Task 1:
Here we are in overtime of game five of the playoff match up between the Edmonton Blizzard and the Texas Renegades. The Blizzard are leading the series three games to one so the Renegades need to win this game to keep their season alive. It's been a back and forth game and here we are 5 minutes into the first overtime period. There is a face-off in the Renegade's zone as Karpotsov is in to take the draw against Boyka. Karpotsov wins the draw back to Windsor. Windsor fakes the one timer and tries to slide the puck over to the right circle where Koroviev is waiting with what looks to be a wide open net. Ignant Ogorodnikov dives and makes a desperate lunge to stop the pass. He somehow gets his stick on it and it slides over to Boyka. Ogorodnikov is back up and gets the pass from Boyka. He dumps the puck into the Blizzard zone as the Renegades go for a change.

Windsor retrieves the puck and tries to clear it out of the zone. Liam Kinsler coming off the bench is right there however and he picks up the puck. He slides it across the neutral zone to sterling Knight. Knight skates into the Blizzard zone and lines up a big slapper from just inside the blueline. Aittokallio looks surprised at the shot and he tries to snatch it out of the air with his glove. Too late however as the shot rifles past him into the back of the net. Gooooaaaaallllllll by Sterling Knight, his first of the playoffs, just in time to save the Renegades season. And this series will go to a game six.

282 words


Task 2:
Yuri Boyka was at the top of the Texas Renegades scoring sheet all season. He had an exceptional season for the black and silver, scoring 21 goals and adding 30 assists for 51 points in 50 games, a tad over a point per game average. He also took a whopping 223 shots or just over 4 per game. Boyka's real strength was in the 5 on 5 however as he managed only 11 power play points over the course of the season, or around 20%. He was by far the biggest point producer the Renegades had having 13 points more than the next Renegade Sterling Knight. Without the great season by Boyka it's doubtful that Texas would have even made the playoffs.

So how did Boyka fare in the playoffs? Well Texas didn't advance but managed to take the Blizzard to 6 games. The failure to advance was hardly Boyka's fault however. He managed to put up 4 goals and 6 assists for 10 points in the 6 game series, increasing his point per game average. He also took 33 shots, also increasing his shots per game to 5.5 from just over four. He also fared better on the power play with 5 power play points or half of his total scoring. So Texas can definitely not blame Yuri Boyka for their playoff failure as their regular season point leader stepped up his game even more in the playoffs.

239 words

Task3:
The pivotal game in the Texas Edmonton series would have to have been the first game of the series. A different outcome would probably have at least let the series get to 7 games instead of 6. In the first game Edmonton beat Texas 4-3 in an overtime victory. A win here would have been crucial for Texas going in as a huge underdog in the series. After squeaking into the playoffs it was assumed Texas would just roll over versus the defending champs. Losing the first game was a huge blow and in the end allowed Edmonton to go up in the series 3 games to 1. Had Texas managed to win the game at worst they go 2 and 2 and have an actual shot at upsetting Edmonton in a game 7. Going down 3 games to 1 seemed an insurmountable task for Texas even though they managed to pull out game 5 in overtime it seemed they had nothing left in another win or go home game. The two overtime games in the series certainly left the Renegades drained both physically and emotionally and in the end they were unable to overcome this. Had the first overtime game gone their way they could probably have ridden that emotion all the way to a first round upset of the defending champs.

223 words


Task 4:
Was I dreaming? I woke up and saw it there on the table. The cup, every SHL player's goal. Somehow the Texas Renegades had managed to win the cup and it was Vliddy's day with it. Knowing the debauchery he had planned for later that evening Vliddy decided he had better do something good with the cup first. So off to the children's hospital in Dallas Vliddy went. He got out his $50,000 black and silver robe with Nature Boy in diamonds on the back and a feathered boa around the collar and stepped into the limousine to try and brighten the day of some sick kids. Vliddy got off the elevator and bellowed out a loud WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Of course every kid in Dallas knew what that meant and the excitement on the faces of the kids made Vliddy's day even more so than it did for the kids.

After leaving the hospital and getting back in the limo it was time to head to Rick James' China Club to party with Rick James bitch. Vliddy took the cup in with him and spied James sitting at his private booth in the back with hookers all around him. Vliddy set the cup in the middle of the table and bellowed at James hope you got some coke to go with all the hookers. James just grinned, smacked the hooker off his lap and went to his office. He came back with a huge bag of coke. He poured it in the cup and filled it completely up. The next several hours were a blur of booze, broads and dope as Rick James and the Nature Boy did some serious damage to the pile in the cup. All of a sudden there was a deafening noise. Vliddy looked around and saw his alarm clock was going off. Damn. It was only a dream after all.

314 words