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)

I don't think I'm ready yet so I will spend one more season in the SMJHL, or maybe even two, depending on when Hamilton will have room for me in their lineup.

I understand that I probably won’t score a lot until I get to 1000 tpe but I don’t want to be a liability on the ice, that’s why first and foremost I will be working on my defensive game.

I will be very sad to leave Vancouver. My rookie season was the rebuild season, and Luke drafted/signed a lot of good rookies, and it’s been a lot of fun going from a team with a bright future to an actual contender. Sadly we didn’t make the finals this season but we will be very good again next season, and hopefully I can get that cup before I go up.

Hamilton seems like a great locker room, and a nice bonus is that I was drafted there along with 2 other Whalers. Our GM recently announced retooling/rebuilding so hopefully we can grow together and really make a difference in the SHL in a few seasons.

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)

New Orleans Specters, easily.

I don’t have historical data but Specters might have been one of the best possession teams ever. 
13 of 15 top corsi players in the league were Specters. Six players had corsi above 59%, truly incredible and it’s very disappointing they didn’t make it.

I bet on them in my playoff bracket and I would do it again because I believe they were the best team in the league. But the best teams don’t always win, which is what makes it fun.

Texas vs New Orleans was a hard-fought 7 game series, and 5 of 7 games were decided by 1 goal.
Specters outshot their opponent in 6 out of 7 games, and corsi in this series was 54.23 vs 45.77.
So why did they lose?

1. Great play of Walter Hobbs
Hobbs faced a lot of shots and in their wins he stopped 130 shots out of 140 (.929 sv%).

2. Special teams.
While their PP was fine, they allowed 5 PP goals on 18 opportunities (72% PK).

3. Just a bit of luck.
This was a close series, and in the end Texas won by one goal.

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.

Quote: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?

If you look at the regular season stats, it seems that Vilde is a better goalie behind a slightly worse team. Vilde has been incredibly consistent in the regular season with the lowest really bad start % in the league among starters.

However, Biscuit is absolutely on fire and he’s probably the main reason they came back after being down 1-3 vs Buffalo. This reminds me of Jonathan Quick during Kings’ cup run a few years ago, and I think WKP has the advantage in goal in this series.

Quote: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.

No surprise. WKP had the highest corsi in the league last season but they missed the playoffs because their goalie had a down year.

In my article a few weeks ago I said, “Obviously free agency and regression can change things but right now it seems that if Biscuit can bounce back from his disappointing season, Platoon will be one of the top teams next season.”

Well, Beaujeaux has bounced back, it seems that regression didn’t hurt them much and WKP added some great players at the deadline, so no surprise at all.

Quote:Breakdown this finals matchup for us, how will it play out? who will be the stars of this series, what will the outcome be? (*tag anyone involved)

Even though it didn’t convert to success with Specters, I believe that good possession teams are going to win. That’s why I’m betting on WKP.

@Insayne will lead the team offensively, @.bojo will continue his strong play, defensive defenseman @JR95 and @Thelastheraclid will shut down Dragons' offense.

I don’t think it will be a very close series but it will still take a few extra games. WKP in 6.

Quote:Which player in the finals should considered their teams playoff MVP and which should be considered their teams unsung hero thus far and why?

Well, Beaujeaux Biscuit is an obvious choice here for the team MVP. I’ve written a lot about it in this post but TLDR: Biscuit is on an incredible run right now, the kind of run that gets you the cup.

For the unsung hero I’m choosing Dani Forsberg. It’s kind of weird to choose a player who’s leading his team in scoring but I think he might have been overshadowed a bit by Beaujeaux. Forsberg has scored 10 points in 11 teams, and plays whopping 23 minutes a game. He plays both on PP and PK, so he’s been very valuable for his team.

Quote: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.

Mild surprise.

I wasn’t around 2 seasons ago but again, if you look at the corsi, Calgary Dragons have been above average both last and this season.

I am a bit surprised they made it to the finals, I think they were kind of lucky that Renegades knocked out NOLA. But Calgary is definitely not a bad team, so them making the finals is a mild surprise for me.

Quote:Task 12: (Written, 3 TPE)

Theres no path to the finals without a little bit of adversity. In 150 words or more, write about the adversity one of the teams faced on the road to the Challenge Cup Finals. (*tag anyone involed)

Well, this one is pretty easy. WKP was down 1-3 against the defending champs Buffalo Stampede (insert a random “X blew a 3-1 lead joke” here).

It was a matchup of two high-powered offenses as WKP led the league with 4.18 goals for per game in the regular season while Buffalo averaged 3.34 goals.

But interestingly enough, only 24 goals were scored in 7 games in this series, that’s under 4 goals per game. Clearly goalies were OP in this series, and 3 games were shutouts.

After losing game 4 and trailing 1-3, Beaujeaux Biscuit @.bojo allowed only 2 goals on 92 shots in the next 3 games, that’s .978 sv% for you, and game 7 was an impressive 33 save shutout.

In game 7 Buffalo had 5 PP opportunities, 15 shots on goal in the third period, but failed to score.

Stampede’s goalie Cedric Robinson @grok played very well too. He stopped 75 of 82 shots in games 5-7. That’s very good, and Buffalo probably should’ve made the finals.

But they got absolutely HALAKED.

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!

1. Who is the all time goals leader on the West Kendall Platoon?
2. Who won Calgary's Jesster Award (Team MVP) for season 46?
3. Who are the current 3 captains per there team info page (C, A and A) on the West Kendall Platoon?
4. What is the name of the stadium where the Calgary Dragons play there home games?

**Important**: Send the answers to username "PT Director" with the subject of the message titled “#Tigole-Trivia" do not send it to my personal account cause i will not look at it and you will not recieve credit for it. Do not post the answers in here cause you will not get credit for the task. [Grading: 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer]

Done