Three Musketeers - VHL Lore

[Dabnad 172]

Well well well, guess who’s back, back again, Shaw is back, tell a friend. Okay no more references (for now), everyone knows what the theme week is, which is VHL lore, so you might be wondering what I’ll be talking about. Now of course, I’m not the oldest member at all, and I’ve definitely missed a big part of the VHL, as I was not even alive when the VHL started, meaning I only know about incredibly recent news. This lore includes not only one of the best VHL forwards, who there is even an award named after, however, also one of the best shot blockers in VHL history, and an incredible goalie, who stamped his legend in the history of the E. This is the story about the three Mosquitos.

 

Now, many of you must be wondering, Shaw, what the heck are the three musketeers, and who are they, why are they so important? Well let’s start from the very beginning of the story. The day was December 12th, 2021. A kid named Dabnad was scrolling the internet to see a random YouTuber. He was interesting, so decided to click on a video posted. In that video, he saw that the YouTuber was promoting this league called the “VHL”. As a curious kid, Dabnad decided to take a shot at whatever this was, deciding to create a character, calling him Dabnad Shaw. As soon as Dabnad clicked create, within seconds, he saw an offer from a team called the “Mexico City Kings”. Not knowing what he was supposed to do, he decided to simply accept the offer, and that become the start of an incredible friendship, one which lasted years, and in part, continues till day. 
 

When Shaw comes into the discord locker room of this new team, he is incredibly excited to meet everyone. Right off the bat, Shaw meets @youloser1337, the general manager of the team. With many questions, Dabnad decides to bombard the man with questions, asking about the leauge, and all the information about how it works. In the process, he sees a man emerge from the darkness, a man who is somehow everywhere you go, Mr. @Lemorse7, Lemorse himself. While I do not remember much about the interaction with him, what I do remember was that being with him was going to be a great experience, so I decided to give this experience a shot. I also quickly found out he was not on our team, which was a confusing experience.

 

As the conversation with the GM was slowing down, we meet one of the mosquitoes arise from the darkness. His profile picture of the minions girl catches my attention quickly, making me think that this league was of those mainly my age (I later find this was not the case, he was old, however, this is important as it let me calm my senses of stranger danger). We start a small conversation, and this man helps me calm my nerves for what this leauge was. This man was none other than the 2x Mike Szatkowski Trophy, and 1x Victory cup winner, Ronan Lavelle @Arce, also known as Arcey! Also the name for the now Defunct VHLE Ronan Lavelle trophy, awarded to the MVP of the VHLE. Arcey was the first musketeer to meet Shaw.

 

Shaw later goes offline, and decides that he should take a look at the forum, and see what that’s about. So he decides to go over the entire form. He sees the way the game works, and sees the different ways to create a player. Shaw decides that it would be best to simply put all his points on defence because it felt like the most important part of a defenceman. For Shaw, his favourite player was Quinn Hughes, so he believed that he should create a player as the exact opposite of his favourite player. After taking a look at the different forums, the rich history, and realizing that he joined the team at a super random time, he decided to start earning, so he decided to start earning a bit. Between his different earning strategies, he checks back on the discord server, to see if there is anything else for him to know, and here, is where he meets the final mosquito.

 

Dabnad goes back on discord, and he sees this guy, his name is comrade cat (????). Now, for a young kid, who was told to stay away from Russian bots, this did not seem like a good idea, but he decides, why not take a shot, and here, Shaw meets the third, and final musketeer, Florida Man trophy winner, Boris Tsezar @comrade cat. Turns out Boris was not Russian, rather a Québécois. Honestly made my worrying worse (JK). Now even if this man was from Quebec, he had a welcoming attitude towards all new comers. He was such a friendly person, and heavily influenced Shaw into staying into the league. After debating about staying or not for a while, Shaw decided to stay, and thus began, the story of the three mosquitoes.

Over time, the relation between these three players grew, from becoming simply teammates, to becoming friends, to becoming an incredible trio, and an unmesswithable team. The three musketeers became instantly impactful in terms of playing for the Mexico City Kings. While all three player a different position, their on and off ice chemistry was amazing. This trio was beyond expected, and while they couldn’t bring their team to a finals win, all three imprinted their legacy on the team.  Ronan Lavelle, or Arcey was one of the best goal scorers in the whole league, and the numbers showed it, being one of the top players in terms of goals per game in Mexico City History. Boris Tsezar having the 9th highest SV% of all players who played over 70 games in a season for Mexico City, and Dabnad Shaw blocking 74 shots in just 36 games, having one of the best shots blocked/game in the history of Mexico City History, the three truly defined what it meant to be a King (the self glaze is crazy Ik).

 

While the three had an unforgettable run, filled with friendship and trust, it had to unfortunately come to the end, as we approached the VHLE draft. While Boris was a season older than the other two, there was a small hope that the three would unite once again, back in ROM. Using @Gustav ‘s VHL draft predictions (there are no good VHLE draft predictions so we use what we have), Ronan is predicted to go at 13, while Shaw is expected at 23, both to different teams. The draft comes around, pick 1 goes, then pick 2, so on until pick 7 rolls around. This is where Ronan is holding his teeth, cause he knows this is where he has a chance, however, he isn’t picked. Two picks later, we see a surprise Ronan is going to Geneva!!! This is huge, because Geneva has another pick, at 23, simply one pick before Shaw is predicted to go! They may reunite! Back in Geneva!! Now, it’s time for the VHL draft, and this one’s a bit more complicated, as said before Boris was drafted a year before to Davos, while Shaw went to Malmo, and Arcey went to DC. 
 

Boris and Arcey unfortunately ended their paths together from this day, as they never shared the same locker room again, calling the end of the official three musketeers, however, the two remained in each others hearts until they retired. Shaw, however, did. Firstly in the VHLE, where all three members of the mosquitoes had outstanding seasons. Shaw, Arcey, and Geneva, while not achieving great team success, achieved an MVP for Arcey, and having Shaw achieve the enforcer role, after reaching 237 hits, and 112 shots blocked, protecting his bud. Arcey’s amazing 100 point campaign, and MVP, also led him to achieve the award name of the VHLE MVP, as now known as the Ronan Lavelle award! While Shaw and Arcey were achieving their success together, Boris was on a one man mission, and he definitely achieved that. Boris decided to lock in, and posted a Bubble-Demko type move. In the S82 VHLE season Boris posted 913 SV% in the regular season, and a 934 SV%(!!!!!) in the playoffs, with 8 wins and simply 4 losses. Not only did he lead his team to a win, however, he also won the playoff MVP, cementing himself in the VHLE forever!

 

All three of these players were good enough to graduate towards the VHL the very next year, and that they did. The three were in their separate paths, and they had incredibly different starts to say the least. Talking about Shaw and Boris, they both had pretty decent starts, Shaw posting 38 points and 174 SB, while Boris posting a 918%. On the other hand, Lavelle had an incredibly poor start, posting just 40 points in his season, however, as you must know, he comes back, and comes back strong. After the first season, it was seeming like the three musketeers were finished forever, until…. 

BORIS IS COMING TO MALMO!!!! (Thanks @Dom) What a move from Malmo, getting such a great goalie and skater for a 4th. Now, as baffling as this move seems now, it must be understood that Boris was IA at this point in his career, which makes the trade a bit more sense). This move not only boosted the morale of Shaw, however, also improved the play of both Shaw and Boris. Don’t believe me? In the first season together, Boris achieved a 010% boost in save percentage, in simply one season. They do say that players block more shots when they like their goalie, and this proves true, as Shaw blocked 231 (!!!!!) shots in the very next season, which is top 35 of all time! Absolutely absurd. Now, while Shaw and Boris were together Arcey may not have been apart of the trio, but he was faring pretty well wasn’t he? The very next year, he scores 50 more points, winning the Dustin Funk trophy!! Now not much changes through the next couple years, Shaw and Boris staying together, while Ronan was tearing it up on his own team! 
 

The season is S88, a couple years ago, we see a new management come into play, with @KaleebtheMighty taking over Malmo. We see Kaleeb make a choice, that will finally finish the era of the three mosquitoes.

 

Damn I got a hull. I’m just built like that . This marks the official end of the three musketeers as we know it in their careers. After spending nearly seasons with a combination of each other, the three have officially been separated, and this time, it is forever. Ronan will go on to have a lustrous career, even making the VHL HOF when he retired. After Arcey retired, he created 2 more players, however, retired both of them before making it to the VHL, and ultimately disappeared, likely due to work/life (also turns out he was like a trillion years old so maybe that’s it) Boris decided to retire the year after, and recreate as a forward, where his recreate plays till day. Shaw decided to play his career out hopping teams, until he retired and decided to take a break until his high school was settled, where after he recreated, and hence the reason you’re reading this now. This was it, while Boris and Shaw are still trying to coordinate a player, it might be the last time we see the three mosquitoes forever.

 

Now, if you had been paying attention to the words I was saying, you might have noticed, “Shaw, I think you’re switching between two words mosquitos and musketeers did you mess up?” Well kinda! Turns out, this trio actually had 2 different names! The first coined by themselves, being the musketeers, where they saw how close they were to one another. The other, coined by @Lemorse7 (I told you he’s somehow everywhere), as a joke that stuck, the three mosquitoes, and iconic trio, and three players, with varying careers and post careers, and three different positions, all meeting up in one place, in one team, through sheer luck that @youloser1337 was active at the perfect time that I registered. Now if this isn’t a lost lore of the VHL, I don’t know what is. At the end of the day, I wish we can meet once again, but this may be it for the three mosquitoes. To Arce and Boris, I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again.

 

This is (OG) Dabnad Shaw, signing off, until next time.

 

2119 words

Week ending Nov 10th - Dec 1st

[comrade cat 283]

Love the entire read having deep detailed lore about literally all three of their careers. reminds me of the fun we had as a trio

Edited November 9 by comrade cat

[youloser1337 1,106]

On 11/8/2024 at 10:16 PM, Dabnad said:

through sheer luck that @youloser1337 was active at the perfect time that I registered

Ah yes, when I used to camp the forum create page while working from home.