.sniffuM

It is an honor to be even nominated for this award. Thank you to whoever voted for me, and it’s an absolute privilege to be in the same company of the other individuals nominated! 

don't wanna upset anybody so figured I'd just come in and say GGs prague

don't wanna upset anybody so figured I'd just come in and say GGs prague

don't wanna upset anybody so figured I'd just come in and say GGs prague

Decided to do something different this week. Instead of making another graphic solely for TPE that I will never use, I think talking about some news is the best course of action. I have to keep my writing skills sharp anyways.

Personal Life

Things have been going great for me lately! I managed to score over 95 in all of my second sem classes, including a 94 on my Computer Science final and got a small scholarship for my efforts! In the hopes that I will be going back to school in-person in September, I have revamped my workout routine to be more intense and have been enjoying my time off with friends (online) and family (some also online)!

Halifax GM Change

Not gonna lie, it came as a shock to me.  @rory  and I seem to have a little bit of a rivalry (Halifax-Minnesota driven), but it was really sad seeing him step down. He was a great GM and Halifax will definitely miss his impact. Although, I think @Brewins15 will be a great fit in Halifax. I thought she would get the Minnesota job, if not the next one and I was so happy to finally see her get her shot as a GM.

Founder's Cup Playoffs

I've been surprised at what Minnesota has been able to accomplish so far. I mean, I knew the team I had coming into this season but to advance all the way to the Cup Finals in my first season is better than I expected. Houston upsetting Halifax in Round 1 was an amazing series to watch (as well as @Devise having to re-sim a dozen times, sorry Devise we love ya). San Diego and Yukon was a great series as well, a true back and forth series between powerhouse teams. Yukon and Minnesota in the finals will be interesting. Of course, I hope Minnesota takes it (my homer bias kicking in), but Yukon has a great team and a great GM in @Juice.

Continental Cup Playoffs

Seattle wins the North American Conference again.....Yawn. I mean, I expected this. @Banackock is an absolute master of consistency and they have a great bunch over there (including a few friends of mine. After winning last season (over my Titans), they added to the core they had already built by changing pieces. It is really impressive to see. Meanwhile, Prague and Warsaw over in the European Conference has also been a really entertaining series. Knotted at 2-2 through 4 games, neither team has given an inch. The Phantoms are a good team, but I really hope Warsaw takes it. With Muff stepping down, watching him go out with a cup would be a thing of beauty. Speaking of which.....

Warsaw GM Opening

@.sniffuM has done a great job to take Warsaw from an expansion team to a regular contender, and he will be remembered forever for the legacy and culture of the Warsaw Predators. There are definitely a lot of deserving candidates who could take over from Muff, but I feel like @dlamb would be a great fit. He's been in the Warsaw organization since the beginning as a player and has done a good job as a GM with Ottawa in the M.

(539 words)
 

*Not the sig*

Cheers to this! I'm so glad that you felt comfortable coming to the VHL community about something deeply personal. I'm sure that the process of identifying, grappling with, and trying to understand what it means to you was really difficult, so mad respect for settling on words that feel like home.
 
Like BigAL mentioned, finding language to describe your thoughts, feelings, and tendencies is so satisfying; I'm so glad that you were able to find and embrace these words to describe who YOU are and make them mean what you need them to. It's empowering, and I hope you find so much solace in that.
 
I also want to say that I completely understand the fear of coming out to people, especially when you know that it may not be an overwhelmingly positive response. I hope that we as a VHL community can support you in a way that is meaningful to you despite the fact that these identities are ones that simply don't directly affect us. However, education is a great way to help both allies who want to be better and members of the Queer community who aren't familiar with your identities.
 
Your coming out was brave, and I respect you so much for it. It is by no means required, and I'm honored as a member of this community that you decided to show us this part of yourself. It's also great to know that other members who may be unfamiliar with these terms may realize that the things they feel (or don't) aren't just them; you've opened a conversation in which people can participate in very different capacities.
 
I hope it goes without saying, but feel free to reach out to me if you think that I can provide you support that you need.

I’m happy you’re happy Hex! It can be really confusing to have feelings for someone one day and not the next and again the next day. It’s easy to feel like you're the problem, like there’s something wrong with you. Then you just beat the hell out of yourself for not being a good partner, or cut yourself off from love and friends because, or just start to hate yourself for not being “normal”.

When you can notice those things AND learn that there’s a scientific word for it, it’s such a powerful validation that you’re not completely and utterly fucked up, even though that’s what your brain’s been telling you. Once you know how you work, you can own that identity and not be ashamed of yourself. You can explain yourself to partners, you can go easy on yourself on days where things aren’t going the way you want them to, and just be happy with what comes your way each day instead of stressing about what isn’t happening. 
 
I hadn’t heard those terms before, but I’m glad they exist because they help you explain you. As one of my kids would say, there’s lots of different kinds of people in the Alphabet Mafia (that’s what they call LGBTQ+ and it cracks me up every time)

June 28th
I'm gonna keep this date in my heart...

Over the course of the last several weeks, I have been having particular thoughts about not only the past, but myself in the present day. I've thought about how both my past events and current events life, how my mind and heart has traversed it and how I found it's history odd...
Like... I've been slightly lying to myself
I'm somebody who thought I was something forever, and never questioned it. Even when small things were beginning to show themselves, I never paid attention or wanted to anyways.
Was I afraid? Why should I be afraid of what this is? Does it matter if I'm afraid?
I should be proud about it and not lie to myself any longer...

So, I believe it's time to say it....
 


I write this to you all today because, as of today, I do come out as both Ace and Aro
Particularly Aceflux and Aroflux
 
Aceflux is essentially I am on a spectrum of sometimes feeling sexual and other times not having any sexual feelings at all, even for the same person
 
Aroflux is the same thing as Aceflux except instead of sexual feelings it's romantic feelings

Tbh I am about in tears writing this, as not only does this end the lie about myself, but I know that this is gonna be a huge change for me in many aspects of my present day life and future life.

dear diary,
 
Lots has been on my mind about the league lately. Since my last point task, sonnet has announced that he’s done with the league, rory and muff have decided to step down from their GM positions, more VHLE discussions have been presented to the league, and Elmebeck nominations have opened.
 
It’s always sad to see beloved members step away, but I, of course, always support people doing what’s best for them. I’m glad we got a chance to do a podcast before he decided to dip, especially because that was something that he mentioned that he wanted to try. Podcasts are and will probably always be my favorite point task for a few reasons. I get TPE just for talking to my friends, you get to deviate from VHL topics a bit more for the sake of an entertaining podcast, and less people interact with them. If there were a way for me to post a media spot and not allow anyone to read or comment on it (but still get my TPE for it), I absolutely would. That completely defeats the purpose of posting, but I usually post for TPE, not league engagement. So it goes.
 
I don’t know if it’s just because I’ve started actually paying attention to it, but I feel like the past few seasons have seen a far higher rate of GM turnover than when I joined. I’m only in my seventh (?) season here, so my experience ought to be taken with a grain of salt.
 
If I had to guess why the turnover rate increased, I would suspect that it has to do with the fact that folks joined/became GMs when they had much more time on their hands amidst the thick of the pandemic. We newer members came in with rose-colored glasses on, too much time to waste, and a drive to be “important” to the league. After seeing behind the curtain and having real life kick into higher gear as society tries to return to “normal,” I’m sure they’ve probably experienced a higher level of burnout and disenchantment, causing them to cycle in and out of those positions. Again, so it goes.
 
I’ve been thinking about posting my thoughts about the VHLE team concepts and have held off because 1) it’s mostly me being petty, 2) I wouldn’t say that I’m really qualified to critique logos, and 3) in the end, my input probably doesn’t really matter, lost in the midst of everyone else’s equally nearly-meaningless thoughts. Nonetheless, I feel like I won’t have the right to complain about the team concepts after they’ve been published and finalized if I don’t throw my thoughts into the mix, so for the sake of allowing myself to bitch and moan later, I’m going to skim through my thoughts on the VHLE team concept proposals.
 
First, I was really glad to see the conversation about the Berlin Steel logo was addressed, leading to an amendment of the concept. It’s reassuring that, although posting on forums seems like screaming into the void, someone is listening.
 
I’m honestly not exceptionally fond of any of the concepts. Is it because I don’t like new things or change? Maybe. I’m not going to act like I know what I want, because I don’t.
 
Berlin Steel: How many times do members have to point out that a good logo doesn’t need big text on it before we start adapting logos to be in accordance with popular opinion? Apparently far more times than has already been noted. What is this logo without the text? A hammer. It is a fancy hammer.
 
I know that steel manufacturing or whatever is significant for Berlin or Germany, but like, a hammer? My biggest hope for a team concept is that the creative takes on it are actually interesting and abundant. I suppose if you really wanted to stretch it, you could make something work with steel and hammers and hockey and beating down the opponents. Otherwise, it’s… odd.
 
Also, Berlin Steel Construction Company is a company in Connecticut. Largely irrelevant, but I’m noting it anyway.
 
Bern Royals: This looks like a knockoff Moscow logo. Everyone ought to be thinking it, so I’m just going to say it. Moscow logo meets Stonehenge.
 
Bern does have significance for royalty in Switzerland, I’ll give it that. It’s a good location (from the biased research I’ve done) to use “Royals” for. I also acknowledge that Catholicism is (or, at least, was) the dominant religion, but do we really need a cross on the crown?
 
Bratislava Watchmen: What is the significance of watchmen for Bratislava? I did a quick google search and can’t find anything. Did I look very hard? No, but I don’t think you should have to.
 
I like the blue and green in the logo; no other team (from the top of my head) has that color scheme, which definitely works in its favor. Otherwise, I can’t put my finger on why, but this logo feels off.
 
I’d say this is one of the better concepts other than the fact that I have no idea where the “watchmen” came from.
 
Cologne Express: Great, another german team. I, like many others, don’t think it’d be optimal to have more than one team in any country. There are so many options that it just feels extremely unoriginal.
 
I get the relationship with Cologne and trains; the Köln Hauptbahnhof is a major local, national, and international (thanks, Wiki) station, so the concept makes sense to me. The train vibe is easy to adapt to hockey team morale, which also scores it some points in my book.
 
The logo, honestly, isn’t bad. The text is a bit funky, but it’s not overbearing and I like the placement. Another one of the better concepts in my opinion.
 
Istanbul Red Wolves: We already have the Vancouver Wolves. We do not need another wolf team.
It’s also great that we have red in there, because this was one of the first articles for “Istanbul wolves” in my google search:
 
The Grey Wolves, officially known as Idealist Hearths, is a Turkish far-right organization and movement affiliated with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Commonly described as ultranationalistic, Islamistic and neo-fascist, it is a youth organization that has been characterized as MHP's paramilitary or militant wing. Its members deny its political nature and claim it to be a cultural and educational foundation, as per its full official name: Ülkü Ocakları Eğitim ve Kültür Vakfı (Idealist Clubs Educational and Cultural Foundation).
 
There are too many almost-very-bad things here, need I say more? (probably, but I’m not going to)
 
Paris Revolution: I liked the guardians logo concept better than this one. I don’t know why, but I don’t like this concept. Oooo, so original, France in another revolution, haha, very funny.
 
I have no constructive feedback (not that I’ve offered any so far), so I’m moving on. Also, I’m getting tired of writing.
 
Rome Gladiators: Now THIS team concept works for me. You don’t need a google search to understand the team (not that googling to understand a team is a bad thing, I think those ones are kinda cool and feel more authentic). This concept feels very safe. The gladiator representation is pretty cohesive with the traditional depiction of a roman gladiator, so props for that one.
 
My (only, really) issue with the concept is that the colors are too similar to solas’s Vasteras logo concept. The grey and yellow/orange-yellow palette probably shouldn’t be used for two teams in the same league.
 
Stockholm Vikings: I don’t like the Vikings idea, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad one. The term “viking,” being a modern catch-all, feels really tacky for this location.
 
The logo feels very… cookie cutter. I don’t know how else to describe it. And, like I mentioned earlier, do we really need the text? A good logo should be able to stand alone without big text telling you what it’s supposed to be.
 
Vasteras Iron Eagles: Yay, great, another Swedish team. Again, like I said for Germany, having two teams in the European league in the same country is weak and unoriginal. We would optimally choose between Stockholm and Vasteras.
 
People who have been around for a while are in love with bringing Vasteras back, but I can’t really think of a great reason why this is a great idea. I don’t understand the significance of eagles in Vasteras because a bunch of the google search results are about the Vasteras Black Eagles hockey team……………………………………………..
 
The eagle is a really cool idea for a team because of its spiritual meaning (much of which would probably be from native or indigenous beliefs), but the iron eagles? Why?
 
Solas’s logo is cool, but again, the color scheme wouldn’t be great with the gladiator logo if we decide to move forward with both of those.
 
I’ll finish out my VHLE section by saying that 1) I know that I didn’t offer any constructive feedback, which is why it’s in a media spot and not in the voting thread and 2) I think the idea of a whole league in Europe is boring. I will not be elaborating.
 
Although I am already able to claim this article as-is for three weeks, I’m still going to tack on my thoughts on the Elmebeck. If I wait, then it will probably be around or post-awards, and I don’t want anyone to take my thoughts as a direct attack. It’s not an attack on any member, just some thoughts I’ve had on the topic for a while.
 
I don’t see why we feel the need to give out this award every season. The Elemebeck is described as the following in the VSN Awards Show:
 
“On now to one of the most meaningful awards the VHL has to offer: the Frederik Elmebeck Trophy. Named in the honor of Frederik Elmebeck, a wonderful man who engaged our community with incredible passion and positivity before he was taken from us all far too soon, this award is to honor the lasting legacy of Elmebeck by recognizing the member who best served the VHL community.”
 
This award, in my very humble and unimportant opinion, is meant to be given to someone who demonstrated an exceptional dedication to the league and made a notable contribution during a specific season. Victor recently made a few posts pushing for more nominations for the award, which makes me think that there haven’t been many nominations. That tells me that 1) there wasn’t really anybody this season who did exceptional work and/or 2) people aren’t in agreement about what “exceptional” means.
 
It seems, to me, that it somewhat defeats the purpose of the award if we give it out every season out of obligation. I think that it ought to be amended to have nominations open every season, but the BoG reserves the right to say “there weren’t really any great candidates this season” without it being a huge deal. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to not have anyone stand out for doing great things, it (hopefully) just means that we’ve had a quiet season where things ran smoothly and without a hitch.
 
Are there ways that this idea could be terrible? Absolutely. We risk losing the award because it gets forgotten or we subconsciously raise the standard for the award to the point where no one can really win it without getting torn to shreds for not being good enough. I recognize that, but at the same time, I still think that the Elmebeck can, and will, lose its significance if we start giving it out simply because we “have to.”
 
Anyway, I think that concludes my thoughts here. I truthfully wasn’t expecting this article to end up as long as it did.
 
I’m finishing this out by saying that, although this should go without saying, these are simply my thoughts. I’m not going on a crusade about anything mentioned here, I’m not interested in fighting people about what was said here, and nothing said was meant to be an attack on any individual. (I’m saying this specifically because of my comments on logos. I don’t do graphics, I’m unqualified to comment on them, and I didn’t offer any way to get better. I acknowledge that and simply don’t care.)
 
Finally, I don't proofread, and I don't intend to start now.
 
Cheers,
fishy
 
this article is over 2000 words, so i'll be claiming for the next 4 weeks beginning week ending 7/4

Chiropractor youtube is a scary rabbit hole

HEY, I'm back (no one asked but who cares)! So there's been quite a bit going on lately in the league and also around the hockey world. The NHL and VHL playoffs are currently going on, and I'm sad that Vegas isn't in the finals. However, gg's to all the Montreal fans and I hope they come back from a 2-0 series cause who doesn't want the underdog to win. 
 
Now a little update that no one asked for. Xin heated up this season which was crazy and surprising along with Mingle and Winter. Xin was rather mediocre throughout his career but now being able to be part of maybe some award discussions, hehehe. I truly wonder if he can win some awards cause he's tired of just getting the spectator award ngl. Not only has Xin been insane, but Chicago has also now appeared in 4 straight playoffs. WHAT IS GOING ON?! The core is in its prime now and we've only got more to show the VHL. Regardless of the depreciating players, our GM Lidia with his nice shirts will guide us to victory. 
 
Well now, we've been seeing many GMs step down lately from both the VHL and VHLM. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing as newer members get to step into the management role, it's sad to see them go. To all the GMs that have stepped down recently, thank you for your dedication towards the team you GMed. To all the new members that got to replace them, congratulations and fight hard but most importantly, have fun! The VHL is a place where you gotta have fun otherwise it's rather pointless. 
 
CIAO

erry
 

This is probably going to be my last public act as the VHLM Commissioner, so it means a little bit more to me. With that said I want to thank all of yyu who applied for the position. it was once again a difficult group to narrow down to 1.  We have decided on someone who we believe embodies the VHLM and can do great things as a VHLM GM. So without any further ado.. the new GM of Halifax is:
 
congrats, and to those applied please don't feel discouraged. There are so many of you who are deserving and there are only so many spots. 
 
As was said in the posting, this person will be taking over the GM position when the offseason starts. Please congratulate them and wish them luck!

So there have been some interesting instances over the past couple seasons regarding the Louth rule and I wanted to bring a few things to the forefront and see what people think about the rule and the way it’s enforced in general. I don’t mean to call out Quik and Bek, they do a great job and the past two seasons specifically had some extenuating circumstances in regards to the rule. Similarly, I don’t mean to call out @diamond_ace and @Enorama either, nor do I mean to claim they performed any intentional foul play here. Just using them as recent examples as I iron out my opinions on some of the things that have played out with the rule in the past couple seasons.


 
Firstly, and much less importantly, Prague’s punishment for missing a full four backup games in S77 felt very light. I understand nobody wants to be forced to have to play their backup as many as four times in the playoffs in a scenario where you’re already down 3-1 as they were at the time, but losing the first of those games (which they were already made less likely to win, being forced to go to the backup and all) and being able to completely wash their hands of the situation just didn’t feel remotely significant. If they missed one game, maybe even two, I’d get it, but missing half of your backup games and then just getting off scot-free from the other three games felt like a pretty weak precedent to set.


 
Onto the bigger issue here: DC failing to meet their punishment for breaking the Louth rule in S77, this season. I’m of the opinion that a team that breaks the same rule two straight seasons (or in this case, fails to fulfill their allotted punishment) should be punished more harshly the second time around. That’s pretty standard stuff, but the thing that inspired me to actually put this together is the potential ramifications that this had on the NA conference playoff race.


 
DC finished 2 points ahead of LA, but LA had tiebreaker over DC. So, there is a legitimate possibility DC got a win with Wolski that may have been a loss had Olson been in net like he was supposed to; while that's not a guarantee, it could potentially have had a pretty significant effect on how the playoff spots were ultimately doled out. Again, not accusing eno of gaming the system or anything, but lightly punishing a scenario that had that deep of implications on the final standings sets a precedent that GMs can possibly take advantage of. Have a potential wildcard matchup you feel confident in? Get 65 games for your starter to push for the playoffs if it’s a close race and take your chances with your backup once you make it into the playoffs. You get my point.


 
Obviously having to consider situations like that in the enforcement of the rule complicates things and adds on to the time the commishes have to spend on that enforcement. As such, I believe that making the standard precedent for enforcement of the rule harsher at its base level would work as a strong enough deterrent for scenarios where there is a GM that would exploit the rule and was in the position that it was a potentially-viable help to their playoff chances. What I’d suggest is to come up with a more concrete punishment system or maybe at least a minimum punishment, something that can be added to the rulebook to serve as a baseline, and still say that anything beyond what is set in there can be added or adapted at commissioner discretion. Should people agree that this is something that could be tightened up, this is primarily what I think would need to be discussed.


 
tl;dr the Louth rule

😎

Man made a spreadsheet to respond to a thunderdome 

I wanna clarify after talking to some people that I'm not leaving the league, just stepping away from the GM job. yall can't get rid of me that easy

😎

I wanna clarify after talking to some people that I'm not leaving the league, just stepping away from the GM job. yall can't get rid of me that easy

😎

😎

Maybe it’s something we can just take more preventative measures. Can we get a mid season report of how many backup games everyone’s done? That’ll serve as an order from the blues more than a friendly reminder. If you don’t figure it out after you’ve been warned in-season, then it looks more malicious and worthy of a punishment. 
 
I mean, everyone should be keeping track of their own numbers, but clearly there’s something falling through the cracks somewhere. Adding that extra bit of support for the GMs will hopefully weed out the unnecessary, genuinely forgetful rule breakers from the people purposefully breaking a rule. And that’s who a punishment should punish, right? 
 
If at game 36 the backup report comes out and DC has a BIG RED 3 on it, then that’s a great reminder to plug that plug into the next set of 10 lines. Boom, problem solved, we don’t have to punish DC because they didn’t break the rule. Win win. If by the time playoff comes, he still only hits 7 starts, then that’s a dick move. You were warned and still broke the rule. Here’s your cap space / draft pick / extra backup punishment. 
 
It seems annoying and unnecessary work that every GM should do themselves, but having someone go through and checking mid season and sharing their answers would be huge. 

What a crazy 3 year run for Helsinki. First ever 3-0 collapse and first ever 2-0 wildcard collapse sandwiched around a finals appearance.