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Preas Conference for S98 Playoffs Week 1.5: We have Davos yet again, but we're off to a hot start. Is this the strongest rivalry in the VHL? Maverick starts the playoffs hot with a game 2 hatty in an 8 goal game for the Menace. What has this offense coming out swinging? Do you prefer any specific opponent in the upcoming round(s)? Do you ambush any teammates with smelling salts on the bench? What's your pregame meal? How would you prank @Spartan on road trips?

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Week 6 Press Conference: Another Moscow legend, Jarmo Ruutu, is retiring at the end of this season. What mark do you feel he has left on the franchise? How would you expect fans to react to the final regular season game for Ruutu and Obuz? Should we dodge (or should we have dodged) the victory Cup? Would your player argue with fans on social media? Which team do you think would have the most annoying fans to argue with? How would you try to assert yourself with opponents on the ice in our first playoff game?

Week 5/Post TDL Press Conference: The recreate deadline has passed, and with that, Obuz Schneider Canet du Bocage is officially retiring, the first of three Menace players this season. How do you reflect upon his legacy in Moscow? We also saw a relatively quiet trade deadline, but Riga added another stellar defenseman. Do you have any fear that this could hurt us in the playoffs? Which potential playoff opponent do you think would give us the the best series to watch in the playoffs? Ovechkin hit 895. Will his eventual record be broken and if so, will it be broken by any active NHL player(s)? What fan behavior should we punish at the arena? With another Cup win, you will be offered a shell corporation to get you to prominence as an oligarch. What would legally be your player's line of business?

Are we flying JetBlue?

S98 Week 4 Press Conference: There's always a few bumps in the road in any season. A small rough patch has seen us lose some ground in the standings. What do you think went wrong? The trade deadline is a week from today. Are you expecting any big moves to be made before then? Theme week is also upon us, do you plan to take advantage and if so how will (or did you)? If you could create any new player attribute, what would it be and what impact would it have? If you had autocratic control over the league for the rest of this season and next, what would be your first order of business? What unacceptable airplane behavior do you wish people would stop doing on the team plane?

Game 198: Moscow Menace @ HC Davos Dynamo S98 continues with another rendition of one of the VHL's fiercest rivalries: the Moscow Menace and HC Davos Dynamo. The two teams have met in each of the past three playoffs with Davos now looking to gain ground in a European conference that has been completely controlled by Moscow to date. Moscow gets off to a very quick start and opens fire immediately, with their first goal coming less than two minutes in from Obuz Schneider Canet du Bocage (11). Only 90 seconds later: another one from Jarmo Ruutu (16). Moscow would continue to pile on with another goal only one minute and 50 seconds later, another from Jarmo Ruutu (17), to make it 3-0 after the first five minutes of play. Davos would not let that stand. With a bit under ten minutes remaining in the first period, Davos would respond with a goal from Gianfranco Del Rocco (14) to make it 3-1, where it would remain heading into the tunnel to close the period. Davos would come back out ready to play, drawing a tripping penalty on Obuz Schneider Canet du Bocage at 1:07, leading to a powerplay goal from Antonia Bucatini (13) only thirty seconds later. The rest of the second period would be relatively quiet, but Davos would come back out firing in the third period again. Only six seconds into the third period, Bucatini scores his second goal of the game (14) to tie it. Each team killed a penalty to try to get some points out of this matchup, leading to an uneventful overtime and eventually a shootout. Moscow would go on to miss on all three of their shots in the shootout, while Davos would miss their first two, but right before things could get too late, Johnny Tsunami quickly ended it with a shootout goal to make it a 4-3 SOW for Davos. Three Stars: 1. Antonia Bucatini 2. Jarmo Ruutu 3. Gianfranco Del Rocco

99% of the reason I like doing this is so I can get these answers from @jRuutu

S98 Week 3 Press Conference: Fresh off a week 15 game win streak!! we've had an excellent start to our season but had two tough losses to Toronto. What do you think it is about Toronto that made it a tough matchup for us? What award will Obuz take home this season now that he's a forward? What rule would you add to the locker room out of pure superstition? What annoying trend should be banned from the locker room and result in a 15-game suspension? Who is a good dark horse team that we should watch out for this season? Are the Capitals legit or will they fall apart in the playoffs as they historically had for most of Ovechkin's career?

I expected an Exceeds Expectations on our performance evals to date.

A day late, but we're now a week in. Week 2 Press Conference: We're off to a good start (10-2-1 as of the writing of this post) and second EU. What are your thoughts on the hot start? We have 5 or more goals in 6 of our 13 games. What do you think is driving the explosiveness of our offense? We're blasting a whole album in the locker room before a game. What's your submission? What brand would you sign a deal with for gear (stcks, gloves,, helmet, skates)? Which opponent's city would you most want to explore with a day off on the road? What would you say is your player's most underrated skillset?

Mentions: @LucyXpher @SMYLS4 @Spartan @youloser1337 @AJW

Mikko Tuomala, the long awaited young defenseman from Finland, finally enters the arena. Tonight is his VHL debut against Calgary. He knows this will be a season of growth for the Stars, but at the very least, he hopes to put up good rookie numbers, and show the teams that passed on him that they made a mistake. Tuomala had thought for a long time about this moment. He remembers first his friend Pelayo Bolivar, who first taught him that tonight was even a possibility and tonight also debuts in the VHL - for London. Next, his GM in Halifax, Lucy, who took a chance on signing him and putting him on the first pair early in his VHLM career. On his pair in Halifax was another one of tonight's rookies making his debut, Kazuma Satou, now a center for Moscow, who also was a critical piece of leadership in his locker room. On his way to the home locker room, Tuomala fondly remembers the moments that led him to this point: his VHLM debut, and his first goal in that game, a loss to Philadelphia. He thinks of that painful loss to Ottawa that would put away their season and send him packing. He remembers draft day, being upset that he slipped to 11, but happy to be drafted with the faces he's about to see. Only two days later, that anger from slipping to 11th dissipated when he heard his named called #1 overall to Saskatoon in the VHLM draft. He reminisced about how sweet it was sweet it was to pull off an upset win in round one with the club that drafted him. Finally, he thinks of another memory: scoring the game tying goal in the World Junior Championship to send it to overtime, only to dish the puck to his friend Bolivar for the overtime winner. That 11th overall pick, after only one season, is now top five from his draft class. As he reminisces, he sees the door, adorned with the black, white, and gray logo of the team that drafted him. He stops momentarily to admire it before he walks in. Immediately he sees the same faces he celebrated with on draft night and labored with in training camp. He's learned immensely from the professionals on his team at his past two training camps, and notes their pregame rituals. He sees Wally Lose getting ready, the veteran who prepared him for this moment in camp, and who truly had it much worse going in, with family expectations to meet. He notes the joyful attitude of Roger Eagles, a criminally underrated goaltender in this league. The presence of these vets put him at ease, but only momentarily. Slowly, Mikko walks to his locker. Truthfully, even thinking of those moments on the walk in, he cannot believe it. The placard above reads “44 - D - Tuomala” with that iconic black jersey underneath. He sits in his stall, laces up his skates, and begins to pray silently. His eyes remain closed as he loses himself in thought - ignoring the skunk-like smell emanating from a locker of at least one fellow rookie nearby. Despite his veneer of solitude, he can't stay nervous for too long. A stick tap on the shinpad shows the face of his long awaited defense partner, Bubbles: “It's f***in’ go time, bud.” Go time it is. The wait is over. They head down the tunnel as the lights on the ice begin to show. There's techno music blasting as the booming voice of the public address announcer echoes. The nerves begin to cease: “It's just another game,” Tuomala thought to himself. “Vain toinen ottelu.” The next few moments are a blur. Names are announced, anthems ring out. None of it matters once the lights come on and he hops over the boards, skates behind his veteran forward teammates, looks over at Bubbles, and turns his attention towards the referee. The puck is dropped and we're off. Mikko Tuomala and Bubbles Lafleur's VHL careers have begun. Off the draw, it feels like a standard shift, until 17 seconds in when he commits his first penalty, a two minute minor for tripping. Thankfully, his teammates kill it off, but shortly thereafter comes an avalanche. Calgary scores two goals in the second half of the first. Later on in the second period, Calgary scores another two. The Stars go into the 3rd period down 4-0, where the lone bright spot comes: Tuomala feeds it to Lafleur off the pass from Lose. Lafleur takes it, shoots, and scores to make it 4-1. The two rookie defensemen will share their first VHL point in what ultimately shakes out as a 5-1 loss. Tuomala heads back into the locker room fueled by rage. He begins a string of expletives in his native Finnish “VITUN PASKA! PERKE-” before he is cut off by a veteran, noting that this will happen countless times in a career, even on a good team. Mikko finished his first game bruised and shattered. His four blocked shots and an assist are nowhere near enough, especially taking four PIM in the loss. Onto the next one - a rematch in LA. This one will go no better. Two more blocked shots, thankfully with no penalty minutes, but in a 2-0 shutout loss. The frustration is mounting for the young defenseman. This team needs offense, he notes, and with his VHLM graduation, he is able to aim for more of it. At this point, Tuomala still awaits his first win and his first goal. He understands these will be big milestones, and awaits them perhaps with too much anticipation. A difficult start to a great career, but when will the greatness come?

You competed for a Continental Cup and in the process won a Victory Cup and it ultimately came at no cost to the future. I wouldn't say there's any worry about making mistakes on trade value.

S98 is upon us this week. New presser to kick off the season: What are your expectations for your player's production this season? Where would you set the over/under for Moscow's point total this season? What podcast(s), if any, would you listen to on the ride between cities? If you could put offseason tournaments in any non-VHL city, where would you want them to be hosted? Give me some good (but relatively wholesome) rage bait you might use to annoy an opponent. What meme lasted way too long or was way too unfunny to be as widely popular as it was?