Mistxh J

*grabs a fine-tooth comb*

Thank you to all of those that applied for this position. It’s awesome to see how many great members are putting themselves out there to become more involved in the league. I encourage all of those not selected to stay positive and keep applying!!! Your chance will come.
 
Calgary decided to keep the hiring in house and selected a current member of the Calgary Wranglers. I am excited to announce that the new Calgary Wranglers AGM is…
 
@Greg_Di!!!

@thadthrasher

The Istanbul Janissaries? Yes! It might seem like a very niche idea that not many would know, but when you look at history, it makes sense. 
 
 First of all, let's explain why Istanbul. Well, Istanbul was the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Beginning in 1299 CE, it lasted until the end of the First World War, the Ottoman Empire was one of the most expansive and impressive Empires in history. At it's peak, it spanned from Northwest Africa, to nearly the south-western border of modern day Russia. 
 
 Now the explanation of "Janissaries". A Janissary was a member of one of the most elite Ottoman military groups, and one of the most legendary military units of all time, The Janissaries.  Now, the story of a Janissary might be a little... strange. Typically taken at a young age from their families under Ottoman rule, young Christian boys were taken and trained from an early age, until their late teens, in a move not unlike the Spartans that came millennia before them. Janissaries were often used as the elite soldiers that often guarded the Sultan in both peace and war times, and were revered across the Islamic and Christian worlds. However, as armies began to modernize, Janissaries became less and less about being an elite military force, and more about having the title of Janissary and the socio-political power it gave you. However, I intend for the depiction to be of the Janissary at his height. 
 
 So in the end. Janissaries are often foreign children trained to be soldiers to work for the Ottoman Empire. Seems a lot like how literally any hockey team in Europe is run half the time. 

Sigard Petrenko representing his homeland in the IIHF World Juniors.
 
Brandon Wheat Kings
 
Brandon, Manitoba. That is where it all began for Sigard Petrenko. Taken 10th in the Western Hockey League’s Bantam Draft, Petrenko was already known for his goal-scoring ability and his tenacity on the puck. The Wheat Kings needed someone who could bury the puck in the net every so often. And so they brought in the young, fast, and electrifying youngster at the ripe age of 16. They got what they needed and more. Sigard ended up becoming one of the leading goal scorers in the league. That season, he led the Wheat Kings in goals scored with 45. He also had 15 assists. As the season progressed, Sigard Petrenko became a staple on the powerplay. This would stay true the next season as well, as Sigard Petrenko scored 48 goals and had 25 assists. 
 
World Juniors - Team Russia
 
Luckily for Sigard, in his second and last year in the WHL, he got invited by Team Russia to play at the IIHF’s World Juniors (not connected in any way to the VHL’s World Juniors). He was one of three 17 year olds and scored 3 goals and had 4 assists in 7 games.
 
Detroit Red Wings/Grand Rapids Griffins
 
Finally, his draft year came and he was one out of hundreds of players waiting to hear their name called. While he was not drafted in the first round, he was taken in the second round, being the 10th pick of that round. Detroit would be the team that drafted him and they signed him to a 3 year, two-way, Entry Level Contract. However, after a mediocre training camp, Sigard Petrenko was sent to the American Hockey League to ply his trade with the Red Wing’s affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. He was a gifted goal scorer and showed flashes of brilliance throughout his tenure with the team, however, he could never seem to impress the coaching team enough to get a permanent spot on the team. Sigard put up decent numbers over his time there. The young Russian winger scored 24 goals and had 15 assists in his first season of professional hockey. Then he followed it up with 30 goals and 10 assists with the Griffins. For his final year with the Red Wings organization, he would score 19 goals and 10 assists. He would see a bit of NHL action, playing 6 games and only getting 1 assist in the process.
 
Houston Bulls
 
After a disappointing stint with the Red Wings organization, they decided not to re-sign him. Deciding not to take any more chances at making an NHL roster, he signed a contract with the Houston Bulls of the Victory Hockey League Minors. It has been a long road for Sigard so far and he has even more road to travel now to make it to the big leagues.

can't go back to constantinople sorry Bek
if you had a date waiting in constantinople she'd be waiting in istanbul

With all the concept logos being created, and with @Victor saying that the Istanbul Red Wolves might be included in one of the polls. I decided to create a concept logo for the Istanbul Red Wolves, based off of the old Moscow Red Wolves logo.
 
The Istanbul Red Wolves
 

#8SecondsToGlory

So, to those who have known me in the past, they know I used to run a team called Le Chic de Paris on the IHL. I wanted to try something a tad different (something that had technically more effort from my part), so this is my shot at it with La Revolution de Paris.
 

Review:
 
Damn you are as hit as your graphic! Love the shea weber render and the logo swap was clean af, the flame/fire like effect is super sick and blends in really good, and i like the font of choice.. the blue also makes it pop in all that orange and red. The best is how well you did the fade or multiplication of the render and having it look stretched out in a tasteful way, killed it! 10/10 for me my man 👊🏻

@Ledge and Dairy hi

In light of some new teams entering the VHLE, I figured I'd throw together a concept for the Berlin team that will be introduced. So on that note...



THE BERLIN IRON
 

#8SecondsToGlory

🤔

*Intro to the segment on a sports show plays. The show's host, Joe Smith, is sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, with Donny Carter sitting across from him.*
Smith: Welcome back everyone, we are here once again with Donny Carter, a player who seems to be hitting his stride with Houston! Donny, welcome back to the show.
Carter: Thanks for having me!
Smith: Donny you recently scored your first VHLM goal, how'd it feel to get on the board?
Carter: Honestly it felt great. Scoring and having all the fans cheering and all the guys on the bench going crazy, it was an amazing moment. Also kind of a relief, I wanted to prove myself to the team, and I think that with my play recently I've been able to show that I have a high compete level and I can play with the best of em.
Smith: Was there any changes that sparked this surge in production from you?
Carter: Well I discovered salad! (laughter) But in all seriousness we had some new signings join the team, Yoro, Frosty, Baardo. Kind of reshaping how the team is and adding some needed depth that has improved the team. I've gotten some new linemates and also I've changed my exercise routine and I think that's helping me to get more in shape. I'm making smarter plays and such, just happy with everything over the past week or so.
Smith: Sounds like some good positive changes. Any good locker room stories?
Carter: None that can be shared on here Joe! (laughter)
Smith: (laughs a bit too hard at the small joke then composes himself and clears his throat.) Anyway I think we had better move on, next up we take a look at the VHLM standings. Donny, always a pleasure.
Carter: The pleasure's all mine Joe.
Smith: We'll be right back after these messages.
*cut to several commercials about useless random products*
*cuts back to the news studio*
Smith: Welcome back everyone! It's now time to take a quick look at the current standings in the VHLM! Halifax and Yukon have powered their way into the top spots in the league and in their respective conferences, while early signs of what the playoff race will look like are forming. In the Western Conference the race is not too close, as the top four teams are far ahead of the other two, Mexico City and Las Vegas. The Kings and Aces will need to make some big changes if they want to be competitive in the playoffs, as they are both over 20 points behind the top four teams. However looking at the Eastern Conference, there are three powerhouse teams in Halifax, Minnesota, and Philadelphia. All of these teams are far ahead of the other three, meaning there will be an intense race for a playoff spot between Ottawa, Miami, and Mississauga, though whoever wins that race will probably be wiped out by Halifax in the playoffs.
*Someone waves behind the camera for Joe to wrap it up*
Smith: Well that's about all the time we have for today, see you next time on (name of sports show)!
*cuts to black*
 
Word Count - 532
Points will be for the week of June 6th

On our last look into the M, we went over our top three teams currently. This includes Halifax with their dominant scoring prowess, the Yukon Rush and their elite prospects, and the Minnesota Storm whose elite goal tending leads the league in save percentage for starting goalies. Now we're going to cover what I call the "bubble teams". While they aren't dominant like the above teams, they can certainly hold their own and are eager to move up in the league.
 
3. San Diego Marlins                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
The Marlins are an impressively deep squad that can roll their lines and keep steady pressure on opposing defenses. They have 7 players that are plus 10 or more so far and 11 players that have 15 or more points so far in the season. Their standout player is defenseman Damien Salducci who leads the team in assists with 23 and is second in points with 25. Another standout stat with San Diego is their physicality, they have 4 players with over 60 hits and Aldwin Craig is 4th in the league with 98 hits to his name. Another fun stat that can be attributed to the Marlins is owned by Gabby Dugan who is 8th in the league for penalty minutes with 48 in 25 games. In net, their go-to guy is Morgan Karlsson who has sported an incredible 2.55 goals against average which is leading the league for starting goalies; he is also tied for first among starters in save percentage with a .900. On a more recent note they have now surpassed the storm for 3rd place, throwing my perfect organization all out of wack.
5. Saskatoon Wild                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
 
This is a very strong defensive team with 2-way forwards that can smother the points and facilitate a quick break out that generates strong scoring chances. They have 4 players with over one shot block a game which helps their goalie Leroy Johnson out tremendously. This shows especially in his stat line with an impressive 0.899 save percentage and 3.18 goals against average. Their top goal scorer is their star center Griff Mackenzie who is on pace to exceed his incredible 106 point season last year with Saskatoon. He combines with Duncan Montana and Jordan Heavens on the wings to make an impressive top line scoring threat that has combined for 60 goals and 124 points in 26 games. On the defensive end, Raphael Sonier and Ricky Tylerson are their standouts. They have 143 hits and 93 blocked shots combined as well as 38 points to boot. Sonier especially is a solid two-way talent for them; he is on pace for a point a game as well as having a solid plus 11, which is a great indicator for an offensive defenseman.
 
6. Houston Bulls                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
 
The Bulls brings us to our halfway point in the league standings and it starts to show a turning point in the league. Houston is the last team with a positive goal differential, even so it is only by one goal. while there are plenty of point producing talented players on this roster, many still have a negative plus minus; for example, Milk Jugs is their main offensive defenseman with 35 points including 18 goals, yet they are -16 so far in the season. Their main goal scorer is winger Anze Miklavz, whose 20 goals already put him on pace to far exceed his last season total of 42. This strong growth also shows why the Riga Reign was willing to use their 15th overall pick to select him in the S78 VHL draft. Their go-to goalie is Aike van Giersbergen, a solid tender who has shown great consistency over his VHLM career with his save percentage only varying by 0.002 during his 3 seasons in the league. This makes it easy to see why the Wolves decided to take him at 6th overall in the draft last season. Breaking from the standard format a little bit, I have managed to use my connections to get you an exclusive look in on the Bulls with their assistant general manager Mistxh J.
 
1.What would you say the team's biggest strongsuit is so far?
 
"I truly believe our greatest strong suit is our resiliency, we have been consistently making the playoffs without too many losses and we are always capable of creating a great squad and locker room for everyone, new or old to the league, learn as much as they can, development is big in Houston."
 
2.Who is the team's leader in the locker room?
 
"Our team leader definitely has to be our Brick Wall goalie, Aike Van Giersbergen aka enigmatic, she has been with us for couple seasons and really leads the team from between the pipes."
 
3.What does the team struggle with the most?
 
"Our biggest struggle would probably be on the defensive side, we are lacking depth on that side but the players we do have are absolutely amazing and have been working really hard to make up for that weakness, the same can be said for our forward squad who are constantly scoring when they have to which helps disguise the fact that we even are struggling in any way."
 
4.Who do you think the team's best prospect is on the ice right now?
 
"To answer your last question our we actually have 2 top prospects, Anze Miklavz, aka McKelvie, and Milk Jugs, aka NerdyCowz. Obviosuly our Goalie Aike is up there as well but Miklavz and Jugs have just unreal for us. Anze is such a prolific scorer and is just so talented in the offensive that he truly transformed our attacking game. As for Milk Jugs, I mean he is just the best 2 way defenseman there is, he is capable of doing anything you need on both ends of the ice and has a remarkable 200 foot game."
 
7. Philadelphia Reapers                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
 
The Reapers are #7 in the league currently, and if you thought that the storm had an offensive d-corps, then take a look at Philadelphia. They have 3 with over 30 points and 2 of those have double digit goals. The standout here being Vasiliy Grigorev who has 32 points and scores on astounding 24% of shots. Not to mention he has only taken 4 penalties in 20 games and this makes him one of the elite offensive defenseman of the league. Their main goal scorer is the excellent Genghis Khan, a hard hitting winger that is adept at letting the defensemen feed him goals. Currently after 27 games, Khan has 23 goals and is on pace to eclipse his 103 point previous season. Their top prospect according to rjfryman's draft power rankings is Taylor Mourning, a solid winger whose rock solid development has put him high up on many draft boards. The Reapers have two goalies that share roughly equal time. First is the more experienced Luke Spinelli, a solid goal tender with slightly lower stats but a slightly better record when compared to his partner Tobias Reinhart. Spinelli has a respectable 0.880 save percentage and a 2.95 goals against average. However, Tobias Reinhart has a slightly higher 0.902 and only a 2.62 goals against average. Only time will tell which goalie will eek their way into the full time spot or if they will both continue to split shifts through out the season.
 
8. Ottawa Lynx                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
 
Ottowa brings us to what I have coined "The Gap". The number 7 team, the Philadelphia Reapers, are currently 18 points away from the number 1 team, the Halifax 21st. Meanwhile, the Lynx are 17 points behind 7th place. A look at their team composition gives us some insight as to why. What I believe is the main reason is their goaltending. Before the Lynx, every team has had a goalie with near or over 200 TPE. However, this is not sustainable for the entire league as there is not a high enough turnover rate to supply a veteran goalie to every team before they are pulled up to the VHL. Given that fact, Jacob Rask has done an admirable job of holding down the pipes so far. In only his second season and with only 132 TPE, he has put up a 0.864 save percentage so far after 19 starts. As I am writing this, Ottawa has just traded the 2 top players I was planning on putting here. Both center Jlloyoid Blloyoiderson and Kirby Pandora, their leaders in goals, assists, and points have been traded to the Halifax 21st in exchange for a 4th round pick next season and a 1st and 2nd round pick in the Season 80 Draft. This move puts them on a course to rebuild for the next two seasons and make a move in season 80 with two 1st round and two second round draft picks. Before this development, I had placed Ottawa on an upward trajectory but now we will just have to wait and see how the future pans out for them.
 
This brings us to our wrap up where in three weeks time we can tune in next time and see whats changed, how my predictions have gone, and finally get to our last few teams that we still have to cover on our look into the M.
 
 

1. What has been your most memorable moment since joining the league?
Winning the Founder's Cup in my first year
 
2. What is your favorite thing to do after a win?
Big team dinner with the boys! 
 
3. What do you do to reflect after a loss?
Watch tape and consult with the coaches on parts of that game that I can improve on.
 
4. Are you happy about the selection of Nicholas Mariani ( @Mistxh J) as team captain?
He deserves it! 
 
5. How do you feel about the 0-2 record we have with Yukon?
We're not far enough into the season yet to worry about our win-loss record against specific teams, I think. Lots of runway to season 78 left.
 
6. Inside the Fish Tank is back after a small hiatus! Have you had the chance to listen to the latest podcast yet?
Not yet!

Hey folks, just so you know no one asked for this. I just feel responsible.
 
First of all, shoutout to this joker: https://twitter.com/TicTacTOmar/status/1392316285019623424
 
 
Second of all:
 
 
SUCK IT LEAFSNET
 
And finally - Another shoutout to the haters and the doubters, namely a few people in discord that I won't name but you probably know who they are. Guess what Quik, my friggin prediction was right, and I'm getting that friggin TPE. 
 
And ya know what, Imma be humble. It was a great series to watch and the Leafs played their hearts out. I hope Matthews finally shaves the dead squirrel off his lip (I did appreciate his demeanor in the handshake line tho)
 
 
@JigglyGumballs @PatrikLaine
ya goin down mate
 

Hey please look at your messages for the discord link to our team locker room 👊🏻