1:
It's no trouble at all for Alexis Metzler to detail what happens when he returns home to North Dakota- after all, he does it every off-season (after a round about sailing trip through the Great Lakes). He grew up in two places; firstly, in the tiny little town of Minnewaukan, in the north east of the state; this is where his wider family comes from. However, his dad mostly had work in the state capital of Bismarck, so he spent about the same length of his childhood there, too.

When he goes to Minnewaukan, the entire town shows up to greet him, and there'll be a Hobbiton style banquet next to the lake. When Alexis Metzler won the Challenge Cup, he chartered a small plane to make absolutely certain he could spend his day with the cup in Minnewaukan.

When he goes to Bismarck, there's more media around, along with an interview and a photoshoot with whatever local politicians have managed to wrangle their way into the photographs. There'll also be a charity event, and he's always certain to make sure he can be at a skills camp for local junior hockey players from around North Dakota.

5
(1):
I think the big stars in this series are going to be the defensemen. On West Kendall's side, we have Ludwig Koch Schroder; Schroder is the defending Stevens trophy winner (at last), and an absolute monster. He's not always been super consistent, but he has the power to dominate a series. On Calgary's side, we have Otis B Driftwood, who is an upstart that will be contending for the Stevens trophy himself this season. He has the power to spark Calgary into action. I think whichever team's 1D has a stronger series will win the series.

(2):
There isn't a shadow of a doubt that Calgary will have the managerial advantage in this series. Esa has been there, done that, and consistently shown that he, more than almost any other GM in the league, has the ability to get the most out of his lines. The tricky bit, of course, is the fact that West Kendall has literally every other advantage there is, so it might not count for enough.

(4):
After the conference final round, it's hard not to pin goaltender Beaujeaux Biscuit of the West Kendall Platoon as the guy most likely to make a difference. He's probably the best goalie in the league right now. He's stolen several games during both prior series that West Kendall have played these playoffs, and I expect him to steal more.

(5):
I have only mild surprise that Calgary are already all the way back here. The Western Conference isn't that great right now. Winnipeg and Minnesota are at the nadir of rebuilds; Edmonton and Los Angeles are both declining much faster than expected. Texas is woefully inconsistent and San Francisco isn't there yet. That just leaves New Orleans as the one team that should have flogged Calgary... who then themselves disastrously fell to Texas and never even got to face Calgary. The fall of New Orleans is the only surprising part about Calgary making the Challenge Cup Final.

7:
Traditionally, when picking national anthem singers, a team will seek to have local talent represent their city, and pick a different artist for each game played. West Kendall will have four home games, tops; Calgary will have three. That's how many artists each team needs to have on standby to sing national anthems.

For West Kendall, you'd pick Miami musicians. I'd start with Pitbull; everyone loves Pitbull, except for the people who do not love Pitbull, who are assholes. Then I would have DJ Khaled, just to forcibly prove for once and for all that DK Khaled cannot sing. I would be generous and offer Jason Derulo an opportunity to sing for game five, and then game seven can have someone proper and take acclaimed tenor William Burden.

For Calgary, I've spent 20 minute searching and failed to see a single name on Wikipedia that I recognize. They can just have whoever shows up and asks to sing.

9:
The biggest disappointment for any organization that failed to make the Challenge Cup Finals was Buffalo. They didn't really do anything wrong, here; they had an even stronger team than last season, due to the relative youth of the squad, and they had it all coming together in the playoffs, too. I think I would take a look at certain names on their back end; Alexis Metzler and Charles Walker are getting older, and the Stampede need to make absolutely certain that they're still capable of playing 24 minutes a night. They also need to consider moving on from Samuel Jalopski, who is not panning out as expected. On the front end, Oliver Konig is on the older side, but not really slowing down yet; what Buffalo needs to do instead is make sure their large collection of rookies is getting the development they need- especially Selich, Sharp and Darrow, who all have the potential of becoming great players.

13:
Sent