CowboyinAmerica

Lol. Congrats Seattle. I'll blame Noah/Greg for not going inactive midseason as the reason the Bears haven't won before now.

Most of the teams in the upcoming S43 VHL World Cup have one thing in common: They feature two goalies that will shoulder the load. I say most because there is one team featuring a single goaltender: Team Europe, where Scotland's Hans Wingate will be in net. The team roster choice belonged to European hockey expert Toast, and perhaps as a surprise to European hockey fans watching, neither of the VHLM's Clegane brothers were chosen for the team. Perhaps Toast couldn't decide between the two, or perhaps he was scared of seeing one or the other around the facility each day. Either way, the decision places a heavy burden on Wingate. "We have a young team, but I expect us to stand up to the challenge," Wingate says. "Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that we can contend for a medal at least. Perhaps we're not the United States, but why not us for at least medal contention?" The European team is preparing mostly for the S46 World Cup, when not only Wingate, but other stars such as Koenig, Strauss, Delicious, Humbert and Hamilton will also be in their primes. But for now, an upset win or two over Canada or the U.S., and a chance at a bronze to boot, would be a good way to go for the young team.

Yessir.

Who watches the retired jerseys? An odd thing happened with my former player, Seattle Bears defenseman Karsten Olsen: I realized sometime in the middle of his 7.5-season stay with the franchise that his number was totally invalid. The number 8, which I had chosen upon my entry to the VHL, was actually formerly the jersey number of Alexander Beketov, and it had been retired for almost 15 seasons by the time I was drafted to the Bears. Promptly, Olsen changed his number to the safe 82. Luckily, Hans Wingate’s 6 is free for the Wranglers, but in light of remembering this—and Remy LeBeau’s jersey retirement for Toronto, it got me thinking: Which other current VHL players are actually wearing retired jerseys? I thought it had to be likely there were at least a few. And after doing a little research, I found that New York and Riga should probably be scrambling. Calgary Wranglers Retired Numbers: 7, 10, 13, 17, 18, 24, 49, 78 Offending Players: None The Calgary Wranglers currently only have five players on the active roster, and despite having three players with single digit numbers, none are currently offenders of the team’s retired numbers. Oddly enough, Marcus Hurley may be the only player in Calgary history with the number “00,” but he’s not the only one in the VHL: Stockholm’s Jody 3 Moons also features the number. New York Americans Retired Numbers: 3, 8, 10, 14, 15, 17, 39, 40 Offending Players: Mario De Rossi (14), Jax Barnstormer (15), Nicolas Caprivi (17) While the Americans only have eight numbers retired and only nine players on its roster, the team somehow managed to have a full one-third of its squad wearing retired numbers. That’s impressive. While all three players are recent additions to the team, which somewhat excuses the behavior, Jax Barnstomer’s No. 15 is particularly egregious—the number belonged to Daniel Braxton, who you may also remember was from Barnstormer’s exact same agency. Quebec City Meute Retired Numbers: 5 Offending Players: None Given that Quebec has retired exactly one number in the team’s history, and that being of former GM Alexander Valiq, it’s not exactly surprising that nobody has duplicated his number. Whether Quebec goes for it all for another season or decides to rebuild, it’s not likely that anyone will request number 5 in the near future, either. Seattle Bears Retired Numbers: 8, 9, 31, 58, 60, 88, 92, 94 Offending Players: None The inspiration for this article in the first place, the Bears don’t have any current offenders of the numbers in the rafters. That could be because of a good job of policing from the franchise, but it could also be because of a particularly eclectic set of retired numbers. The team has not retired a single number since Peters retired in Season 31 (what, no love for all-time fights leader Karsten Olsen?), although that could change if Seattle comes back to win this championship. Toronto Legion Retired Numbers: 1, 14, 26, 32, 39 Offending Players: None For a team with such a storied history as Toronto, it’s odd to see the franchise with almost half as many retired numbers as the rest of the VHL’s Original 8. That could be because now-former GM Edgar’s disdain for the tactic; Remy LeBeau’s omission from a having his jersey retired was almost criminal. Thankfully, though, Toronto doesn’t have to do any more work than it has to with no players offending the five retired numbers. Cologne Express Retired Numbers: 19 Offending Players: None Similar to Quebec, the Season 31 expansion Express only have one number to take care of, and it’s easier to do so when Kendrick was a part of the franchise between its inception and Mason Richardson’s Season 43 trade to Davos. Unlike Quebec, however, it’s also possible that more numbers could be joining Taylor’s 19 soon, especially if the Express are able to finish off the Bears in the finals. Thomas O’Malley or Martin Brookside, perhaps? HC Davos Dynamo Retired Numbers: 10, 11, 12, 14, 24, 51, 60, 79 Offending Players: None Davos has knocked out almost every number between 10 and 14, but even with Mason Richardson’s 15 just missing out, the Dynamo are safe from ridicule here. Interestingly enough, they wouldn’t have been if this list was made last season: AIM-11’s number 11 was once featured by late 20’s, early 30’s Dynamo star forward Phil Rafter. Helsinki Titans Retired Numbers: 6, 8, 9, 16, 17, 20, 31, 41, 49, 91 Offending Players: Oskars Harumpf (17) Despite a wide variety of numbers being retired for Helsinki, only one player actually chose a number that the team has deemed out of bounds. Unfortunately, though, that one player also happens to be the Titan’s lone remaining star and lone remaining active player: Oskars Harumpf. Harumpf shares No. 17 with former right winger Daric Radmonovic, a star on the team between Seasons 3 and 7 and a former Top Executive winner in his GM capacity in Season 6. Harumpf and Draper can be forgiven for this oversight. Riga Reign Retired Numbers: 2, 5, 13, 14, 31, 32, 51, 53, 54, 77, 95 Offending Players: Jakob Ackerman (5), Griffin Simons (5), Koji Yamazaki (77) To me, the Reign are the worst offenders on the list. Not only does the team have three players wearing retired numbers (albeit from an admittedly long list), but two of those players are wearing the same retired number. I have to wonder what happened in the locker room for the equipment manager to simply say “Fuck it” and give two guys the same number. I guess that’s one way to honor long-since retired defenseman Torsten Schwarz. Stockholm Vikings Retired Numbers: 7, 33, 41, 74, 89, 91, 92, 94 Offending Players: Blake Campbell (33), Jack Kowalski (74) Stockholm wins the award for most random numbers that are duplicated. Campbell’s 33 is somewhat defensible—double numbers are common among sports players, particularly 33, and former goalie Matthew Pogge of Vasteras has not worn the number since Season 4. Jack Kowalski’s 74, though, is a bit more odd. Not only does nobody typically wear the number, but the former Vasteras player who did, R.J. Stafford, is perhaps the most famous single player in franchise history.

WRANG SO HARD. (Also, unrelated but love the GoT sig a lot.)

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Good thing I scrolled through the comments, beat me to it.

Either a second Toronto team or a team in Hamilton, because I guarantee they'd win the Cup within 5 years and I like to watch the world burn.

Pick the winner, all three correct will earn 1 TPE (N/A is an answer here) Game 5: @ - Express Game 6: @ - N/A Game 7: @ - N/A Predict the score, Correctly predict the score and winner for 3 TPE Game 5: @ - 3-2 Express Predict the leading point earner of the series for 1 TPE Thomas O'Malley Predict the leading penalty minutes earner for 1 TPE Christoph Klose Predict the leading special teams goals earner for 1 TPE Thomas O'Malley

I think I'm still gonna root for Toronto.

Beautiful. Happy to have you, assuming that's the way the draft breaks down!

Because those who cannot remember the past are condemned to totally never have to deal with it again. Or something like that.

Calgary, AB -- When all is said and done, Season 43 was a bit of a disappointment for the Calgary Wranglers. Despite trading for veterans Jaime Hill and Rami Jakobssen in the offseason, as well as adding Hans Wingate to the pro team through the draft, the Calgary Wranglers finished with the worst record in the league. Two losses down the stretch put Calgary with 34 points on the season, 2 points behind Helsinki and 6 points behind Riga. However, could the future be bright in Calgary? Unlike fellow North American Conference teams Quebec City, Seattle and Toronto, not a single Wranglers player will be undergoing depreciation or retiring. In addition, pending tonight's VHL lottery, the team is guaranteed one of the top two selections in the VHL Draft. "It's never fun losing, but I don't think we had real ambitions this year," goaltender Hans Wingate says. "We're building towards the future in Calgary, and I think it's going to be bright. I already can't wait to train more in the offseason, and I'm looking forward to next year." Will he be joined by Edwin Reencarnacion, Kerkko Hyvärinen, or a surprise draft pick? Will the Wranglers make any more moves as other teams sell off? And could next year be the start of a playoff run? We'll give the Wranglers this much: The offseason promises to be extremely exciting.

If only Davos hadn't traded for Sinclair and had kept last year's number one overall pick...

A lot of guys just had one or none and I had already typed out enough

Four for now, would be five if Toronto won. Sorry if I did that in a confusing way.

Taking stock of Cups by Member Who will win the Continental Cup? Three rounds of playoff series will answer that question, and it will have a massive impact not only on franchise legacies (it would be Seattle or Stockholm’s first win in 15+ seasons), but also on individual member legacies as well. Sterling currently holds the most championships by a single member in the VHL, and he could very well win his 11th if Stockholm is able to take it all this year. However, if Stockholm loses to Cologne in the European Conference finals, then he may be in danger of not being alone in the lead at all—Tfong and Cologne’s Xin Xie Xiao sit one championship shy of tying Sterling with 10. So what will happen with the all-time Continental Cup counts by member? We decided to take a look at each member who would have three or more championships on each team if they won it all. Key: Member Name (Current Player): # of championships if S43 champions (Previous Championship Seasons) Quebec City Meute Tyler (Milos Denis): 7 (S12, S26, S29, S32, S39, S41) Frank (Aksel Thomassen): 6 (S22, S24, S25, S30, S35) Hybrid1486 (Brock Waldron): 4 (S26, S33, S34) It’s interesting that perhaps one of the most forgotten players on the North American-leading Meute squad, Milos Denis, is also the one with the most at stake if the Meute win it all. Currently with six championships, most recently winning in Season 41 with the Americans, Tyler sits in a four-way tie for tenth with Slobo, Boragina and Quik. However, one more championship puts him into rarified air, solidly in the top ten, with the only active player one championship behind him being... his teammate Frank, who would gain his sixth. Despite being favorites, the Meute surprisingly have the least total number of players with at least two championships. Toronto Legion Munk (Bennett Wahl): 5 (S23, S27, S30, S39) Beketov (Jackson Miller): 5 (S3, S12, S17, S29) Mike (Mike Szatkowski Jr.): 4 (S9, S33, S40) Sherrifflobo (Slaeter Fjorsstrom): 4 (S33, S35, S40) Fever95 (Tyson Stokes): 3 (S34, S37) Say what you want about Munk’s on-board persona, but the man knows how to make winners. Most recently capped by a Season 39 win with the New York Americans, Munk is searching for his fifth with the Legion, which would put him in the Top 25 all-time. He would be joined there by Beketov, who has had some recent bad luck, with first Alexander Beketov’s Cologne teams, then Miller’s Titans teams both going nowhere in the playoffs. Mike and Sherriff are also teaming up for one last go-around; both won in Season 40, but as members of the Riga Reign. Seattle Bears Phil (Phil Villeneuve): 4 (S26, S31, S40) Molholt (A.C. Savage): 4 (S36, S38, S40) Higgins (James Faraday): 3 (S28, S34) Da Trifecta (Niklaus Mikaelson): 3 (S36, S38) Bushito (Brady Stropko): 3 (S21, S31) The Bears don’t have anyone with more than three championships currently on the squad, nor do they have anyone who has won a championship earlier than Season 21. However, in both Phil and Molholt, they do have two players who are looking for their fourth victory and to move into the top 40 by member. Molholt’s previous player, Jarkko Olsen, was one of only three players to win three championships during the previous decade of seasons, along with Odin Tordahl and Matt Bentley. Stockholm Vikings Sterling (Tom Slaughter): 11 (S2, S3, S8, S14, S17, S21, S26, S29, S39, S41) Advantage (Brick Wahl): 5 (S22, S30, S39, S41) Streetlight (Lloyd Light): 4 (S13, S17, S20) Jackim (Vogon Jeltz): 4 (S27, S37, S40) Doomsday (Jack Kowalski): 3 (S36, S38) InstantRockstar (Tuevo Ruutu): 3 (S28, S32) Hickey (Joseph Roy III): 3 (S16, S33) Boubabi (Lord Karnage): 3 (S37, S40) Sterling doesn’t need a championship to further the distinction of being one of two members to win in each of the VHL’s five decades (he barely snuck under the wire with Slaughter in S39), but another win may very well put him out of easy grasp of both tfong and Victor. An equally big story, though, may be Streetlight’s search for another Cup. After the New York duo of Braxton and Glover couldn’t get it done, Jericho picked up his championship a few seasons later with Kellinger, but Toriyama never got there. Can Light be the one to break the streak? Cologne Express Tfong (Xin Xie Xiao): 10 (S7, S10, S15, S20, S24, S25, S31, S39, S41) Boom (Bismarck Koenig): 5 (S30, S34, S36, S39) Diamond_Ace (Martin Brookside): 4 (S23, S30, S42) Devise (Logan Laich): 4 (S32, S35, S42) Kachur (Chris Raymond): 3 (S9, S42) Green (Thomas O’Malley): 3 (S37, S42) Der Meister (Christoph Klose): 3 (S34, S41) Despite being last year’s champions, the Express don’t have a high number of players with extraordinary championship totals, with much of the squad hanging in the two or three championship range. However, tfong makes up for that himself; as mentioned above, a Cologne championship would tie him with Sterling for most all-time. Despite Devise’s hand-wringing over his players always being terrible, a Cologne win would move him into the Top 40 all-time by member as well and would give Rift and Laich two each. HC Davos Dynamo Kendrick (Mason Richardson): 5 (S3, S10, S22, S42) CoachReilly (Freedom McJustice): 5 (S22, S28, S36, S38) Gregreg (Devin Sundberg): 4 (S17, S28, S31) Tylar (Andrey Zadarov): 3 (S34, S39) Noah (Gifford Shock): 3 (S22, S28) For as long as some of the members on this team have been around, it’s a surprise that there aren’t more combined championships between them. For Kendrick, Season 42 with the Express represented the end of a long championship drought, and winning another one (and beating the Express on the way) would represent sweet justice. For a few of the other team’s members, the long drought is a result of Seattle’s failures between Season 32 and now—Noah, Gregreg and Toast each spent many years with the Bears with their previous players but couldn’t get it done.

All I'm getting from this is that us Wranglers should shit talk almost everybody because we're all equal anyway.