The WSH Project: A Semi-Realistic Mearger of the VHL and SHL Part 2: North American Teams

[Will3 415]

Welcome to this multi-part series where I fuse two different sim hockey leagues in a super-sized league that can only exists in my dreams and in my notebook. Before we start, I would like to thank everyone in both forms who commented. I am only human, I am not perfect and this project will not be perfect. But your voices have and will continue to make this project better. I will always appreciate that, even if it means bitterly having to take an L from time to time. It is because of your vocal support, I decided to give you all a gift of a fourth part to this series with a revised, full list of teams taking all the criticism into account and a look at ideas I had that went unused or were changed. Also I will attempt to explain myself the best I can, but if I am not entirely clear on anything in this series, ask for clarification and I will attempt to clear things up. One last thing, if this is the first article in this series that you have read, welcome and I recommend reading part 1 to better understand the logic I used to reach my conclusions. Good talk. Now is the time to explain how I managed to bring the North American teams of the VHL and the SHL together.

 

Two Very Different League

 

After the process of producing the WSHJ was done, I began my prep work to do the some for the major clubs. What made this more troublesome was how different the VHL and the SHL actually are. The VHL is divided into North American teams and European teams. The SHL is split into Eastern and Western haves set entirely in North America. Thankfully a three division league can work on paper with no issues at. With the Europe division not causing any major branding conflicts with the SHL, those teams were put aside for now and will be picked up later.

 

The Pieces to Fit Togther

 

With Europe and it's teams consigned to a later date, it was time metaphorically pull the pieces out of the puzzle box so that I could fit them together. The eight VHL teams in North America are listed below.

 

Calgary Wranglers
Chicago Phoenix
D.C. Dragons
Los Angeles Stars
New York Americans
Seattle Bears
Toronto Legion
Vancouver Wolves 

 

The SHL as it stands has twenty teams in two divisions of ten teams each. Those teams are as follows.

 

SHL East

 

Atlanta Inferno
Baltimore Platoon
Buffalo Stampede
Hamilton Steelhawks
Manhatten Rage
Montreal Patriotes
New England Wolfpack
Philadelphia Forge
Tampa Bay Barracuda
Toronto North Stars

 

SHL West

 

Calgary Dragons
Chicago Syndicate
Edmonton Blizzard
Los Angeles Panthers
Minnesota Monarchs
New Orleans Specters
San Francisco Pride
Seattle Argonauts
Texas Renegades
Winnipeg Aurora

 

The Mostly Clear Picture

 

With everything finally set, it was time begin to put the pieces together to bet a clearer picture of my impossible sim league. Thankfully, with Vancouver and D.C. being the only new markets from the VHL, no major problems emerged. The result of this work is two thirds of the league I called World Simulation Hockey or WSH for short. It is a league with three divisions of eleven teams each. The North American teams of thir league are listed below

 

WSH NA East

 

Atlanta Phoenix
Baltimore Platoon
Buffalo Stampede
D.C. Dragons
Hamilton Steelhawks
Montreal Patriotes
New England Wolfpack
New York Nightmare
Philadelphia Reapers
Tampa Bay Barracuda
Toronto Legion

 

WSH NA West

 

Calgary Wranglers
Chicago Syndicate
Edmonton Blizzard
Los Angeles Stars
Minnesota Monarchs
New Orleans Specters
San Francisco Pride
Seattle Argonauts
Texas Renegades
Vancouver Whalers
Winnipeg Aurora

 

Brand Battles and How I Resolved Them

 

Now to the difficult task of having the branding battle each for the right to survive as per Rule 3. With seven duels to resolve and with some results impacting others, it is a complex web of thinking indeed. Starting in Chicago, I under the reference the Phoenix name connects to; how the city rose from the ashes of it's Great Fire to host the World's Fair. However they are not the only hosting a team in this league defined by a relationship with fire.The Syndicate name connects to a much more well known bit of Chicago history, the mafia of the Prohibition era. Ultimately, the Syndicate takes over Chicago. The Phoenix flies to Atlanta, resulting in a rebrand from a Flames derivative. In LA, there is a similar dilemma. The Panther name in Los Angeles evokes images of the Black Panther Party. LA is also a city defined by celebrity and star power. Ultimately, the Stars shine brighter, impacting a battle on the other side of North America. Toronto was an even fight between two long standing names in their respective leagues. However, I really can't have Stars and North Stars in the same league. Thus the Legion win out. The same logic, which I now dub Rule 5, is the reason that the Vancouver Wolves rebranded into the new Whalers to avoid a similar situation with the Wolfpack. Seattle takes the Argonauts name to keep a connected theme between Vancouver and themselves, something that is consistent in both leagues. NYC's battle was a weird one. On one hand, a historical lost franchise reborn for the modern day. On the other hand, a rough and tumble brand that connects wilth Wall Street. And I chose neither?! Indeed I brought back a name from a former SHL franchise to create something new with the image of the vigilante superhero or super villain looming over a city skyline in my head. The last battle was the easiest to resolve. The Wranglers name not only better connects to Calgary, but the Dragons name is also used by the only unchallenged VHL brand. And I explained the Reapers in Part 1, so everything is now explained.

 

Conclusion and Possible New Conflict

 

There were a lot of chain reactions with this one. Decisions in one brand battle often effected a different battle. And I might not be done with changes. The application of Rule 5 is judgment call. There are others brands that might be too close to each other both in the teams presented and not yet presented. Platoon verses Legion, for example. The Steelhawks are definitely caught in a Rule 5 dispute with a European club. Please continue  to let me know what needs changed and what I need to reconsider for the full list to come. Next week, I mentally cross the pond to explain the third major division of the WSH and what I did to the VHLE. Goodbye until then.