Victory Three

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

219:

 

Black Friday Additions

After the introduction of the revamped player store there were a lot of complaints since the store didn’t really have anything for the older players in the last seasons of their careers. Thanksgiving is over now and that means one thing: Black Friday in the VHL shop. But instead of giving away great discounts the league has decided to put two new items in the shelves: The “Jaromir Jagr” and the “Old But Not Forgotten” packages. Both of these items are regression related, with the Jagr package you can choose one attribute that will not depreciate at the end of the season. When in your last season and applying this to an attribute you have 99 off, this would be actually 28 TPE you save (even though it is not added as TPE) which would be a great purchase. The bigger package could have an even bigger impact as it will reduce the depreciation of all of your attributes by 1 % for the season. This could be around 4 TPE saved per stat point. These options make sure you need less to stay just as good, all you need is a full wallet to make the purchases.  Happy savings!

 

World Cup preparations

Once every three seasons there is a World Cup in the Victory Hockey League and time flies by fast as another one is approaching again. This also means that the selections for general managers had to be made. Luckily there were some good applicants again so by now all the team management positions are filled and teams can be compiled by them. Former World Cup commissioner Devise22 will take the reins of Team Canada while seven year VHL veteran Sterling will try to lead the American team to a victory. The Scandinavians will be managed by former manager of the Quebec City Meute Frank, who is rumored to have given up the position of GM to take full control of Scandinavia. Western Europe will be led by Victor while  Team World will have YEAH! as their manager. The players that do not make the rosters of these teams will all be eligible to join one of the surprises of the last tournament: Team Mercenaries.  After a few early wins in the last tournament they still finished low, but no one expected them to do so well. The Mercenaries will be led by boubabi, manager of the Stockholm Vikings. It will be interesting to see which team takes the gold!

 

We are hiring!

To have an extra edge in your weekly updates, it’s good to try to get a job within the league. And this week there are several jobs opening up. One of them is one that’s open for a while and that’s a writing opening for the VHLM Magazine. On The Rise is almost at its 60^th edition so that means the VHLM magazine has been around for at least a year. Writing for a magazine replaces the need for a written media spot, graphic or long podcast as an article for it pays 7 TPE per week. A second job opening is also related to newer members, but this time it’s a guiding position as the VHL is in need for mentors to guide the newly signed up players to help them get started with their players, have someone trying to show them around and show all the TPE opportunities and hope to make them stay in the league. This position also pays one TPE per week as long as you are helping a member. Do you prefer a job where you have to open up game predictions for the VHLM, then there is the job for VHLM Fantasy Zone Manager. You will be in control of posting the pick ‘em and predict the scores and tally them at the end of the week so you can hand out the TPE to the minor league players that won these weeks. The job pays 1 TPE per week, if you are unsure, you can always check the recent VHL Fantasy Zone as it’s basically the same. The last open job is a media grading one, so if you have a great skill set in the English language and you can easily spot grammar mistakes, this might be the job for you. The payment for it is 1 TPE per week for 4 media spots or rookie profiles, while biographies and podcasts are worth even more. All the topics are in the Job Interviews section, so get them while they are hot.

Edited November 28, 2014 by Green

[STZ 5,360]

Thanks for the very early submission!

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Edition 220

 

King of the World

 

Before ships crash into icebergs there will always be one guy that goes to the top corner of the ship, spread out his arms and screams that he is king of the world. With the VHL World Cup going underway, this is a likely scenario to be playing out once again. The top of the standings currently has the United States of America sitting at number one with a two point lead over Team Western Europe; the two most competitive teams in this tournament. But a tournament without surprises probably never happens and in the group stage we have already seen one big upset. The only loss for Team USA comes from Team Mercenaries, a team that consists off players that did not make their national squad, and if they can beat USA then everyone should be able to, as they are sitting in the last spot in the tournament, just behind Team World  which also have six points in their pocket. It remains to be seen if USA is indeed crashing into an iceberg in the playoff stages of the tournament or that the current favorite actually delivers for once. You just got to love play-off hockey.

 

Wish for a speedy recovery

 

That the VHL isn’t only about the simulation games that are being played, but also about the community shows by the heartwarming responses one of our newer members after he posted he had to be taken into the hospital. Denver, who recently also joined the VHL Magazine and the Board of Governors was taken in after he had both a seizure and an asthma attack. Due to posting this on the VHL he knew the members here could help him distract from the situation, which helped him fight due to being able to focus his mind on something else but the hospital bed.  Due to the seizure he will have to re-learn to walk again, but this is not getting him down. I think I speak on behalf of everyone off the VHL that we wish you a speedy recovery and hope all will be fine in due time. Don’t let them get you down Denver, you have all of us supporting you in your fight.

 

 

Low going Up

 

For years Connor Low has been one of the premier defenseman in the  Victory Hockey League, year after year he was a prime candidate to win the Labatte trophy. As much as the player that currently had most of these trophies (Daniel Braxton) hated it he won it nearly every time. But next season, he will be guaranteed to not add another one to his already impressive list of awards as the New York Americans defenseman will be switching to forward. The change has been requested by Christopher Miller who manages the Americans. With the acquisition of Matt Bentley the Americans had two major defensive pieces and after losing Odin Tordahl they wanted to stock up on the front of the ice. Low reportedly said that he would sacrifice for the good of the team. With Odin Tordahl’s departure Low will likely be the Captain of the Americans again. But sacrificing a chance to obliterate the Labatte records and possibly naming it the Low award, that means he is the real Captain America. It will be interesting to see how this move pans out for the Americans, as forward Sam Keeler will now be moving to a defensive minded role on the ice as a bottom pairing defenseman.

Edited December 5, 2014 by Green

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

World Cup Three:

 

The upset

After the round robin stages were over the bottom placed four teams would play the quarter finals.  Canada, who placed third in the group stage faced off versus the team that only had two wins in the tournament; Team World. Team World had been saving their strength for this game while Canada seemed to have underestimated the last place team. In an exciting game we saw two teams who were evenly matched and this resulted in an overtime period in which World managed to defeat Brick Wahl by a goal of Milos Denis who knew the goaltender inside out from the New York practices. With the goal the Canadians failed to qualify for the medal rounds and the biggest upset of this year’s tournament was a fact. The other team that qualified for the semi finals was Team Scandinavia who managed to blank the Mercenaries squad who managed to finish fifth in the round robin stage with three wins, less wins as the last tournament, but still a great result for the team that only has players that did not make their respective teams.

 

Finals or going home.

Last week we reported that the United States of America were in the lead of the Group stages of the World Cup. In the end they managed to maintain their lead but it was a close race with Western Europe. They finished with eight wins and two losses while the Europeans had seven wins, one loss and two overtime losses; tying them in points. The USA held their first seed due to having one more win.  The second seed would be Team Western Europe who would have to battle the Scandinavians for a place in the finals. In an action packed game we saw a very offensive Scandinavia pressuring the Western European squad from the start. A grand total of 48 shots were fired at Wranglers goaltender Martin Brookside, while Kimmo Salo only faced 24. With these 24 shots against, Kimmo managed to let through four of them including the first two goals of the game. The poor performance however did not affect the Scandinavians at all, their offense clicked immensely this game and they scored six goals their selves, securing their spot in the finals. Scandinavia turned out to not be the only high scoring team this round as the United States demolished Team World in a 6-1 blast out. Robin Gow had three goals as he led his country to the finals where they would face a Scandinavian squad that surprised many people in these World Cup Playoffs.

 

All or nothing

In the consolation finals Western Europe regrouped and made sure they would claim the bronze medal versus a rather weak Team World. Brennan McQueen led his country to this medal with a 12 shot and 3 goal performance. All eyes however were focused on the final: Scandinavia versus United States of America. With both teams scoring so much in the playoffs a high scoring game was to be expected. Scandinavia however looked like they had thrown away all their energy with tese past games, as in the first period they got outshot 17 to 1. Only one of these American shots managed to find the net as James Faraday scored the opening goal. While the game continued the action slowed down and it wasn;t until the end of the second period that another goal fell. Devin Sundberg got sent to the penalty box on a hooking call, allowing Jerrick Poole to score from the blueline on the powerplay. The 2-0 also meant that the final result was on the board as the Americans struck gold. Scandinavia only managed to put 12 shots on Waldron who got an easy shutout in the final. The Meute goaltender showed that he has what it takes to lead his country to the gold and that acquiring Moher last season was a mistake by Quebec. With the gold medal game a fantastic tournament with some nice surprises came to an end. It will be back in three seasons, so stay tuned.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

222:

 

Rare Sightings

There are things out in the open that are hard to encounter, you can think about stuff like a double rainbow or professional hockey in the Netherlands. In the VHL there has been an occurance of a rare sighting as well. This week we visited the Toronto Legion practice rink and we noticed that Ed Grrr was doing actual work on the ice. After months only visiting the place to come and watch his teammates, he was doing an extensive work out regiment this week by not leaving the ice for about five days straight. During this time he worked on passing to his teammates, learned how he should handle the puck without it flying straight in the stands. He learned how to skate hard and launched himself at the boards in order to practice his checking without hurting an actual teammate. While Zoidberg, Cote and Sundberg tried to attack, Ed Grrr did his best to keep them all from scoring. After months of only watching, it finally looks like Grrr has come to senses and realizes his team does need him. Let’s hope seeing him practice will become a regular occurrence instead of a rare sighting soon.

 

Top Of Their Class

After we saw O’Malley, Williams and Richardson have a fantastic rookie season in the VHL a lot of people thought it couldn’t be beat. O’Malley finished with 110 points (7^th all time for rookies),  Williams scored 53 goals (3^rd all time for rookies) while Richardson cracked the top 10 all time rookie list for assists as well. This year’s class might be just as impressive as after 18 games there are three rookies who are all on pace for a 108 point season. These rookies are Brady Stropko; winger of the Seattle Bears,  Jody 3 Moons; center of the New York Americans and Rami Jakobssen; winger of the Quebec City Meute. While Jakobssen and 3 Moons are more balanced to the assist department, Stropko has his eyes set on a record which had been deemed untouchable. Christian Stolzschweiger once scored 72 goals in his rookie season and the closest someone got afterwards was 54. Currently Stropko is on pace for an 68 goal season, so if his finishing gets even better he might be able to make a crack at the record. With three rookies all on the same point pace, the rookie of the year award might be even more interesting as it was last year.

 

What Goes Up….

Comes crashing down with at least triple the speed. After we just reported on how well the current rookies were doing the last year’s top rookies are all struggling. O’Malley and Richardson from te Cologne Express both had high expectations from the fans in Germany but so far they haven’t been impressing anyone this year. After 18 games both of them are on a 76 point pace, which is a drop of 22 points for Richardson and an even bigger drop by O’Malley who sees his projected total drop with 34 points. What is funny, is that is the same pace as Tyrone Williams of the Stockholm Vikings is on, making the top three rookies of last year on the same pace while this year’s rookies are currently doing the same. Luckily we are still early in the season and their respective managers still have time to get their stats sorted in order of letting them become more dominant on the ice, since after the departure of Kellinger and Olssen the trio of Laich, Richardson and O’Malley are expected to carry the load, while the offensive presence from the Vikings is bound to come by Tyrone Williams, who still is their current best forward. It will be interesting to see if either of them can and will improve during the season in order to still try to avoid the dredged sophomore slump.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

223:

 

An Exciting 2015

Another year is in the books and for the Victory Hockey League this means they have entered the year in which they will hold their eight anniversary already. When we look at the current standings in the VHL we see that after 45 games that there is a lot of excitement going on. In the European Conference we see the Helsinki Titans and Cologne Express with 62 points each, while the Riga Reign follows with 1 point less. The order of the playoffs for these teams will proof to be their major challenge of the season as the Dynamo and Vikings only have 18 and 12 points respectively. The top teams almost have as much points as the bottom two teams from Europe have in goals scored. The differences in North America are bigger as New York is once again the most dominant team in the regular season. The Quebec City Meute and Calgary Wranglers are behind them, but both of them have outperformed the European teams so far, which for especially the Wranglers was unexpected.
While the Legion still hold a small chance for the playoffs, they still have a 14 point gap to close with Calgary in their remaining 28 games, which might proof to be a bit too much for them. It will be exciting to see how the second half of the season evolves in 2015. Happy new year everybody!

 

SuperCup Returns

In this year’s off season the Super Cup will return for its third edition and the league is looking for somebody to make sure this will be the smoothest one this far. And the best part? If you are the person that can manage this you will be able to add 10 uncapped TPE to your player. If you like the sound of this you should quickly apply as S41 Super Cup Commissioner and convince the people why you would be the perfect person for the job. Tasks you will need to complete are as followed.  You need to create a draft board with rounds, teams and a list with the available players. You will hold a draft lottery, hire six general managers and during the tournament you communicate with the simmer in charge of the tournament. The most important part of the job is hosting a live fantasy draft in which all the players will be selected to their respective teams.  Doesn’t sound too hard right?  Head over to the VHL Forums now and try to get this job before it’s gone. Your 10 TPE uncapped is waiting for you.

 

Time of the Year

The trade deadline is upon us this week and we have seen Calgary and Quebec be the first ones to complete a deal in deadline week. Quebec acquired Jakub Linholm and Tony Stark while Calgary received a S43 2^nd round draft pick. With this pick Quebec fills the gaps in their lineup and hope to have found the perfect mix to take revenge of the Wranglers in this year’s playoffs. With the trade deadline approaching it also means that any new player that enters the league will now be eligible to join the Season 43 draft, so we might see some retirements as well in this upcoming week. With how tight the European Conference is we expect most of the trade action to happen there, as each of the three teams might be looking to acquire the piece that puts them on top of the conference. Last year the Express added Karsten Olsen who got them their first conference title while Riga added Lindberg in order to dominate the playoffs. Which players will this year be the center pieces of the trade deadline? We’ll find that out this week.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

224:

 

Ode to Rybak

 

Every year there are players being inducted in the Victory Hockey Leagues Hall of Fame, but next to the induction ceremony there is still content to be worked on to show on their Hall of Fame pages. While these take a lot of work, they tend to be forgotten by the persons who claimed these tasks. This week we finally saw one of these tributes popping up; Volodymyr Rybak, a lifelong member of the Calgary Wranglers his article was put up for his Hall of Fame page.  For those who are new into the league, Rybak was one of the important  reasons why the Wranglers were able to compete in the North American Conference for a long time. As one of the greatest forwards in the league he gave the team a fighting chance in almost any season he played.  Despite being an important factor to his team it only resulted in just one Continental Cup in Season 30.  The Ukrainian forward will always be remembered as a hard working player and it is great to see a player who was loyal to his franchise for his entire career to get honored like this. He finished his career with 841 regular season and 100 playoff points.

 

Postseason Clinched

The Helsinki Titans are the first team this year to clinch a spot in the playoffs, despite having less points then both the New York Americans and Quebec City Meute by a large amount, their 69 points is enough to secure a spot in the European conference due to the abysmal seasons Davos and Stockholm are having. Due to 69 being enough to secure a spot we can expect both the Riga Reign and Cologne Express to follow shortly after, as the top three in Europe is only separated by two points at maximum. In North America they have to wait a bit longer, this due to the Toronto Legion having amassed 55 points. With 22 games remaining they can potentially hit the 99 point mark, so the Americans will need some more wins from their side or losses from Toronto’s side to speed up their playoff berth. They will make it without a doubt and the chance is only in theory, but after being the first team to 40 wins this season, it would be a miracle if they missed out on this year’s postseason and they remain the favorites to add another Victory Cup to their resume.

 

Writers’ Third

After the successful Graphic Rank competition we now have an ongoing Writers Rank competition and with the third round going on we have went on to the final four. Due to several people not putting in a submission in round two, we saw some of the members progress without too much problems. While their articles could have been good, it’s a shame we can’t compare them to the ones they would have faced. Two of the four matchups were automatic forfeits due to this. In the upcoming round the writers have to make a player profile, and not just from any player. It has to be a player of one of the other semi finalists. The matchups have been made in a fashion that you don’t have to write about your opponent, so you can always check in with them to get information about certain players. The deadline for this will probably have passed by the time this magazine hits the shelves so have fun voting on your favorites.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

225:

 

Got Change? (1)

The life of a general manager in the VHL is a busy one and sometimes it’s so busy that it no longer becomes manageable to stay on and manage your team to the fullest without interfering with this thing called life. For manager Vincent Wong of the Helsinki Titans this was the case, shortly after the trade deadline happened he announced his retirement as a manager and named his successor. The Helsinki Titans are a team with some deep talent, so it wasn’t hard to find a suitable candidate amongst them. William Shaw, who is the player agent of Don Draper will be taking over the reins of the franchise. Luckily for him the franchise has been left in a good shape. The team has a lot of talent all around and had made some moves in the past seasons to try and avoid the cap hell that people expected to come for them rather sooner as later. William Shaw is a new face in the VHL as Don Draper is his first player and he gets the honor of showing himself what he can do in the big league. Previously Shaw was in charge of the Oslo Storm team that tried to win last year’s founders cup, but ultimately fell short in their conference when they lost to Bratislava in six games.

 

Got Change? (2)

The change in management that Helsinki had seen wasn’t the only management change this week. More than 1000 miles south west there was another team that wanted to shake some things up. Cologne’s manager Alexander Schneider decided his reign over the team must be cut short. He saw himself as a manager that would transition the team to the future after the resignation of their previous general manager Joey Kendrick.  The transition went on great as the next player of the Joey Kendrick agency, Mason Richardson,  was brought back to the team in the Season 40 draft. Schneider managed to lead the Express to their first overall finish in the European Conference in Season 41. This year it is a tight race as well, but the final position will have to be achieved under new management. The new manager of the Cologne Express will be Ryan Power, who lead the New York Americans to a Continental Cup earlier. Bringing in a manager of his caliber might give the Express the confidence to do better in the playoffs as they were swept by the Riga Reign last year. It will be nice to see what Power can do for the franchise and if he will be able to deliver them their first cup victory in the years to come.

 

Got Change? (3)

The one thing that didn’t change the past week was the line-up’s off all the teams as the trade deadline passed quietly. In both the VHL as the VHLM there were no deals made in the last few days they were allowed to. The teams must be confident that they have what it takes to win this season. The teams that will battle it out in the playoffs are also set in stone by now. Even though the Legion still has a theoretical chance, they need to make up 12 points in 10 games on the Calgary Wranglers (who have 11 games to play themselves). So not much change will happen there. The number one and two spots are also set in stone in the North American Conference.  The European Conference however is exciting as ever in terms of going for the first round bye. After being third fiddle for quite a while the Reign managed to get a clear lead on the Express and Titans and are now 4 points in front of them. But as each of them has 11 games to play, anything can happen there. The positions of the teams in the European Conference are likely the last things to change in this regular season.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

226:

 

Wanted: Super Cup Managers

While the Super Cup won’t start until the end of the post-season, the quest that searches for managers of the teams has already started. Super Cup Commissioner Christopher Miller has opened the applications last Friday, so there likely still is some time to apply and secure a spot. The fun part of the Super Cup is that old legends are being honored and mocked at the same time as the team names in question will be a free choice of the manager, the only condition: one of the listed Hall of Fame players needs to be referred to within the name. This year the possible candidates for a team are Jardy Bunclewirth, Markus Strauss, Lars Berger, Cam Fowler, Anton Brekker, David Walcott, Japinder Singh and James Bencharski. While the registration only opened up shortly the most popular guy seems to be Jardy Bunclewirth who already attracted two managers that wanted to (ab)use his name. Jardy Buncklbitches & Jardy Bunclewirthless are the names related to him so far. Interested in managing a team of your own? Make sure to apply and select a team name for your desired team. Make sure you will be able to make it to a live-draft after season’s end though, as this will be a major requirement.

 

Wanted: Leniency

In a recent episode of Der Podcat which is being recorded by New York Americans winger Christoph Klose a valid point was being raised on how the league can do better in retraining non native speakers. Due to having people from countries where English isn’t the main native language (like Latvia, Germany, Netherlands and Austria) these players sometimes have it harder to write a good media spot to get their weekly TPE. In his podcast he mentioned that for a while the graders actually took this in mind while grading, but that lately this leniency has once again disappeared and that non native speakers are losing out on valuable points due to this. So here is a random message, from me to the graders. Please keep in mind that not everyone has English as their main language, and as long things are not too bad, please keep that fact in mind while grading. I understand that we don’t want to hand out automatic sixes, but if the effort is there, full credit should be given.  Now I am aware that this might be an issue for people from English speaking countries as well, but I would like this to be just for non native speakers, since if you can’t even properly spell in your own language, you might want to stop dropping out of classes. I hope graders can indeed be more lenient in this, in order to try to keep the people satisfied and making them feel wanted in the league.

 

Wanted: New commissioners

After the resignation of Victor and the recent disappearance of Jardy left a big hole in the blue team, it was time to hire new commissioners to the league. While Jardy has returned in the last week, the gap that Victor leaves is not one that is easy to fill, so the remaining blue team members have decided to hire two new commissioners to take their spot. We would have loved to announce Munk here as one of the new people in charge, but while tallying up the votes between the remaining two blue team members there must have been a miscount, as not Munk was chosen to be one of the new commissioners but FlyersFan1493 and Draper.  FlyersFan1493 used to fill the role of VHLM commissioner with great success and he probably is one that could be expected to take the step up. Draper on the other hand is still more of a new kid on the block. Step by step he has taken control of the Victory Hockey League, from being a promising first-gen, to a VHLM manager, to a VHL manager and now commissioner. He has taken the league by storm. Let’s hope the two new faces will help the VHL run smoothly in years to come.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

227:

 

With the 2015 Oscar nominations being released this week, Victory Three takes a look at the VHL related movies that might pick up an Oscar this year.

 

American Sniper

After last season nobody would have thought that five time Labatte winner Conner Low would make the switch to forward. What people certainly did not expect was that he would make this transition so well that he became the best sniper of the New York Americans. American Sniper is a movie that is currently still in production, but even with half a movie, the life story of Conner Low is so well done that the movie critics went ahead and nominate this movie as one of this year’s favorites. The movie focuses on the life on and off the ice off Conner Low and how he became one of the best players of his era. After scoring 55 goals in the regular season the directors finally knew the title for their blockbuster: American Sniper. The transition for Low to forward might be a small part of the movie, but it shows he is a player that truly can do anything. It will be nice to see if the movie will include a Season 41 Americans cup victory as Low scored the series winning goal for New York versus Quebec, guaranteeing them a spot in this year’s Continental Cup final. While still in the works, it’s definitely a movie to look out for.

 

Boyhood

On the losing end of the North American conference final we see another nominated movie about the general manager of the Quebec City Meute. In Boyhood we watch Clinton Chevy grow up from a little kid, to well, a little kid that actually manages one of the VHL franchises. The movie includes the introduction of him to the league and how he developed himself in a more ‘mature’ and ‘improved’ version of himself. While he still is controversial after all these years the movie also shows what is going on in his mind when making trades and how he plans to help Quebec win their second Continental Cup in franchise history. Boyhood is a one of a kind movie, since they actually followed our head character long before he even knew about the Victory Hockey League, so it will be fun to see how he ended up here and became the person that he is today. Boyhood is definitely not your average movie and the brilliant acting skills of Chevy make sure this will be one of the front runners for an Oscar.

 

Big Hero 6

Three is not enough for him, it really never was. Jody 3 Moons his season made him the front runner for this year’s rookie of the year title and due to celebrate this, he decided it was time to make the number in his name a bit higher on screen. With an ego twice the size of his normal one (which was already inflated), Jody 6 Moons releases his own animation movie this year where he calls himself Big Hero 6. In this movie you can basically see him trash talking Sachimo Zoidberg for about 90 minutes straight. While the storyline might not seem to interesting, he does come up with a lot of controversial topics about the Toronto rookie. But it’s not only trash talk, or he might as well made it a ‘Roast’, Big Hero 6 also focuses on the impact Jody makes for the New York Americans franchise. From fights in the locker room to slightly homo-erotic scenes in the shower, this movie has it all. While you might not want to complement him on the script, since it really lacks any structure, the animations he used were top notch and good enough to be nominated for the ‘Best Animated Picture’  Oscar this year. As the only VHL related nomination in this category we wish Jody all the best in acquiring the award.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Seven

 

It all comes down to one game, and by the time this magazine will be published we will likely see many items about the new champions. However, Victory Three is written on Fridays and therefore it might not be fully up to date. What we can tell you is that the series is going back and forth as the teams keep exchanging wins. After two games the series was tied, after four games the series was tied and now after six games…. Well you guessed it right, it’s tied again meaning it all comes down to one final game in New York. Will there home advantage be enough to let them conquer the cup? It would be well deserved after another fantastic regular season performance. But don’t forget about the Riga Reign, who also finished first in the conference and had to get rid of the Titans in six games. The Reign has the chance to be the first back-to-back champions since a long time. Many have tried it (Toronto, New York and Davos all were in the finals for consecutive years recently) but they all failed. Will Riga be the one to finally go back-to-back. It will all be decided in game seven!

 

Five? Or should we say Two.

While the VHL Playoffs have reached the ultimate climax of the season, the minors are already celebrating as their season has ended. The Bratislava Watchmen beat the Yukon Rush in five games, deciding the battle of the expansion teams in their favor. For the Watchmen this was their second title in a row, which is quite an achievement in the ever-changing landscape of the VHLM. Big man (or should I say robot) in the deciding game was AIM-11 who scored 2 goals and 1 assist for the Watchmen, but don’t count out on Jax Barnstormer, who has proven to play excellent on the powerplay as he got 2 assists this game. Unfortunately for the Watchmen it is unlikely that they will three-peat as they likely will be losing Barnstormer and the likes of AIM-11, Lord Karnage, Mario de Rossi, Kyle Kingma and Raphael Pettyfer all being gone next season as they all make the jump to the VHL. It’s time to rebuild again for the Watchmen, but after two wins in a row, I don’t think they mind. Congrats to everyone involved!

 

Three

When you draft a prospect with great potential, you hope to have them with your franchise as long as possible, but three seasons after being drafted Devin Sundberg is potentially leaving the Toronto Legion after his entry level contract is up. The manager of the Legion did make an effort by visiting Sundberg in his hometown, the city of the former franchise Vasteras Iron Eagles, the team where Sundberg had hoped to spend his career. He got offered a multi-year deal, but to no avail, the manager could travel home again without a signature on the contract. While the Iron Eagles relocated to Stockholm, we at Victory Three expect that Sundberg still has them as one of his top options, even though the whole league seems to think that the Swedish Center will go to Seattle, due to the ties his Player Agent has with the Bears. But for once we see a very young and talented player hit free agency, so teams might have to bid big numbers in order to get their big haul of the year:  Devin Sundberg.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Edition 229:

 

Back-to-back curse

Winning the cup in consecutive years is something that has not happened for a few years in the Victory Hockey League. After pushing the New York Americans to a 3-2 deficit the Riga Reign just needed to win one out of the two (possible) remaining games to be crowned the champions again. Enter: New York Americans, a franchise that was favorite to win it all this year and did not disappoint. After being on the verge of elimination the team woke up and decided to finish the series once and for all. Despite the last two games both being a 1 goal game, there is one man in particular that deserves a mention in this victory: Tom Slaughter.  Slaughter scored the game winning goals in both of the games, in game six he did it in overtime, while in game seven he did with less than three minutes remaining (and within one minute of Riga bringing the score back to a tie).  We congratulate the New York Americans on a well played season, next year should be the year for them to finally break the back-to-back curse, it’s about time it happens again and New York does have the perfect team to make this happen.

 

The Fall of Salo

 

Two seasons ago the Helsinki Titans felt they could no longer rely on Kimmo Salo in net. When the trade deadline hit, they made sure they acquired a top goalie in Eggly Bagelface. Last season however they tried again with Salo in net. Only to be beaten by Riga in the conference finals. Once again, Salo had disappointed. The Titans management felt like they could no longer hold a hand above his head and decided to trade him away. In a trade that saw them acquire a great goaltender in Szatkowski Jr. Salo was shipped off to Riga.  Riga however did not really want him, and they decided that his salary would be better spent elsewhere; they decided to put him on waivers.  From the conference finals to be put on waivers by a rebuilding team, how quickly some titans can fall. Salo will likely play the upcoming season for the Toronto Legion, who have already put in a waiver claim, and Okranitz? Well he probably has to start his career as a back-up in Toronto.

 

Gotta Draft ‘Em All

 

The super cup is becoming a nice tradition in the history of the VHL as it now features it’s third edition of it. All the currently active players in the league will have a chance to play on one of the (Hall of Famer inspired) teams. First overall pick this year was the goaltender Brick Wahl, who just came off a cup victory with his team and a potential pick for the playoff MVP title.  His fellow Americans Tom Slaughter (2nd overall), Matt Bentley (5^th overall) and Conner Low (6^th overall) also were first round selections. The only non-Americans in the first round were former Calgary goaltender Martin Brookside, who can be seen playing in Cologne the upcoming season and potential Hall of Fame candidate Brennan McQueen, who recently made his retirement official and is entering his final season.  Young players are an important part in the league and this draft recently showed it. We had a sophomore player in the top 10 (Mason Richardson) and two others in the top 20, but we even are seeing a player like Sachimo Zoidberg being selected in the top 20, and he just concluded his rookie year. It will be nice to see how all these six teams will do and we will definitely report on this during the tournament.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Edition 230:

 

Logan Laich?

 

The 42nd season of the Victory Hockey League started this week and the teams played either three or four games we see an unfamiliar face on top of the goal scoring ranking. There are two players with six goals in four games (Wolf and Thomassen), but the odd one out is no one besides Logan Laich. In three games he managed to score six times and with that he currently leads the league in average goals  scored per game as he is on pace for a 140 goal season. While it is unrealistic that he keeps up this pace it still is a nice transformation to see. Logan Laich already was the top point scorer for Cologne in the playoffs, but he combined that with also being in the penalty box a lot. In these three games played he also kept himself outside of the box. What happened to Logan Laich in the past off season, because this really feels like we are playing in an alternative universe.

 

Kimmo Salo?

Last season the Toronto Legion battled the entire season to try and reach the playoffs. While they had a team of skaters that was probably play-off worthy, there was one thing that kept them down. The lack of a goaltender. As a gift from god: enter Kimmo Salo.  The former Helsinki goaltender got waived by the Riga Reign and Toronto was more than happy then to pick him up.  For Salo it was basically his third team in a week and it looks like there was a good reason he was waived. While having a hard opening schedule, the Toronto Legion currently has zero wins and three losses, one of these losses being a seven goal against game versus the Quebec City Meute. The crowd in Toronto was already shouting for the return of TOR G. From playoff goalie to reject, anything can happen in a short time in the Victory Hockey League. We hope for Toronto that Salo will get past this and puts up a better performance in the upcoming games versus the Meute and Titans. They do not want to start the season on a five game losing streak, so he has to step up.

 

Flawless Starts

The Quebec City Meute, the Helsinki Titans and the Cologne Express. They are the teams still in the race for the longest win streak of the start of the 42^nd season in the Victory Hockey League. Before the last round of games the New York Americans were also in the running but they faced off against the Cologne Express who beat the Americans in a penalty shoot out. With the three remaining teams it will be a nice battle to see who can keep their streak going. When we check the remaining schedule for all teams to be at seven games played, we see that the Meute probably has the easiest schedule to  keep the streak alive. Their next opponents are Toronto Legion and HC Davos Dynamo, teams that have a combined one win in the season. After that, they would face Cologne.  The Express on their turn will have an important game ahead of them as they play the unbeaten Titans next, so one of the teams will have to give up their streak.  If they manage to win this, they have the Reign to go before they meet with the Meute, and at that point it is likely that it will be decided which team will have the longest winning streak.  By the time this magazine publishes, we will probably know the result.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

A Vikings' Shave

About a week ago Benoit Prévost, manager of the Stockholm Vikings started an unusual challenge. In order to try and help Leucan in order to raise money to provide services to children who have to battle cancer and to help fund clinical research in order to battle against this disease. Asking for donations isn’t something that is new, but sometimes there are ways that deserve special attention. Last year we noticed that when social media got spammed with the ALS Ice Bucket Challenges. But in order to raise money, the Stockholm manager decided to participate in a ‘Shave your Head’ challenge. After two years of not cutting his hair, he will finally say goodbye to his precious hair. If you have some money to spare and are willing to help fund his challenge, please pay a visit to https://www.tetesrasees.com/en/donate/participant/25576 , which is his personal page for the challenge. I hope you will gather some nice money for this cause Benoit, so hope this article gets your challenge a bit more attention. Best of luck!

 

Most Sportsmanlike Knockout?

Last season Thomas O’Malley won the Mikka Virkkunen award. The Most Sportsmanlike player was his too win. While it’s one of the least prestigious awards, he was very happy to be able to get a claim on this trophy. However he got made a lot of fun of it by his teammates, who were calling him a pussy for winning that award. When the Cologne Express recently faced the New York Americans the Americans took a quick 2-0 lead by two goals from 3 Moons. When COL LW1 and O’Malley both scored aswell the score was 2-2 meaning the game would be going into overtime. During the overtime period it was Xin Xie Xiao who provoked the Cologne captain. He tried getting him to fight, but was expecting him to run away from it to give the Americans a momentum change in the game. The momentum change unfortunately did not come. O’Malley accepted his challenge and actually beat up the renowned fighter who is also known as Triple X. Xiao got ejected from the game and O’Malley happily accepted the 5 minute punishment. He knew he would stand his ground when it was needed. From the bench he saw his teammates win the shootout when Mason Richardson clinched the game winning shot. No Virkkunen award for O’Malley this year, but this victory was worth it.

 

End of their Reign

Even though it was mostly the New York Americans who were dominant the last seasons, in the European Conference it was Riga who was a play off monster. After years of success they finally had to sell their core pieces and try to build for the future again. After last season’s lost Continental Cup final they are now in last place in the league after only getting eight points out of their first 15 games. The Riga Reign made sure there reign over the European kingdom would end this season though, they wouldn’t risk sneaking in a play-off position as they waived goaltender Kimmo Salo after acquiring him and instead they were playing RIG G as their goalie. RIG G had played years of second string behind goaltender Mike Szatkowski Jr. and now finally has his chance for stardom.  The former stars of Riga are all being dealt, and with McQueen and Gow there are two final pieces with value. Will they also be sold or will they go down with the ship this season. One thing is for sure, Riga is going for that 1^st overall selection this year.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Jobs for you!

As always we will try to inform you in Victory Three when there are new job openings around the VHL, and this week we have plenty of these for you. The most available jobs are all related to the minor league of the VHL, the VHLM.  To start off we actually have a position that holds a lot of power within the minor league and that’s the VHLM Co-Commissioner role. Smarch has decided to step down from this and there are now applications being held. Some of the tasks you will hold? Posting the games once they are simmed, keep the waivers and draft pick lists up to date and making sure rosters are up to date are just a few of the many tasks. It’s a job with great power and responsibility, but definitely a way to make a name for yourself in the league.  One of the other jobs is that of the VHLM this Week page, were you give the readers an overview of all that is going on in the league, player highlights, trades, upsets in games, you name it! The VHLM this week is important for new players to see their players shine and be reminded about the opportunities to gain TPE, so if you think you have what it takes. This is the job for you. The other jobs out there? You can also apply to be a graphic grader, a magazine writer for the VHLM Magazine (and a great stepping stone to the VHL Magazine) and a player updater in the VHLM. There is a lot to apply for so don’t miss out on these opportunities before it’s too late.

 

The unstoppable Meute?

The wolves are biting their teeth hard in their opponents, not allowing them to go anywhere this season. After just 28 games in the season the Meute have scored 119 goals already, which is a goal per game more than the number two on the list, who surprisingly are the Stockholm Vikings. Also in the goals ahead rankings the Meute are currently the best team, despite this race being closer as it’s only a difference with the second best defensive team, the Cologne Express, who on their turn are the worst offensive team in the league despite still being in a playoff spot. The offensive and defensive dominance of Quebec has lead to them having a lead of 10 points on the Helsinki Titans, the current number one in the European conference. The question for the 42^nd season of the VHL looks like it will be: who will hunt down the Meute? So far it’s seems no one dares to come close and they are cruising to becoming the team with the most season regular points, a title held by the New York Americans for the past seasons. It will interesting to see how the Meute story will develop throughout their season.

 

Titans without their King

As always salary cap management seems to be one of the most important tasks of the VHL managers, and a big part of this is the asset management in order to create cap space to bring in the top players during the trade deadline. This happens season after season and this year is no different as the Helsinki Titans have decided to say goodbye to King Czar III in trade for a S44 third round draft pick. As it’s obvious, this will not be the full deal and we can likely see Robert Gow III return to the Titans at the trade deadline. For the Wranglers this might be a great move as they receive a player who can immediately bolster their blue line and play some first line minutes and learn how to perform a goalie sack by Edwin Encarnacion. While the Wranglers aren’t competing this year, it’s good to be able to see them build towards their future. And the Titans? Well, for them it is another all or nothing year where they will finally hope to reach the conference finals once again.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Open Happiness

The Stockholm Vikings acquired quite a few goaltenders in the last past drafts and they knew it would probably cause a logjam on the depth chart. So eventually there would be a goalie that would have to go on the move, but as a franchise they just wanted to make sure they would keep an active starter. One of the guys who did not land the starter job is Coca Cola. This young promising goaltender would have to play in the Victory Hockey League next year, and if it was as a backup he would only play the minimum amount of required games. In order to get him more playing time his manager found a solution. Coca Cola will now join the Calgary Wranglers franchise where he wll become their new starting goaltender. The Wranglers had a big hole to fill after losing Martin Brookside to the Cologne Express. Coca Cola has a bright future ahead of him and is a great locker room guy, so paying a 2^nd round pick for him is definitely a steal for the Wranglers. The ‘Always Coca-Cola’ banners have already been seen in their arena, showing he is quickly becoming a fan favourite.

 

Vikings staying strong

Despite a current three game losing streak the Stockholm Vikings are still sitting steady on a playoff spot. After 40 games they have a six point lead over the HC Davos Dynamo who are currently in fourth place. What is more suprising that despite getting 121 goals against (an average of three per game) they are also in front of the higher regarded Cologne Express, a team that just can’t seem to get it together this year. Much of this success comes due to the offensive nature of the Stockholm Vikings. Their general manager did not have many expectations for them going into this season, so he basically told his players to go out there and have fun, and especially to not worry about the defense. It seems this tactic works for them since beside the 121 goals against, they also balance it out nicely with 120 of them scored. The spot for the number two position in Europe is exciting, but over halfway into the season, no one expected the Vikings to be in the lead for it.

 

Aspirations

 

When you are talking about hockey players there will always be people who think they are not the smartest people around. When you have goons like Edwin Encarnacion that might be (slightly) true, but it’s more of an exception as a rule. That there are plenty intelligent hockey players is proven once again by Christoph Klose of the New York Americans. Under the name of Alex Emerson the New York left winger has just released his first book of short stories and poems: “Nightmares and Dreamscrapes” and is available in Kindle format on Amazon. The downside of hockey players becoming writers is that they actually try to sell the book during the games. While Klose is still year’s away from retirement (heck, he is in his rookie contract years) it is still great to see the players already thinking about their life after hockey. Let’s hope there is some glory ahead for Christophe Klose or uhm…. Alex Emerson.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

End of the road

 

Not every professional athlete will be able to compete forever. This season the Victory Hockey League will say goodbye to four game defining faces of the league over the past seasons. We see Edwin Encarnacion, the tough guy who was trying to become the all time penalty minute king. We see the Gow brothers go who together helped bring the Riga Reign another cup. And probably the biggest name to retire in the current era: Conner Low.  The defenseman that shattered the Labatte record and in order to troll the league he went on to play forward. He had the record anyway, so if you still want to play why not decrease the amount of years you were eligible for that award, making the amount of trophies even more impressive. Low also helped the Americans to win a couple of Continental Cups. The league will definitely miss these players, let’s hope their new agencies all sign new clients to represent, the VHL would thank them for it.

 

Changing Places

 

Even though they retired, the Gow brothers will continue their careers with one more shot at glory. Both Robin Gow and Robert Gow the Third have been traded by respectively Riga Reign and Calgary Wranglers in order to give them one more shot at winning some cups. Robert Gow III was traded for a few 2^nd and 3^rd round picks to the current leader in the European Conference the Helsinki Titans. With the Titans improving they hope to solidify their lead and hold of their European opponents once it’s playoff time. One team that hopes to prevent that is the Cologne Express who paid a first round pick to the Riga Reign to acquire the services of Robin Gow. The Express hope that Gow will be an inspiration for their offense to finally improve their scoring numbers which have been down all year. So far the Vikings stayed quiet, so it looks like it’s mostly the Express and the Titans going for the win.

 

Bye Bye Bobby

Usually we don’t see many players in the league that have less than 175 hours of practice. This year the New York Americans decided to use the also retiring Bobby Ricky, to give him atleast 1 year experience in the pro’s before calling it a day. This story has come to an end prematurely now the New York Americans have sent down Bobby Ricky back to the minors. The reason for this is the acquisition of Konstantin Azhishchenkov from the Riga Reign. Even though manager Mr. Miller wanted to give Bobby the farewell he deserved, the quality boost they get from letting Azhishchenkov play in his place is too big an opportunity to pass on. Goodluck finishing your career in the minors Bobby. And to Konstantin: welcome to New York.

[eaglesfan036 4,603]

actually Calgary also got King Czar in part of the deal for RGIII, that was just in part 1 for cap purposes

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Doesn't count like that, I refuse to report on multi-deals, it doesn't work like that in the real world either

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Bad News Bears             

60 games into the season and the Bears, who were once in a solid lead for a playoff spot are finding themselves out of the playoffs suddenly due to a four game losing streak. The streak comes at the worst possible timing as the trade deadline has already passed and they can’t make any last minute moves to get themselves back in. While the loss versus the Titans can be calculated in as certainties, they should have had a chance versus the Vikings and definitely won versus the Riga Reign. Their playoff spot is now being taken over by the Toronto Legion, who won their last three games in a row, including a direct match-up with Seattle. If Seattle had won this the teams would have been tied, but now there is a four point gap between them. While anything can happen still, the timing of this is very unfortunate, as there are only twelve games remaining for both teams. Will Toronto finally reach the playoffs again or will Seattle bounce back. Stay tuned in the North American Conference

 

To Build An Empire

The Victory Hockey League has some of these familiar faces, who had success in the league and are known as some of the important faces of the league. Two of these players were being honored in the last two inductions into the Hall of Fame. Both Jardy Bunclewirth  (season 40) as Victor Alfredsson (season 41) will have their builder articles put up in the VHL Hall of Fame section soon. So are you interested in the history of Jardy the Drunken Farmer or how Victor ruled the VHL with an iron hand? Make sure to check out both of these articles to find out everything these two have done for the league. Builder articles are always giving a nice insight in the influences people had on the league, so it’s great to see where they have come from and what they did to become important for the league. And while reading them you can always think to yourself, “maybe I’m next”. Keep working hard in the league and maybe one day your name will be up there.

 

Viking Rookies

Vikings are known for being proud of their heritage and every young Viking wants to be like his father. Tough, strong and out plundering on their trips. While we don’t live in that era anymore, the rookies of the Stockholm Vikings can relate to it. They are proud of their team and are working hard to become succesfull, which has lead them to a potential playoff appearance and the rookies play an important role in this. While most people might have expected players like Ryan Cattrall and Bismarck Köenig to lead the rookie scoring race we currently have a top three consisting out of only Viking players. At third place there is Joseph Roy III with 51 points, Mario de Rossi is in second with 63 points and the current undisputed leader is Lord Karnage with 71 points. With prospects developing like this, the future will be bright for Stockholm.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Is it just fantasy?

For the past one and a half seasons the Board of Governers have discussed for a way to implement fantasy hockey into the Victory Hockey League. Now we have entered the play-offs and we finally have a way to test it out in an official "alpha"  run. The way that it works is simple, you have a budget of 20 million dollars and with that budget you need to purchase three forwards, two defenseman and a goaltender for your roster. Forwards and defenseman score points for you with goals and assists while the goaltender picks up points with wins and shutouts. Due to the limit of the salary cap you can't however pick all the stars, so that is where the element of tactics come into play. The sign up for it has probably already closed by the time you read this magazine, but for those who missed the deadline, if this is a success there will be a "beta" run for the next full season. Once that one succeeds, consider this becoming a regular thing in the VHL. And the best part of it, the winner gets a unique badge to wear on their VHL profile so there is always a way to brag about it to your friends.

 

The time of the season

While the top seeds are enjoying a well earned break, the numbers two and three out of each conference are battling it out for a spot in the conference finals. And so far the two conferences have similar outcomes in the way the games are played. The first game between the teams in both North America and Europe went to overtime. The Toronto Legion (who no one expected to pull off a win) scored shortly into overtime when Tyler Cote picked up his second goal of the game. Meanwhile in Europe it was Robin Gow of the Cologne Express who scored five minutes into overtime after the Vikings had lead the game two times. So without leading for a second they kept the win at home. In game two the teams that were expected to win both did it with a shutout. Martin Brookside and Brick Wahl showed why they were two of the top goaltenders this season as neither of them collapsed while they lead their team to a victory. After two games the Legion and Americans have both one victory, while the Expess have picked up two wins versus the Vikings.

 

 

Contraction

To make the Victory Hockey League his little sister more interesting it was decided that the league would shrink down to eight teams. As a result of this there were two franchises that needed to go. The teams that were least successful in the most recent past were told that there was no more chance for them to stay in the VHL world. So it was a goodbye to the Minot Gladiators and the Turku Outlaws. While it was needed and to be expected there were still people who believed that the most recent teams to join should also be the teams that should leave once again. However since the start of the league, both the Bratislava Watchmen as the Yukon Rush have been more than successful and it couldn't be justified to remove them instead. So far the contraction has cost the Victory Hockey League one player. Wesley Matthews, born in Minot, could not believe it happened and he said he would never play in the VHL ever again due to this decision. He is now expected to continue his career in other leagues that never even had a team in Minot.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Easter Eggs

While Easter ended over a week ago there is one person in the Victory Hockey League who still is sorting through all the eggs he received:  Sterling.  Every player in the league that found an egg hidden in the site decided to sent it to him as a present. As a result he still is sorting through all the eggs to write thank you notes to the members that did sent them to him. But good news, he is almost done working through the shipments of eggs. At least 10 pounds heavier he will be announcing the prizes for his Egg Sending Contest by the time this magazine hits the shelves, so keep an eye out to see what reward you get for Easter this year.

 

Titans Reborn

The Helsinki Titans have not lead the European Conference Finals once this season. They equalized the series after a game one loss. Lost two games in a row and then equalized again in game six. This unlikely scenario has lead to a game seven in Europe where the Titans want do the impossible and win their third game straight versus the Cologne Express. While Helsinki was the clear favorite after winning the European conference they got behind versus Cologne twice in the series and putting the pressure at the Express team who are expected to win after having a 3-1 lead in the series. However the 3-1 leads in the playoffs are very notorious in the Victory Hockey League, so the ‘3-1 curse’ might as well still be alive and be wrapped around the necks of the Express this year. The Express dominated the Vikings en route to the conference finals and we’re looking to do the same to the Titans. They however did not want to go down without a fight and are now in ‘all or nothing’ mode hunting the Express for a third straight victory.

 

Back And Forth

The battle in the North American conference between the Quebec City Meute and the New York Americans keeps going back and forth. After Quebec grabbed a 1-0 and 2-1 lead in the series, they found themselves down 3-2 after five games in the series due to excellent performances of Brick Wahl and the Americans defense for shutting out the Meute twice in a row securing a 1-0 victory. Wahl’s performance has him once again as a favorite for this year’s playoff Most Valuable Player.  But in order to get there, there is one hurdle to take: the Quebec City Meute. After they won with 4-3 in game six, it all comes down to game seven. And anything can happen when it comes down to one game, the series probably deserved a game seven match up, but it must give the fans a heart attack with the Continental Cup victory on the line. The time to reach the finals has come, but if it will be Quebec or New York, that remains to be seen.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Top or Bottom

The Victory Hockey League is always looking for new ideas to improve the member experience within the league. So when it was brought up that some people wanted to see their locker rooms on top of the forum overview a discussion was born. For 42 seasons the league had the locker rooms at the bottom of the boards, simply due to the fact that they did not consider it the most important factor of the board. Announcements, the league overview, general discussion with the entire league; all these factors were considered more important. But after the request had been launched if it wasn’t a good idea to be put on top we noticed the votes were about 50/50 throughout the days. The draftees locker room was already on top and as a result for them they saw an increase in activity. Thanks to this it is now possible to get your locker room on top of the boards if that is your  preference. The only thing you need to do to ensure this happens is to send a message to Victor. He can arrange the forum settings for your account so you get the locker room where you prefer it. So thanks to a nice suggestion, the VHL Experience might improve once again for some people

 

History Revisited

After the successful Team Point Tasks in Season 40 they are once again returning and they are looking to become a regular thing on the agenda. Since the World- and Super Cups were already on a 3 season rotation, this task will happen every third year as well. In the years there is no extra cup to be won, your team can participate in the task. And guess what, this season is one of these seasons so you and your team can get to work. The task is simple, write about one particular season in your franchises history which has been important. Was it your first cup, a back-to-back victory, a year where you drafted the future core of your franchise, you (well, the whole team) can decide which season to take. Your team has until the 26^th of April to make a submission, so get writing!

 

An all expansion final

After the first expansion of the VHL we have seen the Quebec City Meute as champions before, the Cologne Express on the other hand had never even made it to the finals. This all changed in Season 42 as both expansion teams will finally battle it out with each other who is the best this year. The Quebec City Meute are the favorites going into the series after they secured the Victory Cup for team with most points in a season this year. The New York Americans pushed their limits to a game seven, but they made it through. On the other side of the pond we find the Cologne Express who had finished second in Europe. Despite their low scoring season, they managed to beat Stockholm in five games and came out all guns blazing versus the Helsinki Titans, taking a 3-1 lead. Helsinki managed to get back in the series to push for a game seven. The seventh game was too much for them and the Express secured their first spot in the finals. Who will come out victorious? I guess we will find out soon.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Rise of the Vikings

After the first seasons of the Vikings in the Victory Hockey League criticasters were already saying that the move from Vasteras to Stockholm had proven to be useless and unneeded. The team was still in a bad shape and nothing seemed to help. People always need to have something to complain about and that is basically all that it was, because last season they surprised many by reaching the playoffs with relative ease where they eventually got knocked out by the current champions. This year it will be all different. After building up a team full of prospects (they actually have three candidates for the rookie of the year trophy) they have now acquired some elite players that should help them compete for the first Continental Cup for the Vikings. Brick Wahl, Tom Slaughter and Jody 3 Moons all were brought in from New York, that after years of competing decided to go into a quick rebuild mode by selling their prime assets. The Vikings are looking  good for the year to come and they might even end up being the favorite to take reign over Europe.

 

Fall of the Titans

 

Where some teams rise fast, others fall down just as easily. Last season we noticed the Titans on top of Europe for almost the whole season. This however is a sighting we will likely not see being repeated this year as their general management also decided to follow New York’s example and sell of their prime assets. James Faraday has been moved to the Seattle Bears, re-uniting his player agent with the franchise were his first successes started as part of the ‘Seattle Six’. Another player that is on the move is Jake Wylde, his player agent actually never managed a player outside of Helsinki. Wylde now is supposed to bring some solid defense to Quebec City in the hopes they won’t get seven goals against them in a single game during the cup final. With players like Don Draper and Mike Szatkowski Jr. still on the team the Titans still can’t be underestimated, but they also might not be done yet with selling their players.

 

Young Guns

And just like every year, the draft is right around the corner once the cup final is over. New players get selected by the Victory Hockey Leagues teams and while some of them will never wear the uniform, there are a lot of prospects that will, especially the ones selected in the first round. This year the prime candidates to go first overall are E’Twaun Delicious, Bronson Faux and Hans Wingate. However with the Americans picking first, and them recently acquiring Jax Barnstormer we might see Wingate’s draft stock falling. So will it be Faux or Delicious that will suit up for New York, both players come from agencies that had lots of success in the VHL so they can’t really go wrong with either. Prediction for steal of the draft from the Victory Three writer: Thomas Duddy. This young winger has the potential to become a great player for any VHL Franchise and should certainly be picked up by a team before he’s off the board.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Top Picks Exchanged

 

By the time the last magazine was published there was another big trade that went down that unfortunately did not make it into the magazine. One of the trade pieces involved (Mason Richardson) was so surprised about it that we will likely find all articles this week covering the trade that went down. Richardson was a cornerstone of the Cologne franchise and due to having finished his rookie contract his salary had to be bumped to 5 Million. With the tight salary cap structure that exists in the Victory Hockey League, manager Ryan Power decided to move Richardson, as it would be too expensive to pay both him and O’Malley during their prime contracts. With O’Malley locked up long term, Richardson was the most likely candidate to be moved. A suitable trade partner was found in Switzerland. The HC Davos Dynamo were more than happy then to get such an established defenseman to their roster. The price they had to pay however was not cheap. Bismarck Koenig, a former first overall selection, was sent to Cologne (alongside Azmet Ali). With Cologne adding the 2 forwards to their roster, they also sent a couple of picks back to Davos. It’s not seen many times a 2^nd overall and a 1^st overall selection are included in a trade for each other, but this is a deal that should work out for both of the teams.

 

Gallery Full of History

 

The offseason has been completed and so has the event that was attached to this year’s offseason; the team point task. The submissions this season were from an incredibly high standard, so that was a nice improvement over the last one where there were some (unworthy) candidates. It will be hard to decide which team did the best job as all of the teams had a nice looking and well written task produced. We have seen championship teams covered between the first (Stockholm) to the last (Cologne) champions the VHL had. Every team did a great job this season and it resulted from standard written point tasks to magazines to even a graphical presentation in the form of a website. With everyone having done such a nice job, it might be nice to take a look at what the other teams produced. With the quality of this year submissions it’s definitely worth your time and you might pick up some great VHL history on the way as well.

 

Free TOR G

One man is making a difference now in Toronto as they sit proud on top of the North American conference. This man is TOR G and nobody could imagine Toronto without this guy. Year after year he plays a handful of games to give the starting goaltender some relief. But this season it is all different, TOR G has finally been freed ( so the #FreeTorG tweets can once again be disregarded). With TOR G as starting goaltender the Legion have kept teams as the Seattle Bears and the Quebec City Meute behind them. We are only six games into the season, so anything can happen, but right now, after a rocky start, Tor G looks to finally have found his form again. The season started rocky for him. In his first game he posted a shutout and the game right after he was pulled in a 12-5 defeat versus the New York Americans. Since then he has only lost a game versus the Express. Games against Riga, Quebec and Helsinki all ended in Toronto victories. Will TOR G finally lead the Legion to the glory land or does manager Tyler Edgar have different plans in mind for the goaltending position?