy Dood would record his first career hat trick. This would come during a team-building 7-1 win for the Dragons over the Chicago Phoenix. Certainly a confidence booster for Dood and the Dragons who have had a slow start to the season. Game 232 - Gary Tarantino Our last hat trick of the week comes from Gary Tarantino of the Prague Phantoms. He had 3 goals including the game-winner in a wild 6-4 victory for the Phantoms over the Moscow Menace. Shutouts Game 129 - Helsinki Titans vs Chicago Phoenix This week’s first shutout is earned by Jean Pierre Camus. He stopped 23 shots against a very hot Helsinki Titans team to earn a win for the Phoenix and his first VHL shutout. Chicago ended up winning by a final score of 3-0. This has to be a building block for Chicago who has been off to a terrible start so far this season. Game 131 - Riga Reign vs New York Americans Arguably the best goaltending performance of the entire season, the tremendous play of A Red Guy continued as he recorded his 2nd shutout this season. The score won’t tell the entire story with this one. New York beat Riga by a score of 5-0, but the shots were 63-34 in favour of Riga. Red Guy made 63 saves to preserve the win and the shutout for the Americans. Game 140 - Seattle Bears vs Los Angeles Stars Another shutout for the Seattle Bears, coming from Rayz Funk. In a dominating performance from the Bears, Funk made 20 saves to help Seattle beat Los Angeles 4-0. Not exactly a performance for the ages, but it is a good little confidence booster for Seattle. Game 149 - D.C. Dragons vs Vancouver Wolves In a matchup between two of the top picks in last year’s draft, Jimmy Spyro stole the show. He would record his 2nd shutout of the season. He would stop all 23 shots from the D.C. Dragons to record a shutout and steal 2 points for the Wolves. Game 173 - Moscow Menace vs London United In a battle between close rivals in the European Conference, Thorvald Gunnarsson would record his first shutout of the season. He would make 26 saves including 15 in the 3rd period to preserve a 3-0 shutout win for Moscow. Game 183 - HC Davos Dynamo vs Malmo Nighthawks In a close game between the two surprising teams of the European Conference, Joakim Bruden would record his first career shutout. He shut down the early surge from the Malmo Nighthawks, making 20 saves including 13 of those coming in the first period. Game 184 - Toronto Legion vs Vancouver Wolves In a clash between Canadian rivals, Jaxx Hextall would record his 3rd shutout of the season, tied for the league lead in that department. He stopped 37 out of 37 against the Wolves, including a 3rd-period surge from Vancouver in which he stopped 15 shots. Game 218 - Seattle Bears vs Calgary Wranglers The last shutout this week was earned by Rayz Funk. This would be his 3rd shutout of the season, against a weakened but still effective Calgary Wranglers team. Funk would stop 21 shots across the entire game to preserve a win for Seattle. Rookie Spotlight Lucas Brandt Thanks @Zetterberg for the sig! Lucas Brandt has already made quite the splash in his short time in the VHL. He first joined the league as a free agent, signing for the Halifax 21st where he enjoyed an incredible rookie season with 87 points in 72 games, with 41 of them being goals. He quickly established himself as an elite prospect with amazing scoring ability. His sophomore season was even better if you can believe it. He was drafted 4th overall by the Saskatoon Wild after some turbulence leading up to the draft, before which he was an almost guaranteed 1st overall pick. Brandt used that as fuel for his fire as he went on and racked up an incredible 133 points, with 57 goals and 76 assists, while also helping lead his team to a Founder’s Cup. I can’t think of a better way to cap off your minor’s career than that. Brandt was selected 9th overall by the Moscow Menace in Season 72. Looking back at the draft he was selected quite a few spots ahead of his projected position, when asked if he feels any pressure to perform because of that, he said, “Both yes and no. I don't think TPE means everything in the major league drafts, so I think where I was selected was fine. However, I do have a chip on my shoulder to always go out on the ice every night and prove that I deserve to be a top 10 pick.” It’s pretty obvious that Brandt will be a star for Moscow for years to come, and with that attitude, they have unearthed an absolute gem. His rookie season started off a bit slower than he would have liked, but after finding his feet, he has stormed up the rookie scoring race and finds himself just 2 points back of his Moscow teammate, Alex Letang. “I started off a little slow, but I guess that's normal when you transition to the big leagues. I've finally found my groove with my great teammates in Moscow and I'm having a blast. I would love to try and keep up a point per game pace, but I'm not sure that's likely. Either way, I'm pretty happy with my results thus far.” There’s been some talk as of late as to who has the best prospect pool in the VHL, and you will see the Moscow Menace pop up in those discussions, and rightfully so. They have amassed a highly talented crop of young stars, and things are looking up for the Russian club. “It's incredibly exciting. I love seeing our prospect pool grow especially since a lot of them were drafted in the same draft as me. Spartan (Alex Letang) and I will hopefully be competing for rookie of the year. The locker room is even more revitalized with the new group of us.” The sky certainly seems to be the limit for this current generation of Moscow stars. However, Brandt is keeping his expectations reasonable. While playoffs may very well be in the picture this season, a cup run isn’t really on his mind, “I'd always like to think we're a dark horse when we are still developing our talent/prospects. The unfortunate reality is that there are teams just much more established than us and our window isn't quite here yet.” Brandt isn’t getting too far ahead of himself and is taking things one step at a time. As this Moscow team continues to develop they will most certainly be a favourite, but for now, Lucas is taking everything he can from each game and will continue to jump from strength to strength. One of those strengths may be his giant duck fighting ability. Now, I know what you’re thinking, this sounds absolutely insane, but hear me out. We presented Brandt with two hypothetical choices, he had to choose between fighting 1 horse-sized duck, or 100 duck-sized horses. After quite some time weighing up the options, and even going as far as to write down a pro’s and con’s list for each, he elected to go for 1 horse-sized duck. “Definitely a horse-sized duck. Ducks aren't really aggressive so I think I could escape pretty easily as it tries to waddle towards me.” He actually went with the strategy of not fighting the horse-sized duck at all and just walking away, which to be fair, we never told him he couldn’t. We were outsmarted this week, but we won’t let that happen again. This concludes our rookie spotlight on the wonderful, Lucas Brandt! Just another great prospect from the Season 72 draft class. He has already established himself as one of the top players of the class and will undoubtedly have his eyes set on some silverware in the very near future. If you haven’t already gotten used to hearing his name, you better get on it. He is a star in the making and it’s only a matter of time before he earns the spotlight of the rest of the league.

Patrik Laine will now be answering questions: 1) We gotta find a way to win those close games. Look at our losses last week, all 1 goal games and we gotta be able to come out on top in those games. 2) We compete so hard the first 60. Those extra minutes wear us down but we gotta be able to take the extra point because those can help us extend our lead. 3) We should be able to go on a Founder's Cup run, but we will see come playoff time. It's been good so far, but anything can happen. 4) I don't see anything we need to upgrade right now. We've been playing good and earning so we're okay right now. 5) Definitely hockey in a bubble. 6) A Media spot of the year candidate has to be Advantage's mock draft from S73. I haven't seen a lot of graphics so that one is still up in the air.

We won't, don't worry.

I'm Canadian, so....yeah ?

MY RETURN TO HOUSTON By: Patrik Laine INTRODUCTION: As many of you may remember, I was a part of the Houston Bulls organization during Season 72. I was selected by the Miami Marauders in round 5 of the VHLM draft. This is my story about my return to Houston. Let's begin. CHAPTER 1: ARRIVAL We were coming off of a close 2-1 loss to the Las Vegas Aces. When I got on the plane, I took a look at who was next on the schedule. I seen it was Houston, and my initial reaction was one of joy. I had played there for a year, made good friends with the locals and it would be nice to see them again. All I could think about was Houston. My former home. Once we landed, the airport security that always used to see me once we landed smiled at me. One of them said "Welcome back to Houston, Laine.". I looked over with a smile and gave them a nod. We hopped on a bus and went to our hotel. I took a shower and then went to bed. CHAPTER 2: DAY OFF We had a free day in Houston before our game. I woke up early, at 7:30 and was out of the hotel room by 8. Practice was until 9:30. After practice, I went for a 2 hour walk around downtown Houston. Many fans greeted me and asked for autographs as I completed my walk. Of course, I complied. I also stopped at a hockey shop to purchase a little gift for my friend, Houston's starting goaltender Drew Minott. He had always told me how he wanted a certain stick, pads and mask that match well. I picked up a few items I had custom ordered. Those items were the CCM Axis goalie pads, a mask with a custom paint job and the CCM Extreme Flex 4 goalie stick. Both the stick and pads came with a Houston styled paint job and the mask came with a custom paint job that I asked one of my good friends to make. I texted Minott and asked him if he wanted to meet up for lunch at a cafe that we always went to for lunch back when we played in Houston. He shot me a text back and said sure and we decided to meet there at 12:00 PM. I had the stick, pads and mask in my hotel room and would give them to him later. I walked in right at 12 and he was there waiting for me. We sat down and we talked for a bit before we ordered. He was having a great season playing in Houston, while I was scoring lots of points over in Miami. Once our food came, we had lunch. Afterwards, we drove over to his house. I was sure to bring the gear with me in secret and I surprisingly did a good job hiding it. We hung out for a few hours at his house. Around 3:30, I got a text from coach telling me to be at the hotel for 4 PM. Minott offered to drive me but I said I could walk. As I left, I told him I left him a surprise in his garage which was the goalie gear. Not sure how he reacted to it, but hopefully he enjoyed it. I arrived at the hotel at 3:55 and coach and most of the team was there. We hopped on the team bus and drove about an hour down south to Galveston, Texas. We all got to relax on the beach until about 8 PM. It was a lot of fun. We drove back and arrived back in Houston at 9 PM. We went to our hotel rooms and prepared for tomorrow's game. CHAPTER 3: GAME DAY I woke up at 7, as I do on every game day. I was downstairs eating breakfast by 7:30 and we arrived at the rink at 9 for the morning skate. After the morning skate, I went to that cafe for lunch. I took one of my teammates, Dakota Lamb, with me. He said he enjoyed the food there and the people were nice. It was 3 PM and the game was set to begin at 6. As usual, I arrived at the rink first, making my entrance at 3:30. I went out to the bench and performed my pre-game rituals. I went back to the locker room at 4 and began taping my sticks. All the other guys began to roll in around 4:30. I seemed nervous before the game according to my teammates and of course I was. I went to the equipment room to get my skates sharpened and coach asked me if I had a minute. I told him my skates were being sharpened, so I follow him. He took me into the visitor's coaching office and he told me the following: "Listen, I know your nervous about playing tonight because you are back in Houston. That is all past you now. I want you to go out there and play 60 minutes of your best hockey that you have been giving us all season long. I'm moving you up to 1st line left wing tonight, so show me what you can do. You will be playing on a line with Lamb and Sens." I gave him a nod and said "I won't let you down coach." We went out for warmups at around 5:15. I went out first and I heard a little cheer from the crowd as I went out. Across the ice, Houston came out a few minutes later. I tapped Minott on the pads and stopped to chat with him for a little bit. Then went right back to skating. Houston had a few of my very good friends on their team. Goaltender Drew Minott, Forwards Venus Thightrap and Defender Markus Schauser just to name a few. I skated by Thightrap a little bit later in warmup and gave her a tap on the skates. The next time I skated by, she gave me a tap by and stopped. "So, how is Miami?" she asked. "Good, certainly a bigger responsibility over here in Miami but it has been good to me so far." I replied. "You miss Houston a bit?" she said. "Yeah, Houston is a smaller city and it is a tighter community around here, but Miami has been fun." I replied with a smile. "Well, good luck tonight" she said with a smile. I replied with a small grin "Better keep your head up, I may hit you a few times" and laughed. "Oh, just wait for when I hit you" she laughed. We gave each other a high five and skated our seperate ways. Warmups were finished at about 5:45. We went into the locker room and listened to coach's pregame speech: "Now, I know that was a big loss to Vegas the other night, but that is behind you. We have a special man in this room who is returning to his former home for the first time. Patty played in Houston last year when they were terrible. Now, Houston is good. So, tell everyone Patty, do you want to beat Houston?" he asked. "Yes, let's play 60 minutes of our best hockey and show them Miami is the real deal!" I said. "Good, Now for the starting lines" coach began, "At forward, we will have Patty, Dak and Sens. On defense we will have Howler and Matty and we will have Bacon in net. Let's go boys!" We made our way out onto the ice and I was ready for the puck drop. The referee blew his whistle and down went the puck. CHAPTER 4: MIAMI VS HOUSTON I wanted to make an impact right away. In the first few minutes, I didn't have a lot of puck time, but that all changed in one singular play. Thightrap had the puck for Houston along the boards and I gave her a nice hip check to take the puck away. I carried the puck into the zone and looked around to where to go with it. I was Andre going across the other side wide open. I fed the puck across and he one timed it perfectly, but Minott robbed him point blank, conveniently wearing the new gear I got him. We stayed on the puck. Andre got it right back on the rebound Minott gave up. He fed it back to Sens who got a shot off, but Schauser blocked it. The puck bounced right to Matty who slapped the rolling puck right into the net for the opening goal. We went to the bench after that shift energized. However, it didn't last long and it was 2-1 Houston going into the second. I started the second period off a little shaky, but around 6 minutes into the second, I had a perfect opportunity. Matty gave me a beautiful one timer pass, just the way we practiced setting them up. I blast it top right, but hit the crossbar and the rebound squirted out. I jumped into the corner to try and find it, but by the time I had tracked the puck down, so had Houston's defence and the puck was cleared out. The rest of the second period was good. I had a few hits and was good with the puck, making good choices but we still trailed 2-1 heading into the third. I told the team during the intermission that we were going to win this game and we would get these two points and they seemed to agree. We went into the third fired up and it showed. I had a pair of shots early. One was blocked and one missed the net, but it was fortunate. Wolf held it in and passed it to Sens, who gave Dak a one timer on a tee and it tied the game. I skated into the group hug and said "WHAT DID I TELL YOU? LET'S GO!". We got another power play with about 6 minutes left and we said that we were going to score here. Dak got a beauty of a shot off the faceoff but just missed. Sens went low and got the goal off of a wraparound to put us up 3-2! We had another power play a few minutes later. I got the puck off of the faceoff. Took a shot and hit the post....again. I quickly hustled to the puck and protected it with my body along the wall. I fed the puck over to Matty who fed it to King. King walked in and shot an absolute bullet shortside on Minott to extend the lead to 4-2. We won our game in Houston by a final score of 4-2. I was relieved. I gave Minott and Venus a wave as I made my way off the ice. They waved back. We went and got our stuff from the hotel and hopped right back on the bus to go to the airport. I looked up to my schedule. Next stop, Minnesota! (1872 words, 9116 characters written by @PatrikLaine) People Mentioned:

INSIDE INTERVIEW WITH PATRIK LAINE MIAMI - Patrik Laine, the young 18 year old from Finland has been playing with the Miami Marauders for about a month now. We thought we would have a sit down interview with him and see what he thinks of his new team and his future. Reporter: Thanks for doing this with us, Patrik. Laine: Thanks for inviting me to do this. Reporter: Let's start with an obvious question first. You've played in Miami for a few weeks now. How are things down there? Laine: Things are good. I was able to rent an apartment right across the street from the rink which is perfect. Reporter: In your first 11 games so far this season, you have amassed 9 goals and 11 assists. You are currently on pace for 59 goals and 72 assists, good for 131 points this season. How do you feel those totals reflect your improvements in your game? Laine: I've played good these first 11 games. I've been playing well defensively and then also coach gave me time on the power play so I've been trying to make the most of all the time I have out on the ice. Wish my goals were a bit higher but if those assists help us win, keep them coming. Reporter: You are currently ranked 10th in points, 9th in goals, tied for 6th amongst forwards, 7th in +/-, 2nd in power play goals and 4th in game winning goals. What do you think of those rankings and what do you plan to do to move up? Laine: Obviously, I can't say I went out and did it all. The coaches here have given me a generous amount of ice time and special teams time to let me do my thing and my teammates are amazing. I'm hoping to be the best player in the VHLM this year and it is still early so hopefully I can keep climbing. Laine (pictured above) on the ice for practice in Miami on July 26th, 2020. Reporter: Who do think are the MVPs of the Marauders so far. Choose one for offence, defence and goaltending. Laine: For offence, it is definitely my guy Dakota Lamb. He's been playing with me on that second line as he's a great guy off the ice too. For defence, Matty Socks no questions. Great guy off the ice and he puts his heart and soul out there every night to help us win. In net, definitely Bacon. He's been putting up so many great stat sheets and shutouts and we wouldn't be in 1st without him. Reporter: You were a part of a terrible Houston lineup last year in S72. Now, you are on the #1 ranked team in the VHLM so far. Does it feel any different? Laine: Obviously, it is better when you are winning but the locker rooms for both teams I've been on for great. I miss having Jiggs and Minner around, but the locker room in Miami has been just as good so it's all good. I can always see them in the offseason too. Reporter: You guys play in Houston in a couple of games time. What do you think about your return to Houston? Laine: It'll be fun. I get to see Minner again, along with their all ladies line and we all trained together during the offseason so some familiar faces over there but once the puck drops, I gotta be ready to play. Reporter: We've heard some rumours that you are tough on contract negotiations, you want to give us some background on that? Laine: Uh.....Not really. I accepted my entry level contract from Jubo nice and easy, but at the same time I am willing if my team has the space to keep to get compensated for my performance. However, if one of us needs to take a cap hit to stay competitive, I would be willing to be that guy who takes it to help the team win. Reporter: Alright, we have time for one last question. During one of our draft interviews, all of the other prospects were dressed up fancy. You just did the interview from your bed in normal attire. What do you think that says about you? Laine: Well, I don't need to be professional all the time. I wanted to show people the real me and I want to be myself. There is a time to be professional of course, but I thought for that interview I might as well be myself so those are my kind of comments. (762 words, 3936 characters written by @PatrikLaine) People Mentioned: