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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?
 
Rikard fared better in his rookie season that what he thought he would be. With a scoreline of 14 goals and 9 assists for 23 points in the season, Hammarberg was able to capitalize on the playmaking abilities of his linemates Skao Anazibf and Robert Phelps. While Rikard had a decent season, in a stacked Hamilton team, it seems like scoring 14 goals and 9 assists was not that great of an accomplishment. While Rikard was certainly glad he was able to play in a scoring role instead of a playmaking role that he has always played in, Hammarberg utilized this season working on his defensive skills. While the offence was there, defending the skilled players in the SHL was a giant leap from the SMJHL. As such, Hammarberg’s defensive statistics were not stellar at all, and is an area that Rikard will continue working on throughout the offseason and onwards.
 

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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 makes games memorable? When there is chaos out on the ice. To recreate the maximum chaos that makes things so exciting, I say that reseeds should happen after every single round. Not just any reseed, all the teams are placed in a hat. This hat method will be used prior to the first round, and in between all the other rounds. The commissioner will then pick teams out of the hat and be placed into a bracket. 1st and 2nd seeds can fight it out in the first round! If you get lucky, you can avoid all the top seeds altogether and make it to the finals!
 

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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?
 
Looking at how the season rounded out, it is a bit surprising that Chicago or Calgary did not make it into the finals this season. With stellar offensive numbers (201 GF for Chicago, 190 GF for Calgary) and defensive numbers (98 GA for Chicago, 85 GA for Calgary), it seemed that either one of those teams would be able to make it into the finals against Hamilton, who was the only other team that had sub 100 GA. While Buffalo was a team that many had picked to be up against Hamilton in the finals at the beginning of the year, their season did not reflect, but they picked up their game in the playoffs, defeating Chicago in 7 games in overtime in a reverse sweep.
 
 
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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.
 
To commemorate this year’s championship, a jumbo 32 oz sized collectible refreshment cup (to be filled with an ice cream float, or pop) will be sold at concession stands at Copps Coliseum. These large sized collectible refreshment cups will have holographic depictions of the Hamilton Steelhawks logo, as well as a 5 roster players (1st line with 3rd pairing defenceman, 2nd line with 2nd pairing defenceman, and 3rd line with 1st pairing defenceman). As one continues rotates the cup, a holographic battle will be shown between a Steelhawk and a Buffalo. On top of the cup is a plastic commemorative Steelhawk figurine that will be placed as a toper. Each refreshment cup will be priced at $12.99 CAD. Each cup will come with unlimited refills of pop. In the gift shop, a steel or glass commemorative Steelhawk is also for sale at $20 and $25 dollars respectively. These will also fit on top of the commemorative cup.
 

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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.
a. Both of these teams have an impressive set of skaters - without factoring in any coaching or tactical strategies, which team do you think has the better roster of skaters on paper?
b. Do you foresee the teams making any strategic adjustments during the course of the series? Should the teams be quick to switch tactics or stick with what they've been using?
c. These two teams hail from the Great Lakes Division. Which of the Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior) do you think is the Greatest and why?
d. If, once it is safe to do so, you had to go hang out in person with one of the users on Buffalo/Hamilton, who would you hang out with and what would you do? (if you pick gabe you get -1 tpe)
 
a.) Without factoring coaching or tactical strategies, it usually ends up with whichever team has the most amount of TPE, as they are usually the players with the best assortment of skater stats. Just looking at TPE, Hamilton has Buffalo beat in the forwards and defence department, with almost 2000 tpe difference between the forward group.
b.) I feel teams make strategic adjustments after every game if something glaring shows up. In a fairly tight contest between the two clubs, countering strategies could be what puts one team over another in one game, and vice-versa in another game. With this being said, the first game of the series will definitely be hotly contested, as it gives the winning team the edge in the strategy department for the series.
c.) The greatest lake is obviously Lake Superior because the name is Superior. While Lake Michigan is shaped like a donger, it is the only lake that is not split between the USA and Canada and is purely situated within the US border. Lake Ontario may house mutated fish and that’s not very great. No cities border Huron. Erie sounds scary, but would come in 2nd place to Superior.
d.) I would like to meet the Hamilton crew. I’m quite shy, but they have been great teammates making me feel welcome in the team. If I had to pick one person, it would be nour. He made an alarm just to remind himself to check up on how I was doing. That was unexpected, a bit awkward at first, but I really appreciated the gesture. Thanks buddy! Actually I can pick gabe here as well, for -1 TPE, since I can't count and wrote for 17 TPE. Wait, did picking the Hamilton crew count as picking gabe? does that mean -2 TPE? Oh no, I may have miscalculated.
 
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16. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is now completed through a Google form linked below. Make sure to spell your answers correctly or you will not get credit. Post your verification word in your CW post.
Hammarberg