Victory Three

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Tuomas ‘The 1400’ Tukio

TPE inflation has been a hot topic the last weeks and with the Board of Governors going to restructure the player store the first step to counter this has been taken. One person who won’t be influenced by this is Tuomas Tukio. The Finnish net minder out of the Higgins agency was the first player in the history of the VHL to reach the 1400 TPE mark. With nothing left to update in his final season he has now officially announced his retirement. Tukio was one of the three members out of the Season 31 draft that surpassed the 1200 mark, something that no draft year has ever done before. Two out of these three members though didn’t actually get drafted as they went to the Cologne Express and the Helsinki Titans due to the GM rule. We congratulate Higgins on his marvelous career with Tukio and wish him success with James Faraday; his new player.

Finally beaten

The New York Americans have had great success this off season with the acquisition of Tuomas Tukio and Wesley Kellinger in free agency and rookie Jakub Linholm making the move from the VHLM to the VHL. These three players have transformed the Americans from a team that got beaten out of the playoffs in Season 37 by the Seattle Bears into an immediate contender. In fact through the first 23 games of the season they did not lose a single game in regulation. That run now has finally come to an end; after two overtime losses versus the Helsinki Titans and the Vasteras Iron Eagles it were the same Eagles that finally found a way to beat the Americans. While the Americans were the dominant force in this game it was goaltender Eggly Bagelface who posted an impressive 42 save shutout. Tukio let through two goals for the Americans to see their impressive run disappear. Watch out for the Americans surging through the rest of the season, they are underway to a Season 38 Continental Cup.

New (and old) faces for the magazine

In issue 192 we made the mention that we had two open vacancies for a writing spot for the VHL Magazine and we are proud to (re)introduce our two writers. We first give a welcome back to Jericho who after a short hiatus from the magazine returned to us and is looking for another long reign at the magazine. Before Jericho’s departure earlier this year he was one of the longest currently tenured members of the magazine, only trailing Higgins who has been a member since the late sixties. Currently it is not yet decided which of the rubrics he will fill weekly. A new face for the VHL magazine would be myself, I had helped boubabi with the re-launch of the VHLM magazine by looking for a way to get enough content to publish when there weren’t enough articles from other writers. With the VHLM Magazine going on for quite a while again, I felt this was a great opportunity to make the jump to the VHL Magazine and I’m happy to be given this chance since there were some great other applicants out there. I will be doing the Victory Three rubric each week, with this being my first one.

Words: 546

Edited May 31, 2014 by Green

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Edition 194:

 

Access Hollywood

The Victory Hockey League has not survived for 38 seasons due to the lack of innovation. The community is always looking out for ways to expend in and keep members attracted to the league. Recently member from the first hour Joey Kendrick has posted a video edit for one of his point tasks, one that announced the VHL Movie coming out in 2014. The video was an actual Jerry Bruckheimer production so Kendrick already has made the connections to Hollywood. While the plans of what to do with it are still a topic of discussion in the VHL League Discussion forum, a short movie could be a great visual way of recruitment. While the VHL remains a text based game, the movie could help people to get to know the Victory Hockey League and see what it is all about. So if you have an idea of your own that could be used for some sort of VHL film or documentary, go to the VHL League Discussion and join the conversation about it in the VHL Films topic. We are looking forward to your thoughts.

 

Quebec Firesale Started

The first trade of Season 38 is finally in the books, usually the trades do not happen in the regular season until the trade deadline where the teams that are out of the playoff picture sell off their stars in the return of future picks and considerations. This season the Quebec City Meute did not wish to wait until the trade deadline as they were desperate for selling a piece who did no longer have any use for the Meute. The player in question is Doug Clifford, who had already announced his retirement from professional hockey. In exchange for a Season 39 third round pick and a Season 40 second round pick he got traded to the Riga Reign. While Clifford had played his whole career as a forward he has suited up as a defenseman so far in his games with Riga.  For the Meute this means they are in the process of selling off the older players that remained on their roster. Quebec is dead last in the league and hope that they can get some future assets in return of their current roster players. They really have to build from scratch again and it started last season with drafting goalie Brock Waldron.

 

Podcasts everywhere

Lately the VHL has seen a sudden increase in different podcasts being created, after a period where the podcast hosted by Devise22, Jericho and Advantage was the only one we know have multiple members trying to find their way in their podcasts. Over the last month we have seen a nice amount of podcasts being published. The podcast we already mentioned, the pajodcast, has seen an increasing follower base over the last months leading the way for the new podcasts. Kendrick has been solid with his Blades of Steel, Seth speaks a lot and invites guests to his podcasts regularly, while AwfulHomesick has his Awful podcast (don’t let the name scare you away) and most recently we have seen Higgins and Draper start their Mad Men podcast. All these podcasts being created is a positive thing as it creates another level of interaction between the players and the league. Let’s be honest, who doesn’t like their own player being highlighted on the air? The podcasts are a great addition to the league, it’s great to hear all the different opinions about all VHL related subjects. Keep up the good work and we will all be tuning in each week.

 

 

 

Words: 590

Edited June 7, 2014 by Green

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Edition 195:

 

 

Goalie records shattered?

There are a lot of records that have been in the record books for a long time and the VHL records are no exception for this.  Anton Nygard of the Vasteras Iron Eagles holds the record for best save percentage since the ninth VHL season. His 0.949 has been unmatched for almost three decades now. The other two records which were set early were done by Steve LaFramboise of the Seattle Bears, in season 10 he set the shutout record to 14; while he set the goals against average record in season 11 to 1.65. His shutout record stood for 17 seasons before CAL G shattered it with 19 shutouts. This season it looks like LaFramboise will also lose his other record. Tuomas Tukio who got signed  as a free agent by the New York Americans is currently on pace to break the record with a goals against average number of 1.59.  It will be interesting to see what happens in Tukio’s remaining 19 games of the regular season.

 

Legion dismantled

This season the Toronto Legion have one more legitimate shot at the Continental Cup and unless something major happens they will likely struggle next season. Earlier this season Anatoli Zhumbayev had announced his retirement a season earlier as expected, Remy LeBeau got told by the VHL he was no longer eligible to continue his career in the league and this week we add another loss to the ever growing list. Evgeny Namestnikov has also announced he will no longer continue his active hockey career. With losing three pieces it remains to be seen what the next move of general manager Tyler Edgar will be. Will they be able to trade their players for future assets or will he be able to get the free agents he needs to compete for another year. Three important pieces are gone, but players like Niklas Lindberg, Ville Sixten, Chico Salmon and Jack Sound remain. Will he find the pieces to complete the puzzle again?

 

A Beautiful Lie?

The Quebec City Meute are having the worst season out of all VHL teams. Sitting in the bottom of the league usually means you can add a decent draft pick. However the Meute do no longer possess their own pick in this draft. In hopes of competing in Season 37 they had traded away their pick to the Helsinki Titans, a pick that might as well turn into the first overall pick. Frank Chadwick, general manager of the Meute talked to the media today about their plans with their second round pick. In this conversation he mentioned that he was particularly charmed by Lukas Nyquist of the Yukon Rush.  With the pick being 11^th overall at best, there are still ten selections that will happen in front of this pick. Is Chadwick putting up a smokescreen to throw people off his true intentions or is he sincerely putting his hopes up for Nyquist? It is an interesting tactic used by Quebec and time will tell what will truly happen with their second round pick this year.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Account has been suspended

 

I think the most of our readers have experienced the ‘ account has been suspended ‘ message on the forum the past week. Invisionzone has a history of putting up announcements like this without any further information. While the visitors just had to guess for the reason it turned out to be something none of us had expected. It was the chat function we had implemented on the forum. According to invisionzone it was illegal use of third party software on their boards as it drained too much of the server resources. It took them a while to took the chat function out before the forum return to its former glory again.  As a replacement we now have a chat room on the top bar navigation of the website. While it’s not an instant messenger between two persons like we were used to, it is at least something if you want to go for a quick chat. I’m quite sure Higgins will explore the options we have to bring a message system back to the forum. To be continued?

 

New blood

No, this is not about True Blood: The Musical. It's related to the Board of Directors. The BoD is always discussing things that influence the league and make the league a better place to stay. The people in the group come and go, but the organization as a whole is something that will keep standing. Every once in a while there is the feeling that we need new blood in the team. Not by killing or sacrificing anyone of course, but simply about bringing in members who we feel have something to say and might have fresh ideas to keep the league going. Currently there are discussions underway about potentially adding members, so it might as well be you. Watch your inbox over the next week as you might be contacted about a potential spot. Keep in mind there is no date set that this will indeed happen, so don’t pin me down on it being this week. There should at least be two new people added, so let’s see what happens in that department.

 

Recruitment drive a big success.

Sterling had big things planned for the S38 recruitment drive. Next to doubling the rewards you can claim with recruiting someone in the period of June 4^th until the trade deadline of June 15^th he also added a couple of prizes for the recruiting members. 25 dollar to be used at will (preferred choice would of course be a VHL donation), a free doubles week, a doubles week or 5 TPE. All the recruiters over this period ended up getting one of the prizes and due to the recruitment drive we are looking to have a solid base for the S40 draft. This is an exciting achievement considering the S39 draft has yet to happen.  There are at least 15 prospects who have already entered the S40 draft pool. Interested in discussing this draft class? Make sure to visit the S40 entry draft discussion topic.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Lottery

The lottery for the Season 39 entry draft has been commenced, the Helsinki Titans who went into the lottery with a 50% chance of getting the first overall pick. They kept their own pick and also had acquired the S39 Quebec first in the deal for Tuomas Tukio. The other teams that went in the lottery were the Calgary Wranglers and the Cologne Express. The Helsinki Titans were the first team that came out of the lottery and they acquired the first pick. The Calgary Wranglers were the second team that had their name called, which means they made a jump from picking at fourth to picking second overall, a great boost for the franchise that is building towards their return at the top. The Titans also got the third overall pick, leaving Cologne as the team that dropped down and has to pick fourth instead of third. The Cologne franchise isn't very lucky with their picks so far, but who knows, maybe next year if they do not manage to reach the playoffs in a strong European conference.
 

Super Cup

It's been three seasons since the first Super Cup was held and that can only mean one thing: the second Super Cup of the VHL will be held in this off-season. Currently applications are being taken for Super Cup commissioners to ensure the event will be more structured than its predecessor. The first edition it was a great idea, but it had a lot of improvements that had to be done. The offline draft that was held due to not all managers being able to draft at the same time got stale. Due to their not being a list of players to pick from, the managers had to look throughout all the rosters to see who was available. Inactives got picked over actives, players who were active weren't selected due to lower TPE amounts. There was a lot to improve. For this season we hope the commissioner will create an online draft, so that the 14+ days that were used last time will be done in two or three hours. The applications for the commissioner spot are currently still open, GM applications should open afterwards, so keep your eyes open if you are interested.

 

Playoffs

The New York Americans and HC Davos Dynamo are currently taking a well deserved rest, but the first round of the playoffs is in full swing. In the North American conference the Legion is giving the Bears a hard time so far. The Bears took the first game with a lot of brute force. Seattle had a total of 78 penalty minutes while Toronto had 77. The first period alone had three general fights break out. It was a tough match up, but both teams showed they would do anything needed to win this. With a 5-2 victory the Bears thought they were looking good for the rest of the series. The Legion however won the next three games in a row and only need one more victory in the next three games to reach the conference final. In the European conference the Reign showed they were the more offensive minded team by giving Eggly Bagelface a hard time. They won the first two games at home before dropping a game in Vasteras. After winning game four the Reign also need one more win to reach the conference finals. Will both series be done after five games or will the Iron Eagles or the Bears push things to seven. Stick around to see what happens in the Victory Hockey League.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Best-of-three

In Season 36 the HC Davos Dynamo bested the Toronto Legion into a surprising cup victory. In Season 37 the Legion repaid the favor. Guess what VHL, these teams would not settle for a tie. The Season 38 cup final is about to begin and again it is between the Toronto Legion and the HC Davos Dynamo. The Swiss team was the favorite to reach the final in the European Conference after claiming the first seed. They defeated the Riga Reign in five games to advance to their third final in as many years. In the North American conference things went a bit different. The semi final was a battle between the retiring goalies Tuomas Tukio and Remy LeBeau. In an epic showdown where there was not a single game with a higher than a one goal differential LeBeau lead his Legion to a third straight final appearance. It will be an exciting finals between the two rivals. For both Davos and Toronto this might be the last season they will manage to sneak into the finals with young teams as Riga and New York continuously improving.

 

Mock Drafts

With the VHL Season coming to an end it’s the time of the year again where all the so called experts predict where each prospect will go. While there are some clear cut favorites to go first overall (like Tyson Stokes, given the connection his agent had to the Titans franchise) this draft could go either way. It is one of the deepest drafts in quite some time and this is great news for Helsinki GM Vince Wong who acquired 50% off this year’s first round draft picks, including the 1^st, 3^rd and 5^th overall.
Next to Stokes all eyes will be on Koji Yamazaki, a player with no former ties to the VHL. He has made quite a name for himself and was one of the main reasons the Turku Outlaws made it to the VHLM finals this year. He could go anywhere between 1 and 6^th overall. Another interesting prospect will be Jackson Miller, Miller is one of the most VHL ready prospects and he could be too good an option to pass over for either Calgary or Helsinki. Miller should definitely be a top 4 pick, otherwise the general managers might be asleep. Where everyone will go, we will find out during draft day. It seems Joey Kendrick is holding another draft party again, so it will be nice to tune into his show for all interested.

 

Super Cup getting into shape.

With the appointment of Mike as commissioner for the Season 38 Super Cup things are finally getting underway for the major event that will take place after this year’s Continental Cup final. The event won’t see players who had already announced their retirement like Kameron Taylor and Sebastian Ball. Jr, but young Season 40 prospects like Jerrick Poole and Thomas O’Malley might be asked to play with the big boys, so it is a great time for the general managers to see what these prospects are capable of. These years teams will be named after another fine class of Hall of Fame players. The following players might get a team named after them: Jochen Walser, Layken Heidt, Josh Vestiquan, Zach Arce, Tomas Jenskovic, Benoit Devereux, Blake Beukeboom and Matt Bentz. With only six teams available it will be exciting to see which of these players will be honored in this tournament. 68 forwards, 29 defenseman and 10 goaltenders will go into the Super Cup Draft with Odin Tordahl as front runner for the first overall pick, as the only player left with over a thousand practice hours.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Your Continental Cup winners
It is over and done, another successful season is in the books for the Victory Hockey League. We have seen a re-born New York Americans squad rage all over the league to ensure a Victory Cup; only to see them outplayed by the Legion to not make it to the finals. The Legion on the other hand had to give up too much to the HC Davos Dynamo. In the final game of the season it was a goalie battle between Lennox Moher and Remy LeBeau and Moher got the best off him. After 72 minutes of hockey the score was still tied at zero each. Shane Baker, who recently announced this was his last season turned out to become the real hometown hero of the Dynamo by defeating Remy LeBeau. With his first goal of the playoffs he brought the Continental Cup back in Davos for the second time in three seasons. The Dynamo are still a young team and are likely to keep competing for seasons. They will likely face a new opponent in the finals next year as currently the Legion do not have a goaltender, it remains to be seen if they can acquire one or decide to go into a rebuild. For the first time in three seasons we should see a different final in Season 39 of the VHL.

 

 

Super cup teams are ready
With the regular season ending the players are suiting up for the next event before they will enjoy their well deserved holidays. First they have to entertain the fans though and what better way to do it with a super cup. All the players that had not retired yet before the application deadline have been put in one big pool of players to draft from. Six general managers went on to make selections to put an Hall of Fame honoring team out of it. The first player selected was no one else than Odin Tordahl, who let the league last season in both goals and assists. He will representing ‘Walser This Way’, the team who is honoring Jochen Walser who was inducted in Season 12. The other Hall of Fame players receiving the honor of having a team named after them are Matt Bentz (inducted in Season 21), Layken Heidt (inducted in Season 13), Blake Beukeboom (inducted in Season 20) and the duo of Josh Vestiquan and Zach Arce which were both inducted in Season 15. Mister Irrelevant this year was Frederik Ernst who played for the Quebec City Meute last season.

 

 

Off season plans
Do not pack your bags yet, the VHL has an action packed off-season coming up. For those that are interested we have the following events planned which could be nice to follow. On Friday July 11^th the 39^th VHL Entry Draft will be held, prospects like Jackson Miller and Tyson Stokes will finally find out who will win the battle to go first overall and meet with their new teams. This is also the day that the Super Cup will have it’s opening games. The Super Cup continues for a few days until the possibility opens to talk to free agents on Sunday. On Monday the teams can start trying to sign the free agents, they will also start their training camps for the next season again. Players who want to make Season 39 there last can also decide to retire that day and enter a new player into the already well looking Season 40 entry draft. And that is still not all for Monday, the facility in which players spend their contract money will also be opened, giving players the opportunity to spend their hard earned contract money. On Tuesday the All Star and Prospect game rosters will be announced and played so tune in there to see all the stars on the ice once more, this might be your last chance to see players like Sebastian Ball Junior, Remy LeBeau, Kameron Taylor and Anatoliy Zhumbayev if they get selected. The semi finals of the Super Cup will be held on Wednesday; together with the Award Ceremony for both the VHL and VHLM. On Thursday we will see who will win the Super Cup and who will get inducted in the S39 Hall of Fame induction.  And after that, it is already time for the pre-season. So forget about packing your bags, there is no time for a holiday while you play in the VHL. We see you on the ice!

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Could the following intro text be added as well?

 

A 7 year anniversary, 200 magazines released. It is quite a festive time in the VHL. With this magazine edition Victory Three will look back on my favorite moments I had in the past nine seasons.

 

 

The Creation of Remy LeBeau

There was a time I was only in one sim league and I figured I would not have the time for another. I was worried the VHL would cost me too much time to make a great player. People that know me by now , know that I am a perfectionist when it comes to building players. I do want to get the most out of it. When Corcoran finally convinced me to give it a try, I decided to go with a themed player and named him Remy LeBeau. LeBeau turned out to be a hot head with anger management issues, which compares him a bit to the character I named him after. I had fun building and creating his character and I believe the Anger Management series I have written were still amongst the favorite media spots that I have written.  I felt like I really created a person instead of just a random piece of statistics (like the players actually are). The only thing I am sorry off, is that I didn’t start listening to the podcasts when I started him. When you listed to the mentions guys like Draper and Samurai7 get on air it made me wonder what was said about Remy LeBeau when I first entered the league.

One Team, One Goal

After my junior season I lead the draft eligible juniors in TPE. Tukio was miles ahead with his recreate TPE, and I’m not sure about Kendrick’s numbers but he was off to Cologne. Going into the draft I had expressed interest to join the Riga Reign, so I asked  Mike what his plans were. Unfortunately he  had acquired Labatte and he felt he had no need for a goalie. The Toronto Legion did need a goaltender, but they did not select me in the top three as they wanted to acquire Nikita Lebedev. Sandro knew Vasteras would pass up on me and Helsinki got Tukio automatically, so they would not waste their 5^th overall pick on another goaltender so in the end I went sixth overall. Me and Lebedev kept each other sharp in our TPE race, in which he kept trying to catch up on me. Sandro’s drafting over the years build a great team and we selected guys like Boubabi, Jackim and FueledByRamen who all were great additions to the locker room. Toronto was a homegrown team for quite a while wanting to reach the same goal together, a cup victory. For a few seasons we were one of the most active locker rooms according to the stats that Victor gathered. The eight seasons I had at Toronto are one big highlight of my time in the VHL, and the team around me was a big reason for picking up two Shaw awards on the way.

The Cup Victory and Kanou Trophy

The highlight of my time here will probably be to finally hold that cup. If I wouldn’t have won it in my seventh season I might as well end up empty handed like Daniel Braxton. When I see the harassment he is still getting from it (all in a friendly matter of course since he does bring it up himself) I don’t think I would want to have my first player end up in the same situation. Luckily we caught a break when the Remy LeBeau voodoo dolls malfunctioned in Season 37 as the Toronto Legion swept the HC Davos Dynamo in one of the quickest Continental Cup finals ever. On top of the victory, my player performed particularly well after a mediocre regular season and turned into a solid play off performer. It was so good that in the voting LeBeau picked up the Daisuke Kanou trophy in a 10-0 voting result. Picking up the ultimate prize with your first player gives you a real sense of accomplishment, and while it is hard to retire and leave him behind, I hope Thomas O’Malley will give me the same amount of joy that LeBeau gave me.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Edition 201:

 

Super Cup Winners

The second VHL Super Cup has come to an end and saw the Vestiquan’s Best end up on top after beating Going Great Heidt’s in the finals. It was an exciting matchup in the finals with a series that went back in forth. In the first game the Vestiquan’s Best managed to take a quick lead in the series. Outshooting their opponent 42-22 they were looking to get a big win, but after two periods the score was still tied at three each. An interference penalty by Luke Riggs caused the powerplay situation where eventually Vestiquan’s Best would grab the win. The powerplay goal by Simon Tremblay turned out to be the difference maker. In a follow up to game one we saw the same kind of offense from Vestiquan’s Best again, this time launching 43 shots towards Mike Szatkowski Jr. Going Great Heidt’s on the other hand also increased their shot number and fired 37 towards Steven Smyl this time. It resulted in a high scoring game and with a 6 to 4 differential the Going Great Heidts managed to tie the series. Jakub Kjellberg was their star player tonight as he scored a hat trick in this matchup.
The Super Cup decision would fell in an all or nothing game 3. And in comparison to the other games, this turned out to be a real goaltending battle. Both Smyl and Szatkowski Jr. played at the top of their level, but the shutout posted by Smyl gave the final victory to Vestiquan’s Best, who also went into the finals as the number one seed. We would like to congratulate all players on another successful tournament. Hope to see you again in three seasons.

 

Jersey Retirement

The Cologne Express might be one of the most attention paying franchises, they held a jersey retirement night for Kameron Taylor in their first home game after his retirement. Kameron Taylor was the first franchise player that suited up for the Express and he stayed loyal to them for six seasons. In his seventh season he got traded to the Riga Reign, in the hopes of bringing him a cup (and get some assets back in Cologne). The retirement night was impressive as there were several old teammates invited to hold a speech about Taylor. Gregory Glass, Evgeny Chekhov, Malcolm Spud and current franchise player David Collier all chimed in some words. Kameron Taylor was touched by honor as he had not expected it to happen. After the revelation he thanked all his former teammates for the wonderful time he had in Cologne. No cups, but a ton of memories. I would like to send my congratulations to Kameron Taylor on behalf of the VHL Magazine crew on this fantastic honor.

 

Upsets

Season 39 is underway and one team in particular is making a name for their selves. The young Helsinki Titans squad shows it is not only experience you need to play a great game of hockey. In the first few games they have managed to win against the standing Continental Cup Champions (Davos) and last year’s Victory Cup winner (New York).  Many predicted Titans to finish outside a playoff position in the strong European conference. Currently they are in a third spot, having pushed the Dynamo outside of the playoffs at the moment. Another team who is currently in the playoffs that nobody really expected is the Toronto Legion. After the retirement of LeBeau they got left with their back-up goaltender TOR G in net. Despite having a back-up they still managed to beat the Vasteras Iron Eagles in a shock 1-0 defeat. The last upset we mention is the one caused by the Calgary Wranglers, the team was still winless after five games, even losing against team that were expected to be worse as them as Quebec. However in their sixth game they finally managed to post a win, and they got the win versus one of the favorites of the European Conference: Riga Reign. Tony Stark finished the final penalty shot of the shootout series, giving Calgary a 2-1 victory.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Recruitment drive big success.

The season 39 recruitment drive has recently started and Sterling made sure there were nice awards to be won again, with the grand prize this year being the NHL15 game for the console of your choice. This seems to have sparked the interest from about everyone in the league as the recruitment seems at an all time high. We are currently looking to have at least four rounds of prospects for the Season 40 VHL Entry Draft, something that has not happened in a long while. The prospects being brought in are showing their worth to the league immediately with bringing in new suggestions for further recruitment and how they feel the league can improve in certain areas. The recruitment drive will run for about a month according to Sterling and since we are just a week in, we will have to wonder where it will stop. The drive so far can already be called a big success and that is a thank you to everyone in the league who has tried their hardest to get new people in.

 

EuropeWatch

The European Conference is the talk of the season. Ever since the start of the season four of the teams have been in an epic battle for the playoff spots. In the first weeks we noticed current champions HC Davos Dynamo sitting out of the playoff picture. In the last weeks however they have recovered and are now back at the top of the league with 44 points, which is two more as the New York Americans from the North American Conference. In Europe they now have a five point lead over the Riga Reign and a nine point lead over the Cologne Express who have now jumped into the playoff picture. The odd team out at the moment are the Vasteras Iron Eagles. The Iron Eagles made some nice acquisitions with Ville Sixten and Niklas Lindberg in the offseason, but so far it does not seem to be enough. If they want to make the playoffs they might need some extra performers on the ice to get past Cologne again. There should be teams selling, so the playoff pieces might be laying around to be acquired. We will keep a close eye on this conference in the rest of the season to see what happens.

 

 

Retired Numbers

It is weird to see that nobody never noticed that retired numbers were being used on the ice. Having your number retired should be a great thing, you would officially be the last person to wear a certain number for the franchise. VHL Commissioner Victor Alfredsson recently made a public appearance again with the shocking announcement that eight of the ten current VHL teams have players playing with actually retired numbers. The two franchises that are actually following the rules are the Dynamo and the Meute, although Quebec has yet to retire his first jersey. Even the Cologne Express who have just retired one jersey (recently they retired Kameron Taylor’s number 19) have a player using his number: rookie Dimothenis Vlasis. I believe that the managers should promote the players to use different numbers while being on their franchises to not step on the shoes of former legends as Brett Slobodzian, Jardy Bunclewirth, Scotty Campbell and Alexander Beketov. The award for most silly double number we can present to Jericho. The player agent of former player Daniel Braxton has his new client Wesley Kellinger play with the exact same number that Braxton wore during his tenure with the New York Americans. Well played !

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Instagram

The VHL is always exploring for new social media platforms that could be successful for future recruitment. Recently the league has taken its first steps into the world of Instagram. For those of you who have not heard of instagram yet, it’s a social media platform used for users to share their photo’s and video’s with the rest of the world. A great way of sharing VHL related hockey photo’s in the hopes of reaching hockey fans all over the world to take their steps into our league. In order to promote the activity of this app, the VHL now gives out 1 free TPE to follow the account, all you need to do is to follow the VHL instagram account with your own and write this down on the forums. After following you are of course free to help out with sharing the posts the VHL made, you might have a follower that could be interested in the league as well. It’s always good to promote new ways of getting people to join the league and you can be a big part of this.

 

This Week

For years we have had the magazine to spread news about the Victory Hockey League and almost one year ago the minor league magazine has seen the light. In order to promote league activity and inform members about everything that happens around the league a new initiative has been set up. VHL(M) This Week. In this segment on the boards two of the Season 40 draftees (Zoidberg and Salvador) will shed their light on all that happens in both the VHL as the VHLM. The first episodes should have been released by now, so if you have not checked it out yet you should really do so (and most of all comment on it, it would be nice to see this starting some discussions). It will be nice to see what these new sections will bring to the league, it should make it more transparent for everyone to see all the headlines gathered together in one place. If you feel like there is something missing, it’s just a first episode, so you could always bring up your suggestions with said members, after all we are all in the same league and we work together to make it an even bigger success than it already is.

 

Mentor program

We all have been rookies to sim leagues at one point and we all know it can be a little overwhelming before you start one for the first time in your life. In order to make this transition easier the VHL has now assembled a crew of mentors to guide the new members with all the questions they have, point them towards all the ways to improve their player and be there as a personal mentor for them. This way we can only hope that the new first generation players stick around and will turn out into the next great one. In order to guide the new players a nice mix of old veterans has been hired, we would like to welcome Phil, Fresco, Streetlight, Beketov and Muffins as the first group of mentors. May you guide your assigned players to stardom, we count on you guys to make this a great success. To request a member (for newly signed up players) you can add this while creating your player, a new option to express your interest in a mentor is added. For those who are already signed up and could use a member, just let it be known and I’m sure one can be assigned to you. Happy tutoring everyone.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Movement in Vasteras

 

At the moment it’s not very quiet in the small city of Vasteras. Recently we have found out that general manager Thomas Corcoran stepped down as general manager of the Iron Eagles franchise. He felt like he had lost touch with the league and after several seasons of hard work he decided to give the franchise to the person who was next in line, Benoit Prévost, the player agent of Nicklas Lindberg. With the change in management the league is currently in an uproar. Like every story there are two sides and this one is no different. Part of the league believes this is the excellent timing to move Vasteras to a different location; a new franchise born out of the ashes of the Iron Eagles. While others are screaming to keep the team where it is right now. The team has had a negative point of view for many of the members and they believe a change in franchise could spark the interest of many players in the league. In the end nobody is either right or wrong and it’s just a matter of opinion. But the decision that will have to be made by the new management and the VHL won’t be satisfying for everyone. We will just have to wait and see what’s in store for the future, will it be the Iron Eagles or will it be something new.

 

Everyone is traded!

 

Usually we have to wait until the actual last day of the trade deadline to see some major deals go through. This year however it felt like the trade deadline was two days earlier. On Thursday the 21^st we have seen several deals go through as the Vasteras Iron Eagles, the Riga Reign and the New York Americans trying to strengthen their rosters. The last mentioned team stayed relatively quiet on the trade market, but they did manage to acquire an upgrade for their roster, combined with a couple of picks going both ways they acquired Bennet Wahl while sending Riley Stevens back to Toronto. In the already tight European Conference Riga feels like they have what it takes to compete for a cup. Despite their confidence they felt the need to add some star power to their team by adding former cup winners Niklas Valiq and Jakub Kjellberg to their roster. They did not lose any other player as they paid for these rentals with their S40 and S41 draft picks. Currently in third place in Europe are the Vasteras Iron Eagles and they also believe they have what it takes to compete for a cup this year. In order to do so we saw a couple of players being traded away days before the deadline would happen. Lauris Prikulis went to Quebec, Adam Kylrad went to Toronto and Cody Inko went towards the Cologne Express. Trading away these players gave them enough room to acquire Chico Salmon and Jack Sound from Toronto (bringing the total of cup winning Legion players in Vasteras to four). The final acquired piece for Vasteras is the return of David Collier who got traded away from the franchise early in his career. It will be interesting to see what these changes will do for the contending teams.

 

Votes are being counted

 

There is no need for a recount as the votes are carefully administered within the VHL Board of Governors, but there is indeed another round of voting going on for the yearly Hall of Fame event. This year saw players like Malcolm Spud, Kameron Taylor, Remy LeBeau and Tuomas Tukio being entered on the ballot. Together with the likes of Max Kroenenburg, Mitch Higgins, Felix Peters, Elijah Incognito, Clark Marcellin and Skylar Rift there will be a decision to see which of them will get inducted in the VHL Hall of Fame and who is removed from the ballot for the years to follow.  Without giving much away it has proven to be an interesting year of voting. For the results we will have to wait until the Hall of Fame induction of Season 39 takes place after the current season has ended, but the voting is in motion.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Power in Numbers

The season 40 draft has been finalized in terms of prospects that can enter the draft. A grand total of eleven centers, thirteen left wings, fifteen right wings, twelve defenceman and three goaltenders have declared themselves eligible. With 54 prospects entering the draft, this is one of the deepest draft classes in the history of the Victory Hockey League. Front runners for the top spots is the trio of Richardson, O’Malley and Cote, but don’t be surprised to see some of them being passed in favor of others. There is so much quality to pick from that you almost can’t go wrong with any pick you make. In a recent mock draft made the top five looked as followed, O’Malley (Express), Cote (Meute), Poole (Legion), Richardson (Titans), Zoidberg (Titans), even without the lottery actually happening it’s interesting to see that the prospect with the most practice hours dropped out of the top three; like we said, it will be a draft of the ages and it will be interesting to see what will happen.

 

A signature of your own?

A new member tournament has just entered his first round which will last until September 4^th. What kind of tournament you might wonder? A graphic tournament where people each round have to submit their signatures in order to decide who will be the best graphics maker on the website (as voted by others). The task for the first round is to make a signature in a ‘Grunge’ style. No idea what to expect from a style like that? The tournament committee has published several sigs that have been made with this style to create some inspiration amongst the makers of the signatures. For all the new players out there, if you do not have a signature yet, this might be the ideal time to score a great signature of your own. Make sure to make it known amongst the competitors that you are looking for a signature to wear. If you ask them nicely enough they might actually say yes and use the signature they make that week in the upcoming tournament. Sixteen graphic makers, one winner. It will be a battle of the ages with a lot of flashy signatures coming in. It will be great to see what people will come up with and what the tasks will be.
 

Sweden or Latvia?

With about ten games to go in the regular season at the time of writing this the playoffs matchups are almost clear. Seattle has a 12 point lead over Calgary and is likely getting home advantage, while the New York Americans are two points away of claiming their bye into the conference finals. In the European conference it is still anyone’s game. The Dynamo are still on top with an eight point lead over Riga and are the likely pick to receive the first round bye. The real battle is going on between the mentioned Reign and the Iron Eagles. With ten games to go the difference between the teams is only one point. In the last matchup between the two teams Vasteras had the chance to get on equal ground, all they needed was to win in regulation. After both goaltenders kept a clean sheet in both regulation and overtime it all came down to a penalty shootout. The only goal in this shootout came from the stick of Niklas Lindberg, who made sure his team still has a shot for home advantage in the playoffs. Ten games, one point difference. Will we first travel to Sweden or Latvia for the first round of the European playoffs? An exciting battle is upon us, stay tuned!

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

It was possible afterall

Year after year the Cologne Express felt like the draft lottery was a necessary evil  since each year so far they lost at least one spot. This year they finished sixth overall in the league, but due to the strength of the European Conference they still missed the playoffs. Missing the playoffs as the highest qualified team would normally have given them the fourth overall selection. This was the first time in years that the Express could not lose a single spot, so things were looking bright for them from the get-go. Any spot moved up was a blessing, despite there being enough talent to take in this year’s draft. When the lottery finally happened the number of the Cologne Express actually got called out meaning they will have the ability to select first overall in this stacked draft. The big question that remains will of course be who they will select, will it be Mason Richardson who is the clear cut number one in terms of practice hours (whose agent also has a connection with the Express) or will it be Thomas O’Malley who has been leading the Ottawa Lynx to a North American Conference number one spot. With these two players being the favorites it’s hard to see them select someone besides them, but in a draft this deep you just never know.

 

Recruitment drive coming to an end.

The month of august was a busy one for the VHL, this month was dedicated to the Season 39 recruitment drive, the biggest in the history of the Victory Hockey League. With great prizes being handed out to several of the recruiters everyone was on the top of their game. In total we saw 15 of the people that recruited get rewarded for their efforts. The rewards varied in scale from 1 TPE and player store money to an actual copy of the newly to be released NHL 15 game or a donation of the games worth to the VHL. The winner has already been contacted and has opted to receive the new game which will be shipped upon release. The recruitment drive was a big success and has also established a nice start for the Season 41 VHL Entry Draft. As a community we should be proud of the result as we did it altogether, even if you did not recruit a person yourself, by helping them and talking to them you are increasing the chances of them sticking around. This recruitment period definitely gets an A+

 

The time of the season

With the Vasteras Iron Eagles winning against the Cologne Express we have seen our last regular season game end. This can only mean one thing: it’s playoff time! With a five game winning streak the Vasteras Iron Eagles have build some confidence to enter the playoffs with a home advantage over the Riga Reign who reside in the third spot. The remaining competitor from Europe is once again the HC Davos Dynamo, who are currently having a subscription on making the finals the last few years.  The performance of the Dynamo this year was good enough to once again receive a bye into the second round. In North America we see the winner of this year’s Victory Cup, the New York Americans. They were simply put the best team this year and it resulted in another great season from the league’s top goal and point scorer: Odin Tordahl. Their opponent will come from the winner of the matchup the Bears and the Wranglers. Seattle is hoping to move into the conference finals as a final goodbye to goaltender Steven Smyl who is retiring, while Calgary is mostly looking for experience for their (much) younger roster. Let the playoffs begin!

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Always sunny in Seattle

In the last magazine edition there had been a calling out towards the Seattle General Manager Tyler Barabash, about how the editorial writer felt like he did not handle the situation properly. Many people consider him one of the less active managers, but after the publication he was quick to give his reply about the current situation in Seattle. The quick reply must have restored some faith for the Bears fans across the Victory Hockey League as they now realize that despite having so many retirees, that their management is aware of the situation and will do anything to get the rebuild going. With the fact that his current most active player might get an offer that will get topped by a different team in the offseason he might be able to get the pieces needed in order to put the rebuild in the right direction. The future might look grim for the Bears, but there always will be sunshine after darkness. It’s just a matter of time before their rebuild heads in the right direction again.

 

Szatkowski Voodoo Dolls

The Voodoo business in Davos seems to have its stocks going up again now the playoffs have started for them. They used voodoo before on Remy LeBeau in Season 36 and it got them their cup. This year it was not the North American Conference they feared most, but their opponent in the European Division as the local witch shop started selling Szatkowski Jr voodoo dolls. Four games into the series they seem to be helping the Dynamo slightly. After losing the first two games they have won two in a row now. Szatkowski Jr. his numbers also have slightly decreased. Four games in he is at a .943 save percentage, which is still high enough to be considered one of the front runners for the Daisuke Kanou trophy if Riga manages to get a hold of the cup. If Davos wants to continue to shine, they better bring some more dolls to the upcoming game in Switzerland, since the Riga goaltender seems to be doing fine despite the voodoo being used against him

 

Slaughter shoots and misses….

Despite being up three to one after four games, the New York Americans are starting to get worried. Not about the playoffs, but about one of their younger stars on their roster. Since the start of the playoffs he just seemed to have lost his scoring touch. He played the most minutes a game of all the New York Skaters, he took the most shots at goal of all the New York players, he got the most power play shifts out of all players; yet he stands on just one assist in these four games. It seems he is eager to try, but last seasons early exit against the Toronto Legion might have given him fear for this years playoffs. New York has enough scoring depth to compensate for Slaughter his playoff fears, but if they want to take the cup home, they might need everyone on their roster playing on the top of their game, it’s time to send Slaughter to a sports psychologist to talk about his problems before it is too late.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Historical Three

 

With the VHL approaching it’s 40th season it will likely be the time for another part of the VHL History series we saw being introduced in Season 20 under the name  “VHL 20 in 20” and continued in Season 30 under the name “VHL 30 in 30”. As someone who got drafted in Season 31 I wasn’t there for anything that actually happened, but if you are interested in the history of the league I do recommend new members to take a look. In this week’s  Victory Three we will be looking at three of my favorites

 

Number 10: The Shortbus

The Shortbus was probably something that in hindsight the league shouldn’t have allowed to happen, but when Robbie Zimmers got named as the manager of the Hamilton Canucks. One of the first moves he made was to actually create the New York Americans franchise as we know it today. With the Americans being a well built franchise at the moment you would see this as a good thing. But the team is not the same it was back in the days. The period from Season 7 until Season 9 got dubbed the shortbus; a period were Zimmers actually tried to bring the franchise to the ground by bringing in players with questionable backgrounds. He wanted his team to be hated all around the league and he probably pulled through. The team wasn’t bad, but the players and the attitude were and with that Zimmers succeeded in his plans of just being an ass towards the league. The reputation of the franchise was hard to restore and it wasn’t until after Grimm Jonsson took over the the Americans finally started to grow into the historic franchise they are today.

 

Number 12: The Cant Miss Kids

Considering the fact that we have more than fifty prospects signed up for the VHL Season 40 Entry Draft I feel like episode number 12 would be a nice one to feature as well. The episode relates to the players who all had the ‘next great one’ stamp on them when they got selected high in their respective entry drafts. With so many available talent in this year, it is possible that the best player in the draft is sleeping in the later rounds, while a player like Thomas O’Malley might be indeed the next one in the category of these  ‘Cant Miss Kids’.  We have had players like Stefan Arnason in the Season 17 entry draft. While coming from a big name agency as he was a client of Hall of Fame resident Scotty Campbell he was expected to be one of the safe bets when he was selected third overall. After a 76 point rookie season, a 85 point sophomore year and a 79 point third season he would retire from his career. Arnason just stopped showing up to practices and due to missing out a lot he no longer had what it took to play professional hockey. That shows that even big names might not work out well for the teams that draft them, making it hard for the current general managers to find out how they can avoid that scenario with their current picks, you definitely don’t want to be the manager that selected the next kid who could not miss.

 

Number 27: End of the Curse(s)

The last one I would like to highlight this week is the history article about the Vasteras curse. The Iron Eagles have been a big topic of discussion in the league, mostly about relocating and rebranding the franchise. New members probably hate on Vasteras by default, just because they hear others do it, it’s probably the right thing to do to fit in right? In the meantime, while it is funny to have this ’30 in 30’ article being about them ending the longest cup drought in the league, they are currently again the franchise that has to wait the longest for a cup. While the Cologne Express may not have one yet, they only been waiting for it since Season 31 when they got created as an expansion team. The end of the curse for Vasteras came in Season 26, 25 seasons after that they won the inaugural VHL season. After years of having a team that should be able to do it, the Iron Eagles finally won the cup again, and they actually felt like that they could have continued that effort for another year to aim for a repeat. But instead of trying to go for their third cup, the team went for a sale of their stars in the hopes of re-building a strong young squad for the future. Needless to say, that firesale did not bring them closer towards another cup as we are now in Season 39 and Vasteras did not make it past the Riga Reign in the conference semi-finals. Their current curse is still ongoing and we can only hope that a potential new franchise can cleanse the history of the Vasteras Curse.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Old and new

With the league celebrating forty seasons of hockey a new event has been launched.  This offseason we can see some of the classic players on the ice again. Have you ever dreamt of seeing Aidan Shaw in action or did you want to catch one last glimpse of Tukka Reikkinen? This is your chance as the Old Boys take on the New Kids in a Hall of Fame tournament. The teams are made up out of Hall of Fame players from two era’s, the old boys are represented by the legends from the Season 18 era and includes big names as Lars Berger, Phil Gerrard and Daisuke Kanou. While the new kids are represented by players like Leeroy Jenkins, Pavel Koradek and Benjamin Glover. The series are well underway now and after four games, you see the new kids in a 3-1 series lead. It’s probably the age catching up to the older players, but it’s fun to see them on the ice even though they are facing much younger opponents.

 

 

Draft doesn’t hold many surprises.

Last week we had the Season 40 entry draft; a draft that has been named one of the biggest in the history of the VHL. A grand total of 44 prospects have heard there name being called, while another seven will be heading towards free agency as they haven’t been picked up by any of the teams. Winners of the draft might be the Cologne Express who landed both the #1 and #2 prospects Thomas O’Malley and Mason Richardson and the Toronto Legion, who made some big moves on draft day making sure they could add Tyler Cote, Jerrick Poole and Sachimo Zoidberg with picks #3, #4 and #5 while also adding talented players like Shadhu Rathod Jr. and Jaime Hill in the second round. The Davos Dynamo who are starting re-building this year also made some nice moves on the defensive end of the game by grabbing both Joshua Rubin as Vladimir Komarov late in the first round. It will be a while before we can see which team truly won the draft as there were many winners this year.

 

Results may vary

Year after year the setup of the training camps has been very similar for all the VHL teams, there were standard training regimes players could follow. This is all different starting Season 40, the training camp regiment has been adjusted for each team as they were now given permission to setup their own training schedules. This way each team can have its players work on the things that the team actually needed. This will hopefully create some parity between them and make the training camps less boring to watch for the local fans, who got tired of seeing the same routines year after year. All the players that are already drafted by a team or are active in the VHL already are eligible for this training camp. So if you are one of the few players who has not visited the training camp yet, make sure you will check them out.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Banner competition

Part of the Season 40 celebrations was the announcement of a banner competition. The submitted banners could also be used as a double point task, making it a nice and rewarding challenge for the graphic specialists that are part of the Victory Hockey League. After a first free for all round where people could cast as many votes as they wanted there has been made a final selection of the banners that have a chance of winning the honors. A total of six banners have been selected and only one can come out on top. Currently there have been 59 votes cast on the banner and it is a race between two horses at this point. Even though the season is already underway as the VHL doesn't stop for anyone or anything, it is sure that the new banner should be put up as soon as the competition ends. The new banner will give the Victory Hockey League a new face and a make the 40th season a true celebration.

 

Hall of Fame inductees

Year after year a selection has to be made; a selection of the greatest goaltenders and skaters the VHL has ever seen. Even though there are a lot of choices of players worthy; only two of them will be inducted in the VHL Hall of Fame. This year it was quite an unique event as there were no skaters inducted at all. The two players inducted were goaltenders Tuomas Tukio and Remy LeBeau. Even though LeBeau seemed like a can't miss scenario for the Hall of Fame induction, his career stats seem like nothing when you compare them to the Finnish goaltender. Tukio, who played for Helsinki, Quebec and New York, ended his career with a performance of the ages. LeBeau on the other hand struggled in his last season but still managed to reach the finals with his Toronto Legion. Unfortunately for LeBeau he did not end with another cup, but neither did Tukio. The two of them both ended up with 1 cup victory, but in the era of the goaltenders they definitely are worthy of this selection. We wish both goaltenders the best in their post-VHL careers.

 

Up or down

 

Every season it seems like it is a returning point amongst some of the members; staying down in the minors or go up and make your debut in the Victory Hockey League. Some of these players rather dominate another year with the other young players then to play a minor role for their VHL squad. In order to stay down, some of them have to make some sacrifices in order of remaining eligible. As they need to be under 175 practice hours before the season starts. Any points gained that cause you to go over are allowed to be scratched, but they will be scratched forever if you do decide to do so. In order to allow people to stay down in the VHLM longer the Board of Governors is now looking into this certain area to see if there are options to improve this in the future. Apparently players feel the need to stay down longer and maybe it will be made possible. If there will be a way, it will likely come with a catch though. But it's good to see that this area is finally being discussed after years of the problem being brought up.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

New York supremacy fades

Just like last season the New York Americans were the talk of the town in the VHL. The reigning champions had once again a fantastic start of the season. They started their season with a great 4-1 victory over the Cologne Express and from there on they also took care of the Reign, Legion, Dynamo, Iron Eagles and Bears franchises in multiple games. It wasn’t until their 13^th game of the season that their impressive streak finally got put to a hold by the Riga Reign, who beat the Americans in their own arena with a 3-2 victory. Johan Hallstrom was the big man at the side of Riga, with two goals within one and a half minute, he transformed the game from being 1-0 down, to being 2-1 up early in the third period to put an end to the New York streak. In the next game the Americans seemed to slip in a downward spiral when they even got shut out by Blaine Olynick, goaltender of the Cologne Express. Former Americans Wesley Kellinger and Andrey Zadorov both scored against their former employee putting the Americans back on two feet. They still have the strongest line up in the league, so it’s a matter of time before they take off for another run.

 

Graphic Competition Showdown

The graphic competition that is organized by boubabi has now reached round five. There are six graphic talents who have survived the previous cuts in the matchups that were held. For the upcoming round there won’t just be a signature that will have to be made, but the remaining artists need to create both an avatar and a signature out of the same render. Moltholt and Mr.Baller will have to use a render of Tuukka Rask, boubabi and Squinty will battle eachother with a render of John Tavares, while the final matchup between Jackim and Frank will be with the Oliver Ekman-Larsson render. The competition so far has resulted in some great signatures for the players in the VHL and is a nice addition to the normal weekly graphics that people make. The creators have until the 15^th of October to knock out their artwork and once they have been submitted to boubabi the audience will be relied on for the voting procedure. Only three people will emerge victorious, so it is likely that the final round will be a round of three people that all three will be going all in for the title of best graphic maker of the VHL. It will be interesting to see how this competition will end.

 

Shock retirement

After spending a few years in the minors forward Percy Miller finally has made it to the VHL. But when he actually heard about him being called up to the big league he instantly announced his retirement. He loved to show off his skills versus other juniors, but unfortunately wasn’t up for the challenge of showing his worth in the big league. The Calgary  Wranglers decided to ship him off to the Vasteras Iron Eagles who were willing  to pay a fourth round pick for his services this year. After getting only 2 point in his first six games it finally looked like he was getting his shit together on the ice last night. When the Iron Eagles visited the Seattle Bears, Percy Miller (or ‘The Motherfucker’ as he likes to call himself) scored the game winning goal on the Vasteras powerplay. While he finally showed his skill to the league, it’s a shame to know this will be one of the few nice things we will see from his career, since after the season is over he will indeed be retired from the Victory Hockey League, another case of a player that will have disappeared to soon. Let’s hope he can go out with a blast so his agent might return with another player.

 

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213, 214 and 215 words, you won't get them closer together then this

Edited October 10, 2014 by Green

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

213, posted early, away for the weekend:

 

 

33 out of 40

With the Victory Hockey League celebrating his 40^th birthday it was time again to get some historic subjects printed on paper, this happens in the so called VHL 40 in 40 series. In these series there is a focus on events that happened in the last ten seasons. The last week another piece in the series has been published, after focusing on the star power goaltenders of the last era and the consecutive playoff runs of the New York Americans the subject of the latest episode covers the recruitment topic. In order of achieving a league that manages to get through rough patches like switching sites due to DDOS attacks you need a strong community, and only by adding people to the community you know you have a league that has a high enough longevity to survive in the long term. Recruitment for that is a tool that needs to be used as much as possible and that’s exactly what is lined out in the latest 40 in 40 episode, so make sure to check it out, it’s a great way to polish up your league history knowledge.

 

A point task for your team.

Once upon a time on a forum far away there was a point task, a point task where each team could highlight a different team’s biggest players in history. These team point tasks have been really exclusive in the VHL so to celebrate the 40^th anniversary (looks like a returning topic throughout the season) the team point task has been brought back for this year. Each team is challenged to create an all star line up for their franchise, highlighting the great players the VHL once had. There are no real restrictions posted, so creativity will play a big part in this point task. With so many hall of fame players in the league, it will provide a nice challenge to decide which players have played a big enough role for the franchises, will Remy LeBeau have what it takes to oust Aidan Shaw? Probably not, but the current team members will decide. Each of the franchises will have his own question marks like these, so it will be great to see the final results when these point tasks are completed. It’s indeed a great way to involve everyone with this anniversary event. 

 

One happy family

The Victory Hockey League is not always about hockey, sometimes it’s about the brighter things in live as well. Take for example the rise of a new phenomenon around the forums:  “the official parenting thread”. With the league being almost eight years old it’s only logical to see that some of the members are having children by now, and what is a better bonding topic than discussing parenting. It gives the parents of the VHL a time to talk about their happiness, their scares and what’s keeping them awake at night. After the start of the thread you have noticed current parents and future parents tuning in to discuss their situations. It is a promising topic and with the circle of life being an everlasting cycle, we can expect this thread to be one of the long lasting topics in the VHL, as there always will be new parents or parents who are expanding their family. Who said expansion is far away in the VHL, it’s members are expanding their families at least and this is a great topic for all of the (future) parents to tune into and make it a success.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

New faces

 

For the past editions of the VHL Magazine you might have recognized that it was mostly lacking pages. Due to the absence of some of the writing staff the editions got smaller and smaller. In order to counter that the editor has decided to hire two new writers: Denver and Métis. We would like to give them a warm welcome and hope to read a lot of great articles from them in the future. Denver was the first person to be hired, he will be the writer for the ‘Headlines’. While he played it cool in his draft year and didn’t show a lot of activity, a few of us knew he did it so he could make sure to end up on a nice and competitive team. Denver is known by a few of us that had stints in the USFL where he found a way to make the most creative media spots in the history of sim leagues. Métis has received a promotion from the VHLM Magazine where he was a consistent writer. While being sometimes a controversial member in the league, this could be great for the magazine as a spark of discussion on his articles. He will be taking over the ‘Ups & Downs’ article that recently was added to the magazine. We wish both writers a lot of success in there writing careers.

 

Another deep draft

 

After a successful Season  40 draft where for the first in a long time we reached a fifth round, we are now starting to look to the prospects who will be entering next year’s draft. The big name in this draft is a goaltender with the name of Niklaus Mikaelson. After a year where the goaltenders seemed to have stopped developing the young Mikaelson already looks to be a better prospect then last year’s goaltenders. Mikaelson will likely end up with a team that needs a future in net and there are several teams that will be interested. Davos, Seattle, Vasteras and Toronto are reportedly all looking for a solution in net and he looks to be the number one option for each of them. Another big name in the draft is Jack Kowalski, a physical defenseman. Kowalski recently made the announcement that he expects to be a front runner for the number one draft position, wanting to give Mikaelson a run for his money. One of the most promising prospects as of late is Borje Samuelsson, who is one of the fastest risers across the board, look for him to solidify himself as a top three pick if he keeps up this pace. A special mention will go to David Blind, who might be the next great Dutch hockey player since Willem Janssen and Ansgar Snijider. He has a long way to go though to reach their level of ability. Once again it will be an exciting draft year coming up.

 

Expect the unexpected

After 31 games in the season it became clear that the dominant era of the Davos Dynamo had come to an end. They were sitting in the last place in the league with a meager nine points, one point below the Seattle Bears. When looking at the league you would expect teams like the Helsinki Titans, New York Americans or Quebec City Meute to hold the longest current winning streak, after all these teams all have surpassed the 50 point mark. We are now 36 games in and the Davos Dynamo are the unexpected holders of the current winning streak and while no one expects them to be able to keep this up much longer, it’s still quite an achievement for the team of Lennox Moher and Jarkko Olsen, the two remaining stars on the squad. In the past five games they managed to win once in a penalty shootout versus the Bears before they won four straight in regular time. Beside another victory against the Bears they also managed to steal wins from not only Calgary but also Quebec who they have beaten twice, once with 2-1 and once with a 4-0 score.  This remarkable run will likely not matter in terms of the playoffs as the team above them is still more as twenty points away, but it’s a great story of success for the franchise who has entered a rebuilding phase.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Player Cards

Who hasn’t collected hockey cards as a kid? Well, I never have but they don’t have them in the Netherlands but that’s a different point. It’s great to be able to collect cards from your idols and show them off to your friends. In the VHL we would like to create a similar feeling and there is currently help needed in order to make it possible. There is a crew being assembled that should supply the VHL players with a new player card each year. It is a nice way to show off your player with these cards and it gives you a great career overview when you have a full set of eight seasons. To get it off the ground there currently is a job opening which is worth 2 TPE per week in order to help out creating these cards for everyone. So if you are good with graphics and want to help out, this might be a great job for you. The application process is currently open and if you want more information about the plan, feel free to contact Devise22 about this.

 

Celebrating history

The team point tasks all have been posted and if there was ever a great time to learn about the history of all the franchises it is now. Every team has entered a submission of their all time line up and the results are very different. The New York Americans went above and beyond in creating their franchises bible, as it is a complete bookwork they have written. Others created awesome player cards of their teams greatest players included videos or just went with a written version of their line-ups. In order to distribute the TPE the league will have a voting round to choose your favorite submissions. There is no limit in the amount of votes you can cast as long as you are not voting for your own team (and votes are public so it will be known). 40 Seasons of history and a league full of people to show how great the history is, if you haven’t make sure to check these submissions out and choose your favorite ones. History has been made, now it’s your time to make a player to be take the places of those mentioned this season.

 

 

Trade deadline

At the time of writing the trade deadline will happen in three days, so there is a whole weekend ahead of us to see some deadline deals go through. Talk of the season is Niklas Lindberg, will he indeed end up in Riga like everyone expects him to and truth to be told, he probably does. The only reason for staying in Vasteras now would be to try and break some records, but him and Bagelface are not enough to bring them a cup this season, and since he is retiring it’s the only option to move him. Due to the multiple trades earlier this season between the two teams it looks like they were preparing the move in detail in order to create the best financial situation for Riga’s cap space. Another big piece that will be moved is the Davos goaltender Lennox Moher. Moher is currently the leading candidate for the Aidan Shaw trophy and he will be moving to Quebec as announced earlier in the season. From the big names that leaves just one more Jarkko Olsen. The Davos winger stayed loyal to his team in the past off season but with retirement imminent he will also be moved for some assets. My bet is that he will end up with Riga as well, but by the time you ride this, we know where he ended up. Let’s hope we will see some more deals happen.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

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For the writers

After the great success the graphic rank competition had there is currently an idea to hold a similar contest for those who love to write. Long time member Noah Lefevre is trying to see if there is any interest and has opened the 'Writing Ranks' suggestion topic for it. If you consider yourself a writer and want to participate in the different tasks he will put up, make sure to let them know, because the more participants it gets, the better it will be for the audience. It is always great to see ideas like these being brought up and I am curious to see what the end results of this tournament will be. So make sure to get in contact with Noah!! to be part of this event (and let's hope this one will also be completed from start until finish).

 

Everything is better times four

Four times ten seasons in the VHL, this is a big reason to have a celebration with massive rewards according to the administrators of this league. So for the past week you didn't get double TPE, triple TPE but quadruple TPE which lead to point gains up to 25 points for your point task (due to the magazine writer 1 TPE bonus). The announcement was great for the activity around the site as you noticed notorious welfare claimers like Tylar and Stevo to even consider doing a point task. As of now I'm not sure if they actually did, but with such a huge bonus it would be a shame for any member to miss out on this bonus. As read on the forum: "that is 1/4th of an average Riggs career", referring to King Czar III who is mostly known for retiring his players early. It was a bonus that was to nice to pass on, so I hope you all took the bonus that was available.

 

New life

 

For once I will not write about a thing that is league related, but I want to abuse my position as magazine writer to introduce Rayne Aiden Riven Willems to the VHL World. My son was born November 1st and weighs 3090 grams and was 48 cm big when he came into the world. After spending a few days at the hospital due to low blood sugar and low body temperature he is currently home and we are one test away to be fired from the hospital completely, so we hope all will be fine. I love all the nice responses I got from members from this community after the message was spread so I want to thank everyone for the kindness. It is incredible to hold your own kid in your arms (as magazine editor STZ will probably agree on), so for the future fathers and mothers on this site, I can only recommend to share your joy with the community, the warm responses are worth it.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

217:

 

S40 Playoffs

Another regular season is almost in the books and the cards are shuffled when we are looking at the upcoming playoff matchups. In the North American conference we will see horses versus wolves as the Quebec City Meute battle out the Calgary Wranglers in the first round. The difference between the two teams is big enough for the Meute to make sure they have home advantage in this series. The winner of this matchup will battle the New York Americans who once again have the best record in the league. In the European Conference things were a lot tighter. With both having one game in hand the Riga Reign and the Helsinki Titans will have to fight for home advantage in the first round. The Riga Rein needs to beat the Wranglers in order to secure their home advantage, the Titans on the other hand need to hope that Riga slips and they beat the Toronto Legion themselves. The winner of this series will take on the Cologne Express who might have been a big surprise this year acquiring their first conference title in the history of the franchise. Let the S40 playoffs begin!

 

Farewell Vasteras

With the regular season ending, we will have to say goodbye to the Vasteras Iron Eagles once again. This time the franchise will not move to a city like Madrid, but to a bigger Swedish city: Stockholm. Over the years there have been a lot of people wanting the franchise to move and with their new management in charge, the decision was finally made to move them out of the small city of Vasteras.
The team will get an entire facelift and will be rebranded as the Stockholm Vikings. While the Vikings might be considered generic by a lot of people, it at least shows the Swedish nature off the franchise, showing pride in their history. The franchise has started their rebuild as the Iron Eagles already, so the set path will likely follow as they hope to acquire the top picks in this year’s draft class. If the lottery threats them well, we might see a repeat of last season where Cologne ended up with the first two picks in the draft, giving them a head start towards the future

 

Rookie showdown

Where last season the rookie of the year award went to someone who was barely over a point per game, this year the rookies are wreaking havoc on the league. At least three of them are far above the point per game mark as Thomas O’Malley, Tyrone Williams and Mason Richardson will have to battle it out to be crowned rookie of the year. In terms of goals we see Vasteras` Tyrone Williams leading the pack with 52 of them in total, in terms of points and assists it’s Thomas O’Malley of the Cologne Express leading the way. But the current favorite for the rookie of the year award has to be Mason Richardson. As a defenseman he managed to almost reach 100 points (currently he sits at 95) in his rookie year which is an impressive performance. Due to the extra defensive stats, it is likely that he will beat his competition and take the trophy home. The rookies all were very impressive this year and it will be great to see how their career paths will further develop.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Surprising Exit For The Pack

Playoff hockey is something that cannot be compared to regular season hockey and this season has put another confirmation on this statement. The Quebec City Meute were expected to challenge the New York Americans to be the North American finalist, but they were jousted by the Calgary Wranglers; a team which some people expected that they would lose in three (yes, three) games, that's how big the difference in strength was expected to be. After Calgary won the first game in Quebec City with a score of 3-2 the Meute quickly took back control of the series in the next three games that followed. While they were not convincing in these wins (every game was decided with just 1 goal difference) they managed to take a 3-1 lead. In VHL history a 3-1 lead usually means a trap card has been activated. The Wranglers won game five and six in regular time to take it to a deciding game seven. After sixty minutes there were no goals scored as both Moher and Brookside kept their nets clean. It was Godavari Yumalatopinto who turned out to be Calgary's guardian angel as he scored the series winning goal on a power play caused by Naomi Young. Calgary advances to the conference finals.

 

Reigning over Titans

The match up that had the VHL world excited was the first round of the European Conference were two teams that finished the regular season with near identical records were matched against each other. The Riga Reign had achieved home advantage by finishing just ahead of the Helsinki Titans. Early in the series it didn't look like home advantage though as the Titans won game one with 6-3 and game 2 with 3-1. While the Reign was 2-0 down in the series they managed to get back into the game by winning the two games in Helsinki; even though they needed a triple overtime for that in game four. The home disadvantage continued in both games five and six as Riga and Helsinki switched wins once again. Just like in North America the European series would be decided with a game seven. Willem Janssen of the Helsinki Titans opened the score in the first period, making it look like once again the away team could run away with the victory. However with a four point performance Robin Gow turned out to be the deciding factor in the series. With five goals in periods two and three it turned out to be Riga who would advance to the European conference finals where they will meet up with the Cologne Express.

 

Intense games

 

Every team has games which has their blood pressure rising, the games everyone wants to win. The media, the fans, everyone is all over some of the matchups. These games are the rivalry games. In the VHL the rivalry settings are entered in the simulator, but they are not really ever changed. They were based off old settings and only when the league expended there was a slight adjustment as the expansion teams would become each other's rival. One of the rival games are the Toronto Legion and Seattle Bears. When looking back over the past 10 years we haven't seen both teams compete against each other for a while. The Bears have been quiet for a bit while the real rivalry for the Legion in the past decade was the HC Davos Dynamo with who they were in three consecutive finals in. Due to every team needing to have a rival, there isn't any truth to be find in having these settings. There will always be rivalries across the forums, but in the simulation most of the pre-set ones do not make much sense. The Board of Governors is currently looking into this and the intensity of these games might be toned down soon. There isn't really much to be gained from having them so the rivalries in the simulation might be set to neutral instead. If teams want to be rivals, they will probably trash talk each other on the forums and that's where it matters most, since that actually promotes activity. The rivalries as we know it might disappear from the sim, but they can always live on in the hearts of the members as they stand up for their teams.