FrostBeard's Chronicles: "The Worst decision made by GM Blade"

[FrostBeard 2,054]

To start FrostBeard’s Chronicles I should explain what these series are about. In these biweekly articles, I will discuss my experience in the league and touch upon questions relating to forums, GMing, and my player careers. It will not be necessarily bad things or things I didn’t like, it will feature things that still hold meaning to me and have shaped my path in the VHL. 

 

To start this series off, I will be touching upon an important question I have asked myself: What was the first blunder that any of John Frostbeard’s GMs had made? There aren’t many, but there are a few that made me realize how GMing sometimes can make players annoyed. 

 

 

“Worst decision made by GM Blade” 

I already know that this article might ruffle up some feathers but I think that I am entitled to speak my mind. Firstly, I am most thankful to BladeMaiden for being my 1st GM, she helped me take up courage, become a GM, build a successful career and get drafted higher than anyone would have predicted. I loved the way Press conferences were organized by Blade, how questions were asked in a fun format that anyone, even people who have never heard about hockey, could answer then easily. I truly embraced the culture of involvement that we saw in Philadelphia Reapers at the time.

 

When it comes to my time in Philly, I was there in S65 and S66. S65 was my first season, I joined in not long after the start of the season, got updates in and pushed myself to quickly become a player that any team could depend on. To gain some assets considering that I was just a waiver pickup, I got traded to a contending team (Reapers did not do great in S65 and finished the season with 1st Overall pick in S66 Draft). Yukon Rush, at that time, lead by GM Josh, needed some extra on-ice power to help another fellow S66 prospect, Hunter Hearst Helmsley to win a cup. After the end of the S65 and sadly, an undesirable result by Yukon, John Frostbeard entered S66 VHL and VHLM Draft. I did promise to GM Blade that I will stay under 200 TPE Cap (that was at the time the limit for a player to stay in VHLM).

 

 

It felt like the off-season just dragged on and on, I was so excited to see where I will end up as both VHLM and VHL Drafts were important to me, I had told 2 GMs at the time that I would like to be drafted by them. One was the infamous GM of Calgary Wranglers Bushito, the other was GM of Vancouver Wolves Beaviss. I asked exactly those 2 GMs because the Philly team was extremely loyal to their GM, at the time I had only experienced Philly and a bit of Yukon. I relied on GM Blade to tell me which teams are the ones that I want to play for. I thought I was super lucky to get drafted 12 Overall by Calgary Wranglers. I felt honoured as I already shared a Discord LR with Bushito as his player was on Philly Reapers. That changed quite a lot in S67 but we will get to that. 

 

We on the team were told how terrible and dictatorial was commissioner Bana, how bad were people on Houston Bulls, at that time lead by GM Sonnet. (A bit funny that a Philly player, who was taught to hate on Bulls because GM Blade had issues with Sonnet, became GM of Houston), was told that Peace was a douchebag and a bad person. I do hate to say that all these things happened to be false and most of the Philly squad was lied to, manipulated. That said, all those things I completely forgive Blade, I understand that it was her narrative to push the team forward by making Philly a place that felt almost cut from the rest of the VHL community. She tried to make her players become her bodyguards. 

 

So, finally, we are coming to what I truly consider the biggest blunder that GM Blade had ever done. Note that I stayed down for a season, wasted the first season of my VHL career just because I promised to be there for the Reapers when the team will be competitive. S66 was the season when our team was joined by so many amazing players, from the great Condor Adrienne to Matt Tocco and Ben Hafkey. Another management piece was added to Philadelphia Reapers. GM BladeMaiden was joined by her friend Jubo who became the team’s AGM. The focus of the team shifted, people who disagreed with Blade got traded and crossed out from Reapers history (Note the trade of Rhys Chism, Jables, who was my AGM of Houston at the time - his name still is crossed out in Philly LR History chat because he somehow was a traitor). 

 

 

My player dominated VHLM throughout the first 45/50 games, at the time I was 2nd in points in the league, was close to the top 2 by goals and was surely looking to see an award-winning season for John Frostbeard if I kept going on that path. And then it happened, the management group decided to please another player, Kyle Sabertooth who was a controversial player considering his antics and had childish behaviour on forums at the time. Lines were changed and my production fell off and off to the point when John Frostbeard was not even Top 10 in scoring when I asked why are lines being changed if things were going great, I got silenced and said that it was the best decision for the team. I have a simple theory, at the time I was 2nd in the league, Blade’s and Jubo’s sympathiser uphillmoss (Kyle Sabertooth) was doing quite a lot worse, he was struggling and was about 10 points behind my production. Suddenly, when it was apparent that we are going to make playoffs as a team, lines are getting changed and his player just become the main guy in everything, my playing time gets lowered and all those minutes go to him. At the time I felt humiliated, I stayed down for a season, I stayed because I was a man of my word. Why would have I stayed down if I knew that I was needed there only to boost others and then when I was not needed, pushed away? At the end of the S66, I had still not received a proper answer from the management squad, Kyle Sabertooth, a FA signing went to be the leading scorer on Philly that season and even though we won the Founder’s cup, I felt betrayed, I felt like my dedication was thrown to the group because a friend wanted a bigger role on the team. 

 

At the time I agreed that I will not take this up and discuss it with anyone as I had just become a GM of Houston and I felt that my role required me to keep quiet about these issues, I felt like Philly had become a place where a difference of opinion was shut down by a mob of people that didn’t care if they are fighting for the right or the wrong, they just mindlessly fought for whatever BladeMaiden and Jubo wanted them to fight for. 

 

To summarize, the biggest blunder GM Blade made was signing a well-known troublemaker in FA and the addition of Jubo to the management group. Those 2 things transformed a team that was filled with a burst of rivalry into a mindless group of punks. 

 

Edited March 29, 2021 by FrostBeard

[FrostBeard 2,054]

Claiming for 2 Weeks, 1200 Something words

[OrbitingDeath 3,197]

Looking forward to the next ones

[bigAL 2,176]

Wowza. Nothing good comes from stopping earning to stay down an extra season eh? I’m sorry that was your first experience in the league. It’s so hard to know what’s true when you have one guide and mentor for your first season in the league. Anything they tell you is true because you don’t know any better! Don’t blame yourself, it’s a great lesson to learn early on. Thanks for sharing  

[Peace 1,534]

3 hours ago, FrostBeard said:

was told that Peace was a douchebag and a bad person.

 

Huh. I'd say I'm surprised but I'm really not.
 
For the rest of this article... I knew 66 was bad, but I didn't realize just how much was still behind closed doors.

Edited March 29, 2021 by Peace

[FrostBeard 2,054]

20 minutes ago, Peace said:

 

Huh. I'd say I'm surprised but I'm really not.
 
For the rest of this article... I knew 66 was bad, but I didn't realize just how much was still behind closed doors.

It was a weird situation because with the first moment of actual interaction I understood how genuine and dare I say, lovely person you are to deal with.  

[Peace 1,534]

1 minute ago, FrostBeard said:

It was a weird situation because with the first moment of actual interaction I understood how genuine and dare I say, lovely person you are to deal with.  

I don't want to cause any drama, but I will say some of the refusals I've gotten make a little more sense now. 

I appreciate the compliment, Frost. 

For what it's worth I really enjoyed my time in Houston with Killinger, I'm still in that LR although not overly active. 

[jRuutu 2,464]

10/10

 

Interesting read! I especially enjoyed the comments regarding the ''rivalry'' between Houston and Philly. Goes to show how stories sometimes transform into something else. What is real and what is not is secondary. Years later when people wonder what is the story behind a rivalry, why are we fighting? Nobody knows.

 

Well-written article, easy to read, multiple interesting points and comments, has few pictures as well. I can't think any suggestions for improvements.

[Rayzor_7 741]

Man the good old days or the dark days the toxic days, whatever you want to call them if you were a GM in 66-69 you know what I'm referring to. Being a GM none of this is surprising to me. I never had any internal view but I knew the mindset of Philly and how the team and players felt about the league and others in it. It was a very cult like collective which we've seen before, but I don't think to the strength of this.

 

All of that said, things have changed and people aren't the way they used to be. The VHLM has gotten away from those kind of issues (not to call it perfect but it's getting there) and continues to thrive. Too bad they had to kill off that authoritarian dictator Banackock.

Good read from you as always

[Gustav 6,428]

8 hours ago, FrostBeard said:

We on the team were told how terrible and dictatorial was commissioner Bana, how bad were people on Houston Bulls, at that time lead by GM Sonnet. (A bit funny that a Philly player, who was taught to hate on Bulls because GM Blade had issues with Sonnet, became GM of Houston), was told that Peace was a douchebag and a bad person. I do hate to say that all these things happened to be false and most of the Philly squad was lied to, manipulated. That said, all those things I completely forgive Blade, I understand that it was her narrative to push the team forward by making Philly a place that felt almost cut from the rest of the VHL community. She tried to make her players become her bodyguards. 

 

Yeah, this was certainly something I noticed coming out of early Philly. That said it was kind of present in early Houston as well--I think we were both taught to hate each other to some extent. You've never given me any reason to hate you (especially at the beginning when we didn't even know each other) but it took me a season or two to stop thinking of you as "that Philly guy" and I wouldn't blame you for negatively associating me with Houston too.

 

I hate it when anyone tries to negatively influence new people just because they're biased in some way. I absolutely despised early Philly for many of the same reasons you listed (Calgary too in the big leagues, and ironically I didn't want to see my players going to Davos either), but I did my best to keep those biases out of locker room chats to let people enjoy the league the best they could--a couple former Hounds were drafted by Calgary and went on to be solid and productive members of the league, and I hate to imagine whether or not that might have been the case if I'd told them they needed to hate the team they went to.

[FrostBeard 2,054]

4 minutes ago, GustavMattias said:

I hate it when anyone tries to negatively influence new people just because they're biased in some way

For me the saving grace to get out of that environment was the chance to get the Houston Bulls GM job. With that, it opened up a lot bigger circle of acquaintances and allowed me to actually spend time and get to know these all terrible people that I was told to fear, ignore and hate. Without that VHLM GM job I probably would have quit the league out of frustration that "Everyone on Philly always gets FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY because we are against the system and Best people here but socially distanced". 

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

11 minutes ago, FrostBeard said:

Best people here but socially distanced

 

is...this a joke I'm unaware of or a forum change thing?

 

BOG? BoG? bog?

Edited March 29, 2021 by Fire Vigneault

[FrostBeard 2,054]

Just now, Fire Vigneault said:

 

is...this a joke I'm unaware of or a forum change thing?

 

BOG? BoG? bog?

It is something to do with OLD, maybe BOYS, and something CLUB

A very popular term in Philly LR at the time

[Gustav 6,428]

Just now, Fire Vigneault said:

 

is...this a joke I'm unaware of or a forum change thing?

 

BOG? BoG? bog?

 

Old something club. Fill in the blank because it would autocorrect me. I've never liked it because I enjoy miming about it.

[Gustav 6,428]

12 minutes ago, FrostBeard said:

For me the saving grace to get out of that environment was the chance to get the Houston Bulls GM job. With that, it opened up a lot bigger circle of acquaintances and allowed me to actually spend time and get to know these all terrible people that I was told to fear, ignore and hate. Without that VHLM GM job I probably would have quit the league out of frustration that "Everyone on Philly always gets FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY because we are against the system and Best people here but socially distanced". 

 

For sure, I can think of a few instances where drama has taken people who would otherwise be great to deal with and steered them toward lashing out at people who don't deserve it or just being toxic in general. In my opinion early Philly was probably the most egregious example of this but I can think of others that I won't get into. The victim mentality has always been a thing and always will be but it wasn't fun to apparently see it encouraged in this case.

[.sniffuM 1,741]

1 hour ago, GustavMattias said:

 

Old something club. Fill in the blank because it would autocorrect me. I've never liked it because I enjoy miming about it.

 

How in the fuck have you not told me you've taken up miming yet?!

[DMaximus 1,046]

 

17 minutes ago, Sonnet said:

I still don't have a fondness for the franchise to this day, even though the organization has been through many different names on both the player and GM side ever since.

 

Philadelphia:

S65-S67: Katherine Blade (BladeMaiden) S66, S66

S68-present: Charlie Paddywagon (DMaximus) S75, S75

 

 

[gorlab 4,321]

[uphillmoss 134]

10 hours ago, FrostBeard said:

So, finally, we are coming to what I truly consider the biggest blunder that GM Blade had ever done. Note that I stayed down for a season, wasted the first season of my VHL career just because I promised to be there for the Reapers when the team will be competitive. S66 was the season when our team was joined by so many amazing players, from the great Condor Adrienne to Matt Tocco and Ben Hafkey. Another management piece was added to Philadelphia Reapers. GM BladeMaiden was joined by her friend Jubo who became the team’s AGM. The focus of the team shifted, people who disagreed with Blade got traded and crossed out from Reapers history (Note the trade of Rhys Chism, Jables, who was my AGM of Houston at the time - his name still is crossed out in Philly LR History chat because he somehow was a traitor). 

Rhys was the only player who got traded and he was very vocal about wanting out from the start of the season

[FrostBeard 2,054]

3 minutes ago, uphillmoss said:

Rhys was the only player who got traded and he was very vocal about wanting out from the start of the season

I love it when people just suddenly pop up from nothingness - also, my point was not that he was vocal and wanted out, my point was that anyone who disagreed with the way the team was run was pushed out and later demonized (Go to Philly LR, go back to S66 VHLM Draft post and check that Rhys player name is still crossed out)* 

*Maybe @DMaximushas removed that weird thing but I am not even sure he knew that it was a thing. 

[uphillmoss 134]

10 hours ago, FrostBeard said:

My player dominated VHLM throughout the first 45/50 games, at the time I was 2nd in points in the league, was close to the top 2 by goals and was surely looking to see an award-winning season for John Frostbeard if I kept going on that path. And then it happened, the management group decided to please another player, Kyle Sabertooth who was a controversial player considering his antics and had childish behaviour on forums at the time. Lines were changed and my production fell off and off to the point when John Frostbeard was not even Top 10 in scoring when I asked why are lines being changed if things were going great, I got silenced and said that it was the best decision for the team. I have a simple theory, at the time I was 2nd in the league, Blade’s and Jubo’s sympathiser uphillmoss (Kyle Sabertooth) was doing quite a lot worse, he was struggling and was about 10 points behind my production. Suddenly, when it was apparent that we are going to make playoffs as a team, lines are getting changed and his player just become the main guy in everything, my playing time gets lowered and all those minutes go to him. At the time I felt humiliated, I stayed down for a season, I stayed because I was a man of my word. Why would have I stayed down if I knew that I was needed there only to boost others and then when I was not needed, pushed away? At the end of the S66, I had still not received a proper answer from the management squad, Kyle Sabertooth, a FA signing went to be the leading scorer on Philly that season and even though we won the Founder’s cup, I felt betrayed, I felt like my dedication was thrown to the group because a friend wanted a bigger role on the team. 

 

we have indexs for a reason. look at them. only thing i did that got me more minutes was play PK. Sorry but if you are blaming me for your slump then idk what to tell you, nothing was done in the lines to "please" me. Only request i ever made was to be moved down to the second line because at one point in the season they were the more effective scoring group. This was of course denied and I remained as the 1st line LW

[uphillmoss 134]

3 minutes ago, FrostBeard said:

I love it when people just suddenly pop up from nothingness - also, my point was not that he was vocal and wanted out, my point was that anyone who disagreed with the way the team was run was pushed out and later demonized (Go to Philly LR, go back to S66 VHLM Draft post and check that Rhys player name is still crossed out)* 

*Maybe @DMaximushas removed that weird thing but I am not even sure he knew that it was a thing. 

Maybe cause in his last few weeks with the team he decided to personally attack several members on the team whenever he got the chance. You are trying to take one player who actively forced his way into a trade and trying to warp it as though the GM had a vendetta against anyone who dared question her. Again he was the only one traded.

[FrostBeard 2,054]

1 minute ago, uphillmoss said:

Maybe cause in his last few weeks with the team he decided to personally attack several members on the team whenever he got the chance. You are trying to take one player who actively forced his way into a trade and trying to warp it as though the GM had a vendetta against anyone who dared question her. Again he was the only one traded.

And I will say again, he was my AGM in Houston at the time. He looked at those aspects a bit differently.

[Peace 1,534]

Edited away GIF, go ahead and delete this post.

Edited March 29, 2021 by Peace

[uphillmoss 134]

Just now, FrostBeard said:

And I will say again, he was my AGM in Houston at the time. He looked at those aspects a bit differently.

Doesn't matter how he looks at it, if you personally attack everyone in a locker room, the GM is not the one at fault for getting rid of them