PBE PT

Task 01: (Written, 3 TPE)
You are at the airport awaiting a flight to meet back up with your team after spending the day being honoured as a 'Hometown Hero' in the place where you grew up! Tell us about your day... what did they have planned for you? Who did you see there? What were you given? How did it turn out? ... In 150 words or more, tell us all about this big moment as hometown hero.

Have you seen the episode of Parks and Recreation where Ben Wyatt goes back to his hometown for what he thinks is a ceremony to honor him but it turns out the town still hates him and they just invited him back to make fun of him some more for his big mistakes earlier on? Well, Manuel going back to his hometown was nothing like that! Everyone there actually loves him for really embodying the German hockey player mentality of drinking a lot, checking everyone you come across on the ice, and occasionally scoring goals if need be. Going back to Germany in general is awesome for him and he and the rest of the German IIHF team always have a blast. In his hometown in particular he loves to see his mom and get some homecooked meals, as well as try to avoid his on-again off-again fling with the neighbor girl that still lives there.

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.
6. Which young players in this series (S42-S47) have a chance to break out and make a name for themselves here in the Challenge Cup Finals? (*Tag that player)

Hard to believe Maxime Bouchard @Weretarantula was a rookie this season for the Dragons with their performance this playoffs. Maxime is clearly not a physical presence for the team, but putting up 3 goals and 8 assists is a really big contribution for a young player to make and a strong indicator of future success despite the team's ultimately disappointing finish.

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)

The Specters lived up their names and were a truly spooky team to play against this season, headlined by top scorers DeMaricus Smyth and Piotr Czerkawski among others. It must have been devastating for such a strong team to get bounced in the first round of the playoffs this season to a Renegades squad that just wasn't up to their standards during the regular season. Honestly one of the main reasons for their demise was just bad luck, losing 2 games in overtimes only losing by 1 goal each time. They scored 3 more goals than the Renegades in the series which is pretty ridiculous for a losing side. The aforementioned DeMaricus and particularly Piotr struggled much more so than during the season, and I'm sure that played some part in the tough defeats, but the slack seemed to have been picked up by SHL legends Oisin Fletcher and Joe Kurczewksi such that I wouldn't have expected them to drop the series. It is a heartbreaking and disappointing way to end the season, but I expect a lot out of this team going forward.

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)

It's tough to say West Kendall has any weaknesses after the beating they put on Calgary, but it is pretty clear that if anything could be helped, it would be a physical presence on defense. Luckily for them, they defeated Buffalo this playoffs in a hard-fought series, and Buffalo has a few players that fit that description to a T. The best of those couldn't actually make the swap because he's a GM, but I'm still gonna go ahead and say Tatu Makela @WannabeFinn would've been the best choice for West Kendall to add. Makela is amazing at almost everything at this point in his career, and adding someone that can check opponents into next week, defend the goal, and still put one into the back of the net or pass it off to a teammate with precision would've been huge for West Kendall to perform even better in the finals. He would've been an excellent first line defenseman pairing with Ludwig Koch Schroder.

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

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