CowboyinAmerica

7 in 3 games! It's not dead yet!

I feel like the playoffs have little resemblance to the regular season a lot of times - I've won two titles and been to a third finals with McAllister, never been above a 3 seed.

12 combined goals, none for McAllister and Cast. Sure, why not?

McAllister +5

3-2 Bears. If it gets me bonus points, all three Bears goals are a McAllister hat trick

285 Calgary Wranglers @ Quebec City Meute 286 Quebec City Meute @ New York Americans 287 Riga Reign @ Seattle Bears 288 Helsinki Titans @ HC Davos Dynamo

Just a reminder to @Will to watch goalie starts

I want to keep the all-time TPE record but not like this

Seattle -- Seattle Bears forward Gabriel McAllister still has 18 regular season games and a (he hopes, long) playoff run left in his VHL career. The end of Seattle's playoffs, though, won't be the last time McAllister steps on the ice in organized competition. That's because, following the playoffs is the Sponsor's Shield tournament, and VHL management have informed McAllister he is eligible to play before he hangs up the skates one final time. McAllister will be featured on the team assembled by Ubuyalot Games, the team behind video game VHL '62 and other titles. The first line of Ubuyalot's squad is stacked, featuring Calgary's Jasper Canmore and Riga's Edwin Preencarnacion alongside McAllister, and the Seattle forward is hoping that a burst in first line scoring can help propel the team to victory. "It's always fun playing alongside guys that I've been on the opposite side of for years," McAllister said. "With Canmore particularly, I've played so many darn games against Calgary in my career, it will be fun to swap stories with him in the locker room. I hope that the three of us have some chemistry; it would be fun going out to retirement with a trophy in the very first iteration of the tourney. I already have a VHL, VHLM and World Cup title - why not add this one as well?"

I’ll be honest – I haven’t paid a lick of attention to the Sponsor’s Shield tournament. A lot of it is probably because my player is due to retire at the end of this season, making multi-year contracts and money completely and utterly worthless. It’s also because I’m extraordinarily bad at multi-tasking, and when the VHL season is in full swing, I don’t focus on much else. But with the darkness comes the dawn: I’m probably the single best person to give an unbiased power rankings, because I literally haven’t looked at the completed rosters before today. I also have looked at them for precisely 10 seconds a piece, so I am able to give roughly the same level of analysis that you’ll find on your local Bleacher Report blog. And with that in mind, here’s my initial thoughts on how the tournament will break down. If even one of these selections ends up being accurate, I’ll consider myself lucky. 1. Haterade At this particular point in the VHL season, the top five MVP contenders are likely forwards Gabriel McAllister, Podrick Cast and Matt Thompson, defenseman Joseph Bassolino, and goalie Tristan Iseult. The Haterade squad has four of those five, and the one they don’t have is the retiring old man. That doesn’t seem very fair, but it’s the nature of the beast – add in excellent players like Dragomir, Rayne and Bailey, and this one could very well be over before it starts. 2. Viking A good combination of younger and older players gives Viking some well-rounded depth that should be able to be the Seattle to Haterade’s Riga. I always start with who’s in goal in these sorts of tournaments, and featuring Roger Sterling gives Viking a way to compete right off the bat. Malenko and Kane might very well be the top defensive pairing in the tournament, as does having young offensive stars like Smirnov and Odinsson. Add in both Louths, and there’s a lot to like here. 3. Netflex How far can defensive ability take you? If I were to have a power rankings within a power rankings, I would put the order of importance as goalies, scoring then defense for what you want with a tournament like this. Netflex seems to be going all for keeping the puck out of the net through, with stars like Kiaskov and Malenko manning the blue line, and even its first line forwards containing a converted defenseman in Ironside. A lot is going to depend on Kriketers here – he’s going to have to do much better than his season .915 save percentage for the team to have a legit title chance. 4. Ubuyalot The opposite of depth, this team has the four highest TPE players in the league… and I’m not even sure two full lines. I’m absolutely biased here, but I do think coming off a potential MVP season, Gabriel McAllister can solve a lot of problems. So can Norris Stropko, who I refuse to believe is as bad as his .916 save percentage this season. All in all, I see a scenario where the first line of Canmore, McAllister and Preencarnacion has each of the three near the top of round robin individual points, but the lack of depth means an early playoff exit. 5. Jolt Juice This is the young “if everything comes together” team. Players like Crosby, Davis, McWolf and Pepper have the raw ability to be stars in the VHL in the next season or two, but they haven’t yet had their time to break out. Could this tournament be it? There usually is one or two players that use these offseason tournaments to put everything together, and if the young players get going, Jolt Juice could surprise a few people. But for now, I think they’re a year or two away. 6. True North The bad part about power rankings is that somebody has to be last, but I certainly don’t think this team can’t compete. On the contrary, I think Shawn Brodeur is better than his current save percentage, that Arroyo can carry a team on his own when not a part of the Calgary machine, and that Wilson and Kovalchuk can be one of the top defensive pairings in this tournament in a season or two. But all of that also requires playing up to a potential that hasn’t been seen in practice, and especially this season, it may be asking a lot of the young players.

232 New York Americans @ Riga Reign 233 Calgary Wranglers @ Seattle Bears 234 Quebec City Meute @ Helsinki Titans 235 Toronto Legion @ HC Davos Dynamo

3-2 Bears

Wooo! Now that it's time for our absurd number of games against Riga to end the season, hope this keeps up

Big one to have. Really want one of those top three seeds.

200 Calgary Wranglers @ Helsinki Titans 201 New York Americans @ Quebec City Meute 202 Toronto Legion @ Seattle Bears 203 HC Davos Dynamo @ Riga Reign

3-2 Quebec

+5 McAllister

A good time for the hat trick. Plus a Thunderfist goal!

Gabriel McAllister the Workhorse For about 15 seasons now, the all-time record for most TPE with a single player was held by Boubabi's Lord Karnage at 1,561. At the time, he shattered the record by almost 150 TPE, largely due to graphics and recruitment bonuses. The general assumption was that the record was out of reach. Raising the weekly TPE cap from 9 to 12, however, changed the calculus. And now, the record has indeed fallen. With two points in last week's VHL Pick 'Em, Seattle Bears forward Gabriel McAllister has officially hit 1,562 TPE, giving him the most TPE for a single player all-time. Even with the cap raising, getting that much TPE means that the player still has to put in the work - McAllister maxed out on TPE each week between the Trade Deadline of Season 54 through the end of Season 61, while regularly getting 8-10 points a week the past two seasons. It wasn't a record McAllister was expecting to set at the beginning of his career, but it's one he thinks it's cool to have, especially after previous CIA agency player Hans Wingate topped out at 1,301. "It's fun to put the work in for me, and I'm happy that it's all turned out this way," McAllister said. "I've had some good teammates and good teams to help me stay active a good nine seasons later, which has helped this not turn into a slog." It's entirely possible that the record lasts exactly one season, with Calgary's Norris Stropko sitting at 1,477 and an additional season left to go. Still, McAllister's not quite done yet - he thinks it's distinctly possible to be the first to top 1,600 TPE by the time his final season ends.

That's more like it. Even if I'm really confused how I was held to no points...

At least my goal scoring got back on track, but yeah. Gotta win these ones.

Big win. Wooo!

+5 McAllister

Seattle -- As it stands, the Seattle Bears are locked in. They currently sit with 46 points in 30 games, just two points behind the first place Reign and one point behind the second place Wranglers, while also having played one fewer game than either of those teams. The Bears could very well be a contender for the top record in the league just one year after playing in the play-in game. But of course, there’s one issue that could keep the Bears at bay, and no, it has nothing to do with their players or front office: it’s the schedule. Out of those 30 games, the Bears have played 10 against the Americans, 7 against the Titans and 4 against the Davos – 70 percent of their games against the bottom three teams in the league. Throw in 2 games against the Legion, and the Bears have only played their competitors for the top spot in the league 7 times this season. That means the schedule’s going to get much harder, very quickly, particularly with a season-ending stretch that sees Seattle play Riga in 4 of its final 6 games. But forward Gabriel McAllister believes that the tough schedule will do the team some good. “We’ve mostly beaten the teams we’re supposed to beat, but even losing a few against good teams can be good for growth,” McAllister said. “It’s all about the playoffs in our sport, and I’ve gone from finishing third or below to the championship twice. If we can take something from this tough upcoming stretch and learn from it, it’ll be a good thing.”

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