Evaluating my own recruitment

[David O'Quinn 115]

Some faithful day a year and 3 months ago, (yes i've been here that long), I was recruited to the league on one faithful night from the resident nerd, @Enorama (or atleast that's who got credit for recruiting me). To be fair, he took me from a rather obvious recruitment pool, an Eastside Hockey Manager league, which is a game built on a similar concept to the sim engine used by the VHL itself. 

 

I got into the league rather quickly, spurred on by the advent of being able to spread a *modified version of my grandfathers real hockey story, that which I was proud of. I didn't put too much work into it, and due to other things in life taking over, I went AWOL until the following September. But finally on the week ending the 15th of September, I truly joined the VHL, welcomed by one faithful since passed friend, Elmebeck. I was recruited into Saskatoon as that's where my previous, since retired player had gone, but this time I was sticking around. All it took was a friend, one guy to talk to every other day about anything, movies, hockey, the plans for the future of Saskatoon. His plans were pretty expansive, he wanted to change the name of the team once he took over control as the GM to the Saskatoon whitetails, he also wanted to write a theme-song (wanted my help too) based off of a classic Canadian hockey song. But that was the future - with the season drawing to a close, and Saskatoon stacked with a bunch of great picks, the future looked bright, and there's no question that all of that kept me playing and writing, week in and week out. 

 

You might think the story stops here, I've been recruited and I'm sticking around, right? Not so fast. In my opinion, based on my own experience with this league, my recruitment went on until I was traded to Vancouver and brought onto a podcast. But i'll get to that. 

 

In my VHLM Sophomore season, Peace and Elmebeck threw together an amazing team, having picked my player, David O'Quinn, at #1oa in the VHLM dispersal draft. It was an honor, and along with the big trades made, the promise of success and a great locker room kept me around, not to forget a continued friendship. Saskatoon shocked the hockey world and dominated the VHLM, going on a nearly season-long winstreak, capping it off with a convincing victory in the VHLM finals. What was there to look forward to now? Well, the VHL. The draft had passed at the same time as the VHLM dispersal draft: The New York Americans had showed interest in me, no doubt in part to Elmebeck(Jr.)'s presence on the team, and picked me during the eclipse of the first round at 12oa. It was an honor - and though predicted, still a little surprising. My recruitment almost failed at this point, well into my rookie VHL season and my growth was falling behind, my rate of TPE gain grinded to a halt and I was seen as a potential bust.

 

Then - I got traded to Vancouver, and two guys who ran a podcast did me a really big solid by giving me 4 weeks of TPE off the back of a podcast I appeared on... and now I think i'm here for good. Having been given a chance by Beaviss, who himself said 'we'll make you a superstar yet', I finally feel like I belong here. I have friends, a history, a good team to play on and a future to look forward too. 

 

Its not enough to just invite someone to a league, they need to have a story form for them out of the goings on in the league. Part of that is up to the player - part of it us up to the league. What is hockey without a good story? 

 

654 words, claiming for recruitment doubles theme week

Edited April 26, 2020 by David O'Quinn