1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
It was a mixed bag of a season for Akira Ren in his sophomore season. Over the last off-season he worked to transform from a more offensive minded defenseman to a defense first defenseman. He would end up playing more of a shutdown role along with his partner Jules Watt while allowing Corey Kennedy and Parker Smeb to pile up the points from the backend. Despite this Ren posted up a respectable 28 points, 6 of which were goals! His personal goal was to get to the 30 point mark and ideally reach around 35 points, following short of this is disappointing to Ren but he was happy to see the team improve from his rookie season. Chicago finished 3rd in the league in a very tough division and Ren played a large part of that. He hopes to continue improving his play for next season with the goal of 35-40 points and helping Chicago go on a strong cup run.

2. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
After a tough first round loss to the Buffalo Stampede, Akira Ren and his fellow Chicago Syndicate teammates took some time off to relax mentally and physically before starting preparation for the next season. While some of Ren’s teammates have been following the finals, Ren himself hasn’t been paying much attention to them or watching the games personally. He doesn’t have a strong personal connection to either Hamilton or New Orleans and the games are often played at inconvenient times for him. Instead he has been making some improvements around the house (he just built some new shelves and got a BBQ)! He has also been making the most of the summer by going on some walks around the neighbourhood while still practicing appropriate physical distancing. However, his mind now is on preparing for next season. He recently had a meeting with Chicago Syndicate General Manager Shawn Velevra and knows his role will be similar to last season. However the goal is much more ambitious, win the cup and he is excited to get back on the ice to achieve that!

8. Written 3 TPE (150 words min.)
The mysterious owner of the Chicago Syndicate Codename “Barlog” released the following statement to the Chicago Media following the team’s disappointing first round exit.

“To our loyal and passionate fans, I understand that our loss to the Buffalo Stampede is frustrating. However the road is only brighter from here. In less than 10 seasons we have turned this team from nothing to one of the top teams in the SHL. It takes time for players to develop in this league, and we saw this with breakout seasons from Parker Smeb and Martijn Westbroek. Our team core is made up of strong players drafted from S46-S51, this means that we will have a strong competitive window from S55-S61. Our time has finally arrived and we will take the league by force! Not only that we have seen strong development from our S53 and S54 prospects, some of which are in discussion for SMJHL MVP. The future is bright in Chicago, stick with us because we will be a top team for the next 10 seasons at minimum and our goal is to win this city a championship!”

13. Written, up to 4 TPE.
a. I’m not sure there is a clear advantage in net from either team going into the finals, I’m also not sure if a goaltending difference will be what decides the finals. Kryyst seems to have played better over the course of the season but Cain seems to have played well in the finals so I will give him the edge.

b. Both Johnson’s were drafted in S48 and Gabriel Johnson seems to have 1515 TPE at the time of writing compared to the 949 TPE of Darnell Johnson. Gabriel also posted up 44 points this season whereas Darnell posted up 9. While these factors aren’t the only important ones, I would probably say Gabriel is the better Johnson.

c. Looks like funny enough, the regular season matchups were indicative of the series outcome. Before the start of the series though I probably wouldn’t have thought New Orleans sweeping the regular season series would forecast the playoff series. However New Orleans changes up their tactics for the finals which proved to give them a decent edge over Hamilton allowing them to capture the championship!

d. Haha as much as I love travelling within Canada, if it as an all expenses week long vacation I would probably choose New Orleans. While I have not been to Hamilton, I have been to some of the surrounding cities and imagine there wouldn’t be much to do there for an entire week other than relax for a bit. Experiencing the culture in New Orleans would be pretty cool and a new experience for myself personally.

16. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max
Submitted – verification: velv