STZ

I'll be up tonight sometime.

Will be up soon

I'll just dump some here and you can pick and choose. Some dimensions may vary, but I'll make sure there are some 600x800 in here for sure.
 

 
 

 

 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 

 
 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

Busy Week For Slaughter
 
Season 37 Entry Draft top prospect Tom Slaughter had a very busy week after a successful off-season. The second year VHLM winger was lucky to be picked up by the Ottawa Lynx close to the end of Season 35. The Lynx were an extremely talented team and Slaughter graciously was able to learn from a number of key VHLM verterans last season. Due to the VHLM waiver system, the winger was released by the champions and subsequently drafted by the Bratislava Watchmen second overall.
 

 
"It was a whirlwind few months for me. It was a lot to learn and now I feel like I've landed in ane even better spot than I had last season. I seriously think our team in Bratislava has a great chance at winning the Founder's Cup this season. To have the top four draft picks in the first round just puts you at such a huge advantage. We have the best defenceman, forward and goalie in this draft class so I am really excited," Slaughter said.
 
Slaughter should be excited for good reason as he stands a good chance of becoming one of the few players ever in the history of the VHLM to win successive Founder's Cup championsips with two different teams. Slaughter also stands no chance of playing in the minors again after this season as the forward has surpased the practice hour limit for a VHLM player. Slaughter will be drafted by a VHL team and will start his career in the league immediately afterward. Thus it is important for him to get some much needed training and experience this season. The matter of where Slaughter will go is still up in the air, but it seems likely that the winger will be going to one of two teams.
 

 
"I apparently have a decent shot of going to either Riga or New York at this point. Both seem like nice franchises. I'd like a chance to play with Slaeter Fjorsstrom again in the VHL. He's a talented guy and a great teammate. If we make it onto the same roster I have to think we'll be a powerful team. With that said, I'm open to playing for any team in the league," the winger said.
 
Before the season began Slaughter had an opportunity to visit both Riga and New York's team facilities as set up by his player agent Sterling Labatte. The winger got an icy reception upon visiting Riga's locker room, making the player question whether Riga would be an ideal place to play. New York on the other hand is quiet interested in acquiring Slaughter. "Yeah, New York's attitude seems to be that of a winning team. I think those guys have a great future, I'd love to be a part of it. We'll see what happens. I'll be happy with a competetive team and good teammates," Slaughter said.
 
With the draft over and a tough off-season of intense training, Slaughter was ready to hit the ice. After two games to start the season and no points it seems like the winger may not be living up to the standards of his hype. "Just some bad luck, I played a lot of minutes in this games and got some quality shots on net, but I was squeezing the stick too much I suppose. I'm confident I'll have a solid year and we'll win a lot of games. What matters is we won twice," Slaughter said.

172: Off-season Special (S36 Predictions)

Another exciting off-season has come and gone, leaving us all to ponder on what it is that will happen in Season 36. The regular season has commenced but no answers will be learned in the first few games. There are some supposedly simple predictions which sets up the stage for major upsets, while others are too close to call. I shall now take the time to go over what we could expect to see at next off-season awards ceremony in my opinion.

Back-to-back Continental Cup champions are rare, but the Quebec City Meute seem overwhelming favourites to achieve this feat for the fifth time in the VHL's history. The Meute must be aware of the fate that awaited some other recent favourites for the repeat, such as the S31 Calgary Wranglers or S33 New York Americans, but they do appear to be in better shape than the rest. Past back-to-back winners had the luxury of keeping a similar roster (Quebec's lone change was replacing the retired Miles Larsson with free agent Felix Zamora) while their rivals regressed or stagnated and that is the case this season. The Calgary Wranglers exploded and the Toronto Legion replaced Smooth Jive with Chico Salmon, but if they couldn't defeat Quebec last season, why would this change now? The Helsinki Titans were arguably the Meute's biggest threat last season but losing Odin Tordahl, Brody Hodgson, and Ryan Sullivan without replacing them is not going to help matters.

Toronto could surprise, as some have predicted, but I'll give Quebec the edge for now. This leaves us with the question of the European champion. Did Helsinki's regression allow the better-rounded Cologne Express or HC Davos Dynamo an opportunity to make the finals? I'd have to say yes as Cologne might have lost Davey Jones to trade, but remain strong in every position. An all-expansion final is a very real possibility in S36, with the Dynamo too much of a dark horse to predict.

I may have discounted Helsinki's title credentials after 3-4 years at or near the top, but it seems they'll compensate by finally getting some individual success. Ethan Osborne and Anatoli Zhumbayev are two of the top forwards in the league and they now have space to create whatever they want offensively, without needing to share. It is for this reason I see them as the likely top scorers this season, ahead of other top duos like Kellinger-Grigorenko, Taylor-Dunlop, or Brovalenko-Tordahl. Second lines have the tendency to take the focus off the first and the Titans for once aren't blessed with a second line. Additionally, their defence is in the worst state in seasons which means lots of shots faced by Tuomas Tukio. It's time for the Helsinki-born netminder to win an Aidan Shaw Trophy and we all know a high save percentage goes a long way to secure that.

Nonetheless, I feel Zhumbayev, Osborne, and Tukio will be so spectacular, not one of them will stand out as their team's or the league's MVP. A similar “problem” could occur in Cologne, Davos, or Quebec, which is why I again predict Remy LeBeau for the Scotty Campbell Trophy. Tukio may win the Shaw but he won't be far ahead of LeBeau or Rift statistically, while I don't see the forward core, all below 600 TPE, producing a clear-cut leader who would overshadow “LeGod”'s dominance in goal. After missing the playoffs during a great season in S34 and being halted by Michal Wozniak on steroids in S35, Remy's time surely has come.

I picked some winners at the snap of my fingers, but others were a struggle. Notably, there is a gaping hole where the favourites for the Scott Boulet and Sterling Labatte Trophies used to reside, with Miles Larsson, David Smalling, Volodymyr Rybak, Ryan Sullivan, and Clark Marcellin all recently retiring. For the Boulet, the best bet is to go for the forward with the most checking and the most TPE. The options ultimately came down to Doug Clifford, Teemu Lehtinen, and Odin Tordahl for Boulet, and I went for the homer pick (though Odin also has the most TPE). I was surprised to see Kameron Taylor such a popular pick. He'll provide the offensive side no doubt, but don't expect him to be at the top in hits. For Labatte, Niklas Valiq was the third player on the ballot last season and is a logical choice now. A lot of defencemen are close in TPE now and the Valiq brothers are ridiculously similar in terms of build, but if the sim likes Niklas more, there's nothing Alexander can do. If Karsten Olsen, James Lefevre, or Malcom Spud put up a good mix of points and hits, they'll be in it but Valiq has the benefit of being one of two defenders on the Meute.

I could go on but this is too long even for an off-season special. To be fair, the rest of the awards are either too obvious or too random to really talk about. Parity is at an all-time high as every team not named Calgary should be competitive, so anything could happen. Anyone want to predict how many wins/points the Wranglers will get this season? 3 and 10 are the records from Season 11, Riga and New York did well to challenge it last season but at least they had themselves to beat up.

peace's*

Lets prove everyone wrong. The underdog Titties gon' win it all.

Just turned into a Bear fan. 

This is fucking wicked... I'd sign in QC for it.

I think I'm going to do a draft recap if someone else isn't already planning on it

I'm just going to do my regular article.  It will be about Fever's guy.

Bratislava is no slouch when it comes to prospects: A. Zhumbayev, D. Jones, N. Lindberg, E. Bagelface, W. Janssen, D. Clifford, T. Landry, J. Shetler, F. Leiter, and that's not even counting Fjorsstrom, Jackson, Slaughter, Prikulis, Brookside, and Villeneuve.

Looks like I'll have to fight my way up to the top 3. Heavy competitors ahead of me.

Season 37 prospect Slaeter Fjorsstrom was drafted first overall in the S36 VHLM dispersal draft by the Bratslavia Watchmen.  
 
"Big honour being drafted first overall ahead of some big names like Tom Slaughter and Martin Brookside.  Our team is looking good and hopefully we can cause some damage this season.  My goal this season is to win the cup, but also to show the scouts I'm the best player available for Season 37.  I'm open to going anywhere, but would really love to go to a team that I could help out in Season 37 should I play in the VHL."
 
At 163 practice hours, 164 if you count this article, Fjorsstrom should enter the VHL with over 200 practice hours, likely closer to the 250 mark. 
 
"I want to be the next best defenceman, the Ryan Sullivan of my generation.  Hopefully I can make the transition to the VHL with ease."

Looks like S33 !
Good luck the new generation

It's not a secret that S35 was not the best season for grading. While graphics grading generally stayed on top of things, writing grading had a tendency to fall behind more than they stayed ahead. We all know how important it is to keep grading moving as smoothly as possible, so there are going to be a couple changes going forward. The biggest change (and really the only one that affects non-graders) is that any point task that gets a perfect grade as its first grade will no longer need a second grade to become final. If the first grade of a media spot is a 6/6, it would take a 4.75/6 in order to affect the amount of TPE that the media spot earns. This type of discrepancy between grades just about never happens, so it seems like a waste of time to wait for a second grade. However, anything less than a perfect grade will still require a second grade. 
 
This change will apply to all point tasks submitted from now on and for every point task that is currently open. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to leave them here or send me a PM.
 
*Credit to Mike for the idea.

Big opening inside Naomi Young up for grabs too..

Big opening inside Naomi Young up for grabs too..

My tibia is fine thanks for worrying fucker

Good luck in Davos, Boom. We move on and find a different way to win.

Just yell into the CD-ROM