Hey Y'All

[Virtual Jarmo]

Howdy, gentlemen. Welcome new faces and hello old faces. I missed most of you. I'll let you guys figure out who I didn't miss. It's been quite an interesting few months off for me. The rumored move to Vegas never happened, however the move to a place where I can hear planes from approximately 5 a.m. until midnight did happen, so the last month has been spent getting shit in order and organizing a pretty drastic change.

Guess I should introduce myself. For those that don't know me, I'm Adam Burke, the guy who started this whole thing along with the help of now-retired GM and Co-Commissioner Ryan Spurrell. I'm also the guy who owes a major debt of gratitude to Pat and Tim for keeping things going. I took a sabbatical from the league because I was simply burned out. No knock on Ryan, who is a hell of a guy and a tremendous human being, but for the first four-plus seasons of EHEC, all file maintenance came down to me. Most of the decisions came down to me. Between simming four nights (or more) a week, answering complaints, questions, solving league issues, etc., I got burned out badly. The league wasn't fun anymore and I was more combative than ever with the GMs. I had no interest or energy to solve the growing problems in the league and had my focus on other things. I had to make the worst decision of my life in putting my dog down in June and plans were made to move pretty immediately following that because I couldn't be at that place without my best friend. I wasn't in any position to help with the EHEC offseason, so I didn't. My fiancee and I went on vacation, we enjoyed our summer with her not working, and then started spending a shit-ton of money for the move.

Pat told me about the financial issues facing my Blue Jackets and it dawned on me that my team is not and should not be Pat's responsibility. So, I'm back. However, I'm not back in any sort of administrative role. I'm back solely to run my team and be one of the guys. I've offered my services as a consultant for anything that comes up that requires my opinion or input. I've spoken with Pat a few times over email and he expressed to me that some guys want to help out with the day-to-day duties, including simming. I'll pick up a couple of sims in October to fill the holes if need be, but I'm done with that part of the league unless my services are absolutely essential. I'll keep my access to hidden Committee forums, but you won't find me throwing my two cents into rules and policies and procedures unless I'm asked. I'll help the new simmers with simming questions or anything else they need to know. I'll be a resource instead of "the source".

Luckily, I know what it takes to run a league like this, so my perspective is a little bit different. Never would I criticize what the guys who are VOLUNTARILY using their time and resources to create something special for all of us. I often felt underappreciated for the time I spent to make draft classes, edit the file, create the building blocks for the Rulebook that we still use today, sim, and countless other things that required attention. In retrospect, I let it affect me too much and I bailed instead of facing it head-on. For that, I apologize, especially to Pat and Tim for placing an immense burden on their shoulders. The offseason is infinitely worse than the season and I left at the worst possible time. No matter how I, or they, justify it, it was wrong and I'm sorry for that.

Moving forward, I will tend to my team. I will no longer be Commissioner of Eastside's Hockey Elite Collide. Pat was informed of my decision yesterday and I appreciate his understanding. I will help out if asked. I will do what I can to continue (and, in some ways, repair) the league's legacy, both in a personal sense, and our presence as one of the last remaining EHM leagues. The torch was passed a couple months ago, but I'm officially back to pass it now. I have no doubts that Pat will continue to do the excellent job he did while I was gone. I checked in anonymously from time to time and found solace in the fact that things were still running rather smoothly.

To those who are still here through it all, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'm sure there are some feelings of animosity towards me and my sudden departure brought up some old EHM wounds for some of you. The fact that you stuck around through it all is all the validation I need to see that what I did was appreciated. To the new guys, I look forward to getting to know you as equals rather than somebody in a position of authority.

I have all the confidence in the world in Pat and may re-evaluate my role in the future, especially if Pat needs help. I owe that to him and I owe that to all of you. For now, I'm just happy to run a team and put some time into something I never could really do as the Commissioner. Not to mention, a lot has changed and I need to get accustomed to it all again.

For those that are still around, I've violated trusts and friendships. I've been unapproachable and, well, I've been a dick. For quite some time. I want to make it very clear that none of it was personal. It was all from a place of frustration and it was wrong of me to take any of it out on you guys. I still consider all of you friends and it was mutual (I think) and hopefully still is or can be again. We can group hug later, but as I said above, the fact that you're still here tells me what I need to know. You're all some of the best people I've ever met.

Good to see everything again. Good luck this season to all of you and I'm sure I'll be talking to most of you soon.

[Singin the BLUES]

Welcome Back Adam

Some/most of you might be too young to remember this show...

[Calgary.Flames]

How can opening night get any better?! I'm glad to see you my friend.

[Commish Bub(NYR)]

Welcome back, buddy, welcome back.

If the torch is being passed to me, then I have no choice but to now pass it along to the guy who really deserves to wear the crown, the One and Only King Henrik:

[Jets GM]

Welcome back Adam, EHEC wouldn't be the same without you.

And once again, enormous props to Pat for steering us through a difficult time.

[Edmonton Mike]

Mah man!!! Glad to see you're still around! Wouldn't have felt right to keep going with you.

[VancouverCanucksGM]

Welcome back.

Glad that you/the league didn't get "Chipped".

[Kings GM]

Welcome back Adam, good luck for your Blue Jackets.

[jamesredwings]

Welcome back. I hope we can continue our heated Detroit/Columbus rivalry for years to come....

[AP21 (ARZ)]

Nice to finally meet you, Adam.

[AnaheimGM]

Welcome back!! Nice to see you around again!

[SharksGM]

Welcome back, Archibald! Breakfast is served from 7-11AM, and the front desk is open from 6-2AM. The code for the gym is 4365.

[IslandersGM]

Good to see ya again! I suggest we run our draft out of Vegas... on second thought that might be a bad idea!

[TorontoGM]

[Commish Bub(NYR)]

Welcome back, Archibald! Breakfast is served from 7-11AM, and the front desk is open from 6-2AM. The code for the gym is 4365.

Femur, is that you?

[Bruins_GM]

Welcome back!

[Jungle Cats]

[Virtual Jarmo]

Welcome back, Archibald! Breakfast is served from 7-11AM, and the front desk is open from 6-2AM. The code for the gym is 4365.

Femur, is that you?

Speaking of Femur, I have talked to him once since he left EHEC. Sent him a random text about something. Probably run into him again at some point, but he's still breathing, in case anybody was concerned.

[Commish Bub(NYR)]

I figured he'll outlive us all.

[Virtual Jarmo]

I figured he'll outlive us all.

Like a cockroach.

[SharksGM]

I figured he'll outlive us all.

Yes, standing over our corpses with a bloody knife.

[Buffalo LEPS]

Nice to meet you Blue Jacket rival !

[Virtual Jarmo]

Now that I've been back for a couple days, I want to add a few things. The first is to say that I'm thoroughly impressed to see league activity at such a high point and see the efforts that have been put in to fill the vacant teams. Justin, Julien, and Pat have done an outstanding job recruiting GMs and it's really great to see the league full and thriving. Makes me think I was the problem. I'm really happy to see what is going on here and what has happened in my absence.

The rules changes look tremendous and the GM Office that Quinn built is top-notch. Really incredible.

I'm very pleased. I think a change of leadership was a great thing for the league. I should have noticed it sooner, but I was always headstrong and stubborn about doing things my way and not allowing too much help because I wanted the control. Things are clearly working better this way and maybe I should have just stepped down rather than disappearing. However, it was probably a blessing in disguise for the league because things are running better than ever and taking myself out of the equation altogether allowed for these changes.

I knew I had a good group of core GMs, but this has gone well beyond my expectations. I couldn't be happier about the state of the league and I'm glad to take a backseat and just watch as a GM.

[Calgary.Flames]

For once, you never were the problem, and never will be. Also, the amount of time you've spent here running things is what makes EHEC what it is today. You've built this from the ground up and what we did was only ensure that it wasn't all for nothing.
Sit back and enjoy the ride, my friend.

[Penguin]

Glad to have you back mothafucka!!!!!

Good luck this year