Brady's day back in his hometown was great! He never thought that so many people would be excited to meet him, especially since he grew up just like a normal kid in his hometown of Grand Haven, MI. There was a skate with McIntyre open skate planned at the local rink along with an autograph signing, then there was a huge picnic downtown where Brady helped out with sizing and handing out skates for kids to play street hockey with on the main street downtown.

After the picnic he finally had a chance to head home to see his parents for a little bit and hang out with his old high school pals and have a nice board game night with the rest of his family.

Overall it was probably one of the best days that he'll get to enjoy all summer, especially when you consider that immediately the next day he was back to working out and working on his puck skills. Can't stop won't stop.

1. The finals matchup between West Kendall and Calgary is going to be a pretty close one. West Kendall is definitely a top 3 team in the league right now and Calgary proved themselves by getting to the finals. I have to say though that I'm fairly sure that West Kendall is going to take another Challenge Cup. @Mike Izzy and @Slappydoodle are doing a great job of carrying the rest of their team, but I think West Kendall's depth is just a little stronger than Calgary's.
3. It's really difficult to choose one player from West Kendall that is their MVP because they have so many contributing players going into the finals like Crossfit Jesus @CFJ with 8 goals and 16 points, Dani Forsberg @Insayne with 6 goals and 15 points, Gabriel Wong @Wongy with 4 goals and 14 points, and Sophia Bennett @goilers with 5 goals and 13 points. If I had to choose an MVP I'd choose Sophia Bennett because she has a good number of points, but also leads the team in hits with 39. My unsung hero would be @damienj10 Dayymo Ralchankinov who has been carrying the 3rd forward line with 3 goals and 5 points. He's an exception 3 line center.
4. I think difference maker in this series is Crossfit Jesus. The MVP in my opinion may be Sophia Bennett, but Crossfit Jesus came in and made the players around him much better. That's something not every player can do and that sometimes goes unnoticed but is by far one of the most valuable things in hockey.
5. I have to go with 'major surprise'. Calgary definitely still has some awesome players like Mike Izzy, Kata Vilde, and Otis B. Driftwood, but looking at other teams, especially New Orleans, it seems like they just don't quite have the depth that a cup contending team should. Simon T. gonna Simon T. I guess.
7. I have to go with no surprise for West Kendall. Yes they had a rough season of regression, but they acquired some very good players at the deadline to offset that and added more depth to their team in doing so (which I think is more valuable that having extremely good top end players).
8. When it comes to Beaujeaux Biscuit and Kata Vilde the two are about as good as each other in the net (which is nothing less than elite), so I think it's going to come down to the skaters rather than the goaltenders. Because of that I think that as long as Beaujeaux Biscuit stands up to Kata Vilde in net, he'll be the goaltender that comes out on top.

Of all the teams that didn't make the Challenge Cup finals this season, the New Orleans Specters are probably the biggest disappointment. You could argue that Buffalo is a bigger one because their team may be better, but West Kendall is nearly as good as Buffalo, New Orleans on the other hand was the clear favorite over Calgary and they fell entirely short. With players like Oisin Fletcher, Roman Augustus, Clint Eastwood, Vasily Horvat, Adam Kaiser, Karl Hefeweizen, and Joe Kurczewski being top end talents in regression along with Richard Physt, DeMaricus Smyth, Patrick Brumm Jr. and Julian O'Sullivan all one season from regression as well the Specters' time as contenders is definitely limited. The fact that they weren't able to make it to the finals this season has to be wearing on management. They aren't done just yet, but things are only going to get more difficult from here on out.

My guess is that they fell short because their defense just isn't top notch anymore. The Specters' best defenseman Richard Physt definitely isn't some slouch, but with scoring being his weakness, while he still has a good shot, he's spent a considerable about of time improving it at the expense of other important things like skating, puck handling and strength. They may need to shore up their defense rather than focusing so much on offense in the future.

The Calgary Dragons faced a lot of adversity on their way to the Challenge Cup Finals. To start with the first team that they faced was the Edmonton Blizzard, a long time conference rival and the top team in their shared division during the season. The Blizzard challenged the the Dragons' offense with what is easily a top three defense in the league with players like Brady McIntyre, Tor Tuck, Connor Tanner, Ensio Kalju and Chippy Chiclets and Tommy Tuck in net behind them. After dispatching the Blizzard they had to deal with the Renegades. Although the Renegades are a playoff team, they're one that I don't really see as having an identity. Garrett, Karlsson and Jensen are good centers down the middle and their top pair defense is very productive offensively. Still, the Dragons took care of the Renegades in just 5 games. Finally they would have to fave the West Kendall Platoon, one of the top 3 teams in the entire SHL in my opinion.