Oh man - there have been so many great memories in the SHL.    As some others have stated, I had NO IDEA what I was signing up for when I originally joined.  And then realized it's a forum based thing that reminds me of the early 2000s and I almost bailed.  But what really brought me in were the people in discord.  While I will have a lot of great memories I definitely can't ignore the fact that each memory is really just a shared experience with the people that make this a great place to waste my time.

Clearly the SMJHL and SHL drafts stick out as big ones.  For the J draft I didn't expect much and was just going to be happy to be drafted at all.  Little did I know everyone gets drafted as long as you are active and not a complete ass, but I was anxious anyway.  Then getting picked up by the Outlaws and almost immediately feeling part of the team really made things stick.  @SpartanGibbles and @BDonini were very welcoming and the LR presence was great.   @Segi seemed to know everyone and can get the answer to any question I could dream of and is a HUGE resource to the Anaheim crew.   Then as the seasons went on we picked up some amazing rookies who are now running the show over there (looking at you @notoriousTRON and @Geekusoid).   While I was clearly very happy we won the cup in my last J season, I'd still have very fond memories even if we never made it out of the first round.   To anyone here that hasn't been an Outlaw, it's time to recreate and beg to get drafted there.

Then was the SHL draft.   By this time I knew more about how things worked and it really picked up the excitement.   I talked with most of the GMs at some point in the weeks leading up to the draft and really didn't think there was a bad place to land.  I was picked up by @dankoa and @Jearim over at Texas and (hindsight 20/20) think it was the best place to land.   The whole crew over there is awesome,  Dan and Jay have been extremely easy to work with and have a crazy good eye for draftees which makes the talent pool there is extremely deep.   While we are generally still pretty young there will be some heavy hitters there and Texas will be a force to be reckoned with in just a few seasons.

I'm excited for the future here with the SHL and will surely have more to add to this list as things progress.