fromtheinside

oh also going to use this task for my First Gen Doubles purchase

Saskatoon Bounces Back Over Weekend Associated Press- Saskatoon Sentinel After what some people around the organization would call a "tumultuous slump" over the past week and a half, the Wild finally exorcised some of their recent demons this weekend. Going into the home stretch of the regular season, this weekend was a pivotal one for the Wild. Over the course of the weekend the club posted a 4-2 record to earn 8 out of a possible 12 points. The team's big guns stepped up big time and they finally started getting production out of some of their newer waiver claims. If everyone starts firing on full cylinders, the team could still be dangerous in the playoffs. Let's take a look at how the weekend shaked out.. Friday the team edged out a pair of 2-1 overtime victories over Ottawa and Philadelphia respectively. In the opener versus the Lynx, superstar winger Florent Verciel carried the team offensively scoring both markers. Meanwhile between the pipes the Wild's reliable netminder Cal Conway turned away 26 of 27 shots which was good for a .963 save percentage. In the second game of the night it was Brian Strong Jr who played the role as hero. At 2:15 in overtime Dale Miller sprung Strong Jr on a breakaway with a beautiful stretch pass and it was academic from there as Strong Jr buried his 51st goal of the year. Saturday saw the team take a 1-1 split. In the first game it was the Las Vegas Aces edging out the Wild by a score of 2-1. This was a super close game that saw Saskatoon outshooting their opponents 32-25. The Wild definitely seemed to be in control most of the game, dictating the pace and also leading in puck possession. However, it was Aces sniper Gary Rush who scored the game deciding marker at 15:56 in the third with just 4 minutes left in the game. In the night cap it was an offensive explosion as Saskatoon dominated the Reapers in a 7-3 shellacking. Florent Verciel continued to stay hot as he led the way with a hat-trick and an assist to boot. Brian Strong Jr added 3 assists and rookie defensemen Scotty Kaberle enjoyed his first multi-point game of his career with a one goal, one assist performance. Sunday saw another 1-1 split starting with Saskatoon sweeping the second game of their home and home by taking another win off Philadelphia by a score of 4-1. A strong start in the first period really put this one to bed early. The Wild jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first frame with goals by Keller, Nilsson and Verciel (shocking, I know) respectively. Also it is worth noting the Wild's smothering defense was on full display this game, limiting Philly to only 12 shots. Wrapping up the weekend, the Wild took on powerhouse Halifax and came up short in a 3-1 loss. While not the result they had hoped for, the team can hang their heads high with the effort level. Verciel scored the teams only marker to finish his weekend with a total of 6 goals. The Wild poured on the offense, outshooting Halifax 33-27, but 21st netminder Kevin Malone stood on his head turning away 32 of 33 shots for a .970 save percentage. Despite the loss versus Halifax and getting edged out by the Aces on Friday, the team seemed to have gained their mojo back. Florent Verciel may be the hottest player in the VHLM right now offensively and if he keeps up his pace, the team will be a threat to win every night. The boys will enjoy some turkey and stuffing before heading into Monday's doubleheader versus Vegas and then Mexico City.

Love this graphic, super fun but at the same time really clean looking, love the logo at the bottom and the little mini chickens in the background of the orange stripes, nice touch! Great job! 8/10Love this graphic, super fun but at the same time really clean looking, love the logo at the bottom and the little mini chickens in the background of the orange stripes, nice touch! Constructively, the only thing I would have tweaked maybe was the spacing in between the first and last names, but that's only a small detail, overall great job! 8/10

Transaction ID: 3U744824E75373748 $10 1 mil store credit 5 TPE uncapped thanks!

+10 Scotty Kaberle

Hey Mike great 1st attempt... I am just starting out with graphics work too, seeing what these guys can do on the forum is crazy to me. Some people are really talented at this. Minor constructive tips for you would just to try and make sure everything is level... for example your Easton Sterling text is slightly higher than the Scott Sterling text... I think it would be more visually appealing to have them even and levelled out. And also for Mike Sterling at the bottom it seems slightly off-kilter to the left a touch. I love that you chose the team colors to compliment the logo, great choice. Overall 6/10 it's a great start, nice job!

Much like the current change of seasons, things seem to be changing quickly in Saskatoon... and much like the leaves of a tree in autumn, the Wild will begin falling down the standings quickly if they can't sort things out with their club. Coming off a weekend chalked full of roster turnover, the new look Wild have fumbled out the gate after two more disappointing losses Monday night versus Miami and Halifax. The first game of the night was versus the Miami Marauders and it was over early as the Marauders stormed out to an early 3-0 lead in the first frame anchored by a 3 point effort by rookie dynamo Cabe McJake. Despite limiting Miami to 14 shots all game and doubling them with 28 shots of their own, it wasn't nearly enough. In their second matchup of the night, the Wild clashed with the Halifax 21st in a clash of two top seeded titans in the VHLM. Unfortunately it was another L for the Wild. This outcome isn't entirely shocking as Halifax is widely considered the odds-on favourite to go all the way this year in the VHLM. The key thing to note for the Wild this game was their inability to cash in on their chances. Despite having 7 man advantages this game, they only were able to convert on one of them and that was the difference this game. This slump comes at an awful time for the players, as the trade deadline is this week. No doubt the players on the Wild are in for some sleepless nights and wondering if they will be on the move in the coming days. What is the answer to right the ship? It seems as though the high end talent on the team such as Brian Strong Jr, Florent Vericel, Alex Zouzouambe and Gabe Johnson are depended on for all the offensive load. The offense has really dried up over the course of their skid and some depth scoring from the newcomers on the team could definitely remedy that. We will have to see how things shake out going into the league's trade deadline. Coming up next for the Wild are two big matchups that feature two more strong teams in the VHL. First they will face-off against the Mississauga Hounds who are boasting an absurd 14 game winning streak. After that things won't get much easier as they are set to clash with the Yukon Rush in a game that will have first place implications in the Western Conference. Buckle in Saskatoon fans, it's going to be a Wild ride to the finish of the regular season!

SCOTTY KABERLE - SCOUTING REPORT ATTRIBUTE RATINGS Coming up from his hometown Jr-B club, Scotty Kaberle has just began his VHL journey in the minors after being scouted out by the Saskatoon Wild. Kaberle was known in juniior as an elite level two-way defender. With his high hockey IQ, his positional and structural play in his own end was undoubtedly his best strength. However it would incorrect to label him as a just a stay-at-home defender. What really made Kaberle stand out in junior was two things... his skating prowess and his playmaking ability. Kaberle was an excellent skater in junior, displaying both high level speed and acceleration. He was a lethal weapon on the breakout being able to either carry it into the offensive zone himself or make great outlet passes also. He was always a solid option on the powerplay thanks to his high level playmaking ability. One knock on him could be his shot. While he does have a very quick release on wrist shots, he was not known for the big cannon slap shot that other D-men possess who you'd normally see quarterbacking powerplays. Kaberle was more of a pass first player or he was also known for throwing the puck in low towards the net for tip or deflection plays. NHL COMPARISONS PROS/CONS PROS: HIGH HOCKEY IQ- Despite taking a non-traditional path to pro hockey, Kaberle's Hockey IQ is elite level. Whether it be in his own end being mindful of how he is positioned or knowing whether to jump up in a play or even making the right pass, he always seems to be in situations to make himself successful. SKATING- The kid can flat out fly... with high end speed, acceleration and agility and a motor that never seems to quit, Kaberle's skating skills are definitely a weapon he will look to exploit on his opponents. CONS: PHYSICALITY- This may be a tad misleading. Kaberle is not afraid to finish his checks or play a physical game (as you will see in the early outlook below), but being only 20 and playing in a men's league full of genetic freaks, Kaberle will need to pack on some muscle this offseason to prevent himself from getting ragdolled around and landing on the IR! DISCIPLINE- While Kaberle wears his heart on his sleeve and leaves it all on the ice at all times, he has been known to get a little hot headed at times and take some bad penalties and if our early outlook is any indication, this will be something he will need to address going forward as a player with his skillset is much better suited on the ice than in the penalty box- or worse yet, the press box. EARLY OUTLOOK Given it's a small sample size, but the early first days for Scotty Kaberle will be ones to forget. In 4 games with the Saskatoon Wild, he has failed to register a point and is a disappointing -6. Aside from personal stats, his club has also been winless since he was added to the team over the weekend. Certainly this was not how Scotty was hoping to start his career in the VHLM. In junior, one of Scotty's calling cards was his high end speed and skating and this has been the most noticeable flaw since his call up to the pros. Perhaps the overall speed of the league will take some adjusting, the level of competition is no question higher than anything Kaberle has experienced thus far in his career. If his skating comes along as expected, he will still project to be a high end defensemen in the VHLM for seasons to come....and who knows perhaps even the VHL if things go his way. The one bright spot is his 17 hits and 4 blocked shots. He's definitely not been afraid to sacrifice the body, so that's a great sign regardless if it hasn't yielded positive results thus far. Only time will tell how Kaberle's career will continue to unfold, but nobody can argue he is a fascinating younger player in the VHLM who is definitely worth keeping an eye on!

yo that image is sick!! really nice job!

First attempt at making a sig. When I came on here I was blown away at some other people's sigs.. they are incredible.. I put a good amount of time and into mine but hopefully I can get better down the road at this. Hopefully it meets the criteria.

Your ceiling: GET HYPED!!! #SaskyBois

nice writeup!!

1. We've gained ground in the standings and sit only 1 point back of first place Halifax. Do you think we can retake the lead? -Absolutely, we are coming off a big win and hoping it will lead to a nice multi-game win streak for the club! 2. What are your thoughts on Sonnet, one of the VHLM commissioners, stepping down? I just joined this league today, but I read his post and I am excited for him personally. The league will have big shoes to fill, but it seems like the community is full of people who are passionate about the league so Im sure they will find a good replacement. 3. If you could take a team (VHL or VHLM) and relocate, what team would you choose and where would you move it? Probably relocate the Mexico City franchise.. not sure how much of a fanbase they are generating down there The road trips thru Tijuana are always fun though haha. Probably could throw another team out in western Canada for the VHLM... Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, etc... 4. Now that we've finally got a defense partner for Gecko in @yevty, do you think the team will see improvement? Well now you've got another Dman with me also! Looks like you guys were short on Dmen all of a sudden but management was able to quickly find some replacements... defensive depth will always go a long way to success! 5. What is your favorite cartoon? Well...cartoon I guess the Simpsons? but if anime counts as cartoons probably like One Piece or HxH 6. Have you watched any new movies lately? Nah with COVID i haven't seen a "new" movie in forever. More of sports guy then a movie guy.

It was supposed to be a pipe dream. Almost every kid growing up in Scotty Kaberle's hometown of Kitchener, Ontario would tell you they dream of becoming a star in the VHL. Sure, who wouldn't want to make a living playing the game they love while earning millions of dollars? Growing up Kaberle's passion for hockey had always been there, but this newly drafted Saskatoon Wild defensemen did not have the traditional path most kids take to get the call to the VHLM. While most kids these days are groomed at a young age and start playing travel hockey when they turn 7 or 8, this was not the case for the VHLM's newest draftee. From the time he was 5 Scotty recalls going over to his grandparents house every weekend for Hockey Night In Canada and watching his beloved Toronto Legion every Saturday night with his grandfather. It was a tradition Kaberle formed at a young age. In the pre-draft combine interviews Kaberle stated he never missed a Saturday night with his grandpa and always wore his Kevin Brooks jersey that he had gotten for Christmas at the age of 7. This tradition carried on for years but sadly at the age of 11 Scotty's grandfather passed away after a tough battle with lung cancer. This obviously crushed Kaberle emotionally. Shortly after his grandfather had passed, Scotty began hanging around the kids in his neighbourhood more. Rather than watching VHL, he found himself playing road hockey with his new friends frequently. Every day...summer, winter, in a heat wave, or a snow storm... for a few years straight he lived and breathed road hockey with his friends. He lived with his sister and his single mother so all he had was an extra wooden stick one of his friends had that he no longer needed. But that was enough. With just a handed down stick and a tennis ball, Scotty's passion for hockey continued to grow. Going into high school though, Scotty had still never even played house league hockey. But destiny has a way of working out and when Kaberle started high school, things began to change for him... In Kaberle's grade 10 year, his best friend approached him early in the school year. His friend was captain of the high school hockey team, and he knew Kaberle was a huge puck head. He said they needed a couple more bodies to have a full squad for the team. Scotty's interest was there however he literally had no skating ability up until this point. His friend said not to worry, he would talk to the coach make it work. A week later, Kaberle was on the ice. The school agreed to provide some second-hand hockey equipment for him as long as he could get his own pair of skates. Kaberle stated in our sitdown interview that he had saved all his money from the prior year's Christmas and also sold his XBox 360 so he could afford himself a pair of skates. Getting Scotty's skating up to speed was not an easy process. His high school team, the Kitchener Jr-Rangers had brought him on as a depth defensemen. Kaberle had developed a great shot from his years of road hockey and his hockey IQ also came very naturally despite his lack of experience. Scotty worked hard staying late at practices to work on his skating. He claimed his speed and acceleration was decent from the get go, back back-skating, edge work and overall agilty needed alot of work. He bluntly started that his first high-school season his skating just was not up to par. That season flew by and unfortunately the Jr-Rangers failed to qualify for their WOSSA provincial qualifiers. When high school ended that year, Kaberle took the advice of his coach and enrolled in a summer camp for hockey skills and development to refine his skating. Fast-forward to September 2016. In his grade 11 year he joined his best friend to run it back with his high school club. The hard work and improvements in his game were astonishing and the results were plain to see. In the span of just under a year, Scotty Kaberle was already developing into a special type of player. His skating was now up to snuff, and his shot and defensive play were much more refined then his first season. The coaching staff took note of this quickly and Kaberle was moved to the top D pair that season and also started quarterbacking the point for the first powerplay unit. In a 20 game high school regular season Kaberle managed 8 goals and 18 assists for 26 points and finished with a team-leading +17. The team went on to win their regionals handily and qualified for provincials in Ottawa. The OFSSA provincials was a 16 team tournament to determine which team would represent Ontario at nationals that year. Competition was intense and the Jr-Rangers were strong contenders but in the end the fell to a high-school team out of the GTA area called the Toronto Elite in the finals. Kaberle and his teammates were crushed. They had come so far but it was for naught. Kaberle was particularly haunted by the loss as he made a long stretch pass out of the defensive end that ended up getting picked off and promptly buried top-shelf for what ended up being the game winner for Toronto. The memories of that play haunted Kaberle for weeks. It was a bitter defeat to be sure, but great players learn from those kind of moments and bounce back. And Kaberle was certainly no exception to this. During the offseason things began to get complicated for Scotty. His local JR-B team the Kitchener Krash had began contacting him and invited him to their training camp. He attended camp in late July and August and made the team however he decided to decline the opportunity. He decided he wanted one last chance with his high school friends and teammates at making it to Nationals. The high school team was shocked and elated that he came back for his senior year. The coach pulled him aside on the last practice before the regular season and broke the news to him that he would be wearing the "C" this season during his senior year. This proved to be an excellent choice as Scotty ended up dominating at the high-school level. By this point many thought Scotty could be playing against men in junior hockey at the age of 17. The team coasted with a 19-2 record during the regular season. Kaberle put up big numbers posting 14 goals and 27 assists for 41 points in just 21 games. The Jr-Rangers also cruised through regionals to make it back to Ottawa for provincials for a second straight year. Just like the year prior, the Rangers made it to the finals and faced another big high school out of the Toronto area, this time the Mississauga Mustangs. It was a closely contested game that went to double overtime. The game winner came at 4:26 left in the second bonus frame when Scotty took a lower seeing-eye wrist shot that was deflected on net by his best friend. The boys from Kitchener were going to Nationals which were being held in Regina, Saskatchewan that year. It was an experience the boys would never forget. Scotty recalled the coach telling them not to get caught up in the moment and just play their game. Their were plenty of distractions for players who had never been through this before. There was some national TV presence as the tournament was being covered by national sports outlets TSN and Sportsnet. They were playing in an NHL sized arena with more fans then they'd ever been accustomed to playing in front of... and if that wasn't enough, there were rumors to be VHL and VHLM affiliate scouts watching the games also, perhaps to find some diamonds n the rough in the tournament. Kitchener represented Ontario well throughout the early stages of the tournament going undefeated in group play. Scotty was having himself a nice performance also, accumulating a game winning goal and having 6 points thru 5 games. The boys managed to eek out close victories in the Quarters and Semis, and the stage was set for the finals vs Alberta. The Alberta squad boasted the best offensive team in the tournament, posting a massive 20 goals up to that point in the tournament. However this game was a defensive war. There was little to no room out there, but the Rangers got a late tally in the third to go up 1. With a minute and a half to go, Kaberle's D partner took a delay of game penalty for putting the puck over the glass on a clearing attempt. With the Alberta net empty, they had a 2 man advantage for the last minute and a half. After winning the faceoff Alberta controlled the puck for about 25 seconds and rattled off a shot from the point that went wide of the net but the rebound went right to their forward on the half wall. He threw it back to blue line forward, who immediately one-touched it to the D-man on the other side of the point quarterbacking their deadly powerplay. With about 14 seconds left their Dman had a wide open one-timer but Scotty Kaberle lunged across and laid himself out on the ice to make an incredible block. The puck rolled to his teammate who flipped the puck down the ice and time expired. The boys from Kitchener had won it all. They were elated and exhausted all at the same time but it was a memory none of them will ever forget. And although Scotty didn't make the scoresheet in the final game, that blocked shot most definitely saved a goal and secured them the win. Kaberle went on to win best defensemen of the tournament. On his was out of the arena that night, Scotty said he passed a man in a suit in the hallways after the game who had a blue credentials badge that said "Saskatoon Wild- Scout" on it. The unknown man told him he played a hell of a game and he should be proud. After graduating from high school Scotty decided to take up his previous offer from the Kitchener Krash Jr-B team and played 2 full seasons. Despite going from playing against 16-17 years olds to playing against guys as old as 21, he continued to shine and a brillaint puck-moving, playmaking defensemen. That takes us to present day. In the midst of his third season with the Krash, Kaberle got a phone call last week. It was a phone call from the Saskatoon Wild of the VHLM. Their Director of Scouting said Scotty had popped on their radar since his performance at Nationals and they had been keeping a close eye on him since. He said they have had an unfortunate run of injuries and despite being 1st in their conference, they are in need of an emergency signing to fill the hole in their lineup. Scotty said he was in a state of shock. After fumbling over his words, he said he would love to get a chance to play in the VHLM. To play at all is an amazing privilege but to get to come onto a powerhouse team like Saskatoon is just icing on the cake. Never in his wildest dreams did he thing he would be playing pro hockey for a living. From wearing his Toronto Reign VHL jerseys every Saturday with his grandpa, to putting on the blue and gold Wild jersey.... Scotty Kaberle's pipe dream has become a reality.

#SaskyBois

Player Information Username: fromtheinside Player Name: Scotty Kaberle Recruited From: YouTube Age: 20 Position: D Height: 70 in. Weight: 190 lbs. Birthplace: Canada Player Page @VHLM GM