sterling 1,990 Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Reflecting on Seven Years We're here for a good time, not a long time. That's what I thought when this league first started. I was away camping in July 2007 when the league first started and thus didn't sign up for it until after the first ever entry draft was over. Thankfully for me (in the days that pre-date the VHLM) I was put into the dispersal draft and officially categorized as a Season 2 draftee who would also get to play in season one. I was fortunate enough to be drafted to the Calgary Wranglers who posted the best record in league history that year (69-3) only to go on to lose in the finals to Vasteras. A lot has changed in the seven years with only a handful of guys left from the early years (Slobo, Kendrick, Smarch, Beketov). Where was I? I had just completed high school then and was unsure of what to do next. I had really enjoyed some previous sim leagues I'd been involved in and after the death of a league Smarch and I started to destroy the DHL, I was still interested in this strange concept. Back in the day we of course used NHL 04 of something to sim the games. It was really slow and shitty. The advent of the STHS system, even with all of its apparent flaws, was the savior of sim hockey leagues everywhere. Suddenly we could quickly sim entire 72 game seasons with fairly realistic results. The indexes were easy to navigate and looked clean. The games and the results were fun to open up. After 39 seasons and 7 years we've still retained that, but made many improvements along the way. Where are we now? I'm long since done university, working. Back in graduate school now and still in the VHL. I contemplated leaving a few times, especially after my last player, but at the end of the day I've always said it was pretty easy to remain active here. Now with the welfare program, it's even easier to stick around. The honest thing is that I really love this place. I bleed VHL. I only stick around to keep it going because so many other people are passionate about it. At times I thought it wasn't worth it to keep this thing going, but every time the community comes through. If there is one thing that sets us apart from other leagues I've been in, it's that extreme sense of community. Although I'm a sarcastic prick, I've always tried to be accommodating and welcoming to new people. I've never asked for anything in return other than to see other people's fun and commitment to the league. That's why I can't leave. With that said, I'd like to look back on some of the more memorable moments in my VHL existence: 1) The battle of Anderson Hill: Almost everyone asks nowadays who is Anderson? Anderson was some asian kid from B.C. who was a constant troll of the website who would never fuck off. He had multiple players and was banned multiple times. He was a general annoyance and pain in the ass to most people. I didn't mind Anderson though, but in the gang mentality that this place has at times, it got to the level where every new member was being accused of being an Anderson player. Eventually I just let Anderson stick around after talking to him I found out he wasn't that bad. He eventually faded back into obscurity. 2) The Shortbus Redemption When I recreated the first time my player was unfortunate enough to land in New York, colloquially known around the league as the shortbus due to a series of terrible decisions by former General Manager Robbie Zimmers. No one wanted to play for the Americans (the only franchise to never win a Cup, only two miserable playoff appearances at the time). I decided to stick it out with my friend Brandon Best and were were able to turn the franchise around completely to its present day form. We left Victor in charge who later left Streetlight in charge. The real mavericks are all too often forgotten in the lore of the American loudmouths (Jericho, Device and Advantage), but we formed the base of their success long before. 3) Moving in Stereo - You We've had to move a few good times now. Once from the original site due to exceeding the maximum number of threads on a free board and due to Nick Barr's insistence. We moved over to our own hosted site which worked well at the beginning, but as the site continued to grow and we added more features, we sucked up more bandwidth. Unfortunately I'm not a computer whiz (although I think I kept the thing floating for a long time with what we had) and eventually we lost control of the site due to the DDOS attack. Most people thought the site was officially dead. It certainly seemed like the end of the line with our site gone and all of our old information compromised. We had to start from scratch again. Thankfully Higgins was around to start fixing shit. With my ability to tell people what to do we got this thing back up and running. That's when I knew the VHL was more important to lots of people than I expected. Loads of people come here on a daily basis to socialize, to learn and to have fun. We've eclipsed the idea of a single person holding this place up, which is a refreshing consideration for me. There are so many people who contribute their time, money and experience to keeping this thing going. Why? I don't really know to be honest. We're nothing special, just a collection of 100 or so crazy bastards that all like hockey. I've seen this place grow a lot over the years. Good friends come and go, but it still keeps ticking on, which is what I find most magical. 4) Banning Kyle for Being a Whiny Bitch I banned Kyle today for being a whiny bitch. It felt so good. So here's to you. Some of you new, some of you old like I am. We've got something really neat here and I personally would be surprised if the VHL doesn't make it to 10 years. Will I still be here? Yes, in some capacity, but there are lots of new people coming in whom I think will make a big impact. The strength of this community is people's willingness to work together to pick up the slack. Sure has changed a lot over the years. Phil, Kesler, eaglesfan036 and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle 667 Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Expected me to be in this MS, was disappointed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sterling 1,990 Posted July 25, 2014 Author Share Posted July 25, 2014 Expected me to be in this MS, was disappointed. Edited Molholt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissioner Beketov 8,793 Posted July 25, 2014 Commissioner Share Posted July 25, 2014 It still amazes me how far this league has come. I was just going into grade 11 when I joined and now I've graduated University and been working for a year. The VHL has been around almost twice as long as I spent in high school. That's absolutely mind-boggling. 2 board changes, 3 different simmers, countless different commishes, but still the same strong league for 7 years. It really is amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Munk 1,298 Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Wow, you said you loved me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JardyB10 4,839 Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 I like the part where Kyle gets banned. Frank and Kendrick 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 After 7 years I for sure thought this league would go down as something we once spent a lot of time on. However, it's safe to say we still do and we have reaped tons of benefits for doing so. A handful of new members, mixed with some old fogeys and some middle guys who all share a bunch of interests as the same, mainly hockey. I didn't mind Anderson either, but his constant ability to hack our board somewhat got annoying and I never could grow to respect him, you missed that part. Great piece and here's to another 7 years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglesfan036 4,585 Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Really interesting, I am glad a lot of old people are still sticking around How did you guys let Zimmers become a GM? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head Moderator Baozi 1,638 Posted July 25, 2014 Head Moderator Share Posted July 25, 2014 HAhaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fire Tortorella 2,653 Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Good work everyone. I've been here since my freshmen year of college, and I'll be graduating this winter. Kind of blows my mind. Who were the riggers before Jardy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle 667 Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Good work everyone. I've been here since my freshmen year of college, and I'll be graduating this winter. Kind of blows my mind. Who were the riggers before Jardy? Sterling and Scotty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike 708 Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 See Scotty Campbell in player stats and see that Jardy riggings are put to shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLastOlympian07 2,388 Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 I was 12 when first joined, i was just going to highschool now im 19 (i got kicked out, thats different from failing, i was passing my classes but i got kicked out for fighting) and just graduated from highschool going to college in September Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyler 881 Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 0/1 presentation only 1 pic lol wtf sterling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoop 3,308 Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Got a mention. Life complete. Phil 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoop 3,308 Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 If I'm still around for two more years, I'll have been in the VHL for 1/3 of my life. wut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank 4,897 Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Number 4 is my favourite by far. So many feels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Sterling has been here all 7 years? What an old geezer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoop 3,308 Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Number 4 is my favourite by far. So many feels. I remeber it like it was yeserday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Admin Will 4,647 Posted July 26, 2014 Senior Admin Share Posted July 26, 2014 Wish I found this place a lot sooner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandro 251 Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Hey, I was originally around in S2 as well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JardyB10 4,839 Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 Hey, I was originally around in S2 as well! Ah yes, I remember that time. Good ol' Fabian Brunnstrom. #VHLTrivia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyler 881 Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 Ah yes, I remember that time. Good ol' Fabian Brunnstrom. #VHLTrivia u remember s2? Anderson confirmed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandro 251 Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 Ah yes, I remember that time. Good ol' Fabian Brunnstrom. #VHLTrivia That was actually pre-Brunnstrom. I joined just before the S2 draft and had a goalie that was drafted by Seattle. I was around less than half a season, then my league got hacked (I think it was a player league Lenny and I set up) by someone who claimed it was the VHL and I left. I came back under a different name and made Brunnstrom in early S3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Victor 10,668 Posted July 28, 2014 Admin Share Posted July 28, 2014 That was actually pre-Brunnstrom. I joined just before the S2 draft and had a goalie that was drafted by Seattle. I was around less than half a season, then my league got hacked (I think it was a player league Lenny and I set up) by someone who claimed it was the VHL and I left. I came back under a different name and made Brunnstrom in early S3.What's really disappointing is that Kjellberg surpassed 550 TPE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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