World Cup of Hockey 42: Life, the Universe & Everything

[Banija]

The path is filled but the road is clear- Banija's map to get to the universe stage


The highlighted woods are the Life Stage, the numbered forest is the final four games of the Life Stage, and the house is the Universe Stage

Háttmark, Græntfjall- Banija's national ice hockey team, after 8 games and 9 matchdays, still finds themselves in the thick of the race for the next stages. Their last game was yet another regulation win, this time with a 5-0 pasting over Waisnor. Now, this was an important victory for Banija. Spirits were down in the camp after their tight, 2-1 loss against a key rival, Siovanija & Teusland, on the previous matchday. There is no shame to losing to Siovanija & Teusland, of course- have you seen them play in this tournament? They're absolutely dominant. But still, this was a game we had circled on our calendar, and spent plenty of time preparing for. We threw everything we had at them. A valiant effort. But still- a loss is a loss is a loss. And Martial Odongo's clipboard went through his own knee when Goldhorns center Timo Schlager broke the 1-1 tie in the game with about 1:07 left in the final period. Heartbreaking loss. But, there's a reason the Goldhorns are #1- they win games like that. Our chase continues.

A few days later, we had to turn around and face Waisnor. A tight loss against a rival is never an easy one to absorb. But those are the type of games that show you exactly what you are made out of, mentally. The game against Waisnor would not be easy. Going into the game, we were tied in the group. Remember, it's all about finishing top 4- the top 4 get all the glory, 5-13 go home early- eliminated, forgotten. And with our ranking and recent history, it would be an utter failure if we could not finish top 4, even in this brutal group. And yet, it would be a fantastic success if we could. But yes- HUElavia, us, and Waisnor all went into the game with 15 points each. 3-4-5. And fortunately for us... We blitzed them. Waisnor have been great this tournament. Unranked, but playing with fire and passion. Fortunately, we seemed to catch them at the right time and blew them off the ice. 5-0 is 5-0, and those were three very important points.

We're getting to the business end of the Life Stage now, and we have four games left in the Group of Cups. For a reminder, here is the table.

   Group of Cups                  Pld    W  OTW  OTL    L   GF   GA   GD  Pts 
 1 Siovanija & Teusland             8    8    0    0    0   34   16  +18   24
 2 Kriegiersien                     8    7    0    1    0   30   10  +20   22
 3 HUElavia                         8    6    0    0    2   30   10  +20   18
 4 Banija                           8    6    0    0    2   26    7  +19   18
 5 Quebec & Shingoryeo              8    5    1    0    2   27   22   +5   17
 6 Waisnor                          9    5    0    0    4   23   24   –1   15
 7 Flekkefjord                      8    3    1    0    4   21   31  –10   11
 8 Srednjaci                        9    2    1    2    4   25   31   –6   10
 9 Ranoria                          9    2    1    0    6   20   24   –4    8
10 New Waldensia                    8    1    2    0    5   21   31  –10    7
11 St. Saratoga                     8    2    0    0    6   20   28   –8    6
12 BohemiaIV                        8    0    1    2    5   13   29  –16    4
13 Omerica                          9    0    0    2    7   12   40  –28    2

How do we get to the knockout stages? There's a lot left to happen, with a lot of games left. But with our win over Waisnor, we've got a three point lead and that beautiful head to head tiebreaker. They're still in it, but we've got a significant advantage over them. So what's the path?

Step #1- Regulation Wins over #8 Srednjaci(UR) & #7 Flekkefjord(30)

These are the teams we are absolutely favored against. Srednjaci is our next game, and Flekkefjord is not the following game, but the game after that. So 1 and 3 matchdays away. Neither team has been strong so far. Banija has been excellent so far in this tournament at beating who we are supposed to beat. The two teams ahead of us, we lost by 1 goal each, but put up great efforts in each one. If we want another crack at one of the big boys to show that we truly do belong at the end stages of a tournament such as this one, we've got to start by getting out of this group.

Srednjaci is a nation that we respect a lot. Great sporting culture in general, a great people. They are young- but their fans came in droves to Banija for the International Baseball Slam, and made a great impression. Flekkjefjord is a great hockey nation themselves. But those are games that we are expected to win. And if we can't, then our campaign will be in deep trouble. And we need to not only win- but we need all three points. We'll probably need a minimum of 25 points to finish top 4? And, to be frank, probably more than that. If we can get all three points in both of those games, then that will put us in a better spot. Still, however, that will not be enough, on its own.

Step #2- Game against Kriegiersien, getting a win any way you can

Now this is far easier said, than done. Kriegiersien may be unranked, but they've been absolutely dominant. They're the most physical team in the group. And they're eager to fight, with a bunch of their games having fights trend all over twii.tur. They have beaten HUElavia, who are ranked seventh in the multiverse and third in the group. Their only loss is in a shootout to Quebec, an 8-7 heartbreaker. Talk about showing up and taking the hockey world by storm, literally. On paper, going into the tournament, we were favored. But after 8 games? No longer.

They are, low key, an elite team. But they have a tough schedule down the stretch. They have to play Siovanija & Teusland as well as us over the last four games. So while they look in a strong position for the knockout stages, if you assume that you can't beat the Goldhorns, they will have us measured up as well. If they can down our team, they'll basically clinch a spot in the next phase, an incredible achievement for an unranked side in a group with 3 top 10 teams. But that game is just as important for us. We've got to fight for every last scrap. We want to clinch a spot before the Final Matchday. If we get two regulations wins in the games talked about above, plus get at least 2 points against Kriegiersien, that *should* be enough to get in regardless of the last matchday. But if we can't....

Step #3(if necessary)- Do or die against Quebec & Shingoryeo

We say if necessary, because there are three games between now and then. We are in fourth, right now, with 18 points. They are in fifth, with 17 points. The last truly could be winner take all, loser go home. But there are plenty of games. If we can get on a run, maybe we can clinch a spot and knock them out. If Kriegiersien or HUElavia start struggling, we can maybe overtake them and then Quebec could need to beat us to overtake another team. Or, we could collapse entirely, be eliminated before the final matchday, and just be playing the last game for funsies.

That is something we do not want to happen. It would essentially be the knockout stages before the knockout stages. Nerves would be high. Pressure would be through the roof. In that case, advantage to the Quebecois? And in a massive rivalry game too, between the two Commonwealth nations- if it happened, it might shatter the Banijan hockey ratings record set last tournament, when we had a knockout stage game against Siovanija & Teusland. Can we clinch a spot before then so I only have to think about that game in terms of seeding, please?

[TJUN-ia]

After one of the most embarrassing performances in the history of TJUN-ian sports, the feelings on this WCoH campaign were certainly split within the hockey community. On one hand, people just wanted to just get the rest of the games over with so that Ølson Rasmussen can be publicly executed for crimes against ice hockey, but on the other hand, some held the belief that our WCoH42 campaign is not over until our name is coloured in red in the Group of Swords. No matter which belief you held, TJUN-ia still had 5 more games of hockey to play in the Group of Swords - the first of which being in the Hofvinger Community Arena against Xanneria, a nation that seems strange to be unranked in anything.

Anything better than the performance against the Dagans would be taken at this point, but the performance put out on the ice tonight was certainly a sign that the team improved from that night in Hagejoki. All 3 periods would see Jakob Vaduz turn into a wall in the net and each one would see 2 goals for the Jags fans to enjoy after the pain of last time out. The first would see Julian Visipils get another goal to add to his large tally while Ryan Pericic got one as well. The goals in the 2nd period would both be scored by Thorgan Annursson, the 4th-liner certainly proving to be a potential option in clutch situations, while the goals in the 3rd were scored by 2 players you don't expect to see on the scoreboard: David Stewart and even Vaduz himself, who managed to shoot from his zone and get the puck into the empty net. All in all, it was a shutout and a great way to bounceback from the devastation of MD8.

Four more games remain and from here, a mistake from others may be required if we are to advance to the knockouts. We return to Steinaux next for a matchup with the next team down from us in the group: the unranked Ice Dragons of Lu Shan. GO JAGS!

---

SCHEDULE (Group of Swords)
MD1: BYE
MD2: vs Graintfjall (22, 8 of Swords) - Eisstadion Háttmark, Haderhavn L 4-5 (T-10th)
MD3: vs The Grandest Empire (UR, 4 of Swords) - Grand National Arena, Gunzlach W 3-2 (T-8th)
MD4: vs Mapletish (UR, 5 of Swords) - SuperBangMunchVöllur, Zevogur W 1-0 (T-5th)
MD5: vs Kohnhead (26, 7 of Swords)- Elínmundur Heiðreksson Halle, Steinaux W 8-5 (T-4th)
MD6: vs Taeshan (14, 10 of Swords) - Hofvinger Community Arena L 4-6 (T-6th)
MD7: vs Chromatika (29, 6 of Swords) - Hagejoki Play Park W 4-3 (6th)
MD8: vs Cassadaigua (8, Queen of Swords) - Hagejoki Play Park L 2-14 (T-6th)
MD9: vs Xanneria (UR, 3 of Swords) - Hofvinger Community Arena W 6-0 (6th)
MD10: vs Lu Shan (UR, Ace of Swords) - Elínmundur Heiðreksson Halle, Steinaux
MD11: vs Recuecn (12, Trickster of Swords) - SuperBangMunchVöllur, Zevogur
MD12: vs Peoples Republic of Xabia (UR, 4 of Swords) - Grand National Arena, Gunzlach
MD13: vs Savojarna (3, King of Swords) - Eisstadion Háttmark, Haderhavn

[Waisnor]

Losing our streak and preparing for the worst

Waisnorian fans had some hopes before match with Banija, which was build over last 5 victories. Unfortunately, skill of Banijan players quickly showed itself:

At the beginning of the game, a struggle for leadership began between both teams - both Waisnor and Banija created dangerous moments, but the goalkeepers of both teams could repel them. One might get the impression that a very tense struggle for victory lay ahead.
However, Banija soon broke these expectations - closer to the middle, it began to lead on the rink, and at the 11th minute of the 1st period, the superiority was formalized on the scoreboard - Alanso Hairte opened the score thanks to an excellent pass to the goal of Denis Dementiev and an accurate shot to the center of this goal.
For the rest of the first period, the pressure on the Waisnor goal continued, but Waisnor clearly did not want to concede more, so there were no new goals yet. However, this situation was eliminated in the 5th minute of the 2nd period - Kutubo Gaye, after playing the puck, immediately rushed to the gate of Waisnor and also quickly scored the second puck in the match.
Now Waisnorian team wanted to win back more and began to carry out attacks to the gate of Dewa Bangè, but they were unsuccessful. At the same time, Banija's national team remained very strong and clearly did not intend to feel sorry for Waisnor - on the 13th minute of the 2nd period, Antou Sene, thanks to a breakthrough on the flank, was able to throw the puck into the bottom corner of the goal.
After establishing such a serious advantage, Banija released their second line onto the ice battlefield, however, she could play well with the Waisnorian team - in the 2nd minute of the 3rd period, Wassa Bah scored the fourth goal to Dementiev, finally burying any chances for at least one point for Waisnor.
Despite this, the game continued, and Banija had to do something. Waisnor was already demoralized and was not capable of active actions, so it was not difficult for them to score another goal - at the 7th minute of the 3rd period, Kebba Corr went through the already full hole defense and threw the last, fifth goal, into the Waisnorian goal.

After this defeat Waisnor slipped to the 6th place, and there isn't many reasons to be positive about the next match - Waisnor will face Siovanija & Teusland, 1st seeded team in the tournament, team which didn't suffer any defeats and scored 34 goals. And after this match Waisnor will have their break day, which will only help to build more of a gap between them and 4th place, so desperately needed for advance to play-off.

[Ko-oren]

"The Dragonflies worked very hard for a 1-0 win over Valanora - the Group of Wands top game that sees the two top ranked teams battle it out didn't give a lot of goals, but it delivered in every other sense of the word. Great plays, brilliant saves, and teams that just did not want to give the other something to work with. Both teams kept it competitive, close, and above all, fair. It was a very different vibe from the World Cup meeting earlier, where the teams were at each other's throats from the start, even if there were no horror tackles in that game either, if you remember. The Calcuttas had some of the better chances in the game, but Alacia managed to get a glove or a pad to all of them. Aegarial, who didn't make his national team debut very long ago, seemed a bit lost at times, but was covered well by Aiaros and Hermanszoon. The other two lines were phenomenal in shutting down the Vanorians, and had a number of good chances throughout the game. Join us for the highlights of the game including Buck's game-deciding goal, deflecting a mean shot from Curumbah, and-"

"I'm sorry, but before we get to the highlights, some news just came in from Maethoru. The cabinet has been called together by Prime Minister Laurderinthen. The ministers in Maethoru, Raupostinden of Health and Welfare and Guillaume of Trade and Industry, are already in. The ministers with offices in Gehrenna are just arriving at the Domestic Affairs ministry, while the remaining 4 ministers will take a little longer. Secretary Habborlain of Governmental Affairs, as well as Teunissen from Information and Communication, and Ulajama from Social Services, are also on scene. And, as something we haven't seen in a good decade at least: all Ambassadors of Meritocracy are listening in as well. The Ambassadors, as a group that gets very little media exposure, are a group of all living ex-prime ministers, collectively the moral compass of the head of government. Of course, President Lekleorisethun is hosting the meeting in the presidential office in Maethoru - across the street from Laurderinthen's office, of course - and Alastair Rutherford, the vice-president, has been spotted as well. It seems we have a few turbulent days of politics in front of us, as these meetings aren't called lightly and regularly. Our reporters are on the scene and trying to keep track of what is going on, but an official reason for the talks hasn't been communicated to the press yet."

"I'm afraid you'll have to look up the highlights later, folks, this might be a long one. Good night, and see you in two days for the first of our three remaining group stage games. Will Ko-oren hold on to the points lead, as Valanora have a game in hand and Sarzonia are only two points behind?"

"As is often the case, the chairwoman of the Parti Démocratique has a statement ready. Live from Parliament, here is Mrs. Claringbold."

"I wish our direct colleagues at the ministries would contact us about these things before they happen, for a change. I wonder if the members of the Meritocratic Party have heard about this - I doubt it - but it's once again clear that democratic values in this country are few and far between. The Parti Démocratique hereby sends a proposal to the Secretariat of the Government that at least the Speaker of the House, the Chairman of Parliament, and Parliament Spokesman are informed about the ever oblique goings-on of the ministers."

"As expected, Mrs. Claringbold is not happy with the course of action. Teunissen, meanwhile, is preparing a statement on behalf of the government, to be presented to the media from... Parliament. That's a first, but there is a first for everything. Let's cut to the feed from Parliament, where everything has been set up for Claringbold's address and the regular parliamentary sessions. It seems that Teunissen hasn't taken to the podium yet. The... only other thing, as the production crew tells me, that we can show right now is the motorcade of the Regional and Local Affairs minister, Irimia Padin, arriving from Senoren."

-

"Mrs. Padin, why was this meeting called?"

"..."

-

"Meanwhile, Parliament has finished setting up and Teunissen is expected to make an announcement within thirty minutes. In the meantime, please enjoy the Valanora versus Ko-oren World Cup of Hockey highlights."

[Kelssek]

Hakemi takes her chances in win for Kelssek

Head coach Peter Dalton mostly decided to roll four lines against Iba Dwa, and switched up the powerplay units to give some of the younger players a chance to have a go in an international tournament of unusual length.

Jeanne Hakemi made the most of the opportunity to fill her skates against unranked opposition, grabbing a pair of goals to mark another milestone in what is becoming an annus mirabilis for the youngster. And by all rights she could have had four points if her linemates had been able to finish their opportunities too.

Drafted into the senior team after a strong showing for the national U20 team which won the most recent World Junior Championship, many voices were skeptical about such quick advancement for the CH Outineau winger. But the right cards have all come up for Hakemi this year, who was part of a team that clinched an historic league and cup double for the illustrious Outineais club. Arguably the triumphs at club level owe much to more established players, but there’s no doubting the 20-year old’s central role in the junior world championship win.

Hakemi sniped the opening goal on an odd-man rush with a quick-release shot that was past the goaltender before he knew anything about it. She tallied a second on the power play midway through the second period with a one-timer from above the hash marks in a move that might give the coaching staff something to think about. The lead was narrowed with 7:39 to go in what has to go down as a mistake by Eunan Miyamoto, who directed a rebound directly into the slot and immediately paid the price for it. But Kelssek didn’t panic and were able to keep their opponents at bay until Jordan Lee skated in to deposit the puck in the empty net.

"Not just for me but for my linemates, we were given a chance to show what we've got and so that's a challenge we have to rise to. So it was nice to be given the chance and you have to just make the most of what you're given when the coaches put that trust in you, so yeah I was really happy to get two goals." said Hakemi after the game. "It's been great to play on whatever team you're able to make a difference for, and hockey is a team sport, so we win and lose as a team, and winning is great."

[Le Choix]

Partie 1
Partie 2
Partie 3
Partie 4
Partie 5
Partie 6
Partie 7

Si vous dites: "Vous êtes ma famille, vous ne l'êtes pas". et traitez-vous donc les uns les autres avec différence, cela sera imputé à vous dans le jugement final. - Livre de Justice, Chapitre 5, Verset 4
"If you say, "You are my family, you are not." and therefore treat one another with difference, that will be counted against you in the final judgment." - Book of Justice, Chapter 5, Verse 4

Le Mur (The Wall)
Portail vers l'Enfer #3, Le Choix

Captain Eric DePortier checked his equipment for the thirtieth time since his shift started.

Manning The Wall closest to the third gate that led to the Portal to Hell always put him at a state of unease. Sometimes, they saw a survivor streak past like a madman and were given the order to put them down - no questions asked of course. Sometimes, an animal would escape the enclosure, and they'd have to track the animal while biologists tested if they were a contamination risk or not. Once, a deer was deemed to be a risk four days after it had escaped and he had had to track it down with his team for another three days. Thankfully, the deer had not gotten past the DMZ that surrounded each Portal and was able to be tracked down and eliminated without a problem.

There were indeed times when he wondered just why he had to what he had to do, but the number one rule in The Chosen Armed Forces was to not question orders unless they were illogical. It was hardly illogical to get rid of contamination risks or peoples who would be dangerous to the community at large, and it made sense that he wouldn't be the kind of person who would make the decision. No, he was a good soldier.

Plus, had he ever questioned? He didn't think so... But he couldn't shake a feeling that maybe he had at some point? No... Surely not?

His partner on the watch, Lieutenant Jasmin LeClerc, was more of a robotic type who just did her job. She was hardly the conversationalist, which made it easy to work with her but also rather boring at times.

Speaking of LeClerc... Was she pointing at something?

Sighting in his scope, he saw it too - a bear of sorts as escaping, with some kind of... Demonic mutation? It looked purple and parts of its fur were glowing.

"DePortier here, Serial Authorization Alpha-Niner-One-Three-Five. You seeing this, HQ?" he asked the officer on duty.

"We see it, Alpha-Niner-One-Three-Five. Hold for authorization," came the reply. It must have been Gaspard. It was always Gaspard whenever something actually went down. The by-the-rulebook, overbearing bastard.

LeClerc and DePortier both kept an eye on the strange bear creature for the next five minutes. It was slowly lumbering about after exiting, but didn't seem to be causing any trouble.

"Alpha-Niner-One-Three-Five, you have authorization to terminate," stated Gaspard.

DePortier nodded to LeClerc, and the two of them let loose a series of shots that echoed throughout the still, cold night. Mere seconds later, the deformed bear lay dead.

"HQ, target is neutralized," called in DePortier. As the commanding officer, it was his call, not LeClerc.

Why was it that the animal always died with only a few shots?

'No, no, DePortier,' he reminded himself, 'Don't ask questions.'

Like that, another night passed along The Wall.

[Sarzonia]

What's a family?

That question seems to be on the minds of our hosts. More accurately, what does a typical Sarzonian family look like?

Even as an offshoot of the United States of America, the stereotypical picket fence, mother, father, and two kids ideal never quite caught on in Sarzonia. As the country's Overton window began a gradual leftward shift in sharp contrast to the rightward evolution of America's, more and more families in Sarzonia became anything but that so-called ideal.

Gay marriage isn't a thing in Sarzonia. More to the point, marriage isn't a thing as it relates to a legal entity. Churches, such as they exist in the country may choose to marry couples who want a church wedding, but priests don't have legal authority to sanctify anything with the government. Regardless of the makeup of the relationship, couples are expected to obtain a civil union because that confers the legal rights and responsibilities contained in marriage in other countries.

But as for the term "family," people in Sarzonia recognise that chosen families are as valid as any other families. Even a collection of strangers living in a house can become a family.

[Fluvannia]

RED LIGHT BLUES.fl.net
The Semi-Official Fan Site of Team Fluvannia Hockey

Fan Forum

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Ventro being here represented by a horde of penguins

Ten goal avalanche upvote party!!!
nmbr1royalsfan Reply Quote Give Rep Report
21.4.4 at 16:53

I need a cigarette.

+ 87lynxgt Reply Quote Give Rep Report
21.4.4 at 16:54

I have to check but I think that's the most goals ever scored by the Bears. Like, I know Ventro is (are?) new, and we're pretty respectable overall, but still. damn.

+ palmyramike Reply Quote Give Rep Report
21.4.4 at 16:55

Of course, it still only counts as one. Next is Abanhfleft. That *should* -- fingers crossed -- be the last of the risky games, after that we should win our final three.

+ windmotor_fan Reply Quote Give Rep Report
21.4.4 at 17:58 *

If we win out, do we know what spot we'd finish no worse than? Or is that too much math for now? lol

Edit -- ok just checked the opposite scenario, since that's easier. They can still finish as low as 11th. So uh...hope they keep their foot on the gas.

[Islands Of Ventro]

IOV suffered a terrible loss this past week losing 10 to 4. In response to this terrible loss we have asked the coach to give us a short response on the next on the chopping block in the penticale decision. He stated,

“ let’s look on the bright side here he still scored for goals against him this was just a really high scoring now and in the end we couldn’t pull through. They were a good team and we are a good team to just with all the penalties against us we couldn’t stay in the game. I’m gonna talk to my boys about rushing up the other team and when did you what I want to know.”

-Coach

[Valanora]

The mental exhaustion from the game against Sarzonia was hidden well by most of the Calcuttas, but you could tell that they were not at their peak in the game against Ko-oren and were ultimately on the wrong end of a one to nothing scoreline, letting Ko-oren move ahead of the team once more in the group standings, though the Calcuttas will still have their game in hand to try and grab the group title. Despite having had just played a very physical and mentally demanding game against Sarzonia, the Eternal Empire team was able to put on a good performance in the face of the second best team in the rankings and for periods throughout the game, looked to be the slightly better team. The Ko-oren goalie was forced to make a number of impressive saves, particularly early in the game when the young legs of the Calcuttas were not feeling the effects from the previous game and looked like they would be able to break through the notoriously hard to beat Ko-oren blue line and goaltender. It was not to be however and instead it was their foes that eventually found the goal that would earn them the full three points from the encounter.

The team can take quite a few positives from the match despite having been on the wrong end of the result, with the team having given a good account of themselves despite the difficultly of trying to play a skilled opponent on the heels of such a previously demanding engagement. As the tournament continues to play out here in the Wintery Queendom, the more and more it looks like the decision to send in a squad who is on average nearly a decade younger than the team that played in the tournament hosted by Taeshan continues to look more and more like a very good decision. The team has shown a hunger and resiliency that had been missing from the team and program for a few years now, with it seeming like the new blood having freshened things up in their pursuit of their own glory. Perhaps that was a problem with the old team, too many had already bathed in success in both the international and domestic arena in excess, that they had forgotten what was required of them to actually get the results and what sort of effort had to be put in for every game. That does not seem to be the case with this team.

That however gets put to the test in the next game, in the third game of the difficult stretch run, and against Kelssek. Based on the rankings and how the two teams have been performing during the group stage, it would seem that the Calcuttas would have a slight edge heading into the tussle. A victory for the Calcuttas would all but secure their place in the playoffs with three games to go, while also keeping them on the pace that they need to keep in order to be able to still hope to win the group despite the loss to Ko-oren. A victory for Kelssek would through the entire top four into a bit of chaos and make things a lot closer than they currently sit heading into the last three games of the group stage. Much like the Calcuttas, Kelssek is a balanced team, though they do not have a full four line depth the way the Calcuttas do, as it was using their full rotation that was the reason for the defeat to Iba Dwa in the game before. The offensive depth for the Empire team is deeper and more precise, which could be the cutting edge the team needs in this last match of the gauntlet. That is Kelssek's boon, the team has had two difficult games before this game and they will hope that the younger legs of the Calcuttas can not recover as quickly as they did for the Ko-oren game for this one, else the edge in the affair is definitely in the Vanorian favor.

[Siovanija and Teusland]

RBC Teusland

History - The Empire

’Gott verteidige Teusland:’ Religion in the Teus Empire

In the year 1414, standing before his troops at the Battle of Marzig, Kaiser Ferdinand I was said to have given his troops a rousing speech. The Teus army was outmanned by their opposing Siovanijan number, but they were determined to fight where they stood. At the end of his speech, Ferdinand the Great looked to the heavens, and cried out ’Gott verteidige Teusland’, or ‘God defend Teusland’. At this, the Teus army was ready for battle, and they defeated the larger Siovanijan force in the most famous battle of the Three Years’ War, the Battle of Marzig.

In years to follow, ‘God defend Teusland’ became a battle cry, a motto, and a national catchphrase. Found on postcards, coins, flags, scrawled on battlefields from southwestern Atlantian Oceania to Esportiva by Teus soldiers - and even today, seen at sports games or major national events. It shows a clear connect between the Teus Empire and its Catholic religion, one that during the course of Teus history, went back a long way.

Catholicism was introduced to Teusland during the old days of the various Teus duchies, even before they came under control of the Siovanijan Empire. Prior to that, the land was dominated by Teus paganism, with its gods and goddesses including Woden, Donner, Lokke and more. However, after Catholicism was introduced to the local populace, conversion occurred quite rapidly, and it became a unifying national force during the time of the Peasant’s War against the Siovanijan Empire, and during the period of Teus unification.

When Wilhelm I of Stelburg was officially crowned the first Teus Emperor on Christmas Day 1253, it was clearly done with religious overtones - the choice of date, for one. There were also Catholic priests present at the coronation, and in visiting Mount Danneberg, the highest mountain in Teusland, a few days later, he was clearly making a connection between himself, his royal house, and the heavens above.

Church politics during the time of the Teus Empire, however, reveal a relationship of conflict with the leadership. The Teus population were extremely devout Catholics - they believed God had delivered them through the years of suffering under foreign rule, and had granted them their Empire as a reward. So, to control the Teus population, you largely had to control the Catholic Church. Very, very quickly, the imperial government came to resent the idea of the Catholic Church serving an outside Pope, and they worked behind the scenes to change the system.

In 1274, after a year of planning by Kaiser Johannes I and his advisors, the Council of Stelburg was held in the capital. At this meeting, the leaders of the Church in the country ‘voted’ to remove all foreign influence from the Church, and establish the new ‘Stelburg rite’ from the Sankt Georg’s Cathedral, the largest religious building in the Empire. In reality, bishops who opposed the new measures had been arrested or otherwise prevented from attending the meeting, and overnight, new changes came to the Church. Firstly, the appointment of Cardinals and the Pope himself now lay with the Kaiser and the Dukes, ensuring political loyalty. Secondly, the language of masses changed from Latin, a foreign tongue, to Teus - which, through mass production of the Bible, led to a standardized Teus language and removed many of the most extreme separate dialects.

The Church, however, still had some freedoms - and they were more than willing to use them, particularly against the Siovanijan pagans. Church leaders believed that the Siovanijans needed to be saved, and without protest from the imperial government sent missionaries to Siovanija. The proud Siovanijans, however, were quite happy in their pagan beliefs - and repelled the missionaries, often by force. The Church thus declared several Crusades against Siovanija - not so much open warfare as much as a number of peasants heading for a city, sacking it, and returning home - which strained relations between the two states, and barely avoided open warfare between Siovanija and the Teus Empire. This era lasted for nearly one hundred years. After the final Crusade, the aptly-named Last Crusade (1350-55), the Teus Empire quietly removed the power to call Crusades from the Church.

In 1414, however, after the relationship between the Kingdom of Siovanija and the Teus Empire had broken down, the Teus invaded Siovanija, hoping to conquer the land. As mentioned, the Battle of Marzig was seen as a turning point in national history, God himself bringing the Teus victory on the field of battle. The total domination of Teusland and the conquest of Siovanija were viewed as gifts for the piety of the nation, and the victory of believers over the heathens. More Churches and religious monuments were built in the years following the Three Years’ War (1414-1417) than any other period in Teus history, and it was believed that this continued loyalty would bring about even more reward.

Over the next century, the Teus Empire would continue to grow, founding colonies in Rushmore (Sankt Konrad) and Esportiva (Prinz-Eugens-Land), and along with the colonial troops came Catholic missionaries. In Sankt Konrad, the native Albmoti population quickly accepted the religion, while many of the native tribes of Prinz-Eugens-Land were quite quick to reject the Catholics. There was tension building, as in Siovanija, where the pagan population still resisted the Catholic Church’s efforts.

In 1503, after being advised to do so by a group of Siovanijan Dukes who were worried about the future of their holdings, Kaiser Otto II signed the Edict of Marzig. The Edict allowed pagans to openly practice their religion, and prevented the Catholic Church from sending missionaries within the lands of the Teus Empire - the Siovanijans were allowed to openly practice their religion.

With this came other issues, however. With the Teus Empire’s star continuing to rise, it was a period of great cultural awakening and revival. More and more, people in the Empire began to study the ancient Teus pagan religion, and now that they were allowed to practice it, converted. The Church was shocked by this, and in an attempt to keep their numbers small, organized mass emigration of Teus pagans to Prinz-Eugens-Land. This was done through propaganda claiming the colony would be totally free, but also through incredibly dark means: kidnapping children from pagan families, sending them to seminaries to be raised by nuns and sending the parents to the colony. It was thought that by keeping the pagans on the periphery of Teus society, the Church would lose no power.

They would be, however, wrong. The pagans in Prinz-Eugens-Land gave the land a distinct culture, and became friendly with the native tribes - and Catholic settlers soon felt threatened, and blamed poor harvests on the pagans. The Church felt it needed change, and convinced Kaiser Wihelm VII that the colonies should be once again fair game for missionaries. Wilhelm VII was a weak leader who was too eager to impress those around him, and what followed was the Catholic Church’s near-direct rule over Prinz-Eugens-Land for the next decade. They hired a mercenary force to drive out the pagans, but were resisted in the hot jungles by the native tribes and Teus pagans united. In the end, the Peace of Kapstadt (1526) agreed that pagans could practice their religion freely in the northern half of the country, while only Catholicism would be allowed in the south.

The Church was now beginning to be viewed with a slightly suspicious eye even by many Catholics, and this tension would continue to rise. By 1580, the situation was at a boiling point, as many Teus Catholics in the Teus homeland believed the Church was taking their money to spend on foreign wars. Alongside other theological disputes, this led to the 1581 Council of Marzig. Most of the theological disputes were resolved, which pacified the resistance within Teusland. But the Church’s desire for conversion never changed, and this led to great fear within Siovanija as well as in Prinz-Eugens-Land that if the Edict of Marzig were ever to be repealed, the Empire could be torn apart.

The perfect storm came when Ferdinand II became Kaiser in 1601. He was young, weak, and wanted to secure his power. And so, Pope Gotthard I convinced him to repeal the Edict of Marzig, and that through this act he could become one of the nation’s greatest leaders. Of course, Gotthard was in it for selfish reasons, and Ferdinand II perhaps did not quite understand the gravity of his act. Upon being informed of the act, there were riots in Borograd and peasants soon rose up to protect their right to religious freedom.

What followed was a long war, often described as the nation’s first true civil war. The Twenty-Nine Years’ War lasted from 1604-1633, and saw battles take place in both the Teus homeland, Siovanija and Prinz-Eugens-Land. Catholic Teus armies fought Siovanijan peasants in various battles in the area, while the Catholic Church’s mercenary armies fought in Prinz-Eugens-Land against a coalition of native tribes and Teus pagans. The Duchy of Trkev, a Siovanijan region where paganism was the strongest, broke ties with the Empire and openly revolted.

Ferdinand was not only a weak leader, however - he was a sickly one too. He died in the year 1612, as the war continued to rage. His son, Friedrich I, picked up a disease while on campaign just two years into his reign and died by the end of 1615, replaced by his younger brother Ludwig II. Ludwig began the war as a staunch supporter of the Church, but was quickly realizing that this war was doing the Empire no good. In 1622, he organized the Truce of Stelburg, which ended fighting in Siovanija for four years, and when the truce expired said the Teus Army would no longer fight in Siovanija. The Catholic Church would need its own mercenary groups. The Church was furious, and in a retaliatory act, one of the Church’s mercenary groups attempted to set fire to the city of Felsenkirchen.

Ludwig had the Pope, Hans II, arrested, as well as a great number of the Cardinals, and immediately declared an end to the war, bringing the Duchy of Trkev back into the Empire and installing the Edict of Marzig once again. He also banned the Church from spending money on mercenary armies, and at the 1635 Council of Rotmunde once again introduced sweeping changes on the Church, including a clause which forced them to accept the Edict of Marzig permanently. Pope Hans II had escaped from prison in 1640, attempting to gather followers to his side, but after a short campaign, the Antipope’s War (1640-41) was won by the Teus Empire.

Following this, the Church was largely pacified within the Empire. Further colonial wars saw the Church forced to stay out of things, and they were not encouraged to operate in Siovanija other than to serve the Teus population living there. By the mid-1800s, Church attendance remained the same across the Empire, but no longer was religion considered a defining feature of what it meant to be Teus - language, culture and the idea of an imperial brotherhood had surpassed it. ‘God defend Teusland’ was still a battle cry during the Great War, but was more of an ideal than a prayer.

In the new, secular United Republics of Siovanija & Teusland, there were special provisions afforded the Catholic population of Teusland. Holidays such as Easter and Christmas remained on the calendar, and they were of course afforded religious freedom. Religion remains a major player in the modern day country as well.

The southwestern corner of Teusland, including the city of Pomen, is generally considered to be the conservative ‘bible belt.’ The Teus Catholic Church is still headquartered out of Sankt Georg’s Cathedral in Stelburg, and operates Churches in all former colonies of the Empire as well as nearby nations like Banija. The Teus population in Siovanija, especially in the city of Pomorie/Marzig, is seen as a particularly devout population as well.

At the national level, the nation is secular. However, the political party Christian Union has served in a coalition with the centre-right National Democratic Union for several years now, and the CU has all of its seats within Teusland. They represent Christian democracy and are often quite critical of increasing secularization, while looking for more religious rights for Catholics in addition to other political policies, many of which fall in line with the NDU. The Teusland List, a party mostly found in Teus-speaking regions of Siovanija, also represents Catholic religious rights alongside Teus language rights.

The Pope is still around, and still elected by the College of Teus Cardinals - today’s pope is Pope Martin VI. He is seen as the religious centre of the Teus people, and reigns from Sankt Georg’s Cathedral in Stelburg. The Teus Catholic Church operates in Siovanija & Teusland, all former colonies of the Empire, and nearby nations including Banija.

In Teusland today, 95% of people on the most recent census responded that they are part of the Catholic faith. For many, this is as simple as being baptized and attending mass on Christmas and Easter, but there are a great deal of devotees. In Siovanija, however, the number is estimated at around 6%, with most of these being members of the Teus community in that country. Siovanijans also have an overwhelmingly negative view of the Church due to the complicated history.

The Catholic Church has had a long history within the Teus Empire, and its role in the days of the Empire’s greatest struggles and triumphs means it has become a part of the culture of Teusland. As the years go by, it will be interesting to see if the Catholic Church can hold on to this significant role.

[Quebec and Shingoryeo]

OOC: A section of a much bigger piece that will be completed on my WBC RP (and maybe even NSCF) tonight. Since this is tied with the adventures of the Quebecois national team, I guess you could call this a somewhat related piece. A demo.

Sometime in the night, Jarlsdómur Station, Háttmark Metro

As Asher Lundrigan entered the platform of Jarlsdómur station, he was feeling the bouts of vertigo. He was slowly losing his mental threads from the combination of pints, nightly wanderings and the mental disturbance that he had long tried to quash. The weeks he had spent with the Quebecois national hockey team, one where he had done every measure possible for the team and those who needed him to the point of excess, had started to wear on him.

After three nights ago, when he had left the very Matrix nightclub where he had sponsored the drugs and the damsels for the national team members, Asher was slowly simmering into a different self, as he began to the emptiness. The notion of happiness may be overrated, but is it really the product of our times or have I spent wandering without knowing what's near? He thought so, as he waited for the next Metro train to come late in the night.

Since that evening he had walked back on his two shoes, all that he could think about was the overwhelming desire of a family life. Whenever he was seeing happy families during the Team Quebec matches or on the street, of whatever shape or gender combinations, full of children or childless, Asher couldn't help but to feel the greatest sense of envy. Then, by the end of the night, as he would message his family or Eileen, Asher had started to see the brick pieces being added together for this home that's stable, welcoming and hopefully long-lasting enough to last a century.

I was once lost, but now I could see, Asher said to himself, as he sat on a chair and mindlessly zoomed into the stark, soulless walls of the platform. Asher hadn't really talked to Eileen about them settling into a family, mostly because he wasn't sure if they were ready. Okay, more like he wasn't sure if he was ready. It is always the hardest to take the final steps, before the two halves of a pair would complete their holy matrimony. Of course, these days, with the ways of modern life requiring 546,393 additional conditions (mostly financial, but devient lifestyle choices by some didn't help either) that made everybody apprehensive towards the custom, but at this point in time both had reached beyond that. But right now, while they were still waters apart and busy with their careers (his as a journalist, hers as a singer-songwriter), they too had evolved beyond arguing over such differences. So, while the doubt still remained, the only part that stood in their way was the final step, and that was to take the leap of faith.

Of course, given his mental capacity right now, that wasn't really on agenda. While warmly dressed with autumn jackets and a couple of layers of clothing, Asher was still shivering and sluggish, putting him even more into the state of dreariness. With a strong grip of his own, Asher resisted the internal temptation of drinking the can of beer he still had inside his bag, preferring to wait ten more minutes.

He could hear the buskers playing their tunes with a guitar or violon on the other side of the platform. On the background, it is slow and stirring, even as the music does not amuse him. While the city of Háttmark in a festive mood (why shouldn't they be?), it was still filled with hundreds of thousands of visitors altogether looking to have a blast, and the heat of the night wasn't enough to warm the cold floors of the metro station.

[Graintfjall]

Beethoven tells you what it’s like to be Beethoven and Mozart tells you what it’s like to be human. Bach tells you what it’s like to be the universe.

Each day I will be offering a small piece of information about Græntfjaller life and offering a related prompt. These prompts are not required and there is no extra bonus for doing them compared with doing a match report or any other type of RP; they’re simply there because this long tournament format may lead to ideas running dry, and I’m well aware there are many other competitions currently ongoing. Feel free to respond in whatever format you like – or ignore them entirely.

MD10 cutoff

Græntfjallers enjoy a rich and varied musical life, as might be expected of a country with – have we mentioned this? – such a strong connection to the sea. Skáld were revered in early Græntfjaller history and the tradition of those songs continues to this day (even if scholars argue over how accurate our modern versions of them are). Græntfjall has a particularly strong tradition of opera, although foreign audiences find Græntfjaller operas – which generally end with the protagonists being eaten by krakens – to be overly predictable. In modern times, the genre most associated with Græntfjall is metal music: there are even “Græntfjaller metal” bands in foreign lands, some of whom have only a tenuous connection to the Queendom. The dominance of metal in the popular musical imagination perhaps explains the rise of “G-Pop”, the national pop genre, replete with lush production values, baroque instrumentations, and twee lyrics, with performers often wearing bright colors and affecting cute mannerisms. G-pop’s sugary sickliness is a form of aural torture to devoted metal fans. What role does music play in life in your country? What are some distinctive national trends or genres?

Group of Wands
Delaclava 1–0 North Alezia
Equestria 0–1 Elejamie
Iba Dwa 1–4 Pius Desurongcrandis
Valanora 4–0 Kelssek
Pluvie 0–3 Ko-oren
Sannyamathland 0–7 Sarzonia

   Group of Wands                 Pld    W  OTW  OTL    L   GF   GA   GD  Pts 
 1 Ko-oren                         10    8    1    0    1   24    8  +16   26
 2 Valanora                         9    8    0    0    1   33   12  +21   24
 3 Sarzonia                        10    8    0    0    2   43   18  +25   24
 4 Delaclava                       10    5    1    1    3   24   16   +8   18
 5 Kelssek                          9    5    1    0    3   20   17   +3   17
 6 Elejamie                         9    4    1    0    4   20   24   –4   14
 7 Poafmersia                       9    4    0    0    5   28   24   +4   12
 8 Sannyamathland                   9    3    0    2    4   19   30  –11   11
 9 Pius Desurongcrandis             9    3    0    1    5   22   31   –9   10
10 Iba Dwa                          9    3    0    1    5   16   30  –14   10
11 Equestria                        9    3    0    0    6   22   29   –7    9
12 North Alezia                     9    1    1    0    7   20   24   –4    5
13 Pluvie                           9    0    0    0    9   10   38  –28    0

Group of Pentacles
Islands of Ventro 2–5 Gyatso-Kai
Abanhfleft 6–3 Fluvannia
Le Choix 3–4 Mercedini
Grey County 4–4 Salzcovia (4–5 OT)
Suimede 2–3 United States of Devonta
Gergary 2–0 Anthor

   Group of Pentacles             Pld    W  OTW  OTL    L   GF   GA   GD  Pts 
 1 Abanhfleft                       9    8    0    1    0   37   15  +22   25
 2 Mercedini                        9    6    1    1    1   33   17  +16   21
 3 United States of Devonta        10    6    1    0    3   31   27   +4   20
 4 Gyatso-Kai                       9    6    0    1    2   37   26  +11   19
 5 Fluvannia                        9    6    0    0    3   43   30  +13   18
 6 Nova Anglicana                   9    6    0    0    3   24   17   +7   18
 7 Le Choix                         9    5    0    1    3   18   14   +4   16
 8 Gergary                          9    4    1    0    4   16   20   –4   14
 9 Suimede                          9    3    1    0    5   26   23   +3   11
10 Islands of Ventro               10    3    0    1    6   35   46  –11   10
11 Anthor                          10    1    1    0    8   17   38  –21    5
12 Salzcovia                        9    0    1    0    8   14   38  –24    2
13 Grey County                      9    0    0    1    8   12   32  –20    1

Group of Cups
Ranoria 0–1 HUElavia
New Waldensia 3–4 Quebec & Shingoryeo
St. Saratoga 3–1 Flekkefjord
BohemiaIV 0–5 Kriegiersien
Banija 4–3 Srednjaci
Siovanija & Teusland 2–1 Waisnor

   Group of Cups                  Pld    W  OTW  OTL    L   GF   GA   GD  Pts 
 1 Siovanija & Teusland             9    9    0    0    0   36   17  +19   27
 2 Kriegiersien                     9    8    0    1    0   35   10  +25   25
 3 HUElavia                         9    7    0    0    2   31   10  +21   21
 4 Banija                           9    7    0    0    2   30   10  +20   21
 5 Quebec & Shingoryeo              9    6    1    0    2   31   25   +6   20
 6 Waisnor                         10    5    0    0    5   24   26   –2   15
 7 Flekkefjord                      9    3    1    0    5   22   34  –12   11
 8 Srednjaci                       10    2    1    2    5   28   35   –7   10
 9 St. Saratoga                     9    3    0    0    6   23   29   –6    9
10 Ranoria                         10    2    1    0    7   20   25   –5    8
11 New Waldensia                    9    1    2    0    6   24   35  –11    7
12 BohemiaIV                        9    0    1    2    6   13   34  –21    4
13 Omerica                          9    0    0    2    7   12   40  –28    2

Group of Swords
Savojarna 3–6 Reçueçn
TJUN-ia 6–0 Lǜ Shān
Græntfjall 0–0 Xanneria (2–0 SO)
The Grandest Empire 0–6 Cassadaigua
Mapletish 0–0 Chromatika (2–1 SO)
Kohnhead 4–2 Taeshan

   Group of Swords                Pld    W  OTW  OTL    L   GF   GA   GD  Pts 
 1 Cassadaigua                      9    8    0    0    1   45   12  +33   24
 2 Græntfjall                       9    6    1    1    1   24   13  +11   21
 3 Reçueçn                          9    6    0    2    1   41   22  +19   20
 4 Savojarna                       10    5    2    0    3   29   23   +6   19
 5 TJUN-ia                          9    6    0    0    3   38   35   +3   18
 6 Taeshan                         10    5    1    1    3   30   22   +8   18
 7 Mapletish                        9    3    3    0    3   12    7   +5   15
 8 Chromatika                      10    4    0    1    5   22   27   –5   13
 9 Lǜ Shān                          9    4    0    1    4   26   27   –1   13
10 Kohnhead                         9    3    0    0    6   27   40  –13    9
11 Xanneria                         9    1    1    1    6   11   30  –19    6
12 The Grandest Empire              9    1    0    0    8   10   32  –22    3
13 People’s Republic of Xabia       9    0    0    1    8   16   41  –25    1

I have started to highlight teams that have qualified or been eliminated.

[Mercedini]

World Cup of Hockey XLII
Group Of Pentacles: To The Moon :RocketEmoji:
@ Westfjall Arena - Laafjörður, Graintfjall

Quicbkie: You Just Got Dini'd

---

FINAL OT

WCOH | MD9

---

MERCEDINI 1
ABANHFLEFT 1

(0-0) (1-0) (0-1) | (8-7)

---

Laafjörður, Graintfjall

The fortunes of the Kingfishers have seen a dramatic turnaround since their wake-up call against Fluvannia, as they record yet another win against one of their main rivals, Abanhfleft. They didn't manage to grab all three points against the group leaders, but following a mammoth shootout which was decided by the fifteenth converted shot, Dini took the bonus point and took the win. It was a fairly drab match compared to the other group's games, with Paulo Merlo scoring in the second period to opening the scoring with only the third shot on target in the entire game for both teams. Abanhlfeft then equalised in the third quarter to bring it back, no more action was seen to it was sent to overtime.

In one of the longest shootouts ever experienced by a Mercedinian National Team in any tournament, a total of fifteen goals were scored, with going all the way down to Dolocic in the Mercedinian second line. He needed to score, and slid the puck to his left, before flicking it high into the net for a winning goal. Abanhfleft and Mercedini had already gathered a point each at that point, but it would be the Kingfishers who win the game and grab the extra bonus point for their cause

Looking at the group, and we are beginning to lose teams from contention in the group, with Anthor, Grey County and Salzcovia no longer able to reach the knockout rounds due to their recent performances. The big winner of the day was Fluvannia, who now sit in second after winning versus the Islands of Ventro by a whopping 10 goals to 4. That was because Dini dropped a point, and Nova Anglicana lost to Gyatso-Kai. Davonta and Le Choix also picked up wins, so we now have a situation where 2nd to 7th is separated by only two points. It's getting exciting, especially with the calendar of remaining matches.

   Group of Pentacles             Pld    W  OTW  OTL    L   GF   GA   GD  Pts 
 1 Abanhfleft                       8    7    0    1    0   31   12  +19   22
 2 Fluvannia                        8    6    0    0    2   40   24  +16   18
 3 Mercedini                        8    5    1    1    1   29   14  +15   18
 4 Nova Anglicana                   9    6    0    0    3   24   17   +7   18
 5 United States of Devonta         9    5    1    0    3   28   25   +3   17
 6 Gyatso-Kai                       8    5    0    1    2   32   24   +8   16
   Le Choix                         8    5    0    1    2   15   10   +5   16
 8 Suimede                          8    3    1    0    4   24   20   +4   11
 9 Gergary                          8    3    1    0    4   14   20   –6   11
10 Islands of Ventro                9    3    0    1    5   33   41   –8   10
11 Anthor                           9    1    1    0    7   17   36  –19    5
12 Grey County                      8    0    0    0    8    8   27  –19    0
   Salzcovia                        8    0    0    0    8    9   34  –25    0

Next up for Mercedini is the Le Choix, a new nation when it comes to Hockey, but they are making a sizable splash in the group, and have a solid shot of upsetting the odds and qualifying for the knockout rounds. They have a touch run of matches to get to the knockouts, but they could be the big spoiler for many teams to come if Le Choix can pick up results of their own. As always, we will give you coverage of the game in Laafjordur, plus what that means for the group as teams begin to drop out of the race to the knockouts. Goodnight!

[Sarzonia]

Sarzonia may have clinched a spot in the Universe phase (the moniker given the knockout rounds of the current 42nd edition of the World Cup of Hockey) with a much-needed break in a grueling schedule, but that's only a precursor to the most difficult stretch.

The Sarzonian national ice hockey team walloped Sannyamathland 7-0 as Yuri Evgenikov returned to the net following missing three games for a suspension for not joining a team huddle and for storming out of the dressing room after a conversation with manager Paul Bremerton. Both men say they're past the issues that came up in the suspension.

"Me and [Bremerton] talked things over. I was upset I didn't play well against North Alezia and I have to handle it better," Evgenikov said through a translator. Evgenikov was not in the bench for Sarzonia's 6-5 defeat to Valanora as the Stars and the Calcuttas engaged in a heated, physical contest that left its mark on the No. 5-ranked team in the multiverse.

For Bremerton, he said the suspension was "nothing more than a dust-up."

"Yuri's very competitive," he said. "We looked at the video after the [North Alezia] match and he didn't play badly. Was he as good as [starter Jacob Parsons]? Probably not, but Jake is a terrific goalie."

The Stars (8-0-0-2, 24 points) are six points clear of Delaclava (5-1-1-3, 18 points) with both sides having two matches remaining. The Stars defeated the Phoenixes 3-2 in their meeting on Matchday 5, which would give Sarzonia the tiebreaker if the Stars lose to both No. 2 Ko-oren and No. 17 Kelssek. Valanora are level with the Stars in points and have one match in hand against both Cyanea countries.

Thus, the outcome of the Life phase for the Stars may no longer be in doubt, and the team may have already clinched a place in the Universe phase, but Bremerton said he would approach the match against Ko-oren with a sense of urgency.

"You get a sense of wanting to prove something to a team of that calibre," Bremerton said. "We gave Valanora all they could handle and we scored nearly half of the total goals they've conceded thus far, but the Dragonflies' defence is otherworldly. We're going to spend a lot of time in our training room working on ways to take advantage on the power play and work on our forechecking."

As for the finale against Kelssek, Bremerton said "we haven't gotten that far yet. Ko-oren is plenty important for us to not even talk about Kelssek just yet.

"A match like Sannyamathland is a potential trap match. A Ko-oren is anything but. We have got to be ready."

-----------------------------------------

What can I say about the impact of music on Sarzonian life?

Well... for starters, the Sarzonian capital was named Woodstock, in honour of the music festival that took place at Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York in 1969. The city even has an entertainment venue known as the Max Yasgur Centre for the Performing Arts.

Its largest city and cultural capital is named Nicksia, in honour of Fleetwood Mac singer, solo artist, and two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Stevie Nicks. The national anthem is a driving, guitar-heavy Fleetwood Mac song Nicks and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers lead guitarist Mike Campbell wrote called "Freedom."

Sarzonians are passionate about their sport, but they are equally passionate about music. One of the reasons Sarzonians and Delaclavs get along as well as they do is a similarity in shared interests, including music. Sarzonians frequently travel to Delaclava, and music is often one of the many reasons for this.

Several Sarzonian teams have taken to the pissed off Stevie Nicks rocker "Ghosts Are Gone" as a victory song. It blared in the football team's locker room after The Brenecia Beatdown, which saw the then-unranked Sarzonian team walk into Rozelle and shock 19th ranked Brenecia 3-1 to eliminate them from the hunt for the group title. It blasted in the Sarzonian locker room after various important victories. Sarzonia's military blared the Stevie Nicks pissed off rocker "Fall From Grace" after it secured what historians later termed a victory in the war against Pantera.

In the wake of Sarzonia's World Bowl XIV triumph over Bluth Corporation, the Martina McBride song "Independence Day" played over the loudspeakers as federal agents captured the would-be revolutionaries and held them prior to trial.

To say music played an important role in Sarzonian life is to express the basic tenet of litotes: Deliberate understatement for effect. It plays a fundamental role in who Sarzonians are.

[Suimede]

[color=#FF0000]Recap of the First 5/color]

Today's hockey recap on "Suimede English Daily" gives us quite a few games to work with, so let's not waste any time and get straight into the coverage.

Matchday 1: Suimede 2-5 Gyatso-Kai

The Jags started off their maiden World Cup campaign against one of the strongest sides in the world, #4 ranked Gyatso-Kai. Suimede were looking hopeful heading into this match, knowing that the Avatarian Republic struggled mightily in the last edition of this competition. That confidence would be dimmed slightly in the opening minutes, with speedy Gaoling Bears center Hosaka Severi delivering a powerful slapshot into the top-left of Jage Ozellgage's net. The rest of the first period seemed to be more of the same, Gyatso-Kai routinely putting pressure on Suimede, without much of a response from the Violets. This would result in another goal in the first, as defenseman Hed Torvik took a chance from way downtown and doubled the Bisons' lead
Heading into the second, Coach Ignac Vlašić brought out a roused Suimede side, who looked for attacking opportunity much more here. The scoreboard would repay their efforts, as a slicing shot from Laliș am-Apana rebounded into perfect position for younger brother Rashto, who simply had to hit it forwards. Continuing this newfound attacking prospect, the Red-Violet would profit again as an interception by Draža Vuković would see Vukerman (as he's often known) lay the puck off to Hepej Bulkę, who placed it perfectly to tie the game. Suimede were thinking that they'd be heading into the final 33% of this match with a 2-2 scoreline. They clearly did slightly too much thinking, as vice captain Aarón Ibarra made a lazy pass intended for Kevin Resacede, who wouldn't end up seeing the puck as it was rather easily picked out by Saigon CC alumnus Cheung Sepi, allowing the recently-demoted winger to prove his worth on the ice with the go-ahead goal.
The third proved no better, either, as a spurred on Gyatso-Kaian side looked to punish the Jaguars at every opportunity. They were successful in doing so about 5 and a half minutes in, as a quick team play blew away Suimede, and eventually left Hosaka Severi to finish off a splitting pass from Song Unataq with the one-timer to net his brace. Suimede looked to counter again at available opportunities, but were continually stifled before getting to much traction. A shot from Sąu Agustin's wonderkid Kapuej am-Ofamlok looked to be sailing in, but it ended up smacking off the crossbar and out. It wasn't too much longer until the Violets wore out, something the ultra-attacking Hakoda-led side was keen to take advantage of, resulting in a fifth goal by way of veteran defenseman Ki'an Losow.

Matchday 2: Suimede 0-1 Nova Anglicana
Coming into this as the early last place team in Group of Pentacles, Suimede were desperately hoping that this game against the lowest ranked team in their group, #31 Nova Anglicana, would see the Red-and-Purple record their first victory in the WHC ever. That wouldn't happen today. The match started out fair enough, with a few decent shots here and there, but mostly speculative strikes and slow, methodical plays would define the first 20 minutes for the Suimeders. The same went for the North American side; not the worst play, but nothing particularly brilliant, albeit early in the matchup there was a nice effort from Caribou star Victor Hall after splitting the defense, however still being stopped by Jage Ozellgage.
That meant a nil-all scoreline read going into the second, in which both the Suimeders and the Anglicans picked up the pace a bit. Very professional performances from both Ozellgage and his opposite, Brett McQueen, kept out any goal prospect from reaching the back of the net. Glen Gray was on form for the former Canadian state, dealing trouble for the Violets with his precise cuts in from the left flank. Loads and loads of shots on net were in store for both teams, but nobody broke through until the third period. Once we got into the third, however, Nova Anglicana's experience became clear, as with 2 minutes left in the match, Whalers prodigy Gaston Fortin smashed a powerful shot straight into Jage Ozellgage's Gatorade bottle. The score held as Suimeder heads dropped.

Matchday 3: Suimede 5-2 Islands of Ventro

2 games, 2 losses. Things looked dire, but as they old saying goes: fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, but you're not going to fool me a third. That third time was the charm for the Violets on MD3, as they documented their first ever win in the World Cup of Hockey against fellow debutants, the Islands of Ventro. An inspired Suimede team was looking to show no mercy, slotting in 2 goals early in the match. First was a one-time shot from Hepej Bulkę, who scored his second goal of the tournament off of a great cutback pass from Ekhege Eces-born left winger Denis Yenlej. It wasn't too much longer before Suimede doubled the lead, a breaking opportunity left U-20 star Kapuej am-Ofamlok with just the goaltender to beat, and Kanaas doesn't miss from those types of spots, getting his first ever goal with the senior Suimede national hockey team. Suimede continued to attack aggressively, but went a bit too far, getting caught out by Alex Kriėr who placed the puck in a brilliant position to bring the game back within one goal. With the second period coming to a close, Rashto am-Apana received the puck coming down the right side, and spotted Kapuej am-Ofamlok making a run through. As we've seen time and time again, the duo of Rashto & Kapi isn't one to be overlooked, as am-Apana placed a bullseye pass to am-Ofamlok, who faked the shot, and powered it in the second time, now with 2 goals in this match, as well as in this cup, and for the national team as a whole.
Towards the center of the third period, the fellow DemSocs wouldn't give way, as the Ventroan defenseman Jacob Wimer pressed relatively high throughout the period, and saw his efforts rewarded with a goal off the right post to keep this game competitive. That, unfortunately, wouldn't last very long, as a nice slapshot from Denis Yenlej who sat down Dave Frety on the way there. The game wouldn't end at 4-2, however, as the oldest member of the trio dubbed as JRK made sure the game was sealed, splitting two defenders on a powerplay. Suimede 5, IOV 2.

Matchday 4: Suimede 2-5 Abanhfleft

Suimede were riding high going into the fourth game of their campaign, having secured their first ever win in this tournament. Despite having beat the soda capital of the world not too long ago in the U-20 Championship, the confidence of the Violets would be somewhat shot soon, however, as they were smashed by Abanhfleft in a score that seemed all too generous to our island nation. The first period is where most of the damage was done, three goals every ~6 minutes and 20 seconds was on the menu today. First came a screamer from wayyyy out, courtesy of Emmanuel Macalipay. Next up, not too long after, was a goal from captain Brandon Weyandt who split the defense and megged the tender on his way to one of the best goals Suimede had ever conceded. Just when the Jags thought that mercy is anything more than a myth, the Fleftics reassured their earlier beliefs as an overly-aggressive side allowed a 1-on-none opportunity to be converted by Dennis Dulay.
The second period laid off slightly, as the second line played their hearts out in this period, in which Elisie Popovski made several crucial defensive plays to keep the Fleftics in check. As a matter of fact, this resulted in a goal for the Suimeders, as Hayat el-Mufti was caught skating down the left wing, received a laser-pointed pass from the Serbogradian left defenseman, and placed a picture perfect shot into the top left, just out of reach for Jeremy Gonzalez. Unfortunately, as things were looking up, Elisie Popovski sustained a slight injury getting body checked off the puck. It was minor, as EP was available for the following game, but was unfortunate here. His lack of presence was evident, as in the third period, Abanhfleft added another goal by way of Weyandt (this time benefitting from a power play), and looked to make it 5-1 through Patrick Lewis. Towards the end of the match, the Violets were gifted a consolation goal, as poor puck handling from Steven Malapitan was taken advantage of by Kapuej am-Ofamlok who scored his third goal of the campaign, and Suimede's second here. The score held 5-2.

Matchday 5: Suimede 1-1 Le Choix (3-2 SO)

Well, it was another loss for the Suimeders going into the fifth fixture of the cup, but it is their first tournament, and there were positives to draw from the match against Abanhfleft. While the Ice Jaguars may have scored less goals in the matchup against Le Choix, I'm sure they'll be far more pleased with the result. It started out chippy, bodies seemingly flying everywhere, as few meaningful shots were placed in the first period. That was until the 16 minute mark, in which Chosen right wing Prewitt Forton scored off the class to give the conservative society a one-zip lead. This would hold for the vast majority of the game, as the sides who clashed both politically and athletically were looking to defend with their lives, allowing few, if any, shots on net. After what looked like Suimede's best chance to score the whole game, a breaking opportunity in which Pentri Neshę forced a spectacular save out of Mathias Adnet, Le Choix lost their heads. Boom, penalty there, there, and there. Unfortunately, none of these would come to fruition for the Violets, as Chosen 'tender Adnet was having one of the greatest games of his career, and was the star of the show...
...is what I would've said if yet another shot from Suimede, this time from Rashto am-Apana, hadn't rebounded into Denis Yenlej with virtually zero time left in the game to bring it to OT!
The game opened up significantly from here. Realistically, Heloise Tourigny, Kapuej am-Ofamlok, Rayder Valliere, Aarón Ibarra, and Lotya Hedin all would've scored on any other day, but Mathias Adnet and Jage Ozellgage were participating in the battle of the goalies in a game that was surely destined for a shootout. In the shootout, a 2-2 score would read as the H-Liga's all-time top scorer, Hepej Bulkę, would go up to shoot. Mathias Adnet, renowned choker, would suffer a flub yet again as Rocketeer Kec̦igh's star man megged the goalie, letting the puck roll in. This meant it was Jage Ozellgage's time to shine, and win the battle. He was up against Josette Mousseau, who'd just come off of scoring the go-ahead goal in the Chosen's 1-0 victory over Grey County. Ozellgage did the business, and Suimede would secure their second win here in spectacular fashion.

[Le Choix]

Music in Le Choix

Music is a bit part of worship in the Theocracy, with hymns and chorales being the most important genre in the nation by far. There are some aspects of secular music, mostly to have other brands of religious music, whether it be religious rock, pop, rap, or the like. The Chosen are of the belief that as long as the content is of their belief, it's not as important as being chants or hymns. Outright secular music that has nothing to do with the beliefs of The Chosen aren't allowed in The Theocracy, but as it's not possible for such music to exist in the country, it's rarely a problem. There is a Bishop of Music that works under the Grand Bishop of the Church whose job is to make sure all the music in the country follows the codes of the faith.

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Partie 1
Partie 2
Partie 3
Partie 4
Partie 5
Partie 6
Partie 7

Match Reports: The First Four

Match Report: Games 6-10

Game 6: Le Choix 0-2 Gergary @ Frefi Cube
Levi Radnoti proved to be too big of a puzzle to solve, and The Light failed on two Penalty Kills as they couldn't handle the disadvantage situations. With Prewitt Forton being kept out of the goal, Le Choix failed to get anything going. It was a game that reminded The Chosen of their infancy in the world hockey scene.

Game 7: Anthor 0-1 Le Choix @ Vallihús
Take a bow, Mathias Adnet. Take a bow. The young keeper stopped all twenty-three shots on goal, and one killer shot by Prewitt Forton grabbed Le Choix one of the less likely wins so far on this WCoH gauntlet. The Chosen defense held strong time and time again to stop Adnet, visibly frustrating the athletes from Anthor; one of those ended in an ejection that led to the Power Play that gave Forton the shot from left to get the goal.

Game 8: Le Choix 3–1 United States of Devonta @ Róska-Friðrún-Íþróttshús
Despite letting in a goal really early (barely five minutes into the first period), The Chosen really clamped down afterwards, dominating the Time of Possession and getting two goals from unlikely sources - LW Myriam Magnier and C Heloise Tourigny. Getting goals from people not named Prewitt Forton proved to be the difference as the Devontans weren't able to single in on Prewitt Forton. As expected, it's the games where the offense can come from multiple angles that The Chosen are able to do more than before.

Game 9: Salzcovia 2–3 Le Choix @ Vígmar Kinansson Eishallen
A tight game with fellow Unranked Salzcovia, A late goal halfway in the Third Period by Carla Moreau proved to be the deciding margin. Some lapses in concentration allowed the two goals in the first period, but then recovered enough to make up for it. Prewitt Forton led the way with two goals in the comeback victory.

Game 10: Le Choix 3–4 Mercedini @ Vígmar Kinansson Eishallen
They tried. They really tried. Forton got his customary goal, more than one Chosen player scored (thank you, Magnier and Tourigny), and Adnet had some truly amazing saves. However, Mercedini is one of the better teams in this group (the second seed!) and Matteo Vranida scored on a breakaway with two minutes left.

Remaining games: Fluvannia, Gyatso-Kai, Nova Anglicana. Two of the best teams in the Group and another strong contender. The Chosen had caused enough noise by going 5-0-1-3. Will they be able to get one or two more wins to cause absolute chaos while being only three points behind fourth place? Likely, not; however, the possibility that The Chosen can determine who makes it to the Round of Sixteen may be consolation enough in their very first cycle in the World Cup of Hockey.

[Gyatso-kai]

.:: From the ASPN Blog After Thoughts in a Blip ::.
0122 hours, 05 April 2021.2

A close win over the Angelicans, and a strong showing against the Islanders of Centro, and the Ice Bisons see ourselves in 4th Place with 19 points, just one point behind Devonta, two points behind Mercedini, and a few six points behind group-leading Abahnfleft.

Not the best place to be... But we ain't dead yet...

Not to mention, I clocked out tonight with 67 hours >.<

At least my editor and publisher gave me some extensions to work with on that series I'm doing...

We currenty are sitting in the fourth place of our group, which means we would advance if the Universe Stage (what the Group Stage is being termed this tournament) were to end today.

However...

We still have three games left:

• Matchday 11 - at Abahnfleft₁₀ [8-0-1-0 (25pts)]
• Matchday 12 - vs Le Choix_UR [5-0-1-3 (16 pts), 7th Place]
• Matchday 13 - at Grey County_UR [0-0-1-9 (1 pt), 13th Place]

The hardest of the three remaining matches comes tomorrow against the Democratic Republic of Abanhfleft; when we are the away team to the Fleftic 'home crowd' (as much of a home crowd as you can muster in a foreign country. The Fleftic team has certainly taken the Group by surprise; with how hockey has been downward trending in terms of popularity at home, no one expected this team to come out with only a single loss in the group stage - coming in an 8-7 shootout against Mercedini - to be all but guaranteed advancement to the Life Stage of the World Cup.

After the Fleftic team, the Ice Bisons drew a lucky pair of games against unranked opponents, but we should defintely not sit on our cosattails here. Le Choix has brought quite a bit of noise into the Group of Pentacles, and as it stands, the odds are not favoring The Chosen. However, with their remaining games against the 5th, 4th, and 6th Place teams... To say that The Chosen hold our fate in their hands would not be an understatement... However, it is something we hope not to falter on.

Our final game of the stage will be against last-place and winless Grey County. They certainly have not been blessed by Margaret this campaign - taking a hard fall and currently sitting with just one single point thanks to tying Salzcovia today, only to lose in overtime. A team with nothing to lose is definitely not one to take for granted, and we can only hope the Ice Bisons ave taken that point to heart.

An enemy with nothing to lose is a dangerous foe to face on the battlefield. Victory and defeat mean nothing to them... only taking as many poor bastards with them on the way down...

[Ko-oren]

"Ailinia scores two and assists Enibel for a 3-0 win over Pluvie, which gives the Dragonflies the knockout spot in the World Cup of Hockey. But first: what's going on in the capitals? Here's Osrusauni Gorithingun with the details."

"Thanks, Micha. Since yesterday, quite a lot has happened: Prime Minister Laurderinthen called the cabinet to Maethoru late in the evening. The ministers stayed indoors for that evening and all of yesterday, but some talking points have been released. Secretary of Information, Teunissen, addressed the parliament early in the morning, a speech that was directed at the members of parliament only but the details of which have been Quac.kor'd and Twii.tur'd out into the world anyway, for a part. So far, we're not expecting changes to be made in our political system, as far as parliament is concerned, but we might see a shake-up in the ministries. A reason for the talks still hasn't been released. Here are some points that have been confirmed so far:
- Minister of Irimia Padin for Regional and Local affairs has been in Maethoru for a week, discussing several long-standing issues with Prime Minister Laurderinthen and President Lekleorisethun. At various points, the expertise of Infrastructure and Transportation minister Fie Wegman has been called on.
- Governor of Yoshima, Videmichi Ogawa, has been at home with a severe illness, his health is in danger, and some parties have already started campaigning to become his replacement in case he passes away.

Now, Yoshima has long been the one region with a desire for autonomy. Ogawa's position is important in this - and he's always been quiet on the issue. Many of the candidates for the position, however, are not. It's likely that Padin and Laurderinthen are drafting a plan for whoever might be the next governor, either to keep talks going for a while, or shut down the avenue towards more autonomy for the region. Guiding the conversation on more regional and local decision-making powers - the very reason Padin's ministry was created - might end badly for the national government: since Padin and Laurderinthen have taken office, similar pushes for autonomy have been coming in from Mawryshire and Aerellen, and the recent electoral shift mirrors this. Maybe Laurderinthen, after years of quiet leadership, faces the biggest challenge of his term: managing Ko-oren's sine wave between centralism and regionalism. There has been a trend towards further centralism early in Laurderinthen's term, inherited from the last three Prime Ministers, but it sounds like the time has come for the sine wave to hit its high point, and that it'll go back down towards regionalism again. Keeping together Ko-oren as a whole - a single nation - has obviously been the main interest of the government, and if regional autonomy paradoxically is the tool to maintain that, so be it.

And we shouldn't forget last year's public transport shutdown over regional issues, either. Cutting short everything from sports seasons to trade between several cities, there was no interregional public transport for multiple weeks in just the last year. The official reason given for this was that Wegman couldn't navigate the sudden regulations put on traffic and products between regions, regulations installed by local governments. Fearing another public transport shutdown, something has to be done to get all parts of Ko-oren working together again."

"Thank you, Osrusauni, and now let's get back to the sports. Aerellen's very own Ailinia was magnificent for the Dragonflies, landing us a spot in the final phase of the tournament, with two goals and an assist. The team ran circles around the poor Pluvian goalie, and from 35 shots, three ended up going in. With us, Sarzonia also has qualified for the knockouts, with Valanora likely following suit on the next matchday. Other groups aren't as clear-cut, with no guaranteed qualifiers between the likes of Abanhfleft, Siovanija and Teusland, or Cassadaigua. Holding on for dear life in first place of the group, we still have a game against the Stars to go. With a win there, we pretty much have the group locked up until the final matchday. With a loss, we might drop down to third place. The most important objective of the day was to bounce back from the Iba Dwa game, of course, and the team did exactly that. Hopefully that was the last complete off-day for the squad: you can suffer a loss in the groups, even if that is to an unranked team. We've suffered our loss, so we can't allow another misstep.

For the rest of the tournament, all eyes will be on the Group of Cups, where five good teams have to be slimmed down to four. Among Siovanija and Teusland, Kriegiersien, HUElavia, Banija, and Quebec and Shingoryeo, one must go home - brutal. For ourselves, whether Hermanszoon comes back from a mediocre tournament so far, and if Buck can contribute to the goalscoring efforts a bit more, are the largest concerns. The defence looks good - but as always, the team just can't seem to turn shots into goals. We have plenty of the former, and maybe not enough of the latter."

[Banija]

OOC Note: RP is about the MD9 Prompt- Family

The Banijan Embassy to Græntfjall in Háttmark

Banija's Ambassadors all were required to do certain things, of course. As all Ambassadors are. One of the things that Banija required of her Ambassadors was to give cultural presentations on the country, at their embassies. Specifically open to local college students and local government officials and businessmen, but technically open to whoever wanted to show up. And so Sarah Latigo, the Banijan Ambassador to the White Winter Queendom, was here to continue her lecture series, but this time on the Banijan family.

She had a number of people show up. Some students, some older looking people- maybe minor governmental officials or legislative aides, or even foreign Embassy officials from third countries, or whatever. Handing out chapati and samosas as finger food, she got everybody to sit down. She said she would do a talk on the family structure of Banija.

She sat down and took a look at some of her notes, before she began.

The Nuclear Family

Of course, while there is some law around of this, most of what defines the Banijan family comes from societal and religious expectation. Like many Christian nations(Banija is a Mormon nation), the nuclear family is the core definition. The nuclear family- mother and father, who have children. There is a massive societal expectation on people to get married and have children, and there has been large population growth over many years. When Banija first joined the international sporting world, back in World Cup 73, our population was 82 million- and now, it sits at 104 million.

What makes it unique in Banija, is that in Mormonism, polygamy is explicitly allowed and encouraged for men(although polyandry is banned for women, both religiously and legally). Polygamy, while encouraged and certainly well known, of course, isn't exactly common in Banija. And there's logic for that. Banija's population is about 52% female, and 48% male. While men can take multiple wives, if a bunch of men were out here having multiple wives, then you'd have a higher number of unmarried men. And can't have that. The last census said that 4% of marriage age men in Banija(defined as 21 or older) have multiple wives. Some famous Banijan athletes are polygamous, like World Cup winning central midfielder Kizza Okafor.

Having sex out of wedlock is, of course, heavily frowned upon. While birth control is also frowned upon, it is not considered hard to find in the nation's urban centers. Abortion, on the other hand, is outright banned in Banija, so any woman who wants one would have to go to a neighboring country, like Valanora, Farfadillis, or even the Busoga Islands.

The LGBTQ+ community in Banija is also almost entirely underground. The Ambassador made a note not to mention that- she didn't want to bring negative attention to Banija. She was far more progressively, personally, on the issues than most of her countrymen, but she also wasn't trying to get fired.

[TJUN-ia]

After a clinical bounce-back win over Xanneria in Hofvinger, the Ice Jaguars were certainly looking to try their best in their goal of making the playoffs by any means necessary. Ølson Rasmussen was still under pressure after that loss a few days ago but with 4 games left, there was still a chance that he could save himself from the metaphorical chopping block. Up next for the Jags was a return trip to the Elínmundur Heiðreksson Halle in Steinaux to take on the best-unranked nation in this group in Lu Shan, a team called the "Ice Dragons" for a good reason - they are actually dragons. Yes, TJUN-ia would be playing a game of Ice Hockey against fire-breathing dragons. Welcome to U3, everyone!

Playing against a team of literal dragons was a bit jarring at first but once we realised that TJUN-ia has played against stranger opponents before in its history (a bunch of zoo animals, sentient appliances, literal giants, etc.), the game would turn out just like the game with Xanneria: a total showing by the Ice Jaguars. The first period would see a superb double by Teemu Pukaninen as he struck beautifully past Ren Shuren in the Lǜ Shān net for both. The second would see a nice goal by the ever-consistent Julian Visipils while Callum Sorento-Lineker came out of nowhere to get himself another goal for his tally. The third and final period would see a nice goal by Viktor Orban while the final goal would be scored by an unexpected face in 3rd-line defenceman John Le Pont, a superb run from his own half to replace the scoreline of the last game in the present day. It was another 6-0 win for the Jags in the end and with TJUN-ia now up to 5th in the Group of Swords, maybe this team still has some legs to stand on after all.

But if anything could stop the questions about this team's ability, then the SuperBangMunchVöllur in Zevogur may hold our greatest test as we take on the Trickster of this group in the form of 12th ranked Recuecn. Our opponents will be 3rd in the group entering this contest but if we are to somehow survive in this hellfire, then we need to do well in this fucking game. Our fate may rest in the hands of #12. GO JAGS!

---

SCHEDULE (Group of Swords)
MD1: BYE
MD2: vs Graintfjall (22, 8 of Swords) - Eisstadion Háttmark, Haderhavn L 4-5 (T-10th)
MD3: vs The Grandest Empire (UR, 4 of Swords) - Grand National Arena, Gunzlach W 3-2 (T-8th)
MD4: vs Mapletish (UR, 5 of Swords) - SuperBangMunchVöllur, Zevogur W 1-0 (T-5th)
MD5: vs Kohnhead (26, 7 of Swords)- Elínmundur Heiðreksson Halle, Steinaux W 8-5 (T-4th)
MD6: vs Taeshan (14, 10 of Swords) - Hofvinger Community Arena L 4-6 (T-6th)
MD7: vs Chromatika (29, 6 of Swords) - Hagejoki Play Park W 4-3 (6th)
MD8: vs Cassadaigua (8, Queen of Swords) - Hagejoki Play Park L 2-14 (T-6th)
MD9: vs Xanneria (UR, 3 of Swords) - Hofvinger Community Arena W 6-0 (6th)
MD10: vs Lu Shan (UR, Ace of Swords) - Elínmundur Heiðreksson Halle, Steinaux W 6-0 (5th)
MD11: vs Recuecn (12, Trickster of Swords) - SuperBangMunchVöllur, Zevogur
MD12: vs Peoples Republic of Xabia (UR, 4 of Swords) - Grand National Arena, Gunzlach
MD13: vs Savojarna (3, King of Swords) - Eisstadion Háttmark, Haderhavn

[Waisnor]

Losing any chances, bit with dignity

Waisnorians wasn't really expecting much from the match with Siovanija & Teusland, the leaders of the Group of Cups, especially after 0-5 defeat to Banija. But even with losing, Waisnorian team managed to met their expectations and give a fight to S&T:

Despite the fact that Siovanija & Teusland were clearly a stronger team at the rink, Waisnor went on the attack in order to immediately take advantage of itself. The S&T defenders and goalkeeper were clearly not relaxing while Waisnor continued to push and really wanted to open a score.
As a result, such an attacking strategy could not fail to bring results - in the 17th minute of the 1st period, Arthur Mamaev, after receiving an accurate pass from Mikhail Belov, broke through to the goal of Robert Schock and thanks to a strong and accurate throw at the bottom corner of the goal, the score was opened in favor of Waisnor.
Now Waisnorian national team went into deep defense, realizing that, most likely, they would not be enough for more and any mistake could cost them a victory. At the same time, Siovanija & Teusland went on the attack, intending to recoup the missed goal and take the victory for themselves.
As a result, Siovanija & Teusland slowly began to seize the lead in the match, and cracks began to appear in Waisnorian defense. At the 10th minute of the 2nd period, one of such cracks was used by Razvigor Tsvetanov, who passed through the defenders and threw the puck into the upper left corner, equalizing the score.
This scored puck gave Siovanija & Teusland the confidence to snatch the victory. At the same time, Waisnor was not sure whether to go on the attack and regain the advantage or stay in defense so as not to miss more. And this uncertainty was noticeably reflected in the game of the national team, which became very fickle.
S&T put tremendous pressure on the Waisnorian team, and soon it cracked again, which the hosts were happy to take advantage of - in the 13th minute of the 3rd period, Frank Heider skillfully beat the Waisnorian defenders and, going one on one with Denis Dementyev, sent the puck into the center of the goal, securing the victory for Siovanija & Teusland.

This defeat brought down any chances for Waisnor to advance to the play-off round, Waisnor stayed on the 6th place and currenty 4th Banija came off by 6 points. Next round will be day off for Waisnor, next match for this team can be a sigh of relief - they will face unranked Srednjaci.

[HUElavia]

Commanding Performances get HUElavia Closer to Knockouts!

HUElavia 7-2 Omerica

Ranoria 0-1 HUElavia

Coming into Matches 8 and 9, HUElavia was coming off the historical victory over Quebec and Shingoryeo, 5-1, as well as their Bye Day where the players were taking the matchday off to rest up before training for their next two matches. Their opponents were the recently eliminated Omerica and the still-in-contention Ranoria. Thousands of HUElavians packed the arena, looking to cheer on the team in what could help them move closer to the Knockout Stages for the 4th consecutive time. Once the anthems were played and the puck was dropped, the match was underway.

The first game was a slaughter for HUElavia, taking shots left and right against the Omerican defense. The game had mainly braces being scored in each period. Dominguez-Garcia got a brace in the 1st, Carmo got a brace in the 2nd, and Petit got a brace in the 3rd. Late in the period, Tokarev got a goal himself off a deflection to net in the 7th goal. REDACTED and REDACTED were able to get goals in the 2nd and 3rd period respectively to finish off the game at 7-2, another historic blowout victory for Los Amarillos/Os Amarelos.

The second game against 21st ranked Ranoria was a more difficult one for the team. Both teams would go from goal-to-goal with the puck, taking shots at one another. The lone goal of the match came late in the 2nd period, when Huber lost the puck from Gachev, where the Rus HUElavian player took a shot that was blocked by Burnett, only for Bourgeois to come on the rebound and tap it into the goal, making it 1-0. Both teams continued at each other for the rest of the game, but HUElavia held out and took another victory to keep pace in possibly qualifying into the Round-of-16.

With the victories, HUElavia sits in 3rd Place with 21 Points, and still holds the head-to-head and goal difference over Banija, +21 to +20. The next two matches will be against New Waldensia and St. Saratoga, whom both teams are eliminated. Thus, Caetano and Mayhuasca will start for the games respectively, where Coach Beaton feels confident that the team is bound to clinch to the knockout stages, and want to make sure that Vasilevskiy is rested for the big knockout matches, should HUElavia qualify. Currently, the magic number is 29 points, since Quebec and Shingoryeo, who are in 5th place with 20 Points, can only reach that limit, so for the teams of Siovanija & Teusland, Kriegiersien, HUElavia, and Banija, that is the goal at the moment to secure their spot in the Round-of-16. A loss for Quebec and Shingoryeo would get each of these four teams much closer to the knockout rounds depending on what they do. The team continues to train and study film once again, with morale and chemistry very high among the players. The fans feel this energy and will be flocking to the arena to support the team in their quest in Graentfjall. Here's to the next two games and for possibly clinching the Knockouts.

FORCA HUELAVIA! VAMOS HUELAVIA! GO HUELAVIA!

[Kriegiersien]

The Kriegiersien locker room.

Niobe Ferrero looked into the faces of the players.

“Guys, Banija is waiting outside. Now it is crunch time. Now we have to prove that we can make it to the next round. But don’t overthink it. Just reflect briefly and fast for what, for whom you want to win it!”

“For my wife, who gives me the strength to endure all the pain that will come. And beat all the obstacles!”, one shouted.

“For my three wifes and my husband!”, another one shouted.”

“For my three husbands and the women I rally love. My moms”, said another.

“For Mr. Fluffy. That is my dog. I also have a wife, but...for Mr. Fluffy!”

“For all the children. My children. I have a lot, I just don’t know how much and where they are...”

“For a good root beer.”

“For loot.”

“For better ice rinks everywhere!”

“For our beautiful Kriegiersien!!! Forca Kriegiersien!”

Everyone looked at Josef Kaiser, who had bawled that.

“Well, that’s ok, too, I guess”, said the Coach and everyone shrugged.

“Now get out there and beat them!”

[Nova Anglican Admin Zone of Esportiva]

-Snip-

This was a mistake. Please refer to the Nova Anglicana RP following this.