Claimed: The Hybrid1486 Career Retrospective [1/2]

[Hybrid1486 577]

Many years ago, I happened upon a little sim league known as the Victory Hockey League. What followed was a long stretch of ups and (mostly) downs, with a few solid seasons thrown in here and there. Join me as I look back on my previous eight players, won't you?

 

(S7) G Jeff Hunter – Round 3, Pick 20 by the Calgary Wranglers

 

I don’t remember how I originally found the VHL (this was roughly ten years ago), but when I first entered the league I did so with a goalie. He wasn’t very good, finishing his career with 130-ish TPE. He was traded to Seattle pretty early on, but by then I had already lost interest and was probably more focused on the MSFL or something. Had I known the VHL would still be kicking in 2018 I would have prioritized things a little differently, but you know, hindsight is 20/20 and all.

 

(S16) C Alex Stoyanovich – Round 1, Pick 8 by the Helsinki Titans

 

Back when Season 15 was a big deal, the VHL powers that be sent out a recruitment email to try and get some old members back. As it happened, I had some free time back then and Hunter’s career was just about officially over, so I came back with the 5’5” Stoyanovich. This was when Nate Gerbe was on the Sabres, so I figured I’d try and recreate him in the VHL. Stoyanovich actually had a pretty decent career, notably for the monster Riga offense in Season 20 when he put up 37 goals and 113 points (both all-time highs for my guys, as far as I know). He also was incredibly adept at staying out of the penalty box, only notching one minor for that entire season. Alas, I had a pretty strong desire to position myself to go first overall in a draft, so I put the brakes on Stoyanovich at 499 TPE and began work on my next guy in time for the ill-fated Season 22 Draft.

 

(S22) D Clint Guite – Round 1, Pick 1 by Vasteras IK

 

I did go first overall in a draft, and I suppose nobody can take that away from me. Never mind that it might be the worst draft in league history (even without knowing anything about the last 20 or so, I feel that’s a pretty safe bet). I was all-in on the defense-first Guite from the get-go, as he had 99 defense before he even set foot on VHL ice. The real turning point was when we switched from the old forum to the Nick Barretta one, and I started picking up a lot of responsibility. Eventually, I became Toronto’s GM for two seasons, and the workload just became too much. I backed out of that role, and I jumped ship from the league soon after. Guite likely would have ended up in the Hall of Fame if I kept at it, but it wasn’t meant to be.

 

(S28) G Paolo Sinatra – Round 3, Pick 21 by the Riga Reign

 

Eventually, I decided to return to the league, but for some reason I wanted to do it all sneaky-like. I retired Guite out of the blue and created Sinatra under the username Mr. House (I was playing a lot of Fallout at the time; that, like war, never changes). I ended up going 21^st in the draft, right after the immortal Jonah Liuzza, before applying my Guite carryover and presumably pissing off whomever was Guite’s GM at the time. Of course, my heart really wasn’t in it, and Riga had picked another goalie in the second round so I didn’t feel obligated to compete. Sinatra might have hit the 200 TPE mark, but I didn’t put much effort into him. This would be a running theme for the next few guys on the list.

 

(S31) LW Felix Leiter – Round 1, Pick 9 by the Helsinki Titans

 

I remember being really into Leiter, mostly because I knew expansion was coming and I really, really, really, really, really wanted to be on either Quebec or Cologne. When the back end of the first round rolled around, Cologne had eighth and Quebec had tenth. Before it even happened, I knew I would end up going smack dab in the middle to a team I had already been on and really had no motivation to compete for. Looking at the draft page, I see that Leiter accounted for two of my three Continental Cups (Guite won the other) as a bit player in Riga, neither of which I was active for.

 

(S36) D Stelio Kontos – Round 2, Pick 14 by the Cologne Express

 

In a long stretch of God-awful players, Kontos was by far my worst. I named him after Stan Smith’s bully from American Dad (a reference I still kinda find funny) and tried to make him a giant fighting machine. It took about a quarter of a season to realize that I had no interest in building that kind of player. But hey, I did end up on Cologne this time, at least.

 

(S38) G Brock Waldron – Round 1, Pick 6 by the Quebec City Meute

 

Hey, look, a good player! Waldron was the poster child for an effective use of welfare during his eight-year VHL career. He backstopped some pretty good Meute teams before finishing his career on a couple solid Cologne squads as well. As I write this, I’m hit by the irony of the fact that two players I put very little effort into improving were able to play for the only two teams I wanted Leiter to play on. Anyway, Waldron finished his career with 254 wins, which places him at 21^st all time as far as I can tell. Waldron was far and away the best player I’ve ever had, both in terms of TPE and effectiveness.

 

(S46) LW Pete Stockton – Round 1, Pick 5 by the Toronto Legion

 

Right around the time Waldron’s career was coming to a close, I had a fairly serious biking accident that left me unable to do my normal job at work for a while. At the same time, my employer had a round of layoffs that hit a few departments fairly hard. Putting those two things together, I spent about a month and a half working at a desk job that I normally wouldn’t have had, and as a result I had a bit more time to give to the VHL than I might have otherwise had. As a result, I went in on Stockton like I hadn’t done since Guite. I was ready to take the league by storm with the two-way winger I had created in Stockton…until he ended up being a mid-first round pick. In what seems to be a common theme here, things didn’t turn out the way I expected and it really took the wind out of my sails.

 

In Conclusion

 

Will things be any different with Vesto Slipher? Who knows. What I can say is that this time I have no expectations around what will happen and where I'll end up. I'm not going to break the bank effort-wise, but I see no reason I can't stick around and contribute. At the very least, whomever drafts me can't say I didn't warn them.

[Hybrid1486 577]

This came in at 1,215 words, so I'm going to use it for two weeks.

[DollarAndADream 3,357]

I was only around for Waldron and Stockton, so I've seen some decent players from you. Waldron was great for the Meute team we were on, including the Turku Outlaws team we were on in the VHLM.

[Victor 11,028]

Sad reacts only.

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

Pete Stockton. one of the main players from the Moscow Red Wolves days when we went on a 2 year tear

[.sniffuM 1,741]

Oh hey, I think I drafted Guite. God those drafts I was Vasteras GM for were bad.

 

EDIT: No, I see Tyler or whoever else was GM before him drafted you. I think you might have come back to Vasteras though, I feel. like I remember playing with Guite when I had Reik.

Edited June 12, 2018 by .sniffuM

[Hybrid1486 577]

4 hours ago, .sniffuM said:

Oh hey, I think I drafted Guite. God those drafts I was Vasteras GM for were bad.

 

EDIT: No, I see Tyler or whoever else was GM before him drafted you. I think you might have come back to Vasteras though, I feel. like I remember playing with Guite when I had Reik.

I do believe Guite was there when Vasteras broke their cup drought, but I was inactive

 

and yeah, I'm like 99% sure it was Tyler that drafted me

Edited June 12, 2018 by Hybrid1486

[diamond_ace 3,112]

I didn't know Sinatra was you

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

8 minutes ago, diamond_ace said:

I didn't know Sinatra was you

 

This x2.

[Tyler 885]

11 hours ago, .sniffuM said:

Oh hey, I think I drafted Guite. God those drafts I was Vasteras GM for were bad.

 

EDIT: No, I see Tyler or whoever else was GM before him drafted you. I think you might have come back to Vasteras though, I feel. like I remember playing with Guite when I had Reik.

 

?Yeah I drafted Guite then I think ended up trading him then trading back for him lol

[Hybrid1486 577]

58 minutes ago, diamond_ace said:

I didn't know Sinatra was you

I tried to switch it up by doing graphics with him, but I was awful to the max.

[DollarAndADream 3,357]

Review:

I mostly remember Stockton and Waldron, because I was around for those. Played with both players because I was on Quebec with Waldron with Boychuk and on Toronto with Parechkin. Good times.