kirbithan

congrats on 1000, lucy!! such an amazing milestone, thank you for the wonderful contributions you’ve made to the league and here’s to many more!

For this season’s Theme Week theme of “VHL Lore,” I wanted to pivot the topic since I haven’t been around long enough to know the ins and outs of the league’s 17-year long storied history despite being a member for over two years now. Thus, I’m going to tackle the theme in a different way, and that’s through the importance of individual player lore: the stories, personalities, and other ways that users express themselves through writing for their players. Media spots and VHL.com articles are especially significant for sharing lore, as they allow users to craft their players to their liking— as more than just lines of code that run in STHS, but as characters and people. What do I mean by this? Well, my first and previous player Lachlan Summers was more than just a page of stats to me. He was already a pre-established original character that I had written a backstory, personality, and all the little tidbits about that I had tweaked to fit into the world of the VHL. Of course, a few career point tasks like the biography are ways for users to delve deeper into their player’s lives and elaborate on their origins, but I enjoy seeing and reading the media spots from those who truly go out of their way to build their player as a person and add onto the foundation as their career progresses. For Lachlan, he has an established family: a mother, sister, husband, brother-in-law, a dog, and even a baby on the way (that I’d mentioned during the interview media spot I had written a few weeks back). Of course, he’s also best friends with Sadie St-Louis, and even after his VHL career has ended, he’s seeking out work within the Davos organization to stay connected to the league. Just because he’s retired doesn’t mean I’m going to abandon my first player! I find it extremely fun to add these little tidbits into players, maybe because I just enjoy creating original characters and fleshing them out as both a creator and artist, so they don’t feel so flat and one-dimensional. Plus, going further into your player’s story allows for a plethora of opportunities for media spots and allows you to share them with other members of the VHL, hence why I really enjoy story or interview based articles when browsing the forum since it differs from your standard media spot, so I can get a glimpse of what drives these players/characters. With River, I haven’t had much of a chance yet to explore more of his personality besides his biography and a few interviews for the most part, but I definitely want to establish more of his character and his blossoming relationship with a fellow S96 draftee (if you know, you know). Speaking of which, there are plenty of wonderful and talented members of the league who are far more skilled in storytelling than me, like my good friend @OblivionWalker. Lee has written some great pieces that really tell you about who her player, Slava Kovalenko, is as both a person and a player, which include: his roots as a Ukrainian-Canadian, personality, values, accomplishments, and relationships. It’s truly refreshing and fun to see how Slava’s character has transferred to the VHL realm and how seamlessly Lee has made it work. I know a lot of other members enjoy writing humorous articles about their players' shenanigans with some hilarious headlines that always get a laugh out of me, and to me, these examples I’ve listed and more are some of the most important pieces of VHL lore, because they are inherently human and allow users to embrace their most creative selves, as well as connect to their players beyond the scoresheet. I hope others share the same sentiment!

HC Davos Dynamo Press Conference You ONLY have to answer 6 of the 8 questions Week Of November 3rd 2024 - November 10th 2024 1. Thoughts on this season’s theme “VHL Lore”? 2. If you had to put all your remaining TPE into one attribute, what would it be? 3. Historically, who do you think is Davos’ biggest rival? 4. Besides Davos, which VHL/E/M team name/branding stands out most to you? 5. Are there any moves/additions we need to make for our squad as we approach the trade deadline? 6. What jersey number does your player wear? 7. In the Star Wars universe, would you be part of the Jedi Order or the Sith? 8. Are you an introvert or extrovert?

Hello, wonderful folks of the VHL, and welcome to another edition of Kirby Rambles! Let me just start off with the fact that I have just finished up my midterm week, and since I’m still sort of recovering from the mental strain, I’m just allowing the stream of consciousness to take over for this week once again. Let me just say that group projects in college certainly aren’t for the weak. I’ve also been up sporadically since 2:30 in the morning for the sake of sports and after F1 qualifying, the actual race, and a NFL game, there’s a MLS playoff match I’m looking forward to tonight! Additionally, I want to start getting into the graphic-making mindset again this upcoming week since I have a few lovely folks in my portfolio queue that I hope to get sigs to soon and not have them wait for too long. My locker room presence also hasn’t been too great, which I’m not proud of, but I’m hoping to continue to be a voice in both the Davos and Ottawa locker rooms now that this period of midterms is over. Alright, let’s quickly recap my player’s stats again! Up until a 4 game losing slump for the Ottawa Lynx, River Harrington had a 9 game scoring streak which I hope to pick back up again now that the Lynx had won their last two yesterday. In 36 games played, Harrington is at a league leading 52 points with 18 goals and 34 assists with Brandon Petan Jr. and Philadelphia’s Einar Mathiesen at 50 points each. 52 points is definitely something to be proud of and I hope Harrington continues at this pace to potentially break that 100 point mark, though I know it’ll take an insane rest of the season to accomplish. But you never know. As a team, Ottawa is currently still sitting at the top of the VHLM with a 25-8-3 record after that weird losing slump, with Philadelphia trailing behind just barely, with a 24-10-4 record. Only 3 points separate the two teams and it should be a fierce battle for top of the league after Ottawa’s explosive first 20 games. I have high hopes for today’s sims and if they go sour for us, I fear I have nobody to blame but Simon considering the incredible group of players we have, though the other teams are working their tails off to bridge the gap, and I gotta respect that. Over in the VHL, where I AGM for my beloved HC Davos Dynamo, they sit 4th in the European Conference with 49 points, but the battle for 2nd-4th is close, with only 2 points separating David from the 2nd place Malmo Nighthawks. Meanwhile, the Moscow Menace, the team who selected Harrington 2nd overall this past entry draft, are sitting pretty with 65 points and an incredible 31-2-3 record. To end off this Kirby Rambles, I want to quickly discuss VHFL and Super Coach— more so VHFL, because I am doing horrendous in Super Coach. In VHFL, I’m not only leading my group but I’m the first person out of everybody who signed up this season to pass that 800 point threshold. This is the first season I haven’t had a back-to-back pick and while I’d say my luck is better with those, picking 2nd this season wasn’t too shabby for me. Usually, I’m more prepared for VHFL drafts, but with this season being kind of weird, I just went with my gut feeling and it’s seemingly worked out! We love to see it. This concludes this week’s Rambles, and it’s crazy how many words your stream of consciousness can spew out on a Sunday afternoon. Thank you to those who read all the way to the end and I’ll see you all in the next edition!

HC Davos Dynamo Press Conference You ONLY have to answer 6 of the 8 questions Week Of October 27th 2024 - November 3rd 2024 1. Happy Halloween week, fellow Davids! As of Monday, we are third in the EU. How many points do you predict we will end up with by the end of the regular season? 2. How do you think the league should further incentivize activity and content production from users? 3. There are some amazing, funny, and interesting player names in the VHL. Do you have a favorite (that’s not your own)? 4. What brand of equipment does your player use? 5. Do you believe enforcers will eventually be phased out of hockey? 6. What will your player be dressing as for Halloween? 7. Do you celebrate Halloween? Why or why not? 8. How early is too early to listen to Christmas music?

Hello, lovely folks of the VHL! I am back with a proper Kirby Rambles, and to my disbelief, my last one was actually written in July, so we are here to rectify that! This edition will mainly focus on my player, River Harrington, and the absolutely insane run that the Ottawa Lynx are on right now with River and Brandon Petan Jr. (the ever-so-lovely Sadie) leading the charge. The Ottawa Lynx are currently tearing up the VHLM. If you ignore the few odd losses we’ve had thanks to Simon’s shenanigans, it is clear that in S96, the first season without the VHLE in over four years, they are the M’s best and most dominant team right now. As of Saturday, October 26th, they currently sit on top of the Eastern Conference as well as the league as a whole with a record of 18-3-1, an insane goal differential of +36 and a solid 4 game winning streak. They are firing on all cylinders with a rejuvenated and full roster due to the death of the VHLE (thank you for your sacrifice), and I gotta say it— it’s nice to be on a winning squad. The locker room has been buzzing and everyone has been thrilled with our team’s performance, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group to spend this season with before graduating to the VHL next season. I hope we can keep up this pace and stay in that number one seed spot until the conclusion of the regular season. Simon only knows what could happen in the playoffs, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to win that Founder’s Cup. I haven’t won one yet with either of my players so that would definitely be a sick trophy to acquire. Moving onto individual performances, of course I’ll be going over how River has been performing as of late. . . and he is leading the VHLM in scoring despite being a defenseman, with 31 points to his name in 22 games, which is incredible pace! He has 13 goals (5 PPG) and 18 assists (7 PPA), with a shooting percentage of 17.33%, no shorthanded points yet. This puts River 1st in league-wide assists as well as 4th in league-wide goals. He’s also in a three-way tie for 2nd in power play goals, which was a strong suit of his from S95 as well! As for hits and shots blocked, he’s got 31 and 21 in each category respectively. Again, I want these numbers to be a lot higher considering he is a defenseman after all, but considering he’s also a +11 and the Lynx have the lowest goals against in the M, I think it’s excusable, especially since he’s paired up with the purely defensive Taavetti Jokinen. At the beginning season, I did say I wanted to chase some individual trophies and somehow, I may have managed to build a player that could be in contention for some by the conclusion of the season, given he doesn’t slow down in his point-scoring, of course. I wanted to build an offensive defenseman of the Cale Makar archetype, and now that we’re over 20 games in, I’d like to say that I’m definitely seeing some success in that department, especially after I was a bit disappointed in River’s performance at the end of last season. He was left off the ballot for best defenseman, so it’s safe to say I’m gunning for it this time around. After producing a HOFer in Lachlan Summers, I want to follow it up with my first taste of hybrid attributes and go for two in a row. Will that happen? Who knows! So far, it’s been a fun ride and I can’t wait to see what the rest of this season holds.

HC Davos Dynamo Press Conference You ONLY have to answer 6 of the 8 questions Week Of October 20th 2024 - October 27th 2024 1. How do you feel about your player’s performance so far now that we are around a week into sims? 2. What goals do you hope to achieve by the time your current player’s career is over? 3. Should hybrid attributes also be applied to goalies? 4. How long have you been a member of the VHL? Has anything drastically changed since then (besides the VHLE folding)? 5. What will your player be dressing up as for Halloween? 6. Which Davos player would you want on your zombie apocalypse survival team? 7. What is the most random fun fact you know? 8. What is your favorite candy?

A Mini Rambles this week? Why yes! I’m at the tailend of a cold that unfortunately led me to collecting welfare last week which I’m not proud of, but I genuinely felt awful for the first four-ish days of my illness and couldn’t bring myself to make a graphic knowing it’d turn out subpar. One week of welfare obviously won’t kill me, especially with the uncapped TPE opportunities, so I’m trying not to beat myself up too much. Lachlan Summers is officially a Hall of Famer. Wow. Honestly still crazy to think about, and to know he’ll be immortalized with some of the greatest names in VHL history is still something I’m struggling to comprehend (and thank you again, Jacob, for your beautiful HOF article that brightened up my entire week). Like I said, I could’ve never expected this when joining as a clueless first gen. I’m both honored and proud that all they work I put into this player paid off and that 14 teams still shiver when they hear Lachlan’s name. Moving on, River Harrington is now a PPG defenseman with 11 points in 10 games! As of the evening I’m posting this, he’s currently tied for second in defenseman scoring. I’m hoping to see his hits and SB go up from 19 and 12 respectively so I can really make a run for that best defenseman award. After not making the ballot last season, I’ve definitely got a chip on my shoulder and with the E making way for another season in the M, I’m hoping to use that opportunity to the best of my ability. I like to think my build is pretty standard, but since I’ve already surpassed the 400 TPE cap, I can’t adjust anything anymore so we’ll see how things pan out since S96 is still young. The Lynx are off to a hot 9-1 start so I’d want to say our Cup hopes are good. As we’ve seen, anything can happen in the playoffs so we’ll deal with things when we get there. Here’s to a great season!

love the layering on this!!

proud to be named an assistant!! let’s get it done this season.

@preds

HC Davos Dynamo Press Conference You ONLY have to answer 6 of the 8 questions Week Of October 13th 2024 - October 20th 2024 1. Did your player participate in any tournaments this offseason? 2. What have you done to keep yourself busy this offseason? 3. Was there any VHL FA signing or trade that shocked you? 4. Who would you consider your player’s rival? 5. What do you think about the nine season length of a VHL career? Would you make it shorter? Longer? 6. What is the best-looking jersey in the NHL? 7. Do you prefer summer or winter weather? 8. What is your favorite guilty pleasure food?

honestly almost shed a tear reading this. i’m currently battling a cold so this was just what i needed to boost my mood. thank you so much for such a beautifully written article and the extremely sweet words, jacob!! there’s nobody else who i would’ve rather seen write lachlan’s hof article than my first gm ever! feels unreal, but it means so much to me to hear that i’m impacting others positively and want to continue to do so. my time in the vhl has been absolutely incredible and i hope to run things back with river!

welcome to the wjc, ace!! let’s get this championship

i may be a little biased as a critter, but i'm loving your work and can't wait to see what grog gets up to next in his vhl journey!

Transaction ID: 9N621846GF026224U 5 Uncapped TPE Doubles Week

HC Davos Dynamo Press Conference You ONLY have to answer 6 of the 8 questions Week Of October 6th 2024 - October 13th 2024 1. The offseason is moving along. Do you have any thoughts about Davos’ S96 first round pick: Victory Hockey League? (What a stellar player name.) 2. What are your goals for this upcoming season? 3. Are you aiming for any individual awards with your player? 4. As per tradition, give us your bold VHL prediction for S96! 5. How do you feel about the VHLM’s hard cap now being 400? 6. With the NHL regular season starting, what is your favorite team (if you follow the NHL)? 7. Are you more of a cat person or a dog person? 8. Would you like to see more VHL-related questions or more personal/fun questions (ex. What is your favorite [blank]?) in the press conferences in the future?

After the Prague Phantoms had selected Pan Daffleck, which was a no-brainer pick considering the pedigree of this red panda, there were questions as to how the Moscow Menace would proceed with the 2nd overall pick, having traded up after some blockbuster deals went down prior to the draft. The decision seemed to fall between friends River Harrington and Brandon Petan Jr. Moscow was aging, and needed a refresh on both offense and defense, but with a deal sending Catia Goncalves to the Menace, it seemed extremely likely they’d go after the next best defenseman available with Daffleck off the board. “With the 2nd overall pick in the S96 VHL Draft, the Moscow Menace select. . . from the Ottawa Lynx, River Harrington!” With an 80 point performance in 72 games with Ottawa this past season, River Harrington will now be making his way to Moscow in S97, after having decided that he will, in fact, spend another season in the VHLM. The top few picks in this draft were interesting, as reports had once again reached GMs that both Harrington and Petan Jr. have a history together and would’ve preferred to be scooped up by the same franchise. However, the two prospects did note that since the chances were so slim, they weren’t expecting anything despite murmurings amongst management from various teams. Thus, with the following 3rd overall selection, the DC Dragons proceeded to draft Petan Jr., as they needed a little bit of everything to get their franchise up and running again. As the top forward in this class, Petan Jr. will be just what they need to build around. Next, the London United selected Alagsantere Grønvold 4th overall, as the third defenseman to come off the board, who is another strong pick since they are also in the same boat as DC. His selection was followed by Moscow scooping up goaltender Deadpanda, who the Menace plan to grow, develop, and potentially follow up Olober Syko. With the 6th overall pick, the Warsaw Predators drafted Slava Kovalenko, a breakout star for the Mississauga Hounds and a name that Harrington was also immensely looking forward to hearing come off the board, as it seems there has been something blossoming between the two. Kovalenko rounds out the top six in an extremely interesting class, and only time will tell how these prospects’ careers pan out in the long run.

HC Davos Dynamo Press Conference You ONLY have to answer 6 of the 8 questions Week Of September 29th 2024 - October 6th 2024 1. After our performance this past playoffs, how do you feel about the state of Davos as a team? 2. With the draft coming up, we currently sit at the 10th selection! What position do you think we need the most? 3. Did your player perform as you expected this season? 4. Do you believe offseasons should be shorter? Or is this the perfect amount of time between each season? 5. Give us one aspiration/goal you have for S96! 6. What piece of advice would you give a first-gen VHLer? 7. If you were an animal, what would it be and why? 8. Have you ever traveled internationally? If so, to what countries?

WOW, to say i’m stoked about these hires is an understatement. CONGRATS, JACOB AND SADIE!!