Juice

Alambju podcast?

@dlamb Lamb Juice podcast part 2?

Julius Cow-sar

I want to name one of them : )

G - Papa Emeritus @Peace

F - Aloe Dear @Hogan

D - Scotty Kaberle @fromtheinside @Peaceotc

D - Hard Markinson @Hogan

F - Taro Tsujimoto @Peace

F - Tyler Reinhart @Hogan otc

I take high offense to this as I did my best to hit those high notes ;( But seriously a perfect writeup of my favourite time in the VHL as a whole. Being drunk at a bar at 2 am my time and 8 pm in Scotty's time while we were making draft trades over a discord call is still the most hilarious thing looking back on it ( @Beketov how you came to be a Rush-onian btw). We didn't just build a cup team with really good players that were just clickers like what I assume most people think the VHLM is/was, but we made it an actual fun time where everyone pitched in and we made it a great place where we celebrated every win and motivated eachother after every loss. I sorely miss my time with Scotty at the co-helm at the Rush, and it's very sad to see Yukon gone for seemingly good, but I truly cherished the S78 run we had and it'll take a lot to top it.

Traded once again, but at least this time it wasn't at my own request and instead agreed upon with the GM, and going to EU this time around. It'll be fun to see what Malmo will end up doing as I think we have an excellent core (even if Boom leaves...baby come back) that's well balanced throughout with solid goaltending, solid defense, with a good forward core of stars + depth. I think free agency will really make or break our team in terms of being cup favourites as I think the main thing the team needs is a solid first line center and some more additions to the forwards, but I think Dom will wheel and deal us to an interesting season ahead. Of course I gotta gush about playing with @fromtheinside again, since scotty is mah boi. From the beginning to the end it seems like we're linked and I'd never have it any other way. And this time around we'll be in both of our primes and hopefully having better results than when we first were paired up with eachother since...well you can see the drastic stat changes for both of our players since going to our new teams. I expect at least 150 points from Scotty Kaberle this season by the trade deadline or I'll request a trade immediately so @Domg5 take note. It's been super busy in my irl life and I've been trying to focus on taking care of my mental health more, which has pushed me away a bit from focusing on VHL the way I used to, but I'm super excited to see where this new direction for my player's career will go.

The news came in with a message vibrating his phone during dinner, while he was slamming back a delicious pepperoni pizza sided with a glass of Jamesons and Coca-Cola, with a notification from the General Manager of the D.C. Dragons @Enorama with a very detailed, heartfelt, and tear-inducing message to Kristof Welch that he was traded from the D.C. Dragons to the Malmo Nighthawks. (Trigger warning for anyone who isn't ready for some waterworks to start once you see the below message) And with that, and with half a slice of pizza hanging out of his mouth, the stalwart defender for the Dragons for the past several seasons has now became a Nighthawk. And with a ticket in hand, Kristof Welch was heading from one side of the world to the other, and was about to end up in Sweden on the next available flight to get situated before training camp begins. It's been a long road for Kristof Welch. Starting off his career for the Toronto Legion after being drafted 5th overall, where things did not end up anywhere near anyone could have thought, and eventually being traded 3 years into his career to the D.C. Dragons. Before going to D.C., Welch was a reliable not too great but not too bad defender, putting up decent points with 156 points in 216 games and having a solid defensive game putting up nearly a 100 hits per year and over 100 shot blocks per year. However, once arriving in the capital of the USA, Welch reached his full potential. In only two years with the crimson dragon on his jersey, he put up back to back over 100 point seasons with 217 points in 144 games with the recent season might ending up with Welch earning a trophy to be put into his trophy case for the first time. With D.C. being knocked out of the playoffs, the Dragons would end up going in a completely different direction as long-time star players like the captain Groovy Dood, Jiggly Gumballs, and Aloe Dear either retiring or leaving the core squad. It seems like it's complete rebuild from scratch time, which left Welch either being the star to be built around, or to move Welch for rebuilding pieces. There was talking between management and him on what direction he'd be comfortable with, and Welch was fine to do whatever management needed to do what was best for the team, and that's how we've ended up here. The first thought was what life would be like in a different continent and country, going for NA to EU is quite the move and life-style change, however it'll be interesting to be added to a team that was almost made the finals with some friendly faces like @fromtheinsideand @BOOM who've been there since Welch's career first started in Toronto and has since then full-circled to be back together again. Dawning the green over the red, going from North America to Europe, swapping conferences, everything is pretty brand new for Welch. But it'll be time to show off his skills the same way he did last year, and that his prime is just beginning. (530 words)

I MADE IT, DAD!

I'm in

Well, being swept was quite unexpected. I can't lie, and say I a bit underestimated the Wolves. I didn't think they were as legit as their record, as with what I thought was a bit of an overachieving team overall, I thought D.C. would be able to give them a bit more run for their money. However, after being absolutely decimated by them and getting swept, it's easily to see their regular season success translated almost too well to the post-season. And with that, D.C.'s season is overall and oh boy, is it ever a painful one. D.C. is quite honestly going to be going in a different direction than ever now that the heart and soul of the team, Groovy Dood, will be retired and ultimately seals the fate of the team not being a perennial underdog of "will they, or won't they" be a deep enough team to contend for the cup. And it's quite interesting to see what will happen from here, as I put my fate as a player in the hands of my General Manager that I respect quite highly in @Enorama with the signing of my new contract, as it's quite obvious that the Dragons could be in a scorched earth rebuild scenario upcoming by draft time. Either way, I couldn't be happier being a Dragon and my time here has shown me (despite the hectic in real life stuff with my job and in general real life situations causing me to take a bit of a needed step back from VHL) an absolute love of being a VHL'er, and whether I come back here the next season or I get tossed in a different direction by the start of S81, I couldn't have enjoyed my time more with the Dragon on the front of my jersey. I have no idea what the futures holds for me, but wherever it lies I'm ready for my player to be a top-tier defender on the blueline and being ultimately reliable whether it's put some points on the board or shot-blocking my way in hopes to a deep playoff run.

With the S80 Season over and done with for the D.C. Dragons, finishing the regular season with a respectable 91 point season with a 43-24-5 record and finishing the playoffs winning against the Chicago Phoenix, but ultimately being swept by the Vancouver Wolves, I can't help but point out that we have technically now seen that last of the D.C. Dragon legend himself, Groovy Dood ( @bigAL). At the start of the S80 Season, Groovy Dood announced that this would be his last season in the VHL. Going into this season, he was on the cusp of topping the all-time point leader records for the Dragons, however the season was still young and looking at the roster, D.C. really could have been in the sink and miss the playoff mode, or swim and just barely make the playoffs. However with great signings like Aloe Dear ( @Renomitsu) and Lester Green ( @Smarch), the Dragons looked more and more like they could push for that one final playoff run with Groovy Dood as their all-star captain. And boy, did their captain ever cap off his career in the best way possible. Career highs in both goals with a whopping 61 (!!!) wheel snipe cellys and career high 120 points, Groovy Dood did finally hit his mark of becoming without a doubt the GOAT of the D.C., overcoming the great Benny Graves who had 263 goals, 335 assists, and 598 points in his entire career that he spent with entirely with the Dragons. And not just overcome, but he blew Graves out of the water with an outstanding 313 goals (most in Dragons history), 387 assists (most in Dragons history), a nice round 700 points (most in Dragons history), and even 2191 hits (well beyond the most in Dragons history). It's easy to say that so far, Dood is the best Two-Way forward to ever grace the Dragon uniform, and with the totals he's put up, it'll be hard to ever top these numbers even for someone who spends their entire career with the same team similarly like Groovy Dood. And it's hard to not look back at Dood's infamous draft class, where despite future greats like Jeffrey Pines ( @rory ) and Dakota Lamb ( @dlamb) could be the ones to go first overall, General Manager @Enorama decided to take a shot in the dark on the up and coming Groovy Dood, even when many feared he could be someone who would hang up the skates sooner than later, due to the gut feeling that Dood could be an all-time great. At the time, many were surprised and shocked, not that he was picked high in the first round, but more so because he was picked as the 1st pick in this deep of a draft. But if anything, Dood took this on as a challenge to prove critics and haters wrong, and it's easy to see now after all the seasons to pass that he's cemented himself as not just an all-time great Dragon, but an all-time great VHL player overall. Although the season ended a bit abruptly, with quite the disappointing end with the sweep by the Vancouver Wolves, Groovy Dood capped off his career with a bang and the D.C. crowd will both cherish the moments they had with him, and be quite sad by the S81 Season where the captaincy won't be on the one they called "The Captain". (565 words)

1. I'll tell you that they are a fierce opponent, so fierce that I could tell you that maybe...just maybe that they could sweep us 2. I think overall we needed to be defensive as if one thing is for certain is that Vacouver is a POWERHOUSE waiting to just score and score more and more. Sadly that didn't happen and I take it mostly on my player more than anything. 3. It's both good and bad, as Chicago is not what they used to be in terms of cup champs, but they are still a good opponent. So to win against them in these close games show that we aren't just lucky ourselves to the playoffs. However, the fact we can't absolutely dominate shows that we aren't quite the cup favourites. 4. Probably invisibility. Get some cash from bank robbing and in general live a normal life until I need some more $$$ you know what I mean? 5. Celebritys are kind of overrated, I'd rather spend a nice margarita vacation with my AGM for the D.C. Dragons on a beach in Hawaii 6. Probably most consecutive days without having a girlfriend, as I could see myself being omega sad and just becoming a wizard eventually

1. I'll probably just use my free time to take a few extra shots of alcohol and drinking beer more than usual as I don't have to practice the next day for awhile : ) 2. Without Mr. Dood, we'll be losing a huge catalyst in our forward group and team overall, as he in my eyes is Captain Dragon, so I think we'll be far worse than now. 3. Hardest challenge for us is consistently, as I think that has been the thing that bites us in the ass more than anything, as sometimes we are unbeatable and sometimes we are lacking goal support more than anything. 4. I'm really good at being awkward at the best of times possible, and usually the one that gets the most drunk at parties. 5. Best thing? I'd probably go to things like Christmas and opening up my stockings and getting my favourite candies and shampoo as weird as that sounds, as that was my favourite thing on Christmas. 6. I'd go for Kristof Nagy, as I'd probably not use my actual last name and play up the Hungarian stuff a bit more.

1. Well as it's after the trade deadline we can't do much else...but our team is looking pretty slick on a huge winning streak nowadays so it's great to see. 2. Honestly not huge into wanting to break records, I just wanna be a good blue liner for which ever team wants me. 3. My best season is currently the one going on right now is we're talking about points, but I'd say my best season personally is my first season in D.C. as I finally felt like I was apart of a team with a direction. 4. D.C. BABYYYYY, gotta go for the mix of vets and prime rather than Vancouver if we're talking about now, definitely the Vancouver squad for the future. 5. Definitely Christmas, nothing beats waking up on Christmas day with snow on the ground, Christmas songs blasting with the firelog on the T.V., and opening up stockings and watching shitty Christmas movies. 6. DETROIT BABY ITS OUR YEAR THIS YEAR WITHOUT A DOUBT. *copium*

Welp, there goes my management career, cheers @bigAL

1. Hopefully Aloe Dear, as it would be really great to see two eventually retiring players connecting for an infamous goal. Or maybe with Kristof Welch 2. Either New York or London, as it seems we have quite the goal-fest when we face them 3. The heart of a grizzly bear to keep him youthful and to give him strength for one more season 4. Probably music generally, but sometimes I'll get in the podcast mood and just crush a ton of episodes in a row. 5. I'm a big fan of My Brother My Brother and Me, literally has me cracking up on the bus to work in pre-covid days where I'd just get stared at while trying to stifle my laughter. Easily 10/10 my favourite podcast and what I'd recommend. 6. English...and only English I'm a bad Canadian and I don't know French, and I tried learning Hungarian but hahahahahahahahahaha god it's awful to try to learn.

Every hockey player's final milestone is not the easiest one to do, as hanging up the skates is both dreadful to do as it's end of a journey that you've worked your entire life up to that point is over as soon as the sentence "I've announced my retirement..." comes out of your mouth in front of the media. However, it can also be quite peaceful as with your body not keeping up with your mind and abilities as it once did can be a very rough experience, and using your money you've earned up to that point to do something more relaxing after hockey can be the start to another journey. When asked about the future of his career, and what he'd do after the VHL, D.C. Dragons defenseman Kristof Welch stated, "Well, I still have quite a few years left in me as I'm still in my prime, but when the time comes to tie the laces one last time, I'll probably go back to Hungary and do what my family does best. Make the best damn pálinka." A Hungarian traditional alcoholic drink, pálinka can be both a pleasant and/or horrifying experience depending on where you are in your night. Taking a shot before having your lunch? Absolutely fine. Taking a shot after quite a few beers? Well, let's just say you might be waking up in what can only be described as an adult diaper in a rundown insane asylum turned hospital. However with the right amount of preparations and tolerance, pálinka can bring enemies together to eventually become friends, make families closer, and make the night all the more better. Now for generations in the Welch family, the father and his son would make pálinka and store it for years until it's been perfected. From any type of fruit, from apple to pear, the best pálinka would be made by the Welch family. However, with Kristof becoming a VHL-bound hockey player and going to another continent, the tradition had to stagnate until his return. "It's time to go back to my roots and continue on the tradition dating back hundreds of years for my family. I'll still give it my all in the best years I have left, but in a weird way I'm kind of looking forward to my after hockey life and do what my forefathers have done for generations." Now while this route is...not the most common for post-retired players, as you'd usually see people stay close to hockey in one aspect or another, whether it's coaching or being an analyst of some sort. But for the journey to end where it began back in Hungary and to take the reins of something that was just put on hold until the future is both commendable to stay true to their roots, as well as having a dash of nostalgia being close to family and doing what you grew up doing alongside hockey. "Either way, whether it's now and in the future, I just want to do what I love to do. Hockey is the now, but I know where my future is going and I can't help but smile."