Kirby Rambles: Offseason Shenanigans 2, Electric Boogaloo

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INTRODUCTION

It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these, so why don’t we catch up, shall we? Welcome back to Kirby Rambles! Ever since I recreated last month, it’s like a new fire has been ignited within me for the league that I honestly hadn’t had since before my beloved Aussie netminder and potential future HOFer, Lachlan Summers, started depreciating. It’s still crazy to think my first player in the league had become a household name and now leaves a legacy behind as he rides off into the sunset, even if I’m still salty that Warsaw got ousted so quickly from the playoffs and left a sour taste in my mouth. It is what it is, though, and Lachlan’s had one of the best goalie careers in recent memory so I can’t complain too much, honestly.

 

It’s been so exhilarating and rewarding to max earn every week and have every piece of TPE count for something. As I also recreated as a skater this time around after spending my first two years as a goalie, I now had to learn and adapt to the dreaded hybrid attributes, which honestly aren’t as scary as I initially thought they’d be, unlike that potassium-filled event that allegedly occurred ten years ago. River Harrington, a player idea who was first mentioned in one of my .com articles in January of last year, and had previously brought up to Sadie in September of 2022, has been a long time coming. He’s been solid in the small outing he had in the VHLM with Ottawa and the JST thus far. 

 

JST

In the Junior Showcase (probably my favorite offseason tournament of them all), River has 14 points in 14 games and as a defenseman, and being PPG is pretty damn good! I did plan to have him be more of an offensive-minded defenseman, so to see he’s been performing well amongst a lot of high-scoring forwards has been fun to see. However, 5 of his 6 goals have been on the power play, so do with that information as you will. I’ve also realized checking your performance and stats as a skater is a lot more fun than as a goalie. Maybe it’s just because as a tendy, you usually just care for the win, save percentage, whether or not you got a shutout, and call it a day. The Yukon Rush team that the lovely duo of Ethan and Jacob put together are basically the S94 waiver Lynx plus a few other big names, which has proven to be a lethal group.

 

Right now, the Rush are 12-1-1, 9 points clear of the second place Brigade, and also have a game in hand, which marks them as the best JST team I’ve played for thus far after two previous experiences with Lachlan! I’ve been enjoying playing on the same JST team along with my Lynx teammates: Brandon Petan Jr., Slava Kovalenko, and Xhekajs middletoe! Everyone on the Rush has been killing it, and of course it can’t be done without Jacob and Ethan setting efficient lines so we can all play to our potential and kick some ass. The Rush’s beloved Brandon Petan Jr. is leading the tournament in scoring with 23 points, with Harrington being in a 4-way tie for 8th place in the scoring race. He’s third in defenseman scoring right now, but only 1 point behind the two players tied for 1st. 

 

To sum up his stats in a neat paragraph, River has 6 goals and 8 assists in 14 games, totaling 14 points. He has a solid plus/minus of 8 (you love to see it), along with 18 hits and 23 shots blocked. Currently, he’s in a 5-game goal scoring slump so I’d love to see that change with tonight’s sims. It’s definitely been a great outing for Harrington so far, and I can’t really find many other things to complain about. I’m more concerned about bringing that JST championship home and if we keep dominating like this, it’s very much possible.

 

VHLM DISPERSAL DRAFT 

With the VHLM dispersal draft coming up next week, I’m super excited yet anxious to see where River ends up, though I have only received one draft interview so far. Maybe because some GMs know what to expect from a Kirby player now it’s my second rodeo? Who knows. Harrington and Petan Jr. are a self-proclaimed “inseparable duo” since teaser graphics from last summer, and with how the draft board and prospects are stacking up, there could be a chance they could be drafted to the same team. Sadie and I haven’t played on the same squad since Stockholm in S86 which seems like an eternity ago, so we really want to play alongside each other again in some capacity this time around and hopefully not be condemned to the same fate we were in the VHL when we were always so close to playing together, but never quite got there in the end. Fingers crossed we land on the same team at some point in our careers again. 

 

OTHER OFFSEASON TOURNAMENTS

St-Louis and Lachlan will always be a legendary pair of friends who’ve made their mark on the league and beyond. They’re currently fresh off their first vacation post-retirement along with their significant others, and the league will certainly hear from them again in the future. With St-Louis now a part of the DBC and connecting with the stars of tomorrow, Lachlan has still yet to figure out how he’ll return to hockey, and in what capacity. For now, they’re both competing in the Pro-Am with the Flora Vista Foxes, GMed by Mack71 and AGMed by Lucy! Both have been wonderful thus far as we prepare for the index and first set of sims. Lachlan was selected 1st overall by Flora Vista and will ensure they don’t regret it. With other star names like St-Louis, Landon Wolanin, and Daniel Janser, the Foxes are set to make a splash in this offseason’s Pro-Am.

 

To cap off this absurdly long version of Kirby Rambles, Lachlan was also selected for Team World for the World Cup of Hockey! This is the third and last time he’ll have been selected to the squad, and he’ll be the team’s starting goaltender going into the tournament. There’s a hell of a lot of things that I’m looking forward to this time around prior to S95 starting and the fact I was able to spew out over 1,000 words certainly tells the story in itself. For anybody who stuck around, thank you so much for reading and see you in the next edition of Kirby Rambles!

 

Spoiler

word count: 1100, claiming for weeks (7/28) and (8/4)

 

Edited July 24 by kirbithan

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claim 2, for week ending: (8/4)