TASK ONE
Game 4 of the Challenge Cup Finals has New England on the verge of a sweep of the Edmonton Blizzard. A supposed even match up on paper has been anything but thus far in the finals of the S31 Challenge Cup tournament. Edmonton has put veteran netminder Jakub Aittokallio back in net in place of Brett Broadway in hopes that the experience of the soon-to-be HoF goalie can help turn the tides for the West Champions. New England came out strong and drew first blood three quarters of the way through the first courtesy of Buckner and the New England third line who have been major contributors this series. The second period was a slaughter as the Wolfpack found the back of the net 3 times in 4 minutes and all but sealed the deal. Lundberg added one final goal in the third and Edmonton get shut out to seal the sweep.

TASK THREE
Prior to the finals Pedro Sarantez would probably have been the obvious vote for playoff MVP but with his 0 point performance in the finals the award most likely slipped out of his grasp. Jakob Tanner won the duel of the goaltenders in the final series where it mattered and won my vote for playoff MVP along with that performance. Broadway and Tanner were the two standout goalies in the playoffs this season as they were number 1/2 in GAA heading into the finals with 2.48 for Broadway and 2.61 for Tanner. Broadway broke the .920 mark while Tanner came close with .916 save percentages. Both goalies were key to their team's post season success and Tanner ended up winning 3 head to head contests in a row keeping Edmonton to just 2 goals in each of the 3 games while Broadway faltered in his first time starting in the finals. Tanner finished it off in game 4 with a shutout which gave him his third Challenge Cup trophy vaulting him into elite territory.

TASK FIVE
The Western Conference Finals had two very familiar teams face off against each other for a chance to head to the finals. Calgary had won 2 of the last 3 seasons and looked very strong in the regular season but struggled in the first round as they edged out a 7 game series against Seattle. Their opponents the Edmonton Blizzard was the team that won it all two seasons prior, in S28, stopping Calgary's bid for a repeat title and they'll look to do so again. Edmonton went 6 games with Texas in the first round and they'll need that momentum to help them out as they've come into the post season with a very underwhelming head-to-head record against Calgary. I had penned Calgary to be the favorite in this match-up as they had a dominating head to head record of 5-1 in the regular season. Calgary won the first game at home in a very close game as expected. However, Edmonton came storming back in game 2 to a dominating 5-1 win to tie the series up followed by a 5-2 thumping at home in Edmonton. Calgary lost game 4 despite a heroic effort from Wong who stopped 34 of 37 shots faced as Edmonton found a way to get the win at home and head back to Calgary with a 3-1 series lead. Edmonton closed it out in game 5 with 2 empty net goals as Calgary fought tooth and nail but just came short.

TASK EIGHT
There are a few solid story lines that lead to this Edmonton Blizzard team appearing in the Cup finals. The acquisition of Pedro Sarantez mid-way through last season played a big factor as he took over and lead the team in scoring this season, both in the regular season and in the playoffs as well as the reigning MVP Theo Kane fell back to earth and looked mediocre this season. Edmonton also made a mid-season trade this year as they acquired Dean Colt from Hamilton to fill the need for a top end center to help Kane out. He didn't put up the same numbers as he did in his prime but he played a very productive role as the 2nd line center and even as the first line center for parts of the season. Another major change to the team was Brett Broadway taking over the starting role from Jakub Aittokallio as Aittokallio declared that he was retiring after this season and Broadway looked ready to shoulder much of the load. And he did so in exceptional fashion as he lead Edmonton to a 2nd seed in the west just falling short of Calgary off .917 save percentage and 2.46 GAA (2nd in the league in both categories). The future of Edmonton's goaltending situation looks secure as one of the best goalies in SHL history hands off the torch to his protege.

BONUS: Who scores the cup winning goal?

Theo Kane