Scurvy

Yay for Theme Doubles Week as I bank toward my inevitable depreciation next season. As I rack my brain I try to remember all the rivalries I have had since my first season in the VHLM. I remember being part of a stacked San Diego Marlins team we went head to head with tough Las Vegas Aces and Philadelphia Reapers clubs. I was so new at the time and freaking out about how to get TPE, claim properly, and navigate the forum and discord I didn’t take the time to appreciate the rivalries and now that I am established a bit more on how this works I do take more time to respect a good rivalry. So here we go! JAKE THUNDER Ok Thunder @Thunder and I are friends in real life, and I recruited him to this league. He has taken off to become an award-winning defenseman and is always in the conversation for defensive awards and is a great TPE earner. Now with all that good being said about him I (Brian Payne) wants to smash his face on the ice. We had one fight two seasons ago and Thunder came out on top. Look, anyone can get caught with a lucky one but since then it’s been non-stop shit talk from Thunder and the SIM gods have forbidden a rematch as of yet. So, I usually wish the best for Thunder until we play Davos then I want him to completely shit the bed! Now, get ready for not so witty response to this post I am sure from Thunder.... The EUROPEAN CONFERENCE Ok this is a different kind of rivalry as the whole damn conference is good and the amount of lead changes from 1st to 6th is insane. Moscow, Davos, Warsaw, Riga, London, Prague, and Malmo area all competitive for playoff spots right now and each week shows a huge swing in the standings. I’d say over the course of my VHL career, Moscow has been the main stay rivalry team as they are just freaking good every year. Huge credit to the club management @Spartan for drafting-trading to keep such a powerhouse club. Overall, I think the EU is chalk full of rivalries just buy the sheer competitiveness of the division. BO JOHANSSON Not many people have been as helpful to my development as BoJo @Shindigs. We played against each other in the VHLM where he dominated. We then became teammates in the VHLE for Bratislava where he dominated while Payne was MEH. BoJo was always helping me develop Payne into a better defenseman. After our year in the E we moved on to the VHL where BoJo again hit the ground running and I improved slowly. As the years have gone on we have developed not so much of a rivalry but a healthy competitiveness against each other. I always root for BoJo, expect when he plays Warsaw. Now I think we all can agree BoJo is a potential hall of famer while Payne isn’t but it’s always exciting to play against a mentor and maybe get a win or two every now and then.

For this weeks quick VHL article I want to highlight VHLM rookie Rip Wheeler @ScottyP (good and bad). Now ScottP is a friend in real life, and it took some convincing from me for a long time to get him to join the VHL because I knew he would dig it if given the chance. So at 38 games into the season let’s check and see his progress. Stat Line: So far in 38 games he has 12 goals 20 assists 32 points….45 PIM and 91 hits. Not too shabby truly on a struggling Las Vegas club. There is some power houses in their division and they have found themselves in some tough games. Now as far as TPE earning he has been doing a decent job and still struggles with just what to do and what to write about. He also bitches about finding time, but I call bullshit on that because he stares at Twitter a minimum of 4 hours a day. LOL He is currently ranked 15th overall in the upcoming draft and will need to max his TPE earnings to raise his profile if he wants to go early. Overall, I am happy with Rip’s progress and I am excited the VHL obtained and interested player who will be around for years to come.

Very sorry about your loss!! Congrats on the engagement!!

LOL. Don't think they have dropped yet. Fight stats is a tough one. I had 7 fights one season and 0 the next ??? Having 70 grit and zero fights was shocking that season. Hopefully a Payne vs Probert happens soon...Just go easy on my face!!

Great analysis !!! Damn, you should work for TSN

1. Cheese is doing great. I hope he keeps it up and the rest of the club catches up. 2. Well. Payne needs to improve on defense. -10 so far and not helping with points. Defense needs to improve 3. I thing 7-8 will be 4. we’ll last year we scored in bunches and stopped teams with solid d. We’re not doing that now 5. Couldn’t hurt but cost might be too high 6. Boring really

For this week weeks post we will talk about some upcoming rookies, a clutch defenseman from Calgary, a man name Probert stopping everything, and some other random shit. AirRig GoodBrandSun is CLUTCH: After a dominant regular season last year the Calgary Wranglers had a disappoint playoff and vowed to avenge their early exit this year. Their start was anything but expected but they have become hot as of late with 3 straight wins. With amazing players like Daniel Janser, Landon Wolanin, Leandro Goncalves its easy to see why they are so offensively gifted. With those names on the roster If I were to ask who led in game winning goals the AirRig GoodBrandSun @Rhynex Entertainment would probably not roll of the tongue. A gifted scorer in his own right, the S83 Jake Wylde Trophy winner has notched 5 GWG in a short 23 game season so far showing he is Mr Clutch on a team of All Stars. Great work Rig! ROOKIE IN HELSINKI The poor Helsinki Titans are having a rough start to the year with only 3 wins so far. A talented but young club they will be deadly in years to come when players mature and TPE is earned. That being said, rookie Daryl Dixon @Ricer13 is doing his part to earn rookie of the year honors. The Season 86 #3 overall pick is already at 663 TPE and In 22 games he’s notched 13 goals 7 assists 20 points and 73 hits. Now he has some competition at his heels for the top rookie in Larry Abass Jr (CGY), Nikolas Kauppi(PRG), and Jon Webber Jr (RIG) but so far Dixon has my vote. UNDRAFTED TOUGH GUY EARNING HIS SPOT Sometimes when teams find a player in the later picks of the draft or free agency they truly find a diamond in the rough. Now rough is exactly what Malmo Defenseman, Mo Probert @Yahtzee is. Like his namesake he plays the game with a bag of knuckles but has shown despite being undrafted he brings first round grit to the Nighthawks. Probert is currently #1 in shots blocked with 73 and #1 in PIMS with 81 he also has 81 hits. He does the little things that make him so valuable to his club. He is also #2 in fights with 5 total and #1 in fight wins with 3. Probert isn’t always about the grit too; he can score and play hockey. He has scored 10 goals in each of his last two seasons and had a nice 47 assists in his rookie year. Also, when he played for the Bratislava Watchmen he had a 12 goal and 55 points season. Even crazier was his final year in Halifax in the Minors he amassed 21 goals to go with 201 hits. Overall, Malmo should be commended for such a great free agent signing and wanted to shine a light on the great play by Probie. VANCOUVER TRADES HORVAT Well in real life hockey news, Bo Horvat was traded to NY by Vancouver this week and he just signed an 8 year deal to stay with NYI. Was this a good trade by Vancouver?? Did they get enough in return?? Just curious of any thoughts More next week

At 22 games into the season one thing is apparent in the EU conference. There are too many great teams. All but two teams are over .500 hockey and Malmo is not far off. As I look through the teams each team is stacked with talent. For example, the Prague Phantoms are currently in 5th place in division at 12-9-2. But, they have a league leading 85 goals. Now they have 79 goals allowed as well but a few tweaks and this team can soar to the top of division. Davos, Warsaw, London, Riga, Prague, and the seemingly always great Moscow continue to prove that the EU conference is dominant in respects to competitive or evenly matched teams (which really sucks when they beat Warsaw. Lol) . No disrespect to the NA as they have some great teams and now with LA surging maybe some new blood will change the makeup there as well but for overall competitiveness, I have to pick the EU.

Can’t wait for you to break it!

1. Well…Payne is off to another slow start. Getting some points but am a -3 and just not clicking like I should be 2. not sure . I’m clueless to how sim works but I’m sure we will hit our stride soon. We have too many scorers not to. 3. mid season. 4. Big Cheese. What a great pickup. He’s lighting it up. 5. bobble head night 6. hate how they have to pick one for each team. Some players get FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY. Should just be the best

My recruit @ScottyP just reached 100 TPE (response above)

Well…the start of the season has many surprises so far with some teams coming out firing while teams we expected to be better are struggling. We welcome a new member hoping to take the M over by force, and a former Predator is making his name in the NA conference. VASILE LAMB DOMINATING Former Warsaw Predator GM and player found himself entertaining some free agent offers after leading the S84 Preds to a Continental Cup. He landed in DC this off season and has started the season in full throttle. In his first 9 games he has 8 goals 6 assist 15 points, +7 with 48 hits. Lamb had 53 goals last season and shows no signs of slowing down. In this young season he is #2 in points, #1 in goals, #2 in shots, #1 in hits, #4 in PP goals, #2 in game winners, and #8 in PIMS. Great job Dlamb @dlamb RIP WHEELER WANTS TO DOMINATE AND PUNISH THE M Over the last few weeks newby ScottyP @ScottyPjoined the VHL (after being hounded for months) and has hit the ground running. Currently at 92 TPE he said in his media sport he wants to be an Eric Lindros type player. Now it’s hard to start out great with the limited TPE but he is earning well and in 9 games has 3 goals 3 assists 6 points, and 21 hits. Not too bad and he seems excited about being a part of the league, although a little apprehensive about completing media spots. I have high hopes for him and can’t wait for him to get to VHL so I can crack him in the mouth once or twice before I have to re-create. OSLO STORM ON FIRE The defending champs in the VHLE are off and running to a dominant start to season showing why they are the favs to win it all again. At 8-1 they have a whopping 42 goals scored and only 17 allowed. They are stacked on offense-defense- and goal. Jimi Jaks and Halfvar Torbjorn are #1 and #2 in scoring with 18 and 17 points respectfully in 9 games. Jimi Jaks @kelvi is showing just how clutch he is too with 4 game winners already. VANCOUVER-LA SURGING/ CHICAGO -CALGARY SLOWING? Vancouver is showing no ill signs after a gruelingly long off-season following the cup win. 7-0-1 so far and their defense is on point, only allowing 15 goals so far. They are going to be tough to beat. LA is also a surprise this season with a 7-1 record. The addition of tough guy Vinny Detroit has appeared to change their confidence level. What is truly amazing is they are winning games, and they don’t have a single player in top 10 in scoring. On defense, Callum Murray @Berocka has emerged as a great (11) points and this team could be difficult to beat come playoff time. Surprisingly the very well-built Calgary and Chicago teams are hovering near the bottom of the NA standings which truly screws up my predictions!! Chicago has some trouble scoring lately and multiple award winner Bo Johansson @Shindigshas yet to break out. I feel that this is only temporary for these two clubs though. They are too deadly to remain near the bottom and I predict that they will move up the rankings as the season progresses. Have a great week everyone and as always, may you lose to Warsaw!

At 8 games into the start of the 87th Season the Warsaw Predators find themselves in an unfamiliar position. The Middle. Now the EU conference has shown that there Is tremendous parody with some very competitive teams. The Preds find themselves 4-3-1. They have scored a decent 25 goals which is equal to most the top teams in the EU but haver allowed 26, which is not good. The Preds have the ability to score in bunches and have recently saw goal scorers Girts Galvins and Zach Kisslinger becoming hot while others have slowed a bit. Gritty forward Brendan Marner is waiting to breakout and the Preds will need him to become hot if they are to compete with the top teams. On defense, Big Cheese is playing great while Brian Payne is inconsistent at best right now. Payne started last season slow as well so we hope that he can find his game soon so the Preds can climb the rankings. Overall, the Preds have a great lineup and hopefully a few tweaks and they are right back in the hunt for the best team in the EU.

Great job bro!

Happy Birthday!

Great first article ScottyP! Now hurry up and get to the VHL so Thunder and I can smash you around a bit!

Awesome job!!

F - Saku Kotkatoivu @comrade cat

@Pifferfish @chikn sorry I think puffer is up???

As the season approaches, I wanted to do a quick Tough Guy Tribute and make some predictions as to who will be the S87 Penalty Minute leader this season. Over the last few seasons, we have seen the familiar names of Vinny Detroit and Brian Payne in the over 200 minute PIM club. Last season we saw a surge of sophomore Dman Jared Carter the 2st who had 248 PIMS. Calgary Dman Phil Strasmore also jumped on the scene with 179 PIMS last season good enough for fourth overall in S86. Other potential killers out there are Hammer Voss, Mo Probert, Dabnad Shaw, and Blake McTavish. The current record holder for PIMs in a season is Da’ Brichashaw O’Neal. This beauty has a whopping 356 PIMS in a season in S13. He holds the #2 spot as well with 320 in S11. Not many modern players have gotten close other than Randy Marsh in S77 (274) and S78 (260) which is good for #17 and #24th spot all time. Over the last few seasons, the highest totals of have Jared Carter 2 with 248 in S86 and Brian Payne 246 in S85. If I had to predict I was guess that Vinny Detroit or Jared Carter 2 had a chance to make the #24 in the coming season but I think O’Neal’s record is safe for the time being.

I expect 60 goals this season!!!!!!! lol

1. Def NOT. Team USA WC had a rough go of it. We couldn't get any offense going to keep up with the European powerhouses. We did hold Canada to 11 shots one game but still barely won. Rough go 2. I did. I missed out on Vasile Lamb but did get Payne and Thunder on Defense. Trying to get our own Girts Galvins next pick 3. Truly, I am not sure I understand it all. I know I am banking but I am clueless as to what will happen 4. Maybe 10 days or so to recharge. I also think a free TPE week would be nice during off season 5. Girts 6. Well its a tricky one. Mid season coaching changes are hard for players I think and takes a strong personality of the new coach to connect with players who might feel responsible for the former coach being fired. Currently the Vancouver situation comes to mind. They treated Bruce poorly in that one. I love Rich Tocchet but think it should have been handled better.

Although there is not much going on for most during this never ending off season I still need my much needed TPE to bank for my impending depreciation next year. So here goes another around the league in 500 words. TEAM USA DISSAPPOINTING WORLD CUP With high hopes in the S86 World Cup the Americans just couldn’t get anything going. The team played some great defensive games against the World’s best but just a bounce here and there kept them on the losing end. Best of luck to Team Nordic and Team Europe in finals. VHLE NEWS As I am bored and checking the forum and stat line constantly waiting for the season I saw that the defending champs Oslo Storm still have an amazing looking club that can repeat. One of the downsides of not being in the VHLE or VHLM for that matter is I look at what going on less and less. I need to be better about it since there is so many good players. Now I am not sure some of these players won’t get called up but if not, they are going to be deadly. With the addition of Oreo McFleury who scored 46 goals in the M their potent offense just got better. On D they have stud, Brodie Landry III (16 g 49 A 65 Pts) and in goal they have two options in Basileus Jute and The Red Menace. Added to this they have one of the best GMs @JB123In the E who will make moves to help the club. I am excited to see what Oslo does this year. Best of Luck Bo Johansson Takes Home some Trophies! I had the curse to play against BoJo @Shindigsin the VHLM where he destroyed defenses with his skill and knowledge of how to build a player. I was privileged enough to play with him in the VHLE where he truly taught me how to build the type of defenseman, I wanted Payne to become. This past season we saw BoJo take it to another level completely. He ended up #6 In points (105), #1 in assists (94), led all defenseman in points, was a +44, and even had 137 hits and 152 blocked shots. The only surprise this year was his low goal total on the Power Play, which I am sure will improve next season. Overall, it shows he was an easy pick for the Sterling Labatte Trophy (top overall defenseman), the Alexander Beketov Trophy (top assists), and the Alexander Valiq Trophy (Top offensive Defenseman). I feel this is just the tip of the award-winning iceberg for BoJo and am truly happy for him as Shindig is a great ambassador for this league. RECRUITING UPDATE Well….. I recruited my third player here and I talked about earlier my first two were 50-50. Jake Thunder @Thunder has been remarkable while my other one crashed and burned quickly. My latest recruit Rip Wheeler @ScottyPhad a good first week and got some good TPE and signed with the Las Vegas Aces, a great storied club with winning tradition. Well, week two of my latest recruit got him ….WAIT FOR IT…….2 F$CKIN TPE FOR PRACTICE. Now I work with ScottyP in real life and have hounded him all last week with no luck. I’m hoping it was just a down week and he will catch the bug like most of us do and earn, but I don’t feel optimistic.

My bad. Sorry

G-Cole Pearce @Pifferfish