Introducing this year's Team Western Europe

[Seabass 593]

Good morning VHL! It's bright and sunny here where I'm at and it's got me in a good enough mood that I feel like making a Media Spot today before it gets hot so I can go out swimming later on in my day. Today I'll be talking about my S78 World Cup roster selections for Team Western Europe. For those who don't follow the World Cup, I made my official roster announcement last Thursday here: https://vhlforum.com/topic/105451-s78-team-western-europe-world-cup-roster-announcement/

 

Now I'll go over each of my players and give you all a more descriptive report on them in order to explain why I selected them for Team Western Europe. 

 

The Forwards

 

Center / Cabe McJake /  

@Red

 

Well this was an easy selection as McJake lead all eligible forwards in TPA (915) and in total points (87). So really it was a no brainer to select McJake as he was simply the best offensive weapon to choose from.  McJake is also well rested and has something to prove as his Riga Reign didn't make the playoffs this year as they finished on the wrong end of a tiebreaker with the Malmo Nighthawks for the final Wildcard slot after both teams finished with 76 Points in the standings. McJake's 87 Point season playing as the Reign's first line center man was good enough to lead the team in points and I figure McJake will probably be assuming much of the same kind of role here on Team Western Europe. Seeing how McJake is also the only Irishman in the VHL system which includes the VHLM, he will also have every hockey fan in the whole country's support at this event. 

 

Left Winger / Ryan Schwarz /  

@Enorama

 

 Ryan Schwarz had a hell of a playoff round when his New York Americans fell to the D.C. Dragons 3-1 in the Wildcard Round. He was over a two point per game player in the playoffs, earned himself 2 2nd star selections in a losing effort and was the American's top offensive player scoring 10 points in the short 4 game series. During the regular season Schwarz proved to be an effective enough two way player that I also feel comfortable giving him some time on the penalty kill. He also brings in some sandpaper to my lineup as he posted over 150 hits last season. I like how he seems to elevate him game in big moments and I hope he can come up clutch for Team Western Europe as well. 

 

Right Winger / Uhtred 

@leafsman

 

I decided to not let Uhtred retire from hockey just yet.  Uhtred played on the best offensive team in the VHL, the Warsaw Predators who won the Continental Cup on the day I made my official roster announcement for the World Cup. Uhtred won't be getting much rest but I hope he can stay red hot for the World Cup Tournament after earning 31 points in 17 playoff games. With selecting Uhtred we're brining in someone who knows what it takes to win as he has now won 3 Continental Cup rings (S72,S73,S78) as well as having won the Founder's Cup back in Season 69. He just seems to win where ever he goes and the one thing stopping him from being a triple gold member is winning the World Cup tournament. Uhtred has plenty of World Cup experience as he also played in this tournament on 3 other occasions and has twice represented Team Western Europe in the past. Uhtred has scored a total of 42 points in 33 games played in the World Cup tournament and I think Uhtred can be a offensive weapon yet again for us and has another excellent World Cup performance left in him before he sets off to enjoy retirement.

 

Center / Leo Strauss 

@gregreg

 

Leo Strauss was another no brainer as he was one of the seven eligible players for Western Europe that was 700+ in TPA. Basically, as the underdogs of this tournament every 700+ player automatically made the team in order for us to ice the most competitive team we can. Also there was not much other competition for the center position as Kevin Sterk was the next eligible VHLer in TPA (429). Strauss will not have much time to rest up having just finished participating in the Continental Cup Finals as a member of the Seattle Bears. Unfortunately for him Strauss' team lost in the finals 4-2 against Uhtred and the Warsaw Predators. Now Uhtred and Strauss are going to have to learn to put their aside their differences as they're set to join forces as team mates on team Western Europe. While I may have Strauss originally set as my team's 2nd line centerman, I know he's fully capable of playing on the top line as well in case McJake decides to slip up. Strauss played very well behind Venus Thightrap in Seattle earning 85 points which is awesome for his role and I figure he can do just as well supporting McJake.

 

Right Winger / Artair McCloud / 

@Hoopydog

 

We have 4 players hailing from the United Kingdom which means 1/3 of the players on this team are Brits this year. Artair played for the Riga Reign along with McJake but played mostly on the team's 2nd line earning himself 66 points. Those numbers aren't the most impressive when you first look at it, but I think McCloud has some unlocked potential as he was able to pot 30 goals despite his poor shooting percentage of 6.8%. Even if he doesn't suddenly explode offensively like I'm hoping here, he's still useful to Team Western Europe as he's a competent player in his own end and is positionally sound so I hope to use him quite a bit on the penalty kill. 

 

Left Winger / Phil The Rock Johnson / 

@Phil

 

Now this is where I had to make a decision between two players. The eligibility list for Team Western Europe was lacking in depth on the left side, so I had to select a natural right winger to play on the left side. I was left torn between two great character guys in Phil and Druss Deathwalker that both excelled in the same style of game. They both would add a lot of sandpaper to my squad I just had to pick between the two and even though I know @animal74 pretty well compared to Phil I decided to go with Phil because he had an edge when it came down to skating.  The Rock didn't have the most explosive season offensively putting up 43 points but he did however put up 258 hits while playing responsibly in his own end. I didn't bring Phil in to be a threat every night offensively but I brought him in to be a threat to opposing players and I brought him in for that big dick energy.

 

The Defense Corps

 

Left Defense / Roque Davis / 

@Josh

 

This was quite the easy one, Roque Davis was at the top of the eligibility list being the only player over 1000+ TPA available to me. Not to mention Davis has 35 games of World Cup experience, 22 of which on Team Western Europe. In those 35 games he produced played well producing 31 points. Does Davis still have it though? He's technically retired from the VHL and he's coming off the worst season of his career and didn't make the playoffs with the Los Angeles Stars. Even his last world cup appearance was mediocre at best after he posted 4 points and went -4 in 11 games for Western Europe in Season 76. It was obvious that Davis has lost a step but even at his worst Davis still managed to put up 50 points this season in the VHL so he still has some offensive upside despite his regression. Hopefully Davis can redeem himself and play a good tournament because if team Western Europe wants to place top 3, we'll need to see Davis at his best so let's hope he has more hockey left in him.

 

Right Defense / Chris Hylands / 

@hylands

 

Chris Hylands has been a staple on Team Western Europe's D-squad for the last two tournaments and has done well for himself posting 22 points in 22 games and was arguably the team's best defenseman in last year's tournament. Hylands also had a great season in the VHL that saw him quarterback the league's offensive machine AKA The Warsaw Predators. Hylands' regular season was so good that he ended the year as the top point getter among the league's defenders scoring 87 points. Hylands most importantly helped the Preds earn themselves a Continental Cup by putting up 21 points over 17 games. Hylands has a boat load of experience, winning two Continental Cups and being a key player to our team over the last two tournaments, we just had to roll with him once more. 

 

Left Defense / Micah Adrienne / 

@Poptart

 

Adrienne has been one of the better shutdown guys in the league for a while now and he's never been a minus player in his VHL career. Having a shutdown defender is a useful asset, especially for the team's penalty kill. However, he's coming off his 2nd best season offensively of his career after posting 66 points for the London United so he's not a one dimensional player by any means. He too is a returning player to Team Western Europe and he brings a lot of winning experience. Every VHL team that ended the season with Chris Hylands in the mix has reached the playoffs so far and Hylands has won it all before with Vancouver in S74 so buddy knows how to get it done. Hopefully he can help Team Western Europe win a few games and hopefully finish the year among the top 3 teams of the tournament. 

 

Right Defense / Defenz Mann/ 

@Mike

 

Selecting DeFenz Mann was probably one of the more controversial picks I made for this tournament. I selected DeFenz Mann even though I also had guys like Matt Thunder who had more TPA and Jackson Philliefan who had more points in the VHL to pick from. Thunder is 5'9", 160 lbs wasted TPE into fighting and tries to play tough and takes a ton of penalties. Yeah he put up 60 points but he didn't help his team win by going -17, hell he didn't even make the playoffs. I already had enough sandpaper on my team with Phil so he didn't fit the style of play I needed. Philliefan did produce more points than Mann playing on the same Dragon's team but he went -14 versus Mann's +27 which was good for 5th in the VHL. Mann also played pretty good at last year's tournament posting 9 points in 11 games so I thought I'd give him another chance to play in the World Cup. 

 

The Goaltenders

 

Alright well this is where things got complicated for me. I got the chance to select my goaltenders after team Mercenaries selected his due to the fact that Team Western Europe had no VHL calibre goaltenders for me to select from even though I'm sure young prospect Aike Van Giersbergen @enigmatic will get there one day. Team Mercenaries selected Jean-Pierre Camus and Rara Rasputin before me therefore I was left to select the following:

 

Goaltender / Artem Tretiak / 

@Molholt

 

Stat wise and TPA wise, Artem Tretiak appears to be the frontrunner for the starting position for team Western Europe however I'm leaning on splitting the starts during the round robin and whoever plays the best during the round robin will be used during the elimination rounds. Tretiak had a solid season posting a save percentage of .924 and helped the Malmo Nighthawks reach the semi finals before getting overpowered by the eventual cup winners, the Warsaw Predators. Tretiak didn't play too well in the semi final round and looks to bounce back in the World Cup tournament.

Goaltender / Kunibuni UnGuri /  

@Berocka

 

Okay yeah Tretiak's stats look better and he has more TPA but it's only a 8 TPA difference and Tretiak got to play on a playoff team. UnGuri had the unfortunate pleasure of playing on the worst team in the North American Conference, finishing with 58 points in the standings which is only better than the Vancouver Wolves at 53. Therefore of course his stats don't compare well to Tretiak's but he still managed to put up respectable numbers despite playing one of the worst teams in the VHL. UnGuri also has previous World Cup experience playing 10 games for team World in S75 and doing very well posting a save percentage in the .930s , Tretiak on the other hand has never participated in international play. We'll see who ends up winning the coach's favor in the round robin. 

 

I'm pretty comfortable with my selections for this year's World Cup tournament and I believe that this team can surprise everyone and we'll embrace the role of underdogs for this tournament. I believe this team can finish top 3 and it'll be very entertaining to watch and see how we'll do. 

 

2200+ Words good for 4 PTs

 

Edited July 12, 2021 by Seabass

[Banackock 8,073]

Pretty solid squad! Final tour for @leafsman !

[enigmatic 504]

mentioning me to say I don't make the team is cruel man

 

[Thunfish 72]

2 hours ago, enigmatic said:

mentioning me to say I don't make the team is cruel man

 

Eh, don't worry. I'm sure you'll get it next time.

[Seabass 593]

3 hours ago, enigmatic said:

mentioning me to say I don't make the team is cruel man

 

[enigmatic 504]

8 minutes ago, Seabass said:

brb transfering to usa

[animal74 1,832]

3 hours ago, enigmatic said:

mentioning me to say I don't make the team is cruel man

 

Ditto! I'll be there next time!

[Mike 708]

@SeabassYou made the right call.

[Seabass 593]

4 hours ago, Mike said:

@SeabassYou made the right call.

Thanks brother go make me proud now. 

[Seabass 593]

Claiming week 2 of 4

[Seabass 593]

claiming for triple's week

[Seabass 593]

claiming week 4/4