Eynhallow

1. The Reign recently acquired Jolly Greene Giant and Oh Sens from the Toronto Legion in exchange for Addison McLaren and Han Jae Kuk, with multiple draft picks involved. What did you think of the deal? Overall it makes a lot of sense and, so, I like it. We will miss Addy though. 2. Who is the scariest team to play right now? Its gotta be the Bears. The stats say it all. 3. What do we do about our goalie situation, with Harvey gone next season? Is Harvey retiring ?? A trade for an active young goalie might be the solution. 4. What was your favourite cereal growing up? Cheerios....still is in fact, 5. What was the best gift you ever received? My dad gave me his cottage where I spend most of my summers. 6. Which player do you hate the most in the NHL? Tom Wilson as he doesn't seem to respect other players at all.

I am a big fan of mixing color with a black and white graphic. It is pretty striking. I also like the player dynamic that you have selected. I can almost see Dayne releasing that wrist shot...top corner, stick side. One suggestion however is that the logo on the boards seems to interfere with the players name. You could remove that pretty easily. Good effort 8/10

Overall, I like this graphic. The vibrancy of the color scheme is quite striking and the player render is very crisp. As a suggestion, I would try to centre the logo a bit better, but other than that veryy good work. 8.5/10

Thoughts about the VHLE I was pretty excited to see that there will be a third league introduced in the VHL Simulation. I can see where this will free up some roster space on both VHL and VHLM teams. I also like thinking that this can be perceived as an intermediate step between the VHLM and the VHL. My player, for example, was just not ready to contribute much at the VHL level during his first and part of his second seasons despite the fact that I was a max earner. Our young player could still be matched up against an opposing player that is just plain better than he/she is and, as a result, is not very competitive. I also like the fact that this will not be a mandatory step in a player’s development. A player still can go from the VHLM directly to the VHL if that player so choses (and, of course, there is an opening). I also agree that this will help in retaining players as there will be more opportunity for an individual to excel in the two leagues leading up to the VHL. As well, the 9 year career window allows more opportunity for the player to develop and to experience play in all three leagues during that nine year career. My own player (Season 75) is not affected by this, but my re-create certainly will have this advantage. I look forward to that. I also appreciate the thinking that went in to the idea of call-ups. I appreciate the fact that a VHLE or VHLM team will be able to establish their roster without having to be concerned that they would be raided by a parent team in mid-season. Stability is key here, I think. Having said that, a players window in the VHLE could be pretty short depending on how fast that player earns TPE. So there will be more volatility that with the VHL. From a purely practical point of view, this league will involve more people who want to assume a leadership role both in terms of league organization and in terms of directing a team. From what I have read, there seems to be quite a number of people who are willing to give freely of their time to do the jobs that are entailed in establishing a new league. I get it that there will be a whole new superstructure for the league that is unique and separate from the two existing leagues. There are bound to be a few hiccups, but those issues can be addressed as the need arises, I really like the is]dea of connecting to our history. This is not a revolutionary new idea. I mean isn’t that why the NHL teams use throw back uniforms periodically??? How cool would it be to play for a season or two with renowned teams such as the Bratislava Watchmen or the Oslo Vikings. My personal favourite has got to be the Berlin Blitz. Imagine playing in such an iconic city and in a country that loves its hockey !!! So, Overall, great thinking and some really good ideas to further develop our simulation league(s). I can find nothing that I would change nor be concerned about. I am looking forward to being able to participate in this league and to meet more players. Word Count = 560 Claiming for Week of June 20

1. The team has had some heart-breaking close losses this season. What do you do to get the guys motivated after a tough loss? I would show them a video of the Pretenders from Toronto as an educational device as to how not to play hockey !!! 2. Who is that guy in our locker room that's always there to pick everyone else with an inspiring speech or act? Yup, its gotta be Linus Zettersrom @Ledge and Dairy. I almost forgive him for being a Habs fan !!! 3. Who do you think is our biggest rival in the VHL? Everyone!! We gotta get on a winning streak and make a splash in the playoffs. Can't miss out again !!! 4. How would you describe the colour orange to a blind person? It feels warm and smells and tastes like orange juice. 5. What is the cheesiest movie you have ever seen? Thats a tough one because I have watched way to many cheesy movies while being trapped inside during covid. The Avengers (1998) comes to mind. Flimsy plot, Cheap special effects, absolutely dumb plot and underwhelming performances by some really good actors/actresses. 6. What is the best book you have ever read? Day of the Triffyds (John Winham)

Claiming Week 4

As a Riga player, you know I like this a lot. Nice render of the player and the incorporation of a "new look" logo for the Reign is also good. Go Reign !!! 9/10

Great graphic. I like how all the colours compliment each other. I also appreciate the dynamic of the graphic. Great logo swap. I need one of these. 10/10

1. What do you think of Kaleeb's Reign logo redesign? I think the crown is pretty awesome. It certainly supports the idea of "Reign". 2. What is your favourite possible VHLE team? Could be logo or name. This will help 3. Our last few sims have been trending upwards, yet we remain 5 points out of a playoff spot. How optimistic are you about the season? I am filled with optimism !! We need to be a bit better defensively, but we should be OK for a playoff spot. 4. Describe your ideal sandwich. Lean ground pork mixed with minced apple. BBQ the patties. Add tomato, onion and condiments....MMMMMMM!! 5. If you could combine two qualities of two different people, who and what would they be? Mitch Marner with a dash of McDavid. 6. Who is your Stanley Cup favourite? After the complete and utter collapse of the Pretenders from Toronto, I think I gotta go with the Avalanche. Ya, Ledge @Ledge and Dairy I ca hear you chuckling all the way up here !!!

Claiming Week 3

1. The season is about to start! Do you have a super early Cup prediction? Well, the Predators and the Legion seem to have taken an early season lead, but the real season starts with the playoffs. 2. Who was your most influential GM in your career? In my short and not very illustrious career, I would have to say @hedgehog337. I really wasn't with another team long enough to really discuss a loy of stuff. 3. Which team in the VHL is the most cursed? After last season, ya gotta believe that its us, The Reign. (don't get me started on that again) 4. (From @Eynhallow) Why is it that humans are the only animal that blushes (or needs to)? So, I posed this question, but never really thought about an answer. Blushing is a display of social unease, mostly of our own making, 5. Would you rather drink a bucket of mustard or a bucket of hamburger grease? Blahhhh!!! Neither !!!!! 6. Who do you think should be Riga's captain this season? This is a tough question because we have a number of people who have shown leadership in our forum LR and on Discord. Any of these would be a good choice. Best left up to team management however.

Claiming Week 2

Thanks for the kudos. This was a fun article to write. I would be embarrassed to tell you how many G&T's it took.

At 6 feet 8 inches Jerry Jimbo is a big boy !! I like the overall blue theme to your graphic. Perhaps a bit more work on the render, maybe paint out the Leafs logo id you can't do a decent sway (I know I couldn't). The cityscape is great. I also like the overall energy of the graphic. Keep up the nice work. 8/10

Firstly, I certainly hope that the comment about inactivity is incorrect !! Secondly, I like the way you have embedded Justin's first name in the "L" of his last. Nice touch. Your work with blending black-and-white with colour motifs shows a lot of creativity. I like the whole effect. 9/10

At the outset of Part 2 I must make a disclaimer. I might not include questions from all teams. Not because there haven’t been a few provocative questions, but rather, I have already spoken to the subject. So, I apologize in advance to those teams omitted. As you may remember, Part 1 looked at interesting questions that various teams had posed in their press conferences. This is a continuance: Los Angeles Stars @Brewins15 came up with a good one: What makes a good leader in the locker room? Arkansas pitching coach Dave Jorn says, "A lot of your success and failure is going on in the locker room. Your leaders are key to managing the locker room." Detroit Red Wings assistant coach Tom Renney echoes his statement when he says, “If you don't have good people, first and foremost, in your dressing room, it will be a long season.” Locker Room Leaders serve as the critical creators, champions, and caretakers of your team’s culture. Through their words and deeds on a daily basis, trusted Locker Room Leaders mold, monitor, and maintain your team’s culture into one that is positive and productive for your team. As well Locker Room Leaders must possess a great deal of knowledge about the VHL and its workings in order for newer players to feel confident in what they are doing and what is happening to their persona. In Riga, thanks to @hedgehog337, @Ledge and Dairy, @RedSus, @tcookie and @Hoopydog (to name just a few) our locker room is a great place to be, both fun and informative. New York Americans @dlamb of the New York Americans posed a different kind of question, one that was personally interesting as I like to combine text and graphics: Use a GIF to describe how your player has played this season. Here not only do you have to assess how your player performed, but also discover a gif that adequately describes that performance, A little more than meets the eye. And so, for Isau’s nondescript Season 76: Or Seattle Bears @Banackock posed a question to the Seattle Bears that got me to thinking about the last year of lockdowns and isolation: 2020 has had it's challenges. What are some good things that have happened for you? I spent a lot more time with my partner (wife). We have been married for a long time and were always close. The enforced isolations just brought us that much closer. I also reached out to some family members with whom I hadn’t spoken since Christ was a choir boy. My cousin Geno commented, “So it took a pandemic for you to call me !!!” The silver lining for me in all this was that I renewed some family ties that had gone too long neglected. Toronto Legion @Peace, of the Toronto Legion asked his players this: Do you feel like you can be yourself within our locker room? Dangerous question, I know! I think this will depend on the toxicity level of the Locker Room. In Riga the players were friendly and supportive with some minor-league chirping going on . All good and one could afford to let down his guard a bit, so to speak. If the stress level were higher, players would be a lot more careful in what and how they say things. If they were to speak at all. I mentioned the role of Locker Room Leaders earlier. Your leader would be the conductor on this bus. Now, we could get into the thinking that we are really all actors on the World stage and, as such, we really ever know anyone, but that is too much for my few remaining brain cells ! Vancouver Wolves Can insanity bring out more creativity ? Maybe I should have posted this question first. Everyone can cite famous people from Vincent Van Gogh and Virginia Woolf to Tony Hancock and Robin Williams, who were exceptionally creative and experienced mental health problems. There are so many examples that it seems obvious that there must be a link between mental illness and creativity. Surely research would support this common wisdom? Not exactly. In fact there is remarkably little good data on the topic. In a review of 29 studies conducted before 1998, 15 found no link, nine did find a link and five found it was unclear. So hardly a straightforward connection. In addition, the relationship between mental illness and creativity is more complex, mental health problems allow people to think more creatively than others, but this creativity drops back down to average levels or lower during severe episodes of illness. What is your favorite part of the VHL and why ? This is a multi-faceted question with no clear answer as what I like about the VHL is not what someone else would necessarily like. I like the realism of the sim experience; a draft, a contract, free agency, no-trade clauses and the like. Even the sim engine is mostly realistic with the “best” team on paper not winning all the time. But most of all I like the camaraderie of the VHL users. They are a friendly supportive bunch with whom I am very happy to be associated. The Christmas Charity Drive was something that was so unexpected and so generous…..WOW ! Davos Dynamo Thanks @GustavMattias for this one: What's your favorite little-known fact? Initially it occurred to me that if it were little known, it might not be a fact. One of the bits of factual trivia that has always been a bit arresting is that humans are the only animals that blush. Hmmmmm! We are also believed to be the only animal that feels embarrassment—a complicated emotion requiring understanding others’ opinions and other factors. Charles Darwin called blushing “the most peculiar and most human of all expressions,” while Mark Twain said, “Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.” Mark Twain’s comment certainly reflects on our human behaviour, doesn’t it ? Helsinki Titans @BladeMaiden was just churning out the questions this week: They say it's all about ambiance, if that is true do you pick warm lighting or bright white lighting? What are the advantages to your choice? This is a two part question with one part being more thought-worthy than the other. As far as the quality of light. It depends on what you are doing, setting a mood or growing plants. Your call. Ambiance on the other hand has more to it than just lighting. Ambiance can be a determining factor in how we feel at any particular moment. Ambiance is a sum total of what all of our senses are telling us.. Interestingly though, science has figured out that there is no greater sense that a human being has for memory recall than the sense of smell. Therefore, if you are trying for a mood setting ambiance, things better smell pretty fine. Of course, then there is the problem that not all of us like the same smells. Then there are the mixed messages that we get from our brain. So something might be visually appealing, have a great sound, but stinks. Here is where 2 out of 3 just doesn’t cut it !! London United London United’s @der meister posed this question: What's the last movie you watched, and how would you rate it out of 5 stars? Ya, so what’s the big deal here ?? Looks like a pretty simple question, but really, when you think about it, this deals with our concepts of art and aesthetics. There are university courses on this topic. What makes a movie, or any other creative work good or not so good ? I like movies that entertain me. I like “Hollywood Endings” because they make me feel good. So, maybe, that is what makes a movie, novel, art or a song “good”, the fact that it makes us feel something. But I know I am missing something here. For example: This is a painting by Edvard Munch called The Scream. Firstly, it looks like an effort by my 11 year-old that she did with her pencil crayons. Secondly, although it makes us feel something, it’s a pretty negative feeling...terror. So what am I missing, I mean the painting only sold for $119 million U.S. in 2012. Obviously, I am not appreciating what the art world does. And so, I dare not tell you what the best recent movie is, in my opinion. Malmo Nighthawks @Juice, of the Malmo Nighthawks asked his team mates: The off-season can be rough for players not in the playoffs around this time. What is keeping you busy while we wait for the draft and next season to start? I have some concerns about the off-season. If your player is not in the playoffs, nor in the World Cup, nor in the World Juniors, it tends to be a very slow time. I can see people losing interest and motivation during this slack time. I see where people start “Town of Salem” type games in order to keep up interest, but that’s not hockey. And hockey is what we are here for (mostly). My thinking is, if there were a volunteer to take on the job, to run another secondary tournament, or even two, so that most players would have some off-season involvement. I really believe that retention becomes an issue during this lay-off. Moscow Menace @Telkster provided this question for the Moscow Menace players: Where is the furthest north you have ever been in your life? Ya, a pretty simple question on the surface. I live in Northern Ontario, so I have been pretty far north, but not in Canada. The Isle of Rousay, in the Orkneys is further north than Churchill, Manitoba. I was there on one of my mystic Highland adventures. This also brought to mind a mildly humorous story. When I was in high school (Toronto Area) my school soccer team went to Buffalo to play another team. During warm-up there were a few girls around who I chatted up as young guys do. They asked where I was from. To which I responded with the name of my town and its location, about 350 miles north of Toronto. One of the young things, with a very serious expression, asked if we lived in igloos up there. I am still smiling !!! Prague Phantoms @Domg5 of the Prague Phantoms writes: If you could change one rule of your choice in hockey, what would it be? Firstly a shout out to the Phantoms. One of my favourite teams, earlier on, were the Philadelphia Phantoms. They went on to become the Adirondack Phantoms when the Spectrum was demolished, Then, they became the Lehigh Valley Phantoms where they are today. As far as what hockey rule should be changed. It has got to be the no icing when you have a penalty. That should be abolished. If you have a penalty and ice the puck, then play is stopped and the face-off returns to your own zone. As well, you still wouldn’t be able to change the players who are on the ice. There is some thinking as well, that if a team has a penalty then the entire 2 minutes must be served regardless as to whether or not a goal is scored. This might be excessive. I don’t think a >1 goal penalty is required for an inadvertent trip, or a light hook. Warsaw Predators From the Warsaw Predators, @dasboot asked this : Are you a hat person? If so, which style of hat ? I really never thought about that too much. When I was younger, I really didn’t wear a hat, unless it was cold winter weather. Then, ball caps were the rage. And so my collection increased because every event a person went to, there was a ball cap given away. And now...well So, my point is that our hat styles change with age and the times. Very much like what kicks you use. What are your “dress” running shoes ? How about your hackers ? It comes down to the same kind of thinking. Thanks for reading my effort. I hope you got some enjoyment from the two articles. Word Count: 2023 Claiming Week Ending May 23, May 30, June 6, June 13.

1. It is officially offseason! Does your player have any plans? Chillax for a bit. That has already been done while the other teams were in the playoffs. Then work at a few skills to see if we can be better next season. 2. Do you have a favourite graphic maker? Perhaps our very own @Mrpenguin30? There are quite a few good graphics people in the league. So much so that I have almost stopped doing graphics myself 'cuz mine just don't measure up. 3. Any predictions for the draft? Maybe who goes first or a blockbuster trade? No. I didn't have any real thoughts about the draft in that we did not have a high pick. I think @hedgehog337 summed it up in his LR post about who we got and their potential. 4. Connor McDavid has reached 100 points in a 56 game season. Is he by far the best NHL player? Currently, he may be the best on the planet. 5. If your life was a TV show, what song would be the intro? "Rock You Like a Hurricane" - the Scorpions 6. What's the most useful thing you own? Likely my snowblower, so I don't have to shovel the damned white stuff !!

Isau’s (Mostly) Off-Season Thoughts After missing the playoffs most members of the Riga Reign were in off-season mode despite the fact that the off-season hasn’t yet begun at the time of writing this. The management brain trust @hedgehog337 and @Ledge_and_Dairy have been hard at work. Firstly they extended contracts to the S75 players of which they have several on the roster. I see where Ledge is interviewing potential draft picks in hope of finding a gem lurking in the later rounds. A war of words has flared up involving Malmo’s wannabe tough guy Druss Deathwalker @animal74 and the Reign’s prospect Jan Hlozek @Bojovnik. The question as to whether this will develop into something more than just words will be answered next season when Hlozek joins the Reign. I, for one, and I am sure I speak for the rest of my team, say to Deathwalker….”Bring it on, dude !!” The lottery Tournament came and went. We played pretty much like we did in the regular season…..average to mediocre. In all honesty, I doubt that our hearts were in it as we did not have a first round draft pick. So really we were playing for another team. These are the highlights (lowlights) thus far. Thanks for reading. I will keep you posted on further developments as they happen. Word Count: 220

1. The VHL Lottery Tournament is over. We don't have our first round pick. Do you care about the stats from the tournament? Not really. We were playing for another team to have a better draft position. Also, the stats generated don't seem to be included in a players resume. 2. What are you looking forward to in the offseason? The beginning of the next season. Our "off-season" is longer than that of other teams because we didn't play any playoff games. 3. Seattle vs Helsinki in the cup finals. Who do you think is taking home the cup? I am writing this after the Bears won the Cup so...........my choice would be.....wait for it..........the big reveal............Seattle. 4. We just had a bunch of our Season 75 players resign. Does that get you excited about next season? This includes my player and a few others with whom I have played. Ya next season is starting to sound pretty positive. 5. What is the worst movie you have ever seen? The really bad movies are so unmemorable that I couldn't remember the names if I tried. 6. If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Of course it does. I mean, if Hedge @hedgehog337and Ledge @Ledge_and_Dairy were having a conversation in a Riga bar, and I couldn't hear it, does that mean it didn't happen ?

Claiming Week 2

Glad to hear you are OK, Emi. I look forward to your future posts.

Gratz Seattle

Whether or not this is a "career Task". I think I'm going to create Isau DaMoose's backstory anyways. That could be a lot of fun.