Advantage

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.

1. I am pretty surprised Malmo is as bad as we are despite the additions in the offseason. 2. Relaxing with the wife and dog. Maybe at a cottage near a lake or something like that. 3. Oh gosh wrong guy answering that...how about this...the next album you should listen to is the first one you ever loved. --- 1. Favourite season of the year? 2. I have always believed that as a pokemon I am clearly a Snorlax in real life...which one do you relate to? 3. Who do you see being the most improved team in the VHL next season?

HALL OF FAME SNUBBERY OVER THE YEARS Hello Victory Hockey League, I really had no idea what I wanted to do with this theme week. The first thing that admittedly came to mind was the one Aidan Shaw Trophy that I felt Brick Wahl should have won, which was due to a GM actually admitting that he didn’t pay attention when casting his vote. But honestly, I didn’t really want to go on for 500 words on something like that and quickly transitioned to my position on the Board of Governors. I witness a lot of “snubs” in that forum due to us being the ones who vote on VHL Awards and what I will be talking about today, the VHL Hall of Fame. One of the parts I take the most pride in as a member of the Board of Governors is the VHL Hall of Fame. Over the years we have made many inductions that were pretty obvious and really were inevitable when you consider the magnitude of their careers. Thomas O’Malley…..Aidan Shaw……Brick Wahl…..okay the last one was pretty arguable and hardly inevitable but you knew I was going to get that flex in somewhere. There have been a few players I really have pushed for that took a little more time to get inducted or were receiving next to no attention at one point, and there have also been players that I didn’t really consider until others dropped in with the cold hard facts supporting a deserved and frankly far overdue induction. That’s what I will be focusing on with this article, so let’s get into it. Alexander Sauve was a player that was inducted just after I became a member of the Board of Governors and I remember being fairly involved in pushing for him to be inducted. Sauve was drafted 1st overall in Season 13 and retired after Season 19. However, it wasn’t until the Class of Season 34 that we saw Sauve get inducted. This one sadly was partially a complete overlook where Sauve was never put on the ballot in years prior to be being part of the BOG and then once he was on it, seemed to get overlooked due to a different era resulting in a pretty contrasting style to the now high-scoring VHL. Sauve finished his career with 607 points in 506 games and fell just 9 blocked shots short of the 1000-1000 club with 1080 hits and 991 blocked shots. Sauve’s only individual success was a Sterling Labatte Trophy in Season 15, but he was on several strong teams as their number one defense, winning Continental Cups in both S18 and S19. Of course, I can’t speak about this topic and not mention the most prolific long-time snub to eventually get in the Hall of Fame. Mathias Chouinard was a player drafted in the famed Season 18 Draft and went on to have an incredible career that was sadly cut short a little early. In 434 career games, Mathias Chouinard recorded a remarkable 624 points and while that puts him well outside the top-100 all-time in points, one cannot ignore the legendary status of his offensive accomplishments given the limited amount of games. The lack of games was the whole reason he found himself off the ballot, but finally in Season 68, the BOG not only had taken another look but had decided that it was long overdue to see Chouinard get recognized. Finishing a three-time Continental Cup winner in Season 24 and Season 25, Chouinard led the league in points in Season 24, was an All-Star in every season except for his rookie one and most importantly won the Gordie Howe Trophy (since renamed Daisuke Kanou Trophy, for Playoff MVP) during Calgary’s Season 23 Championship run.

Viktor Jensen sat down with the media to discuss the improvements in his game, his spike in production and what parts of his game he would like to work on. “It’s been nice to see some of my hard work show. I’ve been really happy with my ability to produce but it’s honestly been my face off improvements that I take the most pride in. I was horrible in the VHLM on draws and last year I was sub 50% almost every game, so to see things go the opposite direction is really encouraging.” Jensen has shown strong improvement with 50 points in 54 games (currently a 67 point pace) but unfortunately the Nighthawks have not really seen the same success throughout the rest of the lineup. So what does Jensen feel he needs to work on to help the Nighthawks reach the new level? “I really feel I need to improve on my finishing ability and my overall ability to skate. I will continue to work on my draw taking but it’s also my work and positioning in the defensive zone that I have to focus on as well.” As the Malmo Bighthawks enter the final stretch of the season, Viktor Jensen will try and take another step and help them finish out their season as strong as possible.

I’m aware but I’m not turning 7 votes with the incredibly limited shit I know.

I’ll VOTE EAGLES since if he’s town it will at least confirm that omg isn’t.

The only thing I can really share is Eagles and You are opposing factions. Otherwise I’m hoping to find out a little more tonight.

I don’t really have too much info I can reveal yet. That being said, I will continue to seek more and share once I have some.

True. Vote @Advantage!

Sign me up!

1. I don't really think so but I do think it having an effect on how your player plays would be fair. I kinda enjoy that it doesnt seem to though as it allows our members to be really creative with how they build their players. 2. Probably Kimmel although admittedly I'm not a big late night guy and most of the podcasts I listen to are not really hockey related. 3. I try to a bit. I admittedly have always been more of an observer in discord LRs typically, but thats just cause I'm not often able to be on so it can be hard to have a conversation when I am only occasionally on for a few minutes at a time. But I still contribute most days and its usually related to the sims. --- 1. If you could choose the theme week for this year's deadline, what would you choose to do? 2. Your VHL player has a chance to join a major movie franchise. What one is he hoping to do the most? 3. Give a shoutout to one person in the league that you like a lot in this league? I will start it off by shouting out @BOOM who I have known for a number of years and have enjoyed speaking to you on forum and off about the VHL, football leagues but more importantly life. He's an awesome dude and has always been incredibly likable. Hope to one day visit him and meet the man in the flesh.

JENSEN EXCELLING DESPITE NIGHTHAWKS' STRUGGLES The Malmo Nighthawks currently sit tied for fifth in the European Conference Standings, despite being hyped throughout the off-season for the significant moves they made to improve their squad (especially up front). While their goaltender, Ash Sparks, has once again been excellent for the Swedish club, sporting a .928 SV% and 2.29 GAA, it has been their offense that has unfortunately held the team back. Malmo sits sixth in the European Conference for Goals Scored and tenth overall in the entire Victory Hockey League. Despite Malmo's early struggles at times offensively, Viktor Jensen has certainly not shown any sophomore slump whatsoever. The Norweigan forward has recorded 5 goals and 21 points in 16 games while also sporting a faceoff percentage above 55%. Jensen looks poised to easily surpass his numbers last year, where he finished with just 12 goals and 33 points in the 72 game campaign. However, a lot of criticism has come from his play that it is likely unsustainable, and one anonymous VHL Management member had this to say about his improvement: "I don't buy it this quickly. He could get there one day but I think once that top line gets going again, Jensen probably falls back and finishes around 50 or so points. Nothing wrong with that but he hasn't a 80+ point guy yet...not even close."

Tzesar gonna take overrrrrrrrrrrrr

Claiming Week 4 of 4

Ah my bad. When looking at the player page that definitely confused me. My apologies.

Honestly, given how my last few players have gone, I'm sure people will catch me in no time lol

Reviewing the S89 VHL Draft's 1st Round Using TPE As a member of the Season 89 VHL Draft Class, I have specifically been keeping an eye on how some of the other members have been doing since being selected. Part of that is to see where I stand compared to my peers and also part of it is due to having two other teammates who were selected in the 1st Round alongside me. So I have a special interest, to be sure, when it comes to how our draft's prospects are developing. Therefore, I decided to specifically look at the players that had been selected in the 1st Round of the Season 89 Draft. Now this was a draft that received some criticism for not having a lot of elite talent and also for not necessarily being particularly deep. In fact, at the time of the draft it seemed to be all about Jensen and Queefson with everyone else falling a bit further behind them. However, as this list below will show, this narrative as not necessarily continued on, and while one player does seem to be staying fairly ahead of the rest of the pack (okay, so obviously I have a bit of bias here..) there were definitely some real gems that ended up coming out of the first round. 1st Round of Season 89 (Organized by TPE) 1 -- Viktor Jensen (578 TPE - +230 Since Draft, Selected 1st @Advantage) 2 -- Montgomery Burns (501 TPE - +201 Since Draft, Selected 3rd @LastOneUp) 3 -- Jeff Lewis (489 TPE - +235 Since Draft, Selected 10th @nerji) 4 -- Zyn Westwood (446 TPE - +174 Since Draft, Selected 5th @Sullvino) 5 -- Eric Queefson (441 TPE - +104 Since Draft, Selected 2nd @twists) 6 -- Shubham Anand (440 TPE - +217 Since Draft, Selected 13th @Will3) 7 -- Fradin McGryer (435 TPE - +204 Since Draft, Selected 4th @Fradin99) 9 -- Ronald Johnson MacWallace III (420 TPE - +196 Since Draft, Selected 7th @RJMW) 9 -- Keegan Gamble (408 TPE - +217 Since Draft, Selected 11th @Keegan Gamble) 10 -- Pope Francis (402 TPE - +105 Since Draft, Selected 8th @nurx) 11 -- Savaisk Tzesar (401 TPE - +194 Since Draft, Selected 12th @comrade cat) 12 -- Ben Laas (389 TPE - +169 Since Draft, Selected 6th @dustywilson22) 13 -- Otis Boudreaux Jr (383 TPE - +153 Since Draft, Selected 9th @Otis Boudreaux Jr) 14 -- Dominik Kopecky (272 TPE - +86 Since Draft, Selected 15th @DustyMclaren) 15 -- Marty Byrd (260 TPE - +106 Since Draft, Selected 16th @Marty B) 16 -- Tobias Weiss (258 TPE - +44 Since Draft, Selected 14th @jfaly) Best Pick: Jeff Lewis (10th - Moscow) - Pretty hard to argue with this one. Jeff Lewis has developed the most since the Draft, even more so than Viktor Jensen, who has gained on the rest of the pack when it comes to development. Lewis, who is making his VHL debut this season, is coming off a season with Cologne that saw the young Canadian record 30 goals and 79 points over the course of the 72 game season. A real gem here for Moscow and this sturdy short king seems to have the stuff to keep finding success at the professional level. Honourable Mention: Shubham Anand (13th - Calgary) - This Indian-born winger has had the third best development track since the draft and is returning for his second, and likely final, season in the VHLE. Last year saw Anand have a bit of an up-and-down year as he was involved in a trade that saw Geneva send the young winger to Vasteras, who had been struggling greatly as a team. Anand would finish the season with 17 goals, 40 points and 106 hits over the 71 game season, which was a respectable though unspectacular total compared to someone like Lewis who was picked just three picks before. With that being said, we are betting on a bit of an improvement this season for Anand and while the results have not necessarily been there, his overall game has noticeabley improved with Anand showing the ability to round into an all-around player.

Claiming Week 3 of 4

I’m good with that if you are. Doubt anyone would mind since it’s typically first come first serve.

@Victor if anyone else is able to take Dil on, I think it would be for the best. I might have a bit of trouble getting it done over the next couple of weeks so feel free if anyone else wants to get it done quicker.

1. I really think my team, the Malmo Nighthawks, had an amazing off-season, but to give you someone else...I liked Moscow's off-season a fair bit (despite being overrated slightly by Spartan). 2. Hoping for 20 Goals and 50 Points at a minimum. Would love to have a true breakout year and get near the point-per-game territory. 3. Hoping for myself but I think Tzesar is due for a breakout year as he enters into the VHLE. He looked really comfortable in the VHLM last year as he improved greatly on the year prior, and I think he takes another step this year. --- 1. You win 1 Million Dollars in the Lottery...how do you deal with that influx in cash? 2. Who would you take with 1st overall in VHFL this season? 3. You can change one award winner from last season. Who is it and why?

Tremendous pick!! Congrats @Doomsday!

Sparks: Shutout vs CGY: 54/54 Shutout vs SEA: 25/25 Shutout vs HSK: 23/23 Shutout vs VAN: 24/24 Shutout vs LDN: 29/29 Shutout vs WAR: 35/35 Shutout vs LAS: 31/31 Shutout vs RIG: 29/29 Shutout vs PRG: 23/23 273 Saves in 9 Shutouts 30.33 per Game During Regular Season averaged 35.61 Shots against per Game Wallob: Shutout vs VAN: 40/40 Shutout vs MAL: 23/23 Shutout vs SEA: 17/17 Shutout vs DC: 38/38 Shutout vs LDN: 47/47 165 Saves in 5 Shutouts 33.00 per Game During Regular Season averaged 36.78 Shots against per Game I definitely don't regret picking Wallob as my winner as I do think he ultimately had the better overall season, but I am curious to see if a points system breaks more ground in the BOG with some discussion.