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TASK 1: (Written, 3 TPE)
Choose one team in the series and talk about the steps they took to make the finals. Was it a free agent signing, or an MVP player, or trades, etc. Must be 150 words.

The St. Louis Scarecrows path to the finals went thru their nemesis the Vancouver Whalers. The team that ended their hopes and dreams of a 4 Star Cup last season in 5 games. Right from the get go, it looked like the Whalers were going to dominate their old foe quickly jumping out to a 2 games to zero lead in the series. St. Louis fought back and took game three, but immediately dropped game 4, which put the Crows back against the wall. 3 Elimination games, 3 hard fought victories, as the Crows finally dispatched Vancouver in 7. Which leads us to the 4 Star Cup against Colorado. A surprise, some may say, that the Raptors took down the top seeded Falcons, but they found a way to scrap their way to the finals. Reflecting back on the season, if the Scarecrows end up hoisting the 4 Star Cup, a savvy trade deadline move by St. Louis's GM Joe K may be the deciding factor. Clearly in a win now mode, the Crows traded for the Raptors best two players, Alex Winters and Phillip Winter. These two, after the bumpy 6 game losing streak to start off their Crows career, have been nothing short of spectacular. Adding much needed depth on an already stacked team, taking away the best two players on a team you wind up playing against in the finals may be too much to over come.


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TASK 3: (Written, 3 TPE)
In 150 words or more write about the top highlight of your season. whether it be your first goal, your first hat trick, first shutout, clinching playoffs, getting a career high in something, etc. Must be hockey related.

Nicky Pedersen Jr's career in St. Louis has been one of ups and downs. During his rookie seasons, it took him about 15 games to register a point, the people are the water cooler were whispering "BUST". He finally got it going ended up with a solid 20+ point season. Followed up that with a 40 point sophomore year, and an appearance in the 4-Star Cup, which unfortunately was a loss. Coming into his third season, Pedersen had one goal, win the 4 Star Cup. Well he's getting his chance to do that, but along the way, he had some amazing successes this year. Including his first ever Hat Trick! Game 9 on the season, St. Louis v. Kelowna - The game turned out to be an old time hockey special, with the Scarecrows winning 8 to 5. Right off the bat, the Crows took it to the Knights, going up 4 to 0 11 minutes into the game. However, the Knights would not back down, they capitalized with 3 goals in a span of 1 minutes and 40 seconds. sending the game to a 4-3 score after the first. The Knights tied it up and took the lead 5-4 at 7 minutes of the 2nd period. Thats when Nicky Pedersen made his presence known. Tying the game back up at 5 at the 9 minute mark, then putting the Scarecrows ahead for good 7 minutes later to end the 2nd period up 6-5. Pedersen put a cherry on top with his hat trick goal 6 minutes into the 3rd. Truely a magical night for Pedersen, finishing with 3 Goals on 5 shots, a +3, with 4 hits. He knew it was going to be a good year finishing up with 20 G & 20 A for the Scarecrows.

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TASK 4: (*CASUAL MEMBER SPECIAL* Send answer in PM, 3 TPE)
Question: Before the start of the game little tammy threw 4 reese's peanut butter cups on the ice. 2 of them were skated over and crushed! (Ohhh No!!!)... how many peanut butter cups were NOT skated over?

PM Sent


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TASK 6: (Written, 3 TPE)
In an effort to improve the product, the league has asked an outside source to look over the playoff lineups and determine which teams could have performed better.. Come up with a new set of lines for one of the teams eliminated in the playoffs, and explain why you made the choices you did. Must be at least 150 words.

Looking back on the Calgary Dragons unsuccessful playoff run, I would say that while Esa is a master of putting a team together, he trusts himself to put the best team on the ice in every situation. With the puck luck going against the team, I always wished that he would make the smallest of changes, to see if it would work in his favor. In S38 when Pedersen Sr. was struggling, I begged him to switch him from one wing to the other. Eventually he did, and the results were amazing. However the playoffs are a different animal, its hard to justify making changes when there is no room for error. So if I could set the lines. for the dragons:
1. C- Joe K LW - Augustus RW - Linna -
2. C - Izzy LW Hunter Jones RW Esa
3. C -Mack LW McGavin RW Kennedy
4. C- Izzy LW McGavin RW Joe K
Defence stays the same:
Goalies - Kata Vilde
The biggest change would be swapping Joe K & Izzy on the 1st and 2nd Line. When I played in LA as a young pup, Wasty used to play Pedersen on the first Line, and have a higher TPE center on line 2. I think that it may generate a small advantage, while not giving up much having the Hall of Famer Joe K anchoring the first line.

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Task 8: (Written, 3 TPE)
Pick up to 3 topics below to write about! Each topic is worth '1' TPE. Each answer must be 50 words or more.

1. Between both rosters, create an all 4 Star Cup starting lineup! (D, D, F, F, F, G) and in 50 words or more explain alittle about your selections.
F Bernard Freeman -STL- Dude has been a stud in the playoffs 9 points in 7 games with 4 goals including 2 Game Winning Goals.
F Nicholas Williams - STL - 8 points in the playoffs in 7 games. The Captain of the Crows. Wining over 50% of his faceoffs, and threw in a game tying goal in the first series.
F Nicky Pedersen Jr. - STL - Gritty Power Forward. leading the team in hits with 12 in the 7 game series. Can change the game on either side of the ice. Comes from a family of winners. Son of 5 time Challenge Cup Champion: Nicholas Pedersen.
D Kiki Rytmeyr - STL - Game Changer on the back end. Plays the toughest minutes against the other teams best players.
D Cassius Darrow - COL - Having an outstanding playoffs with 10 Assists in 12 games.
G Scottey Crawfling - COL - 8-4 record going into the finals with a .918 save percentage and a 2.39 GAA. Definitely playing at a higher level than his counterpart. But Cain is streaky, and has won 3 in a row, but since Crawfling has won two series, he gets the nod in this one.

2. Which GM in the finals do you believe has the tactical/Managerial advantage and why? - Joe K. hands down is the puppet master that will be leading the Crows to the 4 Star Cup. Savvy dealing during the season, brought Colorado's two best players on to an already stacked team. It's been tough to find the right chemistry between the lines, but with the Crows backs against the wall, Joe found a combination that not only worked, but excelled. Erasing a 3 games to 1 defect to the defending champions Vancouver.
3. Between Beaujeaux Biscuit and Artom Zhumbayev which star goalie has the advantage over the other in this series?
Both goalies have been spectacular leading up to the finals, or there team would be in this position. I am going to give the nod to Beaujeaux Biscuit in the tightest of races, simply because he has had two shutout victories in the playoffs, while Zhumbayev has not had any. The difference between the two is so thing, that the decision is simply because Beaujeaux had the clean sheets.