Quote:TASK TWO: Who is your choice for the unsung hero of the S36 playoffs up to this point? Must be at least 150 words and include at least two statistics in support.

There have been quite a few obvious stand out performances this postseason such as the offensive machines we call Lord Pretty Flacko and Patrikov Bure, or the Defensive stalwarts in Kosonen and Garbonzo. While their play has certainly been impressive, it takes a team effort to make it far in the playoffs. Roman Moranov is well aware of what it takes to win, having done it before. Even though he may not play a main role on the teams top pairing, he has proven to be one of New England's most versatile and reliable defenseman. His Offensive numbers aren't outstanding, posting only 5 assists in 12 games played, but he has been a consistent defensive and physical presence with 33 hits and 18 shots blocked so far.The most impressive part is he has been used on just about every special team situation and is a main stay on their 2nd pairing. It's depth like this that brings NEW deep into the playoffs time and time again, even when they just make the playoffs by the skin of their teeth. It'll be interesting to see if it's enough to earn them another Challenge Cup.

Quote:TASK THREE: Who has the edge, New England or Texas? What (or who) will be the biggest factor for one team to triumph over the other? Must be at least 150 words

I'm gonna have to say Texas holds a slight edge over New England in these finals. Both teams have some all star level talent on their front and back ends and they are both relatively old teams. Both team's cores are approaching the decade mark in the league and will only be facing harsher and harsher regression penalties. I think the real difference maker in this series is going to be the youth depth that Texas has on their team. While they may not have many young players, the ones they do have (specifically Conklin Owen and Adam Kaiser) have absolutely unimaginable ceilings in this league and are already very far along in their development and capable of holding down top 6 and top 4 minutes, as they have been doing so far these playoffs. Kaiser finds himself on the first pairing alongside Windsor, while Owen finds himself opposite of Rick James and Sven Karlsson. These young guns aren't quite the full fledged superstars some of their peers are, but they are well on their way and are poised to break out at any moment.