TASK ONE:

And after an icing call against the Knights our second period play here in Game 1 of the SMJHL playoffs resumes. Dominique wins the face-off against Evgeny Yakikov in the Knights zone. Birkeland with the puck as Dominique is hit by Dabkowski. Pass by Birkeland intercepted by Dahlssen in the neutral zone and we’re back the other way. Dahlssen tries to pass but it’s intercepted by Dominique and dumped into the Mammoths zone for Dahlssen to retrieve.

He makes for the pass but Landvik is there. Goddard intercepts her attempted pass to Bent and heads up the ice, but Birkeland gets the stick on a giveaway and sends it back to Landvik in the offensive zone. She passes but Yakikov is there. Bent is on Yakikov’s heels and swipes the puck out from under him as he lets it go, attempting to send it up the ice but landing on Dahlssen’s stick instead. Dahlssen tries to send it back to Yakikov, but Landvik snags it and sends it up the ice to Birkeland on the doorstep, who SHOOTS… but it’s stopped by Andrews without a rebound, and both teams will make a change.

Talo wins the face-off against Stamkos Jr. in the Mammoths zone and passes to Linna, who shoots…

AND SCORES.

MIKKO LINNA WITH HIS FIRST GOAL OF THE PLAYOFFS. 41 seconds into the second, the Knights are up TWO NOTHING.

TASK TWO:

Rookie defenceman Cara Hohenberg quietly shored up the Kelowna Knights’ blue line throughout the regular season, providing a less physical but no less critical role in her second-pair partnership with Fedor Shirobokov. She notched a total of 30 points throughout the season (10 goals, 20 assists), as well as a respectable 55 shots blocked. Though she only landed a total of 14 hits in 50 games to her d-partner’s 114, she also registered only 6 PIM on a team who was often bit in the ass by their lack of discipline. Her puck moving abilities and two-way play made her a crucial part of the Knights game. Cara finished the season ranked sixth amongst all SMJHL rookies.

Hohenberg did not disappoint in the playoffs, leading all Knights rookies in points with 10 in 11 games. Her play remained consistent as she got in the way of 4 shots, doled out one hit, and did not take any penalties. Cara was ranked sixth amongst all defencemen in the SMJHL playoffs, behind stars like Vancouver’s Pablo Biznette, Four Star Cup winners Danny Foster, Joe Kerr, and Kelly Rivet, and her own veteran teammate Mia Landvik. She dropped only one place on the SMJHL rookies leaderboard from the regular season to the playoffs.

TASK THREE:

Game 7 of the Western Conference Final between the Kelowna Knights and the Vancouver Whalers saw Beau Bent score his first goal of the playoffs on the powerplay, just 39 seconds into the game. That goal was answered by Vancouver’s Dahlstrom just four seconds later. But what if Theodore Graham kept his stick to himself and never got called for hooking at 0:23?

Though this scenario might seem to take away an advantage the Knights surely wanted so early in a crucial game, the lost opportunity for Birkeland, Dominique, and Bent to combine on their powerplay goal is also a lost opportunity for the Whalers to get angry. Without that goal, Dahlstrom loses that tiny bit of rage he was using as motivation, and he never scores his second goal.

That gives the first goal of the game to the Whalers with Kubrak’s goal at 3:34. While the Knights could be discouraged by this, Landvik would never let such an opportunity to crush the dreams of her opponents pass her by. Her goal assisted by Talo at 4:07 remains the same. Assuming Kilgore’s goal-scoring play at 16:26 also remains the same, the first period ends with the score 2-1 Vancouver.

The Knights are still at a disadvantage, but their goalie Laukkanen will only have let 2 goals in rather than 3, and the Knights would be looking to tie it up with a roomy forty minutes to do so. The elimination of Graham’s first period penalty changes the tone of the game and allows for the Knights to bring their best game to the table. Considering the Knights’ best game posted them a 6-1 regular season record against the Whalers and got them up 3-1 in the series, it’s safe to say that they likely would’ve made their way to the Four Star Cup Final.

TASK FOUR:

In a glorious world where the Kelowna Knights won the Four Star Cup Final, Mia Landvik spent her Cup Day in her hometown of Hell, Norway. In attendance at the celebrations were her parents and a large number of her Knights teammates, as well as a few of her IIHF teammates. As is the way of the many tourists Landvik saw come through her town in her youth, she took pictures with her crew and the Cup in front of every sign with the word “Hell” on it.

There’s not much to do in Hell except say you were there, but there is a beach, so most of the day was spent just hanging out by the water. Landvik came down to the waterfront with the Cup already filled with candy and then, somehow, ate literally all of it until it was only wrappers. No one is quite sure where she puts all that sugar, but the entire crew knew better than to question her or do anything but duck for cover once her sugar high hit.

Twenty minutes later, Landvik chased Mikko Linna through the sand while carrying the Cup, eventually catching him and dumping the wrappers over his head. It was a bad idea, considering she then had to pick up all the wrappers and put them in the actual garbage. Linna seemed to think that was hilarious until Landvik pouted at him enough that he gave in and helped her.