scoop

damn no one wants Sakamoto

Shame we couldn't make it seven in a row after starting that game against Riga up 4-0. Yeesh, what a blow up.

It took Jacob Stone until his sixth game to score his first career goal in the VHL. It wouldn't be until his 33rd game that he scored another. With 48 games under his belt, he is now up to nine for the season, including both of Malmo's goals in their recent 2-1 victory over the Toronto Legion. During those first 32 games, he had been taking plenty of shots. He had 77 shots on goal after his first attempt of his 33rd game was saved, bringing his shooting percentage down to an abysmal 1.30%. In the time since then, including the remainder of his 33rd game through his 48th, he has 46 shots on goal and eight goals scored for a shooting percentage of 17.39% during that span, and bringing his season shooting percentage up to 7.32%. After the long drought between his first and second goals, he quickly scored his third. And his fourth. And his fifth and sixth. He had went on a four-game goal streak which included a two-goal game. While he hasn't scored goals at nearly that clip since that time, he hasn't had a streak of futility like earlier in the season. All season, though, he has been relatively consistent in getting on the score sheet. He has 31 points in the 48 games he has played, which is one behind both Kronchy Kardashian and Leonard Triller for the lead among rookies.

The Parity Era In terms of parity in Continental Cup winners, the VHL has never seen a time quite like that of the latter half of the 20's into the early half of the 30's. At the beginning of this stretch, there were eight teams in the league, and from Season 26 to Season 33, every single team won exactly one championship. Other than shifting that period over from Season 28 to Season 35, we have never seen a stretch of more than six unique winners at any point in time. I will primarily be breaking down that first instance, but I will also take a look slightly beyond that, because the parity wasn't entirely confined to that stretch of time. Breaking the Curse It seems fitting that the era would begin with the Vasteras Iron Eagles ending a then-record 24-season cup drought. Throughout that streak of futility, Vasteras had only made it to the finals twice, and apparently the third time was the charm. They really needed it to be, because the franchise would not be seen in the finals again until Season 47, though they never did win another cup before being subject to league contraction. It is somewhat comical that after Vasteras ended their drought, within seven more seasons, the once again had the longest active cup drought, a distinction which they would carry until becoming defunct. One Shot, One Opportunity From Season 26 to Season 33, there were four teams who made just one finals appearance, and none of them let that opportunity slip away from them. In addition to the Vasteras squad that got things started, we had Helsinki in Season 27, Toronto in Season 29, and Calgary in Season 30. Interestingly, those three teams had recently won championships in succession from Season 21 to Season 23, albeit with entirely different rosters. The Season 29 Toronto in particular was quite the flash in the pan, as this was their only playoff appearance during the S26-S33 stretch. Punching Bag While parity was at an all-time high in terms of winning the Cup, one team in particular dominated this era in getting to the finals. The New York Americans made it to the finals in six of the eight seasons. Another way to put that would be to say that over the course of eight seasons, the New York Americans lost in the finals to five different teams. They did manage to win once, though. Much like Vasteras, they ended a noteworthy Cup drought; unlike Vasteras, they followed it up by being arguably the most accomplished franchise over the next 20 seasons. We don't need to discuss what followed that. The Other Top Dogs The Americans undoubtedly defined this era, but there were a few other teams that did show a semblance of consistency during the time. Their top rival was without a doubt the Seattle Bears, who appeared in six straight playoffs from S26 to S31. The two teams faced off five times, with New York winning three times, but it was Seattle who came out victorious when they played for the Continental Cup in Season 28 (during the playoff crossover era). Calgary and Davos were also frequent playoff participants, with Davos making it to the finals two times, winning in their second attempt in Season 31. Improbable End The conclusion to it all is remarkable. The Season 32 finals saw New York beat Riga after trailing 1-3 in the series. Heading into Season 33, the Reign were the final team we needed to see win to make it eight champions in eight seasons (well, technically the Meute and Express were now in the league, but they weren't there at the start of all of this, so let's just ignore that bit for now). In the playoffs, Riga amazingly overcame not one, but two 1-3 series deficits just to reach the finals against the Americans. This would be the only time during this stretch that there was a repeat match-up in the finals. Riga found themselves down 1-2 in the series before winning three straight to become the champions. Expanding the Parity Era As previously noted, the parity did not stop at just those eight seasons, and by the time it was at its end, there were now ten teams, so it was not the case that every team in the league took a turn at winning the championship in succession. Still, it was quite astounding all things considered. From seasons 28 through 35, we had our only other stretch of eight unique champions. It was Helsinki who ended the run in S34, but since their win was near the start, most of the aforementioned victories were still unique. Following that, we saw the first championship from an expansion team as the Quebec City Meute came out on top. Stretching things a bit wider, if we look at the 13 seasons from S25 to S37, no franchise won multiple cups within a five-season window.

It's a shame I can only like this once.

@Arce

Reign end Wolves' winning streak at five When the Riga Reign and Vancouver Wolves met in Game 284, the Wolves were riding a five-game winning streak, including a recent victory over the Reign. Both teams came into the season with higher expectations than what we have seen so far, but Vancouver has made recent adjustments that have helped them gain some ground back in the standings. It was Riga who reigned supreme today, snapping the Wolves' winning streak. It was a physical, but relatively clean game from both sides. Riga had 20 hits at the end of the day, while Vancouver had 24. Riga committed just one penalty, while Vancouver committed four, and that is where the Reign were able to take advantage. Riga struck first on a power play goal from Daniel Clarke. Pierre Emil Bouchard, who had committed that penalty, made up for it with his 12th goal of the season in the second period. The Reign would respond within a minute, however, and it would be 2-1 going into the third period. Riga scored another power play goal 15 seconds into the third and then made it 4-1, before Vancouver score another. The final score would be 4-2, with goals by four different players for the Reign. Both of the starting goalies have been struggling this season, but Riga's Henry Tucker Jr came through big for his team, making 42 saves on 44 shots on goal. Vancouver's Brandt Fuhr let in the four goals on 50 shots again, so while it wasn't a terrible game for him, he was definitely outclassed tonight.

The idea for VHL trading cards recently came up in an article by @WildfireMicro, and since this has an idea that came up (at least) once before and back then I thought it would be cool, I thought I would give some thoughts on how I would do it if I were to run a VHL trading card system. It is something I thought about trying to work on independently a bit, but I haven't gone any further than ideas, and truthfully probably never will, because the amount of time and effort likely wouldn't be worth what probably wouldn't end up being as interesting to the general community as it would be a niche market. Anyway, I here are some of my ideas. Each season, a new set of VHL cards would be released. There would be two different types of sets; let's call them standard and special sets. Standard and special sets alternate, so it could be that every even season is a standard set, and ever odd season is a special set. Standard sets are comprised of approximately 80 cards, featuring current VHL players. Obviously that means not every VHL player is going to be in every standard set, but that would be too much work. There would be players that have cards in multiple sets, but it would be a goal to have every player who makes it into the VHL be in at least one standard set. Cards in a standard set would have different rarities. I'm thinking the breakdown of cards in a standard set would be something like this: minimum of 4 players from each VHL team; 2 or 3 common and 1 or 2 uncommon; that makes up 64 cards in each set the other 16 cards would be rarer cards; there wouldn't be as much in the way of team restrictions in terms of count for these cards, but they would be reserved for more special cases: star rookies, retiring veterans, award winners, stuff like that Special sets are comprised of approximately 24 cards, featuring retired players that fit a certain theme; themes could include things like New York (or any other franchise) legends, draft steals, Hall of Famers; as such, these sets would be focused on promoting recognition of league history I haven't really thought much on how card acquisition would work, but I don't think I'd have an expiration on acquiring cards from certain packs, and the special sets would definitely always be available; standard sets could possibly be available only during their two season window; I think I would have it be something like any player can claim 1 standard and 1 special pack (of some number of cards, I don't know) The timing of sets could also be different. Maybe I would go with a larger standard set that is every four seasons, and more special sets. That's enough words.

1194 words, for weeks ending 4/23 and 5/7 (assuming I can skip a week for theme week)

Prior to the season, VSN ran a poll questioning members of the league on how they would rank each team. You can see the results of the poll here. At just under halfway through the season, there is still plenty of time for things to change, but the standings are starting to take shape. I'm going to be taking a look at the teams which we as members of the league have seemingly been the most incorrect about. In determining how incorrect a ranking was, I'm simply taking each teams' current points percentage and comparing it to the points percentage of that team's pre-season ranking. Also, note that I used the league rank for each team, which is an important note because the VSN rankings for the North American Conference don't seem to be in order for some reason. Anyway, here are the teams that I found either overrated or underrated enough to be worth writing about. Helsinki Titans - Underrated Pre-season ranking: 13 Current position: 4 By far the team that the league was the most incorrect about, the Helsinki Titans have shocked the VHL thus far. Seen as a young team with a very bright future, the Titans were expected to be a competitive team for a while, starting maybe in Season 89. The biggest impact for the team has come from veterans that they acquired in the off-season, so it is somewhat understandable why people who weren't paying attention might be surprised by how well they are doing. Even still, those particular players are having a bit of resurgent swan songs. I'm referring in particular to Nils Godlander and Matty Fire. Godlander has a second-best 23 goals and Fire has 28 assists. Another newcomer, Mo Probert, has been one of the best defensemen in the league. The Titans did well to bring in these veterans to speed up their timeline without sacrificing the future. HC Davos Dynamo - Overrated Pre-season ranking: 2 Current position: 9 The Dynamo were coming off of a loss in the Continental Cup Finals, so it is understandable that the team would be ranked fairly high. Understandable or not, it is not looking correct, as thus far they have been the most overrated team. Should we be surprised, though, when we saw them trade away two of their best players in Xavier Booberry and Siyan Yasilievich during the off-season? To be fair, Lachlan Summers has been doing great in net. However, they have struggled to properly replace Yasilievich, who led the team in points last season. They do still have most of the roster from a season ago, and with time to figure things out, we perhaps shouldn't be too worried about the team. They do need their forwards, particularly James Teekirque and Mason Jones, to get back on track. Vancouver Wolves - Overrated Pre-season ranking: 7 Current position: 13 A team that was previously known for their strict adherence to the meta prior to the introduction of hybrid attributes, the Vancouver Wolves made a surprising move in acquiring the definitively non-meta Ryuji Sakamoto during the off-season. Perhaps management thought Sakamoto was partially to blame for their early season struggles, as he was dealt 20 games into the season. They are 8-6 since trading Sakomoto, which I suppose is an improvement, but not much. Brandt Fuhr's struggles in net are a big part of why this team is doing worse than expected, as well as poor defensive play. The Wolves had the top ranked defense on the VSN poll and the fifth ranked goaltenders, but they have allowed the most goals and the fifth most shots against. Management has shown that they are willing to make changes, so we will see if their moves will pay off. Seattle Bears - Underrated Pre-season ranking: 8 Current position: 2 If the last 20 seasons have taught us anything, it's that we should not doubt the Bears. Even with their huge off-season acquisition in Xavier Booberry performing like a below-average goalie, the Bears still find themselves in second place at the moment thanks to their league-leading offense. Having Vasile Lamb for a full season will be a huge boon for their offense, but the real noteworthy performances are the breakout seasons that Yaroslav Bogatyrev and Chip Stone are having. Bogatyrev has 42 points and Stone has 17 goals, both of which are numbers within four of their respective career highs. If the offense can keep it up, this team will be dangerous in the playoffs, as you will never be able to count out Booberry, even if he hasn't been at his best. Riga Reign - Overrated Pre-season ranking: 10 Current position: 14 The Reign were not expected to be great, but they have not even been good. The teams has some promising young players, but they have not really shown any progression on the ice this season (I'm particularly looking at Skor McFleury, The Frenchman, and Sadie St-Louis). Henry Tucker Jr, meanwhile, has taken a step back, having the worst save percentage among starting goaltenders. Similar to Helsinki, Riga brought in some veterans during the off-season that should have in theory helped them improve, but the likes of Sergey Preobrazhensky and Max Torq just haven't had enough of an impact. This team does look on paper like they should be doing better, but the component pieces just don't seem to be coming together as they had expected. Moscow Menace - Overrated Pre-season ranking: 1 Current position: 5 The Menace got off to a poor start this season, losing their first four games and seven of their first 11, but they have been climbing in the standings since then. Maybe it is me continuing to overrate them (they were my personal prediction to win the Victory Cup), but I do still believe they could end up in first and that they are the most likely of this list of over-and-underrated players to not appear on an end-of-season list. The biggest issue has been Matt Murdock, who has not been meeting expectations in the season following his Top Rookie campaign. The Menace do have the league lead in goals scored and have by far the most shots for, but the defense has not played up to their second-best ranking from the pre-season. Malmo Nighthawks - Underrated Pre-season ranking: 15 Current position: 10 The Malmo Nighthawks have been an interesting team this season. They came in ranked second-to-last and have not only exceeded that expectation, but they have shown to be quite capable against the top teams in the league. If we just exclude Helsinki for a second, their combined record against the other teams in the top five is 6-3. However, we can't include Helsinki; nor can we exclude the London United. Against those two teams, Malmo is a combined 1-8-1. Given that this is simply a case of a team being thought to be near the worst simply being slightly below average, there are not really any standout performances. No one individually seems to be doing much better than expected. They are just somehow getting it done as a team, and while they probably won't make the playoffs, it is making the season a bit more fun.

1. Yeah, it was pretty good. I saw a bunch of friends who I don't see too often anymore. I didn't get anything productive done, though, so that doesn't feel great, and I won't really have the time to do so today. 2. A little below what I was hoping for, but it's about what I was expecting for a true rookie. I was particularly expecting some more goals, but having what was a league-worst shot percentage for a while didn't help in that regard. 3. I guess Chipotle. I don't eat much takeout. 1. Do you think the the number of playoff teams in any of the leagues should be reduced? 2. Who is your pick for MVP (in any of the leagues) to this point in the season? 3. If you could only listen to one musical artist for the rest of your life, who would you pick?

Davos is purple wtf

but not too many, just enough to lead the league but not enough for me to lose to whoever has you in my VHFL group

more goals please

There are 17 VHFL groups this season; with six teams of six players in each group, that's a total of 612 selections made. Obviously there are going to be some players who are selected in every group. This season, we had 14 such players. There were a total of 77 different players selected for at least one team. I'm here to tell you about the best players who were not selected even once. If I were to make a fantasy team out of the best 0.00% owned players, it would be the following: F Matty Fire 64.8 F Cobalt Burns 60.8 F John Jameson 60 D Deron Nesbitt 70.2 D Kronchy Kardashian 63.8 G Augustus Kennedy 79.5 Total 399.1 Just as a point of comparison, there are two forwards and two defensemen who are owned in every league that have scored fewer fantasy points than all of those names above. Augustus Kennedy is actually the second-highest scoring goalie (the highest scoring goalie was actually only selected twice, but that's more than zero so I don't care about that right now). Every single VHFL roster would be improved by replacing at least one of their players with one of the above, and only two of the 36 teams have three forwards and two defensemen who are better than all of the above. So just how good would the ideal undrafted VHFL team be in relation to actual VHFL teams? Well, the average team score in the VHFL is 389.9. Only three groups have a higher average score than 399.1 (shoutout to groups 16, 15, and 9). This team of undrafted players would have an average group placement of 3.3, including a current second place position in four different groups. It would not be in last place in any of these groups. The closest it comes to leading any group would be group 13, in which the currently leader has 401.9 points. Let's take this just a step further, because I'm curious. If we were to make a second team of undrafted players, it would look like this: F Daniel Clarke 56.2 F Nic McMuffin 52.7 F Scotty Sundin 51.3 D Milan Dvorak 61.5 D Sting Chameleon 59.3 G Ilya Bryzgalov 44.8 Total 325.8 Still better than three actual VHFL teams.

@Spartan my My Probert has the wrong point value, fyi

Make sure you set that bar high; I'll have my eyes on it.

@Spartan we are done here

G - Clueless Wallob @nerji

Hey, I might actually have a shot at an award! nvm

I can't say that I thought even for a second that I would be voted captain of the Malmo Nighthawks this season, but I was. It's really an honor, though I don't feel like I've earned it. Granted, we don't have players on the roster who would be an obvious selection. We don't have many veterans on the roster, and we don't have many players who have been with a team for a while. The player who best fits both of those is goaltender Boris Tsezar, who has played his last four of five total seasons in Malmo, but he did not want to be voted captain. Saku Kotkakoivu is the most veteran player on the team, but he just joined Malmo (and quite frankly, isn't all that active anymore). Kotkakoivu was voted as one of the alternates, with the other being Yaroslav Trunov. Trunov, playing in his second season, is who I was expecting to win the captain vote. At any rate, I have been named captain. I am the first rookie captain in Malmo history. This is actually the third player of mine who was made captain as a rookie, with the previous two being Samuel Gate (QUE, S61) and Diana Maxwell (STO, S50). Neither of those two had long tenures as captain, but I hope that is different with Stone. Gate didn't remain captain beyond S62 because my activity level dropped substantially, and Maxwell was traded after just one season in Stockholm. I intend to stay as active as I am now, and I hope to not be traded. As I mentioned previously, I don't really feel like I earned it this time, but I'm going to try to make sure I earn it in future seasons. I want to play out a full nine-year career in Malmo, and now that I've been made captain as a rookie, I feel like I have to try to make sure I don't let go of it.

F - Henry Eagles @animal74

I think someone needs to be told that April fools is just a day, not all month.