Task 1: 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.

Sitting back in the Prague airport, my trip back to Pardubice was a good experience. I was asked to return home for a day honoring all the successful players to make it to the SHL My part of the day was short, I gave a speech to some school children, showed off my Jesster Trophy, my 4 Star Cup ring and my WJC Gold Medal. While the reception wasn’t quite what we had received when we brought that trophy home, it was good fun and the people of Pardubice seemed very proud of all of our successes and the glory we had brought the city and to our great country. I missed being home, it had been a while since I had visited. With spending most of my time in Manhattan or following my wife to wherever her shows and movies were shooting, I didn’t realize how long it had been. We did get a sandwich named after us at the sandwich shop in the center of town, the Pardubice Pride. I wasn’t paying attention when they announced what was on it, but it’s cool to have a sandwich named after you nonetheless. (193 Words)

Task 5:

5-1.      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)
 
The biggest matchup in this one is going to be in goal to me. In almost every series in the playoffs this year (at least in the East), you’ve seen the team with the hot goalie move on. Chicago over Manhattan, West Kendall over Chicago and then West Kendall over Buffalo to get to this point. Whichever team is going to win is going to have to rely on their goalie to put them over the top. @.bojo @BarnabasCollins (77 Words)

5-2.         A major managerial showdown is about to take place Between WKP's (Jr95, Wongy) and Calgarys (Steelhead77, C00kies) which set of GM's have the tactical/managerial advantage in this series and why?
 
Tough matchup coaching wise for sure here, and I think both of these teams have had recent enough success to say that this is going to be a war in the finals. I would give the slight edge to JR and Wongy because of the way WKP dominated in the playoffs to this point and I think their advantage shows in the playoff hockey that they have been playing. This is not a knock on Steelhead and Cookies, but WKP seems to be on another level right now. (88 words)

5-4.       Which player do you believe will be the differance maker in their franchise winning the title here in S47?
 
I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: goaltending is key here. Some teams can find a way to score their way out of trouble in games with soft goaltending, but for the majority of the league, having that consistent goalie who is comfortable on the backend is absolutely critical for putting a winning team on the ice. For Calgary, that means they’ll need Vilde to step up and find another level in the Final here. For West Kendall, Biscuit needs to maintain the way that he is playing and if he can do that, West Kendall will have a great chance to win the Challenge Cup. (109 Words)

5-5.       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.
 
This is the exact opposite of a surprise. The Dragons still maintained one of the best two way players in the game with Mike Izzy and then bringing up their talented young starter in Vilde gives them a chance to compete for the foreseeable future. Good goaltending goes a long way and I think Vilde gives them that steady presence on the backend, which should allow them to compete for a reasonably long time. (74 Words)

5-7.       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.

Why are people surprised by this? If they are, they certainly shouldn’t be. Last season was a surprising finish for the Platoon, finishing out of the playoffs, not them being back in the Final. For me, West Kendall is one of those model franchises that them not making the playoff is an aberration. As long as they have Biscuit in net and guys like Forsberg up front, they’ll be a threat every year. (73 words)

5-8.       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?

It’s hard to bet against Biscuit, his ability to steal a game is truly up there with the best in the league. However, for one of the two goalies to carry their team to a championship, it would have to be Vilde. While I think that Biscuit is the better goalie, he also has the better roster in front of him. Vilde will have to be the best player on the ice in this series if the Dragons want to win and therefore, he will have to carry them to the win if its either goalie. (96 words)

Task 7:  You have been given the responsibility of organizing the National Anthem(s) for both teams in the Challenge Cup Finals. With the entire world watching the league feels its imperative that who ever you choose really encapsulates the persona of the team and their fanbase. In 150 words or more, let us know who you chose for both teams, why you believe they represent that franchise and anything notable about their performance,, IE outfits, accompaniment, etc.
 
So I have learned in my brief research for this that Calgary is almost entirely devoid of musical talent that grew up in the area, so their singer for Game 3 of the Challenge Cup Final is going to be Bobby Wills. Bobby Wills is a country singer who grew up in Calgary and in 2013, won the Canadian Country Music Association’s Rising Star Award. With Calgary being known for the Stampede each year as well as their general status as the “country” part of Canada, it’s a great fit. As for West Kendall, there is no one better to represent the greater Miami area than international sensation Pitbull. Mr. Worldwide himself would be the ultimate representative for the Platoon to have as their singer for Game 1 of the Challenge Cup Final. His performance would, of course, be legendary with his pseudo-rap style putting unique spin on the Anthems and would bring a powerful passion to the role, pumping up the crowd before the first game. (167 Words)

Task 9: Which organization that didn't 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)
 
This would have to be Manhattan for me. When we made it to the Eastern Conference Final last season, there was a sense that things were just getting started and we were getting ready to be a powerhouse in the East, challenging for the Cup each season. This year was a down year for us however. With players like Alex Winters who had extremely disappointing years, it ready brought the overall performance of the team down. While I’m not going to pull a Bob Nicholson and say that he’s entirely the reason the Rage didn’t have a great playoff, I do think if his performance had been better this season, the Rage would have both made it out of the first round and been a higher seed in the playoff overall. They’ll need a bounce back season from him next year in order to get back up to the standard they expect. (152 Words)

Task 13: PM Sent