Phil

How low can you sink @Smarch?

And Phil says: "If you love something, set it free...unless it's a tiger."

The Curse Breaker With Phil Shankly and the Americans winning the Continental Cup for their first back-to-back Championship in franchise history, The Phil Knight Player Agency earned its eighth. In S18, when Phil Knight brought Phil Gerrard into the league, there was definitely a “Knight Curse”. Knight’s brother, a legend of a builder in the Hall of Fame (and is one of the biggest reasons this league is still around, with a collaborated effort from him and @sterling), always had trouble getting Cups. But since Phil came into the league, he tried hard to fight the curse, and it could be that Phil Knight is actually the league’s best curse-breaker. After being traded from his drafted team, Seattle, to Toronto, Gerrard played alongside David Walcott. Knight was at the helm, with one of the most dominant Legion sides ever, only rivaled by the recent 3-peaters. Despite all their dominance, they only managed to capture one Cup, an area that still is shadowed in controversy. But the fact remained that Knight finally got a Cup. When the team dissembled, Gerrard and Bencharski went to Vasteras , whose curse of only ever winning in the inaugural season of the league still held 25 seasons later. Between those two stars, they carried Vasteras to their first, and last, Cup since S1 in S26. The Phil Knight Agency has not been back since and now they’re relocated, still in search of a Cup. After Gerrard, Rafter entered the league as a superstar. They played on an empty Dynamo Roster and destroyed the league… but the problem was the Knight curse. Smalling’s agent was Knight, and the GM was the always unreliable @Bushitroll, with his goalie Satan. The three of them formed the core of the team and when Bushito faded into the winds Knight took over and despite building another dominant side, they only managed to win one Cup. Was it the Knight Curse, or was the Knight Curse blunted by The Phil Knight Agency? Would we not have won one if it wasn’t for Phil? In comes Villeneuve. As soon as he got drafted, Phil Knight went inactive. He remained that way until half way through his career – his 4th season, when he returned and kicked Villeneuve into gear. He was on Riga and had won nothing, and the first thing Phil had said in the lockerroom, after reading about the seasons’ disappointments, was “We will win next season.” And that’s exactly what happened, which stopped a 7-year Cup drought in S40. Riga haven't won since. In his finally 2 seasons, he went to Seattle. Seattle was under the management of Bushito again and, just like his Dynamo days, he left the club high and dry. But somehow, with a weak team led by Villeneuve, they pulled off the impossible and somehow won. That was in S43. It broke a 15-season drought. Seattle haven't won since. What is this magic? Finally there was Hamilton and Shankly. Hamilton was drafted by @Will‘s Helsinki, and the premise was that it would be a couple of years of rebuilding to get to competition. However, with the pieces added in the off-season and the 3 best draftees (Hamilton, Koponen, G. Clegane), they managed to win a Cup. Then the next season, a veteran, Klose joined the team. His Agency’s success had struggled with a run of pretty poor luck, but trust Phil to get his luck back on track. They won again. But Phil wasn’t done bringing @der meister his luck. After two very disappointing seasons to enter his VHL career, Essian Ravenwing talked about retirement. However, with S52 brought the first ever 2nd player 1st overall draft pick – Phil Shankly. @Devise's New York Americans lit up like a bolt of lightning against a black backdrop. S52 and S53 brought successive Cups, and so the past 3 seasons that Phil has played with dermeister, they are a perfect 3 for 3 in Cups. Coincidence? I think not.

What’s a better way to bring me back to full activity than winning back-to-back cups? In reality, this won’t, but honestly, I’ve written two MSs in the past 2 days so that’s a start. And now look at me! I’m doing a fan590 article! Woo! So Shankly is a second line enforcer and bossing up the hits category. He’s not a top hitter yet, but one of the best on the Americans and he’s looking to get better. This off-season, now that he’s got passing and scoring back to 90 (nice timing on the update scale there lads) he’ll be focusing on strength and checking. Being under 500 TPE, Shankly has a lot of work to do to become an elite hitter, but I don’t think there’s a doubt in anyone’s mind that Shankly can do it. In other news, at this season’s trade deadline, The Phil Knight Player Agency will finally be able to bring in their 6th player. Phil has been very hush hush about who the player is and what position he/she will be but let’s get ready to say “screw you” to another Phil player.

Feedback: - Woooo Champions!! - Every series? haha that would be so nerve-wracking! - I wasn't updated for the playoffs! And we still won. Thank goodness! - Yea the Update scale changes! I think it will allow way more specialization - but let's see.. because I'm in the same boat as you now... except worse because I don't even do PTs regularly anymore - lol more snow. Oh my goodness. Locusts and floods. Yes. You know it's bad when you bring a jacket when you go out and you're sweating.. .and then when you go home you are freezing - I WILL WHEEL! - Elephant, mushrooms, and something else. Nice. A mushroom walks into a bar, Bartender says "Hey! We don't allow your kind in here!" Mushroom goes "Why not? I'm an Fungi!" - That's really interesting. A squish of stories! - I shall tell you more about my reaction to it in a PM! - I saw that update! - oh yea - well yea! Cups for days! - We have @JardyB10 on our team? Whhhhaa? nice. - That weekend in Buffalo sounds nice. - I hope you get that raise very soon man. I totally understand the frustration. - gotta finish the rest of this podcast tomorrow. At 28:58.

- Ruminations of Mushrooms. Love it. I think I remember you saying something about your wife giving you the idea? Explain! - 2 seasons with me, 2 cups (3 for 3 if we include your last season with Klose). Feeling good? - How's life? - Any writing getting done lately? - How long do you think the Americans can be a dominant force in the league?

I feel for you brah. Hopefully Gretzky lives up to his name

Amazing! Shankly starts off like Phil Hamilton did. I've contributed way more this season and settling into my role as enforcer/second-line star very nicely. I really feel for @TheLastOlympian07 though. I was half rooting for you. Read my MS for more details. @der meister @Street x Lite - not that there was any doubt - but it's great to see you guys get the success you deserve. And this is only the beginning! @Pablo - winning comes easy to you so no surprise. @STZ you were going to win a cup anyway so huzzah\ @Devise - Way to keep lines of communication open and transparent throughout the season. Pretty great atmosphere. @gregreg - I fucking told you, mate!! @gorlab we be cruising - and we shelled out the bruising. Well done Stockholm! @Advantage you sure did turn around that Stockholm team fast. You're the only GM I think that could make me maybe accept going to the VasterasKiller, which I'll never truly forgive Stockholm for. But man, you've done a great job. SWEET AWESOME STUFF GUYS

Game 7 Prediction Play-by-Play What to hear something funny? I haven’t logged into the VHL since Game 6 of the Finals. It’s been three days and I don’t even know if Shankly has his second Cup! I am writing this at work and will post this before I check the games. So I will in here speculate as to what happened in Game 7. Based on the previous few games in the series, this is actually ridiculously hard. First of all, I can’t go back and analyze any of the box scores without ruining the Game 7 score, but mostly because of the goaltenders. MT Power is basically bi-polar. He will either have a terrific game and steal the show, or be so terrible that he will make Aidan Shaw, Daisuke Kanou, Remi LeBeau, and Greg Clegane, along with a fair few other cry themselves to sleep. Rhett DeGrath (@STZ is that his name?), is in a similar boat. But what makes it all the more difficult to predict is the fact that both teams have such high-quality offense. Maxwell has finally showed the world that women can dominate in a male dominated sport and has just had a spectacular year. Tom Lincoln and Unassisted continue to dazzle fans of the game with their vision and ability to score. Stockholm have just as much quality (okay slightly less in my opinion #NoBias). Kohler has been one of the VHLs best for a couple of seasons and Muller, definitely @TheLastOlympian07 ‘s best client has a drive like all the best of the all-stars do to win. This is his final shot at a Cup and so he won’t be easy to shut down, no matter how badly Shankly chirps him. Okay, enough already Phil – what’s your prediction? In the end, with both goalies being a little hard to rely on, I’m going with this as the play-by-play: Ten minutes into the first period and the score is deadlocked. It’s Game 7 of the VHL Championship Finals. The stake could not be higher, and the intensity of the game matches that. Shankly just took a roughing minor and on the powerplay, Stockholm punish the Americans’ and go up 1-0. Three minutes late, Maxwell snipes a shot under the arm of DeGrath and Lincoln and Unassisted pick up the assists. The home crowd goes ballistic! It’s 1-1 The second period starts and the Americans’ physicality picked up. Shankly decks 3 players in one shift and Ravenwing passes the puck back to the point for Digital to wire a shot that’s tipped by the quick hands of Shankly, who is busy shoving defenders out of his way and the puck skips through the fivehole! 2-1 Americans. Minutes later, the Americans on the powerplay, Unassisted demolished Kohler and a bunch of minor penalties are called, although surprisingly not for the hit. Americans end up on a 4 on 3 powerplay, and Maxwell makes Stockholm pay with her second of the game. 3-1 Americans! Just as the period winds down, Muller takes his fate into his own hands and steals the puck in the neutral zone off an unfocused line change. He streaks into the slot and lets a snap shot rip past Power and does a victory lap of the ice to get his team motivated heading into the intermission. 3-2 Americans! The third period is a very cagey affair. Both goalies are playing exceptionally well, covering up rebounds and pouncing on loose pucks. With 5 minutes to go, Stockholm are desperate for a goal. However, Shankly will meet their desperation with ferocity. The Vikings are too intent on looking for each other and openings and fail to see Shankly’s massive frame steamrolling towards them. He shatters their defense and steals the puck, sliding it over to Ravenwing, who jumped up on the attack, making it a two on one and finished calmly, widening the score back to two goals. 4-2 Americans! There’s under 6 minutes to go and Stockholm are going wild on the pressure. They’ve had the puck in the American zone for over 2 minutes but can’t seem to find a way for any of their shots to get through. The Americans are desperately defending, throwing themselves in the way of pucks. Finally Muller receives a pass and take a sharp angle shot from the board-side hash marks and beats Power. He slides on one knee fist pumping. The games not over yet! 4-3 Americans. Three minutes left, and still more Stockholm pressure. The Americans defense looks tired. Digital has been out on the ice for over 2 minutes but the Americans may not be able to afford to take him off. Maxwell finally gets control of the puck but misplaces the pass to Unassisted and Ices the pucks. Uh-oh. 2 minutes left. DeGrath is pulled. Muller steps on the ice and is hungry. Really hungry. He stationed himself at the blue line. The Vikings win the draw and it zips right back to him. He stepped into the shot unleashed a blistering slap shot. But it rings off the crossbar!! In a frantic desperation to get off the ice, Digital lifts it over the boards! Uh-oh! Penalty. It will be a 6 on 4 for the last minute and a half of the game. The Americans dig deep. They’ve come this far and they don’t want this lead slipping away. Unassisted and Shankly are both out on the ice for their checking ability. Whether this was a miscommunication, a gamble, or a high-risk well-designed play, we probably won’t know, but Shankly and Unassisted at the same time leapt forward and swarmed Kohler. Shankly ran into him and Unassisted played for the puck. He got it and skated down the ice with Shankly in pursuit. It’s a 2 on 1 with an empty net! Unassisted fakes a pass and as soon as he hit the slot, he ripped it top shelf! 5-3 Americans!! The crowd goes nuts! So Wow this was way longer than I thought it would be – I have not written a MS longer than 1000 words in a long time. But that was my play-by-play of my prediction of how Game 7 went down. I’d love to win another Cup. It would be fantastic, and exactly how Hamilton started off his career in Helsinki – 2 seasons, 2 Cups, but on the flip side – I’d love for Muller to get a Cup. He really deserves it. I don’t ever want Stockholm to get a Cup, but it would be a less jagged pill to swallow knowing that Muller got the Cup he deserves.

Mine actually makes sense - as Stevie G is who I based my player name on. so THANK YOU

shanklY with the DAGGER!

WEE GOOOT DEEEIS

HODOR!

4 yes plez

OH YEA

love it!!

So great. Well done @hedgehog337 This draft is lit!

Keep the hope, Vasteras. Stay Strong, Americans

wooooO!

Shoulda joined the dark-side, ya grump

so.... I guess a game 7? 3-1 Curse is real!

Who's Finn?