Task 1:
After a fun day of traveling and seeing the sites Utica, Julio boards his limousine for the two-hour ride to the nearest airport, Albany. It was a beautiful gray day, with oppressive humidity and was the perfect taste of home that Tokolosh had been craving. To get the full experience, Julio arrived by Train, the way his family had decades before. He went to get a haircut at his old barbershop and take pictures with fans and promote the Utica Comets hockey club. Julio’s Spanish had not improved, so his haircut was just as bad as it was growing up, but he said “Gracias” to the barber and then moved on to the next venue.

In the evening, the mayor held a thank you speech and presented the key to the city to a flattered Julio. Because the gray snow still hadn’t been plowed yet, attendance was minimal.

Julio then met up with some of his old school buddies to enjoy some wings and then go to a Utica Rollergirls match and enjoy the competition. The outing was a little watered down as a slew of children in monster-energy drink hats wanted to take pictures with Julio and make gang signs, but keeping the youth interested in simulated hockey is what keeps the league thriving. He won’t be returning until mid- July to train and rest.


Task 3:
Playing my junior seasons in Colorado, I have been blessed with a close locker room and all of the excitement that a rookie could ask for. There are franchises that pride themselves on churning out championships. And yes, I would like to win a Four-Star in my time down in the J, but what I’m most proud of is being an active part of the rebuild and culture change towards a winning team. I am glad that I have more than a passive role on a championship team.

In regards to moving to the SHL, the team that I will be joining has just announced the retirement of a healthy chunk of its core. Segueing one rebuild into the next is something that I am ready to commit to. While I am confident in my build, I believe it is a long way away from being to contribute at the level that I would like to. My defensive responsibility is something that I take pride in and in my opinion it needs heavy improvement.

My strengths and weakness need tweaking as well. I feel right now I am capable of great endurance when in reality, I might only need “good” endurance.


Task 5:
1 - The West Kendall Platoon are the most defensively sound franchise in the league. The boast impressive defensive statistics, and have for the last few seasons. This defensive prowess all begins with their goaltender, Beaujeaux Biscuit @.bojo. Whatever deal with the devil he made, it has given him a .950 save percentage through 11 games of the postseason. At under 1.5 goals allowed on average and 4 shutouts (including in an elimination game), Biscuit is a clear playoff MVP.

2 - The statistical edge goes to the West Kendall Platoon in terms of management, but my heuristics say that the Calgary Dragons are very close. As a younger player with less long term observations, One of the easiest players to find in SHL lore is the previous build of @Steelhead77. With a handful of scoring titles of his own, and with the current TPE leader @Mike Izzy on the roster, the Calgary front office definitely has an eye for talent. 


5 - I would label this as a mild surprise for me. They recently entered rebuild mode, but did so responsibly and treated it less like a rebuild, and more like a "catch our breath" phase. Their stellar GM's sparked the rebuild with Steehlhead's recreate of a historic great forward, but were still able to keep other productive parts of their core. As their new core is still on the rise (save for a few in their peak), I expect the expert contract and trade negotiations from the GM's to carry this team and keep them relevant for a while as the new core is established.

6 - West Kendall's Rex Kirby @Acsolap has thrived as a top defender. At the trade deadline, the Platoon were in an interesting spot in regards to the future of the defensive core. They opted to trade future stud Tony Ford for proven point getter Sophia Bennett. While this trade has paid off immediately, a hardworking and heavily contributing young defensive piece was lost, and as contracts get rehashed in the coming seasons, their is going to be significant pressure on Kirby to maintain his superior play. 

7 - I would color this turnaround as “major surprise”. While they’ve had a solid core for seasons, there is a lot of parity within their division. Their top contributors like Forsberg, Koch Schroder, and the newly acquired rental piece Jesus have been firing on all cylinders, but that isn’t enough to guarantee a cup run. Their moves at the deadline to acquire Bennett, Berezin, and Woodcroft were very risky and mortgaged their future. However, if they are able to pull it off, they will attract talent for seasons to come won't think twice about trading an up-and-comer for what will then be seen as a guaranteed trophy.

8 - Beaujeaux Biscuit has a better chance between the two goalies. With a .950 postseason and 4 shutouts thus far, Biscuit has played incredibly consistently and has shown no signs of slowing down, nor has the defense in front of him. Kata Vilde has played impressively as well, but Beaujeax’s current streak is the best that my young eyes have ever witnessed in the SHL postseason.


Task 7:
The National Anthems play a role in establishing the atmosphere and setting the tone for the game to come. With a split nationality event, “O, Canada” and “The Star-Spangled Banner” will be played at every game. Each franchise has gone out of their way to make their first hometown anthem an extravaganza of local and national pride.

West Kendall, a suburb of Miami Florida, weighed the likeness’s of Kid Rock (too Detroit) and Pitbull (too worldwide) before settling on Uncle Luke. His local stylings and Miami pride were symbols of sass and success during Miami’s prior athletic runs and his kick drums and whistles laid over the United States of America’s national anthem are just what the Platoon need to get the crowd and country going.

Calgary’s franchise and marketing team had selected local artist Jann Arden until they found out about West Kendall’s selection of Uncle Luke. After the news of the upbeat throwback selection, Calgary took the cowards way out and has hired RUSH.





Task 9:
The Edmonton Blizzard were in a sweet spot to win a second Challenge cup within 3 seasons but ultimately finished a with a more disappointing outcome than they needed to. Their roster was a bit lopsided, but the talent was there, and they understood that a healthy chunk of their core intended to retire at the end of the season. A mercenary winger was brought in to round out the second line, and the defensive core and top 6 played phenomenally, carrying them to the conference championship. Unfortunately, the run ended there, and they were unable to get a jump start on the offseason by selling off parts of the dying star. They were just a few bounces and a tad bit of puck luck away from the finals. No one in the locker room regrets going for it instead of selling the shop, but like the Columbus Bluejackets, their impending rebuild will be dampened. As a member of the locker room, I am proud that the gang went for it all. every team loses but one, and intentionally taking calculated losses is not how you keep a locker room close and tight-knit.