2. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
With everyone getting a free redistribution this offseason, S54 is quite wide open at the moment. Before those redistributions take place, who would you anticipate being the top team(s) for next season?

I have a feeling that the LA panthers will continue to improve and become one of the better or best teams in the west for many seasons to come. They have an incredibly solid core of players so for me, thats an obvious pick for a future juggernaut. I also want to pump my own teams, SFP, tyres. Lots of talent coming up for the team to build around even though there is quite a lot of regression. I think the team will have another couple of seasons to seriously challenge for a cup run which is exciting. Hamilton I think will continue to be a favourite, partly because of their strong core but I think mostly due to shrewd coaching and gming. Finally, Texas is the final team that I think will really be able to push through.  Maybe not next season, but in the near future. They have so many hot players coming up.

5. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
Just like everything else in S53, IIHF is going to be an exciting mystery for us all! We've seen the introduction of a new format (all 14 teams in one group) and it's bound to be a very exciting tournament. What are your predictions for IIHF this season? What team or teams do you think have the best shot at taking home the gold? How do you think your team will fare?

Obviously this season and next is going to be incredibly exciting for a number of reasons and IIHF is no exception. You may have teams that top this season and bottom out in the next season due to player retools. Very strange but very interesting. I think it really opens up the opportunity for some underdogs to go on crazy runs. I still think that Canada and the USA have the strongest teams just because they are so much deeper than everyone else. You can pick and choose and create a really solid lineup based on role chemistry, something that most other teams just cant do while staying competitive. My own team, Sweden, I feel like has a very good chance this year. We are deep and were lacking some particular roles that the rebuild really helps fix. I think Canada will end up with the gold, Sweden with the Silver and the USA coming in third.

6. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
Come up with a program of intermission entertainment for one of the games of the finals. What's the between-period on-ice entertainment the fans will enjoy? The goofier the better, go crazy.

While not appearing in the playoffs at all, there were rumours floating around that the San Francisco Pride had planned to release and ACTUAL pride of lions onto the ice, following the incredibly success of the recent netflix show Tiger King. The club vehemently denies these claims. Anyway, if I was to create an intermission program for the finals I would definitely like to include something that references one or both of the teams. So, with fingers crossed for a game seven, I would have Obama (yes, he has these kinds of weather control powers) create an artificial blizzard inside of the arena that the teams happen to be playing in. In the middle of this insane whiteout, I would have handlers release 53 hawks (one for each SHL season) into the stadium. These would fly around, blindly, until Obama increased the power to the storm in order to tear the roof off of the stadium. This would allow for the hawks to leave the arena if they so choose but more importantly it would make the rest of the game a semi outdoor game.


7. Written/Graphic, 2 TPE (100 words min. for written option)
Even though the Panthers fell short this season, the LA influence has been felt around the league and execs in Hollywood are paying more attention to the SHL with the hometown team making waves. If your player could have a cameo in any tv show or movie, what show/movie would they choose? (for the purposes of this PT you may choose a show/movie that already exists just uhhh pretend they re-shoot it with your cameo or something idk).

Oh this one is tough but it would definitely be an Arnie movie. I love me a good old classic action movie and I think those really make great films to include cameos in. It would either have to be predator (perhaps as one of the guerilla soldiers or a handsome young european mercenary that gets to utter two words before being killed by the big man himself) or The Last Action Hero. That movie has so many cameos already and its one of the reasons I think its so great. Its a lot of fun to see all these old characters pop in every one in a while. If I couldnt choose an Arnie movie it would probably have to be Zoolander. One of the all time greats and another movie that is just filled to the brim with great cameos so I think it would fit the theme. Maybe have me posing in an advertisement or something with Derek.

13. 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 to qualify.
a. Who is the best player in this CC finals? Plenty of good candidates: Lagerfield, Phelps, Kryyst, McIntry, Pepperoni, Scholz, etc. Who's your choice for best player and why?

To me its Lagerfield. That guy is just such a beast. Although he is due for some serious regression in the coming years he has been a staple of the league for so long and everyone knows about his physical and aggressive game. I’m glad he got some extra spotlight this year as I very much believe he deserves it.

d. Blizzard... snow... ok debate time - do you like snow? yes or no? why or why not?
I absolutely love Snow. I grew up with it and we usually had snow for 4-5 months a year. As a kid I loved playing in the snow and I loved winter sports. Skiing and skating were obvious favourites and we would take long skating trips as a family when I was real small so I have very fond memories of the cold in general. Having to scrape the ice off of your car window is never fun but I still largely enjoy snow as an adult.


13/16 + Trivia sent in.

Confirmation word : Rum

16/16