Task one:
This has been a tough go for Calgary, but it’s just about over. They’ll reset and try to come back and look better in game 7.

Faceoff in the Calgary zone. Miles Berger wins it back to Muller. Muller moves the puck up to Nikolaus Scholz. He skates around behind the net and fights off a hit from Alex Mack. Scholz comes out from behind the net and takes a bad angle shot, but it’s off target. Berger picks up the loose puck. He pivots and throws the puck towards the net. It goes wide. Jackson Rogers-Tanaka rotates down and picks up the puck. The Dragons are looking defeated, they look confused and can’t get a handle on the puck. Rogers-Tanaka winds up and fires. Wong couldn’t get there, and the puck finds the back of the net!

Another last minute goal for Edmonton, making it 5-1. JRT gets his first goal of the playoffs, and the Blizzard put this one away after a big third period in which they scored 2 goals in the final 2 minutes.


Task two:
Esa Anrikkanen has been consistently one of the top players in the league for the past few seasons. It was more of the same from him in S29. The Dragons’ top line center finished the regular season with 21 goals and 32 assists. A total of 53 points on the season was good enough for 7th in the league. He also had 212 hits, which was good enough for second most in the league. He led a talented Calgary roster to finish with the second best record in the Western Conference, fourth best in the league.

Now, in the playoffs, he’s continued right where he left off. Through 16 games, Esa has 3 goals and 13 assists. That puts him at 16 points, or 1 point per game, which is just about where he was at in the regular season. With 16 points he is currently 6th for scoring in the playoffs. He also has 50 hits so far, which is slightly behind the pace set in the regular season, but still very good, and is 5th most among players in the playoffs. He is playing at just about the same level in the playoffs as he did in the regular season. The biggest difference is that his regular season shooting % of 8.79 has dropped off to 4.76 in the playoffs.


Task three:
To me, the pivotal moment would be the game 7 overtime win by Hamilton against Toronto. So, instead of Griffon Simons scoring the game winner, what would it be like if Toronto won?

Harter covers up the loose puck in front of the net, and the teams will reset in the Toronto zone. Cunningham wins the draw back to Johnson. He hesitates, then moves the puck to Stinson. Up to King, who breaks into neutral ice. He dumps the puck into the opposite corner and Toronto gives chase. Cody Black gets there first, but he can’t settle the puck down. Eriksson pokes the puck loose and takes control behind the net. He sends it back up the boards to Stinson who passes it along the blue line to Johnson. Johnson shoots through traffic, but Tanner pads it away. Cunningham is there for the rebound. He shoots, and it sneaks in under Tanners glove! Toronto has done it! They’re going to the finals!

The arena explodes, as the visiting Toronto fans lose their minds. The Toronto bench clears as they all rush out and embrace each other. The sound of celebration continues for an uncomfortable duration. It slowly builds and the building begins to gently vibrate. Then, a very loud, rhythmic beeping begins to fill the arena. It builds, each beep becoming louder, until it reaches a deafening level.

You open your eyes, and you’re back in your bed. It’s 7am, and it’s time to get up to go to school.


Task four:
The obvious choice is to bring it back to your hometown. That is a great choice, and would be one of my first thoughts, but I’m going to go in a slightly difference direction. I have two hometowns. My hometown in Sweden, obviously. I also have what I consider to be my hockey hometown, and that is in Kelowna. I spent four seasons there, and it became my first long term home as a professional hockey player. I loved my time there, and I think I’d like to take it back there. Show the Kelowna fans what I’ve done, and that I couldn’t have done it without them.

I’d bring it down to Prospera Place so that the Kelowna fans could come out to see it, get their pictures taken with it, all that fun stuff. I’d do a little meet and greet and a Q&A while I’m there. I’d also like to meet any of the current Kelowna players, to talk with them a little bit, give out advice, answer questions for them, or just hang out. The last thing I’d like to do before I leave would be to do one last skate at Prospera Place. Take a moment to try to relive the wonderful time I had playing there.