OBrian Young

Will humbly apply. Yes, I will monitor the Forums to make sure I can respond to any messages in a timely manner!

Yea, so that is why he grabbed those keys back so quickly! I did get 1 wall partly done, hopefully it wont be too hard to cover it up. Oopps! Cant trust us youngsters with anything!

1. We are nearing the end of the season. What are your hopes for your player next season? To continue to improve. I know I need to get better and I need to have a plan to do so. 2. Which team would you most like to see win the VHLM trophy (doesn’t need to be one with an actual chance)? Oslo. It may just be me, but it seemed like we struggled to beat them so if they win it at least we can say the champion was out bogey team 3. It is GM Rory’s birthday (not in real life). What gift are you getting them? Are you going for cheap and quick or do you want to give the best gift out of all the players? Sure, splurge! Why not, it is only money, right? 4. Why does your player have the name they have? I started serious online sim games when I was still teaching and I didnt want my students to be able to find me. So I was sitting at home with my wife and I just said, how about "Otis" and I cannot tell you why I said it. She then said "Boudreaux" sounds good. So "Otis Boudreaux" was born. Sadly I had to leave when I was him and since I came back to continue what he started, wala, Otis Boudreaux, Jr! 5. If you could totally get rid of one sport as if it never existed, what sport would it be and why? Cornhole. Is that even a sport? I see it on ESPN and I just dont get it. Sorry for those who enjoy watching it. But let people still play it in their backyards, nothing wrong with that. Just not sure it warrants coverage on ESPN. 6. If you had to bring an animal onto the ice with you every game, what animal would it be and why? Monkey! Why not? I mean, who doesnt like a monkey??

What an interesting season in Bratislava. I came there as a young and naïve skater who hoped to carve my name on the championship trophy. But it was not to be, at least this season. We had our ups and downs. We improved overall as a team as we practiced late into the night and we came together as a group of young men as we spent countless hours in front of the TV as we honed our skills in a wide variety of video games. We laughed, beat the lockers and practiced our cursing. We grew not only as players but as young men as well. I tried not to show my disappointment as my season seemed to match our success as a team. I just didnt seem to have put the puzzle together correctly. I was slow on the ice and seemed to be just a second late with most every pass, with every shot. I spent extra time on the ice, endless hours watching our match film as I tried to make myself worthy of being on this team. Slowly I started to see some improvement. I started to get a little faster. I started to be able to make decisions just that much quicker. I started to feel like I deserved to be there. It felt good to see that I was actually a benefit to the team. But I had to hide my excitement because the team did not seem to be able to get past that final hurdle to win games. How can I feel good about my getting better when we are still losing games? I felt so guilty when I smiled because I got an assist, or even better a goal. We had missed the play-offs. It was not the outcome we wanted as a team. We had 2 matches let, a home and away series with Stockholm. Yes, they are in last place with only 3 victories, but we know how games can go. So we wanted to give our best. The first game Stockholm came to Bratislava. We walked away with the win, 6-2. That felt great, but getting 2 assists felt so good. We then traveled to Stockholm to face off for 1 last time this season. Once again we won, 4-2. I skated around the ice one last time to celebrate my scoring 2 goals. I still cannot believe it! I hate that we missed the playoffs. But we are excited for next season and know that we are on a mission, to become the best players we can be and to be a part of the best team there is...ours! Word Count: 443 Week Claimed: 23 Jul 2023

Happy Birthday! Yea, yall make me feel old...I had just finished my 1st year as a high school social studies teacher. I was 43 then. It was my 4th career change....Yea...I got my 1st tattoo in 1983...

This has been a really interesting season as the Assistant General Manager with the Calgary Wranglers. I have watched over the shoulder of, well, who I consider one of the best General Managers there is in @Ricer13 I have watched how he has encouraged the team, cheered them in their victories and encouraged them in their losses. I never felt like this was a "my way or the highway" organization. I watched as he talked to each player, prospects included. He discussed their plans for their career and how he could assist them in becoming the best players they can be. I realized it is not about the team with him, it is about the person and everything else will fall into place. We have discussed roster moves, potential and theoretical. He has been patient as I have asked questions and always takes time to answer me as clearly and thoroughly as possible. We have been talking about the off-season and all of the different scenarios that could play out. I have watched him struggling with what to do in the off-season. We have discussed what would be best for the team and why. Yea, I have learned alot from him. But I know there is so much more that I need to learn....like how to set lines and what things to consider when deciding what strategies to use for the upcoming games. We started these conversations recently and just like everything else he has been patient and explained things in such a way that they are very easy to understand. Yes, I still have questions and I know he will answer them with the same patience and understanding he has in the past. Then he dropped the bombshell on me. He is going out of town and wanted me to take care of the lines and strategies. No pressure here huh? So I have the keys to the office, the boss is out of town, time to try my hand and see what works? So I start with my charts and spreadsheets, taking into account all I have learned. I think I finally have enough information to make my mind up and list out my game plan. I have my strategies in mind, I know what lines I want....time for the student to show what he has learned! But then I open up the lines, they match what I had written down. Okay, let's look at the strategies, they match as well. What is going on? I have my time to shine and show what I can do....and I dont see anything I would change. So now what? My big chance to shine and show how much I have learned from the master....and I cannot see anything to change. So maybe I learned too well? Maybe I still have quite alot more to learn. Maybe I realized that change just for the sake of change isnt such a good thing. What will I do before the boss gets back? Who knows for sure. But I think the walls in the office could use a coat of paint. I wonder what he would think of blue walls? Word Count: 527 Week Claimed: 23 Jul 2023

Interested.

I guess I will answer my own questions, lol 1. Who do you feel is the undervalued player on the Watchmen? G Jonny Elgar. I think goalies are so often considered an after-thought. But I think a good goalie can make up for the flaws in a defense. 2. If you could start your career over, what is one thing you would change? Some of the progression choices I made, I would do differently. It is tough to figure out what to do at the beginning. 3. Do we make the playoffs? If so, who do you want to face? I hate to say it, but I dont think we do. We are just too inconsistent. 4. Who do you think is that one team that we just cant seem to play well against? Istanbul. Maybe it is where I have seen them as our opponents, but it seems like we cant seem to get one over on them 5. Plans for the off-season? Anything interesting? Practice, practice and more practice....oh...and going home for a few days. I miss my family...

The league is a great place to become involved and engage in a variety of activities if you choose. There are so many things to do that sometimes it can be overwhelming to try to figure out where to start. But once you get started it is easy to feel overwhelmed. I mean, not only are there so many things to do....but so many Slack channels to be a part of! But that is a topic for another day...maybe next week...who knows, haha. But I will admit, it is odd to be in the locker room in multiple teams, I mean, being on a VHLE team while being a part of the VHL team can be overwhelming in its own right, but then throw in being an Assistant General Manager for a completely different team....now, throw in ANOTHER locker room and include the front office channels. Yea, there is alot to be a part of there. So now I start to see conversations about team makeup on different teams, some in different leagues but some are in the same leagues. It can get confusing for sure! So who do I share what? I see this team is talking about these possible roster moves while the other team is discussing their plans as well? Who can I tell what to? At what point does it cross some hidden line about collusion? Is there even a line that should not be crossed? There are some things that I still am not quite sure about. I have learned quite alot, I know I have so much more to learn. Luckily I have a patient General Manager I am working with who has allowed me to learn at my own pace, ask the questions I have and know that my end goal is to be the best Assistant General Manager I can be....and be a benefit to the league...and who knows what comes next? But it is going to be cool to find out! Word Count: 330 Week Claimed: 9 Jul 2023

One of the biggest challenges is when you are the new player on the team and everyone is so much better than you. The excitement of getting drafted, traveling to another city and stepping on new ice in a new arena. It made me feel on top of the world! Then, a couple of days later I got taken even higher. I was drafted by Los Angeles and went there to sign my new contract. I was going to get paid $1.5M per year for 3 years. I had never seen that much money in my life. I thought the world was at my feet. I could have anything I wanted. But then I went back to Bratislava. I was a nobody there. Yea, I was part of the new draft class and was just another face on the ice. These guys were bigger....and better than me. So I started to practice, alot. I mean, every free minute I had was spent on the ice or in the weight room. We had an indoor track that I ran countless kilometers on. I knew the only way to get better was to practice. When anyone asked if I wanted to hang around and put in more minutes on the ice, I agreed. When the goalie asked if anyone wanted to stay after practice and give him some more net-time, I volunteered. I knew I had to get better, I knew the only way to do that was to practice. I saw my teammates scoring goals and getting assists....and here I was, just skating around in circles. I will be honest, I was not really concerned about my stats but I knew that if I was not scoring, was not getting assists, then it decreased our chances of winning. So it is literally a win-win situation...I get better and score goals and have assists and it helps my team have a better chance of getting that elusive victory. Slowly, every so slowly, I started to get better. I actually started to score goals and get those assists that helped my teammates score goals. I hate to admit it, but I wanted to get in double figures for both. I wanted to be able to double digits for goals and assists. I wanted to see that personal success and hope that it translated into overall team success, to get those victories. I had a game, earlier in the season where I scored 2 goals. I still can not believe I was able to do that. But since then, my goals have been few and far between. The assists were the same, but I started to see that number climb. I finally hit 10 assists, then 15. But the goals were still slow in coming. Then we played Oslo. I seemed to be in a grove in that game. I scored my 1st goal of the game, and 10th overall, with 9:23 gone in the 1st period. Then with 16:58 gone in the 3rd period I ended the scoring in the game where I was able to score my 11th goal of the season. More importantly, we won the game 4-3. Finally, I broke that double-digit barrier. I know I still have a long way to go in my career. I am still considered the "new kid". But I am starting to feel like I am actually a part of the team. I feel like I am more than just a bench warmer who watched everyone skate around me in circles. So 46 games into the season I finally have it, 11 goals, 20 assists for a total of 31 points. Yea, that means I am 8th in points for the team. But it is a start and I know that by practicing I will continue to get better and become the best teammate I can be. Word Count: 643 Week Claimed: 9 Jul 2023

The hardest part of joining a new team is trying to find your place and to make sure that what you are doing is actually helping the team. I mean, I guess there are some who are more concerned with their own stats and production instead of the team overall, but that is not me. I will not lie, I look at my stats as well. But in the end, having great stats on a bad team, I do not want that. I would rather have mediocre stats on a great team. So how do I make sure that I am doing my best to help the team? At this point in my career I hate to say I do not have an answer to that question. It seems like such a simple one, but the answer eludes me. Yes, I understand working as hard as I can, I get training as much as I can. But training to do what better? Skate? Pass? Move the puck around the opponent? Watching film of the opposition? Watching film of the greats? I mean, the list is endless of things that I can spend my time on. What yields the best results? What can I do that will actually benefit the team? Luckily my coaches help. The General Manager offers suggestions. So there is quite a bit of support. But that question remains in the back of my mind, am I really helping the team? Yes, I have scored some goals and gotten some assists, but has that been enough? Word Count: 258 Claimed Week: 2 Jul 2023

For anyone who needs a press conference... 1. Who do you feel is the undervalued player on the Watchmen? 2. If you could start your career over, what is one thing you would change? 3. Do we make the playoffs? If so, who do you want to face? 4. Who do you think is that one team that we just cant seem to play well against? 5. Plans for the off-season? Anything interesting?

Missing Home I still cannot believe I am in Bratislava playing hockey for the Watchmen. I mean, a little over a year ago I was in Galway, sleeping in my own bed, eating meals cooked by my Ma, and just enjoying being a teenager. But then the whirlwind began. I remember that meeting like it was yesterday. The meeting that started this journey. I was being compared to Otis Boudreaux, but everyone seemed to whisper that they hoped I did not end my career the way he did, with so much unfulfilled potential. So even from that first day I felt under so much pressure. I hope I could become what they wanted me to be. The next thing I knew I was in Canada, getting ready for the World Junior Showcase Tournament. We did not do as well as we had hoped we would. But the tournament was a good way to introduce myself to the VHL. While waiting for the VHLM draft I headed home and returned to Canada after being drafted by Saskatoon. I spent the next few months traveling around North America, living out of suitcases while most days not even knowing what time zone I was in. Once again, we did not do as well as we hoped but I never stopped training. I was selected for the Commissioner's Cup which once again involved endless days of traveling around the world. I spent my 17th birthday on a plane traveling to another game...at least we were traveling on a plane instead of a bus. I went back home where Dad taught me to drive. I have to admit those roads at home seem so small after being on the huge motorways in North America. I decided that I could not wait to buy my first car. But it would have to wait as I was drafted by Bratislava. I was also drafted by Los Angeles and had my first contract that I got paid for with them. So I had to fly to Bratislava, then to Los Angeles, then back to Bratislava. Our season started, more traveling, more buses, more airplanes, more nights living out of suitcases and not being sure what time zone I was even in. I am really enjoying my time in the VHL. I love that I am getting such good coaching, I feel that I am getting better every week. But I miss home. I miss my bed, I miss my Ma and Dad. It is really hard to not feel like I have a home now. I live out of suitcases, even when we are in Bratislava. Why pay rent since we are on the road all of the time? So I rented a hotel room, even while we are in Bratislava. I am too young to really go to clubs. So my nights without games are quiet and normally spent alone. I try to call home every day, but people there have lives as well. I guess the positive is that I do not like to be alone so with all of my free time I go over to the arena and practice. I hope it means I am getting better, but it is tough to tell. My teammates are so much better than me....and seem to be older as well. It is lonely at times, I miss home....but in the end I hope that it all pays off and I will truly become the best teammate a player can have. Word Count: 581 Claimed Week: 2 Jul 2023

1. What do you hope to achieve with your player and the Watchmen this season? I hope to improve my player. I also want to be the best teammate I can. I want to be able to contribute to the team and hopefully take us to the top. 2. What are your long-term goals for your player? To be the best teammate I can be. I guess setting some records along the way would be nice, but that is not my goal. I want to go down in the annals of VHL lore as the best overall teammate in the league. 3. Who do you think will the cup this season and why? Us of course! Who else would I back but the awesome team I am a part of! 4. What can the management do to make your time in Bratislava more enjoyable? Provide guidance in what I can do to improve. I want to take advantage of the experience everyone else has in the league to make my player the best I can be. 5. Who is your favourite NHL team and why? Carolina Hurricanes. I am from North Carolina. Can I admit that prior to sim leagues I never really paid attention to the NHL? 6. If you were forced to eat one food every day for the rest of your life, what would it be? (You can eat other food too) Carrot cake. But not just any carrot cake, the recipe that my Grandmother used. She did share it with my wife before she passed away so I still get it on special occasions.

Taking The Next Steps to Who Know What Comes Next So here I am, the young Irish Kid and now in Slovakia. Yep, I am sitting in the team hotel in Bratislava. I now play for the Bratislava Watchmen and when my career is over here, I will head to Los Angeles. I still cannot believe it. How in the world did this even happen? I mean, I felt I had a good season, nothing spectacular, but it was good. Saskatoon didnt have a great season. But I was select to play in some post-season tournaments and did okay in those, but then I went home to Ireland. I knew that at this point everything was out of my hands. So I decided to go on a short holiday with my family around Ireland. I would find out what had happened when I got home. So we packed up the car, I called my agent and told him I was taking a trip and would be leaving my mobile phone at home and I would call him when we got home. So off we went. We visited the Cliffs of Mohr, where we got soaked in a rain storm. We went to Castletownebere as well as Dublin and of course had to see some working sheep dogs (which I think are so fascinating) and, for a short time, did not think about the 2 drafts I was missing. But it was always there in the back of my mind even though I never admitted that I was thinking about them. At some point I knew we would pull in the driveway and I would have to make that telephone call. So it happened. The trip was over and we were home. I went in to call my agent and see what was next in my future. Was I going to spend another season in Saskatoon? Would I move on? If so, where? When was I selected in the draft? Had I even been selected at all? There are so many questions, and yes, even some apprehension, about what I might find out. I picked up my mobile and checked, I had over 200 messages and missed calls. There were numbers I did not recognize. There were names I did not know, but I did know that all of them were going to be the people who would help me on the next steps of my journey to become one of the best in the VHL. I dialed the number of my agent and put it on speaker so my parents could hear. I was 17 years old and had no idea what was going to happen next. He answered and I heard the excitement in his voice when he realized it was me. He asked me, "Do you want the good news or the bad news first?" I thought about it and looked at my parents, what to say? So I told him the good news, I figured then I would be able to handle the bad news easier. He told me I had been selected with the 1st selection in the 2nd round of the VHLE draft by the Bratislava Watchmen. I looked at Mom and she smiled, so I was heading to Slovakia. He then said I had been selected 9th in the 1st round of the VHL Draft by the Los Angeles Star. Wow! What a difference, from Galway, to Saskatoon, to Bratislava and at some point, to Los Angeles! I asked what was next and he told me he would send me a ticket to Bratislava, that I had to be there in a week and that someone from the team would meet me at the airport. He suggested that I call my new General Manager right away so they know I am excited to be a member of the Watchmen and I needed to sign my contract with Los Angeles, so I needed to call them as well. I contacted Los Angeles as soon as their office (damn, the time difference will take some getting used to for sure) to talk about my contract. Holy #$%#$!! I opened my contract! I had never seen that much money in my life!! Of course I gave almost all of it to my parents. But 3 years to prove myself, $1.5M per year. Mom and Dad could buy a new house, a new car, and Dad could retire when he wanted to. It was time to prove my worth, it was time to take the next step in my career, it was time to start working hard and see where my skates can take me.... Word Count: 767 Week Claimed: 25 June 2023

Sometimes the best way to find what you are looking for is to stop looking. This can be said of many aspects of life, even when it comes to finding the right place to fit in as a part of the sim world. I had decided when I returned to the VHL that I would like to get involved in team management. I felt that by being a part of something in that way would increase the chances that I would stay with it long-term and not lose interest once my player got to a certain level. But I quickly found that it was not as easy as I thought it would be. I dont blame anyone for this or think it was anything bad, there are quite a few good candidates out there. But for whatever reason I just could not seem to get my foot in the door. Luckily my General Manager in the VHLM told me he would like me to become his assistant, but he wanted to wait until the end of the season to do it. I thought that was kind of odd, but I agreed and stopped applying for other jobs. But then he slowly moved away from the league and before anyone was aware, he was gone. I went ahead and put my name out there for other AGM spots, even got some interviews, but could not seem to get the door to open. I decided to stop applying. I told some people of my decision and decided to just wait a season or two and try again. Then I got the call, so to speak, from Calgary. The Calgary Wranglers from the VHL wanted me to become their Assistant General Manager. I will be honest, I was kind of shocked. The more I thought about it, the more humbled I became. I was going to be joining an organization with a rich history and be given the chance to learn how to be a General Manager from someone who definitely knows what they are doing. Of course I said YES! So the door I was not even looking for opened and this part of my career in the VHL has began...and I cannot wait to see where it leads. Word Count: 377 Claimed Week of: 25 Jun 2023

Really excited for this opportunity. I cant wait to work with, and learn from such a storied organization!

My turn again... 1. Who's going to win the cup, the Panthers or the Golden Knights? This is going to be a crazy reason, but because I was drafted by them in my 1st every sim hockey league...the Golden Knights 2. What is one thing you're looking forward to this off-season? Spending time with my family. I never knew how much I missed them until they were not here beside me 3. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why? I am going to Ireland tomorrow, so I guess I will say that. My wife and I are going to renew our vows there and my daughter and son-in-law will be with us, so I think it is going to be pretty special. So what am I going to ask? 1. Would you eat bread colored green? 2. An NHL player who should retire, but is going to fight thru one more season...or more? 3. Could only watch 1 series for the rest of your life, what is it?

I was not sure how the season was going to end. I had a couple of start and stop points for sure. I THOUGHT it was over at the end of the VHLM season when Saskatoon was sent packing before the play-offs even began. But then I got the call about the World Junior Championship. I went back to Canada and waited to see what would happen. I was not even sure if I would be selected for a team. But the call came and I was joining the Royals. The season started great as we opened up with a 5-1 record. Then we went on a losing streak. But the team never stopped fighting. We made it into the playoffs! We watched the Wild Card games and rested up for the battle we knew would come next. We went against the Warriors. It went back and forth, we won, they won and we ended Game 6 tied. We knew it was a make or break game. The dreaded Game 7. We win and go on to the next round, we lose and go home. The qualifying rounds and the preceding games meant nothing now. We had to win....and we did not. So once again, I started to pack up to head back home. But then the phone rang again. I had been selected for the Commissioner's Cup. I was on Team Gustav. It was just a 3-game tournament. So we would have it finished in 3 days. At least if we went to 3 games. The first one, we lost. We scored 3...and gave up 5. But then the second game, we won in Overtime. So once again the dreaded final game. But this time, win and we have won the Cup. Lose and go home, well, losers. This time it paid off. The puck was on our side. We won! We had won the Commissioner's Cup!! I do not even remember the score. I just know that I did not have to go back to Ireland a 3-time loser. I know to many this Cup is not much, but to me it is my first. That means, no matter what, nothing else will be my first trophy. I do not remember helping the team much. I think I could have possibly been more of a hinderance than an asset on the ice. But who cares? I was part of a winning team! Now...to head back home for a few days and wait for the VHLE draft...and to see what comes next. Word Count: 423 Week Claimed: 11 Jun 2023

We started with such high hopes. We were selected to play for the Royals in the World Junior Hockey Championships. The team came together and we hit the ice. We practiced extra hours. We did everything we could to come together as a team. We ate too much pizza, played video games too much, we came together and was ready for whatever we faced. We started off strong. We got to 5-1. Man, this felt so good. The team was excited. The Head Coach was putting us in the best position to win that he could. He told us that we needed to continue to work hard. No matter the results of the games, we needed to do our best. So yes, we did that. We did that work. He did his part. It all was coming together and we were going to win this for sure. But then we hit a bump in the road. We started losing. Not by a large margin, but we were still losing. The great thing is the mood and attitude of the locker room did not change. We were still positive and working towards victory. We had that one goal in mind, to win the Championship! We were even fortunate in that we were able to even add a new player. The focus was there from the beginning from all of us. When the qualifying rounds were over, we were in the playoffs! We did not even have to win a playoff series for a Wild Card spot. We were sitting there and watching to see the final game of the Wild Card series to see what the format would be. To be honest, we did not care who won that series because we knew we would win the championship. It would not matter who we played, we were going to win. Our opponent was the Warriors. They are a good team and we knew we were in for a fight. Game 1, we win, 4-2. A great start! We scored 3 goals in the 2nd period to make sure this one went into the Win column. Game 2 was a loss, we gave up 3 goals in the 3rd period to lose 5-3. So the series is tied, 1-1. Game 3 saw us lose again, 4-2, and once again, we gave up 3 goals in the 3rd period. So now we are behind, 1-2 in the series. Game 4, took 2 Overtimes, but we get the win! The series is tied 2-2. We knew it would be tough, but damn...yea...this is a good one. Game 5, we flip the script and score 2 in the 3rd period to win this one 4-3. So we go ahead, 3-2. One more victory and we will move on! Game 6. We scored 2 goals in the 3rd period in that game to take it to Overtime. But we lost this one, so once again, the series is tied 3-3. Nothing else matters. The slate is clear. It is win, or go home. No pressure, right? The final game of the series, we took the shots, we fought like hell. We went onto the ice as a team, we played as a team, and win or lose, we are a team. It was not meant to be. We lost 2-4. It might as well been 0-1 or even 99-100 because a loss is a loss, no matter what the score was. The locker room was quiet. Slowly we started clearing out our lockers. We looked at each other, but no words were spoken. No matter what, we left it all on the ice. No matter what we did the best we could and we can hold our heads high. Word Count: 623 Week Claimed: 11 June 2023

Congrats to both. It is great to see such a good GM coming into Saskatoon. Good luck with them @Viper

Here we go again... 1. Who is the biggest trade bait in your league this offseason? I think the players in the VHLM are a little different. I think there are quite a few that could be great trade bait, but the problem is knowing if they will still be in the M next season. I could better answer this after seeing he decides to go up to the E and who stays down. But an easy answer would be anyone that is over 190 TPE but less than 200 at the end of the season because they would max out and, should be, the top of the league. 2. Which award do you have a hot take for who should win? Oh wow, I hate to admit this, but I dont know all of the awards in the league. 3. If you had to pick a team to rebrand/relocate which team would you pick. Wow, another one that I dont know that much about. But I think I would pick a team that has the worst record. Some times it is good to give a team a new home, a new image, a new leash on life. My 3.... 1. Cheeseburger toppings? Come on, at least say onions, lol 2. Fearless prediction, who wins the VHLM Commissioner's Cup? 3. Dream vacation, and who would you take?

The last VHLM draft was a great occasion (okay, it was great because I was drafted) and the General Manager of the Saskatoon Wild, Bauldry, was very active and involved. He had quite a few selection and was ready to try and win the VHLM title. The season started good, yea, there was some adjustments to lines and some ups and downs, but we were all excited and ready to get this done. But then we started losing, I mean, alot. I think it finally ended after 19 games in a row. To be honest, after 14 losses in a row, which more wins than we had so far in the season, I stopped counting. I do not know if it was a coincidence, or just bad timing, but it seemed around the same time we started to see less of the General Manager. We started reaching out to him and did not get any answers. We started asking for the press conferences and they were not posted. Eventually we just started doing other things. Still no response from the General Manager, nothing about what was going on. There were no waiver claims as we lost players. There was no attempt to convince players to not leave, they too just disappeared. There was no attempt to trade players who were looking to join a playoff-bound team. There was nothing... The season is over. We never did hear from our General Manager. We never knew what was going on until we found his office cleaned out. We found out he had also cleared out of his locker and even vacated his rented house. Gone, everything has been cleared out. It has left us all asking questions, wondering where he went, if everything is okay, if he is okay. I hope, if nothing else, we can find out he is doing okay. Now, there will be a new General Manager for Saskatoon and the team will hopefully become the powerhouse it deserves to become! Word Count: 332 Week Claimed: 4 June 2023

This has been a season of ups and downs for sure. I was drafted by Saskatoon with the 1st pick of the 3rd round. I led the team in goals, was second in assists and total points. But the team didnt have a good season. We seemed to lose all direction and focus. We tried to stay together but we all drifted into different directions. Some of the players were interested in personal goals and others just lost intertest. Some of my teammates just went home, while some others even asked about being traded. It is tough to stay positive when there seems to be confusion about the direction of the team. The season seemed to be over, I did not know what to do next. But then I got the call to join the World Junior Championship. I was drafted by the Royals and joined a team that had come together for just one purpose, to win the tournament. I was honored to be voted the Captain of the team for the tournament. We have been working hard. The tournament started great for us, going 5-1 before we hit a tough patch. But then we started to struggle. However, that did not change the dedication of the team. The GM was in there giving us insight on his plans, providing encouragement and making sure we knew he was in it to win it as well. The preliminary rounds are finished. We made it into the playoffs. We are currently playing the Warriors and are tied 2-2. It has been a great series and if we can win this round, then I think we have a good chance to go all the way. The cohesion of the team and the support of the staff has been fantastic! I was sitting in the day room, watching Youtube videos about Ireland, wow, I really miss home. When my mobile phone rang. I was not expecting a call, but who knows what will happen on a Saturday night. It was from the league office. Why were they calling me on a Saturday night? After saying hello....everything kind of went in a fog....I need to let this soak in. I had been selected to play in the revived Commissioner's Cup! The league allowed the the VHLM Commissioner's to select teams to try and take home the Commissioner's Cup! There were 40 players selected, 20 for each team. Out of those 20, there were 12 Forwards on each team. I was one of the 24 Forwards selected to try to take this home! I will be playing on the team managed by Gustav, we do not have a name yet. But what an honor! I hung up the call and my mobile phone rang again. This time it was a reporter. I was trying to deal with the reality that I had even been selected to play in this revived tournament and now I am getting asked questions about it. How do I feel about playing in the cup? I am excited...and kind of nervous. I mean, this is a great honor, but what if I fail? What if I let my team down. I know it is alot of pressure so I hope that am able to support my team. Then he asked, what do I want to accomplish in the tournament? I want my team to win, I want to be an asset to my team. The last question is if I thought I could win the cup MVP? Is there such a thing? I honestly do not know. But even if there is, I am not really interested. Now I am not going to lie and say it would not be cool to win it, but I am here for my team. So if I win it because I was the best teammate, then yea, I like it. But I am not interested in personal glory. That is, unless it is earned while supporting my team and being the best teammate I can be. He thanked me and ended the call. I headed upstairs to try and let this all sink in. I realized there was something I needed to do though... It is time to call my parents and tell them I will not be home as soon as I thought....there is another trophy to win! Word Count: 961 words Week claimed: 4 June 2023