Prague Starting Strong. Kinnard Falls Short of Winning Titles.

[Tetricide 694]

After his first goal of the season, Nikolas Kauppi celebrates with his linemate Jason @Jason kranz who got an assist on the play to take the lead 2-1 over London United.

 

Season 88 is finally here and the Prague Phantoms are off to a great start at 6 games played and 4 wins. In their first and home opening game against Moscow Menace they won 4-2. Nico Pearce @Spartan  had an early bid on a hat trick within the first period, but unsuccessful despite the 13 shots on net for 60 minutes. Nikolas Kauppi was unable to get any points at all with 3 shots. Prague faced London United afterwards in one hell of a showdown where the winner was determined by shootout. Outshot by London 45 to 37, Prague would stand victorious as Pearce sniped the game winner blocker-side against Jesse Teno @aimkin. Kauppi would also find his first goal of the season this game after deflecting a shot by teammate Jason. "Haha, yeah...about that one. It's weird because I feel like everyone practices these every day and you don't expect it to go exactly like that. After the faceoff, I just parked my ass in front of the net. Next thing I know, Jason fires away and I put my stick up just in time for it to go off and into the net. I'm not even sure Teno saw it go." Of the 3 overtime/shootout games, Prague has secured the wins of each of them, leaving their only regulation game win so far being the home opener against Moscow. The recent acquisitions before the start of the season seem to play a big part of their success so far and Prague looks to be a serious contender for the playoffs this season.

 

 

 

GM Leonard S. Kinnard's look of approval as he watches his team, the Steel, in the JST.

 

Leonard S. Kinnard, AGM for the Calgary Wranglers, stepped up to the off-season plate yet again -- this time GMing for both the JST and ProAm. "I actually applied fer everythin' includin' the WJC, but I told 'em to keep me in their pocket in case they needed someone to fill a spot. I loved GMin' the WJC the previous 2 seasons..it was a lot of fun! I just know there's some other talent out there that was like me wantin' a chance to get a team to take home a medal. I was excited to be selected fer both the Junior Showcase and Pro American. Two completely different tournaments that can't really be compared. The JST was a really good experience of seein' new talent comin' into the VHL world to show what they got! I'll tell ya', these guys and gals are truly somethin' else. We've got some serious talent down in the Minors right now and I can't wait to see some of 'em when they get to the VHL. I did get to the playoffs in both tournaments as well! I can't say it was totally unexpected, but you just never know in these kinds of things! The Steel, my JST team, had an incredible sense of synergy towards the end. We took the Royals to game 6 of the semis, but they were just the better team in the end. In the ProAm, we had a totally different success story! We had players from different sorts of leagues, and I even got to give the team its own name. I decided on Skål and Bones, a play on the words 'skull and bones'! I'm a sucker fer pirates, vikings, and the like and I thought it was clever. Well, anyway, I drafted some insanely talented players to the team and I am truly proud of them. We had some serious competition and they surpassed any expectations I had in all our games. In the end, we got shutout in the serious against the Pandas and got the bronze. Now that we're back to the regular season, I'm in studyin' mode. One day I'll manage a team out here fer a regular season. When and where is the real question!" Kinnard hopes he can continue to instill confidence and pride in the teams he manages in the future. His current sights are on the VHLE.

 

663 words. Claiming as PT for week ending April 9, 2023.