Phil

sick stuff. gg bern

FINALLY GOT MY GOAL. Only took me 31 shots lol

wow parechkin!

hopping on the sig train. Excellent!

LINCOLN@@@@@@@@@@@

ugh.. this sim I had 14 shots and no goals.. sorry men!!

DARN SO CLOSE

Agreed! But quotes don't lie! Unless they're misquoted. Or Donald Trump

What are your thoughts... you may have been the first ever player to be drafted to the VHL. Looks like I'll be the first ever second-played to be drafted (and at first OA!) What music have you been listening to lately? What will next season look like!?

Worst. Bio. Ever. - The Shankly Story It is hard to believe that at the tender age of 19 that anyone could have a biography written about them, as humans aren’t even fully developed until 25 years of age, but as is customary in the VHL, as a way of introducing the community to a player, here is the story of Phil Shankly: It’s almost a shame that Shankly picked hockey to play in all honesty, but I suppose this is what’s special about nearly every player the Phil Knight Agency signs. As was with Phil Gerrard, Shankly was supposed to be a football (soccer) superstar. The difference between Gerrard and Shankly (as 33 seasons have separated the two) is the fact that growing up, Shankly knew all about the VHL, but still elected soccer as his main sport. Gerrard, on the other hand, paved the way for Liverpudlians to get to the VHL. But I digress. Sports was not just a hobby for Shankly, it was a lifestyle choice. He lived and breathed them. As soon as he could walk he was kicking a football around in the garden. He was almost more stable on his feet with the ball than when he didn’t have one. He’d play rounders with his father (basically the English version of baseball) in the park on weekends and netball with his mother (basically the English version of basketball for girls) on a tyke-sized net. No matter the sport, if he was playing it, he’d have a massive smile on his face. If ever he was fussy, his parents could just put a ball in his hand and he’d settle down. Even at bedtime, he’d never sleep unless he was cuddling his stuffed toy which was soccer ball shaped with tiny black hands and feet. Yes, Shankly lived and breathed sports. From the age of 6, Shankly would read the papers – specifically the sports pages. He’d look at standings and results from all the sports, which is how he knew of the VHL. In school, he boxed and played rugby and football. On weekends he’d go to the Gerrard Hockey Clinic, set up by the VHL Hall of Famer to learn to skate and learn the basics of the game of hockey. There was only one league in the city of Liverpool and it started at the age of 10 so in the interim, Shankly played organized football and rugby. Shankly, being quite a powerful lad, was very successful in rubgy, but as a footballer, he was a superstar. At just 7 years of age he was invited to join Everton’s academy program but turned it down because of two reasons: one he would have to give up rugby and he was not yet ready to do that; and two, he hated the Toffees on account of the fact that he was a Reds man, just like his father and his grandfather before him. Four years later, however, he did give up rugby because LFC came knocking at his door with an offer to join their academy team. He pounced on that and started exclusively training for football. He was a pure striker – a true number 9. Because of his soft touch, towering height, and fighting background from boxing he reminded LFC a little bit of the Swedish strike Zlatan Ibrahimović. Shankly spent 4 season training and playing for the baby Reds. His stats are shown down below. 2008 Appearances: 21 Goals: 20 Assists: 10 Passing Accuracy: 80% 2009 Appearances: 22 Goals: 29 Assists: 8 Passing Accuracy: 82% 2010 Appearances: 23 Goals: 34 Assists: 12 Passing Accuracy: 87% 2011 Appearances: 25 Goals: 57 Assists: 18 Passing Accuracy: 85% In his last season at that level, he hit a growth spurt, allowing him to win many aerial battles and averaged over two goals a game. He also played the full 25 games in the season and the Reds offered him a contract for the Liverpool U21 side. He was just 15. But fate has a funny way of running its course. Despite being on Liverpool he still went to Gerrard’s hockey clinic every single weekend. He was slowly improving his skating and his shooting and one day when Shankly was 14 (in his third season with the academy) Phil Gerrard happened in on his training session and saw the potential. He offered Shankly some pointers, who stood there with his jaw gaping (it’s not every day you get to meet a former superstar) and drank in everything he had to say. Gerrard told him that he should play for the Liverpool Lasers (his hockey team) but Shankly stammered that he played football. Gerrard laughed and said not to worry but that he should try coming to a few of the games every now and again to get some playing experience. He said that there would always be a roster spot open for him. So in that 2011 season, if there was over a week in-between games and it didn’t conflict with his training sessions, he started playing ice hockey. He played on the right wing on the second line and it was clear from the start that he had exceptional talent. Below are his stats from the season 2012(LL) GP 12 – 28G- 14A – 42P | +40 | 10PIM | 89HIT | 3HTT | 27%S | 9GWG The stats speak for themselves. This kid was involved in almost every single goal his line scored, he had an incredible shooting percentage and a ridiculous amount of hits while evading almost everything and being disciplined on the ice. Every game he missed his coach would be calling him up and asking if he still couldn’t make the game that night. But after the season ended, Shankly had a terrible (or amazing) decision to make. Gerrard was aware of what LFC were offering Shankly, so he called up his old agent and now dear friend Phil Knight to give Shankly some guidance counselling. They brought him into Gerrard’s office one Sunday evening after his skating clinic appointment and laid it out for him “You know that a very small percentage of academy products actually go on to make a good life for themselves in football, right?” Gerrard posed to Shankly. “I’m not saying that you won’t be one of them, but what I am saying is that there is a pivotal decision for you to make and I want you to know all the facts.” “Fact one,” Knight announced. “Every single player I’ve signed for the VHL has been a first round pick and had a full 8-season career. Honestly, I don’t think we need another fact.” “The long and the short of it is this,” Gerrard continued. “You may or may not make it as a professional footballer. What Mr. Knight is offering is a guaranteed that you’ll make it to professional hockey which will set you up for the rest of your life. Besides, because of the 8-season maximum, you’ll be 27 when you retired and you can still go back to football. Do it Jamie Vardy style!” It didn’t take long to convince Phil that this was the right move. He spent the next 3 seasons playing for Liverpool Laser. His dominance is shown below: 2013(LL) GP24 – 59G - 20A – 79P | +71 | 28PIM | 154HIT | 6HTT | 21%S | 12GWG 2014(LL) GP24 – 64G - 18A – 82P | +70 | 30PIM | 175HIT | 9HTT | 31%S | 10GWG 2015(LL) GP24 – 70G - 31A – 101P | +89 | 14PIM | 187HIT | 9HTT | 30%S | 14GWG Before we all knew what was happening, Shankly was picked off waivers in S50 by Bratislava Watchmen, and then drafted by them in the S51 VHLM Dispersal Draft. He’s taken some time to warm up to the level of play but by the end of the season he was averaging 3.5 points per game and 4 hits. They are currently in the playoffs against Bern and hold a 3-0 lead. He is also looking like to be drafted first overall in the upcoming S52 VHL Entry Draft and will likely end up at Madison Square Gardens arena in the Big Apple. But I believe that this story is really just beginning.

WOOO! SUCK IT @Higgins !!!!!

Phil Shankly was very excited about the draft lottery, which was held last night in Zurich, Switzerland. VHL.com taught to the highly touted prospect before the lottery, who was actually in attendance. “Well we had a day before our next playoff game and since we are playing Bern, I was already in the country, so I thought to myself: Why not? I could just zip down on the train before flying back to Bratislava.” Shankly had been approached by two of the General Managers who had balls in the lottery, namely the New York Americans Gm, Mr. Power and the Stockholm Vikings GM, Mr. Miller. They were both very interested in selecting him first overall. “Yea I never expected to even be considered first overall. I’ve just been focusing on my game and trying to develop it. I was really frustrated early on in the season but I think I’ve been able to adapt fairly well for the VHLM. I can’t wait to try my hand in the majors!”

Cologne have gotten themselves off to a rip-roaring start to the S51 playoff campaign. They are facing off against Davos and could be through to the Conference Finals as early as tomorrow morning. The Express are carrying a 3-0 series lead heading into tonight’s game. All three games have been relatively comfortable and Riga are patiently awaiting the series winner. For Phil Hamilton, this will be his seventh consecutive Conference Final appearing (barring some divine intervention on Davos’ part). Not many players have seen so much playoff action but for Hamilton, despite this season being a career high in assists and points, he was slightly saddened. “I had my eyes of the Beketov trophy. It’s one of the awards I really want. I thought this season would be my season. Unfortunately, Calgary just did not stop scoring. I put up more assists per goals scored for my team than Black Velvet, but unfortunately it just was not enough.” Velvet will receive the Beketov Trophy, and is the favourite for the Sterling Labatte trophy as well, which will be voted on during the off-season.

Draft Lottery Drama? The atmosphere in the VHL Headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland had never before been so tense as league Commissioner Donald S. @Draper stepped up to the podium with the lottery ball. It was a highly anticipated lottery this season and one that many had a huge vested interest in. As you know, the four teams from the regular season that did not make the playoff all have a 25% chance of getting the top pick, and before the lottery took place there was a little kerfuffle regarding one of those four teams – Helsinki. Helsinki had just missed the playoff by one measly point to Davos, who not incidentally, was their last regular season match-up. Some would say that they threw the match, other would say it was meant to be, given that they have just one player on their roster, but regardless the result of that match was the only reason that the Board of Governors stirred to life. It was released that Helsinki had gone the entire season playing under the cap, which is pretty shocking considering the great start they had to the season, but less so when you realize that the likes of Shayne Gow, Thor Odinsson, and Dmitri Dadanov are all still on their rookie contracts. However, the GM unfortunately had to resign and this forced the league Commissioner Mitchell Q. Higginsworth to step up and take over the franchise, as he has done before (prior to his role as Commissioner). With the club in disarray and the young guns all a nervous wreck, @Higgins decided it was best to start afresh and got great value for his top prospects and sent them packing to different teams. According to the report, both GMs were told of the cap issue by the League Financier but failed to act accordingly. So, when Helsinki now finished outside the playoff berth, the BoG thought that something must be done about this treachery. There were mixed feeling around the BoG, some screaming for their 1st round pick to be void, others for Helsinki to forfeit a second-round pick, but some even thought that no punishment was necessary. But the sacred rules of the VHL were breached. How is that not cause for punishment? Simply put: the way the league has the salary brackets set up completely cancels out the entire point of having a cap floor. The reason for the cap floor is to avoid teams completely tanking and thereby increase the competitiveness of the VHL season. However, when you can sign inactives with <100 TPE to a max $7,000,000 contract, how do that achieve the goal? The decision has not been officially released, but soon the VHL should be releasing a statement about it. Okay, let’s head back to the Draft lottery, where the atmosphere was tenser than a guy’s abs while taking the biggest dump of his life. There is no clear #1 pick in the draft, although that thought may change depending on who you talk to. We talked to two of the four GMs who had a shot at first overall: Stockholm Viking’s GM Chris Miller (@Advantage) and New York Americans’ GM Ryan Power (@Mr. Power). “I really want to add Phil Shankly to our team,” Miller told VHL.com “He is my undisputed first pick. He comes from a long line of successful players from the Knight agency and is exactly the type of player I need to develop a core around.” “It’s not very often that a generational talent comes around and Shankly is definitely that,” Power said. “His hard-hitting, soft-hands style of play would go brilliantly with Maxwell scoring prowess and Ravenwing’s distributing ability. I cannot select anyone in lieu of him.” So we had Helsinki, New York, Stockholm, and Quebec. As Draper drew the ball, with all four GMs practically bouncing on the edge of their seats, he drew a deep breath and announced: “The number one selection… of the S52 VHL Entry Draft… will be… the New York Americans.” My editor has just informed me that my article is running too long, but I’ll end by saying that one of the reasons this draft is going to be so interesting is that this will be the first draft with the second-players… and if Shankly is selected by New York, he will not only be the first of the second-players to ever be selected, but he’ll be the first second-player to ever be drafted first overall. Now that carries some very high expectations for this young power forward.

At least I'm getting some playoff points this year. 3-0 and looking good.

lol welcome to the Special Teams Series.

What a beautifully delicious close game

Legion with the hammer throw-down!

LOL like you have the balls to pick me

RAWR

RAWR!!!

- What day is this? Why is tomorrow (today) it? - Draft lottery is/was tonight/last night. Are you happy about the results? If Americans got first overall, are you excited about the prospect of Phil Shankly potentially joining Ravenwing and Maxwell? - thoughts on the 10-0 trouncing of Montreal - OMG THE ELECTION WILL BE FINALLY OVER SOON. Relieved? - Did you ever get that furnace fixed? - Compare each of your girls to an NHL player!

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No worries. We got this #ShanklyGunnaShank