diamond_ace

There is one accomplishment I never shut up about, but to be fair, it's also something that 99% of the general population will never even fully understand, let alone do themselves.

Seattle is the very definition of "chip and a chair" - until they're completely out, they're still likely to win, regardless of the deficit. It's just what STHS does with this particular team in this particular span of seasons.

way to say my logo is shit @Sonnet

@Renomitsu @GustavMattias look how they massacred my boy

so um... i know i rescinded the prediction, but Denmark did in fact reach the quarters, and that's even without Eriksen (although im sure that's spurring on the rest of the team to an extent

kolari

third week is week ending the 27th

second week is week ending the 20th

Wish you guys could have closed out London in regulation instead of them beating you in OT. Could have gotten me an extra home game

Welcome to the playoff index! Stick around and get comfortable for a few seasons

2. Nestle. Louder, I can't hear you. NESTLE. Say it again for the people in the back NESTLE IS TRASH AND THEIR CEO IS A WALKING LANDFILL

Honestly man that's one of the things that's so great about this place - even if you leave us 10 times, you can always come back the 11th time and make a decent guy and have your fun with it. Hope this one sticks for you. I suspect you may ultimately not like your draft spot this time around as people might be understandably hesitant to use a high pick, but hey it's all motivation to stick it out and prove this time is different. We've seen what the successful version of you looks like, and frankly that is a guy I'll always want here, even if the unsuccessful versions have manifested more recently.

<--- 10 letter and one additional character username that got a giant font nonetheless

This is not nearly all the places I've done saves, but I wanted to try to get to bed sometime this year, plus I wanted to post this where there's at least one time zone (containing VHLers) where it's not midnight yet. Morag, Poland might have been an interesting one if I pushed the Warsaw angle. Oh well

Realistically, we all know how the E will go. Stockholm, Vasteras, or both, going up to 2 or 3 Swedish locations. Cologne for a Germany rep. Bratislava for a Slovakia rep. Maybe a Paris, Rome, bigger cities such as those but without being true hockey markets - the recognition of these cities makes them viable for an entirely virtual league though, since people will join and know where they are (something that could be a problem with a few of our existing teams, as well as maybe Bratislava and Vasteras of the old teams, and something that will certainly be a problem with the teams in this article). A few older fringe teams will get pushes from certain members *cough Kolari cough* but might not get the votes necessary. However, this article will apply the best possible criteria as to whether there should be an E team in a city: did I do an FM save there? Naturally, these cities will have had their profiles raised in the virtual realm due to me managing their local soccer teams, so why not expand that to hockey? Sibiu, Romania FM Bit: Let's start off with arguably my most successful stint so far, at least in terms of increasing the profile of the team: FC Hermannstadt, located in Sibiu, Romania, went from a team in the fourth tier of Romania to the first - although that all happened in real life before I took over. When I'd begun this save, I went in unemployed and took over Sportul Snagov, who'd been a team that would not have existed in the game one more season in (they were in the second tier, the game does not load the third without a custom database, and they were likely relegation candidates under a bot manager, which means they would have fallen out of the playable leagues). After 2 1/2 seasons with Snagov, I got them stability and a regular appearance in the top half of the second tier, and Hermannstadt came calling. They'd been relegated. I took them back up, and got them regular berths in the Champions League (behind usually Universitatea Craiova, as FCSB had fallen slightly off, and CFR Cluj had fallen well off). I used the rep build from this to move to Parma in the Serie A (although the bot manager had gotten them relegated to Serie B, which I fixed the next season). E Bit: Why would Sibiu make for a decent E city? Well, frankly, I don't really know if they would. In general, hockey is a bit bigger in Eastern Europe than Western Europe though, and Sibiu does have almost half a million people in it, so who knows? Maybe hockey would take off there if they had a team in the prestigious VHLE! It might even grow somewhat of a regional following among border countries, although in that general area, the relations between border countries aren't always great. Dorog, Hungary FM Bit: This is a particular managing stint that I'll admit to having grown bored of fairly quickly, although still with some degree of success. I took Dorog from a relegation battle out of tier 2 in Hungary (although not in a relegation spot, quite, when I took over) to tier 1 and 3 consecutive upper mid table finishes. I ran into a bit of a stalemate, though - Hungary has one Champions League berth (and it would have taken years to build up the rep to attract players to compete with Ferencvaros) and three Europa Conference League berths. Top 4 then - I got 5th, then 3rd (and immediately lost to Vitesse) then 5th again. Additionally, the strategy of signing players from bigger leagues on end of contract deals did not work because the game said the players were "worried about the infrastructure and standard of living in Hungary" which, fair enough then. It did, however, mean that any further improvements would have been incremental, and it would have taken years to get anywhere. Still, Dorog were in a better place than when I took them over, so that counts for something. E Bit: This is absolutely not a city that should realistically get a team. There's only 11,000 people there, and as I ran into with FM, there are infrastructure issues. The only reason this is included is because there could reasonably be a regional rivalry with Sibiu, although Sibiu would absolutely destroy them in any real life equivalents (that generally happens when you have 40 plus times the people). Dorog is also in the northwest portion of Hungary, so would actually work out better as a rival with Bratislava, but Bratislava would arguably have a cross-league rival in Prague. Mainz, Germany FM Bit: This is going to be a bit foggy, as it's my oldest save. To put it in perspective for people who know the sport: my 20 year old "prospect" goalie starting for the B team and/or getting loan moves was Loris Karius. Before the Champions League debacle, before the move to Liverpool, before anyone had any clue who he was (and I'm sure there are people out there who wish they still didn't know who he was). They were at the time (and largely are now) a team in the bottom tier of the Bundesliga, although between those periods they climbed to mid table or so and even earned a few Europa League berths. When I was in charge (in the fictional world) they were regular Europa League competitors and made the Champions League once. E Bit: Finally, a realistic place for a hockey team! They largely wouldn't be anyone's first choice out of Germany, but anywhere fairly decent size in a country with a little bit of a hockey following is somewhat viable. Additionally, they're only about 2 hours from Cologne, so that would make for an interesting rivalry, especially if the E were to ever expand beyond 6 teams and make it a bit more realistic to have 2 so close together. Mainz is actually still only half the size of Sibiu, but a German city is better for a hockey team than a Romanian city for a host of reasons. Istres, France FM Bit: My current save! I loaded in a custom database enabling French teams down to the Regional 1 tier (so the 6th tier overall, and mostly amateur) and briefly played with FC Echirolles, getting them a single promotion before losing the save file to a system restore. Since I'd promoted them once (even though I was top of the league in the second season, it hadn't finished so I wasn't counting it) I took over a new save with a team in the tier I'd gotten Echirolles to. Enter FC Istres, of the National 3. I won the league my first season with them (spent most of the season in 5th actually, but didn't lose a single league match after mid January, climbing the table and passing US Marseille Endoume on the third to last matchday, then beating them the second to last matchday and locking up the title. I'm now in National 2 with them and climbing. E Bit: Another semi-realistic option, although it would require selling people on a regional concept. An Istres team would realistically be a "South France" unified team of sorts. Istres itself only has 43,000 people, but it's practically right next to Marseille, and it's close enough to Montpellier, Lyon, and Nice. Expand a little farther out, and you could arguably have a nice cross-league rivalry with Davos, or any potential Paris or Rome teams added in. Slough, England FM Bit: Even people from the UK are looking at this with a bit of side eye - why Slough, of all places? This was only a few saves ago, and another custom database where I loaded in 10 tiers of English leagues. Chalvey Sports were a team in the 10th tier that I took over, and they're located in Slough. Honestly, I only took them because they had the best team nickname I've ever seen - "Stab Monks" (which immediately sold me on them, of course). I got them up to the 8th tier, then left them for Dartford who were in the Vanarama South; a jump of two tiers, but I quickly grew bored of Dartford because my main tactic with Chalvey didn't work for them and it took a while to fix things (Dartford was also the closest I ever was from losing a job in FM). Even though the save ended with Dartford, I still largely resonate more with Chalvey. E Bit: Well, the country could work, but the city wouldn't. To be fair, they do have 164,000 people, but it's England, you can do so much better. Even if you left England and stayed in the UK, a Welsh or Scottish team would work (I don't think a Northern Irish team would). We already have London, but perhaps a cross-league rivalry with something like a Cardiff, who might be mad that Swansea is better at soccer (football there of course) and in-universe create a hockey team to have something to feel superior over. 1510 words, that'll do

Given recent events, I rescind the Denmark to the quarters prediction. Hope Eriksen is ok

Think France will do as people largely seem to expect and win it. However, going to make a slightly bold claim: Denmark to the quarters.

There is a team in Sweden in the bigs, Malmo. The E will still likely get another Swedish team though

@Doomsday i assume you don't intend to do the best ever 72nd overall pick, or the best ever 46th overall pick? I'd hazard a guess we have both of them on our roster right now

I have to feel a bit bad for Aguero, leaving on such a down note, but his manager fucked him over royally with no holding midfielder on the pitch. Still though, CHELSEAAAAAAA

DIE MEISTER DIE BESTEN LES MEILLEURE EQUIPES THE CHAMPIONS

lets do this again

chuck fan?