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zeagle1 · 04-12-2021, 07:18 PM

Dear SHL…

Most people know this by now, but for those who don’t: My main sim league is the ISFL. I am a DSFL (minors) GM and overall, I am pretty involved with the league. I initially joined the SHL at the behest of @Hordle and @Arkz , I wasn’t sure how committed I would be, but it sounded fun, and I was looking to branch out. You see, I play defensive tackle in the ISFL, which isn’t the most exciting position, and I was looking for a sim league where I could be selfish and play a fun position and just generally stat chase without feeling guilty about that. My biggest goal was to be as high of a pick as possible in the SHL draft, though. I had formulated a plan to be a high SHL draft pick, inspired by ISFL user Eldorian (Goat Tank). I figured a formula of having a memorable but short player name, a cool render, and being active enough in streams that everyone knew my username too would be enough to propel me to a decent pick in the majors draft. I’m not a huge hockey guy, but I do enjoy the sport and I had heard tons of good thing about the league so I decided to jump in.

Shortly after creating, @Faelax , who at the time was one of my players in the DSFL, messaged me to sign me to his minors team for the rest of the season. Even though I didn’t know anyone on the team but him and Hordle, I soon found the locker room feeling like home. Even though Mew Two didn’t play at all in QCC’s short lived S56 playoff run, I still watched every game and cheered for my newfound friends. After the end of the season, one day I checked the locker room and saw that all my player roles were gone. My heart was broken. The whole time I knew that I would have to go through the draft process like anyone else, but it wasn’t until that moment that it hit me that I might be playing my J career somewhere other than Quebec.

The draft process was fun, even if IP threads are the worst thing ever. It turned out that I had tons of ISFL friends in the draft class, like @zaynzk, @Rev, @inverted, @"simo_393", @dogwoodmaple, @Z-Whiz, @Amidships, and @r0tzbua. What a great class I was a part of and regardless of team, surely I’d end up as teammates with at least one of them. I was pretty sure I would still end up back on QCC… and then they traded their first and their second (or something like that) round picks and my heart broke again. Did they not want me? Did they think I’d fall that far? I had some good conversations with both Carolina and Anchorage and assumed I would end up on one of those teams. Anchorage told me a specific pick number they were planning on picking me at. I had casually mentioned this to Hordle but expected nothing to come of it and for me to fall into Anchorage. While I’m sure I would have loved being a boat (or a Kraken), deep down I knew I wanted to be on QCC.

On draft day I pulled a classic zeagle move and didn’t verify what time I thought the draft started (ISFL draft starts at 8 EST, ok?) and was doing other stuff when I instantly got a bunch of pings and a message from my dear friend, Hordle. I was super confused but then I read Hordle’s message, and I realized that I had missed the draft! QCC had traded up to snipe me from Anchorage. I was so relieved lol. The draft was the easy part, the work was just beginning.

Mew Two had a very quiet first season down on the fourth line, but Zeagle had a very loud first season in stream chat. I like to think that I was bringing much needed energy to the stream although I probably rubbed a few people the wrong way with my smack talk. Throughout the season I got to know my QCC teammates better and I realized just how lucky I was to be on such a great team filled with awesome users. @Evok was the perfect foil to Flex and I couldn’t have wished for a better pair of GMs. My wonderful teammates made every day in the LR fun: @Matteo, @Keven, @siddhus, @ztevans, and so many more. Between talking hockey, watching Zach stream, and just generally vibing, I have plenty of great memories of my rookie season.

Throughout this season my goal was unchanged, build the best offensive player I could, to soak up huge stats when I could uncap. Selfish? Maybe a little, but I created exclusively to stat chase. I think it was the painful game 7 loss to Anchorage that made me realize that I truly loved being a part of QCC. That loss happened within a week of my DSFL championship game loss, so it was a rough time for me in sim leagues. Through all of that, every single person in the QCC LR was awesome and I knew that the SHL was the right league for me. At some point during the season I was let into the QCC war room and used all of my influence to get the GMs to pick @LB3737 in the draft, which was an awesome call by me because he’s an awesome guy both in the ISFL and SHL and a max earner who would fit in on any team.

Somehow I picked up a nomination for the Elias Armia Trophy for the season. I wasn’t expecting to win it and didn’t (lol) but it did make me realize that my small contributions to the SHL weren’t going unnoticed and maybe I could become something more than a max earner who stat chased.

On to my second season, where the points started flowing freely. As I previously mentioned, my ISFL player is a defensive tackle, which is a position that rarely puts up big stats, and my player was mediocre at best. Being the offensive star was something that I was completely unprepared for. Being put on the second line and the first powerplay unit was amazing, I have never seen my player’s name pop up so frequently in any other sim league. Honestly, it was finally reaching my goal that made me realize that I didn’t care about stats, I wanted to win as a team. The best part of the season was everyone pinging me and me spamming Mew Two emojis every time I scored. At one point during the season, Zach was saying he would’ve traded last season’s MVP for a title without hesitation and that really resonated with me.

I got really busy with work and general IRL stuff and didn’t have a ton of time to watch the second half of the season, but still watched and chatted when I could. QCC didn’t quite have the same amazing season but finishing second in the league was still very good and I was proud of my team. Going into the playoffs, I tried to watch more, but the series against Colorado stressed me out so much that I couldn’t watch at all lol. Game 7 was not something that I wanted to face again, but fortunately we won and I escaped the merciless teasing of @qWest. We got a lucky break that Kelowna’s FHM people were busy IRL and weren’t able to test much, so we cruised through that series into the finals, a rematch with Anchorage (Boats Bad). It was a fun series, although I missed the clinching game due to IRL responsibilities (being an adult sucks) but when I was able to check discord and see that we won the game, I was so happy. After blowing the ISFL and DSFL playoffs in consecutive seasons and last season’s heartbreaking loss, it felt like an anvil had been lifted off of my simulated shoulders.

When the dust from the celebration settled and the euphoria wore off, I took a minute to look at the index and realized that despite my great season, I wouldn’t be winning MVP. Any you know what? I was ok with it. Like Zach had said earlier in the season, if it had been the other way around, I would’ve traded MVP for the Four-Star Cup in a heartbeat. Sure, on awards night I was a little bummed to not win either MVP trophy, but I won the cup, so I was happy. I honestly did not think I had a chance at the Armia trophy. I lost it last season to someone who was very deserving and was up against two very deserving candidates again so I had very low expectations. I had even tabbed out of the stream and was only listening when I heard my name announced as the winner. I was legitimately shocked. This award couldn’t possibly mean more to me and I might even cherish it more than my Four-Star Cup.

So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that I went from creating in the league for very selfish reasons, wanting to stat chase and to be a high draft pick, to literally not caring about any of that. I still have one more season on QCC and although we’re rebuilding a little after our title run, we’ll still be a force to be reckoned with. After that I’m onto a whole new journey with BAP, surrounded by an equally awesome group of users. Without all the awesome people I’ve met in my time here in the SHL and without those who made the jump from the ISFL over too, I’d still be out there stat chasing.

So far it's been great, but the best is yet to come.

Dear SHL,
Thank you.

Code:
1662 words

Matteo · 04-12-2021, 07:25 PM

Zomp · 04-12-2021, 07:28 PM

Hype <3

Z-Whiz · 04-12-2021, 07:31 PM

:pingree:

*.simo* · 04-12-2021, 07:41 PM

Hi Zeagle.

siddhus · 04-12-2021, 07:42 PM

Smh imagine saying you enjoyed your time in locker room with me :shock:

Heart

***Hordle*** · 04-12-2021, 07:49 PM

GET FUCKED ANCHORAGE

goilers · 04-12-2021, 07:51 PM

hockey · 04-12-2021, 08:06 PM

steveoiscool · 04-12-2021, 08:09 PM

I'm glad you got your cup and hope you have a much worse season this year (you can still beat up on Anchorage though)

***bluesfan55*** · 04-12-2021, 08:36 PM

04-12-2021, 07:49 PMHordle Wrote: GET FUCKED ANCHORAGE

congrats on not choking 3-1, a major accomplishment for sure that I’m sure will lead to more success this season

ty to @High Stick King @EvilAllBran and @Ragnar for the sigs

***Evok*** · 04-12-2021, 10:27 PM

ztevans · 04-12-2021, 11:03 PM

I love this team.

(Also thank you for watching me stream at twitch.tv/ztevans)

zaynzk · 04-13-2021, 04:11 AM

<3

Salming · 04-13-2021, 06:14 AM

It was a pleasure to read this kind of text and also play at the same team. You really had a fantastic season and I hope you can keep that scoring touch also in the future.

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