Task 01:

It's hard to believe someone like Ti-Guy Emond could be a hometown hero. The defensive defenseman hasn't done much in his career, individual stats or Challenge cups. But when he won the silver medal with Russia a few seasons back and announced he would visit back his small town where he grew up, almost the entire 1500 population showed up. You see Ti-Guy is the first hockey player from St-Louis-du-Haha to make it in the best league in the world. People from their are proud to say they have an SHL player who played his hockey minor there. A parade was done with Ti-Guy holding in the air his silver medal, it was pretty cringy not gonna lie. He signed lots of autographes and a replica of the medal will be hanged in the local arena. Ti-Guy overwhelmed by all the local folks had prepared for him decided to finance a new arena


Task 05:

1.
You have a veteran team who was stacked and added even more firepower in @Sophia Bennet and @Artemi Berezin. This West Kendall team might be the best roster to make it in the Challenge cup. On the other end, you have the underdogs, the Calgary Dragons. A rebuilding team who surprised every one to make it this far who heavily relied on @Mike Izzy and @Otis B Driftwood.

2.
It's well known around the league that the best managerial team in league history is Calgary. Steelhead won multiple cup and is the most respect GM. But problem is this time around he doesn't have the greatest weapons and also face a really good GM who won 2x recently. JR is no joke and his reputation and legacy as a good GM is increasing year by year.

4.
Kata Vilde, the goalie for the Calgary Dragons will need to play the best hockey of his life if his team wants to have a chance to win. West Kendall offense is really talented and besides Maksimov and Driftwood, the Calgary défense is pretty weak. He won't be ask to make the saves he has to make, he will need to save guaranteed goals. A heavy task for a young netminder but if there’s a goalie who can do it its him.

5.
Major surprise : it's the goddam Dragons, in shock would just be disrespectful. But yeah it's still a surprise, I had them in 7th place in the West before the regular season. Mike Izzy is a franchise forward sure, but I thought beside him, nobody could be a difference maker offensively. Driftwood sure made me look like an idiot. The most surprising thing to me is they got through rather easily the West with good teams like Edmonton and New Orleans.


7.
No surprise : Last season was a fluke and everyone knows it. The Tampa Bay Barracuda made it I mean c'mon something wasn’t right. I had them winning their division and winning the présidents Trophy. And that was before they added key players at the trade deadline. Buffalo was the only other team I could see coming out of the East and I was surprised they forced a game 7 in the conference finals. I had WKP losing no more than 3 games their entire cup run.

8.
Beaujeaux doesn’t need to carry anything, all he has to do is play like leagues average and WKP got this. On the other end, if Vilde doesn’t play like an hybrid in their prime Dominik Hasek Patrick Roy Martin Brodeur well his team is screwed. Calgary defense isn't deep enough to contain all 3 WKP forward lines and Izzy won't be able to provide offense on his own. So unless Vilde gets 4 shutouts, forget about the cup.


Task 09:
Edmonton should be the popular answer here. You're one of the best team in the league on paper, you're in a rather weaker western conference, you don't have to go through Buffalo or West Kendall and you somehow lose in your first series against a rebuilding team? Yikes. They probably have the best d-core in the league so I wouldn’t think the problem was there. Sure, they lost a lot of good forwards around the extension time and their depth is not what it used to be. Losing guys like Joe K, Fletcher, Smyth, Czerwakswki hurt them tremendously. But I think the real issue is their goaltending. Besides that one MVP season, Tuck to me has been average. No way this team in the last 5-8 seasons should only have one cup. He's never elevated his play when his team needed it. Replace Tuck by a guy like Biscuit and we could talk about this team being a dynasty.


Task 11:

Calgary : They're set in net, they already have a #1, #3 and a #5 d-man. They don't need a #1 center and they have 3 wingers who are good enough to slot in the top 6. Everything else can be upgraded so lets start this game. Their first matchup was against Edmonton. This is an excellent team on paper and you can't go wrong with a lot of players. I'd go with @Brady McIntyre, I think his play style would fit better than Tuck with Driftwood and that would give Calgary an excellent top 3. Calgary will need to rely a lot on their goalie and defense to win against WKP, this move would increase their odds a lot. Next, they beat Texas in the conference finals. Once again, a good team with a lot of quality players. I'd pick @Louie Garrett to give Izzy a true first line winger. Either that or put them on separate lines to give Calgary a 1-2 punch.


TASK 13:
PM'd