scoop

1. No. I don't know enough about him to really have a good idea, but in general I would just say the guy who hasn't proven anything in the NHL is more likely to not be one of the best hockey players ever. 2. Well, there are six too many teams in the VHLE, I'll say that! Haha funny delete the VHLE joke. For real though, I do think the team count is fine. I could see getting rid of the VHLE and maybe adding a couple VHLM teams. I don't know if that would be necessary, but have players move to the VHL at 300 TPE. Make them suffer. I don't know if it's something we can do with the version that we simulate on, but I think it would be cool to actually utilize stamina. Let's see some different roster constructions than 6/5 forwards, 4/3 defensemen, and 2/1 goalies. I think extending career lengths would go hand in hand with this change really well. 3. I think I'd probably just tell my younger self to get an after school job to save up some money for college. I would say just don't go to college, or go to a cheaper school, but then I wouldn't have met the some of my best friends. 1. Who are you rooting for in the VHL playoffs? Or, if your team is in the playoffs, who would you root for if your team gets knocked out? 2. Who would be your vote for VHL MVP this season? 3. What's the most life-changing thing that you have done or has happened to you this year?

At the end of the regular season, I always like to take a look at the results of the VHFL and Super Coach to analyze the best possible roster construction. While I don't have a definite formula to show me the best possible team for Super Coach, given that there is a salary cap, I have tried to put together what I think may be the top scoring combination possible. Before I get into the best possible team, I will first reveal the Best Value Team. This would be a roster constructed of all the top fantasy scorers per salary. Pos Player Name $ FP FP/$ F Jeff Lewis 4 159.5 39.9 F Lorenzo Cobberson 4 157.2 39.3 F Lucas Grey 4 146.1 36.5 D Tord Yvel 4 187.5 46.9 D Curtis Crumb 4 174.2 43.4 G Wumbo 3 136.1 45.4 This roster combined costs just $23 but scores a total of 960.6 fantasy points. For $19 less than the limit, this team would have placed 10th. Of course, you can utilize that extra $19 to improve on this roster, even if these players do give you the best bang-for-your-buck. In fact, the roster that I came up with as being the best only contains one of the players listed above. (Again, this is not a definite statement; I simply got to a point where I didn't feel like looking for more improvements, but this is definitely close to the best if not number one.) Pos Player Name $ FP FP/$ F Cobalt Burns 5 174.7 34.9 F Jason 10 302.7 30.3 F Alfred Champagne 8 240 30 D Tord Yvel 4 187.5 46.9 D Brian Kowalski 9 288.6 32.07 G Karl Pederson 6 208.8 34.8 This team would score 1402.3 points. Obviously no one would ever come close to this, but it's still fun to look at. Although Wumbo looks like a very good value, it became evident pretty quickly that spending $3 more to get a 72.7 more fantasy points was the way to go. Jason was another one that it was pretty clear should be included. He was the 6th best FP/$ among forwards, and the only one that was at a value of more than $5, making him a valuable upgrade. Some other players that I had initially looked at were Mark Calaway and Skor McFleury, but Kowalski fit better as the first defenseman to upgrade to, and sticking with Yvel as opposed to the high-value forwards ended up making more sense.

Am I crazy or are there no cup winner predictions?

I came into this season with high expectations for myself and the Malmo Nighthawks. Nothing has really gone all too well for the team. We've spent very little time in the top five of the conference, and it seems almost a certainty that the season will end that way. I still think the moves that the team made in the off-season were good moves, but for some reason, the team has struggled. Outside of earning TPE, I'm pretty much going to be avoiding the VHL until next season. Stone's rookie season was alright, but other than that, I have felt like my player has (in most seasons, greatly) underperformed in six of my last seven seasons (going back to the final four Taylor Mourning seasons). But hey, at least I'm going to win my VHFL group. That's just about the only thing that has gone right for me this season. As usual, I did a good job of not picking any players that had devastatingly bad fantasy seasons. Focusing on players who I am confident should at least get a bunch of hits is the key here, as even someone like Mo Probert, who has just 50 points, is good enough to not drag my team down. Sure, I thought Probert was going to have a much better offensive season as well so my evaluation was off, but there's a reason I will never go for a player like The Frenchman for my VHFL team.

1. Google tells me Carolina and Colorado are the favorites, so I'll say the Hurricanes are my favorite. 2. Looked at a home, didn't seem like a good fit. The search continues. 3. The ocean and the sky. 1. Biggest surprise in the standings (in any of the VHL/VHLE/VHLM)? 2. What does your ideal weekend look like? 3. What music album should I listen to on my next run?

GM 412 Recap In a battle of two seventh-place teams, it was the Calgary Wranglers who came out on top of the Moscow Menace. All of the scoring was done in the second period, with the Menace striking first before Calgary's Steve Lattimer took over. Lattimer scored twice in a space of under 3 and a half minutes, which was all the Wranglers needed to secure the win. The goals were numbers 18 and 19 on the season for Lattimer, who leads all rookies in the category. Fellow first year Fradin McGryer notched two assists while the sophomore netminder Merome Dilson continued his strong season with a 27-save performance.

With D.C.'s win in Season 85 and London's win in Season 88, we are down to two franchises that have yet to win a Continental Cup: Prague and Los Angeles. They are both currently leading their respective franchise, so there is a chance that they will be fighting to avoid the distinction of being the sole cup-less team. Of the two, Prague has been more successful. They recently made it to the Finals in Season 86, where they lost a back-and-forth series to the Vancouver Wolves in a Game 7 overtime. The Stars have never made it to the finals. The Phantoms this season are being led by last season's MVP John Jameson and a much improved Fred Hampton. Hampton, who leads the team with 73 points, will definitely be a candidate for the Dustin Funk Trophy. In addition to having one of the best offenses in the league, goaltender Matt Murdock has been one of the best in the league. They are a complete team, and they have lived up to the expectations coming into this season. The Stars, on the other hand, have been a surprise hit this season. They came in looking clearly like a playoff team, but rather than competing for the top seed, they were thought of as a middle-of-the-pack team. The emergence of Todd Cooke has been a story you can't ignore. In 53 games, he already has 90 points. While D.C.'s Jason is close behind at 88, the next closest is at 75. What is particularly noteworthy about Cooke's season is that the next highest in points on the Stars is Napoleon Dynamite at 68. That disparity alone will have Cooke as a prime candidate for MVP.

Jersey number retirements are an interesting topic in the VHL. There is no official register of player numbers, so in many situations, when a team decides to retire someone's number, they may literally have to ask that member what number they want their player to have worn. On multiple occasions, a number has been retired a second time after previously having been retired, because people pay little attention to this stuff. Still, it is an honor for a player to be recognized by a team in this way, although I personally think it would make more sense for each team to just have a franchise Hall of Fame for that purpose. That's an idea for another time, however. Inspiration for this article comes from Diana Maxwell's absence from the New York Americans rafters. I do think that she would be a fringe candidate for this honor; while she only played five seasons with the team, she had some of the best offensive seasons in franchise history while also winning multiple championships. Ultimately, I did not feel like writing an entire media spot about why or why not a former player of mine should have had her imaginary number retired, so I decided to take a broader look at all of the Continental Cup teams that have no representation in terms of jersey retirements (by the team that they won with, to be clear). In total, there are 23 championship teams that fit this distinction. That is slightly over one quarter, and considering that seven of those are from the previous ten seasons, it would not be a surprise to see that number go down in the future. I'm not going to discuss all of these 23 teams in detail, so I have decided to focus on just the rosters that have won multiple championships together. In addition to Maxwell's Season 52/53 Americans, we have the Season 57/58 Riga Reign and the Season 80/81/82 Vancouver Wolves Season 52-53 New York Americans Essian Ravenwing Unassisted Tom Lincoln Phil Shankly Diana Maxwell Bobby Digital Season 53 was the last time the Americans won the Continental Cup, and it came as the second of a back-to-back run. They were led by a high-powered offense that stayed almost entirely in tact from the first season. In addition to the aforementioned Maxwell, there were five other players that were present on both rosters. Looking at who might deserve to have their number retired by virtue of their stats and accolades with the team, the obvious candidates are Unassisted and Maxwell. They were the Playoff MVP's in the championship seasons. Although Unassisted had the better career overall, Maxwell had one more season with New York, so I would give her the edge. Perhaps if she had one more season with the team, her number would've been retired, but the real glaring omission is actually Bobby Digital. Digital was the heart of this era of New York, coming up with the team in Season 49 and playing seven seasons with the Americans, six of which he was the captain. Season 57-58 Riga Reign Fredinamijs Krigars John Locke Phil Shankly Niko Bogdanovic Slava Aleksei Markus King Riga won three straight Victory Cups from Season 56 to Season 58, and they found success in the playoffs as well with back-to-back Cups. While six players featured on both of those championship rosters, there are two whose time with the franchise warrant consideration for jersey retirement. The first is Fredinamijs Krigars, who scored a franchise-record 332 goals and 738 points in seven seasons with the team. Just reading that alone, it must be confusing why Krigars' number isn't retired. The answer is simple, though: Krigars was one of hedgehog337's players, and he was (and still is) GM of the team. Should he ever retire as GM, I would expect his successor to put Krigars' name up in the rafters. Markus King is the other player on this roster who could may have had their jersey number retired. King won multiple Aidan Shaw Trophies during his six seasons with the Reign as well as the Season 58 Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy. With a 205-89-18 record, King was one of the most successful goaltenders in Riga franchise history. Season 80-82 Vancouver Wolves Jivere Zolnek Jerome Reinhart Henry Tucker Tyler Reinhart Robin Galante Nilsson Aike van Giersbergen Considering the recency of it, it's hard to say quite yet that the Vancouver threepeat has been FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY by the franchise. I would assume that something is in the works for at least one of these players. The question, then, would be who? Both Reinharts played four (great) seasons with the team and Aike van Giersbergen was just a backup goalie, so those three are out. Robin Galante Nilsson had over 600 points in eight seasons with the team. From an outside perspective, he looks like a worthy player. Jivere Zolnek also played eight seasons with the team, while Henry Tucker played seven and was captain for three of them. From an outside perspective, any of these three players could be possible candidates, though it is entirely possible that none of them had the locker room presence that left a lasting impression on the franchise. They all played their last games in Season 83, so if any of them are going to have their number retired, it could happen at any time now.

We are halfway through the season, and the middle of the European Conference is just about as tight as it could be. The three teams at the top have put some distance between their competitors. Third-place Riga has 46 points, with the jump down to fourth place being 10 points. While London is alone at 36 points, there are three teams tied at 35 points: Helsinki, Moscow, and Malmo. It is unlikely that any of these teams will bow out of the race, even if there is a market to sell. If the standings remain as close as they are now, the end of the season will be very exciting to watch. With as close as things have been, it looks like we will be in for one of the closest 4-through-7 playoff races since the conferences expanded to eight teams. Previously, the closest the seventh place team in a conference has been to the fourth place team has been nine points. This happened most recently in Season 85 when the New York Americans finished 7th with 74 points to Seattle's 83 in 4th place. It also happened in Season 79 with Helsinki's 80 points and Moscow's 71 points. With how close things have stayed this season, I wouldn't be surprised to see fewer than five points separate the 4th and 7th place teams.

1. I would go with a yeti as a mascot for Davos. 2. WInning back-to-back Championships in S52/S53 with the Americans. 3. I'll say 2. It's not likely, but shit happens. 1. How is your season go so far compared to your expectations? 2. What team (in any league/conference) that is currently outside of a playoff position do you think will end up in the playoffs? 3. What is a song that always makes you clap?

With a third of the season in the books, the standings in the North American Conference don't quite look the way people were expecting. For much of the early goings, the D.C. Dragons were on top, but they have fallen down to third place. The Legion, who were one of the favorites, have made their way to the top, while in second we have the Los Angeles Stars. While I personally don't think the Dragons will stay above the likes of the Bears and the Wolves, the Stars have impressed me enough to the point that I could see them fighting for a top spot in the conference. Led by Todd Cooke and Napoleon Dynamite, the Stars have been a large part of why the Bears and the Wolves have not performed up to expectations thus far. Of the 23 games that the Stars have played, 11 have been against the aforementioned teams, and they have done quite well in those match-ups. They have a 4-1 record against the Bears and a 4-2 record against the Wolves. They have already secured winning records against both of them for the season, though they haven't been tested yet against the Legion. Perhaps if they had, the Stars would be in first place right now instead.

Imagine thinking a contending VHLE team means anything.

After ten games, the Malmo Nighthawks have a 4-4-2 record, which is worse than they were hoping after an off-season spent making trades to improve the team. They are fifth in the European Conference, just two points ahead of the last place teams. This opening stretch of the season saw the Nighthawks playing a lot of games against teams expected to be in the thick of the playoff race in the European Conference, so it was a good opportunity to get an early leg up on the competition. Instead, they were a middling team, and have particularly struggled when it comes to scoring goals. At 2.3 goals-per-game, they are in the bottom of the the teams in that stat. Ten of those goals came in just two games played, so in the other eight, they have averaged 1.6 goals-per-game. It is early, but it is not a great sign at this point. The Nighthawks have an opportunity to take advantage of what should be some easier competition over the next five games, if you trust the pre-season rankings. In that span, they will play D.C. twice, and each of Moscow, Calgary, and Warsaw once. The Dragons have actually played very well to open the season. No one expects them to stay on the top, though, so don't be surprised if Malmo has an easy 5-0 record over the next few days.

Oh damn, this is an exact match of my power rankings

D - Siyan Yasilievich G - Joel Castle @der meister

I'm so sorry for you

F - Mo Probert F - Napoleon Dynamite @der meister

Mo Money Mo Probert