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***JustAnotherHockeyFan*** · 01-11-2024, 11:14 PM

CW pass

*thedangazone* · 01-12-2024, 05:19 AM

SMJHL HO Pass

***retuperkele*** · 01-12-2024, 07:07 AM

cw pass oh wait.. Kappa

#2 - 4 TPE
A) WPG blew me away by how mediocre they were during the regular season compared to their last few seasons, since they did show next to no signs of aging. What did blew me away was how they traded one of their top forwards and still ended up on the better side during postseason. It's gonna be tough to choose one to win the finals for probably the last time
B) By just taking a quick peak, WPG faced Texas, Chicago and San Francisco, where as NEW faced Hamilton, Buffalo and Philadelphia. From round 2 onward both lost 3 games in total before the finals, and the first round wouldnt matter that much. Both faced equally talented teams, but Winnipeg had the luxury of facing the underdogs San Francisco in the semi-finals, who are still cooking but not quite ready - therefore New England had the harder match-ups.
C) Winnipeg taking down San Francisco in 5 games did not really seem that hard for them but New England taking down the 2nd seed Philadelphia in "just" 6 games blew me away. You would think the #2 seed would put up a bigger fight especially with their 2nd highest positive goal differential, but still New England managed to not score more into their net, but the margin was way way bigger.
D) New England are on a roll right now, as of writing they lead the finals 2-0. I would say they had the momentum from the beginning from just taking down more talented teams than Winnipeg did, but I would say it is still wide open since we have only scratched the surface of the finals - but still I would pick New England to win it.

#3 - 3 TPE
Both teams had unexpectadly horrendous regular season, losing more games than they had in the last 4 seasons or so. I would say that it was only a FHM moment where they said "fuck specific teams and RNG" and made some interesting moves during the regular season for both teams involved. The key word here is evolving. Both teams tried out new tactics during the regular season to account for their loss of impact of current important players while simultaneously trying out how up and coming players would have impact while having bigger role on the squad. Then again, regular season is just to make sure you get to playoffs and then you can call it a day. Having a bye in the 1st round would be ideal but then again if you have a strong squad you are pretty much guaranteed to make it past the first round. All new teams who are going for contention in the upcoming few seasons should learn that longetivity makes winners.

#4 - 3 TPE
Montreal did have a succesful expansion draft and entry drafts when they initially came into the league from out of nowhere - but their disadvantage was how they drafted players who could contribute immediately, where as Philadelphia had a different approach to their expansion draft to pick up players who could contribute later on in a few seasons which allowed them to bring in prospects from various immensely succesful entry drafts to bolster those players impact. Montreal did burn out faster which is why they had to start their rebuilding phase faster. Philadelphia is still going to roll for a while by keeping up that momentum by keeping their core intact longer and having the same mentality as they have had for a better while. Teams should look for the longetivity that Philadelphia is going for and try to match that, this would be me only point to make from this. Both of the teams not mentioned earlier (Winnipeg, New England) are also having the longetive mental approach to buildind squad.

Salming · 01-12-2024, 07:24 AM

1. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1.5 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is completed through a Google form linked below. Make sure to spell your answers correctly or you will not get credit. Post your verification word in your CW post.

Verification word: Borje

2. Written, up to 4 TPE - Grab Bag: Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.
a. Two old faces are back in the ring, proving reports of the dynasty’s demise were greatly exaggerated! Pick either of our finalists, and tell me what about them impresses you the most!
b. Upsets were a theme this year - which of our finalists had the more difficult road to the promised land and why?
c. Which of the finalists had the more impressive conference finals victory, and why?
d. If it ain't broke don't fix it: Who you got? Who wins? Why?

b) For sure Manhattan had a rougher path. They pushed through some injuries in every round to reach a place in the finals. New England has been much more luckier to play healthy in all rounds. Or then they fake very well their pain in the ice. I know from the experience that it can be hard so I don't believe they do it.
c) For sure Manhattan was more impressive in the conference finals. Its goaltender was for sure sensational. Its D core was for sure superb. Its forwards were for sure extremely talented and worked hard for both ways. They did not cheat at all from defence. New England had a closer series in my opinion if we look behind deep data and analytics side of hockey.
d) I prefer Manhattan to win a title again. They are very tight collective unit. I trust them a lot. Wolfpack is sometimes a group of indivuals. Its zone exits aren't so clean than Manhattan's. Manhattan uses its centers better to fly through the neutral zone, I think. It solves the final series. Believe my words, boys and girls.

3. Written, 3 TPE, Haven’t I Seen This Before? (150 words min.)
Despite being the 8th and 10th ranked regular season teams in the league, our finalists from Winnipeg and New England represent two of the most dominant teams over the past several seasons. What do you think is the secret to their success? What can other teams learn from them? Which one is more likely to be back again next year?

To be a successful franchise you need to have a good management group. So, it all begins from up. I know especially Manhattan is in good hands and you can trust its leadership group on different levels. Luke is a great owner. Owner of New England is a mystery for me but I have to believe he knows too what to do in all kinds of situations. So yeah, after that you can think about coaches and players. But the culture in the organization is set by owner and co-owner. Manhattan for sure has some great players too and mr. Manning brought the last piece of winning culture there couple of seasons ago before his recent trade to Baltimore. About New England and Wolfpack, I again don't know them so well that I could say who are the leaders in the locker room for example but they must be solid guys too. Those are my honest opinions. And totally objective.

Words: 160

**OrbitingDeath** · 01-12-2024, 07:38 AM

3 TPE - Task 1:

trivia

3 TPE - Task 4:

The fact that the Winnipeg Aurora and New England Wolfpack made the final from the 8th and 10th seed, does proof that Montreal should not have pulled the plug so early on. There seems to be alot of possibilities for all teams in the playoffs, take the San Francisco Pride for instance who took on the #1 ranked Edmonton Blizzard and beat them 4-1. In a league like the Simulation Hockey League, where rebuilding can take quite a while, I feel it is important to try and stay in the fight as long as a team can. So I would think Montreal pulled out to early, but I'm also certain that their management had a good reasoning, but as that is unknown to the outside world we could only guess what that would be. But I'm glad that the Winnipeg management does not give up the fight just yet, so who knows what Montreal could have done if they kept fighting.

2 TPE - Task 12:

Looks like the New England Wolfpack won the finals and despite it being an even matchup, Winnipeg already lost it in the first two games. Being the lower seed we knew we had to break the Wolfpacks home ice advantage early on, but we were not able to capitalize there. Most of the games in the series, even in the losses the Aurora had more shots on goal as the wolfpack, so the result is clear, their goalie was just better. I don't think we could have done a lot different as the Wolfpack is always a tough matchup, but they got the lucky end of the coinflips it seems.

C9Van · 01-12-2024, 08:09 AM

Code:
4. Written, 3 TPE, The Char B1 bis In The Room (150 words min.)

This league was until quite recently dominated by a cabal of four teams. Two of them, Winnipeg and New England, are our finalists. A third, Philadelphia, was a finalist last year. The fourth... was Montreal. Does the success of Winnipeg and New England prove that Montreal pulled the plug too soon and should’ve kept the gang around? Or did at least one of the others just get lucky and Montreal made the better decision, without hindsight? What team-building lessons can we learn from this?

I mean, I will be honest. I do not remember Montreal doing insanely well outside of a couple of seasons ago when we beat them in Buffalo to go on our cup winning run as we faced them 1st and 4-0'd them and the following season we faced them 1st round and they beat us and prolly went on a run. I did not really focus on it as I was focusing on the minor leagues, the better league!

So I feel like if I say "yeah, dummies pulled the plug!" or the opposite of "Nah, they now cooking and did the right thing here" I have no real way of backing it up cause I do not know what the team looked like. They were super nice to me in my regression years so I will say just purely because of that they are doing the right thing and will come back stronger than ever before!

[157 words]

3 TPE

Code:
5. Written, 3 TPE, Upset City (150 words min)

An impressive string of upsets took place this season, especially in the West with San Francisco’s Cinderella run. Which upset series impressed you most, why, and what in that series sticks out most in your memory? For the purposes of this task, any series won by the lower seed is an upset.

I think the biggest upset is San Fran's win over the Edmonton Blizzard who genuinely I thought would make the final against Buffalo. I guess predicting 1st vs 2nd is not a bold thing but I did not believe this engine even had it in it to do upsets as frequently. This season feels like 1 of those Out of the park tier coin flip RNG type things. It is well deserved but I did not see them even beating whoever they faced in the first round and it is not like Winnipeg had a clean 4-0 against them either.

I guess the engine missed doing things with New England albeit I did have them going very far, just not finals far. New England are well ran though so I guess that upset is not that huge. If Minny upset Edmonton then I think you're looking at an insanely bigger upset but San Fran are a worthy underdog story as well.

[161 words]

6 TPE

IIHF

Code:
10. Written, 3 TPE, IIHF Underdogs (150 words min.)

Predict an upset for this season’s IIHF tournament, and explain why you think your chosen underdog matches up well against that specific opponent!

So if I am honest, I look at my country of Team Switzerland and think this time around we could be the ones to upset and actually get a medal this time around. We have a very good defence that will hopefully show up well this tournament and whilst I will not do much as a forward again (Cause I never play D for them it seems) I am still hopeful that we can manage to shock a few teams to go on a medal run. Now obviously the goal is the gold medal cause it should be for every nation but overall silver or bronze is not exactly a bad thing to achieve either. Under a new head I do believe we can upset and shock people against some of the more consistent nations like Canada if we even face them this tournament and get the 1 medal a lot of the Swiss players are missing for all 4 trophies on 1 player.

[164 words]
9 TPE so 8 is covered

the5urreal · 01-12-2024, 08:29 AM

Code:
1. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1.5 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is completed through a Google form linked below. Make sure to spell your answers correctly or you will not get credit. Post your verification word in your CW post.

moist
+3 TPE

Code:
2. Written, up to 4 TPE - Grab Bag: Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.

a. Two old faces are back in the ring, proving reports of the dynasty’s demise were greatly exaggerated! Pick either of our finalists, and tell me what about them impresses you the most!

b. Upsets were a theme this year - which of our finalists had the more difficult road to the promised land and why?

c. Which of the finalists had the more impressive conference finals victory, and why?

d. If it ain't broke don't fix it: Who you got? Who wins? Why?

b. During the regular season, given the divisions that the two finalists are in, Winnipeg had more of a battle on the road to the playoffs. However, once the playoffs started, it was New England with a much tougher road to the finals. While Winnipeg walked through Chicago (84 pts), Texas (87 pts), and San Francisco (67 points), New England was taken to seven games against Hamilton (70 points) in the first round, made short work of a much better team in Buffalo (96 points), and then again against Philadelphia (93 points). Winnipeg has been in the finals five of the last six seasons, winning once. Three of those trips have been to face off against New England, who have been to the finals three of the last five seasons, winning twice. Parity.
[132 words]

c. This has to be a joke question. In the conference finals, Winnipeg (80 points) battled San Francisco (67 points) who they were surprisingly 1-2-1 against in the regular season. New England (84 points) on the other hand faced off against Philadelphia (93 points) who they were 1-3-0 against in the regular season. So both teams overcame foes in which they had losing records against during the regular season. However, New England’s victory over a strong Philadelphia team was much more impressive.
[81 words]
+2 TPE

PBE AFFILIATE TASK
+3 TPE

***JKortesi81*** · 01-12-2024, 11:29 AM

CW Pass hype

***Hallsy*** · 01-12-2024, 12:25 PM

Gm pass

spidey · 01-12-2024, 01:36 PM

1. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1.5 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is completed through a Google form linked below. Make sure to spell your answers correctly or you will not get credit. Post your verification word in your CW post.

Excelsior

+3 TPE

2. 2. Written, up to 4 TPE - Grab Bag: Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.
a. Two old faces are back in the ring, proving reports of the dynasty’s demise were greatly exaggerated! Pick either of our finalists, and tell me what about them impresses you the most!
b. Upsets were a theme this year - which of our finalists had the more difficult road to the promised land and why?
c. Which of the finalists had the more impressive conference finals victory, and why?
d. If it ain't broke don't fix it: Who you got? Who wins? Why?

a) What has really impressed me with New England they over came the odds. They were not the top seeded team in the east both standings and TPE wise. They had a good team no doubt, but they were not the top. They played to their strengths and have received a lot of production from top stars and the support crew behind them.

+1 TPE

b) I am going to say New England had the slightly more difficult path. In round one and two, Winnipeg and New England were almost even in difficulty. Winnipeg played Chicago, who were on their last legs, while New England played Hamilton who are still developing as a young team. Round 2 Texas maybe a contender but so is Buffalo. So far their paths are close. It comes to round 3 where Winnipeg played an overachieving San Fransico Pride while New England played their second cup contender in Philadelphia Forge. This is the biggest divide in paths to the cup and why New England gets the nod.

+1 TPE

d) I am going to give my nod to Winnipeg. I think they are the more well-rounded roster and have a little more star power from the crease out. This is going to be a great series and it could go either way, but when push comes to shove you need to go with the guys who are more likely to win it and Winnipeg is that team.

+1 TPE

3.Written, 3 TPE, Haven’t I Seen This Before? (150 words min.)
Despite being the 8th and 10th ranked regular season teams in the league, our finalists from Winnipeg and New England represent two of the most dominant teams over the past several seasons. What do you think is the secret to their success? What can other teams learn from them? Which one is more likely to be back again next year?
To answer the secret to their success portion of this task it is two paths that have led to the same destination:

For Winnipeg, they were extremely good at drafting and bringing in players of a similar draft year to grow at the same time. Creating a super team for a number of years within the SHL. These players have all remained active and have all been top earners in the SHL giving them a small but one of the better windows to win a cup.

With New England, they have consistently filtered in prospects and top players to keep their funnel strong. While they may not be as good of a team on paper to some of the other top teams (in earned TPE wise). They are always a competitive team and have an opportunity to win. Their philosophy has a longer window to win and allowed a bad pick or two to not derail their chance to win it all.

I think we can learn there is no right answer in how to win a cup, as a lot of either strategy is based on luck that a player stays active and earns. Both have employed high earners so, the best thing to do is speak with your prospects and ask if they plan on working hard and what they want to accomplish.

As for who will be back next year? I think both have a good chance of coming back, but regression is hitting Winnipeg harder and New England is growing. I think New England has the better chance of repeating in the Championship series.

+3 TPE

TOTAL TPE: +8

oknom · 01-12-2024, 03:33 PM

Trivia Verification word: dunk
+3TPE

2a. Two old faces are back in the ring, proving reports of the dynasty’s demise were greatly exaggerated! Pick either of our finalists, and tell me what about them impresses you the most!
Lack of parity feels bad only if you aren’t on one of these teams. Who wouldn’t want to make 80% of the conference finals their entire career? Even if you only convert a few of those into Challenge Cups, that’s more than many have accomplished. This year, Winnipeg has impressed me based on my limited knowledge of their roster turnover. They picked up a new goalie from Toronto during a draft trade, and also shipped out a top 6 forward to Texas before the trade deadline. (WC 86)

2b Upsets were a theme this year - which of our finalists had the more difficult road to the promised land and why?
I’m going Winnipeg again with this one. San Francisco was the spookiest underdog, winning when they weren’t supposed to and looking like a team of destiny. The Aurora also had to end the dreams of their former teammate on Texas in the 2nd round. I know they didn’t face each other, but Edmonton would have been a stiffer challenge in my mind that Philly was for New England. (WC68)

2c Which of the finalists had the more impressive conference finals victory, and why?
I will give some love to New England here as the Forge are their constant enemy in the conference finals. Philadelphia showed some signs of weakness this year, dropping some games along the way. However I still think they could have easily made the finals. The Pride made an awesome run, but ultimately couldn’t get much going against Winnipeg. (WC59)

2d If it ain't broke don't fix it: Who you got? Who wins? Why?
New England punches their ticket and finishes off Winnipeg for another Challenge Cup. I'm choosing the narrative that Slapahan has just been too much of a problem to design an adequate game against. You either don’t dedicate enough coverage to him, and he burns you. Or you overthink it, and he create space for his team to score. (WC 58)

Prompt #2 - +4 TPE total

5. Written, 3 TPE, Upset City (150 words min)
An impressive string of upsets took place this season, especially in the West with San Francisco’s Cinderella run. Which upset series impressed you most, why, and what in that series sticks out most in your memory? For the purposes of this task, any series won by the lower seed is an upset.
San Francisco definitely just kept surprising everyone this postseason. Their most impressive series win to me was in round 2 against the Edmonton Blizzard. Everything seemed destined for that tried and true EDM vs WPG western conference final opposite a NEW vs PHI eastern conference final. Beyond just winning the dang series, SFP started out 2-0 in that series. Game 1 went to OT, so both teams were probably thinking they were still in the series. But then SFP put up a whopping 7 goals on the Blizzard in game 2. Edmonton responded with 8 goals in game 3, but couldn’t complete the road sweep and lost game 4. Usually game 5 is the game where all the momentum shifts to the winner, which in this case was Edmonton. But since SFP was already up 3-1, that game 5 magic momentum was nowhere to be found. SFP went on to win Game 6 and the rest is history. (WC158)

Trivia +3 TPE
Prompt #2 +4 TPE
Prompt #5 +3 TPE
8 TPE Max claimed

*roastpuff* · 01-12-2024, 04:06 PM

CW Pass

TheOPSquid · 01-12-2024, 04:15 PM

2a. With the 10th ranked Winnipeg Aurora coming into the finals to face the 9th ranked New England Wolfpack, one of the most impressive things in my opinion is the lack of point per game players on Winnipeg during the regular season. In the regular season it seemed the norm was a team having 1-2 lines full of point per game players with a few breaking the 100 point mark. With 18 players in the league breaking 100+ points and 83 players hitting a point per game, it is impressive that the Aurora have pushed to the finals with a roster that only saw 3 players break a point per game and no 100 point scorers (Matsmith Soderberg-Tremblay was close with 99!).
(122 words)

2b. I think that the New England Wolfpack had a very difficult road to the finals. Facing off against the 13th ranked Hamilton Steelhawks in round 1, the 2nd ranked Buffalo Stampede in round 2, and the 3rd ranked Philadelphia Forge in round 3. All of this enroute to facing Winnipeg in the finals. I think the Eastern Conference was a bit stronger and deeper than the West this season and New England was able to battle to the top.
(78 words)

2c. The New England Wolfpack had the more impressive conference finals victory this season in my opinion. Putting up 8 goals twice against Philadelphia who only averaged 3.09 goals against per game is pretty impressive. Philadelphia went to the finals last season and finished third this season after playing well defensively. Being able to convincingly beat them in a 6 game series is pretty impressive in my opinion.
(68 words)

2d. I have the New England Wolfpack winning it all this season, beating some strong teams in this postseason run has me convinced that they will be able to win the finals as well. No disrespect to the Winnipeg Aurora but I believe the toughest tests for the Wolfpack already came against the Forge and Stampede in the earlier rounds due to them being in the East and both finishing top 3.
(71 words)

3. The Winnipeg Aurora and New England Wolfpack have been successfully competing for the past 5 seasons with both making the conference finals in that span. New England has not missed the playoffs since Season 66, going on a playoff run in each of the past 8 seasons and winning the cup in Season 70 against their current opponents in 7 games. Winnipeg has also been successful in that span, making the playoffs every season in the past 10 seasons. They eventually captured the cup in Season 72 after 4 consecutive finals appearances. One thing that a winning team has to have no matter what, is a good team culture and system. Teams that can continually make deep runs with different personnel have to have a strong managing or coaching foundation that knows the best way to utilize the players that they have. Being able to plug players into the lineup and have them contribute is majorly important. Another big thing is team culture, a locker room that is active and tightly knit that values team success over individual success is a major component of being able to win at that level consistently.
(192 words)

5. Upsets in hockey are one of the most satisfying things to see, unless your favourite team is on the wrong end of it. (I'm a Bruins fan so RIP last season) I think the most impressive upset in this season in a single series is no doubt the San Franciso Pride beating the Edmonton Blizzard in 6 games. Honourable mentions to the New England Wolfpack upsetting both the Philadelphia Forge and Buffalo Stampede in 5 and 6 games. The San Francisco Pride had finished 14th in the league this season and entered the Western Conference as underdogs in every matchup they would face. The 67 point Pride ended up going against the Edmonton Blizzard, who finished with an impressive 52 wins, won the league last season, and had 3 100+ point scorers and 2 90+ point scorers. The Pride had 3 90+ point scorers which is no slouch, but their depth was not nearly as well rounded as the Blizzard. Ending the series in 6 games is extremely impressive, blowing them out 7-2 in game 2 was a dominant performance to show that they were for real. Winning both overtime games in the series is another way San Francisco was able to grind out the series win.
(207 words)

CW Trivia Verification Word
Tentacles

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