The Story of the S81 Las Vegas Aces

[AJW 2,157]

 

The Story of the S81 Las Vegas Aces

 

The Las Vegas Aces are a well known franchise, entering the VHLM as one of the original teams in S2. They have a long history of success, defeats, and have experienced everything you can think of that an old hockey franchise could have gone through. This article will go into detail on the Aces’ S81 Founder’s Cup run, talking about the highs, the lows, and even things behind closed doors that the public does not know about. I am happy to bring you the story of the S81 Las Vegas Aces, told by myself, ajwllmsn.

 

The Origin

 

The Las Vegas Aces as stated before are one of the VHLM’s oldest franchises, seeing many different faces enter the locker room and management. The organization recently had gone through a rough patch with @JigglyGumballs becoming inactive due to real life situations which resulted in the team’s poor performance. Trades were not being made, players were not being signed off of waivers, and the organization as a whole seemed like a ghost town. S80 was not a pretty season for the Aces with the majority of games being played with a roster of less than five skaters. These handful of players managed to fight their way to a 7th seed playoff spot where they would instantly be sent home in a 4-0 swept series by the S80 Founder’s Cup champions, the Ottawa Lynx. This was a weird time for the Aces, players did not know what the future plans for the team were, management was stepping down, and in general it seemed as if life was sucked straight out of Las Vegas.

 

New Management

 

This is when a new GM stepped in to take over, to try to bring life back to Las Vegas who used to thrive in the VHLM. The mid S70’s were an active and happy place for Vegas with @Spartan leading charge as the GM. The thoughts of a new GM taking over could hopefully bring present time back to then. I had been an active member in the VHL since the day I joined. I had applied for numerous VHLM GM jobs and came up short every time. I was extremely excited when I finally saw my name posted in a VHLM GM job thread by @McWolf and @diamond_ace and was ready to put work in for this organization. I knew that Jiggly’s life was getting busy and he needed someone to step in, so I was all for helping out. The moment I had the discord locker room and forum club handed over, I knew it was real. Quickly I set off to find assets for my team to try to build with what I had. Las Vegas was left with 3 skaters, a goalie, and a lot of draft picks both present and future. 

 

Pre-Season Trading

 

The first order of business was to make a trade with @Alex, because in the VHLM GMing world, it is an unwritten rule that you need to make your first trade with him. My plan was to hold onto picks for the draft and build my core off of that, but then I remembered Jiggly’s motto: “Trade the picks, trust the process”. Looking at Philadelphia’s roster, two key names stuck out right away, Alex TheGreat @Alex Thegreat and Julien Bernier @Julien_Bernier. Both players were hovering just above the 100 TPE mark and could definitely earn up to the cap of 200 TPE by playoffs. The trade was complete, and the price of these two players along with two draft picks cost five draft picks to be sent to Philadelphia.

 

 

After making this trade, an instant thought came to mind: Why would I trade away 5 assets in order to get 4 back? I basically just lost a player, right? Trying not to be too hard on myself after my first day of trading, I did some more looking around the league to find more assets I could add to my team. This is when my biggest trade of the season occurred with @Moon, GM of the Houston Bulls. I knew Houston was a strong team that was looking to make a run for the cup this season and I thought my 1st round picks would be of value for them. I messaged Moon and after some discussion, my 3rd trade in two days as a GM was made.

 

Acquiring four assets for the price of three, I felt as if I had my money back. Cooper Skambraks @CSkams15, CDS Leb @CDS_Leb and Adeline Delle Donne @Dtayl were all around the 100 TPE mark like TheGreat and Bernier, and I figured they would be in the same boat with reaching the 200 TPE cap by playoffs. Las Vegas now had a very solid core up front while lacking on the back end. But with the draft coming up in the next couple of days, I was not too worried.

 

Hiring an AGM

 

With all of this going on and feeling like my management skills were good on their own, I was without an AGM. A mysterious guy with the player name ‘The Board Game Clue On Skates’ joined the league and caught my eye. The member behind the name, @MubbleFubbles, had been shot off like a rocket with his activity, forum posting, and overall first gen greatness. I had not posted an official AGM hiring thread yet but I reached out to Mubble saying I noticed the work he has put in so far and wanted him to join my team. I had other members around the league ask me prior to if the spot was open, but I said no as I was looking for a special someone who I knew could fill the role. This in my mind was Mubble hands down. He replied to my message and was hesitant about taking on the job, he said he wanted to wait and experience the league a bit more before getting into the thick of it. I left my offer on the table and told him he was very welcome to join if he changed his mind, and that he did. Later that night Mubble agreed to be Las Vegas’ new AGM and the management puzzle was complete. With Mubble on my side, I knew that we were going to be a great team. We had a lot of long talks and discussions about the team, he was my right hand man that I ran everything by in order to have an opinion about everything and anything. Mubble did a lot of work early on for the team, crushing out press conferences, making TPE charts and helping out the members that were on our team. I knew instantly that I could trust him and he did not even feel like an AGM. Mubble and I together felt as if we were both the GMs of Las Vegas which was perfect. With work life getting busy, I had to miss the draft and Mubble stepped up big time doing a great job. 

 

S81 VHLM Dispersal Draft

 

Being at work that night, I had all faith in Mubble to do a good job. After trading away my higher round picks for this season, he only had late round picks to work with. Mubble is some sort of wizard though. He had been creating Draft Class TPE Visualizers since he joined the league and could see who was earning fast and who was not. This is where he found a first generation member of the name @Girts. Girts had just joined the league recently at the time and was only at 75 TPE, but had been earning TPE at a rate that was impressive. He was a quiet member, not in discord and only on the forum, so it was almost as if he was a ghost in this draft class. But of course, Mubble targeted him quickly and traded up to steal this gem of a member. This is mainly our only trade this draft, with our other picks being used for Star @Da Trifecta, Ben Svenska @BenTheViking64, and Travis Clark @ClarkClanT. All lower TPE members that had true potential in the upcoming seasons. After returning home from work, I was proud of what our team was becoming and was excited for the near future.

 

The Ad Madness

 

After the draft, the recruitment team had let VHLM GMs know that there would be a high number of new members joining the league as they were putting out an ad for the VHL. This had GMs excited as most teams were lacking a full roster. With Las Vegas’ roster lacking defence, this was huge for us. The ad went out and of course I slept in. I woke up to an insane amount of notifications of new members joining and while still half asleep, I started hammering out waiver offers. It started off slow and seemed as if other teams were getting very lucky with signings while we had none. This continued on the entire first day and left myself and Mubble going to sleep with nothing to show for. The next day is when the results started showing, most teams had fuller rosters now and could only offer lower line minutes. Once again I started sending the offers out and to my surprise, we got a lot of new players on the Aces squad. With a total of 14 new players signed before the starting of the season, we were in good shape and ready to compete.

 

The Brick Wall Free Agent

 

With most of the team set, the one last missing piece to this team’s puzzle was a goalie. We had two lower TPE goalies on the team already, but a starter was needed. I knew that we could not afford to trade for a good goaltender, most teams had just drafted capped goalies, and the ad madness would not supply us with a solid goaltender. So I went to research free agents in hopes that there would still be a goalie left. For some reason the gods were blessing me that day as Thomas Price @Thunderidge was stranded in the free agent aisle with nowhere to go. Price had just come off a Founder’s Cup finals loss in Yukon and was ready for some revenge, but with Yukon moving up to the VHLE, he was left without a team. I messaged Thunderidge and he happily accepted my offer, itching for a cup that I myself was hoping for this season.

 

The Start of the Regular Season

 

With the off-season complete, we were ready to get into the games and show how dominant the Las Vegas Aces can be. I knew that with a full roster we had a solid core, and hopefully the new draftees and waiver signings could help make us stronger. Las Vegas showed up early to the party leaving the league in shock as we won our first 8 games to let everyone know that we mean business. Our first line was on a tear with TheGreat, Bernier, and Donne being in the top 10 in points and being our main source of scoring. Having that solid core with S79 veteran defenseman Patric Twist @Patty and Thomas Price holding down the back end really saved us in a lot of games. Looking down the stretch though, I knew the S80 Founder’s Cup winners, the Ottawa Lynx, and the depth squad of the Houston Bulls would be an issue. With that in mind, we still motored on to see what the rest of the season would look like. Las Vegas continued winning and winning, never dropping out of the Top 4 in standings all season.

 

Trade Deadline and Players Improving

 

Just after mid-way through the season, the trade deadline was upon us. A week or two before this, we made some impactful trades. @Minion, Halifax 21st GM, was interested in a waiver signed player on our team. john your door was his target and he was requesting a trade for him. Once again the power of Mubble was upon us and with his TPE Visualizer resource, we found a player on Halifax worth trading for, Bobby Rockwell @Kairi. 

 

At the time, both players were around 60ish TPE, but Mubble noticed that Rockwell knew how to earn. The trade was sent and since then, Rockwell has improved immensely, earning up to a total of 160 TPE while john your door has retired - a winning trade for Vegas for sure. Another trade worth mentioning would be with @JB123, San Diego GM. Cooper Skambraks was seemingly going inactive and we knew we needed to do something about it. JB showed interest in him and of course Mubble came to the rescue. We traded for Budnik McDangle @Budnik and a 2nd round pick for the price of Skambraks. Since the trade, McDangle has gained 55 TPE reaching a total of 132 while Skambraks has only earned 34. Another big win for the Las Vegas trading team.

 

Moving on to the improvements of waiver signing players and drafted players. The most notable would be, of course, Girts Galvins. Girts was fired up since the moment he was drafted and has earned enough TPE to have him capped out for the VHLM at 200. Girts’ player’s build is impressive and the stats show too, earning him a spot on our forwards first line. Other very honourable mentions would be Matt Rooster @hcrooster96, Doug Matchett @jacobaa19, Orr @Zyrok, and Pucky McSticks @PuckyMcStick. All four players have earned more than 100 TPE total and have been a huge improvement to Las Vegas’ success. Doug Matchett has been a menace in earning, he is now Vegas’ top TPE defenseman and his point totals have increased since his signing. He alone has helped the defence struggle that we saw at the beginning of the season.

 

Trade deadline player signings are always a fun time. Before the deadline, I was scrolling through S73 players who would be retiring and recreating for the next season. Pete Mitchell @Crstats23 and AirRig GoodBrandSun @Rhynex Entertainment were my go to targets. Both had earned a great amount of TPE for their previous players and both were Las Vegas alumni. So I knew I could sucker them into signing and they did! GoodBrandSun earned over 150 TPE and Mitchell hit the 100 TPE by the start of playoffs. Both players were amazing additions to the depth chart and have a great presence in the locker room as well.

 

Presence in the Locker Room

 

Speaking of presence in the locker room, I have to mention @Shindigs. Shindigs joined the league this season as a first generation player. Unfortunately we were unable to sign his player as he went with Miami instead. The reason we invited him to our locker room though was because of his interest in Mubble’s player. Shin created hilarious graphics of The Board Game Clue On Skates and invented a ‘#TeamClue’ meta in the making of it. Myself and Mubble obviously noticed this and felt like we needed him in our locker room. Shin joined up and has been an amazing part of our LR, chatting in it daily and becoming really close with us. He is an amazing member and has also just joined our top secret council. Thanks for being a big part of the locker room this season Shin, I hope you enjoyed your time with us and will continue to spam in it daily.

 

The End of the Regular Season

 

Being a nice GM, I had sent out a discord announcement to my players asking them how they would want to finish off the season. At the time there were around 15 games left to play, we sat in the third seed in the league, and were only a couple points back from Houston who were our conference leaders in the standings. So I asked my players, do we run the same lines and try to move above them in standings? Or, do we let the 3rd and 4th line players get some playing time and switch up the lines? These members are so competitive. The vote was 8-4 in favour of passing the Houston Bulls and taking the Western Conference title. We ended up rolling the same lines, moving Girts Galvins up in playing time as well, and completely slaughtered the ending of the regular season. The team ended with a 51 win season, a team record that has not been seen for Las Vegas since S74. This was a good feeling, we passed Houston in the standings and felt unbeatable going into the playoffs. We had 3 forwards in the league’s top 10 points, Patric Twist sat in the top 5 in points by defenseman, and Thomas Price was arguably the best goaltender in the league. Alex TheGreat also ran the league this season leading all skaters in points and assists. This brought us hope for playoffs and was an amazing turn around from a tough S80 that Las Vegas had just gone through.

 

Multi Bans and a New GM

 

Going into the playoffs, multiple account bans were a hot topic going around the VHL. Some members were caught controlling 5+ accounts at once. This affected Vegas as well as Mollieraf Kendcruz, Las Vegas’ top 2 defensman at the time, was actually a multi account and had his player banned from the system. Another player in Vegas of the name Bob Buckley was hit with the multi claims. I had access to this player’s account. I made a posting on this topic a couple of weeks ago and if you want to hear my reasoning behind the situation, go check it out. So in order to be fair to the league, a punishment was needed, and I was fired from my GMing job in Vegas. Confusion for a new GM rose but a solution was found quickly. Weeks prior to this situation, our beloved AGM, Mubble, posted a podcast explaining that he was actually not Mubble, but was a new account made by @Tagger. This was not a multi account but a new experiment account that he wanted to create. With the realization that Mubble was actually a veteran member to the forums, he was placed as the new GM of Las Vegas and kept me as his AGM. So in the end, we switched management roles, but at the same time, we had both basically been GMs of Las Vegas all season so this was not a horrible thing. After all was said and done, Mubble and I went back to leading our team and focusing on the upcoming S81 VHLM playoffs.

 

Playoffs

 

This is it. This is what two months of hard work and dedication came to. This is all the marbles on the table to see who really has it to be a champion and who will go home wishing they did more. Las Vegas was in a great spot in the second seed. We had our roster and lines set and would meet up with the Saskatoon Wild in the first round. This series was not a very competitive one as we swept the Wild 4-0 to take the series. The top 5 in league points in the playoffs after this series were all home to Vegas players with Alex TheGreat leading in points and assists, and Girts Galvins leading in goals. We looked good heading into the next round but had one problem. The Houston Bulls were of concern as if they won their series we would see them next round. The Bulls had our number all season, taking the regular season series in their favour. Mubble and I were hoping for the 6th seed Philadelphia Reapers to take them down and thankfully in six games they did. This was a relief as we had far better results in the regular season against the Reapers than the Bulls.

 

The second round took off and we faced off against Philadelphia. We knew this would not be a given series like the Saskatoon series, so we were ready for a battle. The first two games went in our favour and had the team pumped up and confident for another sweep. But STHS does not just give it to you that easily. Philadelphia had home ice advantage for game 3 and 4 and used it, taking both games and tying the series 2-2. Tensions rose in the locker room as we all thought this series was over after the first 2 games. The players really stepped up in game 5 and 6 though, winning both games and sending Vegas to a Founder’s Cup final. This was an amazing feeling. Even though I was not the GM for the team anymore, I felt as if I had a major part in building this team and creating the success we accomplished. In my first GMing season I had brought a deserted, run down team, and built them up to be a Cup contender. Quickly I had to get over the excitement as I knew there was a bigger fish to fry. The Ottawa Lynx, who just came off a Founder’s Cup win in S80, were our opponents in the finals. They had an insanely deep and talented roster that had not changed much since their cup winning roster. The team and I knew what we were up against and that it would be a challenge, but we made it this far so why stop now?

 

The Founder’s Cup Finals

 

I honestly never expected to lead this squad to the finals. I need to give my thanks and a massive shoutout to Mubble for all of his help. I was not even considering hiring an AGM when I got the GM role, how crazy would that have been. It is wild to think that we started with only 4 players at the beginning of the season and now we face off against the top team in the league for The Founder’s Cup. There was a lot on the line here though, I had players wanting the Cup badly. Thomas Price, our star studded goaltender, just came off a finals loss with Yukon last season to Ottawa and wanted revenge before moving up to the VHLE. Alex TheGreat had the best season of any VHLM player and deserved to bring home some hardware for it. Patric Twist, a S79 Las Vegas veteran, had been with the team since he was drafted. He had experienced the bad times and was finally able to compete for the Cup. Pete Mitchell and AirRig GoodBrandSun, recreates of the Las Vegas alumni, signed with us in order to help the team win. There were many members and players banking on this cup run and knew that this might be the only chance they would be able to see a finals again. Las Vegas was also knocked out of the S80 playoffs by Ottawa and were looking to bounce back from that sweep. We had the team, we had the depth, now it was time to face the dragon.

 

The regular season came in our favour as we took care of business with Ottawa in our series. But, the first two games went in the exact opposite direction we wanted them to. Ottawa won the first two games and had our players frustrated. Multiple penalties were taken in both games resulting in many Ottawa powerplay goals in order to win. The team was not clicking like we had been all season and a morale change was needed. Going into game 3 and 4, the Aces’ discord locker room adopted a new channel and emoji to praise our new found god and pray to him for STHS luck. Our prayers brought us success as the Aces ran through the Lynx in game 3 and 4 to tie the series at two a piece. The ‘TheGreat-Galvins-Donne’ line continued their domination as they have all season, combining for 16 points on 8 out of the 11 goals scored in those games. After game 4, that line was 1st, 2nd, and 4th in league leaders for points. Galvins and Donne lead the league in goals and TheGreat lead the league in assists by 10. This series now became interesting going back to Ottawa for game 5. The Lynx switched their lines a bit for game 5 and really demonstrated why they are such a powerhouse. After a scoreless first period, Ottawa managed to score 4 goals against us in the second period. The game resulted in a 6-1 loss for Las Vegas and the pressure was on. Game 6 would go back to Vegas for home ice advantage, but being down 3-2 in the series, all eyes were on us to see if we would either crumble or send it back to Ottawa for an exciting game 7 matchup. Unfortunately Ottawa finished their business in game 6 with a 5-2 win and a back-to-back Founder’s Cup in their possession. GG’s to Ottawa, they were the best team in the league since the start of the season and officially proved it in last night’s sim. Although Las Vegas lost, expectations for our team around the league were never to perform this well, let alone reach the finals. The players on this team are dogs and they showed up big time this season. Our first line forwards all finished in the top 5 for playoff points in the league, with Galvins and Donne leading in goals and TheGreat leading in assists. Patric Twist finished 2nd for playoff points by a defenseman in the league. Thomas Price finished 3rd in GAA and SV% for playoff goaltenders in the league. I loved watching their player’s successes all season long as they were all so dominant. 

 

Conclusion

I know there was a lot of controversy around the league about my GM firing and TPE Ban this season. A lot of people were upset, confused, and not too happy with me. I understand what I did and I never meant to hurt this team or anyone for that matter. I know in my explanation about my ban that I was talking about leaving the league and all, but that was just me being a baby and emotional at the time. This season was the most fun I have had in the VHL and I am so happy that the VHLM Commissioners allowed me to stay with Las Vegas. Vegas created a good home for myself. This team really made me realize that I can not leave because I love it so much. I love the atmosphere, the locker room, the people, and just everything that comes with being an A(GM) for the Las Vegas Aces. I am very proud of the Aces players who earned so much TPE this season, improved their players, made our locker room/club a fun place to be, and fought hard to get to the Founder’s Cup Finals. I am also very proud of Mubble for sticking it out with me and stepping up to take charge when we needed him. I am super excited for the future seasons to come with him and absolutely pumped that Las Vegas is back on the map of the VHLM. So in the end, “trade the players, trust the process”. I am grateful to be involved with such a great organization and league.

[v.2 1,406]

16 minutes ago, ajwllmsn said:

Conclusion

I know there was a lot of controversy around the league about my GM firing and TPE Ban this season. A lot of people were upset, confused, and not too happy with me. I understand what I did and I never meant to hurt this team or anyone for that matter. I know in my explanation about my ban that I was talking about leaving the league and all, but that was just me being a baby and emotional at the time. This season was the most fun I have had in the VHL and I am so happy that the VHLM Commissioners allowed me to stay with Las Vegas. Vegas created a good home for myself. This team really made me realize that I can not leave because I love it so much. I love the atmosphere, the locker room, the people, and just everything that comes with being an A(GM) for the Las Vegas Aces. I am very proud of the Aces players who earned so much TPE this season, improved their players, made our locker room/club a fun place to be, and fought hard to get to the Founder’s Cup Finals. I am also very proud of Mubble for sticking it out with me and stepping up to take charge when we needed him. I am super excited for the future seasons to come with him and absolutely pumped that Las Vegas is back on the map of the VHLM. So in the end, “trade the players, trust the process”. I am grateful to be involved with such a great organization and league.

Proud of u 

[MubbleFubbles 1,290]

Review: Over 4,500 words so I think you're just about OK for the 6 TPE this week! To have that many words without finding any real grammatical errors is terrific, the only very minor thing I noticed could well be a UK thing so not going to knock it at all.

 

As for the content, muy bien! You've effectively demonstrated how much the job means to you and the topics you discussed in the article were well thought out and described as thinking back myself, I couldn't think of anything that could have been added, so it is truly a comprehensive look at the season we've had. It's a shame we didn't finish this season with a cup, but you've done an excellent job this season and I'm really looking forward to seeing what we can do next season!

 

Now do pressers by end of Monday or you're fired! 

[Shindigs 1,771]

14 hours ago, MubbleFubbles said:

Now do pressers by end of Monday or you're fired! 

Finally the lord of Clue Manor shows his true face!

[JigglyGumballs 1,056]

TRADE THE PICKS TRUST THE PROCESS

[Arce 755]

Where to begin, this just hit all of

the cylinders. You may have enough to claim for the duration of the S82 season. A lot of great visuals with these pictures. Love the use of them for the stats/standings. This was an amazing, detailed recap of the Vegas S81 season, from a strong regular season, to the “multi scandal” to the final ending I know you guys didn’t want. Big fan of all of the shoutouts to your players. You can easily tell how much you loved GMing Vegas, and you care. Even making the trades you needed to give Vegas the edge in the playoffs. I personally hope to see you back in that role one day. 10/10

[AJW 2,157]

Claiming 2/4

[AJW 2,157]

Claiming 3/4

[AJW 2,157]

Claiming 4/4