1. Done

2.
For the player comparison I will be comparing the two cornerstones of each team, the goalies Jakub Aittokallio and Colin Schmidt.

Aittokallio has long been one of the top goaltenders in the SHL, and arguably will go down as one of the greatest goaltenders in the history of the SHL. He has a proven history of success, and backstopping his team to victory. Jakub reminded the SHL of how good he can be this playoff run, posting a save percentage of 0.927, and a GAA of 2.08, giving Aittokallio the best stats of any goaltender in the S28 SHL playoffs. It’s safe to say that Jakub was one of the main reasons that Edmonton was able to pull off the Challenge Cup victory over the Platoon.

Colin Schmidt has ranged from a great goaltender to a below average goaltender over his 8 SHL seasons, never putting up consistently great numbers year to year. There has been times out on the ice where he has dominated, and other times where he has looked completely lost out there. Schmidt was in the middle of these two extremes during the Platoon’s S28 playoff run, putting up league average numbers with a save percentage of 0.917, and a GAA of 2.50. These are respectable numbers, but the Platoon needed to be carried by their goaltender a bit more if they wanted to knock out the red-hot Blizzard from the playoffs.

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3.
For the Edmonton Blizzard, I would say that game 6 of the Challenge Cup Finals was the biggest game for them in the entire playoffs. Obviously any elimination game in the playoffs that goes into overtime, especially a game that will decide the cup winner has a large amount of pressure on all players involved. The Blizzard had just been beaten by the Platoon in Game 5 in overtime, and had also lost Game 1 in overtime, so the Blizzard didn’t have the stats on their side as they entered Game 6 overtime looking to claim the Challenge Cup for themselves. However, the Blizzard entered Game 6 overtime with one goal in mind: scoring one last goal In S28 to crown them champions of the SHL. The Platoon had no answer for the pressure Edmonton was placing on them in the overtime period, and it wasn’t long before Friedrich Müller scored to put the Blizzard on top.

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4.
This year’s Challenge Cup Finals showdown includes the Edmonton Blizzard, and the West Kendall Platoon. In the regular season these two teams only faced each other two times, with the season series being split between Edmonton and West Kendall. Both teams scored 5 goals and allowed 5 goals in the two games, so they were pretty evenly matched up.

Overall, in the regular season the Platoon had the higher powered offense, having the 6th best offense with 157 goals scored. However, they had the worst power play in the league, which sat at a measly 15.29%. The Platoon have a hard time scoring goals when there isn’t 5 players out on the opposing team. West Kendall had the best defense in the league, only allowing 119 goals over the course of S28, ranking #1 in the SHL.

The Blizzard ranked 8th in the league for goals scored, sitting at 143. They also had a much more competent power play than the Platoon, with the 8th best in the league at 18.09%. The Blizzard were right behind the Platoon in terms of goals allowed, having the 2nd best defense in the league with 126 goals allowed.

This Challenge Cup final was a battle of defense, and as it is famously said, “defense wins championships”.

(213 Words)