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?

In his first seasons of regression Commander Shepard met all of his expectations. Shepard changed his game up a bit this past season, losing some ability defensively and checking wise to focus on a playmaking style of game. In the end Shepard did well with 42 points on the season totalling 25 assists and 17 goals. This was Shepards highest total since the SimonT days. Shepard’s offensive rating was a 76 putting him top 25 in the league. On the advanced statistics side of things Shepard excelled being top 10 in both Fenwick and Corsi relative. Shepard also was more physical with 47 hits this season after 3 straight seasons of sub 20 hits. Despite the offensive improvement Shepard had a major issue this season with penalties which is something he would like to limit next season. This was Shepard’s first season in the FHM era where he did not have a positive turnover ratio and hopes to improve that next season as well.

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 going to argue that the S54 Challenge cup final was the most important in recent memory. Before the most recent expansion with the Atlanta Inferno and Seattle Argonauts there was an expansion back in S46 with the New Orleans Specters and the Chicago Syndicate. The Specters right from the get go were highly competitive and always knocking on the door for a challenge cup. In fact in their first season they made the finals to lose to the Buffalo Stampede. After that loss they made the playoffs every single season only to be upset by a variety of different teams including the Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Blizzard, Calgary Dragons, and La Panthers. Moving on to S54 the Specters team is getting older and has made many a move to maintain their contender status which they finally punched through the Blizzard in 6 games, the Panthers in 7, and sweeping the much hated Hamilton Steelhawks. Showing that expansion teams can enter the league and be contenders from the start. This led the way for another expansion.

Code:
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.)

Realistically the best option for hub cities are places with enough facilities as in rinks, hotels, amenities but most importantly needs to be in an area with a relatively low incidence of the Coronavirus to maintain the health of the teams and players. If we were going to go with one playoff hub city I would vote for Winnipeg as it is sort of in the middle of nowhere and in a very central area in the league. There are relatively low numbers of cases there, especially when compared to big american cities like Chicago or New York. Winnipeg is just big enough to support all the teams in hotels. There wouldn’t be much to do in the city itself because of COVID but outside the city there are many conservation areas to visit and sights to see. Besides that there would be many things to do in the HUB plaza with fellow players including, a gaming section, basketball nets, restaurants, and jury rigged movie theater to help players kill time between games. No doubt there would be gyms in the area as well to let players get in shape.

Code:
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?

There were many great teams that didn’t make it but I think the Chicago Syndicate was the best team not to make the finals. The Syndicate were one of the best teams in the east falling 8 points behind the eventual cup winning Steelhawks. Led by Martijn Westbroek who had 70 points and 40 goals. The syndicate also had one of the best top defensive pairings in the league with Parker Smeb and Corey Kennedy. The Syndicate also had strong goaltending in Tibuk Soonika who had a .925 save percentage on the year. With this high level talent and one of the higher overall TPE throughout the team the Syndicate could have easily won if the puck luck went their way.

14. Written, 2 TPE - The Procrastinator Special! (100 words min)
Welp, you waited until the last day to grind out your CW and the CC finals are longggggggg over by now. congrats to [TEAM], woo! Reflecting back on the series, who gets your vote for series MVP? Make the case why this player deserves it over any other.

There were a lot of great performances by the Hamilton Steelhawk team but Aaron Wilson’s performance stands out to me as the most valuable. Starting out in game 1 Wilson had 1 goal and played tremendously defensively with an 80 rating on the defense side and an 85 total grade as well. In game 2 Wilson took the first star 2ith 2 assists on the night. In game 3 Wilson stayed even and had a 95 defensive rating despite being shut out. In game 4 Wilson again grabbed the first star with a goal and 2 apples. Finally in the series clinching game Wilson grabbed the 2nd star with 2 assists.

Code:
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.

Verification Word: Price

16/16