scoop

For someone Mediocre, that sure was a pretty good game. Winning the gold was a real team effort. Rozzdale and the McFleurys may not have had a great game today, but they got us through the semi-final round so you can't discredit them. gg Europe

Team Rosters 1. @OrbitingDeath F - Landon Wolanin F - Perry Laperriere F - Nils Godlander D - Jake Thunder D - Max Torq G - Xavier Booberry 2. @Bobcat F - Tomas Sogaard F - Igor Molotov F - Sergey Preobrazhensky D - Hammar Voss D - Bo Johansson G - Oskar Lindbergh 3. @JCarson F - Brendan Marner F - Daniel Janser F - Leandro Goncalves D - Biggie Cheese D - AK92 Wit da Hoodie G - Jesse Teno 4. @nerji F - Vasile Lamb F - Girts Galvins F - Tavish DeGroot D - Pierre Emile Bouchard D - James Marino G - Brandt Fuhr 5. @scoop (GM) F - Sirdsvaldis Miglaskems F - Nico Pearce F - Henry Eagles D - Brian Payne D - Mo Probert G - Clueless Wallob 6. @animal74 F - Vinny Detroit F - Ronan Lavelle F - Nezuko D - Siyan Yasilievich D - Callum Murray G - Art Vandelay

Team USA is crushing it.

Ah, yeah that makes more sense. Wasn't even considering the fact that I would be cheaper in that case.

As funny as it is that I was exactly 1 TPE over, I would have had no intention signing with a team that would have me play in the VHLE anyway.

I have to assume they didn't realize I'm in the VHL this season when they made the selection. Or maybe they thought they could get more for than just a player swap in a trade.

so much for being exciting about playing for Prague

Transaction ID: 7P038280WM128160M 5 Uncapped Doubles Week 1M Player Store

And let's keep it that way. I have been leading the S88 VHL draft class in TPE for a while, and it's not particularly close for this point in our careers. In the grand scheme of a VHL career, a 35 TPE difference isn't that much, but it's a little more noticeable at lower TPE levels. It's a bit of an artificial lead, with me having spent money on 10 uncapped TPE, and already having the VHLM graduation bonus, but it's still going to be a draft-day lead. All that being said, TPE is not everything, so I know that there's a chance I don't get drafted first, or even second or third if I "fall" that far. Reasonably, looking at the draft class, I think I could potentially go as late as sixth. Contributing to this feeling of uncertainty is the fact that very few teams have actually talked to me about the draft, and no one has said anything concrete along the lines of "if you're available, we are going to pick you." To keep the draft exciting for myself, I do like it that way. The fact that few teams have contacted me, and just two drafting in the top six where I feel I could reasonably go, has me wondering if other teams are either so sure I won't be available to them, or if they are already set on other players. I would expect some sort of contact from any GM who is thinking about drafting me, to see if I'm a good fit, especially considering the quality of the other top picks available. I said before that I think I could fall as far as sixth, and while it would very much be unexpected, I see a path for it. To get things started, I could see the first three teams selecting the trio of FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY Analfist, Bobby Bob, and Mark Calaway, in some order. Analfist is the best forward in the draft, and STZ is very good at making elite players. Calaway is arguably a more sure thing than myself, as Beketov has not had a dud of a player in a long while. Bob is closer to me in TPE than Baby Bob was to Taylor Mourning when he was drafted ahead of me in S79, and that turned out to be the correct choice. I can't really see anyone arguing that any of the first three teams would take any of those three players ahead of me. In a scenario where I go sixth (or potentially later, I suppose), I think we see New York take Merome Dilson. While they do have the eighth pick, and not all teams need goalies, Chicago at seven is in need of a goalie, so New York doesn't risk Dilson being selected just ahead of them. Then at pick five, Prague takes Jasper Davis. The Phantoms don't have cap space, so they won't want to pick a player such as myself who will be up in the VHL next season. Davis also has a connection to the franchise, as David Davis played for them in his first three seasons not long ago. Honestly, I think I've convinced myself that I'm not going to be selected as high in the draft as I thought. I didn't anticipate falling to 10th with Mourning, so maybe it happens again. At that time, I thought I'd prove to teams that they made a mistake, and I really don't think I did that. I'm not active on the VHL discord and I don't have connections with many GM's, so maybe my not hearing from them really should be a sign to me. I'm exciting to see what happens though.

Vikings' forwards get Canada started right in S87 WJC The second game of the WJC was a repeat of last year's championship game which saw Team Europe and Team Canada go at it. Despite Canada having a 47-27 edge in shots, Team Europe got an early lead and never gave it up, despite Canada's strong effort to keep it close. The story of this opener was much the same, but the roles were reversed. Team Canada was ahead 2-0 midway through the first period, thanks to two goals by newcomer Don Aven. The familiarity between Aven and his Stockholm Vikings teammate John Richards, who assisted on both of Aven's goals, proved to be a boon for Canada. After Europe scored a goal of their own, Richards struck back to make it a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period. The lead was extended to three goals quickly into the second period, but Europe was not going to go down easy. The next three goals of the game would be scored by Europe's Bjorkabjorn BjornaBjorkson, FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY Analfist, and Reno Reinhold. Reinhold's goal came with just under six minutes left in the game, but Canada had no interested in letting things go to overtime. Big B scored the game winner at 15:29 of the third period, with assists by both Aven and Richards. Greg Hickman put in an insurance goal, and the final score was 6-4 in favor of Canada, while Europe actually led in shots by a margin of 62-45. Richards was named the first star of the game in a no-brainer, as he participated in every score for Canada, with one goal and five assists. Aven, the only player to score multiple goals in the game, was named the second star.

I'm going to imagine that the initial motivation for this trade was Prague just wanting to trade up one spot in the draft, and it somehow turned into this.

1. The big news in Stockholm this weekend was the announcement of the Vikings' new General Manager, @twists. What's the biggest thing that he should know as he starts his tenure with the team? The upper tier of players are probably less valuable than 'clickers' because you only have them for one good season. In any draft, two second round picks are probably going to be more valuable than first overall. I've never been a VHLE GM though. 2. Stockholm also welcomed some guy called @Doomsday as the new Assistant General Manager. One of his previous players, Jack Kowalski, was the first draft pick of the Stockholm Vikings during their VHL stint, and his current player, Oskar Lindbergh, played for the Vikings team during the very first games of the VHLE in the off-season tourney. Does this prior connection to the franchise have any meaning to you? As someone who has had close connections to certain franchises myself, it's nice to see others care about things like that. Maybe you'll put a little more care into the team because it's Stockholm than you would if you were AGM for another team. 3. Current Stockholm defenseman Jacob Stone @scoop is projected to be the first overall pick in the Season 88 VHL Entry Draft. Do you think he makes the jump to the VHL right away, or does he have one more season left with the Vikings? If I were to stay in the VHLE, I'm pretty sure I would actually go into the VHLE draft, since I was not drafted to Stockholm. Regardless, my intention is 100% to play in the VHL this season. 4. The Vikings don't have much in the way of draft picks this season, so in what way do you see Stockholm finding a way to improve from last season? Honestly I have no idea. Somehow we just kept acquiring more and more players in the off-season last year and I don't know where they were coming from. Looks like the team just needs some of those defenseman free agents that are in the 280-310 TPE range. The forwards look better than last year, as a lot of the better players are still around. I think the core can together replace the loss of Bridges' offensive production. 5. What's something that in your opinion would make the VHLE a better experience? My last suggestion for the VHLE was that the league just re-drafts every season, so I don't know if you want my opinions on the league. I don't know, given that I'm a max TPE earner, the VHLE is just essentially a second VHLM to me. I'm never going to be on a team longer than one season. Maybe an All Star Game. Whatever happened to All Star Games around here? 6. Boneless wings: are they real wings or just a fancy chicken nugget? Boneless wings are neither wings nor nuggets. They are a different thing. I don't really care, but anyone who is going to disparage someone for eating boneless wings (or chicken nuggets or whatever) is an asshole, and you cant change my opinion on that.

I hope we win a lot of hockey games

I believe!

You did get your money. I think it has something to do with me signing with a VHLE team earlier.

1. Unfortunately, the Vikings season came to an end against Oslo despite a valiant effort from Travis Clark with 50 saves. Oslo was able to overcome the defense that had stopped them in the first half of the series. The final with the Storm and the Express is deadlocked at 2-2; who do you think wins the championship for S87? Oslo is up 3-2 now, so it's a little easier for me to pick them, but I probably would have when it was 2-2 as well. As bad as we matched up against Cologne this season, Oslo actually played them pretty well. The W/L was even, but the Storm did have the edge in goal differential. 2. Our excellent GM, MubbleFubbles, is stepping down as this season ends. What is something you appreciated about him during his tenure with Stockholm? It was nice that he gave shoutouts to players who did well in the sims, and notable achievements. 3. What is the biggest thing your player needs to work on in preparation for next season? I think I need to get my skating and scoring up most. 4. If you were to relocate a VHL team, who would you put where (and what would their name be)? New York Americans. I know there was a time when they were the top team in the league for a bit, but they have been bad for a while. I think a lot of people would have the New York Americans brand ranked near the worst, if not on the bottom. There is enough red and blue in the logos around the league. Lets get another green team. As for where to put them, and what the team name is, I don't know, let's go Minnesota, since they lost their VHLM team. 5. In the playoffs, would you rather be decisively beaten in 4/5 games or lose heartbreakingly in a game 7? That really depends on my expectations going into the series. If I think we have absolutely no shot going in, I'd rather lose quickly than gain some hope. If I think we have a chance to win, I'd prefer the series going to 7. 6. Do you have a favorite book/movie? If so, what is it? Favorite book: Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk. Favorite movie: Rushmore.

Thanks, I didn't know whose attention to bring it to

This seems like a good place to ask for the money that I didn't realize I didn't have @Beketov I didn't get contract money for this season because I was in the VHLE too early I guess. I looked back at previous players who went to the VHLE early and while most players got their money eventually, it looks like Randy Bobandy @AJW needs his contract money from S86.

PragueChamp

Inspired by the seven-OT game three between Cologne and Oslo, I wanted to do a bit of research to figure out the most most saves ever made in a VHL game. Obviously with a game like that, there's going to be curiosity about potential records, and that's where I started my investigating. In the Cologne/Oslo match-up, Storm goalie Basileus Jute made an impressive 126 saves on 129 shots (92 consecutive from the 3rd period onward) to win the game for his team. Justin Lion topped out at 80 consecutive saves and honestly, that's kind of pathetic. So anyway, that was quite the battle between those two teams, but back to my investigating. I don't know how accurate the records tab is in the index, and I know that it only goes back to S20, so there could be no definite way to find the record. The high shot total on that page shown is 100 shots. This was accomplished by New York in S36 and Warsaw in S81 (the rest of the top ten are all 90+ and those all happened from S80 to S82). I looked up that New York 100 shot game, and what I found was incredible. https://vhlportal.com/vhl/36/VHL36-230.html Calgary was very bad this season. New York was not great either, finishing with the third worst record, but they were no where near as bad as Calgary. Just look at the Wranglers roster in that game. Anyway, Calgary's goalie Rock Star made 97 saves on 100 shots while his counterpart NYA G also allowed three goals, but on just 26 shots. The game went to a shootout, where Rock Star did not allow a goal, winning the game for the Wranglers (one of just six for the team, that season).

Imagine making 93 saves in one game and being called a loser