CW TASK 1: (Written, 3 TPE)
While most championship teams struggle to maintain both a strong major league roster as well as a prospect pool, the Winnipeg Jets have not been having such an issue. Looking at the young players on the Jets’ roster, a number of great players stand out - but to me the one that should be best to build around is @Trautner Michael Scarn. An S46 center at over 800 TPE already, Scarn is one of the elite young centers in the league despite his youth. Playing for the Jets in the playoffs this season he’s managed to finish second on the team in points, with 14 including 6 goals. Centering the team’s second line not only at even strength, but also on the power play and when the team was short handed, Scarn really carried more of the load than most would have expected from someone at his age. If he can build on this season’s playoff performance for multiple seasons to come, the Jets are set up for a strong future.

CW TASK 3: (Written, 3 TPE)
While Rainbow Dash’s off-ice development has likely slowed to a pace that is not quite what Calgary Dragons GM @Steelhead77 was expecting when he traded for the former first overall pick, her on-ice performance has been pretty strong, especially in the Challenge Cup playoffs. Building off a strong playoff performance last season, Dash yet again turned on the jets in the playoffs picking up 6 goals and 9 points in 11 games, good for third on the team behind both Izzy and McGavin who had 10 points apiece. The regular season was also pretty decent for the Dragon’s winger as she finished with 27 points in 50 games, along with 158 hits. Overall considering where Dash is at in her development it’s hard not to be happy with her on-ice performance, which is likely why both Dragons management and Dash herself were so eager to ink her new contract for the next two seasons prior to the winger hitting the open market. As far as what Dash would like to see next season, more of the same would be nice for sure. This was a strong season for the Dragons winger, and a return to the playoffs and a chance to continue these strong performances would definitely be welcome.

CW TASK 05: (Written, up to 4 TPE)
Pick up to 4 challenge cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth '1' TPE. Each answer must be '50' words or more.

1. Put together a challenge cup fantasy team using the 2 teams in the finals as the player pool. This fantasy team must include at least 1 young player (S44 or higher) and in 50+ words discuss your choices.

F: Victor Marius
F: Jason Visser
F: Michael Scarn
D: Gary Grease
D: Slip McScruff
G: Cedric Robinson

For forwards the choice was pretty easy - if you can take Victor Marius you take Victor Marius. Jason Visser was far and away the standout player in the regular season for the Jets, and far surpasses even Marius’ regular season total, and then Scarn is just a great young player to satisfy that requirement. On defense Grease and McScruff both scored 32 points apiece on the season so you can expect good fantasy points from them. Then Robinson faced way more shots than his Jets’ counterpart, and as we know bad defense = more shots = more saves = more fantasy points.

2. This series boasts an interesting matchup at the blue line between star studded defenders! Which includes Troy McClure III, Gary Grease and Slip McScruff from Winnipeg.. & Buffalo's Tatu Makela, Connor Tanner and Charles Walker.. which group do you expect will outshine the other and why?

Like the headline says both of these teams’ blue lines feature some extremely strong players (and this doesn’t even mention Alexis Metzler on the Stampede). It’s hard to just pick one over the other, but I’m going to go with the Stampede. While I’d take the top defensive pairing on the Jets over the Stampede’s top pairing, the Stampede just have some of the best defensive depth in the league. When you can afford a second pairing of Metzler/Walker why would you go with anything else?

3. Winnipeg making it to the finals was an unexpected surprise. What were some of the main reasons why this franchise was able to persevere into the leagues most important series.  (*tag anyone involved)

To me it was more of a surprise to see the Stampede back in the finals than the Winnipeg Jets. The Jets are a strong organization, really lead from the top by @ToeDragon84 (Jason Visser). Visser’s an easy first ballot hall of farmer, and it was his team-leading regular season performance that truly enabled the Jets to make the playoffs for another season, and his continued stellar performance in the postseason is carrying the Jets to another finals berth.

5. Both franchises come into the series with a hot Cedric! Between Winnipegs Cedric Moreau and Buffallo's Cedric Robinson which emerging netminder has the advantage over the other in this series?

Personally I’d lean towards Buffalo’s Cedric Robinson. While both goaltenders have been stellar both throughout the regular season and the playoffs, Robinson was tested more than his counterpart on the Jets which prepares him more for the playoff workload than the Jets’ goaltender. This may end up being where the series is won or lost, because these teams are so evenly matched - if one goaltender has a bad series that’s going to end up being the difference maker.

CW TASK 10: (Written, 3 TPE)
While the index is unfortunately down at the moment, we’re going to take a trip back to the S33 finals which featured the Dragons of Calgary representing the western conference and the Wolfpack of New England from the East in a showdown between GMs Eggy216 and Steelhead77. It was a hard fought series between the two teams but it was all going to end in this game six showdown in which the Wolfpack would win their third cup in the last four seasons, matching the same feat done by Steelhead77 and the Dragons some number of seasons earlier. The star of the game, and likely the series, was the young Wolfpack goaltender Mikke Laukkanen who took over for former Wolfpack goaltender Jacob Tanner whose surprise unannounced retirement left fans wondering if the Wolfpack were still the same team they once were. Laukkanen shut the door on the Dragons in this final game, holding the team to only 2 goals on the night and bringing home the Challenge Cup for the Wolfpack. Also featuring in this game were Tim Buckner, who always seemed to play his best in the Challenge Cup playoffs, and a soon-to-retire Nathan Russell who showed that, despite his advanced age, he still had something to prove in this league.

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

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