1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min)
I would easily go to Calgary over Tampa Bay. My brother plays for Calgary so we would get to go out singing karaoke and partying. Unfortunately, the nightlife in Calgary totally sucks so it wouldn't be very much fun. At the end of the day, Calgary is just a classic SHL location and was the home to classic SHL players that I idolized when growing up such as Kari Barkov among others. A little known fact is that Kari Barkov won 15 straight Mike Izzy awards starting in S10 and I would love to go look at the amazing Kari Barkov award exhibit at the Calgary museum. Quite frankly, I hate when the history of the league is disrespected when it comes to relocations and GoB made a HUGE impact as a member of this league and poured his heart and soul into the Riot so when they moved I was really not a fan. Seattle was the first real-time that franchise had a home and was a great franchise for many years, so it's an easy decision not to go to the Tampa games. My main issue with relocations like this one is that if you want future generations to have respect for what you did in the league then you have to have respect for what the people before you did as well. Tampa Bay will probably move again in 10-15 seasons again when a new GM takes over and finds the location boring and unstable and looks back at how many times the team has been moved in its existence and thinks another one will be "fun" and "exciting" when all it is is a quick fix on a bigger problem.


2. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min)
I absolutely hate the #CalgaWe nickname and never want to hear it again but in reality, it kind of fits Calgary since I could see their CFL/NHL teams adopting something like it. Calgary is easily the best franchise in SHL history and they're managed by easily the best GM duo in league history. Quite frankly, reading some of the stuff on the site lately has and made me cheer for Calgary even harder. Calgary is the SKT of SHL and are a true dynasty at a long-term level the likes of the league has never seen before. If being as good as Calgary was so easy then everyone would just clone what they do but it's not. I prefer to watch Esa/Vlad build on their legacy vs watching random other teams win until we play them in the finals.


5. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min)
I really think the SHL should adopt at adopting some of the rules that became very popular in Korea when the Smebs played in the  South Korean Hockey League, rules like these are why the SKHL is much more popular in Korea than the SHL and why the Smebs are such global superstars. I SKHL is super high scoring and the most common complaint I hear about the SHL is how low scoring and boring the games are so these rules would definitely help. The first rule called the "Extra Smeb Rule" allowed any team that had more than 3 Smebs to have an extra skater on the ice at all-times as long as that player was a Smeb. The "Honest Smeb" rule also allowed any Smeb that was penalized and claimed he didn't take a penalty to force a non Smeb teammate into the penalty box so they could stay on the ice. The third rule known as the "Smeb Option" rule allowed the Smebs to turn any PP for their team into a penalty shot which any Smeb could take.


13. 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.

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?

I think this series will be incredibly competitive and be super high scoring. Both teams are evenly matched and have some high scoring players playing for them so I expect players like Mike Izzy, Chico Smeb and Kristaps Ball to really take over the series and put up a high number of points.


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

This is a tough one as there are lots of great names on both teams. I have to give it to my brother Chico Smeb since Smeb is the greatest last name in league history and is the only name in the league that has an official award named after it.

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

If I had to pick one of these options I'd want a chicken parm sandwich from c00kies and for Esa to bake me some cookies as well as getting feet pics from both. You need to take these old GMs out of their comfort zones to allow them to continue to grow.




14. Written, 2 TPE - The Procrastinator Special! (100 words min)
I think the easy pick here is Kate Vilde. The team was playing horrific defense in the first 3 games of the series and Vilde was probably playing worst of anyone. Vilde allowed 16 goals in the first 3 games and was playing his worst hockey of the season. In the final 4 games Vilde did a complete turnaround and played absolutely out of his mind and allowed only six goals in the final 4 games. He stopped a total of 123/129 shots in the final four games and is IMO the main reason the Dragons were able to mount the comeback.

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)
PM'd