My "First Gen" Experience, A Career Revived

[Arce 755]

My experience as a "first gen" was a bit different than most. I have seen the rise and fall of the empire. I had been gone 10 years, so when I got the e-mail to come back I decided to check out how the old place was doing. Who was still around? To my surprise there was more than a handful of OG/older members still playing a big part of the forum. Including @Beketovwho had taken on the role as Commissioner. Now, this was old news at this point to most, but very new to me. I still recall seeing Bek get banned after I came into the league, but never thought anything of it since I did not know him. I am really glad to see him in this role, having interacted with Bek since my return quite a few times in the Moscow server/ Main.  I saw some old friends such as Fresco, v.2, Frank (I drafted his first player!, and some sightings of the site's founder and my former GM Scotty Campbell. Even though I had a Hall of Fame player, I have GMed om the VHL and VHLE, and even Commissioned the VHLM, I still was a first gen since I had not had an active player since defenseman Frans Spelman, who turned out actually pretty good if you look at his stats despite me going IA at the end. First step I knew was of course to create a player. Wait what? There is a freaking portal now? This is really cool. Okay done. It came time to claim my first TPE, where was my player update thread? Wait it's all done on the portal now? This is awesome. I can do the attributes right there too after approval, no manual math needed by me and no manual counting needing to be done by the updater? This is sick. The portal experience was a complete game changer, and definitely puts the modern day VHL over the old ways of which we did things.

 

VHLM:

 

First up was my player of course would have to play in the VHLM. I joined in the off-season with things about to start so I would not be drafted until the following season. Sweet, I get to choose my VHLM team for a full season before being drafted and hopefully moving up. I get offers, I know none of these GM's. It was the typical cringe hashtag posts we were accustom to at the time. I hated using it when I was Houston's GM so I got more personal with my pitches as I went on, and it also seemed to workout better. Anyway, the pitches came in and I had some options. As usual, the already loaded up playoff teams were offering me 3rd line minutes, some 2nd line. I looked over the rosters and decided to improve my draft stock, I would join the Mexico City Kings who offered me first line minutes. We may not be a loaded contender, but I could be the best player on the team and who knows what could happen after a few waiver pick ups. We had a goaltender that I befriended immediately, Boris Tsezar@comrade catand defenseman Dabnad Shaw @Dabnadwhich we all congregated after every sim to discuss. @youloser1337was our GM, and I thought he did a great job. He was very interactive in the locker room and created a good atmosphere for new members along with @Vicewho was the one who sent the pitch for me to join Mexico City. Those guys helped me, Comrade and Dabnad get started and gave us the tools to succeed going forward. My player Ronan Lavelle faired well having 42 goals, 41 assists for 83 points in 72 games played. Mexico City qualified for the playoffs as the last seed. We played a supercharged Ottawa Lynx team and got swept, but we kept almost every game close. Departing from that team was sad because we would all go our separate ways. I was to head to the VHLE, where Boris and Shaw would play one more season down in the M. The trio would have to be separated.

 

The Drafts/VHLE:

 

It was then time for the S82 drafts. I was to be drafted to my VHL team, as well as my VHLE team for the S82 season. As a max earner, I knew I would only be spending one season down there. I fully expected to be taken at the end of the first round/early second round. I was max earning, but I was still new. GM's could consider me a risk considering my history of trying to come back over the years always fell short. @EnoramaGM of the Dragons had already reached out to me if I was interested in playing for DC. I replied of course, I was happy to try to help any of these teams win. DC was one high on my list. I like how Eno ran his team, his more laid back persona and the most appealing part for me is they never won. I wanted to be their featured forward and help them win a Continental Cup. Eno had been the GM there since the franchise entered the league, he was long overdue for a win. I would be drafted 7th overall, so Bubbles Utonium @fishyand I were DC's first round selections. Bubbles would play for the Vasteras Iron Eagles for their VHLE season before joining me in S83 for our rookie seasons. Fishy was always known for fun locker room sass, fire playlist themes, and posting delicious morning drinks. I would go on to be selected in the VHLE draft by the Geneva Rush, @UnknownMinionwas clearly in the lab wheeling and dealing trades. I was going there 9th overall where Geneva had already selected goaltender Miervaldis Arpa and defenseman Milan Dvorak. I never played in the VHLE, so this was definitely a new experience for me. I was also re-united with Dabnad Shaw as he was selected by Geneva as well and was to play for them when he made the jump to the E. Despite the locked and loaded roster we had on paper, we somehow missed the playoffs entirely. We had the Board Game Clue on Skates @MubbleFubblesjoin us via trade. We had two of the best forwards in the league in Mubbles and myself and we somehow missed. It was odd to say the least. Lavelle finished with 101 points and 49 goals to win MVP honors. The Board Game Clue on Skates also was a 40+ goal scorer. It was just a very odd turn of events, I think it baffled all of us. But all in all, I did enjoy my first VHLE experience.

 

The VHL

 

We are now at where I currently play, the VHL! All the hard work for this moment. I was getting ready to enter my rookie season in S83. I was on a team for the first time with @JardyB10as his defenseman Poopy Peepants and my old friend @scoopfrom the Davos days' own Taylor Mourning also joined DC. Usually Jardy was on the other side, most notoriously on my biggest defeat as a GM as Jardy's Calgary Wranglers defeated my Madrid Thunder in the Cup finals all those years ago. I never forgot about that, Jardy certainly never let me forget it. But we were allies for a few seasons, and it was a fun few seasons. We also got to have Tui Sova's @v.2 final few seasons as apart of DC. He got off to a slow start, but after that never looked back as he was one of the best offensive defensemen in the whole league at the tail end of his career. We also acquired 3 time cup winner Corey Kitson on the blue line @Nykonax. Not only did we gain Kitson's valuable experience, but Nyko knew what it took to win and was very vocal trying to help in the locker room. One of the best all around additions the team has ever had. The rookie season usually hurts, and I got the typical rookie beating. I finished with just 13 goals and 40 points with my sniper build in S83. However, I would go on to rebound in S84 as we acquired the legendary Duncan Idaho @OrbitingDeath and I had the honors of being is linemate. This would land me with 38 goals and 98 total points. The heartbreaker was we couldn't win Idaho a cup in his final season, despite being the first place team in the North American Conference. Losing that series to Seattle hurt, and the series loss was comparable when I was on Davos and we lost to Riga, a bitter loss to a bitter rival. S85 we would have a different team. Peepants and Mourning went off to free agency in New York, Idaho had to retire. However, we gained Baxter Arcanum @ctotsback to active status, which was huge. Ctots is someone you also love to have in the locker room. His defenseman getting bolstered again was what I believe pushed us over in S85 to go the distance. People underestimate these roles, but they are so critical in a cap tight league. We got Nezuko@Baoziin free agency and that filled a massive void. Now we would have Lavelle and Nezuko as the line 1 and line 2 checking forwards. Lavelle and Nezuko would also be amongst the league leaders in shots on goal, so the offensive void had been filled. Still, DC needed one more piece. Eno went out and got that piece by trading for Darth Kaprizov @Darth Kaprizovto solidify DC's top 6. We also had the honors of having my old VHLE teammate back Milan Dvorak @solasso our defense was set. It was exactly what we needed. Our team went the distance, and I forgot how sweet winning the cup in this league felt. After going down 0-2 to Chicago in the conference finals, we would storm back and win 4 straight to advance to play Moscow for all the marbles. After splitting the first 2 games 1-1. DC would go on to win the next 3 to capture their first hardware in franchise history. I also received the honors for Playoff MVP, so it was just the cherry on top kind of ending. I would say overall my first gen experience has been a lot of fun, and it makes me happy to see my player thriving. I always had faith in my build, it just makes me really happy to see it pay off. What holds next for me and my player? Even I don't know, so we will all find out! This write was a lot of fun.

 

Word Count: 2057

Weeks Ending: 12/11, 12/18, 12/25, 1/1

Edited December 23, 2022 by Arce

[JardyB10 4,865]

You know you could probably submit this as a Biography career point task

 

Your comeback experience really hit all the classic VHL beats I feel! Also I felt the exact same way with joining and then later helping run a VHLM team; hated the hashtags, and was more interested in being an impact player on a bubble team than being useless on a stacked team.

 

It was great playing with you in D.C., I kind of regret leaving that locker room! (But also I can never keep up with LRs anyway, and also I don’t know how to read books)

[Arce 755]

5 minutes ago, JardyB10 said:

You know you could probably submit this as a Biography career point task

 

Your comeback experience really hit all the classic VHL beats I feel! Also I felt the exact same way with joining and then later helping run a VHLM team; hated the hashtags, and was more interested in being an impact player on a bubble team than being useless on a stacked team.

 

It was great playing with you in D.C., I kind of regret leaving that locker room! (But also I can never keep up with LRs anyway, and also I don’t know how to read books)

The feeling is mutual Jardy! Definitely am hoping to share a LR again with you one day. Best of luck to whatever is coming after Peepants!

[Arce 755]

Claim for week ending 12/18

[Arce 755]

Claim for Christmas bb. 

[Arce 755]

Final claim for 1/1.