The VHLM's Newest Community: The Miami Marauders

[bigAL 2,176]

The VHLM’s Newest Community:
The Miami Marauders

By: bigAL, MIA AGM

 

Ahead of S72, the VHLM expanded to include a new franchise. The Miami Marauders joined at the same time as an influx of new members, and the new team offered first-time GM Krice a unique opportunity.

“The sim hockey is fun and all, but what keeps me [in the VHL] is the fun of being in a really active team locker room,” says Krice when asked what keeps him here in the league.

“And so,” he explained, “in my first GM assignment, I wanted to build a strong locker room.”

Krice and bigAL both believe that teams in the VHLM serve an important purpose on the overall league structure. These teams are our new members’ first contact with the league, and so it is vitally important that this first contact happens in a way that encourages members to return. With friendly people, friendly policies, and a few ringers brought in from other teams, Miami sought to be the most successful locker room in S72.

Expansion teams are designed to be unsuccessful on the ice in their first season. Without a dispersal draft, the Marauders were without a drafted player prior to the S72 draft. Without the year-over-year depth production ready yet, Krice sold off his high draft picks and built with an eye for the future.

Without a chance to compete this season, Krice approached the draft with a focus on acquiring players who are strong community members. The Miami draft board was not ranked by TPE, or by how many times a player had been recreated. Instead, the GM and AGM ranked their preferred players by forum activity and general enthusiasm for the VHL.

A lot of these players are eligible for the VHL draft this upcoming season. You don’t often get to see their LR contributions, so allow me to provide the league with a scouting update. I’m going to revisit the inaugural Miami Marauders draft class, highlighting their on and off ice skills, and assess their potential as VHLers.  

Draft Position	Player Name + TPE	VHL name	S72 stats	VHL commitment
23 – C	Andre LeBastard (169)	Andre Lebastard	13-26—39 (42 GP)	S73 Draft eligible
26 – D	Kosmo Kramerev (173)	Mongoose87	19-42—61	S73 Draft eligible
29 – D	Wolf Stansson (143)	ahockeyguy	18-27—45	S73 Draft eligible
37 – RW	Bobbie Cheechoo (94)	Sharkie	13-13—26	S73 Draft eligible
42 – G	Bacon (133)	Bacon	13 W, 0.869, 3.96 GAA, 1 SO	NY Americans (S72)
49 – C	Dakota Lamb (134)	dlamb	22-30—52	S73 Draft eligible
52 – RW	Oh Sens (122)	osens	11-18—29	S73 Draft Eligible

 

 

23 – C

Andre LeBastard (C)

Andre Lebastard

13-26—39 (42 GP)

S73 Draft eligible

 

Andre is the heart and soul of our team. He was voted by his peers to be the first captain of the Miami Marauders, and he has surpassed all expectations. Andre makes a concerted effort to engage with each and every member of our team on Discord. He’s active in a variety of timeslots, because of his upside down Australian time. Andre can help you and your team start your day off with a smile, or go to bed on a high note with a goofy joke. He almost always reaches his weekly TPE cap, and will continue to be more a successful journalist as his Shite Sports Network brand takes off. Andre will bring his fiery passion for winning and his unparalleled sense of humour to any VHL locker room.

 

26 – D

Kosmo Kramerev

Mongoose87

19-42—61

S73 Draft eligible

 

You might know Mongoose as the guy who makes the excellent Seinfeld graphics. His player, Kosmo Kramerev, makes it even clearer that he’s a huge Seinfeld fan. Mongoose is a huge add to any locker room, even if you don’t know Seinfeld. He’s always around the discord and on top of league affairs. Mongoose is a calm, cool, and collected guy who doesn’t get sucked into the internet controversy of the day, and does his best to put the team first. On the ice, Kramerev has been tearing it up. He’s 7^th in defence scoring, putting up a ridiculous 61 points on a team that might not get 61 points all season. Miami drafted Kramerev with a high pick, and a VHL team should too.

 

29 – D

Wolf Stansson

ahockeyguy

18-27—45

S73 Draft eligible

 

Wolf Stansson is another player the experts might have called a ‘reach’ at the draft, but the Marauders are very happy with Stansson through the first half of the season. In the locker room, Wolf is our local intellectual. Wolf is deep and thoughtful in the conversations he starts, whether they are big thinkers like “what IS a chair?” or when he’s coordinating interviews with his fellow players. Stansson is a caring, compassionate, and team-focused member of our new community. On the ice, Wolf has been attached to Kramerev’s hip all season. While Wolf hasn’t reached the offensive ceiling Kramerev has, Stansson is still producing at more than a point a game. In the S72 draft, Miami got Stansson at #29; in the S73 VHL draft, Wolf shouldn’t be on the board by the time pick #29 comes around.

 

37 – RW

Bobbie Cheechoo

Sharkie

13-13—26

S73 Draft eligible

 

Bobbie Cheechoo started the year off quite strong. He was the first big ‘graphics guy’ Miami drafted in S72. As a California dude, Sharkie is active in those prime PST time zones. In recent weeks, Cheechoo has scaled back his commitment to the VHL and has been less responsive in the locker room. Sharkie is still active on the forums: in each of the last two weeks, Sharkie has earned 14 or 15 TPE. Cheechoo is definitely a player worth taking a late-round flyer on in the S73 draft.

 

42 – G

Bacon

Bacon

13 W, 0.869, 3.96 GAA, 1 SO

NY Americans (S72)

 

Bacon bacon bacon. This greasy goaler is a really fun person to have around in the locker room. He’s keeping the team in games on the ice, and is an active and engaged member of the community. Bacon loves to get in on the jokes and goofy bits, but also is able to take a stand when the team is slighted. His passion for the league and connection with his team will be a big asset for the Americans in S74. On the ice, Bacon’s strong play earned him a spot on Team Asia’s WJC team. Fatigue has not been a problem in the season so far, but Bacon has started every single one of the Marauders’ S72 games.

 

49 – C	Dakota Lamb	dlamb	22-30—52	S73 Draft eligible
52 – RW	Oh Sens	osens	11-18—29	S73 Draft Eligible

 

Much like Brennan and Dale, dlamb and osens are a package deal. Miami was very excited to pick up both boys in close proximity in the fourth round. Knowing Dakota and OhSens like we do now, it was an absolute steal getting these two as late as we did. Both dlamb and osens are a lot of fun to have in a LR: osens is legendary for his high-effort/low-quality graphics and his borderline terrifying off-ice hijinks; dlamb runs the night shift in the LR and keeps everyone highly entertained until 5am EST. Dlamb has to be commended for his leadership skills in LR management, conflict resolution, and sim hockey intellect – he is applying for a variety of league management and staff jobs, and will likely be a leader in the VHL for many seasons to come. Both these two players are worth an early pick for any VHL franchise looking for a scoring centre, a physical winger, or two fun-loving goofballs in the LR.

 ***

The seven players listed above represent all Miami draft picks from the first to fourth rounds. The Marauders have hit on 95% of their high picks from the S72 draft. No players drafted in the fifth round or beyond became active enough to warrant interest for the S73 VHL draft.

Since the S72 draft, the Marauders have signed two players from waivers:

Rocket (90 TPE LW): 8-7—15, S73 VHL(M) Draft Eligible

Florent Vericel (119 TPE LW): 8-12—20, S73 VHL(M) Draft Eligible

Both Rocket and Vericel had friends on Miami already, and have integrated into the team locker room perfectly, and both would be positive additions to any VHL or VHLM franchise.

***

Miami built its draft board based on community participation, enthusiasm for the league, and overall dedication to the cause. Other managers might be looking at TPE, or goals/assists, but I want the VHL scouts to know that each and everyone one of these characters is a good person, a great teammate, and an excellent addition to your big-league team.

If you have any further questions about any of our players, feel free to join our discord locker room or message the management team.

Happy theme week!

& Marauders

 

-bigAL, AGM

 

Word count: 1500

 

[bigAL 2,176]

Claiming for Theme Week

[Andre LeBastard 112]

This is a brilliant bit of writing, I couldn't speak better of myself if I tried!

The graphics and stats just add to the flavour and the individual write ups are a really nice way to get to know draft prospects.

A quality example of how an AGM can help his team and the players on it. It is also interesting to read a behind the scenes look at how a teams managements draft philosophy works.

Nice work @bigAL

 

I have to award this article 9/10 (clearly no bias here).

[Mr_Hatter 1,608]

Hell of an article your passion is clear, and all I can say is I'm so happy we snagged you in the draft

[ahockeyguy 110]

Dude, what a great article. First, your passion for the team you help run is evident. You have given us not just numbers, but real insights into real personalities that these people bring each and every day. My one "criticism," if you could even call it that, is that I want more--I would love to have seen anecdotes or quotes from all the players. Basically, I am loving this article so much I want to see more of it. Tough to complain about. Good work, man! Score 9.5/10

[bigAL 2,176]

Thanks for all the love everyone!

 

On 6/12/2020 at 10:11 AM, ahockeyguy said:

Dude, what a great article. First, your passion for the team you help run is evident. You have given us not just numbers, but real insights into real personalities that these people bring each and every day. My one "criticism," if you could even call it that, is that I want more--I would love to have seen anecdotes or quotes from all the players. Basically, I am loving this article so much I want to see more of it. Tough to complain about. Good work, man! Score 9.5/10

 

That's great feedback Wolf, thanks! I think you're right, I certainly could've given each player space to make their case to a VHL GM about why to draft them. Maybe we'll coordinate some along those lines as the draft approaches...

[bigAL 2,176]

Claiming for Week Ending June 21 - claim 1 of 3

[Ricer13 2,776]

Review: Not that I would expect anything less but this is perfection. You’ve written good stories in the past but this is a good informational piece that you have put before us. You took some time and pulled each players stats and the breakdown of each player was on point. This gives VHL teams a good indication of what they are getting in these questions players. I have no negative critiques, just keep doing what you’re doing! Rating : 9.8/10

[bigAL 2,176]

On 6/15/2020 at 9:03 AM, Ricer13 said:

Not that I would expect anything less but this is perfection

That's a high bar to set, but the best GM deserves the best team scouting reports! Thanks coach!

[bigAL 2,176]

Claiming week 2 of 3, week ending June 28

[Andre LeBastard 112]

I'm going to throw my hat in the ring and review this article as well:

 

Quality writing speaks to you, it reaches out seductively, caressing your mind...promising to stir your emotions, leaving you spent and wanting more. 

This piece is all that.  And the fact that there is no more, is my only critique.

 

9.8/10 Well done that man!

[Baozi 1,658]

Very nice. Its like something out of a magazine really. Formatting looks nice and the content is engaging. You broke up the wall of text quite well with the table and charting of specific information. Could've used a little bit of spacing in the bottom half of the article, that's about nitpicking for now though. Could use some color though otherwise

 

10/10

[bigAL 2,176]

High praise from tfong, thanks!

 

On 6/25/2020 at 11:38 AM, tfong said:

Could use some color though otherwise

I'm great at writing beautifully, but I'm working on making it look beautiful too. Colour's a great suggestion!

[bigAL 2,176]

Claiming week 3/3 for week ending July 5 2020