THIS IS IN RESPONSE TO PROMPT NUMBERO UNO, ALSO KNOWN AS THE FIRST PROMPT.
Well, it has finally happened - old age and the accompanying body has caught up with Baltimore Platoon forward, Rob Wright.
"This off season has by far been the hardest one I have faced." Wright went on to say. "Not only did my favourite fast food place stop serving Soft Serve, but my favourite soft serve place stopped making burgers. It's gotten prettty dicey out there. I've had to start eating at vegan fast food places."
Wright came into S66 training camp at his heaviest weight, 3.4k tonnes. After patting his belly a few times, Wright continues to explain his off-season struggles. "Coupled with my favourite eateries changing, my oldest kid started school. He's At some prestigious school for gifted kids, run by some bald Brit named Xavier. Cool floaty chair, though. Since Nathan has left the house, things are a lot more quiet. I've gotten to read a lot more.
"Kids, if you want to make it as a pro athlete, you've gotta stop reading and being a parent and start training literally every waking moment."
Guy O'Shea has definitely developed a passion for playing golf. Considering his Irish upbringing, golf was a part of his life from an early age and while hockey dominated the time spent playing sport, golf was always something that he was very interested in getting better at. Now that he has money and time off during the summer months, he has put a lot of effort into getting his scores down to a respectable level. Of course it is a very difficult game to master but having the means to get the best teachers and time to practice, it has gone surprisingly well so far and while he is not ready to join the PGA tour, he can definitely get down into the 70's and gives most local players a run for their money. Now he is busy planning some trips back home to play some of the best courses there but also some of the great courses here in the United States. Having some other players on the team also interested in the sport makes it fun as well as they can go out and play together.
I spent the offseason working on one thing and one thing only - my physical fitness. I feel like I have all the stick skills and hockey ability right now, but my stamina, strength, and speed are lacking. So that's why I spent every single day with a strict workout plan and stuck to it every single day. It started with an early morning jog, followed by a stretching session, and healthy breakfast. Next, it was the gym where I rotated legs/back and arms/shoulders every other day, with Saturday being a day off from the gym. I started to see results immediately and when I started hitting the ice again, my game was on another level. I was able to skate faster, maneuver around the ice better, and even play more minutes in the offseason scrimmages. My teammates and coaches have also noticed the improved play and I truly think it might be the difference in Toronto making a deep playoff run and us facing an early exit. With all the hard work I've put in, I cannot wait for the regular season to start!
(186 words)
66 | 11 | 29 | 40 | +34 | 71 | 60
notorioustig IIHF Federation Head
Toast's Idiot of the Year 2021
Kermit Murphy is entering the very heart of his career in the SHL, and as such, the time is nigh for him to finally ascend to the highest levels of play that he is capable of. To do so, he'll need to continue his usual brand of high level defense but do so while also taking a significant step offensively, something he has failed to do thus far in his time as a Seattle Argonaut. Training himself to be just that little bit quicker and more reactive in the offensive zone has been a key highlight in his offseason training as he looks to do everything from get more point shots through to skate the puck from blue line to goal line in search of openings. The Argonauts need a true star on defense if they're going to break through a strong division, and the hope is that Murphy will father his father's mid career trajectory and start posting the results befitting a high end defender in the SHL
I am going to spend the entire offseason practicing behind the goal dunks on the goalie. While this may seem like a worthless skill to learn - nay, perfect - it will come in handy down the line. Imagine having a winger who can not only control the puck with the efficiency that is needed to consistently score goals from the X, but also has an insane slapper, the ability to truck through defenders, AND he can dunk on the opponent team just to lower their morale? Can you imagine what an asset a monstrous behemoth of a man would be able to accomplish if you had to fear him no matter when the puck was in his hands, AND you knew that physical play wouldn't phase him? Tommy Tightpants is soon to become the absolute toast of the league due to the work I have put in from behind the crease this season, and I cannot wait for it to pay off.
(162)
HIT SOMEBODY Cheers to tweedledunn and supertardis101for the awesome signatures!
Christian Kinsinger has a lot of things he has planned for the offseason after his first SHL season. Going through the rigors of his first SHL season, and taking in his first major league paycheck, Kinsinger had some big plans for the offseason. The first of which was to explore the Finnish culture and country. With no Danish IIHF squad, Kinsinger signed on to the Finnish national squad. He figured it would be good to get to know his adoptive IIHF nation, so he's planned a couple weeks of exploring Finland to get himself acquainted with the country. In addition, Kinsinger loves the Danish pastime of Counter Strike. An exceptionally famous game, but well known for Danish dominance thanks to a legendary Astralis squad. Kinsinger loves his CS, and has hopes for ranking himself up over the offseason. When he's not training, it's a goal for him to hopefully get himself ranked at Global Elite before it's back to the grueling season.
07-17-2022, 11:28 PM(This post was last modified: 07-17-2022, 11:28 PM by Zomp.)
Written Task: What's your player's non-hockey passion? What kind of project would they take on with 8 weeks off and nothing else to do? Is it something related to another sport, like trying to golf under par on 18 holes for the first time? Something with your hands, like building a whole dining set from scratch? Maybe you want to catalogue every bird in McMillan Marsh, WI? Heck if I know! You tell me! (150+ words)
Lord Zomp's currently passion project is his progress on his Old School Runescape account. The man has been hard at work to level up all of his stats and build his account to the best of his ability. If he was to have 8 weeks off without having to do anything else, there's no question that he'd be playing that the majority of the time. The game is a perfect time sink for him to be able to quickly go right through the entire off-season. This is a hobby that he's had longer than he had interest in hockey. There's not very many people that are able to say that. If it wasn't Runescape, then odds are he'd be spending those eight weeks off working on different recipes involving Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Whether this be cupcakes, cookies or steak and burgers. There's plenty of options to toss it on. Apart for the two of those ideas, there's nothing else that he'd choose to do.
If my player is anything like me, or at least the person I wish I could be with his money, he is more than likely out seeing the world. We were all stuck inside for COVID the last two years so there's plenty of time to make it count and see the world. First place is Paris because of it being the city of lights. Eating dinner with the Eiffel Tower as your backdrop. Then onto Switzerland, yodel in the alps while having some fancy cheese and chocolate. Italy after that to see the ruins of ancient Rome and Pompeii. If you're not having wine at a McDonalds are you really living? After that its a trip to the Nordic countries, a week in Estonia before moving on to Sweden and Norway. You'll notice I didn't say Amsterdam, honestly I feel like that's just overdone. I can get high anywhere, get quality dates anywhere, why go to one specific place?
Every year on summer vacation, which has been usually after the 1st round of hte playoffs (at the latest), Igor Victory of the Philadelphia Forge in the Simulation Hockey League, goes on a solo hike through a national forest. It is his only opportunity to spend some tranquil reflection time to him self with out having any major drama issues or people wanting to catch up, or people wanting to have him donate his time or money (he loves to donate, but can't donate all his time, nor his money). So he goes out into the woods and starts walking. Sometimes it's in Virginia, sometimes it's in Finland, once he went to Peru, another time he went to Australia. So he gets to go out there, relax, do as much or as little walking as he wants to, and gets to see another part of the world that he never would have seen before.
RESO: Honestly, I think my passion outside of hockey has to be baseball. I mean, it is the game I first strived to compete in before hockey came into my life back in my childhood. Its also the game that one of my best friends plays professionally. Although it has been many, many years, I have been using my free time here in the Big Apple to go around and compete in an amatuer league. Obviously competition is the name of the game here, and I still always aim to win as usual, but its been rather fun and varied in how things go. One day, I'll be slugging as a DH, the next day I'll be pitching heaters into the moon, and the day after, I'll running my ass off diving for balls as a 2B. Makes for a change of pace to the way more physical game I live for, but its something that I certainly enjoy.
Written Task: What's your player's non-hockey passion? What kind of project would they take on with 8 weeks off and nothing else to do? Is it something related to another sport, like trying to golf under par on 18 holes for the first time? Something with your hands, like building a whole dining set from scratch? Maybe you want to catalogue every bird in McMillan Marsh, WI? Heck if I know! You tell me! (150+ words)
Paul Koivu recently discovered modded minecraft. He found this mod where he can make a bunch of bees that give you stuff. Like you can make diamond bees that give you diamonds, is that not cool?? Anyways so to get the bees you need to either find them or breed them for the better ones, so it took paul quite a lot of time to get them all. He played with his friend Nour, and together they got all of the bees. So that is one of the projects paul got into. Sport wise, paul really got into curling recently. It is kind of like hockey but not really at all in the same way. They are both on ice, so it is kind of similar. But curling does not have a goal, and the pucks are much heavier. Also in curling they have brooms (?) and not sticks. So it is not really similar at all. Anyways it is pretty fun and easy, it is a game that does not really demand a lot of physical abilities and it is quite easy to master. After his hockey career paul might as well just be a curling pro who knows.
Roddy is going to spend the long, pleasant offseason at home in Vancouver. There, he will spend around a week relaxing, visiting friends and family and eating a ton of sushi before getting back into regular training sessions. He has ice sessions scheduled with some other SHL Vancouverites, and will be looking to add some muscle for the upcoming season, as competition proves to be tighter than ever before. In addition to keeping himself fit and preparing, he plans to help run a local BCHL hockey camp, volunteering to help coach and run practices.
But most importantly: Roddy plans to devote a large potion of his offseason free time to brand building. The Montreal Patriotes continue to suffer from a slowly growing fanbase, and Roddy plans to host some fan events, do plenty of meet and greets, and is considering launching his own line of Patriotes-branded athleisure wear! Further updates ahead?
Finding passion outside of hockey was never very hard to do for Nike Kickz. Nike Kickz Jr. really hasn’t been much different. In fact, most hockey players are pretty well known for being hard working and that often leads to working odd jobs during offseasons before making it all the way to the SHL. Kickz spent most of his junior career spending his summers working in a wood shop. And as an apprentice, he learned to make some incredible custom furniture and became an expert in planing really large tree trunks down into decorative pieces for high paying clients. Over the last few offseasons, Kickz has really dialed up his interest in wood work. And, it seems that his brand as a major league hockey professional has also really given his most recent passion project some financial legs. Kickz now makes Kickz Boards, which are thin, hand crafted wooden skateboard decks. They are really popular with the contingent of hockey players who also enjoy extreme sports and have been a fun getaway from the doldrums of a long hockey season when Kickz gets out in his woodshop every summer to make them.
Quote:Written Task: What's your player's non-hockey passion? What kind of project would they take on with 8 weeks off and nothing else to do? Is it something related to another sport, like trying to golf under par on 18 holes for the first time? Something with your hands, like building a whole dining set from scratch? Maybe you want to catalogue every bird in McMillan Marsh, WI? Heck if I know! You tell me! (150+ words)
Not many people know this, but Aleksi Kettu's secret obsession is soccer/futbol. Soccer was the sport that Kettu first played when he was only 3 years old and he instantly fell in love with it. He was able to play it all year round, and he seemingly had a knack for it that other kids his age just didn't seem to have. Over time, he made a name for himself in the sport of hockey, but his love for the first sport he played never dwindled. Throughout the offseason, Kettu makes time to find places to play, often playing pickup games with local kids wherever he happens to be traveling to. Not only is it something fun that he truly enjoys, it is also something that helps him to stay in shape over the offseason. It doesn't feel like the workout that it actually is, and it has helped Kettu thrive in his conditioning for the hockey season.
Tommy Thompson has primarily been known as a defensive player, relying on his strong knowledge of the game to make up for his lack of speed. However, with the Quebec City Citadelles suffering their second disappointing loss in the playoffs, he has been encouraged by his team to refocus his efforts on his offensive game. This is largely due to the constantly shifting nature of the SMJHL: while a defensive game may have served the team's system when he was on the fourth line, and his developing two-way game was suitable at the second, Thompson will be entering his third year with the team. As a veteran player for the organization at this stage, he will be expected to carry more of the offensive load.
To that end, Thompson has focused in on his offensive hockey IQ: that is to say, learning where to position himself, which passes to make, and how to help zonal break-outs aside from his trusty, if predictable go-to of just dumping the puck. On top of that, he has spent more time working on his wrist shots and snap shots, to develop into a better threat on the wing. While he's a natural center, the Citadelles ironically are stocked on centers -- and find more value out of him playing on the wing. Thus, Thompson's summer has largely been devoting into doing the best he can at pretending to be more of an offensive player than he really is.
Snuffalupagus
Rob Wright 
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, onwards we roll 
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