1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
Reflection on your season - how did your player fare on the ice this season? Did you meet or surpass your individual player goals or did you come up short? Whether you excelled or disappointed - what can you attribute that to? What will you try to do better next season?

I think for me, my player did way worse than expected when I had reassessed my predictions after the first few games. Early on I had no idea how the Battleborn would play, I figured we'd be a middle of the road team with a bunch of 350 capped TPE players. But early on my player exploded out of the gate being a point per game player for the first 6 or 7 games. I had high hopes that this would continue but those unfortunately did not continue. My line mate Grandmaster Funk instead took most of those points away from my player totally I believe .7 or so points per game as a defenseman. For me I contribute my lack of production to my lack of athleticism. My player's build was focused more so on skill then it was his ability to get around the ice. Funk's build was a bit more built around getting around the ice and less around puck and offensive skills. I see now that the change with my 425 build should allow my player to be more dominant this coming season in the SMJHL.

(195 words)

3. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)
FHM's 12-team playoff bracket setup has received a fair bit of scrutiny. It re-seeds after the play-in round and for some reason puts the #1 seed and #2 seed on the same side of the bracket. I challenge you to come up with a different playoff format - can you come up with a format that's dumber/worse than this? be creative! Come up with the worst possible format for a 12-team playoff.

What if we did a round robin for the playoffs? We take the 12 teams that have qualified for the playoffs and then we put them into 4 groups. The groups could be done multiple ways whether it is a snake draft of who goes into which group (so 1,2,3 and 4 become the top teams in their group) or divsion winners would be given the top spot in their group and then wouldn't have to play a back to back or something.However many games that get played will then determine who the top two teams are and then from the 4 groups you have 8 teams left and based on if you did the groups and seperated east vs west so we could have the 4 teams from the east and the 4 teams from the west play each other or you just have them straight seeded 1-8. But I think a round robin system could be cool or a double round robin system.

(170 words)

8. Written/Graphic, 3 TPE (150 words min. if written)
The arenas in Buffalo and Hamilton want to make sure they're pulling out all the stops on the big stage. Help the concessions department of one of these two teams develop a new product, with marketing specifically pertaining to this finals series, to be sold at the arena during the finals. Describe the product and the marketing in 150 words or create a promotional poster showing the product, its name, the price, etc.

I think Buffalo could give out towels and hats at games as a big market ploy. They could name the fans something along the herd and use the same ideaology as football as the crowd would be the 6th skater on the ice. Spinning towels around I am sure messes with sight lines and the ability to focus while you are playing. I think also what works with towels and why they are a good marketing give away is that they are useable afterwards. I think a cool concession idea would be some kind of buffalo horns that could be worn and sold at the gift shop. I think wearing the buffalo horns makes you feel like you're part of the stampeding herd and the horns could be yellow while the cap you wear to keep them on could be green. I think that way you make it something fun for adults and kids to wear and you can sell a bunch of them without having to worry about much.

(171 words)

6. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)
Which SHL or SMJHL team was the best team to not make the finals this season and why?

I think the best team that did not make the finals is the Calgary dragons. The Dragons were the #2 team in terms of points this season as well as well as a goal differential where they scored more than twice their opponents. It could be argued that they had one of the best defense and goalies in the league where other teams only were able to score 85 goals against them all of last season. That means that they let up a little over one goal game. While their offense was not as a strong as some of the other teams in the playoffs, you know what they say, "Offense wins games but defense wins championships."

(117 words)

4. Written/Graphic, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
If the SHL needed to set up a playoff bubble (like the NHL did in Edmonton/Toronto or the NBA in Orlando), which city would be the best candidate to host as the hub city? What would the players do during their time in a playoff bubble? (For graphic option, make an advertisement [like a pamphlet/brochure] in support of a specific city as the hub city and highlighting the reasons why.)

I think Hamilton, while being a boring city in terms of things to do would be a great city to have a SHL bubble. I picked Hamilton because I believe that the Canadian government has a much better handle on things then the American government does in terms Covid protocols. I also picked it because Toronto and Calgary both had the NHL playoff bubbles and so I believe a knew city deserved hockey playoffs and the financial gain from having a professional hockey organization bring its business to them. I believe hockey players are definitely more creative in entertaining themselves then basketball players. I believe that they would have set up a roller hockey rink where players could bring roller blades to mess around with players from other teams as the SHL is a much more close knit group the NHL. I also believe that teams would have had trick shot competitions trying to hit small objects with pucks like plastic cups as most things would be disposable in the bubble. I believe the roller hockey would have been great publicity

(181 words)

2. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
Of the 10 most recent finals series, which do you think is the most memorable and why? Which will be remembered in history as the best/most important/most memorable series or victory? S46: BUF over NOLA, S47: WKP over CGY, S48: BUF over WPG, S49: EDM over NEW, S50: CGY over TBB, S51: HAM over EDM, S52: MAN over SFP, S53: HAM over EDM, S54: NOLA over HAM, S55: BUF over NOLA.

I am definitely going to take the S47 WKP cup over CGY as the most memorable in the last 10 seasons. I definitely am taking a bit of a bias for this being a home grown player and having been involved with BAP since S20. However looking at these playoffs for the platoon in general, these were a set of dominance that is not often seen in the SHL at any level. Those playoffs the Platoon went 12-2-1. They only dropped three games all playoffs and only two of them were in regulation. What else was nasty about that team was a 92% penalty kill percentage. In a more offensive league recently with multiple players scoring 60+ points, seeing a team so dominant against the man advantage is definitely something to behold. I also think when you look at the roster how many HOF or borderline HOF players they had on that roster is quite wild. Some of the biggest names on that roster were Alex Light, LKS, Sophia Bennet, Rex Kirby, Biscuit, Nat Emerson (who when he retires I think should be looked at for the HoF as one of the best defensive defenseman ever) as well as others who I was not as active then to know. I think pure dominance can be generation defining and something that is not seen as much as series tend to go deeper than they used to. (and without STHS there is no weird underdog factor that comes up either).

((250 words)