Task #2

To show appreciation to the best fans in the J that stuck with us through the ups and downs of our season we will be giving out Newfoundland rally towel to all attending fans at each home game during the finals. The rags will white and feature the alternate logo in the center of one side. With red text on the top of that same side that reads “LETS GO ZERKS” and text on the bottom reading “BACK TO BACK”.  The back side of the towel will feature the “dripping blood” from the sleeves of the Newfoundland jerseys. There will also be red stitching on the outside edges of the towel to help the red really pop. We want to thank each and every one of you for all the support. Come to the finals and see how many towels you can collect. Although a Newfoundland sweep should keep that number to a minimum.

154 words. +2 TPE

Task #5
With Championship Week approaching I thought I’d look at the best players in the series at each position. Both teams are chalk full of quality players and are red hot heading into the final so it will be tricky to narrow it down to just one player per position. Here we go.

C - Daniil Nikiforov - - 677 TPE
As a member of Newfoundland, I immediately figured Mats Marner would have a strong argument for the Center position. With all due respect to Marner, who had a great season in his own right, after briefly comparing their respective seasons it quickly became clear that Nikiforov had the better season of the two. Nikiforov’s stat line of 23G-31A-54P and a +31 was enough to get him into the record books tied for 5th in the most points in a season in the 50-game era, and he did it on only 16:25 a game. The SMJHL’s leading scoring on the season simply must be the pick here.

LW – Rotticus Scott - - 859 TPE
Pretty much all of Newfoundland's best wings line up on the right side making this selection a relatively easy one as well. That is not meant to take away form the season the Scott has as it was a great one. While maybe not quite up with the top scorers around the league, Scott’s 39 points and +26 while dishing out 60+ hits tell the story of a great two-way player who can do a bit of everything.

RW – Liam Slate - - 715 TPE
This was a tough selection as Bryce McMahon has a very strong case as well posting 33P and a +30. Because Vancouver had easily the biggest point differential, I didn’t want to give the high +/- too much weight because I believe that is more of a reflection of the team's performance as a whole vs the individual effort. So, I decided to give the edge to Liam slate who posted a line 11G-30A-41 and a +9 on the year. Improving his SH% would go a long way in taking his game to the next level but he has already shown he is one of the best playmakers in the entire SMJHL.

RD – Jonas Kahnwald - - 504 TPE
Jonas Kahnwald had a phenomenal year posting a line of 10G-17A-27P and a +27 while logging a hefty 21:49 a game. Vancouver's top defenseman Ryosuke Sato had his name in the running but Kahnwald ultimately had more points, a better +/-, played more minutes, and had a better game rating. Pretty easy decision on this one.

LD – Tinke Jutila -  - 500 TPE
Tinke Jutila is a throwback crease clearing defender that opponents hate to play against. It’s crazy that even though he put up 16 points, his offense ins’t even in the same realm as his defensive game. Posting a respectable 5G-11A-16P with a +19 is great to see. Add on a 77 defensive game rating and you’ve got one hell of a player.

G – Cale Amundsen -  - 820 TPE
This was an interesting one. I have been vocal about my love for Vancouver rookie sensation Jon St. Ark who posted a 1.62 GAA and .930SV% (both landing in the record books) on the regular season but he has only played 1 game throughout the entire playoffs. It looks like Vancouver decided to give their veteran Name Redacted the vast majority of the playoffs as he has earned through the years he has given to this organization. But given his 2.41 GAA and .896SV%, even though he is 7-3, I had to go with Amundsen whose 8-3 record paired with his 2.17GAA and .936SV% look much better on top of his already better regular season performance. Amundsen it is.

634 words. +3 TPE


Task #6

Since Newfoundland has a round 1 bye, I will look at the round 2 matchups and whether different match ups would have given different results. To be frank the only two teams that I feel threatened by are the Vancouver Whalers and the Carolina Kraken. With the Kraken losing in the semifinals, we will never see how that matchup may play out, but we will get to see who the Berserkers do against Vancouver in the championship. Carolina is a very good team with some very promising young players. It wouldn’t have shocked me if we wound up losing against that team, but I do think we have an edge over them. Vancouver was hands down the best team of the regular season and had the second-best record of SMJHL history, so they must be the favorite heading into the championship. As far the other teams go, we already beat Maine and Anchorage 4-1 each so there’s that. The Battleborn finished 1 point behind us in the regular season so I think that would be a good matchup as well. But with the regular season records and playoff performances from Colorado and Kelowna I just don’t think they would be able to knock us off in a 7-game series.

209 words. +3 TPE

Task #8

My rookie season in the SMJHL was very much and up and down one. After having a very strong preseason where I was about a point per game, even scoring on a breakaway, I thought I was about to come into the league and tear it up. That wasn’t the case. Right off the bat my fellow rookie d partner and I ran into quite a few speed bumps. It took a good chunk of games before I recorded a point and my +/- was heading south quickly. At this point I realized the preseason was too good to be true. But throughout the season my play picked up and the biggest positive was the 8 goals I scored on a 10.26SH%. I believe I had at least one 2 goal game as well so that was cool. As a playmaking defenseman I wasn’t expecting to score more goals than assists but 13 points either way as a rookie defenseman playing with a rookie partner is respectable in my book. The –16 is terrible and will need to get better but its not the end of the world as a rookie and my defensive performance did get better as I focused on upgrading it. What is shifting my outlook on my rookie season towards good rather than just ok is my strong performance in the playoffs so far. In 11GP I have 1G-5A-6P and a +5 with a 59GR. Heading into the championship with a playoff performance like that has got me feeling great about my rookie season. Hopefully a cup will be the cherry on top.

269 words. +3 TPE

Task #9 

I think this answer is obvious. Would the whales kill the berserkers is the fight took place underwater? Yeah probably. This is the SMJHL dummies do you think this fight will take place underwater? No we will be taking the fight to the ice. Ever seen a whale move around on top of ice? Me neither probably because they can’t. So as the whales flop around the ice and the Berserkers ready their axes you can anticipate a blood bath for sure. The ice will be painted red by the end of the fight. Fitting isn’t it? Isn’t Red one of the Berserkers colors?

104 words. +2 TPE 

Task #16 Trivia

Verification word : Zerks

+3 TPE

+16 TPE Total