CowboyinAmerica

1. We're hot! 7-3-0 in our last 10! Is the team peaking too early or getting hot at the perfect time? Here's to hoping it's peaking at the perfect time. Don't mind a little positive momentum going into the playoffs. 2. What is your favourite Article/Graphic you have seen this season? Haven't done many, but the Theme Week talking about the best time to recreate was fun. I like meta stuff like that. 3. The standings show we are locked in to a 1st Round against Calgary. How do you feel about that? It always would've been nice to be the one seed, but at least we get a chance for revenge from last season so I won't argue. 4. Well, the season ends this week. How happy are you with your season overall? I was hoping New York could fight for best record in the league, but it isn't bad overall. The playoffs will determine a lot more for me. 5. Which VHLM team is a Dark Horse to win? Having not paid attention to the M at all, I'll say Minnesota. Gotta represent the home state. 6. Another NHL question: Playoffs are down to 8 teams! Who's winning the cup? I'll say Vancouver to purposefully jinx them so they don't end up winning.

Good stuff! Hans Wingate (Scotland) just missed the portal era too being S43-50, have had good luck with UK players

1. It's definitely been rough sledding lately for NYA, going 3-7-0 in our last 10. If you were GM, would you make changes or just wait for better results? It's always so up and down. I wouldn't mind seeing the depth chart shake up a bit though, just to see what hits. Especially on the PP and PK. 2a. If answering this before the Trade Deadline, what moves do you expect from the team? We're right at the cap, and I don't expect too much. I think the rebuild starts after this, and we wouldn't want to jeopardize that. 3. The VHL draft is slowly sneaking up on us. Any prospects catch your eye? I have to say Doug Dimmadome for team purposes, right? 4. The biggest surprise of the VHL season thus far is...? I thought Vancouver would be better than worst non-expansion team. It's been a bit of a downswing there. 5. Theme week just passed, talking about future players/recreates. If you had to come up with a name for your recreate, what would it be? R.E. Create, naturally. 6. The NHL playoffs are officially underway! Who are you cheering for? Well, it would have been the Wild. Then the Blackhawks. But I guess realistically now Philly? Get to see some friends happy at least.

? It's the bee's knees

What Lance Flowers Wants from FA The New York Americans have important work to do. Currently sitting third in North America and first in its division, the Americans have singled out this season as the one to go for it all. A number of key contributors are actively regressing, after all, and two key contributors in Julius Freeman and A Red Guy will be retiring after the season. It’s now or never. I couldn’t be more fully committed to the Americans season, and I’ll be making a longer post about my time on the Americans and my love for this team after the season. But with that said, I know that general managers are doing offseason planning earlier and earlier, especially with 16 GMs now in the league. So with that in mind, I wanted to make clear my next steps. Lance Flowers will be entering free agency at the end of the season. I informed Esso of this earlier this season, and I think even if I stayed, I would be dealt for a rebuild anyway so I’d rather take matters into my own hands. It will be Flowers’ first time being on a team other than New York, and he’ll be looking for a team to finish the final two years of his career. Since I’m still active, have banked TPE, and a lot of cash for a full suite of depreciation fighters, I’m hoping there will be at least some market. As I enter free agency for the first time with Flowers, and only my second time in the VHL in total (the first resulted in Hans Wingate signing with Toronto and getting the threepeat), there are some wants on my wish list. For any team thinking about me in their plans, I’m going to want at least two of the three criteria below. All three would be cool, but having two puts somebody into consideration. Here’s what I’m looking at: A Chance to Win Somewhere New: This was my main desire before entering the S68 Draft, and it hasn’t gone anyway—I like the idea of winning with a team where I haven’t won before, getting titles with as many franchises as possible. I’ve won previously with Calgary, Toronto, Seattle and Davos (and hopefully New York after this season). But now with expansion especially, there’s a lot of teams where I haven’t. Being on a team where I’ve won previously isn’t automatically a write-off, but it’d be a tougher sell to me. Continuing to Play Defense: I created as a defenseman specially because I liked the idea of creating more of a defensively-minded player, and I think that’s played out with two Defensive Defenseman awards in six seasons. Especially since my only other created defenseman switched to forward before my six season, I’d really like to finish out my career at this position for the first time. But I will note, if the situation is perfect otherwise, I’m not 100% against switching to forward, and I have the cash for both that and depreciation fighters. A Shot at the Playoffs: I don’t need to be on the single best team in the league; I’m not looking to team up with anybody KD-to-the-Warriors style. But with that said, with only two seasons left in this career, I’d like to have something to play for. A team with a legitimate chance to win a playoff series or two is important to me, especially because I think playoffs often tend to be crapshoots in STHS. Going to a rebuilding situation doesn’t interest me. I’m not ruling out expansion teams here, but I’d want to see a distinct plan to win by S75, which may be tough within three seasons. So that’s that. I don’t plan to focus on free agency much more until after the Americans season is over, but wanted to make options known. I’m excited for both this season and Flowers’ future, and we’ll see where life and the benevolent god of STHS takes us from here.

It's been a pleasure being on your team. Let's send him out on top.

Goalies really are a crapshoot, huh?

+Extra 6 for S73 Theme Week

I mean, you try finding a relevant image for sim hockey league recreation. Why I May Wait to Recreate There’s a VHL rule change that I’m not sure received the shine that it should have. It’s the addition of Rule 12.1-2, and it was put into place at the Season 71 Trade Deadline: Adjusted Starting TPE. Basically, this rule says that if you don’t create a player at the Trade Deadline, you get an extra 6 TPE per week afterwards. It was put in to make sure players who created later don’t fall too far behind. And personally, I think the rule works well. Well enough, in fact, that I’m not quite sure why so many players, particularly recreates, are actually focused in on the Trade Deadline at all. I know with my next player, I may very well intend on not creating at the trade deadline at all. And here’s why. 1. Don’t Lose Too Much TPE: I know the doubters are going to say “6 TPE per week?!? Why settle when you can max out?!?!” Well, let’s look at it this way. The Trade Deadline this year is next Monday, August 17. The playoffs begin August 28, about 1.5 weeks later. At absolute most, the playoffs will take 18 days (3+5+5+5), making it four weeks between the Trade Deadline and the first week of the offseason. So if you’re capping out, you’re missing out on 24 TPE. That’s hypothetically a single attribute from 90 to 93 when you’re at top level – not exactly a major shift at high TPE levels where one would be expected to compete for awards. And it’s a lot better than missing out on 48 TPE, which it would have been without that 6 TPE a week addition. But why did I say the first week of the offseason? Because… 2. Pick Your Own Team: I’m honestly surprised that the new meta isn’t to recreate directly after the VHLM Draft. Especially in a 12-team VHLM, the chances of being drafted on a team that you really want isn’t that high, given the randomness that goes into it all. From a league standpoint, that’s a good thing – you want your players to be spread out for parity and fun for all. From a 100% selfish player-centric standpoint, I’d rather have the ball entirely in my court. For a solid TPE earner recreating at the Trade Deadline, that team you're drafted to would be your one shot at a full VHLM season, so you better hope for the best. By signing directly after the VHLM Draft, I may be forgoing 24 TPE, but I'd have a full season on a team I’d want to be on. But that'd just be one season of benefit, because… 3. More Time to Maximize in VHLM: This season’s stats are a bit inflated because of the expansion teams, but take a look at recent rookies. In S72, only two rookies topped 40 points. In S71, that number was five. In S70, that number was zero (and only two over 30). It’s pretty well established that your rookie year is going to suck, because all but the extreme earners start the season hovering around the VHL minimum. So why not take an extra year in the VHLM? Yes, your pro career will only be seven seasons instead of eight, but if I’m getting two full VHLM years as a trade off, I’m OK with that. Especially with a raised VHLM cap of 250 TPE, I think it makes a lot more sense to try and get as close as possible to that number in your pre-draft season, then come back for a single post-draft season where you blast by it and get as much TPE as you can before being a VHL rookie. It sets you up for more success once you enter the main league, and offers more potential VHLM success as well. And yes, by creating later, it artificially keeps your TPE down a bit, likely below 250 TPE levels by the cut off even with full cap updates, so you’re more easily able to do this. (And from a league perspective, here’s your top-flight players who would be available in the VHLM Draft.) I know I'm partially just brainstorming here, but I think it's something fun to consider. It seems a bit counterintuitive, purposefully not maximizing your TPE by creating at a later time. But I think it’s something I may try with my next player. I’ve had success in my VHL career zigging when other people zag, and I think this might be a zag that’s worth examining.

1. After 40 games, we are 26-10-4. (1st in NA!) How do you feel about the team's play up to this point? I'm feeling alright right now. A bit of a downswing after a strong start, but being first in the conference, can't argue against that. 2. Who would be the NYA MVP if the season ended today? Our strong start has to be directly tied to A Red Guy. He was the MVP of the first quarter of the season, and even now, he's made such a large leap over last year. 3. How satisfied are you with your performance thus far? Solidly satisfied. Don't think I'm going for any awards unlike last season, but I've always been more about the team play anyway. 4. Which NYA Prospect are you most excited to see jump to the bigs? I'm ready to see what the next generation of goalie has to bring. Whether that's Bacon or Conway, it's time to be thinking about the future past Red Guy. 5. The S73 WJC is coming up. Which team do you want to see win? (Canada, USA, Asia, Europe or World) I'm a UK guy, it has to be the Europe team. Always the underdog, but I think my guys can bring it home. 6. What's the bigger IRL upset, Chicago beating Edmonton or Montreal beating Pittsburgh? Having lived in Chicago for a while, it's always nice to see the Blackhawks do well. Though to be honest, it's never really an upset to see Edmonton lose either...

New York Still Sees S73 Potential New York, NY -- Early on in the season, the New York Americans were the bees’ knees. Sitting on top of the league by eight points at one point, the team that often has started out behind was cruising towards a potential first seed in the playoffs. However, over the past couple of weeks, the wheels have started to come off. That lead has more than evaporated, with New York now a point behind Helsinki at the top of the league (albeit with a game in hand), and just one point ahead of Seattle for first place in North America. While the team should still win its division (Toronto is 12 points behind in second), falling into a potential 2-3 matchup in the playoffs against either Seattle or Calgary would be tough. So what went wrong? To hear defenseman Lance Flowers tell it, it’s a confluence of factors. While Americans like Acyd Burn and A Red Guy are great, the world-beating starts they got off to were a bit unsustainable. Meanwhile, teams like Helsinki and Seattle went on long win streaks that may be unsustainable themselves. All told, Flowers sounds like he isn’t terribly worried. He believes that the Americans have the talent to have the top record in the league. “And even if we don’t, that’s OK. It’s all about building towards the playoffs,” Flowers said. “Last season was our first real shot at a title, and we learned a lot. This year we’re even more hungry, and we know what we’re doing. If we’re going to experiment, now’s the time.”

That's right. Fuck your faceoff.

While I understand the spirit, seems a bit needlessly complicated?

Yay! Big win after slumping a bit recently

Manhattan -- A third of the way through the season, Lance Flowers does not find himself on a single league top ten list. That might be a minor surprise when it comes to hits, which he's dominated in recent times, or in plus-minus, where a number of his teammates are in the top ten. But where that's truly a shock is one Top 10 in particular: penalty minutes. You see, New York's Flowers has ranked in the top ten of penalty minutes earned four of his five seasons in the league, and many of those years was among the top five. And while his 58 penalty minutes in 27 games don't exactly make him Gandhi, they're still four behind Condor Adrienne and Tony Balonee for 9th and 10th place in the league. So is this something that may stick for the Americans forward? As it turns out, it might. Flowers is still hitting as much as in a normal season, but when it comes to the extracurriculars that often lead to penalties, the defenseman says he's embraced a new side of life. "I'm getting old, I started depreciating this year. I don't need any of that other (expletive)," Flowers told the media after a recent no-PIM game against Davos. "Maybe I don't need to hold sticks or trip guys any more. They can mess with me if they want, but I'm past that." With that said, here is this writer's guarantee: Flowers will have 8+ penalty minutes in the next game, now that I've written this article. It's the writers' curse. But I do hope he's turned a corner and can keep out of the penalty box, because at least this season, it seems to positively correlate with the Americans winning games.

1. We've had a rough few sims, what do we need to do to get back on track? Any season will have ups and downs, and I think our ups will come again. Just need to not get too discouraged. 2. Who is going to be our biggest competition in the coming weeks? I know Seattle is making its way up the standings, but if I'm being real, Calgary still scares me. It might be the scars from last year's playoffs. 3. Our amazing goaltender, A Red Guy, is having an MVP-like season. What do you think his secret is? A bag full of unmarked bills that just happen to make their way to opposing wingers. But you didn't hear it from me. 4. Do we need to add anything to the team after seeing the results after two weeks? I don't think we have the cap space to? If there's ever a year to just stay the course, think this is it. 5. HOCKEY IS BACK! The NHL just restarted, who do you think is winning it all? It'll be the Blackhawks as a 12 seed. Because if there was ever a year for just batshit dumb things to happen, this is it. 6. If you had to choose between fighting 1 horse sized duck, or 100 duck sized horses, what would you choose? Thank you, Reddit. I'll take the horse-sized duck, just seems like less work win or lose.

Two close games seems about right for these teams

I'll probably need the 5 TPE change as well - don't think Wingate or Olsen are in the system. But also really like the change, think it's a good one. All hail automation.

I'm pretty sure we bottled all of our karma from the past 10 seasons to let it all loose now

Wooo a first star!

I'm just gonna wonder through a forest knocking on everything

New York Americans Report: A Hot Start for Once Manhattan -- If there’s one thing that has been a hallmark of the New York Americans over the past five or so seasons, it’s been slow starts. It’s what doomed them to missing the playoffs in Seasons 70 and 71, and it’s what they had to battle back against to make runs to the third seed in Seasons 69 and 72. For one reason or another, it’s usually not until the halfway point that the Americans get their stuff together and make a run. So it goes without saying that for many Americans fans, the start of this season has been a bit… odd. About 12 games in, New York currently sits on top of the VHL by a solid five point margin, getting off to a 10-1-1 start in their first 12 games. Those wins include one a piece against the two teams directly below them in the standings, Seattle and Toronto, and they’ve only played three games against expansion teams to boot (actually losing one against the Stars in OT). “I’m not quite sure how we’ve done it. If I did, we would’ve done it earlier!” said defenseman Lance Flowers. “I think we’re finally just starting to gel as a team.” Indeed, in an offseason of massive movement around the league, the Americans were one of the few teams that didn’t change much. Forward Soren Jensen went to the Dynamo in a deal that brought back forward Jerry Wang, and Wang is certainly making an impact with 20 points in 12 games. Keven Foreskin retired, and the team did bring in Bjorn Scoringsonn to replace him. But otherwise, the Americans’ lines are the same, which has allowed the team to keep some consistency. “We brought in Burn and Freeman last year, and that was a big change. But we’ve been through the fire of the playoffs, and we know how each other play now,” Flowers added. “Things change quickly, but I’m hopeful that our hot streak is no fluke. It’s all about doing what we can to stay ahead of the competition.”

Flowers +5

1. We currently sit 1st overall in the league. What do we need to do to make sure we stay there? What is this first place you speak of? I'm not familiar with it. Umm... do good, I guess? Man, this is weird. 2. Have you changed your personal goals for the season after the first week? Not at all, it was all about the team wins this season. And I'd say we're doing a great job of that so far all around. 3. Are you the kind of player to keep the same routine during a win streak? I'm the type of player who keeps the same routine always, so it's actually easier for me than the more superstitious among us. Some call it boring, I call it practical. 4. What is your favourite VHL team to visit? It's usually been D.C. for the short trip and the food, but I must say I'm happy having a London team in the league now. It'll be nice to go home. 5. What kind of music do you work out to? You can never go wrong with a little classic rock, a little hair metal. It's easy pump up music that everyone can enjoy. 6. Who do you think has been the surprise of the season as far as the overall standings go? Honestly it'd be D.C. for me. I didn't think they'd be top of the conference, but I also didn't think they'd be worse than some expansion teams thus far.

I guess that's one way to lose the streak