CowboyinAmerica

Wrong, it's actually the 10 TPE guy I created Season 27 or something! Yeah, I'd say it's Wingate. Similar to McAllister he had two distinct phases of his career, but both parts for Wingate seemed to be above-and-beyond fun (the underdog Wranglers, also my first sim championship in like 5 real life years, then the threepeat). EDIT: Though to give a small shout out to Olsen, I'd say that was my most fun VHLM/Draft process, since that Oslo team was spectacular and I didn't really know where I'd be going in the Draft.

3-1 curse would be nice

Hey! It's something

Davos -- It came down to the wire, but for the third straight year, HC Davos Dynamo forward Gabriel McAllister has finished with at least 50 goals. This time, the final total was 51 – but it took a hat trick on the final day of the season against the New York Americans to get there. Once again, McAllister led the team in both goals and scoring, this time beating out a much improved The Charm by 8 goals and 9 points. For the second straight year, McAllister finished the season with 99 points, but there’s one major change: He’s not in contention for any major awards because of the offensive explosion around the league. While numbers like those put up by young guns like Cast, Thompson and Smirnov certainly surprised him, he’s still happy to have contributed as much as he could to his team. “I’ve had my individual success; I’ve won plenty of awards,” McAllister said after a recent practice. “Especially as we’re getting to the end of my career, that stuff is starting to fade away a bit. What I ultimately want to be remembered as is a winner, and we have an opportunity to do that once again.” Indeed, the Dynamo finished third in the standings, and while they go into the semifinals an underdog against the Quebec City Meute, anything can happen. For his part, McAllister has won Playoff MVP two of the past three years, including last year’s championship run, so he certainly knows what it takes.

McAllister +5

Just let me have this dammit (I probably wouldn't have passed Hamilton without it, but still would've finished second on this list I bet.)

Hat trick on the final day to get above 50, beautiful. The drive for 400 goals is on life support, but still alive.

Appreciated, but that's still O'Malley until further notice. Either way, cool to have made it to the top of the list. Still a season to go too, I plan on making some TPE records hard to reach... until @Bushito breaks them like a season later.

Sure, so now I start to rack up the goals.

FWIW, I think this is the argument for keeping awards like the separate Offensive/Defensive D-Man, as well as Two Way Forwards. Rewards for different player builds.

285 Titans vs Bears 286 Americans vs HC Dynamo 287 Reign vs Titans 288 Legion vs Wranglers

3-2 Bears

Davos -- It's safe to say that for most people associated with HC Davos Dynamo, this was not the season that they expected. Coming off a championship that some thought occurred a year too early, this was supposed to be the season the Dynamo really competed. Instead, they could nowhere near keep pace with the first place Wranglers, 36 points behind them in the standings, and they were even jumped by a young Quebec team that is in second 19 points ahead. Still, barring a complete collapse - they lead Seattle by 10 points with 6 games remaining - the Dynamo will enter the playoffs with the third seed. That means a crucial first round bye, and similar to Quebec and Calgary, the Dynamo only need to win two series to win the championship. And as the franchise learned last year, when it also went from third place to the title, anything can happen in the playoffs. "Especially with how poor Brodeur's been this season, I feel like we've been the victim of some bad luck," forward Gabriel McAllister said after a recent game against the Bears. "But here's the funny thing about luck: It all comes around eventually. Maybe we used up all our luck last season, but I'd like to think that there's still something left for these playoffs. You just never know." The Dynamo will play the Meute in the first round, a team they have not played well in the regular season. Still, there are some reasons to think positively if you're a Dynamo fan. This is the first year with serious expectations for many Quebec players, particularly goalie Tristan Iseult, and there's no guarantee that they'll rise to the occasion. The Dynamo also won their last game against Quebec, so their luck may very well be changing. But with not much time before the playoffs begin, only time will tell.

Boner: He Might Not Be a Hall of Famer, but He's Got the Stats of One There is a current VHL defenseman who is top five in both hits and shots blocked, just as he has been the past couple of seasons. In only his sixth year, he will likely become the 20th player to top 2000 hits and the 28th player to top 1000 shots blocked by the end of next season. It’s entirely possible that he’ll be top ten in both categories by the end of his career. Oh, and by the way, he’s done all this despite not updating in a few seasons. His name is Boner. And he could be stiff competition for a Hall of Fame spot. Sound crazy? Perhaps it is. Created by former Vasteras Iron Eagles (RIP) general manager Corco, Boner is technically spelled with an accent over the e, but that’s not as fun. Currently, he has been stuck on 320 TPE since roughly his second year in the VHL. Over that time, he’s amassed just 169 points, but his greatest contributions have come on the defensive end: 1634 hits and 868 shots blocked over the course of his career. While other players such as Ay Ay Ron have amassed defensive accolades, Boner has quietly been one of the best defensive players in the entire league—he actually tops Ron in career hits and shots blocked, despite playing one fewer season than the former defenseman. And here’s where the naysayers would come in: Well sure, but Boner’s actually put up those stats because he’s been on a bad team. In actuality, though, that hasn’t been the case. Boner did start out on some rebuilding teams, being drafted to Stockholm then moving over to Calgary when the team’s roster was ported there in Season 58. But as a member of that franchise, Boner has gone to the playoffs each of the past two years—and in fact, some would argue that his mysterious virus that caused him to miss playoff games last year was a big reason Calgary fell in the finals. This season on Riga, Boner is poised to go to the playoffs once again—that would put him on a winning team for exactly half of his career seasons thus far. It’s highly unlikely that Boner will make the Hall of Fame. His offensive stats are lacking for one, and secondly I think the league’s leadership might have an aneurysm if a new player came in and saw “Boner” as the league’s most recent HOF inductee. But that doesn’t mean he should be ignored from the proverbial Hall of Very Good, especially as his offense is picking up in the latter part of his career (his current 47 points on Riga’s high-powered first line is by far the most of his career). By the time all is said and done, he’ll certainly pass Hall of Famers like Olivier Scarlett, David Walcott, and even trophy namesake Sterling Labatte in both hits and shots blocked. And let’s be real—I’m not one to typically like dumb names, but there’s something pure about a player named Boner, ahem, boning the competition. It remains to be seen whether he will be on Riga past this year, especially given his upcoming depreciation, but I do hope he gets a title. It would be glorious to see the name Boner on a banner, with parents shielding their kid’s eyes from looking up to the rafters for generations to come.

I gave up trying to understand long ago.

252 Titans vs Wranglers 253 Legion vs Bears 254 HC Dynamo vs Reign 255 Meute vs Americans

3-2 Dynamo (In actuality, it'll probably be 5-0 Reign, because STHS sucks.)

Cool, I don't have to smash my computer with a hammer today

I'm going to write an informative, deep dive media on Boner. ... I'm dead serious, actually.

This season's reminding me a lot of Wingate's years on Riga. Nothing's going right, even when it should be.

Last season, I wrote about Gabriel McAllister’s quest for 400 career goals, a total that not many players have hit, and nobody in roughly 15 seasons. So how’s it going? Well, it’s still possible to get there, but it may take a superhuman effort in the forward’s final roughly 100 games. For his career, McAllister currently has 322 goals in 474 games played, an average of 0.679 goals per game. That’s bolstered by 31 goals so far this season in 42 games, which is slightly above his career average. To hit that 400 mark, though, McAllister would need 78 goals in 102 remaining games – an average of 0.764 goals per game. Is it doable? He certainly thinks so. Especially with offense up around the league this year and many top goaltenders still extremely young, he’ll certainly have his opportunities. Being on a Davos team with a lot of talent should help as well. On the flip side, though, depreciation will certainly hurt McAllister’s raw scoring ability in his final year, and he may need to get roughly 28 goals in his final 30 games this season to reach a manageable 50 left for Season 63. “It’s still a goal, but it’s one that is simply a nice-to-have,” McAllister told ESPN after a recent practice. “I’ve had a good career, with the multiple titles and MVPs and what-not. While I’d enjoy this milestone too, it’d simply be a cherry on the sundae.”

McAllister +5

3-2 Wranglers

175 Americans @ Legion 176 Reign @ Titans 177 Bears @ Americans 178 Meute @ Wranglers