Thoughts Heading Into the Post Season

[der meister 3,337]

Sometimes I feel like everyone around me is Leslie Neilson in Airplane, when he comes into the cockpit and says, "Good luck; we're all counting on you." On the one hand, it's nice to be needed, to know that people are pulling for me to be successful, but on the other hand, when it feels like everyone needs you, it can get pretty overwhelming, fast. At this point in the article, I'm still not sure if I'm writing about Konstyantyn Shevchenko or myself. Either way, it's a lot of pressure.

 

 

For Shevchenko, he has reliable, soon-to-be retired veterans to depend upon, such as Harry Callahan, who led the VHL in points with 115, and Diego Machado, who joined Callahan in the top 5 for goal scoring. But the truth of the matter is, when the playoffs start and teams really start to key in on shutting down star players, it's the players behind them in the lineup who make or break a series. For the Toronto Legion, it's not a huge stretch to say that their success largely depends on the scoring ability, or lack thereof, from players such as Shevchenko and winger Dorji Khan, who set career highs in his sophomore season in goals, assists, points, plus/minus, shots, and power play goals. That's the kind of growth that you want to see from an individual player, but that teams need to be successful and win it all.

 

Obviously it's hard to say at this point of the post-season, but despite the top two teams in total points being from Europe, I'd give the edge to a team from North America winning the Cup this year. That's not a slight on the league-leading Malmo Nighthawks or the second-place Moscow Menace, but when the three worst teams are in your conference, your numbers will naturally be inflated. To double down, the gap between first and third in Europe is a full 20 points in the standings, but the parity in North America has the difference between the Vancouver Wolves and Toronto Stars at a mere 4 points, with the Calgary Wranglers edging out Toronto by a single point by virtue of having 5 additional overtime "loser points".

 

I can't possibly say enough about the team success stemming not only from the offensive output of our geriatric forwards, but the stellar play of our duo of netminders in Dalkr Vidarsson and Toddly Bobbly. When the team struggled to score, the pair was always ready to bail the team out, and when the offensive juggernauts were rolling, the netminders were always ready to bring some cheer to the locker room and keep things out of reach for opponents. Huge hat tip to both of them on amazing performances in the regular season.

 

For me, as the human writing this actual article, the situation is considerably more complex. Over the past 2 weeks, I've applied for jobs in the US, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand. My oldest child has three college auditions over the next three weekends, another step in the goal of becoming a professional orchestral musician. But with the world on fire, the uncertainty, chaos, and power grab that's in full effect [fuck Elon Musk], my child's collegiate future is suddenly very much up in the air. My novel edits are up to 75% completion and I honestly don't know when I'm going to wrap it up. I'm hoping it's in the next 2 weeks. I will be sending it off to one final independent publisher, and I should remake my website, and start marketing soon, and all of these things, but there's just so much right now that everything feels overwhelming, like everyone is counting on me.

[Banackock 8,318]

Applying to roles all over the place. I assume you don’t have to move but also probably assume you live in the States and based off your thoughts, would be happy to move.

 

I love and appreciate you as a member big guy

[Oddpurplefly 202]

I think Shevchenko and Khan are ready to take the playoffs by storm!

On a personal level, I do hope the everything works out for the better. I know how difficult it can be in times of pressure coming from every direction. Keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep moving ahead.

[der meister 3,337]

1 hour ago, Banackock said:

Applying to roles all over the place. I assume you don’t have to move but also probably assume you live in the States and based off your thoughts, would be happy to move.

 

I love and appreciate you as a member big guy

 

Correct and correct. I own my house outright, but I've grown to hate my town and I see a lot of bad things happening nationally that I don't want my kids to have to experience. Today was an application to a hospital in Quebec. Probably going to start looking more west coast, B.C. area, but I worry a lot about housing prices north of the border. Everywhere I look seems way out of whack.

 

And thanks Bana. Appreciate the kind words. 

[der meister 3,337]

28 minutes ago, Oddpurplefly said:

I think Shevchenko and Khan are ready to take the playoffs by storm!

On a personal level, I do hope the everything works out for the better. I know how difficult it can be in times of pressure coming from every direction. Keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep moving ahead.

 

I hope so!

 

And thank you. The past 20 months have been full survival mode, and I'm sick of it. Survive needs to become thrive before I snap outright.

[Banackock 8,318]

21 minutes ago, der meister said:

 

Correct and correct. I own my house outright, but I've grown to hate my town and I see a lot of bad things happening nationally that I don't want my kids to have to experience. Today was an application to a hospital in Quebec. Probably going to start looking more west coast, B.C. area, but I worry a lot about housing prices north of the border. Everywhere I look seems way out of whack.

 

And thanks Bana. Appreciate the kind words. 

Most places are - especially the bigger cities right now. BC with Toronto etc I’d imagine are the worst. The best would be in Manitoba or Saskatchewan but there’s a reason it’s cheaper there lol. They both are.. plain I think is the nicest way to put it. 
 

Edmonton is affordable but Calgary >> 

 

I get ya. I’d love to be a first time home buyer but costs keep going up, wages don’t. 

[der meister 3,337]

4 minutes ago, Banackock said:

Most places are - especially the bigger cities right now. BC with Toronto etc I’d imagine are the worst. The best would be in Manitoba or Saskatchewan but there’s a reason it’s cheaper there lol. They both are.. plain I think is the nicest way to put it. 
 

Edmonton is affordable but Calgary >> 

 

I get ya. I’d love to be a first time home buyer but costs keep going up, wages don’t. 

 

I was just perusing Zillow in B.C. and jesus christ on a bike. I thought if the house was further from Vancouver it might be affordable, but no, clearly not. Found a house that was roughly the same size but 150k more expensive than mine. Might look more at the Calgary region. I do think we're heading toward a global recession sooner rather than later, and housing prices are going to plummet. This feels like the time where everybody is trying to get theirs before the window closes. My wife and I had applied there for grad school way back when. Really wish we had moved when we were young. Feeling very trapped down here in the states.

[BOOM 8,945]

[Pifferfish 722]

8 hours ago, der meister said:

 

I was just perusing Zillow in B.C. and jesus christ on a bike. I thought if the house was further from Vancouver it might be affordable, but no, clearly not. Found a house that was roughly the same size but 150k more expensive than mine. Might look more at the Calgary region. I do think we're heading toward a global recession sooner rather than later, and housing prices are going to plummet. This feels like the time where everybody is trying to get theirs before the window closes. My wife and I had applied there for grad school way back when. Really wish we had moved when we were young. Feeling very trapped down here in the states.

Just move to Vermont. It's like Canada, but doesn't require switching countries. joking, but for real it's kind of shocking what you say about BC. Pretty sure I saw a news story about a college kid who would fly an hour to Vancouver daily instead of paying the the rent or something. I forget the details.

Edited February 6 by Pifferfish

[der meister 3,337]

5 hours ago, Pifferfish said:

Just move to Vermont. It's like Canada, but doesn't require switching countries. joking, but for real it's kind of shocking what you say about BC. Pretty sure I saw a news story about a college kid who would fly an hour to Vancouver daily instead of paying the the rent or something. I forget the details.

 

I looked at Calgary last night and it's just as bad. What's going on up there?!