Oliver Cleary was not worried when it came to the SHL Lockout. Cleary trusted that if there were issues with the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, he trusted the players union to do what they had to do to fix the holes. His biggest worry was if they were going to add a clause where Cleary gets 15M a season from LA this off-season. While waiting for the delay to finish, Cleary was in between training for S51 as well as negotiating with Los Angeles on a contract for S51 and beyond. After months of tough negotiations with Los Angeles GMs Wasty and JT, Cleary signed a 3 season, 9 million dollar contract. With his contract down, Cleary focused on his passing, scoring and hitting abilities in order to both improve his offensive game and his all-around game. With that, Cleary is hoping that the extra time away from the game will improve his output on the ice and in his bank account.
this long offseason Ray Bork spent much of his time growing out his hair and beard, befriending a couple of squirrels, and discovering the joy of painting
39alaska39 IIHF Federation Head
Not a Commissioner. Shh!
Alex Winters took the extended offseason to take care of business with both his personal life and his professional life. After a tension filled year and a half, Alex and his wife of 6 years, actress Natalia Dyer, amicably divorced, citing irreconcilable differences and were looking to go their own separate ways. Winters went to the European music festival, Tomorrowland, where he was seen getting close with actress Zoey Deutch, sparking rumors about the two. He was also spotted hanging out with teammates and fellow SHL players Demaricus Smyth, Sasha Dangelchek, and Andrej Doskocil . Professionally, Winters spent much of the offseason travelling back and forth between his home in Pardubice, the World Championships where he served as the Captain of the Czech National Team, and his townhouse in Manhattan. He spent a little over a month in Pardubice before returning to Manhattan to work with his trainer in the area, as well as working with the Rage’s SHLPA representative Luke Thomason during negotiations with the league. It was an eventful summer for Winters, and the longer offseason should have benefited him on the ice. WC: 185
Alex Winters (retired)
Matej Winters (retired)
Dominik Winters S45 Jesster Trophy Winner Challenge Cup Winning Goal Club: S52
The delay was a difficult experience for Collin Gibbles in many ways. Gibbles had recently learned in the offseason that he would be losing his linemate and co-captain Mika Mayfield to free agency and he was unsure about the upcoming season. This was before he had the news of the delay which put his training into overdrive as he felt he had something to prove as the team captain of the Minnesota Chiefs. Luckily he was able to dristract himself by joining the Shit's and Gibbles Hockey League with other SMJHL GM's and HO to keep themselves in top shape. Naturally he was drafted to Team Gibbles where he saw himself lead the team in points. Despite the regular season not ending in his teams favor it still felt good to get on the ice with some players he had not played with since his Anaheim days. Gibbles looks forward to the next SHL season as he will likely be taking a lot of minutes for the Chiefs on their top line.
Gabe Johnson wasn't very bothered by the lockout. He knew that this delay would be productive for the league's future, and spark talks about things that could vastly improve the quality and exposure of the league. Being on the team at the forefront of what caused the lockout wasn't easy, as the media wasn't particularly kind towards Hamilton during this whole debacle, but now that things have settled down and the season is ready to go again, Johnson is positive that despite the dark cloud over it, S51 can be a good and positive experience.
Johnson took the time off to fly back to Montreal and meet up with family, as his busy schedule imposed by coach Wilson specifically prohibits distractions from training at the hands of loved ones. Being able to finally escape the unrelenting grasp of Wilson's regime thanks to the lockout was a big silver lining for the blueliner, as well as for many other Steelhawks, perhaps even Wilson himself.
If you have not learnt by now, Kaspars CLaude is one hell of a party animal. And it does not help that her has won 3 Four Star Cup Championships in a row. Because, his off season gets very intense. He needs to prepare for the upcoming season but all that alcohol and junk food he eats sets him back. At the same time, he ends up not training or going onto the ice either so it is like a double whammy. he is eating unhealthy and he isnt dragging his fat-ass to the gym.
As a great idea, and also as a little vacation, Kaspars decided he would sign up for the Gary Roberts Off Season Training Camp or whatever it is called. And, boy oh boy did it kill him. Gary Roberts is one tough son of a gun, but thats what Kaspars needed. he needed someone that was going to put him into place and also, he needed someone that was going to prepare him for the big leagues, for the show. Kaspars is finally making his way to the pros and he has his eyes focused on gaining some hardware. And not only individual trophies, but also on team awards. He needs to be in tip top shape if he wants to try to help his team win games and win series.
It was a dark day for Ursin when he picked up his phone to see a message from his agent to read there will be a lockout. Ursin was so pumped for the coming season and now he has to wait longer for the season?
Luckily the WJC was going on as well so he could play there. Besides playing there with his awsome linemate @kuschy who went fucking off during the tournament (What a fucking beast) Ursin was trying to improve his game! Ursin knows he lacks on the scoring side so he started to shot pucks from every position on the ice. First he started behind the net until his shot was so hard so it pierced through the net. Then he proceded to shot 1000 shots from every point on the ice. As he was satisfied with his shot he thought it would be good to rest till the season starts.
Pepperoni was scared shitless by the thought of a lockout. He's entering the absolute prime of his career and there's no way he wanted to risk losing a season like this. He was coming off what some would say was a sub-par season with 45 points in 50 games and having an early exit from the playoffs. Especially, after winning the challenge cup and being in the top-scoring race the season prior to that. Pepperoni was excited to get the new season underway and prove he could be a contender for top player in the league and that his team was a contender to win the challenge cup again. Pepperoni was just getting out of an intense off-season training session when he received a text telling him the news. As long as he had been following hockey nothing like this had ever happened in the SHL and he honestly didn't know how to react. People were saying the league was dead or it would never be the same again. A scary thought for a player who had dedicated years to learning the craft. It felt like forever, but when an agreement was reached and we learned we would be playing S51 Pepperoni felt a huge sense of relief. Time to win a championship!
Well, the managers of the Czech national team decided that rather than sitting on our asses, we will make our own fun with the Czechia friendly matches. Andrej was pretty good in them, actually looking like a defenseman rather than a pylon, so that was fun to go with. Obviously, his team made it to the finals and managed to take the victory, so enjoyable times all around were had and Andrej hopes to repeat the victorious efforts in SHL too.
Obviously, the rest of the lockout was still too long, so he joined the SMJHL GM and HO league named after our lord and saviour @SpartanGibbles. There...well he definitely looked a lot more like a pylon he is, but hey, no hard feelings considering it was a friendly thing between bored to death hockey players, but I think there was still an expectations he doesn't turn into a beer leaguer.
Still, Andrej's lockout saw a lot of hockey anyway, and with all the extra training over it he seeks to perform better in SHL than ever before.
Manhattan Rage | General Manager
thanks Sulovilen for the sig!
D | Manhattan Rage | Czechia
Besides mailing numerous packages containing various kinds of animal excrement to Hamilton's corporate offices during the break, Indigo Trevino was hard at work preparing for his second season in the SMJHL. He was still on a high after being drafted by West Kendall and knew that the SHL wasn't far away now. West Kendall is very far away from Halifax geographically... but the jump between leagues isn't, especially with the core West Kendall is currently building.
Knowing that Raiders' training camp was going to be delayed by a couple of weeks meant that Trevino had to start making some important decisions. Do you begin ramping up training on your own, or maintain what you're already doing? Or do you even take a day or two off throughout the delay, knowing you'll make up for it during the actual training camp? Trevino wanted to take an early break but opted to bite the bullet and pay for ice time out of his pocket to refine his shooting skill before camp opening at some point. Some key players on the Raiders have made the jump to the SHL this past season and his scoring will be relied upon heavily if the Raiders have any hopes of going deep into the playoffs.
Thicc Cheezy parties, Thicc Cheezy fucks. Lockout? Party time. Fly into Halifax ready to play only to be told we are on lockout, some people laughed, some people cried. Not this guy, first thing I did was hit the gym. Gotta keep up on that off-season training, I need to be my best after all. Second thing I did, liquor store. Grab a few cases of beer and start swiping right on anything that comes across my screen. Takes 10 minutes and I have 15 matches and 5 messages. Everyone wants some of the Cheeze tonight. What followed is what I can only describe as the wildest ride of my life. We were locked out for what, a week? Could have been a week, could have been 3. I don't really remember. You could have found me in 3 places during this period, in the gym working out with a pounding head taking breaks to puke, at the liquor store stocking up on the goods, or out on the town with a beautiful girl in my side and a brewski in my hand. I think it was good for me, it allowed me to forget about the disaster that were playoffs last year. Im more focused than ever now, this will be the season of Cheeze.
Rich Moderators
S30, S31, S39 Challenge Cup Champion
Posts:2,998 Threads: 178 Joined: Jun 2015 Reputation:26
Discord: rich_shl
Pronouns: Undisclosed
Player: Adam Prpich
Although a little extra time off would be nice, Bobby Lane decided to use this time to fit in some extra training. He got spent a few weeks in Minneapolis, which is a few hours drive from his home. While there, he spent his time training at Impact Hockey in Minnetonka. He worked out with other local juniors and college players or prospects. He was usually the oldest guy in these sessions, but not by much. They worked primarily skills and situational drills, saving physical training for later, when he could work on a program the Toronto trainers had assigned him. With his free time, his favorite thing to do is to go into downtown Minneapolis to find places to eat. Lane’s favorites so far are Keys Cafe, which is pretty cheap, but has really good breakfast food. Also, Hell’s Kitchen, which is reasonably priced and often has live music in the evenings.
The lockout was pretty terrible in my eyes. I spent the entirety of the lockout fighting with Ravyn Tedisko when we should have been focused on training. It started with an open sore and we ended up going to the doctor to get it checked out. After a couple of tests the doctors confirmed it was in fact herpes. So of course she flips out on me and demands that I be tested too. She knows exactly who it is that gave it to me and blah blah blah. So I get tested and sure enough clean as a whistle. Now I don't know about you but this is about the time that I just start chuckling. Clearly she has cheated and she had the audacity to accuse me of smashing a puck bunny during a road trip. So I calmly walk in to our New Orleans home and set my test results down on the table. She breaks down admitting everything and we go our separate ways. I wish her all the best but cheating is the worst thing you can do to someone and something we promised we would never do to each other. The first time I forgave her but now it is time to protect myself and focus on my career.
Buster![[Image: theziegs.gif]](https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/theziegs.gif)
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