Eso

Steve Eso grew up in Flin Flon, Manitoba (not really, but what a fun name for a town). Like the overwhelming majority of middle-class kids from the prairies, Eso was on skates by the time he was 3, and playing organized hockey at 4. He played pond hockey after school most days in the winter, as well as having house league minor hockey a few times per week at the local rink. He didn't take it very seriously as a youngster, but enjoyed it both athletically and socially. He went through many of the common hockey brat rites of passage - pizza parties after a game with the team as an eight year old, road trips to out of town tournaments driving through terrible snowstorms. In high school, Eso tried out for and became the captain of the school team, and it was here that he was noticed by the parents of some of the more competitive kids. His name circulated around the local rep systems, and he ended up getting invited to play bantam hockey for the local single-A team. Here Eso really had to step up his game and start treating it seriously, not just something that he did for fun, as most of the people he was playing against now were the kind of kids who went to big money hockey camps run by washed up pro hockey players in the summer, who always had brand new top of the line equipment, and were driven to compete hard. Eso developed a reputation as a strong skater with good vision on the ice, who played hard but clean, and who usually kept a level head on the ice. As a two-way center, Eso became captain of the bantam team his second year there, both because of his skills on the ice, and his calm "lead-by-example" demeanor which let him get along well both with his teammates and coaches. After graduating out of the bantam program, Eso was drafted to a triple-A midget team in Southern Ontario. Here he found another huge step up in the level of the competition - Eso was used to being either the best, or one of the best players on every team he had been on up to this point in his life, and now he was surrounded by players who also had been the best player on their team growing up. A broken collarbone from a hard hit behind the net made him lose half of a season as a 17 year old, but he returned in time for the playoffs to help lead his team to a deep playoff run. While fielding calls from some of the major junior teams in Canada, Eso was also asked if he would be interested in declaring eligibility for the VHLM. Wanting to keep professional options open as much as possible, Eso decided to allow himself to sign with the Mexico City Kings in the middle of the VHLM season, and then he would be entered in the VHLM draft proper the following summer. 513 words

1. Right about where we expected to be, doing pretty well. Expectations are very low for this team this season, so flirting with a .500 record is great. 2. Also right about where I expected. 9 or so points in 12 games I think, but leading the team in +/-. 3. This is Calgary, so I assume we'd have a horse, kind of like the Stampeders? 4. Gilbert Gottfried maybe? Come on it would be hilarious to have him do play by play. 5. Maybe a craft brewery or something like that would be sweet. 6. I don't know that I have a favourite. I like Trevor Linden, being a Canucks fan. Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic, guys that were well respected dignified leaders while also playing a strong two way game.

We're going to do so much wrangling this season.

1. The scuttlebutt that I'm hearing is that playoffs would be cool, but don't bank on it. We're an active team though, so I'm going to predict that we just squeak into the postseason. 2. Yes, I'm in the PBE which is my primary league where I'm a max earner. I used to be in the GOMHL until it folded. I'm also in the SCSFL, and was also in the very short lived KPBSL. 3. Same place I spend the regular season. In a strip club. 4. No specific moment, but I had a lot of fun in the Saskatoon locker room. 5. Chicago and Riga. I straight up have no idea 6. Colorado and I'd love to see the Islanders or Panthers stay hot and get in.

Excited to be here! Let's do that hockey!

I appreciate the opportunity that I had in Chicago to be a part of a championship team. Now I look forward to trying to have similar success in Calgary over the next few seasons.

1. As a new member of the team (and also only in my sophomore season) I'm looking forward to getting to know him at camp. I haven't really spent any time on the website looking at our roster, but hopefully he has a good season on both sides of the puck. 2. I haven't done my predictions yet, but I see that Ricer has, so I might just shamelessly copy off the smart kid. 3. From what I hear we have a team of young and active players, so I think it'll be really exciting if we can put a couple of positive seasons together as we all grow into our prime "windows" at the same time. 4. I'll probably inject them straight into the most important stats: fighting, and penalty shot. 5. I don't follow it closely, but I do participate in the invitational draft tournament. 6. As one of those new players, I'm pretty excited just to meet some new people. I had a good time in Chicago, but I also didn't have a lot in common with most of my teammates. It also looks like I'll have some fellow masochists in Calgary that I can commiserate about the Canucks with.

My back is pretty sore from carrying this entire team.

1. Had a dream one time that I was playing hockey for the Chicago Blackhawks as an emergency fill in player. I'm not even a Blackhawks fan, but dreams are weird like that. 2. No. Lust at first sight, sure, but love requires commitment and work and patience and tolerance. 3. I dunno, have I made any racist, sexist, misogynistic, or otherwise bigoted comments lately? I'm probably due. 4. I don't think we ever had night lights when I was a kid. I think I was a little afraid of the dark though. 5. Real fucking good. 6. Call us a curler with a look light draw weight, because there was some sweeping.

1. Sometimes you need your best players to be your best players, and your role players to play their roles. Our top 5 are unstoppable, and our goaltending tandem is lights out. 2. In real life, pretty big to get an extra home game in a series. In STHS? I have no idea how much "weight" it gives to the home team. 3. Absolutely, are you crazy? Those guys are dynamite. 4. Big ol' steaks, whiskey, cigars. We are going to get right fucking polluted, then head to the strip club. 5. I like sharp angular lines, and a simple logo that's not too busy. In sim leagues, I like to uniforms to be a little more "out there", have some fun with it, sort of like minor league baseball teams. 6. I have all the numbers, the best numbers, ask anyone, they'll say "Oh, that Steve Eso, he's so good at counting." That said, even since #jeopardy happened, I have largely retired from counting.

1. A pint of your finest draught 2. It's my real life surname. Also, I enjoy brevity. 3. I play a lot of team sports, which unfortunately means that during Covid I'm not really getting a ton of good elevated-heartrate exercise. I have a fairly physical job, and I coach kids hockey (which is still going on). I'm really looking forward to someday being able to play beer league hockey/softball/curling/flag football again though. 4. Every sexual innuendo under the sun. Possibly a couple of busty models, maybe just posing or playing around, maybe some whipped cream wrestling. 5. Crack a beer and watch a Canucks game or a Jays game if they're playing, otherwise maybe a little bit of video game time after the kids go to bed. I don't watch very many TV shows or movies, much to my wife's chagrin. 6. Margherita pizza. Eggs benedict gets an honourable mention.

Secondary scoring?

F - Venus Thightrap And if that player has for some reason switched position to Apache attack helicopter or something, I quit. @Caboose30

My bad @Caboose30, RJ Jubis is a Forward.

D - RJ Jubis @Caboose30

F - Kyl Oferson @Caboose30

G- Jean Pierre Camus @Velevra

D - L @Caboose30

D - Matty Socks Still your pick @Velevra Sorry for taking so long - I have never been able to get the forums to send me e-mail notifications.

F - Chad Magnumm @Caboose30

1. No idea, but I think in sim leagues it's always good to get a fresh influx of enthusiastic people into leadership positions. If it's up to the same folks to run everything all the time, that's a recipe for burnout. 2. Not at all, it would basically be like a free "re-spec", right? That said, I'm happy with the hodge-podge build I've got going on, even if it might not be optimally min-max'ed. 3. This might sound depressing, but I don't really have aspirations like that. I like my life, I'm happy with what I've got. I hope I can see my kids grow up to be good people and outlive me. 4. I hate off-seasons in sim leagues. I want to be able to pour over the game logs to see how badly my player did. 5. Soft all the way. There are lots of foods where having crisp, crunch, or heft to it is great, but I don't think a chocolate chip cookie is one of them. 6. I think it would be great to use something that is completely random and unrelated. Like, the team is the Phoenixes, right? So a mythical firebird would naturally be the mascot? Nah fuck that let's use a unicorn or a jellyfish or something.

1. I didn't even know he had a player in the race, but my buddy BigTittySmitty, who is my teammate in the PBE mentioned winning a 'ship here, so I retroactively am cheering for Malmo. 2. I straight up have no idea who the big teams/small teams/active GMs/buyers/sellers are in this league. That might change now that I'll be playing in the big leagues and will actually pay a bit of attention. 3. Are those guys any good? If so, great move by the organization. If they're not, then it's a questionable personnel decision. See, with takes like this I could be a sports journalist. 4. No idea, but I think that the team is in a pretty strong spot roster wise right now where missing out on a 1st rounder in one season shouldn't significantly hurt us. 5. I think that this season we go out and prove that last season wasn't a fluke. 6. I'm pretty fortunate that while adult sports are all shut down where I live, kids sports are still happening for the moment, and I am coaching my son's U9 hockey team (what used to be called "novice" division in the old Hockey Canada terminology). So thankfully I get to go on the ice in real life for a skate and stretch my legs twice a week.

I can't remember if I signed up already. But I'm in!

Eso is in.

1. Went for a long walk with my older son (who is 7) and played Pokemon Go. Drank a liter of champagne out of a travel mug while on the walk because I'm cool like that. Let him stay up as late as he wanted - he made it until 11:15. 2. Been playing Grim Dawn, an action RPG kind of like Diablo. Other than that, Day of Infamy, a WW2 shooter. I should be something some flight sim stuff in DCS, but I haven't had the energy. 3. Positive vibes man. Negative energy would just harsh my chill. 4. My season is finished, but I'm going to have 40 or 50 TPE to unbank once I get called up, haven't thought about how I'll spend it yet. 5. I just found out that I've been selected for Team Canada at the junior championship, so I am hereby putting the entire rest of the planet on notice. Except the Netherlands, you guys are cool. 6. The mighty Red Army will, as always, defeat the evil forces of capitalism.