Will3

@LucyXpher I am thankful for the opportunity to work with you. You are an amazing GM and are only going to get better with time!

 

@ace_five_ You will be learning from a great leader. She has a lot to teach you. Take every opportunity to learn and you will be a brilliant manager in your own right.

 

 

To all my Halifax 21st friends, I am honored to have a hand in developing the future of the VHL. I have no doubt that a long overdue Founder's Cup is in the future of this organization and will cheer with you all for that day to come. I will look forward to my future opportunities and will always fondly remember my time in Halifax!

GG Saskatoon. It was a glorious series

I change my vote to apply

Answer 3 Questions for 1 Capped TPE

Answer 6 Questions for 2 Capped TPE

 

For week ending on May 5, 2024

 

1. After a great first round series against Philadelphia, we are down by two games. How do we get back into the series?

2.  What is your offseason plans for your player?

3. What is a playoff superstition your player practices?

4. Are you paying attention to the playoffs in other leagues?

5. Halifax has never won the Founder's Cup. Is it our year?

6. Is Ovechkin done after the playoff sweep?

15 hours ago, ke1vi said:

 

RIGA REIGN PRESS CONFERENCE

April 28th, 2024

1. How would you summarize this season? 

2. Don’t have any offseason plans for your player ?

3.  Will you be paying attention to other teams in the playoffs ?

4.  When will you start focusing on training for next season - anything in particular you’re going to focus on?

5. What’s your vision on the future of Riga with big management changes coming?

6. How are you finding the NHL playoffs so far?

1. An ok season for a rebuilding team. Hopefully get better next season.

2. Offseason tournament, maybe start a family.

3. Only Halifax 21st. 

4. Always today. Currently working on my defensive skills.

5. I believe that I earned a place in that vision, but I am likely to be traded for picks in a hard reset

6. I wish Washington would have had a bit more fight in them.

GG Philadelphia

Halifax looks good.

Answer 3 Questions for 1 Capped TPE

Answer 6 Questions for 2 Capped TPE

 

For week ending on April 28, 2024

 

1.With the season comming to a close, what do you hope to accomplish before the season ends?

2. Is the Founder's Cup a two horse race between Ottawa and us?

3. What teammate had been the most  have been the most underrated?

4. What team are you looking forward to playing in the playoffs?

5. What is a hobby outside of hockey that your player enjoys?

6. With the NHL Playoffs underway, who is your pick to win it all?

 

To claim TPE:

Go to the portal > Manage Player > Claim Capped > Type > Press Conference

 

 

 

0Welcome back to this article series that unites sim league hockey into a super league that is theoretically plausible but practically impossible. Last week, the two thirds of the WSH in North America was sorted out and arranged. Today, the European Conference will be explored as well as my plans for the VHLE. While all the teams in Europe come entirely from the VHL, I did pull from SHL history to name many of the teams. So this does unite both leagues as much as the pervious articles in this series. With that being said, it is time to see what the Old World has for hockey clubs.

A Hop Across the Pond

 

With the worst of the work finished with the conclusion of the North American teams, It was time to deal with the eight teams of the VHL's European Conference. Those teams are listed below.

 

HC Davos Dynamo (Switzerland)
Helsinki Titans
London United
Malmo Nighthawks (Sweden)
Prague Phantoms
Riga Reign (Baltic States)
Warsaw Predators

 

With no team from the SHL and needing even divisions, three expansion teams were needed. A similar look back in VHL history would be enough to find worthy cities and names. The WSH European Conference is listed below.

 

Berlin Steel
HC Davos Dynamo
Helsinki Titans
London United
Madrid Thunder
Malmo Mammoths
Moscow Menace
Paris Revolution
Prague Phantoms
Riga Reign
Warsaw Predators

 

The Berlin Steel and Paris Revolution were set to be inaugural clubs in the VHLE but were swaped out at the last minute during to potential copyright issues. (more on that league later) The branding has been mainstays in the Junior Showcase Tournament, but these franchises were ment to be so much more. Including them in this expansion restores what was taken away better than if they remained a part of the VHLE. The Madrid Thunder were a short lived VHL brand that some have asked for to return. The WSH would welcome the revival of the Thunder with a logo and color to recall the Buffalo Thunder, a similarly short term brand from the SHL. Thus the teams is a perfect fusion of both leagues, which is the point of this whole project. Malmo was rebranded because of the Hamilton Steelhawks as per Rule 5. I thought about rebranding Hamilton instead, but with a name perviously attach to Colorado that I believe works better than what I thought up for Hamilton, the Malmo Mammoths were born. Thus the major clubs were completed but my work was not done yet.

 

Changing The E

 

With the finish line in site, there was only one more league to work on. The Victory Hockey League Europe is an optional middle league between the VHLM and the VHL. It started with six teams quickly expanded to eight taking two franchise from the VHLM only to later contract back down to six where it stands today. At the highest of it's power the VHLE had the following teams.

 

Bratislava Watchmen 
Cologne Express
Geneva Rush
Istanbul Red Wolves
Oslo Storm
Rome Gladiators
Stockholm Vikings 
Vasteras Iron Eagles 

 

This league like the awkward middle child that doesn't get the love of it's younger or older siblings. Because I can relate, I expanded the E to fourteen teams under the new name World Simulation Hockey Minors (WSHM). The franchise of this league are listed below.

 

WSHM 

North Division 

 

Amstel Admiraal
Cologne Express
Glasgow Highlanders
Gothenburg War Boars
Oslo Storm
Stockholm Vikings
Vasteras Iron Eagles

 

South Division

 

Bern Royals
Bratislava Watchmen
Geneva Peace Keepers
Istanbul Inferno
Rome Gladiators
Syracuse Hydras
Toledo Scorpions

 

Each of the teams locations for the new teams are franchise that did exist in the in the VHL or VHLM except for Glasgow. Speaking of Glasgow, what better way to honor Scotland's proud military history than in Scotland itself. This team is why the Ottawa Lynx kept their name. Amsterdam had a team in the VHL's inaugural season. They were the Amstel Tijgers and being based on a real team is what killed the team. But remembering Dutch's history as a great naval power and invoking the memory of the SHL's Portland Admirals while keeping the Dutch spelling in tribute to the original team results in a perfect revival of a classic club. Gothenburg, Sweden had an early and brief VHLM franchise called the Eagles. With a simple revival out of the question due to nearby Vasteras having a too similar brand, I chose a brand based on Gulinbusti, a mystical boar from Nordic myth. It also gives the three Swedish teams a land, sea, and air synergy going on. The Bern Royals were a long standing VHLM team and current JST brand that was somehow forgotten when the VHLE began. Peace Keepers were a suggestion of my own for a rebrand of the Geneva Rush. With the Rush name back in Yukon where it belongs, this solid name is a tip of the had to one of the biggest employers in Geneva, the United Nations. And we finally have the Swiss rivalry that always should have existed in the VHLE at the start. The Istanbul Red Wolves was one of contracted teams I mentioned earlier.  (The other one was the Geneva Rush) Adding an alliterated name cast off from Atlanta to produce a brand that works, given the history of fires in that city.The Toledo Scorpions are a straight revival of an early VHLM team.The Syracuse Wolfpack were a brief VHLM franchise, that unfortunately for me shared a name with the SHL's New England Wolfpack. So it was only fitting that I pulled from New England's history as the Hartford Hydras to fix this problem. This name brings to mind the great myths build around the Mediterranean Sea, of which Syracuse is a port city on.

 

Conclusion

 

I am thankful the the SHL has a rich history of team name to pull from. It made my life a whole lot easier especiallyin this part of the project. I would like to personally thank the individuals in both leagues who archive this history. It truly makes projects like this possible. Up next week is the full revised list of all the team in this project as it stands. But that might not be the conclusion of this series after all. With two expansion teams in the WSHJ and three in the WSH, I could do six team divisions within conferences in both leagues. So I did just that. I will be set to explain both the expansion franchises and the new divisions in part 5 of this series. But with that, this article is at an end. Let's get a conversation going about the project so far so I can make changes for next week. I appreciate you for taking the time to read these ravings of a madman. Goodbye until next week. Cheers.
 

I would apply but I feel like I need to give Halifax one more season.

Welcome to this multi-part series where I fuse two different sim hockey leagues in a super-sized league that can only exists in my dreams and in my notebook. Before we start, I would like to thank everyone in both forms who commented. I am only human, I am not perfect and this project will not be perfect. But your voices have and will continue to make this project better. I will always appreciate that, even if it means bitterly having to take an L from time to time. It is because of your vocal support, I decided to give you all a gift of a fourth part to this series with a revised, full list of teams taking all the criticism into account and a look at ideas I had that went unused or were changed. Also I will attempt to explain myself the best I can, but if I am not entirely clear on anything in this series, ask for clarification and I will attempt to clear things up. One last thing, if this is the first article in this series that you have read, welcome and I recommend reading part 1 to better understand the logic I used to reach my conclusions. Good talk. Now is the time to explain how I managed to bring the North American teams of the VHL and the SHL together.

 

Two Very Different League

 

After the process of producing the WSHJ was done, I began my prep work to do the some for the major clubs. What made this more troublesome was how different the VHL and the SHL actually are. The VHL is divided into North American teams and European teams. The SHL is split into Eastern and Western haves set entirely in North America. Thankfully a three division league can work on paper with no issues at. With the Europe division not causing any major branding conflicts with the SHL, those teams were put aside for now and will be picked up later.

 

The Pieces to Fit Togther

 

With Europe and it's teams consigned to a later date, it was time metaphorically pull the pieces out of the puzzle box so that I could fit them together. The eight VHL teams in North America are listed below.

 

Calgary Wranglers
Chicago Phoenix
D.C. Dragons
Los Angeles Stars
New York Americans
Seattle Bears
Toronto Legion
Vancouver Wolves 

 

The SHL as it stands has twenty teams in two divisions of ten teams each. Those teams are as follows.

 

SHL East

 

Atlanta Inferno
Baltimore Platoon
Buffalo Stampede
Hamilton Steelhawks
Manhatten Rage
Montreal Patriotes
New England Wolfpack
Philadelphia Forge
Tampa Bay Barracuda
Toronto North Stars

 

SHL West

 

Calgary Dragons
Chicago Syndicate
Edmonton Blizzard
Los Angeles Panthers
Minnesota Monarchs
New Orleans Specters
San Francisco Pride
Seattle Argonauts
Texas Renegades
Winnipeg Aurora

 

The Mostly Clear Picture

 

With everything finally set, it was time begin to put the pieces together to bet a clearer picture of my impossible sim league. Thankfully, with Vancouver and D.C. being the only new markets from the VHL, no major problems emerged. The result of this work is two thirds of the league I called World Simulation Hockey or WSH for short. It is a league with three divisions of eleven teams each. The North American teams of thir league are listed below

 

WSH NA East

 

Atlanta Phoenix
Baltimore Platoon
Buffalo Stampede
D.C. Dragons
Hamilton Steelhawks
Montreal Patriotes
New England Wolfpack
New York Nightmare
Philadelphia Reapers
Tampa Bay Barracuda
Toronto Legion

 

WSH NA West

 

Calgary Wranglers
Chicago Syndicate
Edmonton Blizzard
Los Angeles Stars
Minnesota Monarchs
New Orleans Specters
San Francisco Pride
Seattle Argonauts
Texas Renegades
Vancouver Whalers
Winnipeg Aurora

 

Brand Battles and How I Resolved Them

 

Now to the difficult task of having the branding battle each for the right to survive as per Rule 3. With seven duels to resolve and with some results impacting others, it is a complex web of thinking indeed. Starting in Chicago, I under the reference the Phoenix name connects to; how the city rose from the ashes of it's Great Fire to host the World's Fair. However they are not the only hosting a team in this league defined by a relationship with fire.The Syndicate name connects to a much more well known bit of Chicago history, the mafia of the Prohibition era. Ultimately, the Syndicate takes over Chicago. The Phoenix flies to Atlanta, resulting in a rebrand from a Flames derivative. In LA, there is a similar dilemma. The Panther name in Los Angeles evokes images of the Black Panther Party. LA is also a city defined by celebrity and star power. Ultimately, the Stars shine brighter, impacting a battle on the other side of North America. Toronto was an even fight between two long standing names in their respective leagues. However, I really can't have Stars and North Stars in the same league. Thus the Legion win out. The same logic, which I now dub Rule 5, is the reason that the Vancouver Wolves rebranded into the new Whalers to avoid a similar situation with the Wolfpack. Seattle takes the Argonauts name to keep a connected theme between Vancouver and themselves, something that is consistent in both leagues. NYC's battle was a weird one. On one hand, a historical lost franchise reborn for the modern day. On the other hand, a rough and tumble brand that connects wilth Wall Street. And I chose neither?! Indeed I brought back a name from a former SHL franchise to create something new with the image of the vigilante superhero or super villain looming over a city skyline in my head. The last battle was the easiest to resolve. The Wranglers name not only better connects to Calgary, but the Dragons name is also used by the only unchallenged VHL brand. And I explained the Reapers in Part 1, so everything is now explained.

 

Conclusion and Possible New Conflict

 

There were a lot of chain reactions with this one. Decisions in one brand battle often effected a different battle. And I might not be done with changes. The application of Rule 5 is judgment call. There are others brands that might be too close to each other both in the teams presented and not yet presented. Platoon verses Legion, for example. The Steelhawks are definitely caught in a Rule 5 dispute with a European club. Please continue  to let me know what needs changed and what I need to reconsider for the full list to come. Next week, I mentally cross the pond to explain the third major division of the WSH and what I did to the VHLE. Goodbye until then.
 

I am a good host

On 4/14/2024 at 8:53 AM, ke1vi said:

RIGA REIGN PRESS CONFERENCE

April 14th, 2024

1. Are you ready for this season to be over and move on to next year?

2. What's the attitude like in the locker room ?

3.  What's a positive you've seen from one of your teammates this season?

4.  How do you treat the rest of this season - personal development, team bonding?

5. Are you keeping an eye on how the rest of the league is performing?

6. Are you excited for the NHL Playoffs to finally start?

1. There is still work to do. Much work to do personally and professionally, so not yet.

2. Looking on the bright side.

3. We have solid pieces. Just need work.

4. A wild ride to enjoy.

5. Not much. Busy IRL.

6. Yes. It should be a good show.

Answer 3 Questions for 1 Capped TPE

Answer 6 Questions for 2 Capped TPE

 

For week ending on April 21, 2024

 

1.  Welcome @Phil and hire new player to the team. What is exciting about the latest recruit?

2. There was also  a trade. A S95 1st rounder for S94 4th AND S95 2nd. Is this a good trade building for the future?

3. Should more have been done to load up for the Cup run?

4. What team made the biggest moves in this trade deadline?

5. What is the weirdest way you have been injured?

6. Which visiting team should I arrange hotel arrangements for?

To claim TPE:

Go to the portal > Manage Player > Claim Capped > Type > Press Conference

 

There is a good reason I started with the bottom. you won't have to wait long for that explanation.

Definitely using this one. Thanks!

I didn't know. The tone of that statement was wrong and I apologize. The problem is that I can't do that for franchises of equivalent levels. I didn't explain myself well in this article at all. Might have to rewrite it entirely.

1 minute ago, Mysterious_Fish said:

 

 

I have an issue with this. I prefer the San Diego Tidal over the Marlins. So please fix. And the logo is better

Rebrand to the San Diego Tsunami then we will talk.

I have taken a lot of criticism for keeping LVA over NBB at least in the SHL forms. What did you think?

I love sim leagues. I have participated in a great variety of leagues of weird things from Rugby to Quidditch. No matter how many leagues I am talked into joining, my favorite leagues are always the hockey sim leagues. The Victory Hockey League is where I first started this ongoing adventure and remains the most important league to me. The Simulation Hockey League is another fun league that I have had much success in. Seeing what has happened to spring football lead to an interesting thought experiment, "What would happen if I were to merge the two best sim hockey leagues into one super leagues?" So I did. Over many pages of paper and much work with the old thinking cap, I merged the VHL and SHL into a ginormous league which I called  called the WSH or World Simulation Hockey. These write-ups are a part of a three part series detailing my opinions and logic that helped me develop the technically possible but practically impossible sim league of my dreams.

 

Rules

A thought experiment this complex needs rules to simplify things. The rules I followed to reasonable combine two different league are as follows.

 

Rule #1. Only one team per city. No sim league has two teams in one city so my merged league can't either.

 

Rule #2 Major clubs erase minor clubs in the same city with the option for the major club to take on the minor club's branding. This rule result in an issue that will be explored later.

 

Rule #3 Best branding remains for cities that have a franchise of equivalent levels of play. I will explain my feelings the informed the identities I choose.

 

Rule #4 Brands not chosen can be considered for use with different cities and leagues.The purpose of this rule is to reduce the amount of new brands I have to create. No good ideas should ever go to waste.

Introduction to Minor Leage Teams

With the rules firmly established, I set to the task of fusing both leagues minor/junior leagues into a unified league. A quick explanation of each leagues and it's teams will serve as perfect a point of reference to compare against the end results. The VHLM is a ten franchise league split into two divisions, East and West. The clubs composing this league is listed below.

 

VHLM East

 

Halifax 21st
Mississauga Hounds
Ottawa Lynx
Philadelphia Reapers
Miami Marauders

 

VHLM West

 

Houston Bulls
Las Vegas Aces 
Mexico City Kings
San Diego Marlins
Saskatoon Wild

 

 

 

Results and Explanation

 

With all of the pieces on the board, I set out to my task of finding my reasonable mearger. The end product of my labor was a league I called the WSHJ or World Simulation Hockey Juniors. The WSHJ is a twenty-two franchise league split into Eastern and Western divisions of eleven teams each. A massive list of all teams is below.

 

WSHJ East

 

Carolina Kraken
Detroit Falcons
Halifax 21st
Maine Timber
Miami Marauders 
Mississauga Hounds
Newfoundland Berserkers
Ottawa Lynx
Pittsburgh Forge
Quebec City Citadlles
St Louis Scarecrows

 

WSHJ West

 

Anchorage Armada
Colorado Raptors
Great Falls Grizzlies
Houston Bulls
Kelowna Knights
Mexico City Kings

Nevada Battleborn
Regina Elk
San Diego Marlins
Saskatoon Wild
Yukon Rush

 

The creation of the Pittsburgh Forge was an answer to the biggest problems I had to face. As per Rule 2, two minor clubs had to dissappear. The Vancouver Whalers  (because of the VHL's Vancouver Wolves) and the Philadelphia Reapers. (because of the SHL's Philadelphia Forge) The loss of the Whalers created no problems but the loss of the Reapers did. When I boiled down the teams to available cities in compliance with Rule 1,  I discovered two problems. The first problem was the fact I had twenty-one cities. The second problem was that western cities outnumbered eastern twelve to nine. To help fix both problems, I had these two different Philadelphia brands swap leagues so that the Reapers were the major club and the Forge were the minor club, then moved the Forge across the state, inadvertently doing the inverse of ancient hockey history history. A long time ago the was a NHL franchise in Pittsburgh that relocated to Philadelphia for a season before disbanding thirty-six years before both cities would receive the iconic clubs we know today. Relocating a Philadelphia team to Pittsburgh is strangely poetic, to me at least. Of corse several other location in the Eastern part of North America would have worked but I feel my reasons for doing so are sound, After having an even number of teams, I still needed  even divisions so I had to misplace St Louis in the Eastern Conference. The was a snap judgment call on my end that does work.

 

Now to explain the reason for the branding I chose. Ottawa was a toss up between the different brands.The Lynx are the slightly stronger brand and thus won out. Also I do have other plans for the Highlanders branding. In the Vegas area, Aces may be the high card, but the victory belongs to the Battleborn. For San Diego, Tidal branding would have won out if the proper name for the ocean wave and not a name born of an incorrect notion was used. That bothered me more that it should have. Something I will have to rethink in the end. Yukon was the only team I rebranded completely from the original brand because name and logo given seemed.  to be a legally distinct brand from a certain basketball college. Also the Rush were a successful VHLM team that was moved to the VHLE and later contracted that many have wished to return.

 

Conclusion

 

I feel like I have achieved what I hoped to accomplish with this experiment so far. I discoved challenging problems and found ingenious solutions towards building a technically sound but far too massive fusion of my two favorite simulation sports leagues. As my conclusions will not be the same as others, open discussion on what can be changed is always welcomed below. That or rant about my choices, either one will work. Next week, I will start the mearger of the major teams to create something massive.
 

Interesting that this come up now as branding is part of a big project I am working on.

Answer 3 Questions for 1 Capped TPE

Answer 6 Questions for 2 Capped TPE

 

For week ending on April 14, 2024

 

1. We have rode a six game win streak to a position one point behind Ottawa.  What will it take to finally surpass our rivals for the conference lead?

2. Our offense is the best overall unit in the VHLM. Who is the most under rated player in that regard?

3. If you could rebrand and team you wanted, what team would you rebrand and why?

4. What player should we buy for the playoff push?

5. Did you watch any of the eclipse today or wereyouindifferent to it?

6. What is one locker room tradition your player have kept with since their earliest days?

1. Loosing the way that we have always hurts. But it is moments like this that prove what kind of man you really are.

2. Thank you for everything you have done and helping me get started in this league.

3. I am still producing goal and assists at a consistency rate.

4. As the best piece available, my days in Riga are probably numbered.

5. If things are becoming too stressful, Shubham goes out on a romantic day with his wife.

6. Surprisingly, my Pittsburgh Penguins. There are the only team to not collapse nearing the conclusion of the season.

Answer 3 Questions for 1 Capped TPE

Answer 6 Questions for 2 Capped TPE

 

For week ending on April 7, 2024

1. So how did you celebrate the Easter holiday yesterday?

2. Today is indeed April's Fools Day. What is the greatest prank you fell for or pulled off?

3. What is your response to the recent embezzlement scandal?

4. Which Western Conference is more of a threat to us, Vegas Aces or Houston Bulls?

5. Is Pombo already a lock for S93 VHLM MVP or will someone else(most likely Maple Dogwood) win this award?

6. Alexandr Novotny @Patrik Tallinder has been racking up the assist. How important has his passing ability been to the team?

The start of the new season has seen many surprises pop up around the  league. One of those stories has been the start of Riga Reign star Shubham Anand. His hot start has seen him rise to the level of legit VHL superstar. Time to look into the how he got to this point and if he can continue his stunning performance over the long season to come.

 

After a strong performance his rookie season, the second season would show signs of a sophomore slump, particularly with the rough season the rebuilding  Regin would suffered through. Which makes his performance early into S93 surprising. Twenty-two games into the new season, Shubham has earned thirteen goals and nineteen assist for thirty-two points. While these numbers represent a cooling off from the hot form Shubham started in, these numbers are first in team goals and points and second in team assist with only fellow rising star Eric White Jr @Mysterious_Fish having more. Shubham is currently on pace to finish above a point per game for the first time in his career in the VHL system, setting him up for the season of his young career.

 

Clearly the hard work Shubham Anand has put in over the last two pulse seasons is paying off. But what about his game can be pinpointed as skills responsible for this burst of points. Looking at the attributes, the scoring and defense are good, but what truly stands out is passing, puck handling and skating. All of these attributes are above an eighty-five rating. Together these attributes result in a player who is a nightmare for opponent's defender and goaltender to slow down much less stop. For a young team still looking to develop its players, Shubham's particular set of skills are proving to be very important to team success.

 

The current season is young with many ups and downs expected to come over the many weeks. But the start that Shubham Anand had is giving Riga Reign fans hope that the team might be carried to at least winning record this season. And that in the future, their team might develop to reach the form necessary to contend for the Continental Cup.