Why (and How to) Join the VHL?

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Why (and How to) Join the VHL?

 

Welcome to the Victory Hockey League (aka VHL)! If you love hockey, sim leagues, online community, writing, podcasting, making graphics, or any combination of those, you should check out the VHL!

 

What is the VHL?

We are one of the longest-running hockey sim leagues on the internet with over 90 seasons of rich history completed over a 16-year span. The VHL currently has 16 teams split into the North American and European Conferences, with two smaller developmental leagues (VHL Europe and VHL Minor). To enjoy this much continuity and stability, many dedicated members are required and the VHL definitely has had a lot throughout the years. But, we can always use more and we’d love you to join us and share your love of hockey and unique content with the rest of our league! Like most things, the amount of enjoyment and success you get is determined by how much you put into your player and the league. The more points you earn for your player, the better they’ll play and the more fun you’ll have. Similarly, the more you interact with the community (either via the forums or Discord), the more connected and invested you’ll hopefully become.

 

Some quick facts: The VHL sites include the Forums, a Portal, and Discord. You don’t necessarily need to use all three to enjoy your player, but each site have different aspects that give you more information. The VHL runs on the Simon Tremblay Hockey Simulator or STHS. You don’t need to download the sim client to develop your player.

 

Sounds like fun? Here’s a brief guide/index on how you can get started on your VHL career:

 

Step 1: Make an account and create a player.

Go to the VHL Forums and create an account. Then go to the Portal and begin creating your player. You have a lot of options when creating your player so have fun with it? Want to emulate a real player, create your alter ego, or use a pop culture reference? Go ahead! As long as the name is not offensive, it should be accepted. You can choose your players’ position, height, weight and nationality (which will determine where your player may participate in various world tournaments that happen during the off-season). Then you’ll receive 30 TPE (Total Points Earned – our points system for upgrading players) or more depending when you join and then you’ll be able to apply them to different categories (and thus become TPA or Total Points Applied).

 

For more details on these steps, please check out this Create a Player guide and How to Update guide by @Will and the Player Build guide by @Gustav . Of note, skaters add TPE to VHL “hybrid” attributes that fractionally increase one or more of the SHTS attributes. Goalies follow the STHS attributes.

 

Step 2: Earn more TPE (Total Points Earned) and add them to your player

There are a lot of ways you can earn TPE for your player’s development. Every week (Monday-Sunday) you have the opportunity to earn Capped TPE to a maximum of 12. Then there are other opportunities throughout the season to earn extra Uncapped TPE (Practice Facility, Career Tasks, Fantasy, Special Events, etc.) Again, @Will has a great guide on How to Earn TPE.

 

Step 3: Join a Team

Depending when your player’s career starts during the VHL season, you will either be contacted on the Forums by VHLM (Minor League) General Managers with offers to join their team and you will then be able to pick a team for the remainder of the season or you’ll wait a bit and go straight to the VHLM Draft. If you signed for the remainder of the season, you’ll be released at the time of the Draft and become eligible to be drafted by any of the 10 VHLM teams. As you build up TPA in your player, you’ll eventually graduate to the VHLE and then the VHL. Skipping the VHLE is a possibility for fast earners.

 

For more details on how you join a team, please see this guide by @eaglesfan036

 

After you join a team, there will be lots of members who will give you a hand and answer any questions you may have. The General Manager (GM), Assistant General Manager (AGM), your teammates, and other staff are always willing to make you introduction into the VHL a fun and worthwhile experience. You can also ask questions on the Discord channel #newcomers-help

 

Here are some other links you may find useful:

New Member Guide

VHL Rules

VHL Code of Conduct

VHL Hall of Fame/History (Useful for Trivia)

 

Championship Trophies:

VHL – Continental Cup

VHLE – Renaissance Cup

VHLM – Founder’s Cup

 

We hope you join us and enjoy the thrill of bringing your player up through the system to the big league and hopefully feel the elation of winning a Continental Cup!