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IceeBreaksTheSHL · 01-23-2025, 10:05 PM

WRITTEN 8: San Francisco. The city Hannah's agent lives in. The city that's known for producing basketball and baseball dynasties. It all started with the San Francisco Giants in 2010, 2012. and 2014. Then the torch passed on to the Golden State Warriors, a more dominant dynasty, winning in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2022. And now, the city of San Francisco has a chance to add hockey to its list. Although they haven't heard of football in a while, the San Francisco Pride is the Bay's best team in hockey right now. The Pride were once a laughingstock in the SHL until they found ways to fight and turn themselves into Challenge Cup contenders. Before their two cups, the San Jose Sharks made a Stanley Cup in 2016 and lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 6 games. Since then, everyone has forgotten about it. The Pride has the chance to do something special, and this cup would mean a lot to the diehard fans in the Bay Area. Everyone, including the players, coaches, up to the owner worked hard to build this good roster for this Dynasty in the Making. They just got to win one more cup, and their legacy will be cemented in SHL history, forever.

Vrain · 01-23-2025, 10:05 PM

1. Verification word: Spiffy
3TPE

7. Who you got? Who wins the Challenge Cup or Four Star Cup? Why?

The Four Star Coup matchup between Quebec City and Carolina should be a great matchup, and could be a tight one. While Quebec finished at the top of the league and lead all other teams in most stat categories, Carolina was right behind them all season. Carolina had the edge in a few key defensive stats, including goals against, shots against, and giveaways. They will depend on that stifling defense and possible rookie of the year goalie Honza Havran to shut down a powerhouse Citadel offence led by Cristoforo Roccamontepiano and Randolph Thompson-Smythe. My prediction is a Carolina Kraken victory in 7 close games.

104 words
2TPE

PBE Affiliate

3TPE

8/8 TPE

jason97 · 01-23-2025, 10:22 PM

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.

Verification: raptors
+3 TPE

Code:
12. Written, 50 to 200+ words. IIHF Back To Back

IIHF tournament is so short that every point is very important for the seeding for the playoffs. On top of that the playoffs are best of one making upsets more likely than during the league playoffs. Despite all that Canada did win the last two IIHF tournaments. Latvia, Switzerland and Czechia made up the rest of the top 4 for last season. Which of the last season’s top 4 teams you think is most likely to make it to the medal games this season and which is most likely to miss? Why? 

With the IIHF being such an unpredictable tournament every season, it's hard to call which teams will make it to the medal rounds. Taking Canada out of this because they are too strong and will likely win it again, I think Czechia has the best chance to repeat as one of the top 4 teams. Led by Dominik Winters, who seems to always up their game in the tournament, they boast a powerful core that knows how to win games in this format. They have a great mix of up-and-coming stars as well as seasoned veterans, including Five-Hole Sieve between the pipes. As for the team likeliest to drop out of the top 4, I would say Switzerland. They are in that period where the roster is full of mostly older and declining players, while their young players are yet to be developed enough to crack the roster and make an impact. I think the only way they advance is if Tibuk Soonika has a strong tournament.

[167 words]
+3 TPE

Code:
14. Written, 50 to 200+ words.- The Procrastinator Special!

Looks like [TEAM] won Season 80 Challenge Cup! So who won and why? What could the other team have done differently to change the result? What was your favorite part of the series?

The San Francisco Pride go back-to-back after winning the cup in 6 games versus the Tampa Bay Barracuda. This series was much tighter than last season, the Barracuda even led the series 2-1 after three games. The turning point of the series was Robin Nyckel's overtime winner in game 4, giving the Pride the momentum to take the series home. Both teams were evenly matched but the high-powered Pride just had too much for Tampa Bay. The veterans like Logan Webb, Sydney Shaw, and Oskar Scholz took over the last few games. I don't think Tampa Bay could've played any better, every player would've had to play at their highest level to win this series. Ultimately, it was an incredible watch with these two great teams.

[126 words]
+2 TPE

8/8 TPE

***EmoLeBron*** · 01-23-2025, 10:56 PM

GM Pass

Dash · 01-23-2025, 10:56 PM

CW Trivia: Dash +3 TPE

Affiliate Claim: PBE +3 TPE

**JamesT** · 01-23-2025, 11:08 PM

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.

BTS +3

Code:
Written, 50 to 200+ words each. Short Prompts

2. Sydney Shaw has an incredible 6 powerplay goals leading the league this playoffs by 3x any other player, as a defenseman no less! Is there something San Francisco is doing differently to make Shaw a power play sniper?

3. A total of 5 goals separates SFP and TBB’s goal differentials. The difference? SFP has 17 goals from Logan Webb with most of his teammates just feeding him puck while TBB has no player besides 1 to have less than 2 goals scored this playoffs. Which team’s strategy is more likely to pay off in these finals and why?

2. I'm not knowledgeable enough in FHM to know why SFP's Sydney Shaw has been a goal scoring machine on the PP as a defencemen, in my experience (and from what I've seen throughout FHM 8) offense from defencemen is hard to come by and to see them lead the league in playoffs from PP goals as a defencemen is interesting to see. SFP probably is running a high shooting slider and a shooting PP strategy in their tactics is what I'm assuming. If it's been working thus far, SFP should keep using this powerplay setup and keep feeding them the puck since they have a knack to score while on the powerplay.

(112 words) +2

3. I've said this before in past prompts, but having a balanced offense is the key (especially in the playoffs) because teams are more inclined to line match and shut down the top offensive threats from the opposing team. TBB is going to look to put their key shutdown players against SFP's Logan Webb and their line. Since TBB rolls their lines and does not have one dominant player supplying the offense, it will be hard for SFP to line match and shut down TBB's top offensive powerhouses. However, SFP has a deep enough lineup where they can safely roll their 3 lines and not worry about who is out there on the ice. I would give the edge in this case to TBB, however I did pick SFP to win the cup in my playoff bracket so my heart wants SFP to prove me wrong here. SFP will need to find other players besides Logan Webb to score (perhaps Sydney Shaw who has been feasting on the PP).

(168 words) +3

Total: 8/8 TPE

***Leafs4ever*** · 01-23-2025, 11:25 PM

HO Pass

Guy Incognito - D - #24
Tampa Bay Barracuda
Season 81
0-0-0
Regular Season - [G 0] [A 0] [Pts 0] [+/- 0] [PIM 0] [Hits 0] [SB 0]

***Vandy*** · 01-23-2025, 11:35 PM

CW Pass like a Boss

***yosh*** · 01-23-2025, 11:55 PM

SMJHL GM PASS

**leafsftw1967** · 01-24-2025, 02:03 AM

1. CW TRIVIA (3 tpe)
Verification word: go leafs

7. Who you got? Who wins the Challenge Cup or Four Star Cup? Why? (1 tpe)
For the season eighty Challenge Cup finals between the Tampa Bay Barracuda and the San Francois Pride I have to go with the San Francois Pride in a close series. I chose the San Francois Pride because they have made the finals for two seasons in a row now and has won the cup twice in the last five seasons so how can you bet against them.

10. The Unexpected (4 tpe)
It was a shock to me that the Toronto North Stars ended up making it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals after only making it into the playoffs by one point while Atlanta had the best regular season since S71 Winnipeg and did not make it to the Eastern Conference Finals. Slava Ukraini Heroyam Slava addressed the team after a heartbreaking game seven loss in the Eastern Conference finals of the SHL playoffs saying: “What a run everyone being one win away from the finals is absolutely incredible. I will admit I was down on the team after a rough regular season and the retirements/trade at the deadline but this was one of the most fun playoffs.” The Toronto North Stars had Lassie a 1,740 tpe player retired, 1,720 tpe defenseman Physt was traded at the deadline, 1,940 tpe defenseman Lighting will be leaving free agency and Mac is stepping down from Toronto general manager and leaving the team. With all of these moves that sent the team into a suspected rebuild on top of a ten million dollar salary cap fine you think Toronto would have rolled over and died in the first round of the playoffs but they surprised the world.

Renomitsu · 01-24-2025, 07:16 AM

1. Verification Word: vagabond [up to +3]

3. Personally, I think Logan Webb’s crazy number of goals by himself is the most impressive of the bunch, and probably the hardest to counter. Unless you think every team in the league has chosen to ignore a strategy that targets the Pride’s #1 goal scorer, Webb’s chosen to simply ignore all strategies and just score like a maniac. I think Tampa Bay’s defense is excellent – they beat my Atlanta Inferno, after all – but if you have that much of a game-breaker it’s kind of hard to deny. I think it’s equally frustrating, perhaps, that TBB has such a well rounded offense because then you don’t really have a ‘focal point’ on the opposing offense you can try to shut down, but the solution is just “hey, play good defense overall” as opposed to “try and stop this one guy that literally nobody else can stop.” One feels manageable, the other feels inevitable. Nobody else even has more than 12 goals as of writing this prompt, and while there are few others who have over 25 points (a few centers and Sydney Shaw, a defender), none of them are particularly close to his number of goals, and they’re all at least five points behind. What do you even do against that? [210, +4]

8. I think some will point to San Francisco’s excellent drafting, thoughtful GMing, and commitment from their players to max earn and make their builds complementary to one another – and I think those are all valid ways to construct a very good team which may hold true for the Pride. However, I think the true answer is evil magic, the likes of which have only been brought out in dire situations via deals with devils in the Medieval and Dark ages. [80, +1]

***Benpachi*** · 01-24-2025, 09:32 AM

GM CW Pass

***Figgy*** · 01-24-2025, 09:33 AM

CW pass

Credit to Ragnar and Enigmatic for the great Signatures

rtguys · 01-24-2025, 10:21 AM

1. Completed

dankoa · 01-24-2025, 10:31 AM

8. Written, 50 to 200+ words. Dynasty in the Making
San Francisco has made the finals for two seasons in a row now and has won the cup twice in the last 5 seasons with a chance to make it 3. What has made San Francisco so successful? Is it immaculate drafting? Coaching? Hard work from each of their players? All of the above? Should teams learn from SFP and emulate what they’ve done to get their time in the limelight?

I think the success we've seen from SFP has followed more or less the same recipe for any dynasty you see in professional sports; a nucleus of elite playing talent, combined with a competent front office that is able to maintain the roster and bring in the necessary talent to support the star players, and a competent and switched on coaching staff that is constantly innovating and clear on what they expect. You look at the star power of the likes of Sydney Shaw, Dominik Winters and Logan Webb and you've got the start of the equation, add in their coaching staff and front office and you're more or less set for success in this league. The thing that needs to be emphasised is doing what the Pride have done is very hard to do and does not happen very often; it takes the right combination of skill, talent, dedication and luck which is incredibly hard to replicate, and I think every team would try to do it if they could. I don't know how long San Francisco are going to be able to maintain this trajectory, but I think if they win this Challenge Cup they're well and truly in the dynasty territory and that'll help them keep as much of their roster intact as possible going into the future.

Code:
221 words

4/8

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