CowboyinAmerica

Xavier Booberry Goalie Height: 6’6” Weight: 249 lbs Age: 17 Team: TBA Most players entering the VHLM have extensive junior careers on well-known traveling teams, preparing their young players for the next level. But at times, there’s a different type of prospect, one who presents more of an unknown. Xavier Booberry comes to the VHLM from the General Mills League, an underreported and mysterious league found in the upper reaches of Minnesota. It is there that Booberry learned to hone his craft. Very few scouts have watched the GML, as it is called, live. But what those lucky few have reported is spectacular: games played on frozen lakes of milk, where descendants of ancient clans such as the Puffs of House Reese’s, the O’Oreos, and the ruling Count Choculas fight for yearly supremacy. The goal, they say, is the finest trophy known to man: the Cereal Bowl. It takes a certain combination of crunchiness and flavor to be able to capture the title. The Booberrys have never been known as a particularly strong contender for the title. They’re seasonal, detractors would say, only showing up for games around Halloween time when the season begins. Inevitably, they fade down the stretch, not caring much for the contest by the time the Cereal Bowl rolls around. Their rivals, those dastardly Choculas, would destroy them every time. But the youngest Booberry, a boy by the name of Xavier, represented a new path. As recent legends have told, he refused to be taken off the shelf, demanding to stay in the game at goalie starting at the tender age of 15. While lesser goalies would have expired, Xavier’s shape and fortitude allowed him to stay active throughout the season, previously unheard of for his team. And while the Booberrys would not capture the Cereal Bowl his age 15 season, a narrow 1-0 loss to the Crunchberries in the quarterfinals would show the GML what he intended to do. It was no surprise, then, when Xavier Booberry came out like a burst of flavor to start his age 16 season. Shutout after shutout, it was clear that Xavier was a talent like few the league had ever seen. Still, few gave Booberry and his supporting cast of Booberrys little chance to win the Cereal Bowl. And despite a miracle run through the playoffs, buoyed by Xavier’s 1.33 GAA, even fewer expected them to beat the Choculas in the finals. They were too good, some would say, and further the refs were on their side. But it was destined to be an even contest: 0-0, in fact, when the overtime period buzzer sounded. The Cereal Bowl would go to OT. And with the spotlight shining on Xavier… he let in the first goal. For a lesser goalie, it would have been the start of a downward spiral. However, the Booberry clan lifted him up, and gave him another lease at life with a miracle goal of their own. Xavier buckled down. Glove side stop. Five hole stop. Off the post. Even diving to get his mask in front of one. And then, as the eldest Booberry Ronald sniped one in the corner to give the Booberrys their first ever Cereal Bowl: jubilation. The Booberrys had done the impossible, with a 16 year old starting goalie. With everything he wanted to accomplish in the GML behind him, Xavier Booberry is now off to see if a GML star’s skills can translate to brighter lights, in the VHLM. He has the size and ability, but will he be able to succeed? Only time will tell.

Transaction ID: 20662164840609199 Doubles Week 5 Uncapped TPE 1M Player Store

Oooh, draft class goalie competition. Let's do this.

1022 words, for the weeks ending 6/20 and 6/27

Xavier Booberry: The Current Career Plan It’s pretty much a guarantee that Xavier Booberry will be the worst goalie I’ve ever created. That’s not because I believe he’ll be particularly bad – in fact the opposite, I’m hoping. But the only other time I’ve been a goalie was Hans Wingate, who was recently named the seventh-best player and second-best goalie in all of VHL history, so I don’t think I’m hitting that again without an extreme stroke of luck. With that in mind, I’m keeping my goals and plans a bit more practical as Booberry begins his VHL journey. For future VHLM, VHL, and yes, VHLE GMs looking at bringing Booberry aboard, here’s my initial plans for his career. These are subject to change, of course, since life and sim leagues have a tendency to shoot knucklepucks. Plus, these will be fun to take a look back at in the future and see how close I got. Going for the Max: From the beginning, I never intended Lance Flowers to be a max earner. That was the reason I created a defenseman in the first place, after all – to allow for a bit more of a chill experience, maybe winning an award or two but overall just enjoying being in the league. Flowers’ career ended up being exactly that: I didn’t even try and keep up with Condor Adrienne in terms of TPE, and I was happy with my two Defensive Defensemen awards, a Rookie of the Year, and a finals appearance in my last year to ride into the sunset. But when applying myself, I’ve proven in the past that I’m capable of TPE whoring with the best of them. And Xavier Booberry is planning on doing exactly that. I’ve recharged enough to try and shoot for the stars, and I believe the ability to go nine seasons in his career will give me the drive to shoot for high TPE levels, especially early, to be able to wait out that long career. Constant 12’s per week will be the goal here, along with donations in the early stages. The 8+1: I really, really enjoyed @McWolf’s analysis of the new meta, in part because I had already done some of that back-of-the-napkin math myself when I knew I would be recreating. It makes a strong case both for going nine seasons as a top earner, but also in waiting a year in the VHLE before jumping to the VHL. That analysis focuses on the standard forward build and career arc – naturally, because most recreating players want to be an offensive star. If I were to create a forward, as I thought about a bit, I absolutely would be going the nine year route to try and rack up as many counting stats as possible. Goalie, though, is a bit different. I know from experience that the first year or two as a goalie is going to be a wash – not only because of playing time in many instances, but also because there generally aren’t as many counting stats to be had at the position. Shutouts are near non-existent, and unless you get extremely lucky with team composition, you’re not going to be fighting for wins either. All you’re going to do with that extra first season is tanking your career save percentage, while probably not being in the Rookie of the Year fight as a result. That’s why, for goalies, I think a season in the VHLE is going to be the obvious meta moving forward. It’s what I would like to be doing, at least. The VHLE Podium: The introduction of the VHLE was a major contributing factor in bringing me back to the VHL earlier than I had planned. Originally, when I retired with Flowers, I didn’t see myself coming back for 10 seasons or so in order to provide a little space and let the league evolve. But I can’t resist a challenge – and the chance to put up numbers in a brand new league, with brand new teams, is something I couldn’t readily give up. That first VHLE season is going to be a bit of the Wild West, since every team will be creating their rosters from scratch and going for the championship right away. As one of the first active goalies in the league, though, I think I could give my future VHLE squad a major leg up. I absolutely plan on trying my best for that first VHLE Top Goalie award, maybe even an MVP if I could swing it, and bringing my team along to the championship if I could. If that particular team is Vasteras, who I’ve literally been trying to get back for more than five calendar years, then it would be even sweeter. A Long-Term Player: Since my players tend to get drafted fairly early, I’ve found myself on my fair share of rebuilds. Some players would bulk at that – but that’s OK with me, since I find the process of trying to build something from scratch rewarding. Sometimes it doesn’t work: Karsten Olsen never reached the finals in seven seasons in Seattle, and Lance Flowers never did in six seasons in New York. Sometimes it does: Gabriel McAllister won in season four in Seattle, while Wingate won right away in season two in Calgary. But no matter what, it always guarantees a ride and a story being closely affiliated with one team like that. I figure Booberry will take much the same trajectory, being drafted early as some team’s goalie of the future. Considering there’s a whole lot of active S75 goalies, but a wide gap in max earner goalies between S76-S78, that makes sense by me. My time will come. I’m not interested in trying to hop around for wins early, but instead taking the long view and helping to build a winning team and culture. I’m not necessarily going to promise that I’m looking to spend my entire career with one team, as I wanted to do in the beginning with McAllister. But generally, as long as there’s a coherent plan to win at some point that aligns with my prime, then I’ll be around.

Nice league you've got here. I also reserve the right to retire if Vasteras isn't one of the VHLE teams.

Player Information Username: CowboyinAmerica Player Name: Xavier Booberry Recruited From: Returning Age: 17 Position: G Height: 78 in. Weight: 249 lbs. Birthplace: United States of America Player Page @VHLM GM

Curious if there's been any movement on this one? Because if someone were to hypothetically recreate with expressed purpose of maximizing VHLE time, brute forcing their way into that first draft, then it would hypothetically make sense to recreate S79 trade deadline rather than S78 to play S80/81 in the E. Hypothetically.

Congrats to Malmo, I'm glad to see a bunch of players I like get a title. And for DC - it's been a ride. Even though we didn't get it this time, I think you guys still have a ride ahead. Go get this thing next season.

It was a good run. I accomplished a good deal of what I wanted with Flowers - a few awards, a chance to build a defensive defenseman, and some good playoff runs and even a finals run that last season. But most of all, I had fun. I'd like to thank @Esso2264, @Enorama and all of my great NY and DC teammates over these eight seasons for going on this ride with me. I'm happy with how Flowers turned out. Typically, I like to take a break for a few seasons after retiring anyway, just to recharge the batteries. This time though, I think the break here might be a bit longer than normal. A lot of what I like in sim leagues is the personal challenge as much as anything else - competing with my own expectations to see what I can accomplish through hard work and persistence. But the one thing I struggled with in Flowers' career - and at the risk of sounding a bit conceited - was there wasn't much left to strive to after how successful Wingate and McAllister were. What I tried to capture that drive, having a HOF player at each position or winning titles at each franchise or what have you, didn't really stick. So I think I'm going to take a longer break this time, to try and get some of that drive back. That's not to say I won't be back - I know myself better than that, and plus there's no way I'd missing Season 100 of a sim league. And you can catch me in other leagues, where I think I have a little more to prove to myself. But I'm going to be checking out here for a while. Thank you for being my longest, and most fun, sim league home.

x 1000

They've won in DC! There's riots in the... wait.

Lance Flowers' Career Isn't Over Yet Washington, D.C. -- Lance Flowers has had his fair share of individual success in his eight season career, but often, it hasn't translated to actual winning in the playoffs. In fact, coming into this season, he had only actually reached the conference finals once: Season 72, where his New York Americans would fall to the Wranglers in 7 games. This season looked to be much of the same, as his third-seeded Dragons fell behind 3-2 to Vancouver in the first round. But after two straight OT wins, the Dragons pulled a rabbit out of a hat, and Flowers will be seeing his second ever conference final. "Especially with it being not only my last season, but the last season of Valentino, Johnson and other guys on this team - it feels good to move on," Flowers told the press after Game 7. "Vancouver's young, they'll be back. This could very well be our last shot, and I'm happy we'll get the shot." The Dragons still haven't made the finals in their eight years of existence, but this season could be their best ever shot. After a number of other upsets in the first round, the Dragons actually have the most regular season points of any of the four teams remaining. But Flowers wouldn't call them the favorites - on the flip side, he pointed to the recent play of the Chicago Phoenix team he'll face in the next round, after those Phoenix swept Seattle then took down the top seeded Wranglers. "They're just as hungry as we are, they're going to be tough to beat," Flowers said. "But even though we might not have the playoff experience, we have the overall playing experience advantage here. I'm hoping that's a factor in our favor. And maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to get to my first finals in my final season."

*DJ Khaled voice* Another one

Day 8

7/7

1. I just learned the concept of someone's "main", and it made me really curious: what's your main sim league? Historically it's been the VHL. As I'm coming up on retirement and a player break though, it'll probably be the SBA next. I have a lot invested in Serrano at this point. 2. Is your main league the same as your first league? If no, why'd you switch? Well, my first league (the MSFL) has been dead since 2008, so no. Fuck, I'm old. 3. Do you find it easy or hard to keep up with one or more sim leagues in your life? It comes in waves. I've had to go inactive because of real life stuff before. Currently though, and especially with the pandemic, it's no problem. 4. Someone on the playground tells you they heard Benny Graves got traded. You run back home to check the VHL news and you go to.... I've always been a forum person. I feel like it's too easy to lose stuff on Discord if you're not constantly on there. 5. Are you here on a mobile, a laptop on the couch, a desktop computer or something else? How do you physically interact with the league? Laptop at my desk, I tend to be here during the work day during downtime most often. 6. Fill in the blank: I'm really hoping I get a _______ for VHL Christmas! A championship? That'd be nice, haven't had one of those for a while.

Me

VHL needs the Trash react, can you get on that?

Yo

Hola

3/3

Present

*Waves*

And I feel the same way about Flowers, so it works!