Task one:

The beginning of the end has come for both the Edmonton Blizzard and New England Wolfpack. After a long regular season and impressive performances from both teams in the post season, they now find themselves just 4 wins away from their ultimate goal. With the cup on the line, we can definitely expect this to be a fierce battle between these two teams who don't usually play each other that often. But just how much was on the line? for the Edmonton Blizzard, there was much more than just the cup. They had the hopes and dreams of a little girl on their shoulders.

See, just a few weeks ago when the playoffs began, a young Edmonton fan lost her father to illness. As he lay there in his last moments, he had promised his daughter that the Blizzard would defeat the Wolfpack in quick fashion to claim the title of S30 Challenge Cup Champions. As the last words left him, so to did his spirit and that was the last time she would hear him talk. The team later heard about this and used it as motivation to defeat their two previous opponents.

If the Blizzard were to lose this series, it would surely destroy that poor girls heart and tarnish her last living memory of her father. We wouldn't want that now, would we?

(**this was written after the wolfpack won the cup. thought I'd have some fun)


Task three:

When talking about playoff MVP, you would usually expect to be talking about a player from the Challenge Cup winning team. This time however, there was a Blizzard player who's performance during these playoffs was so outstanding, even when his team didn't show up, that it wouldn't be right to strip him of his rightful title as Playoff MVP. That player is Pedro Sarantez. Through 10 games of play during the playoffs, Sarantez trumped everyone with an impressive 8 goals and 6 assists. He was a consistent offensive threat, but he was also disciplined. He didn't take a single penalty all post season while averaging almost 23 minutes per game. His high goal count came courtesy of his great shot selection (or perhaps luck) as shown by his 17.78% shooting percentage. All of this offensive production didn't come at the cost of his defensive play either. Sarantez posted an impressive +9 and even got himself an assist on the penalty kill.

Task five

The SHL season 30 playoff finals involved the Edmonton Blizzard and New England Wolfpack. Edmonton has been a consistent force in the league for quite some time now and even has a cup in recent memory. New England on the other hand have surprised everyone by turning up the heat and showing the league throughout the second half of the season and post season that they are a serious contender. After blowing through the Minnesota Chiefs and taking down the West Kendall Platoon, they were face to face with one of, if not the best team in the league.

You would think Edmonton would have the upper hand, after all they've been here before with this core and they had a considerably better team on paper. It's not always about who you have, but how you use what you have and the Wolfpack are a prime example of that. Edmonton put up a valiant effort in game one, but in the end the wolfpack were resiliant and took the game 3-2. The following two games would be close battles, but the Blizzard weren't able to break the Wolfpack's chemistry. Something was clicking for New England and they had a chance to eliminate the Blizzard in 4 games; And they did. They came out of the gates flying and never let up throughout the whole 60 minutes. They were so dominant Edmonton only mustered a handful of mediocre scoring chances and failed to convert on any of them. Meanwhile, the wolfpack offense were busy putting on a clinic and tallied a whopping 5 goals. Just like that, the Blizzard had fallen and the New England Wolfpack were Challenge Cup Champions.

Getting swept in the finals is never a good thing. Getting beat 5-0 in the last game of that sweep? that's embarrassing. Edmonton is going to have to ask themselves some tough questions this off season if they want to return to form next season.


Task eight

The New England Wolfpack went on an outstanding run in the second half of the season to go from outside of the playoff picture to the Challenge Cup Finals. A lot of things went right for the Wolfpack; their star players stepped up when they needed it, management made the line changes needed and the team formed very strong chemistry. Throughout the whole season and playoffs however, there is one New England player that has stood above the rest.

Jacob Tanner was a pillar for the Wolfpack in what some would consider a breakout season. A 0.910 save % was good enough to put him fifth in the league and he sported a rather impressive 2.48 goals against average. While he only came up with three shutouts this season, he is 5th in the league in wins with a respectable 26 wins. The team struggled to produce much offensively early in the season but thankfully Tanner was able to steal a few games for them. While they didn't win many games during the first 25 games, they managed to win just enough to keep their playoff hopes alive. They were just barely alive, but alive none the less. The team eventually found their chemistry and, backed by Tanner, Fought their way into the playoff picture.

The story was much the same during the playoffs. Tanner only lost two games all post season and was first in every single goalie stat category.