Edwin Preencarnacion Press Conference

[Tagger 2,722]

We regret to inform you that due to unforeseen circumstances that in truth we probably should have foreseen (In hindsight, letting Edwin into a room and expected him to not set everything on fire was an error in judgement), the Press Conference for the impending arrival of Edwin Preencarnacion to the VHLM has been moved to the parking lot. Edwin will take any questions but we ask that you do not leave any cars in the parking lot for your own and everyone else's safety.

[hedgehog337 3,483]

Another goalie sack machine?

Is Dominican Republic the best hockey country in the world?

Do you have a rivalry with Haiti?

[Tagger 2,722]

1 minute ago, hedgehog337 said:

Another goalie sack machine?

Is Dominican Republic the best hockey country in the world?

Do you have a rivalry with Haiti?

Another goalie sack machine?

I would say not right now, but maybe further down the line he will wind up leaning in that direction. I'm not intending to do as much as I did with my previous players (e.g. I don't intend to hold down a job, or at least a job with weekly requirements) so with that combined with what I believe is a tougher update scale (At a glance, I'm still not fully familiar with all the new TPE cap and earning opportunities), it makes it more difficult than before to focus on both physicality and technical ability. So basically, my priorities lie with improving my technical ability, and whether I do wind up becoming a more physical hockey player will depend on how easy it was to become an elite level forward.

 

Is Dominican Republic the best hockey country in the world?

Well, let me put it this way, there's been three Dominican Republic players in this league, to my knowledge. One is a Hall of Famer, one leads defensemen in three all-time statistics (to my knowledge that's still the case at least) and the other has the best career save percentage in the VHL. We might not be the best hockey nation in the world in terms of numbers, but the ones we do produce all well remembered around the league.

 

Do you have a rivalry with Haiti?

I wouldn't say we have a rivalry with them, mostly on the basis that the more players that come through Haiti's system, the better my chances are at winning the World Cup with Team World. I don't recall any Haiti players playing in the league during my tenure here, but hopefully the Dominican Republic's unexpected success as a hockey nation can prove to them that providing a country comes in with the right mindset towards developing players, any country can provide the VHL, or any hockey league for that matter, with elite hockey talent.

[Victor 11,001]

1. Were you expecting to be drafted by Riga / were there any other teams you would have liked to go to?

2. Which has been your favourite player so far?

3. What are your long term plans with Preencarnacion - e.g. free agency, HOF aspirations, etc.

4. Your World Cup favourites at the moment?

5. What is love?

[hedgehog337 3,483]

Some questions to you for the next week.

 

1. Are you expecting to join the fight for the RoTY?

2. Do you have a rival team now?

3. Are you planning to ever create a player for fun, like KY (your last player)?

4. Is England impressive in WC?

5. Which S62 draftee you want to see in Riga?

[Tagger 2,722]

22 hours ago, Victor said:

1. Were you expecting to be drafted by Riga / were there any other teams you would have liked to go to?

2. Which has been your favourite player so far?

3. What are your long term plans with Preencarnacion - e.g. free agency, HOF aspirations, etc.

4. Your World Cup favourites at the moment?

5. What is love?

 

W/C 6/17

1. By the time of the draft, I figured Riga was pretty much a cert. I had received a PM from Seattle about my interest in the team at 4th overall, but this was before Sterling's update put him right up there in the pecking order. As for other teams, I entered this draft with a fresh mindset and really didn't have a problem of joining any team, but having been @Beaviss first GM in the league, it certainly would have been something I was interested in. But I'm very happy with Riga, I'd been looking forward to playing on a team with yourself and our GM has shown he knows what he's doing with drafting Stromberg when all other GM's missed him.

 

2. I would probably say Encarnacion was my favourite, just on the fact that I was able to achieve exactly what I set out to do and dominate all the goon stats! The persona I created for Encarnacion was also very light-hearted so I think it made for some of my more entertaining (although definitely not thought-provoking) media articles.

 

3. I've told the GM that I'm happy to stick around with the team so long as it's clear that we are progressing towards becoming a competing team, and given the strength of our first draft class on top of what I expect from future draft classes, I don't see a situation where I'd be looking to leave Riga. As for statistical aspirations, HOF would be great. I am earning at a rate that should see me get right up there although hopefully I can step things up this season to make things a little easier. A personal goal of mine, albeit a very ambitious one, is that by the end of my career, I want to have the most TPE out of anyone taken in our draft class. It'll be difficult with all the great players in that class, yourself included, but I think I have the ability and commitment to reach that target.

 

4. Like you mentioned in your press conference, most of those that I would consider favourites have not really shown anything to warrant that distinction to this point. I had tagged France as my favourites heading into the tournament and given that they've won all their games, albeit not very comfortably, I think I'll stick with them. But one thing is that I think England will progress to the Semi-Finals at least. I told myself I wouldn't get this way but goddammit Gareth's pulled me back in, come on England!

 

5. It's Harry Kane. 

 

To updater, asked questions here and here

Edited June 25, 2018 by Tagger

[Tagger 2,722]

22 hours ago, hedgehog337 said:

Some questions to you for the next week.

 

1. Are you expecting to join the fight for the RoTY?

2. Do you have a rival team now?

3. Are you planning to ever create a player for fun, like KY (your last player)?

4. Is England impressive in WC?

5. Which S62 draftee you want to see in Riga?

1. If I continue to have more games like my 3 point outing against the Legion, then It'll certainly give me a chance at the award at the very least. Louth's got quite a good lead atm, but there's a lot of talented players just behind him and hopefully I'll be able to break ahead of that pack in the coming weeks.

 

2. I'd say it's probably the same as yourself in the Bears. They're starting their rebuild pretty much exactly the same time that we are and I'd have somewhat of the extra motivation as if it turns out my player winds up being the best out of that draft class and the one who makes the difference, they'll be the team that had the most opportunities to draft me themselves. 

 

3. It's so early in my comeback that I haven't even made any plans for a follow-up player, I think it would have to be something I hadn't done before though rather than a repeat of the same gimmick.

 

4. There are certainly areas where they've impressed where they haven't looked so strong in the past, but I still have my concerns about some of the centre-backs defensive capabilities (namely Maguire) and while we wound up winning both of our games, there were definitely periods where we looked less than convincing on the ball.

 

5. I would say on a pure member basis, probably @jRuutu. He was easily the most active player in the New York LR when I was with Reencarnacion and a very good team leader for us. I wouldn't mind seeing ADV on the team either, but I'm not sure how much he's doing discussion wise. 

 

Updater: Questions asked are Here and Here

Edited June 25, 2018 by Tagger

[hedgehog337 3,483]

1. Pablo just came in. Edwin and Cast suddenly are getting away from other rookies now. It was a good sneak IFA claim, isn't it?

2. But can Riga really fight for a wildcard round?

3. All last week three stars are from Riga. the Reign takeover for real?

4. Can Riga fight for the wildcard round next season knowing that they're getting Centis, a lotto pick and Stromberg getting called up?

5. Why it sucks to be ill in July?

[Tagger 2,722]

On 7/1/2018 at 9:35 PM, hedgehog337 said:

1. Pablo just came in. Edwin and Cast suddenly are getting away from other rookies now. It was a good sneak IFA claim, isn't it?

2. But can Riga really fight for a wildcard round?

3. All last week three stars are from Riga. the Reign takeover for real?

4. Can Riga fight for the wildcard round next season knowing that they're getting Centis, a lotto pick and Stromberg getting called up?

5. Why it sucks to be ill in July?

1. It was a very good claim, although I think we're all surprised at quite how well it's working! The team right now kinda reminds me of the rebuilding lead-up to the three-peat Legion, as they had a similar case of young guys with not particularly high TPA, but the team was just set-up perfectly for stats and hopefully this run of form continues to boost both mine and Cast's chances at awards!

2. I think it will be tight and I think we can just about sneak in there, but I think ultimately it's going to come down to how much luck we get with our goalie performance. We've been unfortunate in that Aamo is on away atm, but we've gotten some good goalie performances out of him despite the lack of TPA to his name and I think if those keep up, we stand a chance.

3. It's coming home

4. I think we'd probably wind up getting wildcard by default just with what the goalie situation is going to be with the retirement of King and I'm presuming Arkander.

5. Don't jinx me, this is usually my time to get ill but I've been good to this point! 

 

Updater, Link to Questions

Here (3)

Here (3)

Edited July 2, 2018 by Tagger

[Quik 4,113]

1. Are you surprised by your success so far this season?
2. What are your top 3 pizza toppings?
3. If you're stuck in traffic as a passenger of a friend's car during rush hour, but you're across the street from where you need to be, do you get out of the car and walk the rest of the way?
4. Why is it that some guys get asked 15 questions in 1 week, but others don't get any?

[Tagger 2,722]

On 7/5/2018 at 7:09 PM, Quik said:

1. Are you surprised by your success so far this season?
2. What are your top 3 pizza toppings?
3. If you're stuck in traffic as a passenger of a friend's car during rush hour, but you're across the street from where you need to be, do you get out of the car and walk the rest of the way?
4. Why is it that some guys get asked 15 questions in 1 week, but others don't get any?

1. I've been fading as of late but yes I was definitely surprised with my form given that my expectations/hopes was for a point per game season and I was sitting quite comfortably over that. I'm aiming for an 80 point season now, hopefully I can hit that mark. 

2. Chicken and Sweetcorn, Ham and Pineapple (I think that makes me a monster), Pepperoni

3. Depends, if we're heading to the same place, then I'll stick with the driver but if I'm just getting a lift from them then yes I'd probably jump out.

4. Yeah I think it's a problem you're going to find with any point task of this format that depends on users submitting stuff for other users. I feel like more GM's should be asking questions in their team sections to make sure that no-one is without or left begging for questions.

 

Questions Asked:

Pod Cast

Mats Johnsson

Edited July 15, 2018 by Tagger

[hedgehog337 3,483]

1. Cast will likely get a RoTY award. Not jealous?

2. Aamo somehow is playing better as a backup. the hell?

3. Are England people still praising their players for semi's?

4. Can they get better to EURO 2020?

5. Latvian yellow press likes to post some embarrasing photos from UK parties and how people are acting when they're drunk. how's UK party in reality?

[Tagger 2,722]

22 minutes ago, hedgehog337 said:

1. Cast will likely get a RoTY award. Not jealous?

2. Aamo somehow is playing better as a backup. the hell?

3. Are England people still praising their players for semi's?

4. Can they get better to EURO 2020?

5. Latvian yellow press likes to post some embarrasing photos from UK parties and how people are acting when they're drunk. how's UK party in reality?

1. Not really, at the end of the day he had the most TPA out of the two of us for the majority of the season, so he's really the one who it makes the most sense to win it, I'm just happy I had a way more productive season than I could've ever imagined.

2. He's got those Threencarnacion genes in him clearly, although they will probably serve him well during the Kriketers era.

3. Not been so much the last few days or so, but yes, there was a lot of praise for the players after reaching the semis, although there were some who were still considered disapppointing (Alli and Sterling namely), although the majority of the praise was split between Trippier, Pickford and manager Southgate.

4. I think we're definitely going to have to be better in open play if we want to continue reaching semi-finals in tournaments without relying on easy draws. While we scored a lot of goals from free kicks, pens and corners, we were missing any kind of creativity when we got towards the opponents penalty area, and I think someone's going to have to fill that role for us if we want to make it to another semi-final in 2020.

5. Yeah UK drinking culture is, fucking weird. I can't say I go to that many clubs or parties, but yeah, usually someone who has drank too much winds up looking like a right knob, I'd say of the ones where there's been a lot of drinking, 80% of the time, someones done something embarrassing/stupid.

[Tagger 2,722]

Questions Asked:

Mikka Pajari (3)

Pod Cast (3)

Benjamin Zeptenbergs (3)

Mats Johnsson (3)

 

12 Questions Asked for W/C 7/23

[ShawnGlade 1,010]

1) Do you think you can up your production next season?

2) What do you like about the VHL?

3) If the opportunity came, could you see yourself managing a team?

4) What do you hate about the VHL?

5) Which upcoming draftee are you most excited to watch?

6) Which upcoming draftee would you like to see on your team and maybe play with them?

[Tagger 2,722]

Questions Asked (10):

Shawn Glade (5)

Ryuu Crimson (5)

[Tagger 2,722]

1) Do you think you can up your production next season?

I think I can improve on 95 points next season, although that will partially depend on how our team is set up next season. 

2) What do you like about the VHL?

How long it's been going, I came hear from leagues that lasted no longer than two, so a league that's been going for 11 years is very impressive

3) If the opportunity came, could you see yourself managing a team?

I've done it once before (New York S47-50, won the cup S47) and while it was fun, I don't really have any interest in returning to the role any time soon. 

4) What do you hate about the VHL?

My main gripe would be how long it can take some times for suggestions to go through. The league was looking empty with ten teams for a while, but only contracted to eight over a year later. Also my suggestions to improve Trivia and VHFL had only positive feedback, but never got implemented. 

5) Which upcoming draftee are you most excited to watch?

I would say Brick Wahl, mainly because it will be interesting to see how the top goalie prospect will line up in this current era.

6) Which upcoming draftee would you like to see on your team and maybe play with them?

I'm not entirely sure looking at the current setup of our roster if we'll have the cap for another skater, so I'll go with Finn Davison. He's been a very productive member thus far and would serve as an excellent backup for Kriketers and a very good starter for other teams in the future.

[Exlaxchronicles 415]

1. What do you think of your clubs chances these playoffs?

2. Which player on Seattle do you think is underrated?

3. How would you compare your play last season to this one?

4. Do yo use a wood stick or composite?

5. Which playoff team is year do you think is the dark horse?

[Tagger 2,722]

On 12/3/2018 at 2:13 AM, Exlaxchronicles said:

1. What do you think of your clubs chances these playoffs?

2. Which player on Seattle do you think is underrated?

3. How would you compare your play last season to this one?

4. Do yo use a wood stick or composite?

5. Which playoff team is year do you think is the dark horse?

Sorry I'm pretty late getting to these questions, so some have somewhat already been answered.

 

1) I think we've got a great chance, we've got a very strong group all-round and, providing Kriketers can produce to a decent level, I think we've got a very good shot of winning it.

2) I was going to say Malenko, but then I saw he hasn't done any real TPE earning lately, so I'll say Jake Davis. He's producing at a high level for a second year player and he's doing a great job earning TPE for a player taken in the second round of the draft.

3) I think worse, but predictably so. Last season we were able to feast on weaker goalies and less competing teams, but this year there's been a lot more competing teams and there's been more players on my own roster to compete against for points. 

4) I play with a wood stick. 

5) Even before the playoffs I would have said Calgary, as I didn't think Toronto or Quebec had much of a chance at all whereas Calgary, while finishing third, still had a roster that I felt had a very good chance of winning.

 

Quote

1. Try to predict Reign's offseason. Draft, trades and such things.

 

Predict we trade our first for a forward, pick Davison with our second cause all other positions are filled. 

Edited December 9, 2018 by Tagger

[hedgehog337 3,483]

1. Try to predict Reign's offseason. Draft, trades and such things.

 

@Tagger

[hedgehog337 3,483]

1. Are you surprised by Helsinki quick comeup?

2. Do you think we may see and expansion someday?

3. Goals for Edwin for this season?

4. Were you surprised when Crimson won the Kanou?

5. Can every send down make it into the roster next season?

6. Try to predict the S64 rookie of the year.

7. How much scoring could go down with all these goalies now?

8. Can you name Toronto as contenders now?

9. How will you celebrate X-Mas?

10. And how about New Year? 

[Tagger 2,722]

On 12/24/2018 at 9:57 PM, hedgehog337 said:

6. Try to predict the S64 rookie of the year.

7. How much scoring could go down with all these goalies now?

8. Can you name Toronto as contenders now?

9. How will you celebrate X-Mas?

10. And how about New Year? 

6. I picked Bailey on my predictions. Looking at his TPA, he's gonna be on a first line with Louth, Johnsson and Slipher, so he's going to get a lot of help. At the same time though, rookie of the year is always weird based on whether the sim wants to give a half-complete roster a ton of points or no points whatsoever.

7. I think it will go down a bit, but not too much since while we are getting more goalies, we're also getting more defenseman and forwards, so the scoring talent facing them is also going to be better.

8. I didn't really feel that good about their chances even before the Louth thing, but now they've got two wingers with just over 200 TPA, a converted defenseman who doesn't really fit that well to winger and three goons. So I would say definitely not now, that Davos trade where they gave their first looks worse by the day.

9. The usual for us, go round to my grandmas house with the family and celebrate with food and games.

10. Don't actually usually do anything for New Years, although I know new people now that I didn't last year, so who knows.

[eaglesfan036 4,604]

1) Who do you think is the current best VHL GM?

2) Which of my players was your favorite? Austin Gow, Robert Gow III, Tim TebowGow, The Process, Chat, Gritty?

3) If you were starting a new VHL team and could have any current VHL player who would you pick?

4) Favorite VHL member?

5) Funniest VHL member?

[jRuutu 2,473]

1. What you think is the second most important attribute?

2.  What it´s like to play in Riga?

3. Favorite thing to do while taking it easy at the hotel during away tours?

4. Any Riga players you would not want to be roommates with?

5. If I want to score against Kriketers - where should I shoot?

[Tagger 2,722]

On 12/24/2018 at 9:57 PM, hedgehog337 said:

1. Are you surprised by Helsinki quick comeup?

2. Do you think we may see and expansion someday?

3. Goals for Edwin for this season?

4. Were you surprised when Crimson won the Kanou?

5. Can every send down make it into the roster next season?

1. Not particularly, I felt they had enough talented young guys on their roster that one or two vets from selling teams could put them right in contention

2. It's looking to the point that it's inevitable now. I know I was a big supporter of contraction, but that was only cause the league was in a terrible state with the team:player ratio, so I'm all ok to re-expand once it becomes clear that will no longer be an issue with ten teams.

3. I'm hoping that I can make it into award territory this year, most likely for most goals.

4. I was more surprised that Stopko did tbh. Comparing with his performance in the final series the previous season, he had a 0.008% worse save percentage this season, only outplayed Kriketers in half the games (He outperformed Iseult in 5 of the 7 last season) and wasn't on the winning team, so I was surprised that he won it this year but I was his only vote for the award last season.

5. Not sure about Exodia as I can't say I've seen him on since the draft (although maybe I just missed him) but everyone else has a very good chance. 

 

On 12/30/2018 at 7:22 PM, eaglesfan036 said:

1) Who do you think is the current best VHL GM?

 

I'd say it's either Hedgehog or Bushito, giving the edge towards Hedgehog though since he's stuck with the same team whereas Bushito had a couple of times where he was removed from the role previously. There are some guys though that haven't yet properly had a chance to build their own team through a whole cycle (Spade, Shawn Glade and Quik) and I'll be interested to see how well they do with that.

 

I'll answer the rest of your questions next week. 

Edited January 6, 2019 by Tagger