Quote:Task 03: (Written, 3 TPE)

If you are in the SMJHL then you have been there for at least a few seasons and its likely that a promotion to the SHL is coming soon. The question is.. are you ready?..  what areas of your game do you believe are SHL ready and what areas are you concerned about?  what things are you sad to leave behind and what things are you excited about when moving to your parent club. (Must be 150 words or more)

Next season will be Gordie's first season in the SHL. He did spent 3 seasons in the SMJHL with the St. Louis Scarecrows. Although it hurts leaving such a great organization i think it is the right time to make the step and play for the New England Wolfpack in the SHL. Gordie is closing in on 700 TPE, which is enough to be a factor. He played as a sniper for the Scarecrows, but will play as a pass-first center for the New England Wolfpack, so he will train hard in the offseason on the skills required for that position, meaning he will mainly focus on passing and defense. There is a chance that Gordie could play on the second line straight away. If that is the case he will need to work on his endurance. I had a great time in St.Louis and would like to use this opportunity to thank the management for a great time and creating a perfect environment to develop as a player and person. I am excited to play for the Wolfpack alongside a great bunch of players.

Quote:Task 05: (Written, up to 6 TPE)

Pick up to 6 challenge cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth '1' TPE. Each answer must be '50' words or more.

2. A major managerial showdown is about to take place Between WKP's (Jr95, Wongy) and Calgarys (Steelhead77, C00kies) which set of GM's have the tactical/managerial advantage in this series and why?
This is a tough one. Obviously Steelhead77 has more experience than JR95 as a head GM, the difference is 16 seasons, so based solely on experience i would say Calgary has an advantage. But with that said i don't know these GMs well enough to give my opinion about this matter.
5. After trading off there best players and declaring themselves in a full rebuild back in S45, The Calgary Dragons have made it to the S47 finals.. just 2 seasons later.  Choose: ('No surprise', 'mild surprise', 'major surprise' or 'in shock') and explain why.
This is a major surprise for me. I would have thought that either the New Orleans Specters or Edmonton Blizzard would present the West in the finals. Those two teams had a better season record and have arguably a better roster. Calgary had a but of luck on their side that they didn't need to play against the Specters, because they were surprisingly knocked out by Texas.
7. The West Kendall Platoon are back in the finals after a season out of the playoffs and a team that was in serious regression Choose: ('No surprise', 'mild surprise', 'major surprise' or 'in shock') and explain why.
I have to say that this is a mild surprise for me. A surprise because i believe the Buffalo Stampede are a better team in the East. Mild though because the West Kendall Platoon really added some strong pieces before the trade deadline in various trades. They added Berezin, Bennett and Woodcroft who all clearly made an impact.
8. Star netminders Kata Vilde and Beaujeaux Biscuit have both carried there teams into the finals. Which franchise goalie has a better chance to carry their franchise to a title?
Both goalies start from scratch and looking at the numbers from the regular season i can't conclude which goalie is the better of the two. They are also very close in TPE (1366 for Vilde vs 1374 for Biscuit) so for me this is fifty-fifty. Both goalies would need some help from their defense.

Quote:Task 09: (Written, 3 TPE)

Which organization that didnt make it to the finals would you consider to be the biggest disappointment? What do you think are the main reasons why they fell short this season? (Must be 150 words or more)

This final between Calgary Dragons and West Kendall Platoon really surprised me. I think there were multiple upsets. The Edmonton Blizzard lost against Calgary Dragons again just like last season, fire and ice just don't go well together. The Buffalo Stampede didn't make it to the final despite arguably having the best roster and being the reigning champion, but the biggest disappointment for me was the early exit of the New Orleans Specters against the Texas Renegades. The reason they lost is simply a string of bad luck. They lost the opening two games against Texas despite outshooting them in both games. In the next 5 games, they outshot them again 4 times. Every game they lost was with a one goal difference, so it was just bad luck i guess. However i don't consider Texas Renegades as a top team, they showed it with 4-1 loss against Calgary in the following round, which makes the loss for the Specters even more disappointing. 

Quote:Task 11: (Written, 3 TPE)

Writers on the internet have jokingly tossed around the following playoff roster idea: "when a team eliminates another team, they get to claim a player from that eliminated team to join their roster" Pretend the SHL has adopted this rule this postseason. Pick one of the teams in the Challenge Cup final and pick any player from a team that they've eliminated to add to their roster for the finals. Why did they choose that player? How will this player help out? Where will they play in the lineup? (must be 150 words or more, *tag all players)

I will pick West Kendall Platoon for this crazy idea. I have said it before, one area the roster of West Kendall Platoon is seriously lacking is grit. They don't have many players with a lot of checking so i would most likely focus on that. West Kendall's first victim was the Chicago Syndicate. There roster doesn't have players that could seriously improve the Platoon. Luckily Chicago beat Manhattan in the Wild Card round so let's assume Chicago picked a guy like Reginald MacIntyre (@GoonerBear ) from Manhattan. He would be a good fit for the Platoon and most likely play on their first line. West Kendall's next victim where the Buffalo Stampede. Buffalo's roster has a couple of gritty players. Tatu Makela would be an option, but since they already picked up a D from Manhattan, i think they would go for center Viktor Marius (@karey) who would straight go to their first line.

Quote:TASK 13: (*CASUAL MEMBER SPECIAL* Send answer in PM, up to 3 TPE)

Its trivia time with 4 questions related to our Challenge Cup participants!

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