What if: VHLM Expansion Teams

[badcolethetitan 799]

What if: VHLM Expansion Teams

 

 

Hello everyone! Today I'll be writing about a What if scenario, this one being, What if there were teams added to the VHLM? What would it look like? How many teams would be added? Where would they be? All of these questions will be answered below so stick around and read up!

 

Expansion Team #1: Boston Brigade:

 

The first expansion team added in my opinion would be the Boston Brigade. The Brigade are currently a team in the JST, and transitioning them over to the VHLM would be fairly easy. You might be asking, why did I pick Boston? Well, this is why I picked Boston. First off, I was debating Chicago, Boston, or another city that is on the Eastern side of the United States of America. I didn't want to add another Canadian team in the league, since there are already four Canadian teams and I feel like that is already enough. When I think of the Brigade, I think of the term "minutemen" who were civilian colonists who independently formed militia in the civil war to fight against the British for our independence. Something about the logo gives me these vibes, and when I think of "minutemen" I immediately think of Boston, as the history of Boston and the Civil War makes sense to fit with the Brigade. The Boston Brigade would slot into the Eastern Conference, with the Philadelphia Reapers, Mississauga Hounds, Ottawa Lynx, Halifax 21st, and Miami Marauders. I also think the color scheme that the Brigade have, red, blue, and white, fit very well into the VHLM and that they'd be an instant hit in the league. Obviously, this is just my opinion, but if there was to be an expansion team, I'd love to see the Boston Brigade potentially become a thing!

 

Expansion Team #2: Seattle Steel:

 

The second expansion team that would be added would be the Seattle Steel. Just like the Brigade, the Steel are currently a team in the JST, and they've had fairly solid results over the past two tournaments that would warrant them potentially being moved to the VHLM. The city picked is Seattle, but it wasn't an easy pick for me like the Brigade. When I think of Steel, I immediately think of something like Detroit, or Chicago (there already is a Chicago Steel team in the USHL), but I needed a Western Conference team. I ended up having three options, St Louis, Minnesota, or Seattle. At the end of the day, I ended up picking Seattle just because of their location to Saskatoon and I feel like this could become an instant rivalry. Two of these teams are fairly close to each other and the Western Conference is super spread out, so I decided to give Saskatoon a buddy that is at least close to them. The Seattle Steel would slot into the Western Conference, with the Saskatoon Wild, Las Vegas Aces, San Diego Marlins, Mexico City Kings, and the Houston Bulls. On top of that, just like the Brigade, the Chicago Steel have a very unique color scheme, in orange, gray, and black, that is not used by another team in the league. I think adding this team into the VHLM would be a great idea, and it would give Saskatoon a close rival!

 

Conference Alignment:

 

This one is fairly easy on how the conferences align, but I'll list them below just in case you skipped over them in the Expansion Team paragraphs:

 

Western Conference:

 

Seattle Steel [NEW]

Saskatoon Wild 

Las Vegas Aces 

San Diego Marlins 

Mexico City Kings 

Houston Bulls 

 

Eastern Conference:

 

Boston Brigade [NEW] 

Mississauga Hounds 

Ottawa Lynx 

Philadelphia Reapers 

Miami Marauders 

Halifax 21st 

 

New Storylines:

 

Eastern Conference:

 

With the Seattle Steel and Boston Brigade being added to the league, there would be new story lines and rivalries being born. For the Eastern Conference, you would have a Reapers vs. Brigade rivalry, the battle of Boston vs Philadelphia, which would be an absolute great rivalry for a new team being added to the league. The Reapers have shown that they're not here to mess around in the VHLM and that they're a team that time and time again can be contenders. Now, match that with a new team coming into the league with a ton of promise, it's already a great rivalry being born. This also doesn't take into account the fact that you could have a Boston vs. Halifax rivalry in the fact that both of these teams are close to the coast, which could be a reason for a rivalry (who knows, kind of just grasping at straws here). The last rivalry I can think about is a 3v3 rivalry! Now in the Eastern Conference, you have three Canadian teams and three American teams, which could sprout it's own rivalry, in which some American/Canadian teams would root for their fellow friends in their country to take down the other country! I think it would be a super fun thing and very unique that you wouldn't be able to see anywhere else. These are just some of the ideas for rivalries, but I bet there are much more that would come out of this that isn't even geographical based.

 

Western Conference:

 

Next up, the Western Conference. With the Seattle Steel being added to the Western Conference, you would now have a rivalry between Saskatoon and Seattle, since they are the closest teams together geographically in this conference. I feel like Saskatoon is a little bit out of place and having a team close to them could really spark some sort of unique rivalry that I for sure would love to see. The next thing I could potentially see is a 2v2v2 rivalry between Seattle+Saskatoon, Las Vegas+San Diego, and Mexico+Houston. This would be a little farfetched and probably wouldn't happen in a sports setting, but it would be pretty funny to see something like this happen, though the odds are pretty low. The last rivalry I could see that is a little funny, is the battle of the teams based in cities starting with a S and the rest of the conference. On one side, you would have Seattle, Saskatoon, and San Diego all rooting for each other up against Las Vegas, Mexico City, and Houston. Again, like the last one, this is a little farfetched and wouldn't happen in a sports setting, but it would be hilarious to see and I would love to see what would come out of it!

 

Closing Thoughts:

 

At the end of the day, there currently isn't a reason to expand the VHLM. I wanted to write something unique and fun this week and I thought you guys would enjoy something that most people probably wouldn't write about. What do you guys think though, do you think my points are valid? If there was to be expansion teams, could you see the Seattle Steel and Boston Brigade potentially becoming a reality, or do you guys think there are better teams suited for the job? Let me know down below and I'd love to hear your thoughts!

[badcolethetitan 799]

Word Count: 1078 (Not Counting Headings and words irrelevant to the Media Spot).

Weeks Claimed Ending: 3/27 and 4/3.

[Masu Chan 429]

Having the two organizations known previously as Minnesota Storm and Yukon Rush go to the VHLE and be rebranded, I do find it interesting to add a couple teams to replace them. It would make the league a little more competitive. 

[badcolethetitan 799]

10 minutes ago, Masu Chan said:

Having the two organizations known previously as Minnesota Storm and Yukon Rush go to the VHLE and be rebranded, I do find it interesting to add a couple teams to replace them. It would make the league a little more competitive. 

I think it would for sure make the league more competitive, but I worry at the fact that it would potentially thin out teams, that's all.

[Hoopydog 195]

This is a really good media spot you've written. You do a good job of giving an explanation to why both of these teams could be potentially used as a expansion team and also how that could give us new rivalries or more heated games. The map graphic and the information/reasoning about conference re-alignment is really cool and also helpful for someone like me who isn't very good at North American geography. I like the the headings being bold and underlined as it give the article a good solid structure. Next time you could make the paragraph text a little bigger, to make it a but easier to read. Overall, very well done! 9.5/10 

[Daniel Janser 1,982]

I cannot argue with your explanations why you would put the teams where you put them (except the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear 'Steel' is Pittsburgh). Alas, I understand why they cannot be put on the East Coast and I love the argument for the Brigade being located in Boston.

 

I find it intriguing that basically all land locked states of the US are ignored by the VHLM never thought of that until you put the teams on the map for us...

[McWolf 3,111]

No Quebec team :[

[Shindigs 1,771]

Am I the only one that gets real confused by cole and McWolf both having the reaper as their pfp?

[Daniel Janser 1,982]

52 minutes ago, Shindigs said:

Am I the only one that gets real confused by cole and McWolf both having the reaper as their pfp?

 

#blamecole

Edited March 25, 2022 by Daniel Janser

[badcolethetitan 799]

8 hours ago, Hoopydog said:

This is a really good media spot you've written. You do a good job of giving an explanation to why both of these teams could be potentially used as a expansion team and also how that could give us new rivalries or more heated games. The map graphic and the information/reasoning about conference re-alignment is really cool and also helpful for someone like me who isn't very good at North American geography. I like the the headings being bold and underlined as it give the article a good solid structure. Next time you could make the paragraph text a little bigger, to make it a but easier to read. Overall, very well done! 9.5/10 

[badcolethetitan 799]

8 hours ago, Daniel Janser said:

I cannot argue with your explanations why you would put the teams where you put them (except the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear 'Steel' is Pittsburgh). Alas, I understand why they cannot be put on the East Coast and I love the argument for the Brigade being located in Boston.

 

I find it intriguing that basically all land locked states of the US are ignored by the VHLM never thought of that until you put the teams on the map for us...

Yeah it's pretty wild. I was thinking about Pittsburgh for the Steel, but I would have to realign the conferences if we were to do that, which could get a bit dicey.

[badcolethetitan 799]

7 hours ago, McWolf said:

No Quebec team :[

Sadly, too many Canadian teams.