CowboyinAmerica

For the week ending 8/14/22: 1. We're into the playoffs! What do you want to say to the Helsinki fans ahead of the matchup against Warsaw? 2. Do you approach a playoff game any different from a regular season game? 3. They say playoff games are a bit more physical. Is that a good thing or bad thing with your style of play? 4. The Wild Card round had both 5 seeds beating 4 seeds. Are you expecting a lot of upsets this year? 5. Other than Helsinki, which playoff series are you most looking forward to? 6. Other than Helsinki, what would be your favorite VHL city to play a playoff game?

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2000+ words, for the weeks ending 8/7, 8/14, 8/21 and 8/28

Early Round VHL Playoff Preview for S84 It’s been a while since the Helsinki Titans were last in the playoffs – Booberry’s entire career so far, as a matter of fact. But as the Titans have clinched the two seed in Europe, my excitement for this year’s playoffs has revived in turn. Partially, that may be because the amount of parity that the VHL experienced this season: Outside of one notable Russian exception, each of the other nine VHL playoff teams finished somewhere between 101 and 83 points. There’s a lot of upset potential here to be had. Naturally, that means it’s a fool’s errand to do any sort of prediction for these playoffs. Luckily, both because I like TPE and also because I’m busy for much of August, I’m a fool. Here’s one man’s take at how each of the Wild Card series, 2/3 matchups, and even potential 1 seed first round matchups could break down in each conference. Wild Card (4) Toronto Legion vs. (5) Calgary Wranglers Season Series: 3-2 Calgary, with one of those Calgary wins coming in a shootout. So effectively, even. Series at a Glance: Toronto finished one point better in the standings, but Calgary actually finished with a better goal differential at +21 versus Toronto’s +9. Partially, that’s due to the Legion’s penchant for close games: their 192 goals for ranked fifth in the conference but their 183 goals allowed ranked third, leading to a number of overtime affairs (and 9 OT losses). Toronto is led by recent Moscow expat Paul Atriedes, who finished top ten in both goals and points, while Calgary likes to play out of the back with two defensemen (Erlantz Jokinen and Asher Reinhart) in the league’s top seven in points at that position. If Toronto Wins: They figured out how to win those tight games. Although the Legion were 2-5 in games decided in the overtime period, they were 8-4 in games decided in shootouts. Oskar Lindburgh will naturally be a big key then – his experience and skill level would seem to give Toronto an edge in any shooutout versus the younger Calgary goalie Ben Dahl. If Calgary Wins: They took advantage of the power play. Toronto is third in the VHL with most penalty minutes this past season, at 779. However, Calgary’s power play unit sat next-to-last in the VHL with a 14% power play conversion rate. They’ll need to take more advantage of those free chances to break open games and avoid the tight matchups that Toronto loves to force. Prediction: Toronto 3-2. Lindbergh steals at least one tight game where Toronto gets outshot, possibly in an OT. (4) Riga Reign vs. (5) HC Davos Dynamo Season Series: 3-2 Riga Series at a Glance: Riga’s been on an absolute tear since acquiring Jerome Reinhart and Robert Wilk at the deadline, going on separate seven and four game winning streaks near the end of the season to put some pressure on Helsinki and Warsaw. But that’s not to say the Dynamo have been slouches down the stretch, picking up wins against D.C. and Helsinki of their own in the season’s dying days. Both of these teams have seemed relatively evenly matched, including in their matchups against each other – four of the five games in this series had two goal margins or less. Riga is led by its forward corps, as Anze Miklavz and Alex Johnston both finished top ten in the league in points. Davos, meanwhile, feasted on the power play – they had three different players with double digit power play goals. If Riga Wins: The first line continues to go hard. Riga’s 233 goals scored on the season ranks fourth in the entire VHL, behind just Moscow, Helsinki and D.C. Miklavz and Johnston are a big portion of that, to be sure, but so is Biggie Cheese, who ranked third among defensemen with 81 points, as well as the newly acquired Reinhart, who is putting up about a point per game in Riga. It’s been 35 games since Riga scored less than two goals in a game, and I’m not sure Davos has the firepower to keep up with that. If Davos Wins: Davos was able to tamp down that firepower. It’s odd that I haven’t mentioned David Davis’s name once so far, but that’s because he had a down season (for the new goalie standard at least) in coming over from Prague last offseason. However, he was able to put up a .923 save percentage and two shutouts in last year’s playoffs for the Phantoms, and has the raw skills to take over a series. Prediction: Riga 3-1. Detroit and Chara are great, but without Davis stepping up, it’ll be tough to compete with Riga’s recent run of form. Conference Semifinals (2) Seattle Bears vs. (3) Chicago Phoenix Season Series: 4-1 Seattle, with the win on the final day of the season coming in a shootout. Series at a Glance: This one’s a really interesting matchup to me considering the trajectories of the two teams. Some expected the Bears to fall off hard this season, following the retirement of goalie Em Em Flex and the cap crunch that saw stars like Vinny Detroit shipped out the door. However, as Seattle has tended to do in recent seasons, they had a next man up with Jonathan Ori’s passing-centric center play, and Dusty Wilson performed admirably in his rookie season with 40 wins and a .924 save percentage. The Phoenix, meanwhile, may be reaching the playoffs for the second straight season, but this would arguably be their first trip as a true contender since their rebuild. Baby Bob’s 49 goals and 100 points led the way, but don’t sleep on Bo Johansson’s 64 points from the blue line. If Seattle Wins: The special teams gets it done. Seattle sits second in the VHL in both power play (22%) and penalty kill (88%) rates, indicating strong play on both sides of the coin. However, Chicago is near the bottom of both categories, sitting 13th in power play and 15th in penalty kill. If this series gets a ref with an itchy penalty trigger, that massively favors Seattle. If Chicago Wins: We saw some excellent passing and playmaking, especially from the first line. It’s no surprise that Baby Bob tied for the league lead with three hat tricks, but his 51 assists leave him perhaps underrated as a playmaker as well. Then, of course, Bo Johansson finished seventh in the entire league in assists. It was their combination that allowed Chicago to take their one win over Seattle – both players had 4 assists in the game and let their linemates feast. Prediction: Seattle 4-1. Chicago’s young guns are going to have their day, but Seattle’s overall firepower is too much for now. (1) D.C. Dragons vs. Winner of Toronto/Calgary Season Series: D.C. over Toronto 4-2, D.C. over Calgary 4-1 Series at a Glance: Many people saw D.C. as making the leap to become the clear North American favorite entering the season, and they’ve rewarded that belief thus far. Not only was D.C. one of two teams in the VHL to top 100 points, but they far outpaced their North American competitors in goal differential as well, sitting +39 goals better than their closest rival (Seattle). Newcomer Duncan Idaho got a lot of the headlines, leading the league in points (122) and finishing second in goals (52). But it was returning players that really took the leap for D.C. this season, like Tui Sova (first in VHL with 77 assists), Poopy Peepants (sixth in VHL with 64 assists), and goalie Bubbles Utonium (first in VHL with 11 shutouts). If D.C. Wins: The defense and goaltending never even let the other team have a chance. The Dragons allowed 2137 total shots against them this season, the fewest amount in the league by 70 more than any other team. Add in Utonium’s penchant for shutouts and .928 overall save percentage, and the Dragons often only needed to score 3 or so goals to take home the win. Idaho can sometimes take on that job by himself. If Toronto/Calgary Wins: Then Utonium won’t have been ready for the big stage. In D.C.’s quick three game exit last season, Utonium had a .891 save percentage and 3.31 GAA over the three losses. Particularly against a team like Toronto, which has Lindbergh in net and has played its fair share of OT and SO games, getting into a rock fight may even the playing field more than D.C. would want. Prediction: D.C. 4-2. I think Toronto in particular could steal a few games in a low-scoring series, but ultimately, D.C.’s talent would win out. (2) Helsinki Titans vs. (3) Warsaw Predators Season Series: 3-2 Helsinki Series at a Glance: Granted I may be a bit biased on the matter, but I think this could be the most entertaining series of the first two rounds. Both teams are obviously evenly-matched, finishing with a near even season series and both sitting at 96 points in the standings. They’re also interesting because of their differing styles of play: Helsinki’s relied on star power with Nico Pearce (first in the VHL in goals) and Nezuko (ninth in forward points) up front with Xavier Booberry in net. Warsaw, meanwhile, has adopted more of a team approach, particularly with playing out of the blue line - Hari Singh Nalwa’s 72 points for a defenseman was the team’s only contribution to a positional top 10 list. However, eight different Warsaw players finished with between 60 and 83 points on the season. If Helsinki Wins: The forward play will be there, but the Titans need Xavier Booberry to play to last season’s Most Outstanding Player standard. For most of the games against Warsaw this season, he did: Booberry allowed Warsaw two or fewer goals in four of their five contests (including a 2-1 loss). However, in the most recent game, Warsaw scored six goals. If Booberry does more of the former than the latter, it may be tough for Warsaw’s Wumbo to keep pace. If Warsaw Wins: Shots, shots, shots. While Helsinki and Warsaw were near even in the amount of shots against this season, the Predators had a clear advantage putting the puck on net, with a second-best in the VHL 3108 shots put up on the season. It’s not a perfect measure of who’s going to win, but it’s often predictive. Also, of note: The Predators have played a lot of OT and shootout games this season, tying Toronto for the most SO wins in the league with 8, which often comes into play in the playoffs. Prediction: Helsinki 4-3. I couldn’t pick myself to lose, right? (1) Moscow Menace vs. Winner of Riga/Davos Season Series: Moscow and Riga tied 3-3, Moscow 4-1 over Davos Series at a Glance: For all of the handwringing I’ve done about how all of these teams are close in the standings and anything could happen, Moscow may be the one exception to that. The Menace finished the season with 114 points, 13 points clear of any other VHL contender, and their +113 goal differential slams everybody else as well. But, it’s easy to do that when you have most goals for and the least goals against of any team in the league. Goalie Papa Emeritus is the betting line favorite for MVP this season, with an absurd .939 save percentage, but 40 goal scorers Henri le Massif and The Seabasstard, plus long-time defenseman Hard Markinson and his 106 points, show there’s talent all over the roster. Still, anything can happen – just look at the tied season series with Riga. If Moscow Wins: The overall talent is a bit too much to deal with. This is a team that has come oh-so-close so many times in the finals, but the flip side of going to so many finals appearances is that they always win the early rounds. Emeritus himself is proof of that, going .923, .924 then .933 save percentages over the last three seasons. There isn’t much reason to believe a collapse is coming here. If Riga/Davos Win: But if a collapse is to come, it’s probably because a series of close games didn’t break their way. Just look at that Riga season series: You have an OT win, a one goal win, and a three goal outlier. Moscow certainly isn’t infallible in those close games; they were 0-2 in OT this season, and 4-4 in shootouts. If Riga or Davos could keep it close early, anything can happen from there. Prediction: Moscow 4-2. I don’t think Moscow is going through the playoffs without a real fight, but I don’t think it happens here. They’ve just got their lines and roster too finely tuned.

Helsinki -- The VHL regular season is not yet over, but the playoff picture is starting to take shape. In Europe, nobody is catching the Moscow Menace, and barring an unprecedented tear in their final five games, Riga isn't likely to move up from fourth. That means, regardless of which finishes second and which finishes third, the Helsinki Titans and Warsaw Predators are likely to face off in the European semifinals. The two teams faced off five times during the regular season, with Helsinki holding a slight 3-2 series lead. It was the last game that might give Titans fans pause though - after holding Warsaw to two goals or less in the first four matchups, the Predators exploded to a 6-4 victory. Titans goaltender Xavier Booberry said he's watched tape of that game a few times in recent days, trying to figure out what went wrong. "Four goals in the final dozen minutes, three by Girts Galvins. We just can't collapse like that," Booberry said. "We have to play a full 60 minutes." The series is slated to be tight, and whoever wins home ice advantage may get an edge that sets them apart. Although the two teams are tied in the standings right now, Helsinki has a game in hand, an easier schedule down the stretch, and the likely tiebreaker advantage. Still, in these remaining games or the playoffs, Booberry isn't taking anything for granted. "This is a young team, and the first VHL playoff experience for a lot of us. Including me," Booberry said. "But I think there's an element of 'too brash to know any different,' too. We don't know how we play under these lights yet. Who knows, it may just be great."

For the week ending 8/7/22: 1. The end of the regular season is here! Did Helsinki perform to your expectations? 2. How about personally, did you perform as well as you wanted? 3. Who would you call the Titans MVP this season? 4. As of this writing, it's looking a lot like a Helsinki/Warsaw playoff matchup. Who wins and why? 5. Do you think anybody in Europe can beat Moscow this season? 6. What's your VHL Finals prediction?

For the week ending 7/31/22: 1. As of this writing, the Titans are on a 10 game winning streak! What's enabled the team to do so well? 2. What will it take for the Titans to hold off the Dynamo and Reign for third? 3. Do you think Helsinki could catch Warsaw for second (or even Moscow for first)? 4. Nico Pearce is leading the league in points too, what do you think led to his big jump in production this season? 5. Now that VHL Birthday Week is over, did you have a favorite memory or retrospective? 6. A quieter VHL Trade Deadline once again, would you like to see more trade action this time of year?

A bit - had a guy in I believe the S28 Draft that just sat there, but joined in earnest not too long after for S33 Draft.

The VHL in 2007, As Told By Not the VHL When the VHL was created in 2007, I didn’t join right away. However, I was in sim leagues at that time, because I’m old. I was in a football league called the MSFL (Madden Sim Football League), which had a couple of other members that are still around and also some of the people who would go on to found the VHL. (In fact, in the very first MSFL season, I won a close Tight End of the Year battle over founding VHL commissioner Knight.) So when taking a trip down memory lane, I decided to look not only at the VHL’s history, but the MSFL’s history as well. Somewhat amazingly but also mortifyingly, the MSFL forums are still alive 15 years later, even though the league itself has been dead since 2008. It’s not difficult to find, but I’m also not linking it here, because I have thousands of posts there that I don’t feel like scrubbing to eliminate the stupid things I undoubtedly said as a high schooler. But one of the benefits of the MSFL still being around is I can find contemporary posts about the VHL soon after its founding. For some reason, I think the MSFL’s Affiliate forum got nuked along the way, so I can’t actually find an explicit topic about the VHL. But here’s a few places where the league is discussed elsewhere. I was immediately amused that the second oldest VHL mention, from October 2007, was @Doomsday being thankful that @JeffD drafted him in the VHL. At least I'm not the only old one here. This was from a draft interest post from MSFL GM Alex Lewis. Jeff was going hard for the dual MSFL/VHL players back in the day apparently, I also genuinely had no idea Jeff was Helsinki's GM at one point until this very moment. No idea who this member was/is, but apparently he liked the VHL a whole lot more than how the MSFL was being run in November 2007. As a commissioner I should probably take offense to this (and I literally posted in this thread two posts down actually), but I was also 17 years old and indeed a bit of a shithead. Funny enough, who he's replying to here, Irishbucsfan, would also later briefly be in the VHL. I'll take "Posts the Internet Accepted in 2007 That Aren't Flying in 2022" for $400, Alex. The most relevant topic in the MSFL that I can find came on December 29, 2007, when Golden asked if there were any good hockey leagues out there at the time. The first response shows that Alex Lewis still wasn't feeling the whole VHL vibe, apparently. However, that was shortly followed by: @Cornholio coming in with the receipts! And @JeffD still flying the VHL flag. This was from a Grader Application thread, I genuinely had zero idea that Slobo had ever made his way over the MSFL. Judging by user permissions, and the fact the league would die a few months later, I'm going to guess he didn't get the job. Oh damn, shade at the VHL's grading practices! Side note, I'm very happy grading isn't as strict as it used to be in pretty much every league, because I'm guessing a whole lot of people would be leaving the first time they received a 4/6 for a graphic not being professional-quality. Alex Lewis came around by April 2008! And, was strangely prescient? At the time, the MSFL was in its death throes, but wouldn't actually die until a month or two later. Wondering now if other meetings of this sort ever happened. I think I've only ever met one sim leaguer in real life - and that's when Quach and I randomly ended up in the same MBA program, and we definitely had that awkward talk of, "Do I recognize your name from... yes? OK then, that's out of the way." The very last VHL-related post, on a topic asking if people still came around... in 2009. @Knight was prescient that weirdly, 13 years later, people still might be looking for a place to head. But truth be told, god help the soul of anybody stumbling across a sim league that has been dormant for 14+ years and trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

Blame @Spartan for article

I made it! An insane article to write, read a few and will try and go over more later. An excellent trip down memory lane. That's excellent. At a quick glance at the S41 class, I'm probably going Mikaelson even with the early retirement? The combo of the S43 Seattle playoff run and S44 Quebec regular season is probably more than others did in 8 seasons, I thought he'd be Wingate's main rival for most of my career.

For the week ending 7/24/22: 1. It's VHL birthday week! What's your favorite VHL memory? 2. If the VHL was a person, what would you get them as a birthday gift? 3. What's your favorite birthday party you've been to? 4. Being 15 years old as a sim league is insane to me. What do you think has allowed the VHL to last this long? 5. The VHL has been around since 2007. What were you doing in 2007? (If you were even here in 2007!) 6. Prediction time: Do you think the VHL hits 20? Or at least 100 seasons?

God I'm old

Helsinki -- Last season, Helsinki Titans goalie Xavier Booberry was by almost any measure one of the best players in the league. He won the league's Most Outstanding Player, Goalie of the Year, and Best GAA awards in a season that included 10 shutouts and an average goals allowed under 2 per game. It was a tremendous step forward for the third year goaltender. However, in his fourth season, Booberry looks to have taken a bit of a step back. Sure, a .926 save percentage, 2.32 GAA and 3 shutouts in 34 games is nothing to scoff at. Still, for a player who was hoping to garner MVP consideration this year, merely being an above average goalie isn't what he wanted. "I hold myself to a high standard, because I think I should be able to live up to it," Booberry said after a recent Helsinki loss to Moscow. "I know I can be playing better than this, which makes things frustrating. But at some points, I just need to trust the process." Before the season, Booberry had put not only his first playoff birth, but a first round bye as his goal for Helsinki. So far, though, the team sits in fourth in Europe at 41 points, 3 points behind Riga for third and just 1 point ahead of Davos for fifth. He did remind fans of last season though, hoping for a repeat. "Last year, it was a late season run that put us within striking distance of the playoffs. So maybe we're just late bloomers," Booberry joked. "But with that said, I think these next couple of games are going to be crucial. If we're going to be in that top three, it needs to happen sooner rather than later. And I hope to get us there."

For the week ending 7/17/22: 1. The Titans are in fourth in the conference about a third of the way through the season? Is this better or worse than you expected? 2. What's been the surprise of the VHL season so far to you? 3. What needs to happen for the Titans to begin to rise up the standings? 4. The Americans' GM recently stepped down following disagreements after the team's latest trade. Do you think VHL teams can actually be "cursed" to perform poorly? 5. It's the height of summer in the northern hemisphere. What's your favorite cookout food? 6. What's your favorite beach or lake experience?

For the week ending 7/10/22: 1. A hot start for the Titans! What's been the key to picking up some early wins? 2. First game of the season, Nezuko picked up 7 points. How was she able to come out with such an amazing performance so quickly? 3. As of this writing, Nico Pearce is tied for the league lead in points with 18. Do you think he'll be able to keep it up? 4. The European Conference looks extremely strong once again, who are your predictions for the three teams that won't make the playoffs? 5. What should be the goal for the Titans this season? Title or bust, solid playoff run/top 3 seed, or something else? 6. Had a bunch of cookout hot dogs yesterday, so an oldie but goodie: Is a hot dog a sandwich?

@Spartan Done here

F - Nico Pearce @Crstats23

@Hendrix Cobberson for final D

Two opposite ends of the music spectrum: Chance the Rapper, festival shortly after Acid Rap came out (2013 I think). Everybody was fully engaged and ready to sing along, I was... not sober, was just the perfect headspace. Dan Deacon, a friend of mine had an internship at an indie music label and they brought him to town in 2010-ish. He set up his turntables just right in the middle of everyone, ground level, and was a 3 hour dance party around him.

12 hour warning for @weekz with your final two picks

G - Xavier Booberry @Bulduray_1

Yup go for it, either a defenseman or goalie

Sorry man, tried giving more time. Hendrix still up whenever you want to hop in. D - Hulk Hogan 2 @Crstats23