Nothing beats the very first game of a championship series, so I'm definitely traveling to Tampa Bay to enjoy the playoff atmosphere on the east coast. I'm picking these two games in order to truly experience my first ever SHL playoff games in style. Once I get to the city, I've already run up Eggy's tab by ordering extensive cabin service on the airplane for all of my new friends that I shared the flight with. Next up, I can't arrive to the commissioner's suite in my sweatpants, I need to go find the best tailor in town and get myself some custom-fitted suits representing my team's colors. Then we're heading to the rink in a decked out limousine filled to the brim with alcohol and babes. I eat all the popcorn my stomach can handle throughout the game and even start having a food fight with the deputy commissioner himself.


As stated, Calgary has all of the momenta with their steep upswing just prior to the playoffs commencing, and Tampa Bay has ridden their young core of S40+ draftees into the sunset in this season's playoffs. Calgary's old guard is probably witnessing their final attempt at winning the coveted SHL championship, while Tampa Bay's rookies will likely see many more playoff appearances in the near future. The questions is whether GM Esa can build a dynasty in Calgary and maintain strong performances in the regular season despite the inevitable downswing to come. If it were up to me, I'd like the championship to return to our Canadian brethren one last time before changes need to be made.


In the National Hockey League, 3 on 3 overtime is the most exciting hockey that is experienced by casual and competitive fans alike. Even though it would result in less overtime hockey played, it would require more responsible gameplay by both teams and unlike the regular season, the stakes would be incredibly high. I feel the addition of 3 on 3 overtime into the SHL playoffs would create for much more exciting PBP threads as well as more strategic line combinations for SHL teams. Other than that, playoff races could be spiced up by removing a slot and making it so just one team from each conference gets to go to the playoffs regardless of their division placement. Even lowering that to one, league-wide would make for some truly incredible battles down the stretch to the SHL playoffs for the between teams. These are all of my ideas that I hope will get implemented into the SHL soon.


I mean, it's obvious that young Gunnar Soderberg is first in line for this achievement, given his excellent start to his SHL career, after being drafted by the Barracuda back in the S47 Entry Draft. For me, he has the best chance at winning the dar, because of his impeccable two-way playstyle that has pushed Tampa Bay to these great heights after just 3 seasons. Soderberg was drafted because of his amazing awareness at both ends of the ice and thus far into his career he has shown the ability to live up to that potential that many pundits placed upon him when comparing him to his draft class. For those reasons, I believe Gunnar will first accomplish this feat.


In one of the infinite realities that we live among simultaneously, somewhere out there, Tampa Bay is defeating the odds and actually managing to win the four-star cup. Who would have thought just three seasons ago when they were rounding out their rebuild and bringing in multiple first-round picks. They even encountered a draft bust in S47, in Espen Knutsen Jr., but have still managed to overcome all of this and make it to the finals. It is in this reality that the hockey gods reward JSS and Jepox for their patience over these horrendous seasons. With this playoff experience and cup victory, Tampa Bay is now poised to steamroll the entire league for seasons to come. The only team in this reality that has gone to drastic measures to rebuild their roster, is the likes of the Toronto North Stars, who begin a rivalry with the Barracuda for half a decade where both teams face off in the eastern conference finals.


I think the only solution to experiencing controversial calls is to completely remove said calls, and the people that make them all together. If I had any sway on the board of directors of the SHL, I would immediately return to classic, old-school pond hockey where there were no rules besides scoring goals on the other team's net. Games would be regulated by the players who would now become their honest forms because no one would be holding them back, while all the while their GMs are in the booth's having their own MMA matches to determine who gets the better end of trades that might be being negotiated. No more offsides, goal sucking has now been reintroduced and it's the only way Jimmy Slothface will become the best player in the league. No more icings, meaning that we will witness some bone-crushing hits into the end boards night in and night out. Best of all, no penalties, anything goes, and there's no one besides each other to control tempers or goons that might step foot on the ice.

That should be 16/16