TASK ONE
One of the more exciting matchups in Round 1 of the S30 SHL Playoffs was the huge underdog Manhattan Rage taking the perennial playoff-bound West Kendall Platoon all the way to 7 games. Game 6 was do-or-die for the Rage and they delivered. They started the scoring just 4 minutes into the game, while on the Powerplay, as Pierre-Luc LaFlamme was sent to the box for roughing. Magnus Jakobsen tacked another goal on to make it 2-0--but West Kendall came back strong to knot things up at 2 to end the first! For the rest of the game, Manhattan turned on the jets. They let West Kendall take a crazy number of shots (38 total! but Selena Bauer killed it in net. The key stat all night here, though, was the powerplay for Manhattan. Roy Razin scored the only goal of the 2nd period on the PP, and Wyatt Wolkker put away his first of the postseason just seconds after Fife Gibbs went to the box for hooking.That's all Manhattan needed to send it back to West Kendall for the always exciting Game 7.

TASK THREE
The MVP for the S30 SHL Playoffs, no doubt, has to be Nathan Russell. From a pure points perspective, Russell put up 19, good for best in the league. In addition to that, Russell is the only player that got to the Challenge Cup and still mustered a PP20 of over 1.0. It seems that he was optimally utilized on a line with Blake Sherrill and Raven Silverwing. Although these two linemates aren't the most powerful, it assures Russell that he will get the bulk of the scoring chances [or be able to pass the puck off to the less physical Jasper Clayton or the passing queen Mia Landvik. Also combine this with the fact that Russell dished out 71 hits--in front of a defensive pairing that mustered 44 combined. With that astounding average of over 5 per game and willing his balanced team built on depth all the way to the Cup, Russell should be given the additional hardware.

TASK FIVE
The Calgary Dragons were riding high after finishing atop the Western Conference in the S30 regular season. Although the Edmonton Blizzard were hot on their tail toward the end of the year, Calgary had earned a first-round matchup against the Seattle Riot. Seattle didn't necessarily finish the regular season too poorly, but when you consider the difference in efficiency or GD (+55 compared to +9) as well as their top performers (aka Bubba Nuck's MVP-worthy season, you gotta think this series is over before it starts. Seattle proved most pundits wrong by taking it all the way to 7 games.

The Riot actually had Calgary on the ropes early; they were up 2-0 after 2 road games! Tommy Creller had 2 assists in a 2-1 game 1 victory, and the Riot offense really opened up to stun the Dragons 5-3 in Game 2. Unfortunately for Seattle, as easily as they took 2 home games from the Dragons, the Dragons came back and tied the series 2-2! In Game 3, it was Shane Gagner and Alex Mack to name a few who were involved in scoring plays in the first period; the Dragons won 4-2. Game 4 was yet another 4-2 victory.

You're getting a sense of what went on. Even this four-game battle was so different from what people expected in the first place. The series even ended on an overtime goal! I'm sure the fatigue from this series led to the Dragons losing in the Conference Finals to the Edmonton Blizzard.

TASK EIGHT
I'm going to go a little off-script and talk about one key piece of each team, because this was really the tale of two conferences this year. Since I've been in the league (not just with Foster, I'm talking S23), the West has been considerably stronger, top to bottom, than the East. This year felt no different. The West's contender got stronger because of one person, and the East Champion (and eventually Cup Champion) got a career year from one perhaps previously understated star and relied on veteran production to get them through the playoffs.

For the Blizzard this person is Dean Colt. Acquiring him from the Hamilton Steelhawks was a polarizing decision at first, especially with the premier center considering retirement soon in the press. However, the Blizzard gave up 3 picks, prospect center Miles Berger, and $1.5M in cap space to get this unstoppable force on a cup-ready squad. His production and the team's added depth at the C position was essential to the Blizzard getting where they did.

For the Wolfpack, you have to talk about Patrikov Bure and his stellar year. His sixty points was unbelievable given his career statistics, and his 26 goals would typically get him close to a Jay McDonald Trophy - which is rather odd considering he's typically pass-first. What was his secret? It must have been his linemates, Jonathan Lundberg and Mainio Maakinen giving him incredible feeds as they crashed the net in the 0-2-3 strategy. Whatever it was, hopefully it works next season as well, as they'll be on everyone's Watch List.