Scurvy

Crashing your PC. 30. Trapped in space for three months. Yikes. I’d probably bring Rip Wheeler so I could smack his face each morning to start the day off right. 31. gonna take as much Apple iPhones , computers , etc. prob hit the food court and steal some taco time. 32. Logan Ninefingers was caught in a bar after curfew trying to fight Rip Wheeler 34. Xbox series X or PS 5 would be cool. 35. Ninefingers is tearing it up in Philly. Good line mates. 37. I would love to fight Jake Paul personally but if I had to nominate someone it would be Brian Payne. thanks!!

The VHLM Scoring race is pretty much a wrap. Amazingly since day 1 of the season, Philadelphia Reaper forward, Caring Bear @thecaringbear has been lights out and has never taking his foot of the gas. No stranger to scoring goals he had 51 last season for Philly and he’s fixing to crush that number this season. 59 goals and 86 assists (145pts) in 66 games he’s dominating the scoring race. His only competition is his teammate, Logan Ninefingers who has 135 points who really doesn’t have a shot to catch up. This 1-2 punch has been exciting to watch all season and hopefully they can continue their scoring streak into the playoffs and make Philly a miserable team to play against. Also, not sure what the post S84 (I think it was S84) hybrid attributes scoring record is but I’d be interested to see where Caring Bear measures up at the end of the season. Anyway. Great job and it’s been fun playing with you.

Christmas is right around the corner and the VHL/E/M are winding down to the playoffs. Teams are gearing up for a holiday playoff, scoring races are close, and a bunch of random stuff we can chat about for this week’s Around the League in 500 words. VHLM Heating up If you would have asked me at 20 games in who the favorite to get to a cup I would have said the Houston Bulls. Now at 66 games into the season I have no clue who I’d pick. Saskatoon has been on fire as of late, winning 9 straight. Led by Alexandros Mograine @sliceruser with 34g 53a 87pts, Jacob Smith Jr @jacobaa19 37g 54a 91 pts, and Adi Dassler @BOOM 35g 36a 71pts they are looking tough. Lack of depth on defense hasn’t seem to hurt them at all and the two defenders they do have are top notch. At 51w 10l 5OTL 107 points they look a lock to win the Western conference. In the east, Philadelphia and Ottawa are brawling for top spot. Phili has the two top scorers in the league, a stud defenseman in Kodie Curran @Battlepopcorn, a banging goalie in Amir Redzic, and the recent addition of Jean Pierre Devote @eagle_3450 and Antonia Bucatini @CowboyinAmerica, Philly looks poised to go for it all. VHLE update: The E is wrapping up nicely and my predicted cup winner Vasteras Iron Eagles are leading the league at 40-17-10. What makes this club so deadly is that not only can they score, leading the league with 216 goals for. But they stop them better than anyone, only allowing 156 goals. This team is stacked everywhere. On defense they have two rookies phenoms. Callum Gary Yannick @Daniel Janser comes from Hall of Fame lineage and is already doing amazing work for the club with 11g 34a 45 pts and a whopping 328 hits. Next to him is another E rookie Leif Reingaard @Zetterberg with 19g 50a 69 pts, #2 in total scoring for defenders. Up front they have Eno Velvson @Nykonaxwith 31g 48a 7pts and VHLE veteran Ellis Woolfenden @D3X with 33g 32a 65pts. In net they have two great options in Olivier Gauthier @fonzigg and Karl Herzlich @LastGoon007 which gives Vasteras a 1a and 1b option. They are going to be tough to beat in the playoffs. Just looking at the clubs I think the Cologne Express have the best chance at beating the Iron Eagles just based on personnel, but it will be a battle. VHL’s DAVOS STREAK As I surfed the stats today, I had completely not noticed the streak that Davos is currently on with 16 straight wins. Holy shit, great job. I root for Davos as my buddy Jake Thunder @Thunderis killing it still in his final season. Leandro Goncalves @leandrofg is destroying goalies with 53g 51a 104 points, one point ahead of veteran Chicago Phenom, Scotty Sundin. It's exciting to see how Davos remains tough year in and year out. Hoping my buddy Thunder gets one more chance for another title.

We have reached just past the mid-point of the season and there is a lot of cool stuff going on. So for this weeks Around the League in 500 words I figured I’d write about the dominant EU division in the VHL, happenings in the VHLM, and other random things to get me my TPE! VHL EU DIVISION As I browse the standings trying to gauge the top teams, I see that the NA has some teams who look solid in the standings. LA, Toronto, and Chicago are all sitting pretty with winning records. After that teams are under .500. In the EU it’s a much different story. Riga, Malmo, London, Davos, and Helsinki are all neck and neck so it’s anyone’s guess how the EU shakes. My picks right now are London and Toronto will go on a terror and win their divisions. VHLM CHAOS The VHLM this year seems a little light compared to my first-generation player. As we have all read in the last few weeks, teams in VHLM are low on players and all the recruitment/retention stuff the theme week addressed. The race to the top team is competitive with a few clubs so let’s chat about that. Las Vegas has come alive of late and passed Houston and Saskatoon for top spot in their division. In the East, Ottawa remains on top with a decent lead over Philadelphia, despite Philly having the two top leading scorers in the league. The true test will be the trade deadline acquisitions and the up-coming S83 retirees/re-creates that join the league. That could push some teams over the top but either way it’s going to be a fun playoff. Prediction - Philly wins the Founders Cup!! To add to the VHLM I’d like to highlight some stats showing some real talent in the league. In net there is one goalie I’d highlight that has an AMAZING 14 shutouts. Pipo Popa @npuBeTfrom the Houston Bulls 35-12-3 with a 1.47 GAA and .928 Save percentage. The 14 shutouts are insane, and he should be up for VHLM goalie of the year. TOUGH GUYS: Just an update on the fight card leaders in the VHL. I love the rough stuff and once again Davos’s Alfred Champagne take the top spot of most iced used on knuckles thus far in the season. Alfred Champagne (DAV)- 7 (2 WINS) John Jameson (PRG) 5 Ryuki Sakamoto (DCD) 5 Jarmo Ruutu (MOS). 4 Ivan Retoslav (LDN) 4 Victor Jensen (MAL) 4 Womp X5 Jr (NYA) 4 Scotty Sundin (CHI) 3 Daryl Dixon. (HSK) 3 Phil Strasmore (CGY) 3 Good work fellas…keep it up! RIP WHEELER UPDATE Ok so it’s been a minute since I’ve shamed my buddy Rip Wheeler @ScottyP. So here goes. A look in on his stats since his makeover TPE Recall. At 50 games he has 16g 22a 38pts all career highs. He is sporting only 26 PIMS and 68 hits so far (a far cry from his 325 last year). But hey, at least he’s contributing a bit. A quick look at his update log shows a lot of welfare and only practice facility this week. Hopefully he took advantage of the theme doubles week, but we will see. I am excited I am just 1 ½ seasons away from facing him.

Hey London! 1. I think Helsinki will be tough down the stretch. They have a good team but are stuff in a very tough division. 2. Sunglasses Joyo seems to be running away with it. 3. Have to go with Ryan Artyomov from Chicago. 23-12 with a team I didn't have doing nearly as well as they are. Despite the low TPE he is killing it. 4. Have to go with LA's Napoleon Dyno, Todd Cooke, and Sunglasses Joyo. with Abass Jr somewhere in there. Tough line to defend and all very high TPE 5. Prague for sure. The defending champs have a much better club than what there showing. 6. I would have to say Helsinki's GM. Pretty stacked team with some good off-season moves. They are just in such a tough division it's a bit overshadowed. Best of luck

The day before Thanksgiving I was absent mindedly clicking through the VHL forum when I saw that November 22, 2021 was my join date on VHL. I was like “holy shit” I have been in this league for two years! Now this made me realize a couple things. First, I still don’t know shit but know just enough to earn each week to make my player valuable to my club. Second, it takes forever to get through a career. I never realized how much time passed in my 9 seasons with Brian Payne as there is mostly something going on that I look forward to (offseason is not one). It is a bit surreal to be a part of this group for as long as I have when others have been here much longer. I am still enjoying my time here and am hoping I can make Ninefingers’s career just as memorable as my first player.

Beauty!!

Hey Davos. Crashing your PC. 2. Gritty forward with a quick release 3. seems like there was some passionate opinions on recruitment so I guess it’s appropriate to get everyone’s opinion now. 4. yeah, I will never turn down free or easy TPE. 5. Logan Ninefingers is a character in a series by Joe Ambercrombie. Bad ass 6 Detroit 8. have some family and friends coming over to eat too much and watch football. best of luck

Recruitment Theme Week Earlier this week I saw some posts about some passionate opinions on recruitment and what they thought worked, didn’t work, were upset about, and on and on. I truly have never paid much attention to what the Recruitment team does to entice people to join this community, so I have nothing negative to say. I am sure they are trying hard to bring people here and it can’t be easy sometimes as the league does have a learning curve and some new player’s expectations that its GM sim league or EASHL can turn off some niche players. For me, I was recruited off YouTube and that video forced me to search the website. I signed up and looked through the forum with confusion and intrigue. I hovered over the “Create Player” link numerous times before I bit the bullet and made my first player, Defenseman Brian Payne. Now, for me I played hockey growing up and I do enjoy playing NHL on Xbox but have never ever participated in the Sim league, especially one that required earning points via Media spots, articles, graphics, or podcasts. This is where I was so fortunate to pick a club in the VHLM with an active GM in @JB123. I was soooooo confused on how to navigate the forum and update TPE and he walked me through and gave me a solid foundation on how to earn and become a stud. I think this is where retention can be helped is simply by having someone at the beginning help new players who struggle with the earning and keep them motivated. After this initial early struggles I found my groove and really came to enjoy the VHL experience, especially the draft. I think this early experience sent me out to my friends and I recruited hard the people who I thought would enjoy the VHL world. My first recruit Huge G Johnson languished in the VHLM and never really got the idea of how to earn or just didn’t want to earn TPE. He played 216 games in Las Vegas and quit. My next recruit Jake Thunder @Thunder is a lock for the hall of fame and really took to the VHL with fervor. It was a lot of fun having a real life friend in the game as It added a bit of rivalry and fun shit talk in media spots, etc. Personal life things have happened with Thunder where he has taken a step away from the VHL for now but I am hopeful he will be back. My final recruit, Rip Wheeler @ScottyP is a bona-fide shit sack. LOL. Well not quite but he is no Jake Thunder. I can’t wait for my new player to get to VHL so that I can hopefully fight him at some point. As for retention in my humble opinion I might suggest a mentorship program where veteran players help VHLM GMs assist new players and help them feel part of the community (this might already be a thing). For the recruitment side of the house I can’t speak to social media and what is best as I have don’t have Instagram, FB, or any of that shit. I look at YouTube and it worked for me. Word of mouth is how I recruit friends and I will continue to do so in the hopes I can find us another Jake Thunder.

Interview with Logan Ninefingers #32 Philadelphia Reapers Today, we caught up with imposing right winger of the red-hot Philadelphia Reapers. The Reapers are currently in second place in their division and winners of 7 straight games. Question: “The Reapers had an on and off start to the season but have caught fire lately. To what to do you attribute the change in the teams approach”? Logan: “Well, the addition of Jimmy McGill @Windows really solidified our lines and helped our team really focus on a commitment to team defense.” Question: “You and Caring Bear @thecaringbear have been lighting it up and are 1 and 2 in scoring. Team have struggled to contain the both of you. Can you two keep up this level of scoring?” Logan: “Man I hope so. CB makes it so easy and he is truly unstoppable on the ice. He definitely has the touch and with his talent it makes the rest of us better.” Question: “you are approaching the draft next season. Any idea where you will go?” Logan: “For now I am not thinking about that. I just want to win a cup with Philly and wherever I go in the draft I’ll be happy. There are lots of talented players here in the M so it’s up to me to keep earning and getting better so that I am valuable to whomever picks me up.” Reporter: “The reapers face off against a talented Las Vegas Aces team tonight so we look forward to see if the Reapers can keep the streak alive.”

Great article. Go easy on Ninefingers!!!! He’s fragile.

That's BEAUTY!!!!!

Hey crashing your PC! 1. I think Ninefingers is doing way better than I had hoped. However, team success is down so hoping it evens out and the Reapers can string some wins. 2. I am on point TPE wise right now and #2 in draft class with total TPE. Hoping to keep maxing every week 3. London is where I thought they would be. Y'all are killing it, especially defensively only allowing 56 goals (the least in the league). 4. Hmmmmm....cant remember all the details but losing a game where we outshot a team like 60 shots to 15 when I was with Warsaw last player. 5. Well....more fights in a game from players with higher grit. Seems that doesn't seem to factor in to fighting at all 6. No clue. Seems as of now Chicago will be favored in the NA which I did not see coming Have a great week London and best of luck!

For this weeks around the league I am extremely hungover and just returned home from a trip to Dallas Texas to visit a buddy who hosted a bourbon tasting event at his amazing home. And I am paying for it today so apologies if none of this makes sense. A lot has gone on this week I see as I bounce through the forum. Someone was banned for plagiarism, Chicago keeps winning, Riga and London are tough, and there are some pretty amazing stats for only being a quarter way through the season. POWER PLAY SNIPER I was surfing the stats in the VHL today and saw that Seattle dman, Rex Wolffe Gregor @oilmandan already has 10 power play goals in 24 games and 4 game winners already. He’s already beat last year’s totals for PPG and is on a ridiculous pace to put some impressive point numbers up. Rex’s career high is an impressive 20 goals and 67 points in S88 and I can see him easily blowing by that this season. TOUGH GUYS GETTING AFTER IT Checking out the PIMS and fight number thus far is always a joy. Leading in the PIM category is Womp Womp Womp Womp etc @AdamEsswith 86 PIMS for a struggling NY club. I did not see him listed in the fights, so he has 2 or less to this point but playing a nasty game at 605 250lbs. Familiar names like Phil Strasmore @PhilPhil with 77PIMs and Alfred Champagne @Anthique with 75PIM. Daryl Dixon 75 and John Jameson @Frank 75 pim round out the top 5. For fights here is the numbers: Alfred Champagne 3 fights 1 win John Jameson. 3 fights 1 win Scotty Sundin. 3 fights Daryl Dixon. 3 fights Jake Thunder. 2 fights 1 win Jarmo Ruutu 2 fights Phil Strasmore 2 fights AK92 wit da hoodie 2 fights Doug Britton 2 fights Ivan Restoslav 2 fights Good work fellas, Keep dropping them RIP WHEELER UPDATE Checking in on my buddy and world class sissy, Rip Wheeler. Smartly, the team had ole @ScottyPScott re-tool his TPE to better suit the team this year so I checked in on to see how it worked out. Right now, at 23 games in the season he has matched his totals of last year with 12g 12a 24 points, ONLY 6 PIM, and 32 hits. Whatever they did it seems to have paid off and Rip “the puck bag” Wheeler might actually live up to the “most improved player” prediction I voted for him on this season. BUT…just when I think I can root for him I look at his TPE updates for the week and he was only done practice facility. UGH Rip. I will see you tomorrow at work and we can chat. RECRUITING HOPEFULS! So far, I have been pretty lucky recruiting a few players into the VHL ranks. Most notably Jake Thunder and the above-mentioned Rip Wheeler. Now Rip Wheeler is no Jake Thunder but I also recruited a turd who stayed in M for three season and quit. Can’t win them all. I am trying very hard to bring a couple new bodies in. There excited and reluctant so wish me luck.

Were a quarter way through the season and some VHLM teams are pulling away. Houston only has 3 losses and Ottawa has 4, while Saskatoon and LV both just have 6. A few dark horse teams are hanging in like Mississauga who have a very talented roster and the Philadelphia Reapers who are hanging around .500 but boast the top two leading scorers in the league. I feel that Houston is showing the most balanced team with a commitment to defense having only allowed 34 goals which is 13 goals less than the #2 team. With great defensive pedigree in DB IV @wcats, Guntis Gavilrovs @Girts, and Vanellope von Schweetz @Arce they have studs patrolling the blue line and will only get better as the season progresses and they are all maxed out in TPE. Added to the tough defense in net they have a maxed out Pipo Papa who is in his second VHLM season and already has 6 shutouts this season and a 1.27 GAA. Houston is going to be tough to beat so teams hoping to compete better be active at making their teams better to topple this powerhouse.

Bro, I love it. Thank you!!!

Yeah pal. It has been a weird experience this season compared to my first time through. LR only has me and my GM who talk which at least I am lucky he is active and we can chat occasionally. I don't have an answer really.

Crashing your PC 1. Training camp was good. Ninefingers is ready for the season 2. well we started out 0-2 but rebounded a bit. My player has been doing well. Needs to get better on PP 3. Sniping. Lead the league in shots but need more to go in. 4. I AM PHILLY!!! I want to crush Houston 5. it’s pissing down rain here in Washington State. Miserable 6. I like the fall colors and the start of hockey season

Hello! Can I request one? player: Logan Ninefingers team Philadelphia Reapers render Stu Grimson

Ok so were about 8 games into the season (finally) and there I plenty of news to chat about. In the big league, the Chicago Phoenix are on fire while the Wranglers struggle, and In the E Bratislava is unbeaten with two studs in net. VHL NEWS CHICAGO As I looked at doing my predictions at the start of the season I had not even thought about Chicago as a potential first place club. While they have lifelong Chicago presence, Scotty Sundin @fromtheinside in play and he is always dangerous I thought the club would be still considered a young club rebuilding. But man did they come out firing this season at 7-0-1 with 32 goals scored. Now it’s no surprise that Sundin is killing it with 7G 10A 17A in 8 games but what is great about this team is the team scoring. Looking down the roster every member of the club already has at least one goal. So, team scoring and a commitment to team defense seems to be working. Added that their young goalie, Ryan Artyomov @enorama is 6-0-1 with .0930 SV and 2.62 GAA he is showing why Chicago was wise to select the huge goalie with the #3 pick in the S90 draft. CALGARY WOES Since I came into the league and was a noob looking at the stats and standings day in and day out waiting to eventually progress the VHL there were certain things that stood out about a few clubs. Teams like Moscow, Vancouver, Calgary and others always seemed to be competing deep in the playoffs. Winning seemed to be the norm so it seems strange to see Calgary at the bottom of the standings and without a win yet. Now I know that all clubs eventually must rebuild and that is what makes the VHL so cool but after an off-season re-tool I expected Calgary to be fighting for a high playoff spot again. I mean they even re-tooled Rip Wheeler @ScottyP trying to make him a better teammate (good luck). What’s more shocking to me is that after 8 games the Wrangler have only managed 8 goals. This team has way too much talent for this so I am guessing it’s an anomaly and by the end of the season Calgary will have reversed its misfortune and will be competing in the playoffs. Prediction: 3rd in NA GOALIE DUE IN BRATISLAVA WRECKING TEAMS I don’t touch too much on the E until I am in the league usually, which is unfortunate. Right now, Bratislava is 6-0-4 after 10 games. But what is more amazing is they have only scored 29 goals (good for 2nd lowest) but have only allowed 24 goals (good for 2nd best). This low numbers can be attributed to the clubs two goalies Red panda @Lemorse7 and WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW @rory. Red Panda .919 Save Percentage and 3.14 GAA with 1 shutout and WWW--- is 3-0-3 with 1.44 GAA and 1 shutout as well. Both are tough in net and have some good defenders in front of them as well. Excited to see how this club fares as the season continues. Best of luck everyone

Were at 8 games into the season and the Philiadelphia Reapers are coming into their own. After a rough first two games they have come alive and are clicking on all cylinders. At 5W and 3L they have started scoring in bunches and are working out the kinks as a club. Caring Bear @thecaringbearhas been anything but caring to the opposing defenses racking up 8G 11A 19 points. The VHLM veteran had 51 goals a season ago and is on pace to beat that this season. Next, rookie Logan Ninefingers has identical stats 19 points while playing a physical game with 35 hits. But what is truly keeping Phily competitive night in and night out is the lights out play by goaltender Amir Redzic @Slav_Sloth. He has a .911 save percentage and a 2.38 GAA with 1 shutout. There are some tough clubs this season in the VHLM so it will be interesting to see the matchups against clubs like Las Vegas and Houston as the season continues.

1. Yep, while PEB was amazing its time for FABCM to step and take the reins. He is a stud and fill the void and make a young Vancouver team battle every nights. 2. Yep. he's earned it. 3. FOR SURE. Liv had a solid season last year 12g 32a 44pts 100 hits and is only going to grow with more PP time I expect the numbers to double. 4, The Wolves are young and hungry playing in a very tough division. I expect them to be a dark horse though that nobody wants to play. Prediction is Wild Card playoff 5. Yes, like is said above they are young and hungry. If they keep earning TPE like crazy I believe that can get to the playoffs 6. FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY Analyst with 100 pts

Make us old Wolves proud!!!!