Advantage

This week was Theme Week so while I have been mainly taking advantage of our welfare and pension system of late, I thought I would power up my phone and type out a 500 word article to earn a little bit extra this week.  The topic of “All Star” is an interesting one…cause frankly the whole notion of All Star Events in real sports has become rather stale and I think in some ways that’s what we saw in the VHL in the past.  People didn’t really care too much about it so it ultimately went mostly unnoticed. With that being said, I have always thought it would be an interesting way to bring in some different style of content.  Therefore, this article will cover a couple of ways I think the league could bring forth the All Star Game again, but add a twist to it to bring some popularity back to it.  Disclaimer: I don’t like all of these ideas.  But some I’ve seen around and some I just feel like would be obvious ways people want to tweak it.  

Idea 1: Make it Worth TPE
This is the obvious one that people would bring up and I don’t fully dislike the idea.  Granted I would probably only want to see 1 TPE for getting nominated because any more than that just frankly just makes the rich much richer.  Most probably wouldn’t support this ultimately (or at least those in charge) but I do think TPE will always convince some people to pay a little more attention to it and obviously that is important. 

Idea 2: Visibility is Everything
This is my main focus because I am a sucker for things like career resumes and accomplishment pages full of statistics, accolades and awards.  Adding All Star Game participation would give a lot more players some things to showcase in there which incidentally is a good thing for member morale.  While not everyone cares about that stuff, as someone who does, I think it actually would be a big addition for some to make them care more. 

Idea 3: NA vs World
While unlikely, I always thought this could be a fun way to present the ASG.  Would be a tough one but I’d be curious to see how the teams differ with this format and maybe we would see some national pride involved to bring in more of a rivalry. 
 

Idea 4: Ways to Present The Game
The obvious way is through STHS and while we could tweak that and put a lot of work into one on a NHL game or something like that, I do think that’s a lot of work, for a one game presentation it can be a very popular way to present the games. Id also like to see a fresh take in how to present it.  Add a 1 TPE reward for anyone who shows up during the stream and partakes in the chat and maybe present it on twitch or through a different platform. Put it on the front page of the portal and showcase it everywhere and you should see an uptick in interest.

11 hours ago, Fire Tortorella said:

• What are my goals with this player? Honestly - no idea. I know there's a lot of back and forth about if Checking is even useful or if the penalty minutes it generates are too much of a downside but I think I'm going for more of a two-way D build rather than a traditional VHL offensive defenseman. The upside of this player is likely to be "solid" since my days of earning max TPE, donations, etc... are way over.
• Daily reminder to get @eaglesfan036to update weekly and not do his once a season large update
• Do we still do word filters/word changes? Traded, FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY, etc...
• Eaglesfan brought up an old memory about Munk - I don't remember what it was that made me think of this, but one of my favorite old VHL memories was when some combination of  @Jericho@Advantage@Devise found out Brovy's/Metis's (don't know what his username is or if he even had one on this site) password because it was something simple like "password" or "abc123".
• Old things that I do not miss:
  • Manually posting the individual game threads
  • Manually creating the official roster pages for newly created players
  • Going 3+ days without sims - pretty sure this site would burn to the ground if that happened again

It was Kesler at the time and @Jericho figured it out because I believe Kesler told him it for some reason.  
 

The password I’m pretty sure was just his username (Kesler). 

Day 1000

Day 9!

Day 7!

Day 6!

Say 5

Hey all!!!!

Merci

Yessssss Day 2

sure

Hello here is Post 1!

20 minutes ago, badcolethetitan said:

 

1) I'm assuming this is theme week, but I'd like to hear about if people were a GM for a day, what would they do.

2) I probably would listen. I don't know how much, but I'd tune in here and there.

3) I would probably end up buying a jersey from a NHL team, but a completely random team and random player.

 

Q1) What is your favorite NHL team?

Q2) Do you have anything planned over Christmas?

Q3) Do you have any pets, if so what kind? If you don't have any pets, would you want to get one?

1. Habs. Always been my team. 
2. Just spending time with the family at home.  Nothing fancy. 
3. 2 dogs. One golden retriever and the other a black lab.  
 

—-

1. Favourite Christmas movie?

2. Any traditions you always need to keep alive during the Holidays?

3. Gun to your head….who wins the Continental Cup this season?

                     VHL Portal: League’s Greatest Recruiter (and Retainer)

I have to say….the Blue Team did not come up with a topic that I was looking forward to write about for theme week.  I know…”Advantage, you are being the spitting image of the whole meme around theme week topics.”  I just honestly had no idea what to write about.  My impact in recruiting is long past my glory days there where I was on several online message boards and other forums pulling for affiliates and mentions, just to maybe scrape up a few players for whatever football league was starting after the last one closed down a week prior.  Those who did these leagues understand…the longest one ran about two or three years maybe at most (this is prior to the EFL and other ones that I am speaking on). Ultimately, bringing the members in wasn’t even always the hard part.  Sometimes it was just difficult to make it incredibly easy for a new member.  “Retention” is the word we use and it is just as important as recruiting itself, if not far more crucial to the health and longevity of a league. This word rings true for me in my inspiration for this article as I want to talk about the major reason I stayed when I was recruited back to join the league some time ago.  That reason….is the VHL Portal.

There was a time not that long ago where the VHL seemed like a dying league that just wasn’t able to recruit or retain enough members to have a sustainable league.  We contracted in the VHL and the Board of Governors seemed full of doom and gloom to go along with some pettiness and arguing. It was not a bright time in our league history, and I left it all behind thinking the VHL probably wouldn’t see Season 70, much less Season 90. When I think back on those times and what changed from now to then, I see a more committed recruitment team for quite some time, and a lot of organization running the VHL and VHLM while the league was trying to find its footing again.  However, I believe the one thing that changed it all was the VHL Portal. 
 

The Portal was an idea I had first heard about when Devise was discussing the concept prior to the Admins or BOG even discussing it.  The principle was making tasks to earn TPE “as easy as the click of a button.”  It was bold and a very jarring difference from what I was certainly used to.  Not updating on the forum or claiming practice facility by posting “+1” or “+2”…what a foreign idea!  Honestly though, it changed everything as far as I can tell.  

The VHL has been better off since the change and even as its own dedicated member base that claim consistent TPE every week and barely post weekly on the actual forums.  Some argue this is a bad thing, and there point is fair.  Posting on the forums is certainly down with not only the Portal changes but also the move to Discord.  With that being said, the VHL had to adapt with the times or be left behind.  The Portal was just an added bonus that separates itself from the other leagues, who frankly have far inferior updating and claiming systems (no shade intended but truth is the truth). 

So with that being said, I hope you enjoyed my little media spot on recruitment and why the VHL Portal has not only been the leagues biggest recruiter since it was created, it has also been its greatest retainer. 
 

**I tried with formatting…did this on my cellphone**

Eno is a fine choice as well certainly. No issue supporting that either.  

So...I would generally agree with the opinion that Lavelle and Payne should be inducted in this class. I also would personally back rjfryman for builder, as he certainly deserves an induction and he's removed from the league in a way where he wouldn't necessarily be continuing to build that legacy any longer.

I decided to do a little analysis of the new additions:

Ronan Lavelle (8 Seasons)
Goals: 1st,3rd,5th
Assists: 3rd
Points: 1st,1st,6th,7th,8th
Hits: 2nd,8th

Brian Payne (8 Seasons)
Assists: 3rd,4th,5th,6th,10th
SB: 4th,4th,8th

Defensemen Scoring: 3rd,4th,4th,5th,5th,8th

Bo Johansson (8 Seasons)
Assists: 1st,2nd,3rd,4th,5th,5th,6th
Points: 6th
SB: 1st,5th
Defensemen Scoring: 1st,4th,4th,6th,7th,7th,9th

Hammar Voss (7 Seasons)
Assists: 1st,6th
Points: 5th
SB: 4th
Defensemen Scoring: 2nd,2nd,3rd,4th

Lavelle, Payne and Johansson certainly stick out here.  Lavelle was an absolute monster and finished in the top eight in points in five of his eight seasons during his VHL career.  Brian Payne really stands out for me as for a guy with over 2000 hits and 1300 blocked shots, I cannot believe that he finished in the top-ten in assists on five occasions and was top-eight in defensemen scoring six times.  That is ridiculous versatility that cannot be messed with and for my money, Payne is one of the best well-rounded defenders in the history of the VHL.  Johansson, meanwhile, is one of the best playmakers and play drivers in league history.  In seven of his eight VHL seasons, Johansson finished in the top-six in assists and he found his way into the defensemen scoring top-ten in those same seasons as well.  Johansson even added some solid blocked shot finishes, showing he wasn't just an offensive dynamo, although that certainly what makes up a significant majority of his argument.

I think Bo Johansson is a worthy Hall of Fame player and will most certainly find his way in (and I dont think it will take very long) as to me he actually is a bit of a legendary career in some ways.  As @Victor already pointed out, Johansson is fourth all-time in assists behind Scotty Campbell (the Wayne Gretzky of our league), Japinder Singh (a top-10 defenseman ever and a Hall of Famer) and Sterling Labatte (the first legendary VHL defenseman).  While some may find Singh and Labatte being ahead a bit of a knock on Johansson, it shouldn't be given both are Hall of Famers and Bo never benefitted from the Season 20 offensive juggernaut of a season like Singh did, or play nine seasons in the VHL like Labatte did.  His case is shut and sealed and just awaits votes in a future season (which will inevitably come as far as I'm concerned).

As for who I would remove, I think we actually need to make a bit of a sweeping removal here.  I personally think it's time for Holik to bite the dust on the ballot.  10+ seasons on the ballot and while he has received a single vote in three different seasons, we are now over five seasons removed from the last time he received one.  Nilsson needs to go as well, in my opinion, with 6+ seasons on the ballot and just one vote.  I don't think his overall resume really stacks up (he was never voted a top two defenseman in the league and only once was voted as a top four defender, in the season that defines his entire career (Season 81), but it just simply is not enough.  Atreides should go as well.  While some may think that is a little bit harsh, there are three forwards that are not Ronan Lavelle, that have better chances of making it than Atreides at this point, and that list will not get any smaller as new classes come in.  He has had five seasons and has received one vote, and really I think his chances are pretty much gone.  Finally, I would also move to remove Reinhart for similar reasons.  They have had five seasons on the ballot and have received one vote, and there are multiple players, who will not get inducted this season, that are ahead in probability of making the Hall of Fame.  

While for some might be too many removals, that would leave us with eight names on the ballot after the two players get inducted.  And of course, we would be adding more in future seasons to go on this list.  I feel like an easy way to monitor this is to take a look at the five season mark for players on it, and that is how I chose to do it.

8 hours ago, Greg_Di said:

3 Questions

1. Christmas is coming up fast, what is your usual Christmas tradition?

2. Will you be going away for the holiday season or staying at home this year?

3) What is one sport that you would like to learn and become good at?

1. It changes a bit here and there but we always do a movie list for November and December. 
 

2. Staying at home.  My job requires me here sadly as much as I’d love to go somewhere warmer. 
 

3. I would say golf for sure.  I love the sport but never was good at it. 
 

—-

1. Biggest guilty pleasure when it comes to music?

2. Are you happy with the play of your current player this year?

3. I mainly collect sports memorabilia.  Is there anything you collect or would like to start collecting if not?

MY VHFL TEAM THUS FAR (PART 1 - FORWARDS)

Hello Victory Hockey League, I hope everyone is doing well on this fine Sunday evening.  When thinking about what I wanted to write I ultimately decided to turn towards something that I have looked forward to just about every year…..the VHFL.  The Victory Hockey Fantasy League is something I like to think I usually decently in (top two both of the last two seasons…woo) but more I just enjoy the fantasy sports side of things.  Every March, I am counting down the days until I get to start up my Keeper Baseball League that I have been doing for almost a decade now.  And that is a similar (although admittedly lesser) feeling to what I feel every single time we start up the VHFL.  Therefore, I wanted to use this article to look at the forwards that I selected this off-season and get an update on just how well they are performing at the moment.

John Jameson (Current Pace: 56 G, 52 A, 108 P, 311 Hits)

John Jameson was my first pick in the draft and I couldn’t be happier with how he is performing this year, as without even checking I can safely assume he is one of the best fantasy producers so far.  Not only is he on pace for over fifty goals and one-hundred points, but he is also an incredible physical presence, and currently sits fourth in the league with ninety-five hits over the first twenty-two games of the season.  While Jameson has definitely played an important role in Prague’s decent start to the season, it sadly has really hurt them that they are in the European Conference.  While they would sit third if they were in the North American Conference, they instead sit in sixth in the European due to it’s incredible depth, with just four points separating second and sixth.

Daryl Dixon (Current Pace: 38 G, 69 A, 107 P, 197 Hits)

Daryl Dixon has been a playmaking extraordinaire this season, sitting in the top ten for assists and being on pace for almost an assist-per-game and also being on a one-hundred point (and then some) pace.  While Dixon has not been quite as physically dominant as Jameson has been, I have been happy to see Dixon still being a huge fantasy producer with a nearly two-hundred hit pace to go along with the dominating offense.  Dixon has helped pace the Titans to the third best record in the European Conference, at 14-8-1.

Tomas Sogaard (Current Pace: 39 G, 29 A, 68 P, 321 Hits)

I took Sogaard because I hoped he could return to something even close to his prime.  While his offense has fallen a little short of my expectations (albeit thirty-nine goals and sixty-eight points as his pace is actually really good) I have been thrilled to see how physical he has been, and considering he was my last forward selection, I have no regrets on this pick at all.  He has been significant throughout a lot of Toronto’s twelve wins, but the team does find themselves in fourth place (albeit a distant ten points back of second). While Sogaard’s current pace would have him producing the least amounts of points of his VHL Career, that seems more of an example of just how consistently elite he has been over the years and why he is a first-ballot Hall of Fame player guaranteed.  
 

BIG OL DOINKS

Hello VHL, this little two-pointer is coming from my own experiences as of late.  I’ve honestly felt really good during this players career, pretty much right up until the end of our disappointing season last year.

Since last season, I have sadly felt pretty tired and a bit distant from the league.  This is mainly due to real life rearing it’s sadly complicated and very poverty-inducing ways.  At the same time, I haven’t had the same interest in writing articles consistently.  I have debated going back to the podcast route or maybe just try and cook a long ass article to only have to write once every three or four weeks.  Honestly though, I’m not sure what I’ll do but for now, I have been just trying to get my TPE in as much as possible before hopefully stumbling on some inspiration again. 

By no means will I stop earning though.  I’ve still enjoyed this run so far and want it to be ultimately as strong as possible, in hopes to building to potentially an even better next time around (if I decide to go that route of course).  But now that y’all have listened to me ramble, feel free to give me some ideas if you have any for different media spot ideas as I can’t seem to keep one that I like. 

Viktor Jensen: A First Person’s Reflection of My Career So Far

Viktor Jensen here. It hasn’t been an easy start to my career, but I can honestly say that I wouldn’t change a single choice I ever made. Now, I am here to reflect on my career thus far and give you my thoughts on the beginning of the season for myself. 

Starting my career with Mississauga was honestly not the easiest start to my career. After a slow start with just 3 points in 16 games, I played horrible in my first ever playoff run and was booed off the ice after a late turnover cost the team a win.  But Houston was truly where I would find my footing.  It was such a fun year with a great group of guys and obviously my production was far better as I was able to fit in on a great team with some strong players.  While we ultimately didn’t reach our expected goal of doing more damage in the Founders Cup Playoffs, I can’t say enough about how that year helped me develop into the player that I have become today. 

Ultimately, after being selected 1st Overall by the Malmo Nighthawks, I chose to skip the VHLE and go straight to the VHL.  Part of me wonders if that was the best decision as playing a huge role on a VHLE team could have been really fun for one year, but ultimately I would play out a seventy-two game season in Malmo.  

My first season was challenging despite a decent start. I recorded 33 points in 72 games and was terrible in the defensive zone and the faceoff circle throughout the year, as the team struggled to reach the expectations they had going into the season. 

Last year though is where I felt I took a massive leap. I really worked hard on my skating, defensive play and my overall strength and I saw a pretty large impact on my performance.  42 assists and 60 points was really exciting considering this was my first chance to really adjust to my strengths and weaknesses at the highest level. I also felt I took strides in my own end, filling passing lanes more effectively and in the dot, where I won more than I lost over the course of the season. However, as a team we were definitely expecting to be a strong team, but fell short of the playoffs and sadly had to surrender up a top pick after we had moved it a couple seasons prior. 

Coming into this season, I was really hoping to take another step offensively and play effectively in every situation. We also really wanted to rebound and reach the playoffs at the bare minimum, but hopefully be good enough to make some noise. 

So far, I have recorded 5 goals and 11 points over 10 games but I feel like I have been fairly inconsistent in performance and effort over the course of the season so far.  I haven’t been nearly good enough and the whole team knows this already, but I am doing everything I can to improve on my own level of play so I can lead by example. 

Transaction ID: 16536871YY0034808

1M Player Store

5 Uncapped

Doubles Week

Update on Me, Jensen This Off-Season

Hey everyone, this week I kinda wanted to keep it a bit low key and just give everyone an update on me and what is next for Viktor Jensen, after he finished his second season in the VHL.  

First off, I have been a bit quiet lately as I took a couple of weeks off this off-season to just refocus as we were going through some tough stuff at home.  Just wanted to use this part of this article to say that I am certainly back and I am definitely feeling good again to kick off Viktor Jensen’s third campaign in the Victory Hockey League.

Jensen showed tremendous improvement from his first to his second year, going from an okay underaged season with 12 goals and 33 points to a much-improved playmaking version with 18 goals and 42 assists for 60 points in his sophomore 72 game season.  It was an interesting improvement but one that I had originally planned for as I wanted Jensen to be more playmaking oriented, but I haven’t necessarily worked on improving his passing to shooting ratio, so I was expecting him to score a lot more than he would assist on.

This off-season has been all about the finer details as I am focusing his development on skating, defense and faceoffs.  While Jensen will be an offensive contributor, I want him to be able to cover for some of our high-scoring young wingers by being as sound defensively as possible and giving them as many faceoff wins as possible to control possession of the puck.  

At the same time though, I do recognize several areas of weakness in his game that his development will focus on as we move on in the future.  As of now he shows exceptional strength, is a good skater and can handle the puck at a high level.  He has been solid on faceoffs throughout his career but hasn’t really taken that next step as an offensive threat, only scoring one special teams goal all last season, and going through multiple inconsistent stretches that saw the young Norwegian go silent on the scoreboard.  I even read one article that suggested that Jensen, “get used to being an accomplice among stars if he ever wants to be successful, as he doesn’t possess the scoring chops to truly drive a line.”  This is why I really will look towards the offensive side of things once I get the finer details mentioned above, to a point that I am happy with.  That being said, I don’t expect Jensen to ever develop on a physical side of the game.  He isn’t going to be going out there trying to take people’s heads off, and will likely be more a positional defensive player as opposed to a brute force option.

So I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the development of their own players! I think Jensen is off to a strong start and I really hope he can take that next step this year with some proper development on the right attributes.  More importantly, I am hopeful that we will see the Nighthawks get some results after a disappointing year that saw them miss the playoffs entirely.
 

Jensen Goes to the Spa on his Day Off  (Narrowly Avoids Injury)

Disclaimer: This may or may not be based in my real life experience this past weekend.  Take that as you will.

On his day off after a sweet victory this past weekend, Viktor Jensen decided to take a trip out to the local Scandinavian Spa.  Jensen, who is known as a frequent flyer at many different spa establishments, was visiting the local Nordik Spa in neighbouring Lund, Sweden.  And as he explained in a recent interview on the Spittin Chicklets Podcast, things got a little interesting for the sophomore center:

"Yeah, so the girl and I were heading down to the Hot Tub to restart our cycle, and this dude came up and shoved another patron into me and I was going head first in with my robe in toe.  I got out to see security grabbing this fool but I was really concerned.  Had I fallen any other direction I could be out some games with a rare VHL injury.  Thankfully, the VHL Gods were on my side and blessed our league's talent with another narrowly avoided injury.  Next time, I may stick to the spas in Malmo cause this one was a trashheap."

This reporter personally hopes that Jensen embraced some of that heat he fell into and help spawn some victories as the season begins to wrap up.