Task #1

Without a doubt, the biggest positive impact for the St. Louis Scarecrows came from our top line of Kandinsky, Muller, and Blackwood. Although bounced in the second round, Muller still came in 2nd in playoff scoring, while Blackwood was top 5 in goals. The boys combined for 30 points in the two rounds the 'Crows played. They really drove play when they were on the ice, and were instrumental in many scoring chances. They dominated opposing defenses regularly. Unfortunately, the most negative impact came from the line of Strudwick, Hernadivic, and Dangelchek. Although Hernadivic put up a valiant effort, Dangelchek and Strudwick could not find the score sheet. Dangelchek continued his woeful regular season performance, and should probably be bumped down to the 4th line if improvement isn't imminent. The line combined for 8 points - with Hernadivic getting 4 of those - and 48 PIMs. Although Hernadivic does not deserve blame, it was not a good playoff campaign for the third line.
161 words

Task #2

Top 5 S49 Playoff Goal Celebrations
5. The "Mike Eruzione" - Mika Kandinsky, quite ironically as he is Russian
4. The Butt Slide - James Ronlain, pretty self explanatory, although Ronlain got almost to the red line on his slide
3. The Freestyle Swimmer - Lyle Odelein III, he should be challenging Michael Phelps for his records soon
2. Shooting the Glove - Aron Hernadivic, he did Teemu proud
1. The Championship Belt - Nicolaj Muller, reminding everyone who holds that regular season scoring title

Task #3

9. Anchorage - wouldn't mind facing them, they had a fairly weak regular season...no offense as we weren't much better
8. Detroit - Tougher matchup, but who doesn't love a good rivalry? The arena would be rockin' and the fists would be flyin'
7. Anaheim - Pretty decent match overall, had a long series in the playoffs but could probably beat them again
6. Lethbridge - Honestly, didn't pay much attention to them, so they can go right in the middle here
5. Colorado - Similar situation to Lethbridge, but I think Raptors is a cooler mascot, also had some high scoring forwards
4. Vancouver -  Decent regular season, could be a bloodbath, good to see the Whale getting some love
3. Halifax - Better regular season than Vancouver although I don't know much about the team
2. Kelowna - Good season, beat us in the playoffs, wouldn't want to play them again
1. Montreal/Carolina - new look, new location, defending champs...no thanks
155 words

Task #4

If I wasn't playing for the 'Crows (god forbid), I'd probably want to play for Vancouver. The city loves their hockey and by all accounts, it's a beautiful place to live. They had some snipers on their first and second lines - led by Cullen Gray - and seemed to be a well-balanced team. Although they lost in the second round, they put up a good fight and ended up falling to the Lethbridge Lions. I also love the Whaler branding, as it's one of the classic NHL team name and logos. I feel that I could slot well into their forward lineup, as they had some players pulling double duty. I also know one or two of the players from the Czechia team, so there would be some camaraderie to begin with. The jury is out on how much impact I would have on a cup run, however. Sasha Dangelchek just wasn't that great this season, but he would be more than just a warm body out there. I'd like to think that some impact could be made.
177 Words

Task #5

I have to go with what I know, so I'd like to highlight the matchup between Shiqa Vitalievich and Patrick Niederrieter in the first round between St. Louis and Anaheim. This series went to 7 games, with plenty of high-scoring games. Patrick had a .888 SV% in the first round, to go with a 2.95 GAA. These aren't spectacular numbers. Shiqa had a .900 SV% along with a 3.10 GAA, which, although better, still isn't spectacular. It was an interesting matchup mostly because these numbers were lower than average. High-scoring hockey is fun hockey, right? Shiqa actually improved his SV% from a .881 regular season mark. To be fair to both goalies, they were absolutely peppered with shots. Patrick faced 188 shots in the series, while Shiqa faced a truly astounding 380. Both of these men were forced to stand on their heads at times to make the crucial save, and they did more often than not. Interestingly enough, even though St. Louis won the series, Shiqa allowed 112 goals to Patrick's 99. The disparity in SV% comes from the huge difference in shot totals. All in all, both of these goalies played well for a high-scoring series. They certainly helped to make it exciting.
205 Words