Quote:1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min)
VIP Status babyyyyyyyy - your player has been invited to attend one of the first homestands of the CC finals as a VIP guest - all expenses paid, front row seats, any hotel you want - and it's all on the Commissioner's dime! Are you going to Games 1 and 2 in Tampa or Games 3 and 4 in Calgary? Why are you picking there? And what are you going to do in that city to run up Eggy's tab?? (This is the same prompt as last year but we've got different cities! be creative! Don't re-use what was written last season)

Without a doubt, I'm heading down to Tampa Bay for games 1 and 2. The weather in Tampa is absolutely fantastic during this time of year and I'd love to essentially get paid to take a free vacation there. You know those home crowds in Tampa are going to be electric considering the team has never won a cup since moving there, and in general the city of Tampa has been starved of a championship since the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl way back in 2003 so those fans are gonna be hungry! As far as how I'm going to run up Eggy's bill? That one I'm not so sure about. I'm really not a big spender and I'm likely to just go spend my time taking in the great outdoors at a park or on the beach. Maybe I'll find a nice steakhouse to get some good grub at while I'm there. I'd never turn down a nice steak, especially if I'm not the one paying for it.

---

Quote:2. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min)
After a slow start to the regular season, the Dragons have surged of late and have rallied around the #CalgaWe notion of togetherness. On the other side, the Barracuda battled through a difficult East and are led by a very strong young core. Which team are you personally rooting for to take home the Challenge Cup and why?

I'm going to be pulling for the Tampa Bay Barracuda to win the finals this season. The franchise has only won one championship in their history, and it hasn't tasted that glory since S18. Calgary on the other hand has raised multiple championship banners to their rafters since then, and quite frankly I don't think they need another. Calgary has had nothing but sustained success for the past 25 seasons, and I just think it'd be more rewarding and exciting for another team to have a chance to experience success for a season. Nothing against the Dragons, but it's better for the league at this point if they don't win.

---

Quote:7. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min)
As competition ramps up for the playoffs, players (both those still in and those eliminated) work extra hard to improve areas of their game that are lacking. What one area of your game do you really needs to focus on improving and how will this benefit the team?

As I've just completed my rookie season in the SHL, there are certainly plenty of areas of my game that I need to work on and improve before I can truly be an elite player in this league. But if I had to choose just one area of my game that I need to focus on, it'd be my athleticism. Both my offensive and my defensive game still have room to improve and I'll definitely be focusing on those areas in my training still, but as an athlete I simply need to get better. My skating isn't where I want it to be. I need to be able to accelerate quicker and make sharper cuts. I also need to get stronger. I'm not able to intimidate my opponents as much as I'd like and I need to be able to hit them off the puck at will. If I can improve my athleticism over the coming off-season, I'll be in a much better position to help my team next season.

---

Quote:12. Written, up to 5 TPE Pick up to 5 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words to qualify.
A. Each team enters these finals with a red hot superstar - longtime league legend Mike Izzy for Calgary and surprise breakout star Gunnar Soderberg for Tampa Bay. Which of these players will have a more dominant finals?

B. Kata Vilde and Benjamin Blue are two of the best goaltenders in the league - which team has the advantage in net?

C. Do you expect this to be a high-scoring series or a low-scoring series? A mix? Do you think it'll be competitive or will one team run away with it?

D. What's your favorite player NAME on either team? why? (note: not who's your favorite player. which player name)

E. If you could choose any one of the following four options, which would you pick? 1. A chicken parm sandwich from Esa 2. A tray of cookies from c00kies 3. A custom feet pic from JSS 4. An hour long stick and puck session with Jepox

A. I'm of the belief that longtime league legend Mike Izzy will have a more dominant finals performance. I think he's got a vintage performance in store for us all here and will really control this series with his play out there on the ice. Soderberg has been excellent and all and I'm sure will have a great series, but I've got to give the edge to the grizzled vet.

B. Of the two goalies playing in the finals, I'd have to say that Tampa Bay has the advantage here with Benjamin Blue. Blue has been phenomenal all season long and was clearly a more dominant goaltender all around. He had the second best save percentage (.919), the fourth best goals against average (2.63), and he led the entire league in shutouts with 6.

C. I think this will be a low-scoring series due to a combination of impressive net-minders on both ends of the ice and an overall lack of offensive star-power. Both teams certainly have stars and players that can produce offensively, but there's no absolutely fearsome lines like that Vakarian-Kandinsky-Lokitonov line in Toronto. Plus this is playoff hockey. Teams tend to play a bit more defensive and physical. This will be a competitive series, going at least 6 games.

D. This is an easy one, but I'm actually going to go with two players here: Shooter McGavin (Calgary) and Shooter McGavin II (Tampa Bay). Shooter McGavin is an incredible character and personality. The fact that two players actually were named after him just puts this over the top as an easy pick for my favorite name.

E. I'm going to go with the tray of cookies from c00kies here, and that's without any second thoughts. I've never had a chicken parm sandwich so that's out. I don't like feet pics so that's out. I've never even worn a pair of skates so a stick and puck sesh is out. That leaves the tray of cookies, and who doesn't love cookies? I just hope they're warm and not overly crunchy.

---

Quote:15. Casual Member Special, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer - SEND ANSWER IN PM TO "PT DIRECTOR" (tagged below)
A. As defined by draft class, who is the oldest player in this series?
B. What is the name of the Calgary Dragons' Arena?
C. Name 3 previous names of the Tampa Bay Barracuda franchise
D. From these two teams, which player had the most PIMs in the S50 regular season? (Look, I'll even give you a link to the index right below this code box. When I posted the link directly, it auto-corrected the colon + slash into a partial frown face; it looks funny and the link still works so i'm leaving it)

**Important**: Send the answers to username "PT Director" with the subject of the message titled “S50 CW" - Do not send it to my personal account; those will not be graded. Do not post the answers in here; you will not get credit for the task.

Answers sent to PT Director

---

3 + 2 + 3 + 5 + 3 = 16 TPE