der meister

3-0-1 is a pretty good day. And Shev did something 25% of the time. That's my kind of motivational level!

Completely forgot about this with the shit show that is my life. Between two leaking pipes in my basement, a pending demotion, a terrible job market, my kids stuck attending one of the worst high schools in the state, and my wife's desire to go back to college, there's a lot going on. Shevchenko's poor performance seems pretty trivial and unimportant in the face of all that. Still, it would be nice to not feel like a major reason the Toronto Legion are not higher in the standings. I do think Shev will be considerably better next season, as I think having the center on the line having the higher scoring attribute is making a big difference, what with Scoring actually meaning Likelihood of Shooting. Even when he's not scoring, it's nice to see Shev blocking shots and/or laying in the hits, like the 5 hit game in tonight's sim. Despite losing our last game 3-0 to Riga, Toronto has crept into 4th in North America, a point ahead of Chicago, though they have a game in hand. New York is also creeping up, with them just one point behind Chicago. The parity this far into the season is pretty remarkable.

I miss GOMHL

Stupid skills competition...

1 - I think it's a Shev problem. I don't get it. 2 - How much people care about football 3 - Needed? No. Could be fun though. 4 - I grew up in the suburbs of Buffalo, but have been vegetarian for 23 years. Drums before then, and Franks Red Hot. 5 - A goalie who spends his career in the VHLE. That was my plan at least. 6 - That's tough. Very different characters. RDJ was more accurate to the source material, but Benny was very fun.

Wow. Shev did a thing! And a combined 0/15 on the powerplay too? Lol

The sound of a composite hockey stick being slammed repeatedly into the dasher boards rings out in the Toronto Legion's home arena. The thumps end abruptly, punctuated by a snapping noise. The Legion's Assistant Equipment Manager shakes his head and walks partway down the hallways to the team's locker room. He quickly grabs a stick from a bundle under a placard with the name "K. Shevchenko" emblazoned on it and brings it to the bench. Shevchenko is there a moment later, scowling as he takes the proffered stick and charges up the ice. It's an all-too-familiar scene in downtown Toronto lately, where the Ukrainian winger, acquired in a massive trade with the D.C. Dragons during the offseason, has by all accounts failed to live up to expectations. Coming off a 74 point season, Shevchenko is on pace for just 44 points - 22 goals and 22 assists. There's been speculation around the league as to what exactly is going on with the 6'8" sniper, but no one seems to have the answer. His physical play is way down from last season's numbers, when he played like a legitimate top line power forward, and some wonder if that's reflecting a lack of intensity or a conscientious decision by the Toronto coaching staff. His shooting percentage is also way down, from a 8.90% to a 6.96%. Furthermore, he's not shooting as often, on pace for just over 300 shots after nearly reaching 400 last season. A pile of the dead Ultimately, though, the real question is, "Who is the real Konstyantyn Shevchenko?" Some pundits speculate that the lack of production could be a byproduct of the U.S. political scene, which lines up well on the timeline, at the very least. With the incoming administration's historic favoritism of Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin, it's highly likely that U.S. support of Ukraine will dramatically decrease. For a player who is so clearly invested in the safety of his countrymen and the sovereignty of his nation, such a turn of events could certainly be impacting his on-ice performance. There's also the trade itself to consider. In D.C., Shevchenko was a budding star, a franchise cornerstone to rebuild a struggling Dragons franchise, along with forwards YNF Retiring and Brendan Petan, Jr. Instead, Shevchenko found himself being trade bait following his 74 point sophomore effort. Was there a falling out between Shevchenko and Dragons' management? Did D.C. know something the rest of the league doesn't with regard to the developmental path of Shevchenko? Or, did the move perhaps impact the youngster's psyche, sending a message of rejection when he possibly expected praise and accolades? Keep in mind that not only was Shevchenko an emerging star player, but he was also named the Dragons' Captain at the beginning of last season. What exactly happened, then, to see such a fall from grace? Perhaps the explanation is much simpler, however. The Legion are a team currently built on a backbone of forwards who are all just a few short months from retirement. There have been no rumors of a brash attitude from the Ukrainian, but its possible that he's simply having a hard time finding chemistry with the "old guard" in Toronto. The reduction in shots per game could be explained by a deference to his elders, choosing to support their final career numbers at the expense of his own. Whatever the case may be, undoubtedly Toronto Legion management expects more out of their major offseason acquisition, and certainly, based on the number of sticks that have been smashed during recent practices, Shevchenko expects more out of himself too. Whether he can turn it around this season remains to be seen. In the first year of a two-year deal, a bounce back year is sorely needed, and the Legion will be leaning on him heavily to continue building a team that should be higher up in the standings than they currently are.

Just listened to my old boss complain about the toxicity coming from my current boss. Told someone a lie about her and then didn't say anything about getting called out on the lie. I definitely need to gtfo ASAP

Well....

1-1. Glad I could help /s

Work Rant, aka Why I Haven't Made Much Progress: Had another meeting with my boss today. He wanted me to apply for my old title. I flat out told him I will not. I told him I don't feel like I even had a chance to get started with the job I am in because of the circumstances of my team quitting, being downsized, having to train replacements, etc. I asked if the replacement from me is expected to be all 7 job titles he's asked me to do (I listed them) and he dodged that, but later basically said no, their focus is going to be different and would *only* cover probably 4 of those (my words). I told him my wife is pissed and that I'm trying to be more level headed but it's incredibly difficult with the situation. He's going to look into a different title for me, with ~11k paycut. The meeting ended with him saying "I know this is my fault and I totally take the blame. I hope I haven't burned any bridges between you and (place I work) because I really want you to stay." As a side note he is retiring June 30th and just causing utter chaos on his way out the door. So if I have to take a paycut, the least he can do is make it a different title, then I can cite reorganization as why I'm leaving, and it's done with. Gotta get out.

Congrats, winner!

Clickbait title is referring to how much time is left in the weekend. Todays article will have things and stuff and joy and... I dunno... spunk? I mean it like attitude, pervert. That's the topic of today's Fan.com article. - Toronto just can't seem to beat Seattle, and Shevchenko is NOT helping to overturn that problem. I'm very disappointed with my player's individual performance so far this year. 21 points in 30 games isn't terrible, but last year was 74 in 72 and I expect growth, not a downturn. No good. It is worth noting that Shev also only has 32 hits, basically 1 a game, whereas last season he averaged roughly 3 a game. Maybe physical tactics would suit him better. - When holiday drawing? When? I want to win something fun. Could use some spunk in my life. On a somewhat similar note, I'm considering opening up a Patreon to help cover the costs of my YouTube channel. I'm thinking if I do it, I'd have a Credits screen or two over the opening 10 seconds of the video, Patreon Producers or something, and list names. Has anyone done a Patreon before? If so, comment on your experience, please. - Back to Toronto, the Legion now have the league's worst positive goal differential at just +6, and we've let in the third most goals in the conference, only ahead of the bottom two teams. I'm cautiously optimistic we can get better in the second half, but we're definitely not where I had hoped we'd be at this point. - I am 56% of the way through editing my novel, and I have a pretty decent cover design I'm working on. @OblivionWalker, I'm not quite at the part of including your Holiday choice, but nearly there, and I'm really excited to share the end result with you (and see if you want anything different).

Goddammit

Well at least we won

Oof tough loss to Seattle.

Dubdubdub

Agreed. I just wanted to use the gif.

Bigger number more gooderer, basically. At least that's how I interpret it.

Something something Useless Goddess.

The Vancouver Wolves are absolutely a force to be reckoned with this season. Sporting a 15-4-3 record for 33 points puts them at the top of the North American Conference, and tied for the league lead with the Malmo Nighthawks. Vancouver has the league's second-most potent offense with 80 goals scored, trailing only Moscow in that category, but has zero players in the top 10 in goals scored. Instead, the Wolves are led by a pair of dynamic defensemen in Bollos de Trueno and Guntis Gavilrovs, who are numbers one and two in defensive scoring league-wide. Each are on pace to far exceed their previous career highs of 64 and 70 points, respectively, and perhaps most frightening for the rest of the league is that neither player is particularly close to retirement. The elder statesman, Gavilrovs, is a Season 92 draft pick, and Trueno a Season 94. I thought it might be interesting to do an attribute-by-attribute breakdown just to see what makes them so good this season. Top Marks Checking: 85 (Gavilrovs) The Latvian holds the edge here by nearly a full 20 points over Trueno's 67, which explains Double G's 90 hits versus Trueno's 58. Fighting: 58 (Gavilrovs) Winning this battle 58 to 40, the 6'8" Latvian has more than double his counterpart's minutes in the sin bin, 47 to 20. Discipline: 50 (Gavilrovs) Despite the above categories, Double G has a 9 point lead over Trueno's 41 in this category. Shrug. Whatever. Skating: 90 (Gavilrovs) According to the manual, this means that Gavilrovs is more likely to skate the puck up the ice than pass it, but maybe there's some impact on speed, as well. Trueno is sporting an 86 in this category, so it's a minor difference. Strength: 86 (Trueno) Finally, the Mexican gets on the board with an 86 to 81 advantage. Stronger players are less likely to cough up the puck, simple as that. Puck Handling: 92 (Gavilrovs) Again the older player holds an edge here, 92 to 88. Ties in nicely with strength and overall offensive aptitude. Faceoffs: 56 (Trueno) Totally useful skill for blueliners, this one. Seemed appropriate for this category Passing: 88 (Trueno) This category is not even close, as Trueno's 88 in passing is 23 full points more than Gavilrovs' 65. Probably helps account for Trueno's 27 assists versus just 19 for Double G. Scoring: 85 (Gavilrovs) Holding a decent edge here, 85 to 76, one can easily imagine Trueno slipping the puck past an aggressive winger in the offensive zone, and Gavilrovs blasting it on net. Probably best illustrated by Gavilrovs' 12 goals versus Trueno's 5. Just look at that torque! Defense: 95 (Gavilrovs) Only a two point edge here as Trueno has a 93 defensive skill, so most likely a non-factor in any real, provable sense. Penalty Shot: 77 (Gavilrovs) All those extra TPE in Scoring pay off in the Penalty Shot department. Unsurprisingly, Trueno has a flat 40 in this category. * * * * * Ultimately, what did this tell us? Well, for starters it tells us that Gavilrovs is almost certainly an older player (true) with more TPE (true - 1270 versus 1052, though both have a sizeable bank), and in his prime. Trueno, and this is scary to say, probably has another year or two before he hits his peak performance. It also tells us that the Vancouver Wolves are not a team to be taken lightly this season. As a member of the Toronto Legion, I can tell you that we either beat the Wolves in overtime or a shootout, or we lose badly, like 5-1 or worse. To me, the Wolves are the scariest team in the league, and Gavilrovs and Trueno are a huge reason why.

Seconded! We good to just link to the post with correct math for then uTPEz?

Sigh

1 - tougher defensive play for sure. Allowing too many. 2 - not really. I need to finish the edit on my book and release it, and should probably start taking care of my mental health. 3 - Progressively worse the older I get 4 - Macho is the straw that stirs the drink, ooohhh yeah! The cream of the crop! 5 - a lot of marvel actors, honestly. Excellent casting in the MCU. 6 - I actually had to look up releases. Tron:Ares with the Trent Reznor soundtrack is going to be badass

Hmm, a nail biter and a blowout