The Career of Artair McCloud

[Hoopydog 195]

(Sorry in advance for the shear size of this thing)

 

Introduction

 

Hello everyone, I am Hoopydog (or just Hoopy for short is fine) and I am the user behind the retiring Artair McCloud. This was my first proper go at the VHL universe and since I love a good player review, I thought it would be only fitting to take a look at how my first player got on and find out whether it was a success or not.

Early Days

 

When Artair McCloud entered into the league, it was past the trade deadline and therefore he couldn’t be signed to any VHLM team until after the draft. This dealt a blow to his chances of being drafted high up the draft because he had missed out on a few weeks of high TPE earnings but also the chance to join a locker room and get his name known around the league. There were only 2 minor league teams that contacted him before the draft and they were the Miami Marauders and the Las Vegas Aces. It would end up being GM Spartan that got his man with the 43^rd pick of the draft. He felt at home in Vegas. It had everyone you could want as a player. A vibrant locker room to keep you engaged, a team with great quality capable of winning things and a management team to help steer you in the right direction.

 

VHLM – Regular Season

 

His VHLM career stats weren’t the best, let’s not beat around the bus they were pretty bad. In his 1^st season on the Aces, he put up a measly 11 points in a full 72 game season. It might be worth noting that he played minimal ice time given strength of the team. I knew I’d get my time in the sun but for now my job was to play support and that’s what I was gonna do.

In his 2^nd season he performed better, not to the standards he had hoped but it was still an improvement. This time he put up 48 points in 72 games scoring 28 goals as well so a decent showing from the young forward. That season again playing a very good team did limit his ice time in some aspects as trades for Dan Dan and Jordan Tate were both made to try and give the team the best chance at playoff glory. Something of note from this season was that he scored 13 Powerplay goals meaning just under half of his goal tally came with a man advantage

So overall his VHLM stats were: GP – 144 G – 34 A – 25 P – 59

 

VHLM – Playoffs

 

It seems that, over the course of his career, McCloud showed himself to be more of a playoff player than a regular season guy despite never winning a VHL or VHLM playoff championship (Spoiler Alert) his numbers and performances just always seemed better. He put up 3 points in 12 playoff games in that 1^st season which doesn’t seem like much but it is a big improvement (in terms of points per game) compared to his regular season. The Aces breezed past Mexico City in the first round but were taken and beaten in 7 games by the underdogs in Miami, who went on to win the whole damn thing. Still not over it.

In the 2^nd season he put in a much better performance in the playoffs. He played the same number of game but this time put up 10 points for the Aces. In that run, they took the Saskatoon Wild to seven games but then fell to Mexico City in the following round meaning that McCloud’s VHLM career ended without a cup win.

So overall his VHLM playoff stats were: GP – 24 G – 6 A – 7 P – 13

 

He definitely wasn’t a stand out in the minor league but he did do enough to attract quite a few teams interested in the taking him in the draft.

 

Taking The Next Step

 

The S75 draft was absolutely stacked and McCloud was on a lot of teams list as a potential steal later on in the draft. No one really knew where he would go in the draft but it was thought he would go as a late 2^nd or early 3^rd rounder. Out of all the teams that expressed interest in McCloud, it looked like it was going to be either the Vancouver Wolves or the Riga Reign that would be the most likely to pick him up. As the picks entered the twenties, I started to get a bit a nervous as it was nearing closer to my predicted position and when the Vancouver Wolves select Sheldon Juniper with 23^rd overall pick, I knew my home was going to be Riga. GM Hedge selected me with the 28^th overall pick in the draft along with a few of my Vegas team mates. It was always going to be difficult to find my place and stand on my own on the Riga roster since they had just drafted 9 prospects in the first 2 rounds of that draft which included the likes of Cabe McJake, Adison McLaren, Sirkants Klamasteris, Justin Lose and Linus Zetterstrom. The hype around this team, especially after a couple of seasons and we were all 700 TPE+ was immense and it was frustrating that we just didn’t win anything. Out of the 5 season I played with Riga, we only made to the playoffs twice. I never won a VHL playoff round in my career but that wasn’t for a lack of trying. I ended up going IA for a little while and during that time my contract with Riga expired. I was picked up as a free agent by the D.C. Dragons and it was there that I would have my best season as a player, playing as a defenseman.

 

VHL – Regular Season

 

It took McCloud a few seasons to adapt to the speed of the VHL and to start to produce semi-decent numbers. In his debut season McCloud put up 40 points in 72 games played, scoring 19 goals in his debut campaign. Due to the nature of the Riga roster, the time was split pretty evenly amongst the prospects but 40 points is ok for a rookie. Not amazing but not terrible either. The 2^nd season wasn’t much better, his points tally went up to 48 points and scoring and extra 3 goals. He played similar minutes to the previous season but some of the other players on the roster gained a lot more ice-time, leading to them having larger points totals and I noticed I was again starting to play that support role like I did when I was in Vegas.

In his 3^rd season with the Reign, Artair had a bit of jump in his production on the team. He put up 30 goals and 66 points in that season, mainly due to the fact that he was playing about an extra 6/7 minutes a night. Some random stats from that season, he took 441 shots, scored 10 times on the powerplay and he also scored a short-handed goal. The following 2 seasons, he had the same sort of level of production, with his eclipsing the 30-goal mark and scoring 70 and 72 points respectively.

He played 1 season for the D.C. Dragons in which he hit a career high 92 playing as a defenseman. He was also nominated and won some unofficial VHL awards that season, a somewhat highlight of his playing career

I don’t really have much more to say about my last few seasons at Riga nor my season playing for D.C. as this was around the time, I went IA and it doesn’t feel right to comment on them since I don’t really know what happened. I enjoyed my time at Riga and the locker room was amazing to be apart of even though we were one of the most cursed teams in modern VHL times.

His VHL regular season stats ended as follows: GP – 432 G – 164 A – 224 P – 388

 

VHL - Playoffs

 

There isn’t really a whole lot to talk about when it comes to McCloud’s VHL playoffs since he only took part in 2 playoffs series and lost them both #blamesimon. McCloud would continue as being more of a playoff player. In S76, he got his first taste of playoff experience and he would be able to shine as he was joint team top scorer with 3 points despite averaging 12 less minutes a night than the teammates, he shared top spot with. In S79 he claimed the top spot in team point scoring all for himself, putting up 7 points in 5 games. This was unfortunately not enough to help push his team over the line and he lost yet another playoff series.

So, after those 2 playoff attempts his stats were: GP – 9 G – 4 A – 6 P – 10

 

The Last Dance

 

When I came back to the league, I decided that since I only had one more season left that I want to go for a cup. So, when Rome GM Rockstar asked me if I wanted to play for the Gladiators in my final season, I said yes. (Sidenote: This led to possible my most notable moment as a VHL member to date, there was an issue because I had been IA that I was contracted still to D.C. so I was still their player. A big thank you to GM Enorama for letting my play for Rome in my final year). I was gunning for that cup but I also wanted to show everyone what McCloud was capable off, even if it was in the VHLE. He was the top defensemen in the VHLE this season and he finally achieved what he had sought after his entire career, a playoff championship. We had assembled a great team here in Rome with the likes of Pekko Viitanen, Drakon Zabastovka and Boris Tsezar at all ends of the ice.. A big thank you to all my teammates in Rome for helping me go out with a bang… WE DID IT!!!!

 

VHLE – Regular Season

 

McCloud had a stormer of a season playing on Rome. As one of their marquee signings, he had a duty to perform at the highest level for his team and he did just that. He put up a staggering 91 points and claimed his spot as the top defensemen in the VHLE that season. This was a monumental achievement as he now stood alone as the best Dman in the VHLE.

That season’s stats were: GP – 72 G – 22 A – 66 P – 91

 

VHLE – Playoffs

 

This playoffs run was about getting over the line, no matter if he scored 1 point or 20. As long as he got to hoist the cup, that’s what mattered. He scored 10 points in Rome’s playoff run contributing 3 goals to their tally. He also put up a man of the match performance in Game 5 of the finals having a hand in all 3 goals, in a 3-2 win of Cologne to help keep that dream alive.

His playoffs stats for the run were: GP – 12 G – 3 A – 7 P – 10

 

Conclusion

 

Well, that was a very long rabble but it was nice to go through and see just what I was able to achieve with my first player in the VHL. In case you didn’t know, I have re-created and my new player is Fraser Wallace and I’m hoping that I will be able to use all the knowledge I have gained from my first player and take the VHL by storm this time round.

 

P.S. I was really close to hitting the 2000-word mark so I’m just gonna tell some of my other memorable moments from my first player in the VHL. During one of the VHL charity streams, I was last in nearly all of the marble races which is just absurd considering that game is literally all chance. Another being that everyone seemed to like the name of my player, I think in the creation thread someone made a comment about it being one of the best names in the draft.

 

2030 words

[Hoopydog 195]

Claiming 1/4 for week ending 20/03

[Hoopydog 195]

Claiming week 2/4 for week ending 27/03

[Hoopydog 195]

Claiming week 3/4 for week ending 03/04

[Hoopydog 195]

Claiming week 4/4 for week ending 10/04