scoop

F - Henry Eagles @animal74

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

First joined some time in the Summer of 2007, but I was never active. I created a player, but I don't believe I ever even updated. That would have been around the time I first got into sim leagues. Joined again and actually got involved on June 22, 2009.

F - Nico Pearce @nerji

D - Mo Probert @animal74

12 hours have passed. @Bobcat is skipped. Please feel free to make your selection at any time, but the draft will continue. Another skip and you will be disqualified. @OrbitingDeath you are up with your 2nd round pick.

You are not on the clock. It is still on @Bobcat to make a selection. They have a couple hours to do so before being skipped.

F - Sirdsvaldis Miglaskems @nerji

Jacob Stone Rookie Experience Jacob Stone has been taking quick steps in his hockey career, spending just a brief amount of time in the VHLM before playing in the VHLE, while most of his fellow draft class opted for a full season in the 'M. After being drafted fifth overall by the Prague Phantoms this off-season, he was subsequently traded to the Malmo Nighthawks. He will begin his VHL career with the Nighthawks this season, and although he isn't the only player from the Season 88 draft that will be making their debut this season, he is the only one among those players that has any VHLE experience. The time spent with the Stockholm Vikings should help with his transition to the VHL, though this step up will be like nothing he has had to handle before. Moving up to the VHL is one of the defining moments of a player's career. In the current state of the VHL, the timing of this move is more important than ever. For Stone, who has the desire to play nine seasons in the VHL, it was important to be ready to take this step in his draft season. Although it is highly unlikely Stone puts up numbers similar to his 28-goal, 83-point VHLE season in his upcoming rookie year, all indications are that he can make an impact for the Nighthawks right out of the gate. He will be a part of a Malmo defense that features no clear leader. Although four of the six defensemen on the roster have at least a little VHL experience, Stone has the most potential out of all of them to step up and be that guy. As a rebuilding team, the expectations are not high for Stone and the Nighthawks to succeed. A low-pressure environment will be good for a rookie. With losses to be expected, Stone can focus more on improving where he needs to rather than playing only to his strengths. This will be beneficial for his career in the long run. Jacob Stone won a WJC gold medal with Team USA in the off-season There are little concerns regarding Jacob Stone's ability to adapt to a new team. He found immediate success when he first joined the Vikings, and he played well with Team USA in the World Junior Hockey Championship during the off-season. In 16 tournament games, he had six goals and 17 assists. That includes four points in the biggest game of the tournament. He has proven time and time again that he can play well with just about anyone, elevating the performance of his teammates as well. The Malmo Nighthawks are not a team with much star power. This was already alluded to with regards to the defensemen, but there aren't many standouts among the forwards either. The exception to this is Saku Kotkakoivu, who will be playing his first season in Malmo but his eighth season in the VHL. He will undoubtedly be a factor in Stone's success in the VHL, as he will be leaned on heavily as a veteran presence in the locker room. The rest of the team, however, is players trying to prove that they belong in the VHL. Kotkakoivu and goaltender Boris Tsezar are the only two Nighthawks who have really proven themselves in the VHL. The rest of the roster is players trying to prove they belong. Jacob Stone has the potential to be more than just one of the best of his generation, but it won't be easy. Given how short VHL careers are, if you want to be considered one of the all-time greats, you need to have things figured out very quickly. At every level, Stone has shown that he can do that, but the VHL will be a different beast. While his career does not hinge on having a fantastic rookie season, he does need to use this year to lay the foundation. He is in a situation where he could shine immediately. He will have opportunities in Malmo, but he will also have a lot of competition on his own team. This season will not necessarily be about putting up the best numbers, but it will be more about showing demonstrating that he is the future.

From early on in the WJC, it looked like it was Team USA's tournament to lose. In the end, they did not lose. Team USA was not perfect, but they looked like the best team throughout the tournament. They did have a couple early losses to Team Europe and Team Canada, and they picked up a third loss to Team World later on, but their 11-3 record had them squarely in first place in the round robin (32 points, compared to 25 for second place). It was very much a team effort, with several members contributing in big ways and in big games, but there were definitely standouts. Defenseman Kronchy Kardashian was the team leader in points, with seven goals and 18 assists across all 16 games of the tournament (playoffs included). After Kardashian, there were five others who had at least a point-per-game. Oreo McFleury led the tournament with 12 goals. In the two playoff games, the bulk of the scoring was handled by two completely different trios. In the semi-finals against Team World, Oreo McFleury scored two goals, both of which were assisted by Gavin Rozzdale and Reese McFleury. Rozzdale scored the third goal, assisted by R. McFleury and goaltender Justin Lion. Lion also picked up the only shutout by any team, with 21 saves. In the gold medal game against Team Europe, that trio of skaters totaled just one assist in Team USA's 6-2 victory. Thankfully, the team did not rely heavily on any few players. This time around, it was Jacob Stone (1G, 3A), Kronchy Kardashian (4A), and The Mediocre One (2G, 1A) who stepped up. Every goal of the team for Team USA involved at least one of these three players. Although the earliest any of these players might be seen on Team USA's World Cup roster would be in the S90 tournament, it is a good sign at least. S84-S86 marks the second time that Team USA has failed to win a medal in back-to-back World Cups (S46-S48). It's hard to say how much of an indicator of future World Cup success the WJC is, however. In truth, most of the players in this victory for Team USA will likely never play for Team USA in the World Cup. The four that are almost certainly going to make the team are O. McFleury, Jimi Jaks, Kardashian, and Stone. Beyond that, it could be that none of them ever do.

D - Brian Payne @animal74 You're up

12 hours have passed, @OrbitingDeath has been skipped. Make your pick whenever, but the draft will continue. @Bobcat you are up. You have 12 hours to make a selection.

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.