scoop

omg executed the Juggernaut last night, so we know you're not that. You could still be a different baddie though, and this feels very Jester-y to me.

The last three seasons in Europe have seen little change in terms of the standings. With Helsinki and London in rebuild mode occupying two of the bottom three spots in each of those seasons, four teams have found themselves consistently in the playoffs: Malmo, Warsaw, Davos, and Prague. The one shift that happened was when Moscow rose all the way from seventh in S79 to the top of the conference in S80, thus resulting in Riga missing out of the playoffs the last two seasons. In the S80 playoffs, Moscow swept their way through Europe, which included a Conference Finals victory over the reigning VHL champions in Malmo. The Menace would go on to lose in the Continental Cup Finals to the Vancouver Wolves. This season, it was Malmo who finished the regular season at the top of Europe, with Moscow in second behind them. Moscow drew Prague in the conference semi-finals, while Malmo faced off against Warsaw. The Nighthawks swept the Predators as the Menace dropped the Phantoms in five games, setting up a rematch from a season ago. If the season series between the two is any indication, we are in for a tight series. Malmo won the last three matchups between the two after Moscow won the first two, with three of the games in total being one-goal games. They haven't actually met since the trade deadline, and although neither team made any moves, it will be interesting to see if the games stay close or maybe one team has elevated in that period of time. The Menace did lead the conference standings at that time, but they faltered down the stretch going 9-4-6, giving the Nighthawks the chance to catch them. Malmo capitalized, going 18-1-1 since the deadline, which earned them that first seed. prediction malmo sweeps and then sweeps the finals obviously

That does leave Spartan as the Escort

I probably should reveal at this point. I am the Crusader. N1 - Jericho N2 - not used N3 - not used N4 - Zack

There's also a guaranteed evil between Goliathus and Berocka. Well, at the very least if Berocka isn't evil, Goliathus is lying to us.

That's three confirmed TI dead now. We have living Investigator and Psychic claims out there. Is that believable or do we take one of them out?

Honestly I think NBG is less suspicious than MMFLEX. It's a weird kill for Mafia to make if NBG is part of their crew. Even if the Psychic info is true, could very easily be that Berocka is just evil given that they claimed to have been saved but a supposed Doctor was roleblocked. So there's very much the potential for Berocka to be the evil one in that pair. I definitely don't think there is time to flip the vote, but I'll be here if we have enough to get it on to MMFLEX before night falls. The NBG kill isn't awful, but I think it's the worse option of the two.

I think confirming Goli is pretty important especially if makes sense as a Jugg claim. If he is confirmed psychic we have two 50/50s on evil that we can probably deduce from that point. If he is Jugg claiming Psychic, taking him out before he can do serious damage pretty much takes out Mafia's only hope as well.

Does lookout see a limited number of people? Could it be that more than that number visited you so he didn't see everyone?

The day before he was checked, Nothing but goals and NSG were talking about looking at each other. I think that was the timing, which would making him a potential frame target from that. This is assuming the framing happens before the investigating in night order. Do we trust the Psychic claim, though? If we do, that definitely puts a target on Nothing but goals as well, since they saw omgitshim, Berocka, or Nothing as evil. That's a 50/50 on the latter two. Actually, if we trust the psychic, there's a 50/50 on Spartan/MMFLEX as well, since they were grouped with Squidward on N1. I'll put a vote down on it for now, but it may be worth considering other options. I just don't really know what those would be right now. VOTE NOTHING BUT GOALS

lol goalies

Oh hey we're killing someone? Vote Advantage

I thought NSG claimed sheriff?

I'd like to give this a go.

I mean, look at DCD G just for another example this season. Looking at this historically, teams score more early in the games, but shots taken are relatively even across the periods. I'm sure this has more to do with the score of the game rather than the period, but it seems that teams are less likely to score when they have already scored a lot. Their shot totals don't go down, though. I'm willing to bet that Tater Tot's save percentage is drastically better when he's already given up a lot of goals. Same with DCD G. I don' t know whether it would have more to do with the score difference or just straight up the number of goals allowed.

The point with Sales was more about his other stats. His save percentage going up really doesn't mean as much to me, because he simply had a down year last season. Still, it is definitely impressive that he's doing better despite scoring being up in general. But it's not even like Sales is facing an inordinately low number of shots. Vancouver may be the top team in the league, but they are middle of the pack in terms of shots allowed.

The first two seasons of Taylor Mourning's career were quite disappointing, totaling 19 goals and 63 points through 144 games. This season, things have been going much better, and although the pace slowed from where it was at the beginning of the season, he will still eclipse 100 points and has an outside shot at 50 goals. Currently on pace to have more than triple his previous career high in points, Mourning has to be a candidate for most improved. In some seasons, these numbers could result in a no-brainer of a vote, but there are definitely other names to consider. The Dustin Funk Trophy is one of the more difficult ones to pick out the top candidates, because you can't just look at an compare the top few players, you have to look at almost everyone. Not only that, but you have to look at two seasons of almost everyone. In trying to find Mourning's toughest competition for the award, I broke it down into three categories: players who were better (than Mourning); players who were worse (than Mourning); and goalies. Players who were better Just going from best of the best down to where Mourning ranks, it doesn't take long to find a couple of very serious contenders for the award. Playing in his sixth VHL season, Justin Lose has consistently produced average stats. With career highs of 37 goals and 82 points, he isn't someone you would have likely pegged for the award in your pre-season predictions, but his league-leading 68 goals and 133 points put him in the discussion for sure. Then there is Alex Johnston, who broke into the league the same season as Mourning with a weaker rookie season, but has a better sophomore season at 22 goals and 62 points. This season, he is second in the league with 59 goals and sixth in points at 119. Then there is Jon Webber, who can be easily dismissed but earns a mention by improving upon his career best by over 50 points (assuming he gets a few more points in the remaining games). As far as the two elite players go, it's an interesting debate. Comparing just last season to the current season (which I personally don't think captures the whole picture, but is easier to discuss, Mourning has the highest increase in points with +63, just barely edging out Johnston's +57 and Lose's +56. For Mourning, though, this is a far greater percentage increase, but that is of course easier when you are coming from a lower number. The biggest detractor for Mourning, though, is the fact that improvement in stats for the other two comes more from goals. While going from 19 to 43 goals is nothing to scoff at, Lose has gone from 37 to 68 and Johnston from 22 to 59. Johnston had just three more goals than Mourning last season, but the difference is currently at 16 this season. Mourning does also have the edge in the physical department. As the other two have seen their hits totals drop, he has gone from 118 last season to 290 this season. Could the more all-around improvement be what gives Mourning the edge compared to these two superstars? Players who were worse When looking at the players who were worse this season, obviously anyone who was better than Mourning last season would be out of consideration. In addition, I don't really need to look at players who have less than, let's say 20 goals and 50 points, because no matter what they are coming from last season, they aren't going to be in the discussion. When it comes down to it, of the players who are having worse season's than Mourning, only one player is coming from down low enough to be considered: Gary Tarantino II. In his last VHL season, Tarantino had just three goals and 11 points. This season, he has 42 goals and 94 points, as well as playing a bit more physical going from three hits to 81. That's quite the improvement, and it would seem now the question is not "Mourning or one of the superstars," but rather "Tarantino or one of the superstars." The problem with this, however, is that Tarantino's last season was Season 79, when he played under seven minutes a game and not even quite a full season. Last season, he took a step back to the VHLE. How to judge that will obviously be up to the voters. I think you have to take into consideration his VHLE statistics, even though it was against weaker competition. I could also see him being deemed ineligible for the award altogether, given that he doesn't have S80 VHL statistics to compare to. Goalies Thadius Sales and Tater Tot are the only two goalies who someone could look at and think they might contend for the award, but I think they are easily dismissed. Sales is coming off of a down year, posting his worst save percentage (0.910) since his rookie season. Sure, he's going to be a favorite for Top Goalie, but his win and goals against average increases are also due in large part to coming from a non-playoff team to joining the reigning champions. His stats definitely improved, but he's not in the discussion. As far as Tater Tot is concerned, I only mention him because if you just quick glance and see his 0.929 save percentage coming from 0.912, you think "wow, improvement!" That is inflated by his shots against total and he's not in the discussion either. In conclusion, the only contenders in my eyes for the Dustin Funk Trophy are Justin Lose, Alex Johnston, Taylor Mourning, and Gary Tarantino II. So it's either one of the two who went from "average to superstar" or one of the two who went from "poor to star." I personally think Johnston and Mourning have the edge in their respective pairings. I do think it's a tough choice. Where Johnston has a huge edge is looking at goals, but Mourning's improvement of his game as a whole might win over some voters. It will be interesting to see who comes away with it, but I can't imagine it being anyone outside of these four. 1041 words; for weeks ending 1/2 and 1/9

In the midst of a breakout season, Taylor Mourning made the decision to stay in Malmo for three more seasons. While he could have finished out his contract with the Nighthawks and been a highly sought after free agent, he is showing loyalty to the team with whom he won a Continental Cup in his rookie season. He did not play a huge role on that squad, but he is currently second on the team in goals this season with 43. The Nighthawks have all but wrapped up the second best record in the league, and first place in the European Conference. While the team is definitely a contender for the cup this season, their future is not quite as certain. Their prospect pool is very limited, and they have just one pick (MAL 1st) in the next draft. Two of their defensemen are retiring after this season, and the other two are not currently signed. Jakob Sosa, Steve Eso, and Artem Tretiak will all be done after S82. Mourning is the youngest player on the roster, and there isn't really any immediate help coming in to replace the players who will be leaving in the near future. All things considered, you can't help but wonder why he would want to stay. By the second year of this three-year extension, at most only five players on the current roster will still be here. Mourning might be in for a couple of bad seasons with the Nighthawks, though it's possible that they would end up trading him when his value is high, within the next couple seasons. It could be a bad look for the franchise, though, if they were to immediately trade away the player who signed for three more years. It could also be seen as a good look, though, that he likes the franchise so much that he was willing to sign a multi-year deal to allow them to get more value out of him in a trade. Maybe it's something that they have discussed. Or perhaps Malmo intends to re-tool around Mourning by trading away veterans. I think management is in a tricky spot, and looking at things objectively, Malmo could be in for a difficult rebuild in the mid-80s.

I don't blame them. I blame Simon.

meta sucks

Love that MAL RW3 is put in on the shootout ahead of the team's second- leading goal scorer. They scored the winner though, so I can't complain

Yep

heyo

money please

Yes