#we love rasmus and he loves us!

[hojlundfc]

we said goodbye to one if not our biggest club legend in recent years today and ramus just 🥹🥹🥹🥹

[holyschnitzel]

hey there!! it's been less than a week since i found out about the game and i really REALLY am deeply in love with the artstyle!! blastic heart is awesome at this :] anyway while playing it i discovered a new thing about myself that is i love to be bullied so Rasmus got my heart very quickly (but i am also head over hills for Damon and Delivery Guy). I've been meaning to ask..... what is the boys opinions on chubby guys? i am very gay myself but also very insecure since i am more on the chubby side and the skinny guys seems to be more appealing for everyone else...

aw~ thank you very much 💖

I'm glad you like Rasmus ^o^ I do wonder though if his fans know that he doesn't bully MC because he likes them, but genuinely uses them as an outlet for his anger and frustration at home 🤔 And he's not aware of what that does to you 🙃

With that being said, I fully support your preferences and kinks, it's a good thing if he makes you feel this way. I just feel responsible for reminding everyone that his bullying shouldn't be equated with the widely known degradation kink 😉

(I'm sure you're aware of this, but others might not be. You're not the first to tell me that they like to be bullied by him after all. 😅)

All three of them don't really care what body type you have. Let me prove that to you by showing you a little sneak peak. Do I want your body type to matter in certain scenes (we all know what I'm talking about 😏)? Yes, I do~

I'm not saying it will happen as early as Day 2, but be prepared to be worshipped in future chapters (especially by Damon) 😄

thank you for the question, I hope you have a good day/ night! 😊

[puckpocketed]

Trying to absorb everything there is to know about ice hockey within the shortest amount of time possible really does strange things to a person. You come up against questions such as what do defensemen even do aside from skate backwards and do tummy time to protect their goalie? (Broadcasts aren’t the most informative) What the hell makes defensemen effective? What do the casters mean when they say “gap”? What are defensive details?

I love watching games back, I love trying to understand the game. I love hockey <3 But sometimes it’s nice to have help, and sometimes my favourite writers/podcasters collaborate!!

Here is part 1/3 of a podcast mini-series about defending, putting it here so I can have a copy of it in case it ever gets taken down + wanted to share with everyone some of my findings! (All episodes are available if anyone just wants to listen to them!) Transcript + edits done by me, all mistakes are mine.

Published 6th November 2024, Hockey IQ Podcast: Modern Defensemen (with Will Scouch) Ep #1 - by Hockey's Arsenal, hosted by Greg Revak (apple / spotify / youtube / bonus substack link)

part 2

[START Transcript]

Greg Revak: On the Hockey IQ Podcast today, we open up a new segment: we’re bringing back our favourite Will Scouch. If you’re on the Hockey IQ Newsletter you know his work by now.

Will, good morning. Earlier than most of us probably normally get up, but it’s a good day.

Will Scouch: Yeah, Greg, thanks for having me, it’s a lot of fun. Me and Greg go way back. We’re boys from years ago and I’m excited to hop on the show. I’m a keen listener, keen reader. 

[They exchange pleasantries]

GR: Beautiful. Well, today we’re gonna talk about three concepts. We’re gonna break it into three spots though, so everyone’s gotta come back next week and the week after that.

We’re gonna talk about defensemen, because everyone knows they’re important but how do we actually play the position well?

WS: Yeah, I mean, it’s a position that’s still, to me, being explored; both by, I’d say youth and junior coaches and pro coaches alike. There’s a lot of different ways that you can do it.

I mean, I watch a lot of hockey from around the world, all kinds of different levels. I’ve watched guys develop from 15 to 24 at this point, and just seeing how their games evolve and everything, and how effective various versions of this position is. And I think it’s a very interesting area that’s still being explored in a lot of really interesting ways, for sure.

GR: Yeah, I think back to David Savard; he comes out of the [QMJHL] as this high-flying offensive defenseman, and if we just forgot about the rest of his career and you just saw him today as this great shutdown, defense-first player, you’d be absolutely shocked.

I mean, you think about Rasmus Dahlin — kid didn’t even play full time defenseman until his actual draft year, he was still playing forward a ton. There’s so much to be explored here.

I feel like [to get a lot of] — for you NHL fans — to get a lot of value in the later rounds out of your defensemen, take those offensive players first, and we can find a lot of hidden gems later.

WS: Well, yeah. I mean, actually, I’ve said this a few times but your listeners probably don’t know, but I did a presentation during the pandemic at the Ottawa Hockey Analytics Conference about this topic exactly; how, when you look at the numbers and the defensive value of players in the NHL, I found that there were just as many in the top 50 defensive value of players in the NHL, there were just as many undrafted players as there were second round picks, second and third round picks combined.

So the draft isn’t really a great historical gauge on defensive ability. Offense is a different story from defensive players, which we could probably get into a little bit.

But I find, personally, that evaluating defensemen and projecting defense to the NHL is still really spotty and questionable. And I don’t know, in my line of work, watching a lot of defensemen, a lot of the ones who I think are some of the better defenders kind of go a little unheralded, because a lot of the time you don’t need to be particularly noticeable to be a good defenseman, but scouts are always looking for the noticeable guys.

So it’s a very interesting world and it’s a very interesting thing to pick through, but there’s definitely a lot of case studies you could dig into, and a lot of players you could look at as cases of, “Oh yeah, nobody was really paying a whole lot of attention to them!” or maybe people were thinking about them the wrong way. But if you think about things a little bit outside the box, you might be able to see something really interesting there.

GR: Yeah, so let's dive into why that may be. Classic example would be Lane Hutson, so maybe we'll pick on him a little bit, but I definitely want to talk about Rasmus Ristolainen, because he is an interesting case study that we wrote about on the newsletter.

So where I want to start with this is just modern day defending. How are defensemen defending today versus old times? A lot of times it was the big hit, separate the head from body. The puck’s somewhere, but let's separate the head from the body, and we’ll worry about the puck later — that is going bye-bye.

Every coach I talk to now, they prefer having the puck rather than having a head on a stake. So for me, it comes back to this old saying of, “position before possession.” We're gaining body positioning, we're not so much separating head from body, but puck from player.

All right, so we've got position before possession. It's super valuable in gaining the space that you need to have first whack in a puck or put the puck where you want it, or just push it to a teammate. Just having the idea of owning space and there's no better league at this and no league that values it more than the NHL. If you don't do this well in the NHL, sooner or later, you're going to find yourself out of a job making a heck of a lot less money in a league that probably no one really cares that much about. You want to be in the show, the big lights: you have to value this more than anything.

And this is actually the one thing that I noticed about Hunter McDonald. He's in the Flyers’ system now — he was an overager, but I was like, “This guy is unbelievable!” He’s a huge frame, you can’t miss him out there. He would just get the positioning before possession, and I was like, “Okay, that’s interesting, let me watch him further.”

And I feel like he’s going to be one of those bottom of the lineup guys who, unlikely, made it out of being an overager in the [United States Hockey League], going to college for a few years, but has those little details of a defenseman that you see in modern day play, which is positioning overall, which is an NHL trait to the nth degree.

WS: No, I know. I think I would definitely agree. Those are the players that are always really, really fascinating to me because you look at a guy like Hunter McDonald and the production just isn't amazing. But it doesn't — to me, when you look at defensemen, it almost doesn't really matter. That's kind of a very secondary-slash-bonus style of thing that comes with a player.

I see a lot of defenders every year and it seems like a thing where a lot of them, maybe at the lower levels, there is a little bit more of that “separate the head from the body”-type of player. And I think there are NHL scouts who still gravitate towards those guys but, at the end of the day when it all comes out in the wash, it's a lot of the time the guys that are kind of, I hate to say ”boring”, but just very effective, and just they're always in a good position.

The guy I always reference as a young defenseman who, I think, is just a really, really high-end defensive guy is Kaiden Guhle in Montreal. We're going to talk a little bit about Lane Hutson in a second, but Kaiden Guhle is a guy who, when he was in the junior level, just played such a great, balanced style of defense.

He was a good skater, but he had really good length. He was a guy who didn't just lay the body every single time, but he certainly could if he needed to. It was about his lateral mobility, it was about tracking rushes, keeping inside the dot lines, and preventing chances from inside and leading with his stick, but then finishing with the body if he had the opportunity or the need to do so. And he seemed to have a really good read of just how to do his job really, really well.

And so that's been a lesson for me for sure. He was a really interesting case study a few years ago, and he's become a pretty solid NHL defenseman. I mean, on a team this year that’s kind of struggling defensively I think he’s been one of the brighter spots on that defense group there, [he’s] doing a pretty good job at least suppressing chances against.

GR: I don’t watch as much as you do, prospects, but Guhle I did catch. For me, the play style wasn’t very good. He had elements of it, you could see the flashes, but he was just really brash. His decision making and his reads were quite poor. But the tools were there, and it was like, “Can he adjust?” Which I think he’s done a phenomenal job [of], and I think Montreal is probably the perfect place for him to develop a lot of that.

So I think you're spot on like, “Okay, how does he actually apply?“ Having assets is one thing, having the tools is one thing, but how do we properly apply those assets, those tools that you have in a good way? So I think another piece, for me, is if you do have the speed, is just making sure that you're controlling speed and then you're also keeping small gaps.

And just knowing with my high school team that no one knows what a gap is, let's define that real quick, which is: the difference in space between the forwards and the defensemen. So the space in between, “How much space are you [allowing]?” in hockey term slang. It's underneath you versus on the other side, which is above you or behind you. So, “How much space, what's that gap between D and O?”

(Editor’s note: He says O instead of F here, I assume because the person attacking isn’t always a forward. As in, “How much space between the defenseman and offenceman?”)

So you got the speed, shrink that gap as much as possible. Don't give them the space to operate or work in, or, I even call it the space to think, which [it often becomes] for forwards, especially unsophisticated ones.

WS: Yeah, I mean, that's really the bread and butter of a lot of the position. It's so much of this, like you said, gap control. I actually just did a bit of video work for a really high end player, [an] NHL draft pick playing in Sweden this year, who is producing really well.

But in terms of the defending side of the game, he's not the most incredible skater you've ever seen, he's not the biggest guy in the world. And a big thing that I noticed, that even at the professional level that was kind of a bit of a work in progress, was that gap management. Especially because the footwork wasn't amazing, [he was] keeping his feet a little too stationary, gliding backwards and sort of allowing that gap.

And when you watch the NHL that's the point of the whole exercise, watching the NHL and how they play. Forwards are fast and they're smart, largely. The guys who can score are the guys who know how to get through soft defensive pressure, the guys who know how to find lanes and cross up defensemen, and if you don't have the footwork or the mobility or the reach or all of it — all of the above — to track all that and manage it, then it's going to be a lot tougher to do your job.

But the interesting thing, though, is that there's a lot of different ways that you can get defensive jobs done. That's always been very interesting to me; seeing how different players approach the position in different ways and seeing the efficacy of that come out in the wash, and how their offense balances with their defensive ability. It's a very interesting world to dig into, for sure.

GR: Yeah, I think you've got a rabbit hole there. You just kind of opened up around defensive skating. What do clean feet look like? What does defensive posture look like, that actually allows you to have that kind of mobility?

So we'll leave that for another day. If anyone wants to go check it out on the Hockey IQ Newsletter, they can do so. Just look up defenseman skating development. We've got two good pieces there talking about building and maintaining defensive posture and keeping clean feet, which — actually massive base for anyone.

It allows you to have the proper gap that allows you to kill plays early, and ultimately, it's a lot about just controlling speed. You don't want McDavid building up to full speed. You don't want MacKinnon building up to full speed. You don't want anyone coming up to you at full speed. It's very hard to maintain that kind of speed going backwards [that we] even generate in the first place. 

How do you kill it early? How do you get a hand on someone? Or, my favorite example is just proper pivoting. A guy dumps a puck on you, how are you going back? What does that pivot look like?

I'll let you open that up because at the NHL it's almost too good, where you can't see what a bad example looks like, but you can see it's everywhere.

WS: Yeah, I mean, it's a make or break skill in the NHL. It's where a lot of defensemen die. I mean, it's a cliche at this point to talk about pucks in deep, to talk about [getting] pucks deep in the offensive zone, get below the goal line, dump and chase. People make fun of dump-and-chase kind of stuff. But if your team is built to do it, you can do it.

You can take advantage of defensemen in the NHL who just don't have the speed or the agility or the skating ability that some of your forwards might have. It is a lot easier to skate forwards than it is to skate backwards. That's just, you know, anecdotal, but also pretty factual — you're naturally going forwards.

I think an interesting trend that you're seeing a little bit more of [is] what they would call ‘scooting’. You're the coach; I don't know if that's exactly what the terminology would be, but [it’s getting] your defensemen in the neutral zone, kind of pinching a little bit more and having them skate forwards, tracking play towards the boards.

So it's not necessarily that they're doing their backwards crossovers, it's not necessarily that they're entirely skating backwards, but you see guys who are really talented skaters or do have a lot of quickness driving play to the boards in a more aggressive way than having the play in front of them. It's about them sort of tracking that play laterally, which is an interesting thing I think you're seeing more of now.

I think there are definitely coaches and systems that love to play their defensemen more that way, and the weak side defense can sort of fill between the dot lines for them and sort of leave the weaker side of the ice a little bit more open. That's kind of what I mean. There's a lot of different ways to achieve these kinds of goals, and I think you're seeing a lot of different things popping up to adapt to this. 

In situations where you have a dump and chase or something like that, or just getting pucks in deep or whatever you say, when you have a defenseman who has trouble with their footwork and turning around… Trust me, I'm a defenseman, when I play hockey, I strap on the skates — I play defense myself and that's where I fall apart, when I do fall apart. Which is often. But definitely, when play turns around and I’ve got to change directions or change my area of flow, it can be tricky. And in the NHL, I can only imagine how tricky it can be there. 

GR: Yeah. I mean, a good pivot you're looking at three steps total, like boom-boom-bam and you're there. You watch an amateur game and it could be like five, six, seven, eight chops before [they] finally get going and [it’s] looking like a proper forward stride again. [Or just] getting into a good defensive posture and positioning. It's total scramble mode.

A big one for me, too, is just the direction that you pivot. Do you wait for that offensive player to commit to their lane? It's just a great defensive habit in general, letting the offenceman make the first move. If you're making the first move, you're the one showing your cards. It's kind of like showing your cards first in Poker.

Let them make the decision and then you can pivot into them. Now you can get that position before possession, or at least get a chip on them, slow them down. You can either make it easier for yourself or your partner. So one, there's the clean footwork on the pivot, and two is making sure that we're controlling the speed and we're pivoting properly in the direction that we want to pivot.

There's a ton of times where I see, especially the lower levels, players coming up, they're in a bad spot, they're skating forward, defenseman skating backwards and they just chip it off the boards. And the defenseman is like a dog just following the puck and it ends up in the middle of the ice where the forward actually went. Again, the NHL is the best at this so it's really hard to see bad examples of pivoting into and controlling the space of the opponent.

WS: Yeah. I do a lot of work outside the NHL, and the biggest thing I notice is not necessarily the number of chops it takes, but the amount of time. You can see guys taking two seconds, maybe more, to get themselves turned around, tracking pucks below the goal line.

To me hockey is a game of milliseconds a lot of the time, right? I was working with someone years ago who really shared the idea with me that, in the NHL, generally goals are not scored if you have the puck on your stick for more than either half a second or a second.

I can't remember off the top of my head, but it's so fast in terms of; when you score goals in the NHL, it's when you touch the puck for a very short amount of time in the offensive zone and get a puck on net. And so, if you have guys who take too long — and “too long” might not be very long… If the difference is relatively short at the time you're making those pivots or those changes, but the [opponent has] got a lot more speed than you and you're [taking more] time to then start generating that speed to match the opponent, you're in trouble.

And in my opinion, I think that you want your defensemen to be more assertive. I always fall back on the strategy of; make them make a decision, make them commit. That might imply that you do the committing first, but that's where the importance of footwork and tactics come into question. 

You have to have strong support, whether it's from backchecking forwards or your partner. You want to be able to adapt to quick players who might fake one way, go another, and be able to use your stick or use your feet or both to be a factor regardless of what happens. 

It's very interesting to watch defensemen play. I find it really, really interesting to see the different approaches of different players and especially how they evolve and get into the NHL.

But yeah, I mean, [it’s so pivotal], the skating ability; defensemen who can skate, it unlocks so many doors for their career. If you're an elite level skating defenseman, it just unlocks so many doors that interest me. If you're not, and if that's not a strength of your game, then it can be a big struggle, especially against faster opponents. Even if you're big and physical and pretty good throwing the body or whatever, there's a lot more of the game in the NHL these days. Very, very interesting stuff. 

GR: I think that's actually the perfect segue into someone who, early in his career, threw the body too much and sold out too much on plays that he probably shouldn't: Rasmus Ristolainen.

Great case study, great case study from when [John Tortorella] started working with him to where he is now. Will, I'll send in the link here from the Hockey IQ newsletter so we can track a little bit better with each other. 

I found him to be a fascinating player. High draft pick, 8th overall in 2013. Really pretty, smooth skating, big body — has all of the tools that you would traditionally say, “Yep, that checks [out].” And then you looked at his stat profile and it was just abysmal. His micro stats were terrible. I think the only thing he was good at was D-Zone Retrievals, which, being able to take contact, it was kind of an easy thing for him.

WS: Yeah. I remember watching Ristolainen when he was in junior hockey, because that was the earliest years of me being kind of curious about that side of the game, and I did not really recall that being a premier area of his game.

I remember him being big, but pretty mobile, and has some skill to play around with. He did have a bit of a physical edge to him, but it feels like it was that tail end of an era in the NHL where those big, mean, physical guys were kind of in vogue, and people were kind of curious and needing guys like that. And I guess that's what Buffalo drafted him to be.

I remember being very surprised that he was in the NHL the year he was drafted. It just did not look like it was really working out there. And Buffalo just seems to have been not a great fit for him, they kind of turned him into something that he wasn't, but I do think that he's turned into some sort of serviceable defenseman.

But he, to me, is a great example of one that I always look back on and go, “Man, what if?” Like, what if things went a little bit differently for him? Because there was good stuff there, it's just I feel like the development was focused in the wrong areas.

To me, 65% of the work [is] scouting, and developing — the easy part is drafting good players, the hard part is developing them and bringing them along into being good NHL players.

So to me, if you can find the most amount of things that get in the way of that process being easy, then you're doing a really good job. And with Ristolainen, I feel like in his case they inserted more things to make that journey more difficult and sort of turned him into something that he wasn't, which is always a scary thing for me to think about doing to a player.

But it's not over for him, obviously. He figured it out. Obviously, Tortorella found something for him to do, and he has shown a little bit better. But yeah, he's always been a what-if guy for me.

GR: I always liked how Tortorella, after the 2022-2023 season, was doing his media stuff and he was like “Yeah, he's our most improved player.” You're a guy who's getting paid big bucks — I think he was making five million plus that year, still is, probably — and even him, he was like, “I was just bad the first half. And then around Christmas break, I started getting going. The second half was much better.”

Basically, the first half, they were just trying to rebuild his defensive game, and this is true for anything. Zach Benson's another good example of this. If you can't play defense in the NHL, you're going to be out quick. Benson can play defense despite being — I think they list them at five foot 10, but there's no way.

WS: Yeah, no, no. I know. He's a little guy, but he's another great example of a player where I, in my work, I do not care how big you are. I just care about how you play. Even in the NHL. And I feel like Benson's a really, really good example of that; a guy who, just forechecking alone is a really… The easiest way to defend is if he can cause turnovers in the opposing team's offensive zone, a guy like Zach Benson does that extremely well.

And if he needs to track guys through the neutral zone and backcheck, he'll do it, and he does it really well, and he does it at a speed that I found to be projectable to the NHL. And again, that's another one where I was a little surprised to see him in the NHL so fast, but he didn't really look out of place there.

He's had a bit of a slow start this season, but just a really, really talented player, and one where you kind of do look at and go, “Yeah, these smaller guys can definitely defend.” They just — the expectations are a little bit higher, and maybe for good reason, but he checks all the boxes for sure.

GR: Yeah. So for Rasmus (Ristolainen), there's two big things that, when I dug into this, that Torts was working at. At this point, I was so intrigued [that] I was tracking every single time Torts spoke and Rasmus spoke to the media. So I was like, “I wonder what they're actually doing?” Which, Torts can be tight-lipped, but he gives it away if you follow long enough.

The big one was just inside, like too much, he was finding himself, Rasmus was finding himself on the outside. So whether that be outside the dots, outside on bad ice, for whatever reason, or just finding yourself outside, like losing defensive side positioning to the offensive player.

If you finish contact, but now you're on the wall and your player's got to step to the net, that's trouble. There's a great, great clip the other night featuring, I think it was (Aliaksei) Protas [who] ended up scoring the goal and K’Andre Miller of the New York Islanders. So Caps — Rangers, not Islanders — Rangers… Where [Miller] went in soft, didn't really take positioning, got beat back to net, and Protas just put out a stick and just tapped it in, Igor Shesterkin never had a chance.

A similar idea of; okay, good, maybe you got some contact, you tried to make the stop, but you still need to maintain defensive side positioning. You still need to finish on the inside. So if you're doing contact, you can't overreach.

You just can't do that. You have to stay in good positioning.

And the second piece was just, finishing with contact to get stops, like stopping movement. Offensive play is a lot about movement, and defensive play is about stopping movement, AKA getting stops. So he would maybe make a play, or get a poke check, but the puck was still moving and could be easily on the other team's stick. 

So how do you make sure you're always staying in good positioning? Staying on the inside, as Torts put it. Or the other piece, which is getting stops, or finishing with contact — but smartly, not chasing the contact for contact’s sake? Being tactful in your play.

I feel like Risto really just learned how to play defense smartly. He was actually thinking and being intentional about what he was doing, rather than like, “I see a puck and a player, I'm going to go end that!” And then, boom, in the big scheme of things, it’s a net negative. Even though at the moment, it may have, especially to him — otherwise he wouldn't make the play — seemed like a positive, really it was a negative for the team.

WS: Well, that's the interesting thing too, going back to talking about junior players and the context in the draft and how defensive players might go a little bit underreported or undervalued in a sense.

I see this all the time, especially with North American defensemen, especially with Canadian ones, but there are definitely players who everybody talks about how good they are defensively, everybody talks about how solid they are. They're big, they're physical, they're mean, blah, blah, blah. But then when you watch things in detail, it's this sort of Ristolainen-style thing. You're talking about K’Andre Miller where it's like, they're along the boards, they're doing the thing along the boards, but they're losing.

They're allowing guys to get low on them, get through them, and even in the junior level, right? What good is it if you're trying to pin a guy against the boards and they give you a little shove, crouch down a little bit, chip the puck three feet out from you, you don't adapt to that, they get three feet of space on you, throw it out in front of the net, and boom, you got yourself a scoring chance, right? I see that all the time.

It's the focus on the body and not focus on the turnover, turning that possession back over, that really seems to be a tough lesson for a lot of defensemen to get over. I find that a lot of defensemen from the age of 18 to 23, in the grand scheme of things, their style of play doesn't drastically shift all that often.

And so, when I see things like that happening, I'm going, okay, I gotta either hope that this guy puts in the time in the gym and becomes, just, a strength nut, and pins that guy to the boards so they can't do anything, or they figure out a way to get into those situations, take a step back, chip at the puck. Really battle for the puck rather than focus on the guy.

Because I've seen it so many times with guys who are bigger and more physical, they apply it in a way where I feel like coaches will go, “Wow, look at you go, you're playing hard, you're playing the thing!” But then they escape, this opponent might escape, and create a little bit of space for themselves. And again, this is a game of inches, it's a game of a couple of feet, and every inch matters.

So in some cases, yeah, you get those situations where guys like Ristolainen, yeah, you're doing the thing, people clip the hits, people clip the physical play, but then five seconds later, someone's got some space on you and they generate a scoring chance. And so what do you really value, right? Personally, fewer scoring chances would be ideal.

GR: I love it. Last piece to wrap this up, because I think it'll go well into our next piece, which is point play. Shorting the zone.

I was able to find some phenomenal clips and do some photos of this for the newsletter. But the concept of; if you're watching a game in the NHL, if you can see all five of the people trying to break the puck out, low in the zone… A lot of it, you think about the NHL today, is like a swarm. We're going to do close support. I'm going to try to crowd the puck out.

A good way to respond to that is to short the zone, which basically means your defensemen, instead of hanging out at the blue line, are going to go into the offensive zone. And they're going to start with small gaps, they're going to be [at the] top of the circles, if not a little bit lower.

Tortorella is another big fan of this, so you can see it with the Flyers a lot, too. I would say [Sheldon] Keefe is another example of a coach who does this a ton. So you saw a lot in Toronto, now you'll see a lot more in New Jersey, which is  the perfect d-core to make all of this work. So I think Devils are going to be good for — that's going to be a great fit.

But just the idea of crowding in the space, setting small gaps, so when you do start defending, you can either cut a play off early — it's an easy pinch there if you don't have to go very far — you can cut it off. Or, 2; create a turnover in a much better spot than what is in your own zone. Why not make it in the o-zone? So from a positioning standpoint, phenomenal place to start, good way to kill plays early.

Before they can get going, before the team can build speed, and just being able to put yourself in a good spot to take advantage both from a defensive standpoint, but offensive standpoint.

WS: Yeah, I love when I see this being deployed. I think, again, I'm a geek, like I'm a math guy, and even just thinking about the numbers here, it makes such a difference if you think about it.

The offensive zone from blue line to goal line is 64 feet. So you're looking at the difference between a guy standing at the blue line being maybe 75 feet from the net or at the top of the face-off circle where you might be 20 feet closer, maybe 20, 25 feet closer. So you're cutting down the time at which you give the defense to adapt, the goaltender to adapt. You're cutting that time down by a third-ish, a quarter to a third. I'm ballparking here, but that automatically is just based on where you are on the ice.

If you can compress the offensive zone on your opponent, you're laughing. The second thing I wanted to mention here is this is, again, why skating ability and quickness and speed are so important to me. Because it is objectively a better position to be in when you're in that position — closer to the top of the face-off circles for your defensemen.

But if you do have a situation where the opponent has possession of the puck you have to get set up, you have to cover that gap, you have to cover for yourself, or you have to have some sort of system in place where a winger can cover for you if you're caught in the offensive zone. Ideally, you have your defensemen who can wheel up, get some speed going, get positioned well to counter that attack, and have a system that can swarm whoever has that puck in the offensive zone.

I think it's a really interesting trend for sure. It's a simple little thing, it's a concept that you see definitely a lot more now than you used to, but I'm all about it. It just makes sense mathematically, and it plays into exactly the styles of player that I always look for: guys who do pinch a little bit more aggressively, but have the mobility and the skating ability to cover for themselves.

I would rather have a player who tries something creative, or tries some sort of play that could lead to a high scoring chance, but may relinquish some space on the ice, but has the ability to cover for themselves.

And I can at least as a coach, rely on them — not that I'm a coach — but rely on them to cover for themselves. To go, okay, I can rely on them to try these things, because I know that if it doesn't maybe go their way, which happens in hockey all the time, I'm not going to be upset at this player, but I know that I want them to backcheck, cover for it, because I know they're capable of it.

I think that that's sort of the trade off that you have to live with, but I'm totally cool with it.

GR: All right, so we're going to call this end of the day on some modern day defending, and we'll pick up on point play in episode two.

[END Transcript.]

part 2 <- convenient link at the bottom <3

[grisha-brain]

Six of crows as adults

Nina and Matthias:

-They don’t know where to settle because she wants ravka and he wants fjerda and they both also want to stay in kerch

-they stay in kerch for a while and matthias learns to make waffles and other desserts

-they open up a shop

-very cheap (but good) dessert

-cheap because matthias didn’t want to rip people off

-even though it’s literally ketterdam

-when nina becomes pregnant they move away from ketterdam and settle down in the mountains on the fjerda-ravka border

-they stay there but travel to ketterdam a lot

-also they have TWINS

Nina and Hanne/Rasmus/Ilya:

-Ilya and Nina marry and become king and queen eventually

-They start off as Mila and Rasmus, but by the end Nina’s chosen a new name (it’s just Nina again) and Ilya has a saint name which he uses instead of Rasmus

-Then they decide to get Genya to start tailoring her back, really subtly

-They start with the eyes over the course of a few months

then start making her hair darker and wavy

and finally the face structure

it takes a few years but its totally worth it

They are the king and queen of Fjerda, and have to have enough kids to have a worthy heir

They have 4

Their eldest is Matthias, supposedly named after Sankt Mattheus

We all know who he’s really named after, but Fjerda is fooled.He’s basically Matthias reincarnation. He has blue eyes blond hair (from Yvla) which he wears long, and a similar personality (the first to die vibe. except he doesn’t die. He does not inherit grisha abilities

-The second is Hanne. Nina absolutely insisted on it. Named after the queen’s old friend who died. Totally not named after her father.She’s bold and loves combat. Also otkazatsya. She has russetish hair (no-one know where that’s from) and green eyes.

-The third is Joran. He’s a healer, and he plays a key part in the Drusje revolution (basically the fjerdans coming to accept grisha) He has brown hair and green eyes.

-The youngest is Ylva. Ilya chose this name. She has blonde hair and copper eyes and is a alkemi. She loves working with poisons and such.

-In this version (my main headcanon. i’m sorry but my mind just doesn’t like undead matthias. it’s heartbreaking but its so beautiful to read i can’t just undo that) she ends up dating Addi van Eck after many trips to Ketterdam spent with her.

-yes the royal fjerdan family take regular trips to ketterdam to see some of their *criminal* friends. Nina and Ilya grow old but don’t, because they’re grisha and both live to well over 100.Everyone knows theyre grisha and love them for it because they have that much influence.

-when they do die, they pass fjerda onto matthias and his partner (his partner is agender. why? because I say so) and the grimjer line stays strong for centuries after that

Kaz and Inej:

-They don’t think physical intimacy is too important

-They try to heal, but it’s not the main goal

-They do get married, though

-Kaz signs off all his letters and stuff as KGB and no one actually knows what it means

-Kaz stays in ketterdam and becomes a really successful gang leader. He establishes a new gang, the Silver Crows, instead of taking over the dregs

-Meanwhile Inej hunts slavers on the wraith and absolutely heeds kaz’s advice to make herself a legendpeople fear her and love her

-she stays anonymous the whole time though, only the crows, the crows kids (when they’re old enough) and the crows parents know.

-They never have children

-Eventually they decide that she spends 3 months on the wraith and 1 in ketterdam and it works really well.

-After a few years in this schedule, they decide to end pekka rollins once and for allthey start by destroying the dime lions, which is easy because they’d already shaken the foundations and had weakened them quite a bitthen move on to rollins

-They know that killing him is too merciful

-so they buy the house that was a hertzoon household and lock him in there.

-just stuck in that house.

-they even get him a silver dog like the one hertzoon had and get it to attack him regularly

-badly

-in the end, pekka rollins kills himselfyes i just grinned while writing that

-Inej dies first (sorry I have to write this)and it’s like criminal romeo and juliet

-because kaz brekker no longer has a reason

-and the rumors of him not needing a reason are false.

-so he dies while waiting at the harbour for her to come back from her travels (yes he just sat there waiting not eating or sleeping)

Jesper and Wylan:

-They get married before they even reach adulthood. it’s legal.

-Jesper Van Eck

-Yes they keep Van Eck. for the sake of business.

- Colm is a bit disappointed but gets over it.

- jesper jokes its to disgrace the name

-Wylan is a successful mercher. he does everything but jesper reads for him

-jesper helps wylan write letters full of insults to the van eck in his prison cell

-and they burn all the responses without reading them

-they really want children but they want to adopt the perfect one

-and they find her

-just before the wraith eneded the menagerie, the zemini gave birth to a girl. the father was some anonymous kaelish client

-the girl was put up for adoption and it was like they knew as soon as they saw her

-yes, jesper is also kaelish-zemini, but it showed a lot more on the baby.

-she had skin too light for zemini or suli but too dark for the other races

-and bright red hair

-she actually looked like she could be their child.they named her Aditi (Addi) Van Eckshe grows up to be tall and pretty and there’s a bunch of boys who try to get her to date them.

-but she turns them all down

-because wesper ain’t raising a straight girl

-she’s a really good fighter and a tidemaker and she joins the silver crows as soon as Kaz lets her

-wylan and jesper don’t let her but jesper’s a bit too scared to say no to kaz and wylan secretly think she should definietely learn to fight

-In my slightly more canonical universe where matthias does die, she ends up dating Yvla Grimjer.in the one where matthias lives, she ends up dating *trans* alby rollins (lol redhead couple)

-yes i definetely headcanon alby as transfem (but she keeps her name because it’s kind of androgynous)

-Jesper dies first (yes i am going into this sorry guys(

-and it’s so wrong because jesper is grisha and should outlive wylan

-when it’s just wylan and addi wylan doesn’t see the point any more and quits his job

-they move to lij and stay there

-addi stays with wylan to support him even though she has a life with yvla

-when wylan dies, yvla and addi live in that property and stay in Lij for the rest of their lives.

[httpsdana]

HI BABY can I have a rasmus fic where the reader is out and forgets to tell him and then picks her up with prompt 24-"I've been so worried, where the fuck have you been ??" and then she gets upset and he says 22 -" you cold? take my jacket" and then they cuddle and then he says 23-"You're driving me crazy you know that ?" while they are cuddling in bed and she’s sleeping on him.

LOVE YOU SM 🤍🤍

Crazy In Love~Rasmus Højlund

*GIF isn't mine. credits to the owner @hojlundaise*

I don't know if I'm back or not but this was requested by my girl so I can't disappoint her. ALSO WHY IS NO ONE WRITING FOR RASMUS. LOOK AT HIM. anyways...enjoy baby <3

you can request from my prompt list

this is my master list

players/drivers I write for

22-" you cold? take my jacket"

23-"You're driving me crazy you know that ?"

24-"I've been so worried, where the fuck have you been ??"

Rasmus ran his fingers through his hair anxiously, dropping on the couch and grabbing his phone once again. He dialed y/n's number, only for it to go straight to voice mail like the last 5 times he tried calling her

He had come home from training, expecting her to be waiting for him while entertaining herself with one of her books, only to be met with a silent apartment and his girlfriend nowhere to be found.

He let out a sigh, closing his eyes to try to stop his headache from forming. His moment was interrupted by the ringing of his phone. He grabbed it immediately, expecting and hoping its y/n, only for his shoulders to fall down after seeing an unknown number call him.

He got used to these random calls and learned not to answer them because of how many times his number got leaked before. He declined the call and dropped his phone next to him.

The phone started ringing again, the same number. He declined again, rolling his eyes while doing so

Again it rang. He let out a frustrated sigh answering his phone.

"who is this?" he answered rather rudely

"Rasmus? its me" the weak voice of his girlfriend said

"y/n? where are you?" he got up quickly, grabbing his car keys and putting his shoes on

"I'm at this old park next to the restaurant we usually go to. can you come pick me up please?" she said in a low voice, tiredness and exhaustion evident in her voice

"don't move I'm on my way" he said before hanging up, dropping his phone on the passenger seat of his car, starting the car and driving immediately to where his girlfriend was

Rasmus arrived to his destination, seeing y/n standing there alone with her arms wrapped around herself

He got out of the car and walked quickly to her

"I've been so worried, where the fuck have you been?" he said angrily, making y/n's face drop at his tone

"I'm sorry, my friends came over and insisted to take me with them, and I forgot to text you and when I remembered, my phone died and I thought that maybe I'll come back before you so no need to text you. I'm sorry" she said again, tightening her grip around herself from the cold breeze that blew into her hair

Rasmus let out a sigh, before looking at her freezing frame

"you cold? take my jacket" he took his jacket off with no hesitation, placing it on her shoulders

She didn't reply, just hugged the warm jacket closer to her cold body. She walked to his car and sat in her seat, waiting for him to drive them home.

Rasmus noticed that she was upset, but he just shook his head and got in the car next to her.

Both of them being stubborn led to none of them speaking any word until they reached their house.

y/n got out of the car and entered the apartment quickly. She took her shoes off and walked to the living room, and flopped down on the couch wit a sigh

"I'm sorry baby. I was really worried about you when you didn't answer my calls. I'm so so sorry sweetheart, I promise I will never shout at you or let my anger out on you again" he said, sitting down next to her and placing his arm around her shoulders

She leaned into his warmth, letting out a sigh and hugging him back

"don't worry about it. I'm also sorry for not calling, I didn't think I would be this late to come back" she said back, snuggling into his chest and tightening her arms around him

They sat there just cuddling and enjoying each others company before Rasmus spoke up

"You're driving me crazy you know that ?" he said, making y/n look up at him confused

"I was so close to calling the police and starting a search spree. I was about to lose my mind by just thinking that something might've happened to you. you have no idea how worried and scared I was. please don't ever do this again" he said, making y/n pout at him

"aww I didn't know you were such a softie for me Rasmus. don't worry love, I promise I won't do this again. I love you" she pressed a kiss on his jaw.

He just smiled and kissed the top of her head, while they cuddled for the rest of the night

[daeagon]

My Reactions to ep 9 of TDofJ

MAJOR SPOILERS!! fyi this is an actually image of me while watching this show, this and me crying

this is very long so fair warning!

I also watched some of this with my IRL friend, so I’ll add their reactions!

THE BOAR SCNEE! You don’t know how excited I was to see this since it’s in the opening credits, and they just have it in the first 2 seconds! I THOUGUT THIS WOULD BE A HUGE CHANCE SCENE!! Nope

Oh she angy

I also love J’s little head tilt thing, it’s so smooth!

I LOVE HER and this line is so fucking funny! (Don’t think about how I could connect this to Bianca’s character and actions in the show)

THE PARALLELS THE PARALLELS! they speak to me!

the way this connects to J and Nuria’s hug/J crying but it’s the opposite, B is crying and doesn’t get a hug, however her partner knows about her job!

I don’t have any photos but during J going home and speaking to his kid my IRL was yelling at him to stop speaking Spanish, I was going OH SHIT.

also my IRL thinks Nuria is very hot and she can do better

When Nuria was confronting J and saying is this real when pointing to her ring: DAMN

basically that whole bit was me and my friend being in shock and reacting to it and saying Nuria was hot!It was very fun and surprising

HE FUCKING SNAPPED OH MY GOLLY! I LOVE THIS TROPE YEESSSSSSSSSSS

my IRL was also wondering why J was just standing there, he really hit the 🧍‍♂️

THIS FUCKING SHOT! HOLY SHIT

this looks like a painting! I don’t know which one but this should be in a museum! THE LIVHTING!! (I feel like someone should look into potential Biblical references or connections in this show, bc Nuria is in paradise and that falls apart because of her curiosity, I’m sure there’s more this is just surface level)

when Nuria walked away my IRL repeated that and said as she should

WHAT IS GOING ON WIRH THE BROTHET OH NO! I think he’s in something deep

oh wait, this could be a setup/trap

WAIT NOOOO!

AND WHAT YOU WANT ME TO BE GREATFUL FOR THAT?! F off! I USED TO LIKE YOU!

the way I need him to do this to me, and tell me everything is ok

but I know your fixing your marriage and that’s great but you have a man to unalive

I LOVE UDC!!! ‘Super rish people have to give up private jets so young people can have a future’ PREACH! PLEASE COME TO THIS WORLD PLEASE!! 🙏 This world really needs someone like UCD and River

YESSSSS QUEEN! If UDC has no fans I am dead (pun not intended)

but River launches tomorrow, that’s not a lot of time. I think UDC will die but River will still launch and the world will go into chaos

also very interesting timing of this show with recent events in NY, completely random thought

that’s the UK’s foreign secretary guy

’so where is the Jackal?’ Mans getting a boat, love him for that (to get to the island???)

I think I might be going to Spain at some point late next year, im actually so excited!

WHAT THE FUCK!! HELLO?!

WHAT?! It wasent the Jackal, was it? I DONT KNOW

Bianca’s so real for that

None is having a good time, J is mourning Norman, B is mourning her family even though they’re not dead

This song feels like a set up for the season finale, but there’s still time left in the ep

NOOOOOOOOOOOO NOT THE REGRET FOR SNAPPING AT YOUR WIFE NOOOO

OH SHIT! B is going to Spain oh god

Ah shit, here we go again

Very pretty bird!

They are knows for their ability to mimic the songs of other birds, sometimes kept as a cage bird 👀, that could connect to J’s username on the dark web, someone posted an analysis about that

The fit is giving Sherlock Holmes/deer hunter

also side note the fits in this show 👌, I need them!

bird call in distance

I might be a sleeper agent for anything bird related

I really should expect everyone J interacts with will be killed but wow, knife in the sock

I thought for a sec J would dive/swim to the island, glad he’s not doing thst

That’s a crazy set up wow! I mean it’s to account for the shaking of the boat so it makes sense

Jackal is so homophobic, you killed Rasmus your going to kill UDC who hurt you?

OH NO! Ullie’s partner is convinced him to swim and he’s going to die and he’s going to have so much guilt nooooooo

oh no there’s a drone!

and that dead guy is still just sitting there, sure

He shot the guy on a jet ski, he’s going to shoot the drone, is he going to do this with one bullet?!?

I’ve been so invested and mesmerized, the mucus it’s so tense!!! I’m scared

What did he do to the drone?! Huh

HE HIT THE WRONT MAN!!

THE COUNTDOWN IS SO TENSE

I am on the edge of my seat

OH SHIT!!

THERE YOU ARE ARE YOU INSANE

omg, I am actually in shock this show, I don’t think I was breahting

your just going to sail away!

NO THE PARTNER NOO IM SO SORRY

THE MUSIC! principle down!

IM GETTING MY CHSCE SCENE! YESSSSSSSSS

THE SHOT COMPOSITION IN THIS SHOW IS ACTUSLLY INSANE!!

I’m shaking

they just cut it there

god I have to wait a week

what did I just watch

a masterpiece that’s what

I need a week to process that actuslly

This show, I don’t have the words for how good it is, this is some of the best TV I’ve watched in a while

Welp until next week 😭

[footballerimaginess]

Baby At Christmas

Rasmus Hojlund 3. Baby at Christmas Word Count: 363 Requested by @alleyahah It was your first Christmas in Manchester, you were so excited to spend it with your baby and Rasmus. As Rasmus was playing on boxing day, his whole family was coming down to watch the game at Old Trafford. You were so excited to have everyone around and hosting your own Christmas.

Rasmus was at training whilst his family were getting ready to the Manchester airport. You were heading to the airport, to pick them up. As Rasmus was unavailable to do it, you offered. Your little girl was left at nursery and Rasmus would be ready to collect her after training. "Hello darling" Rasmus family hugged you all and gave you the biggest greeting as there beaming smiles got you. "I am so happy that you are here, let's head off home and you can have your first Christmas in England" you grinned as you headed off to the car. When you got home, Rasmus was waiting at the door with his little girl placed on his hip. "Come here princess" Rasmus headed straight to the car as he grabbed his mum in a cuddle. "It is so lovely to see you, let's get in. It is so cold out here" he laughed as everyone was so excited to be here as they walked through the door as they explored around the house. "It feels so good to have a full house, I love it so much" Rasmus smiled as he heard the hushed tones of his family around the house. "Me too, I am so glad they are here with us. It feels perfect, now I better get on with some baking or cooking because I don't have anything in other than boring food" you laughed. "That sounds perfect, you are great. Now I guess they are spoiling our daughter. She has them all wrapped round their little finger which is so cute. At least we have some time together whilst they entertain her." you smiled as you cuddled him as you heard some little feet tapping on the floor as she ran into your arms. "Shall we do some baking angel?" you asked as she sat on the counter top.

[illusionsdelusions101]

Will it Ever be Okay?~ Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund

A/N: WE'RE BACK LADIES, GERMS AND EVERYTHING ELSE! Requested by the lovely @screechingphantompuppy thank you <3 Idk if i can write poly relationships lol

Genre: Angst with a smidge of fluff

Warnings: None(?)

Requested?: Yes

After the Burnley match, the Man United team stumble sadly into the changing room. Erik gave them a speech and as soon as he was out the door, the team burst into chatter. Most importantly, Rasmus and Alejandro. "I did so shit." Alejandro said. "It's okay... dude." Rasmus put a hand on his shoulder awkwardly. Alejandro noted that and the word "dude". Alejandro looks at him with confusing eyes, making Rasmus take his hand of Ale's shoulder. Once they were both changed and it seemed the tunnel was empty and no one was coming Alejandro and Rasmus waved goodbye to the rest of the team, they left quickly, luckily. Soon, you appeared out of an entrance. "All clear?" You whisper. They nod at you and you make your way over to your boys. Yes, your boys. Alejandro and Rasmus were a thing maybe a month before they met you. Knowing that the public would go feral, they kept quiet. And then they found you, sipping on your martini, looking lonely at the bar. After losing a game of rock, paper, scissors, Rasmus goes and strikes a conversation with you. You hit it off, Rasmus introducing Alejandro as his boyfriend, made you sad a little. Both such handsome men and both of them were taken by each other, shame. They can tell your mood shift and Rasmus blurted randomly "We're looking for a third partner." and that was it. After multiple dates (them wearing hats and sunglasses to cover up) you agreed to join them in their relationship. You hug both of them together and planted a kiss on each of their lips. "I'm sorry about the match, babes, but ye can do better in the next one!" You said cheerfully. Ale smiled at that and immediately got better. "Ready to go home?" You take both of their hands, knowing you're going to have to quickly let go soon. "You know what Ras said to me in the locker rooms? "Dude." and he put his hand on my shoulder like a bro thing." Alejandro snickers and your laugh bounces off the walls. "What? Do you want everyone to find out, including our parents?" He talks back. Your voices silently echo through the tunnel, and a faint step of boots follow behind, none of you realising. The next day, you got up late, sandwiched between the boys, you pry out and reach for your phone. "Holy." "SHIT." You shriek. The lads got up in an instant. "What is it babes?" Rasmus is quickly to pull you in his arms but you push slightly back. "THEY KNOW. EVERYONE KNOWS. THE WHOLE WORLD KNOWS." You say, your voice threatening to go to whispering level. "About what?" Ale rubs his eyes. "About us." Tabloids, magazines, newspapers, news articles, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, whatever app, there was pictures with you, Hoijlund and Garnacho kissing in last nights tunnel, holding hands, laughing. Video clips of you kissing them, speaking to them, them to you. Everything. "Okay, okay." Rasmus is pacing around the room, your staring into nothing and Ale is snooping around on the internet. "Fans are pissed. Like, PISSED. Threatening to throw us off the team, finding us, shooting us, calling you," Ale jerks his head in your direction. "a slut, a skank, not satisfied" He turns off the phone and then launches it across the room. "FUCK." He cries into his hands. Each of your parents called each one of you. Ale's and Ras's parents were shouting like you can hear them in the whole building and yours were the same. You motion for Rasmus to stop pacing and you grab Ale's shoulders and Rasmus's shoulders. "It'll be okay. We have each other. Everything will be okay." They nodded into your chest. But you were lying to them and yourself. Will it ever be okay?

[misshoneyimhome]

Don’t know why, but I feel like if Willy really likes you, he really likes praising you…😏 Especially, if you are more on the shy side.

Also, rewatched Rasmus Sandin interview on 32 Thoughts with Elliott Friedman and the part where he talks about how William really cares when you are in his circle—just makes me 🥰

I knew he liked food and his father is a good cook, but in the last episode, we see that he cooks and he said that Alex might not be able to cook and he’s the one who does it. 😍 And I think a while ago, like when he was in the Marlies, him and his roommate were who cooks and cleans around the house, and it was William.

I feel like he looks like he’s relax and all and laid back and has this idgf attitude. But, we see through the doc and others that he actually does care and can be organized and the care taker (eldest son vibes).

Also, love that he said he hated watching himself which I think is common with so many of us (I hate listening to myself or seeing myself).

Hope you had a great bday and excited that you can go to Toronto!!

Thank you, babe! I had an amazing day - and going to Toronto to watch hockey is definitely the best birthday gift I could’ve given myself 🤗

Now, moving on to William!

Mmm, a bit of praise from William… what I wouldn’t give to experience that 😏 I can just imagine those sweet nothings slipping from his lips – both the cheeky and innocent ones 🤭 The way he’d switch between teasing you in that flirty, playful tone and then slipping into something softer, more genuine… I’d melt!

I think you’re spot on – from what I understand about Willy (and I could be completely wrong here!), there’s so much depth to him. He genuinely cares about his close friends and family, like you said, if you’re in his inner circle – which probably isn’t easy to get into – it’s because he truly values you ❤️

And yes, William definitely gives off eldest son/older brother vibes 😉 As a younger sister myself, I can see him being the sort who, if there’s someone else around to take care of things like cooking, he’ll probably let them, but when it’s up to him, he’ll step in without much thought – it’s just second nature to him. That’s how I imagine him anyway 🥰

Oh, don’t most people hate seeing or hearing themselves? 🤭 Still, I think it ties into the idea that he might not think too highly of himself – again, no clue if that’s true, but I like to believe it could be 😉

[it-happened-one-fic]

500 Followers Playlist Starter Pack: The Twisted Wonderland Version!

Thank you so much!!! I'm afraid I don't have time to do a full event (Christmas and all that jazz) but I did want to say thank you to everyone so I came up with this! I have a habit of listening to music while writing so I used few songs (I aimed for four each but didn't always make it) from my playlists to form sort of a starter pack under the cut! Again, thank you so much!!!

(NOTE: The links go to Youtube)

Genshin Impact Playlist Starter Pack

Riddle Rosehearts: 

New Rules - Dua Lipa 

Come Along - Pentatonix 

Oh No! - MARINA 

Black Roses - Charli XCX (includes cursing) 

Trey Clover:

Sugar Sugar - The Archies 

Gambling Man - The Overtones

Home - Philip Philips 

Honey Bee - Blake Shelton 

Cater Diamond:

The Tracks of My Tears - Smokey Robinson and The Miracles  

Call Me - Blondie 

Sweet Nothing - Calvin Harris (feat. Florence Welch)  

Dance the Night - Dua Lipa 

Ace Trappola:

Troublemaker - Olly Murs (feat. Flo Rida) 

Jessie’s Girl - Rick Springfield 

I Think We’re Alone Now - Tiffany 

Fire Alarm - Castlecomer 

Deuce Spade:

Waiting for a Star to Fall - Boy Meets Girl

Somebody to You - The Vamps

Hey Look Ma’ I Made It - Panic! at the Disco

Never Gonna Give You Up - Rick Astley

Leona Kingscholar:

Send Them Off! - Bastille

Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea - Fall Out Boy

We Don’t Have to Dance - Andy Black

Power Over Me - Dermot Kennedy

Ruggie Bucchi

Roll To Me - Del Amitri

Two Princes - Spin Doctors

The Way I Are - Timbaland, Keri Hilson, & D.O.E

Follow Me - Uncle Kracker

Jack Howl

Silver Night - The Rasmus

I Really Like You - Carly Rae Jepsen

Right Here Waiting - Richard Marx

I Will Never Let You Down - Rita Ora

Azul Ashengrotto:

Material Girl - Madonna

Stay With Me - Sam Smith

I’d Really Love to See You Tonight - England Dan & John Ford Coley

Diamonds - Sam Smith

Jade Leech:

Curses - The Crane Wives

She Will Be Loved - Maroon 5

Staring At You - Diane Birch

Break the Ice - Britney Spears

Floyd Leech

Out of My League - Fitz and the Tantrums

Bad Word - Panicland

Rag Doll - Aerosmith

I Was Made For Dancin’ - Leif Garrett

Kalim Al-Asim

Golden - Harry Styles

Budapest - George Ezra

Boogie Shoes - KC & The Sunshine Band

I Should Be So Lucky - Kylie Minogue

Jamil Viper:

Can’t Remember to Forget You - Shakira & Rihanna

Power & Control - MARINA

Just One Yesterday - Fall Out Boy & Foxes

Move Your Body - Sia

Vil Schoenheit:

You Make Me Feel - Cobra Starship (feat. Sabi)

Vogue - Madonna

Young and Beautiful - Lana Del Rey

Pretty in Pain - Diane Birch

Rook Hunt:

The Look of Love, Pt. 1 - ABC

Come To My Window - Melissa Etheridge

I Will Follow Him - Peggy March

Happy Together - The Turtles

Epel Felmier:

Bad Reputation - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts (cursing)

Take Me Home, Country Roads - John Denver

Cooler Than Me - Mike Posner

So What - P!nk (cursing)

Idia Shroud:

Something About Us - Daft Punk

Come Inside of My Heart - IV of Spades

He’s So Shy - The Pointer Sisters

Heavy In Your Arms - Florence and the Machine

Ortho Shroud:

Electric Angel - Hatsune Miku

One More Time - Daft Punk

Malleus Draconia:

I Found - Amber Run

Deeper than the Night - Olivia Newton John

Disturbia - Rihanna

Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran

Lilia Vanrouge:

I Love the Nightlife (Disco Round) - Alicia Bridges

Raise Your Glass - P!nk

Saturn - Sleeping at Last

We are Family - Sister Sledge

Silver:

Fireflies - Owl City

(They Long To Be) Close To You - Carpenters

When You Say Nothing At All - Allison Krauss & Union Station

Son Of Man - Phil Collins (From Disney's Tarzan)

Sebek Zigvolt:

The Glory of Love - Peter Cetera

Head Over Heels - Tears for Fears

You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift

Shout - Tears for Fears 

[lordkingsmith]

@augment-techs @skyland2703

Looks like possession is possible in Just Dance (makes sense, we have demon and ghost characters).

This means I can make Ollie eat crow in the Just Dance ‘verse crossover fic! Fantastic!

Probably not gonna use the Rasmus, much as I love them. I have a funnier song to use in mind

Out of context context: don’t trust Cygnus when he says “I have an idea”

[cocooffhershiz]

See me, if I was in br<3ken colors not even GOD would get me to stay in that city. HOWEVER, in a hypothetical situation. I would've folded for Damon. Like on the spot. You think he's saying I love you? I've already imagined us 5 years into a relationship. He would have to not eat people infront me but otherwise he's perfect in my eyes LMAO. No kidnapping needed just hold my hand and look at me like I'm the world.

Also, DG is terrible at hiding his devious tendencies. Bro, out here making dark jokes like we don't live in murder capital. Mfer, I'm assuming you like murder too tf. Turn on these lights right now, sir. I need a fight option bc in real life, he jumpscare me, and I'm kicking or throwing a punch. Either flight or fight, and im a flightless bipedal. Literally the embodiment of me x character I would fucking hate in rl. But he's still pookie regardless... one I would stay ten feet away from.

Be understanding the Korean comics where you get isekiaed into a genre you last read and the girls regretting reading crazy ass shit bc I would not be caught dead outside once the sun started setting. Might not even play their routes. I would avoid them lmaoo but if it came down to it. I'm asking Damon on a date super quickly. Speedrunning his route.

Mc is so silly, babe I promise you do not want excitement from this city.

EDIT: Rasmus is a hot BITCH and I need him to stfu and tongue kiss me. We ain't in middle school, bullying ain't cute anymore you asshole. I will bite you!!

[corestrikefan2653]

We're Back!

It's been nearly 5 months since the Pro League Elimination tournament. A lot has happened since then! It's up to me to catch you all up to speed! Here we go!

After winning the tournament, Demon Drive went on a worldwide tour! X tagged along as their bouncer. They all had an amazing time! Being dubbed the greatest corestrike players of all time really helps with ticket sales.

Rasmus, Kazan, and Nao further devoted themselves to Clarion Corp. They've all been hard at work for quite some time. A few announcements reveal that they're rapidly increasing their Omega energy studies.

Atlas went back to his lab to push his own technology even further.

Juno was finally enrolled in school. So she and Luna had their hands full with school. Especially since I heard that the pair gets into a lot of trouble.

Without her team, Asher has been doing every odd job she can find to support her family.

Zentaro is right behind her. He's also trying to raise money to bring his parents over.

Ai.Mi still plays corestrike as a free agent. She's still really good!

Finii is trying to get famous any way she can. TV appearances. Youtube videos. Livestreams. It's hard NOT to see her!

Rune has been focusing on his connection with Obscura. He's trying to gain control over it. I hear he's making good progress!

Era spent months searching for Kai. Eventually, she finally found him in hotel 700 miles away. He spent a whole 2 months recovering. But he's thankfully better now. Kai may not have been the nicest striker, but I'm glad he's okay.

Me and Dubu haven't stopped striking. Even without Estelle. She went back to focusing on her modeling career. But, we have a new third member: Drek'ar! Since his team kinda also disbanded, he joined ours! And I thought I was intense! Drek'ar is unstoppable on the arena. The three of us are gonna make a name for ourselves.

Throughout all of this, we've managed to stay connected. All of us. We chat regularly online. And we all play corestrike together, despite where all our lives have taken us.

Sure, it may be the off-season. Sure, the game isn't receiving new content often. Sure, corestrike may no longer be the primary focus for everyone now. But we're still here. We're still together. And that extends to our fans. Thank you all so much for staying with us through thick and thin. It's you that keeps this fanbase alive. Your love. Your devotion. Your passion. It's worth more than any title or trophy. From the bottom of all our hearts, thank you Omega Strikers community. Here's to many more adventures in the future. And remember:

Go Strike!

[marcusrashforddefender]

United v. Leicester 30/10/2024

5-2. 5-2! I was mentally preparing myself for another haunting and terrifying performance this Hallow’s Eve, but Lordddddd am I thankful I was wrong.

With how fast Amorim’s move to United was announced, I couldn’t help but think we ought to give Ruud a longer chance (this was based on no knowledge of his managerial skills…I literally just love him as a player and as a person). Now, I feel this way even more, but I’m excited to see what Amorim has in store for us.

First off, Ruud lowk has sm aura. Like he walked onto that pitch, and I was like “that’s my fucking guy.” Let’s appreciate his swag for a sec.

Ok onto the game.

Casemiro masterclass. I did think that the criticism he faced for his abysmal performance against Liverpool was deserved to some extent, but we need to remember that this guy is one of the greatest midfielders of our time. And he proved that today. Quick on the ball, took his chances, and it paid off.

BRUNO IS BACK!!!!! This is the performance I’m the happiest about. Just needed to get back on track, hopefully he can keep this up.

Ugarte has improved more and more. We saw a glimpse of his potential during the Fenerbahçe game and even more today. I am so so excited to see him flourish under Amorim.

Good performance from Garnacho again! However, I think he needs to be benched for the next game, I don’t want him getting overworked. Ruud THANK YOUUUU for playing Amad. Made an impact and showed aggression the second he game on.

Our defense was a littleeee lackluster and could definitely be better. Will need to improve before Chelsea on Sunday.

Now…the one loose screw I noticed. I really hope Zirkzee scores a goal soon to gain more confidence, that is what seems to be lacking in his play. Just look at the difference in threat level between him and Rasmus. I’d like to see more from him, for sure. He was a little better when him and Rashford swapped positions, though.

In conclusion, I’m satisfied with today’s results and a little gutted that we won’t get another game with Ruud at the helm.

Nervous to face Chelsea on Sunday. I know we are capable of a win if every guy gets out there and works their ass off.

[three-headed-monster]

the most important sabres videos from the 2022-23 season so i can cheer sabresblr up

because it is vital that we remember this year!!!!! this is the team that made us love sabres hockey again, no matter how far they didn't go.

now, in no particular order:

exclusive day with rasmus dahlin

what a GREAT way to start the season, truly!!!!! one of the first embeddeds we got featuring multiple members of the team, and UGH it gave us so many iconic moments. krebsy telling dylan he'll work him all day and that he's a fucker (muted for the children's sake). the chirps from everyone!!!! dylan and peyton literally encouraging each other to cheat just to try to beat ras. gave us some great character moments and really just gave us a good inside look into what the team dynamic is like and how much the guys love each other.

2. what a great day to be mic'd up | best of sabres mic'd up from december 2022 (actually from like february lmao)

lots of good moments from this one!!!!!! maybe not a fave for everyone, but certainly for me. lots of skinny and sammy in this one, and again it's just the daily interactions for me! i love to hear them talking about stupid things like gum and "too strong" is a classic dylan moment. it's just some silly good practice fun that makes me smile :)))

3. between 2 stalls

you all know and love it, i've included the whole playlist because every single one hits in a good and different way. it's absolutely the funniest thing the sabres have done media wise this year. it deserves an emmy and jeff skinner best leading actor or smth. i will pay good good money for more of these next season because they are hilarious. give me owen power squirminng while being questioned by jeff please and thank you.

4. hit the boards | owen power and ukko pekka luukonen

two soft and gentle giants not understanding that this is supposed to be a competitive series!!!!!!! you are not supposed to work together, you are supposed to compete!!!!!!! highlight of this one is owen getting "explosive diarrhea" way too fast and not being able to speak spanish. all with a small little laugh and smile along the way!

5. can't keep the beast in the cage

the fact that this is just a run of the mill presser that ended up creating a nickname, chirps in ANOTHER unrelated presser, just proves how good this video is. i mean what more can you want, it's just an excited kid ready to get out there! and we all need more devon levi in our lives if we are being truly honest.

6. sabres react to meme tweets

an ICONIC piece of media right here, i swear!!!!!!! "can you send me that?" so sammy can use this against them in the gc. jack quinn not knowing how to read allegations. tyson jost being so wholesome and hyping up his buddies. tommy dangles if you know you know. AND OF COURSE "daddy tuch".

7. jack and jj give the sabres holiday gifts

part 1 of this series is also a GEM, but unfortunately due to the 10 video attachment limit, i can only include part 2. highlights from part 1 include them buying owen a million gifts, dylan cozens' anger issues, them breaking a poster display because they don't know how posters work, and deciding to get gifts just to piss people off. part 2 however is this and MORE!!!!!! we get to see mostly EVERYONE get their gift! tage's this is slay moment was memed so many times, owen was overjoyed with his gifts, and let's not forget that "this is what the holidays are all about!" not to mention, sammy being the only one to get a fucked up gift made him so mad he decided he wanted the three pound gym weight

8. at home with casey mittelstadt, rasmus dahlin, dylan cozens, and jacob bryson

i'm honestly just here for dylan trying to hide from the camera and having to show up to "pay his rent" via being on camera. he also brings like a shit ton of water with him?????? AND "juicy lips" is a top 10 dylan cozens quote of all time. "they gave you pimples" too.

very much just. dylan cozens in this.

9. owen succumbs to peer pressure

aka the boys tell owen to take his hat off and let the flow go, and in true ferda fashion he does. of course, OF COURSE, the resounding cheer after is deafening and this is one of the best actual pressers from this season because of it

10. what's in the box

the first truly viral sabres moment from this season !!! ending it kinda where we started tbh. i STILL laugh about this moment, from the "i think it likes me" to the TENDER dylan/tage hand hold to peyton proudly pronouncing he knows his poops...this is just perfect. it set out all the narratives for the season and gives us an amazing glimpse into the boys. sabres socials set the bar high with this one and continued to meet it for the rest of the year

other honourable mentions include: tyson jost + others doing community work (highlights include tyson being wholesome and owen's awful rat photo being called unrecognizable), the la entourage trip (jack quinn speaking. that's it, that's the tweet.), sabres choose owen power's goal song (jack's loud proclamation of fearless and kyle's singing), how well do the sabres know their moms (owen being a momma's boy stands out here), matt savoie mic'd up (this one is self-indulgent and just for me), and owen and ras' podcast interview (shocked owen can speak for an hour straight without literally curling up into a ball and hiding; and also bagged milk)

so there you go!!!! hope this cheered you up like it did me. i love our boys as always and can't wait to see what they do next year!

[unitedbydevils]

Match Review: Manchester United 0-3 Bournemouth

Can you call that a match?

I like Amorim and I like his style of play for the team, but on this occasion he dun goofed.

Zirkzee has shown us nothing as the first choice striker, yet led the line against a high pressing, eager Bournemouth. Best case we have possession and pin them back, worst we hit them on the break. Zirkzee isn't that forward. Amad and Bruno as the 10s... they can do it, but they also prefer to be in possession. This game was crying out for Hojlund, Garnacho, Rashford in some combination.

That being said, I'm generally unimpressed with our attackers for the most part this season, so that's not reward for OMG THEY'RE SO GOOD. They haven't been. Rasmus in Europa aside, we've been very meh.

The problem yesterday was that nobody had a good game - even Amad. United were poor in and out of possession. We looked half a yard off it and we looked confused. And worst of all, we missed a handful of clear-cut chances AND clearly didn't listen to the boss, because 53 mins in he made subs. If you're getting hooked 8 minutes after half time you fucked up.

I will say that statistically, we didn't deserve to get humped. 2.66 xG to 1.4 yesterday. In United's favour. Just goes to show how poor Bruno and Garna's misses were. It also serves as a reminder to folks why Garnacho needs more development time. He's very right foot focused, akin to Antony's left. I understand that more gametime might help his confidence and development, but that's a risk to then lose someone else's input. Bruno and Amad as 10s are far more proficient on the ball and offer a more rounded game.

As for the Cherries... Bournemouth's header in the first half was yet another free nod to score. Poor from Zirkzee in defending, especially with his height and frame.

Their second was a penalty from a dogshit tackle by the usually-impressive Mazraoui.

The third goal started from a pointless dink pass attempt by Mainoo. Mazraoui up field from an attack meant that Bruno deputised at RWB - good man. The problem there was that Bruno got beaten for the reaction time, Yoro was ball watching, and so too was Martinez in the box, rather than I dunno... marking Semenyo who then had a tap-in.

This is the challenge that Amorim faces: players when it's going well stay focused and composed and look comfortable. When it's not... we're seeing who can hack the pressure and who can't.

I think United have a core collection who won't be shifted anytime soon, and who genuinely could be in a title-winning team if things worked out for us, but there's a cluster of people who are the reason we're nowhere near that and a new group of people who aren't in either camp. This is very much the season of "you're either with us or against us" in that sense - you can either help us win a title or you need to go. Onana, Mount, Dalot... they all fit in that bracket, but more and more I'm thinking Lissandro Martinez is too. And that's frustrating. The Butcher is an easy to love player, talismanic, a bit mad... but his defensive performances this season have been visibly sub-par and I'm worried he's playing himself out of the club. Maybe a back 4 suits him and not a back 3. I could sympathise with that. Same way Dalot's had struggles at RWB (and LWB but we forgive that).

Maybe I'll do a post on the squad and how I'd approach it if it were Football Manager: who stays, who goes.

Next up: the Dingles on Boxing Day, with Wolves on another new manager bounce vs us and a strong win against Leicester. Sigh. The Bogey Team are going to do us again, aren't they?