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?

This season has been a strange one for Elwulf Jericson. In his final season of his SMJHL career, he went from having a personal best season with St. Louis to having to then face his former teammates in the first round of the SMJHL playoffs. At the trade deadline, he was traded from St. Louis to Maine Timber, his hometown team. While he enjoyed his time there greatly it was a bittersweet reunion with his former teammates.

As the season came to an end, he then began looking towards the next season in the SHL. It will be his rookie season with the Tampa Bay Barracuda and he is planning on doing everything in his power to make the opening night roster. His hope is to help shore up the bottom pairing and help continue Tampa’s rebuild.

He benefited greatly this season from his pairing with Colin Lambert, also a Tampa Bay Barracuda. Together, they were able to put up an impressive season, ending with a personal best season for Jericson. I am greatly looking forward to the next few seasons, especially when Colin makes his way up to the SHL and the two of them to pair back up and take the SHL by storm. (206 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 would have to say that the most important finals series in the past 10 seasons would be Season 53. The reasoning behind this is due to it being the first season that the SHL switched to Franchise Hockey Manager as our simulation engine. There were a lot of changes that happened with changing the simulation engine and that came to a head in the S53 finals between HAM and EDM.

With the change to Franchise Hockey Manager every team had to reexamine how they set up their rosters. There was a lot of changing around throughout the entire season as everyone learned what new strategies and makeups would work. In the end, Hamilton ended up beating Edmonton 4-2 to clinch the first title under the new simulation engine. Hamilton ended up outsourcing Edmonton 12-8 while having 2 shutouts. Both teams, by these metrics, played very well for being the first time in a new engine. Other series may have more memorable moments, or more lopsided victories, but I feel none will come close to the importance as this series due to the change. (184 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.

As weird as it is to have the #1 and the #2 seeds on the same side of the play-in round, I bet I can make a playoff format that is a million times even worse. Best of 3 12-Team Round Robin.

So, with a 12 Team Round Robin, there would be 11 rounds of matches in order to allow for each team to play against each other team in a best of 3 matchup (best of 3 instead of single to differentiate from regular season). This would put each team, at minimum, playing 22 games and at most 33 games in the postseason. This would make the playoffs take approximately the same amount of time as the current format (best of 7 with 4 rounds for a minimum of 16 games and a maximum of 28 games) but the logistics and scoring would be much more complicated.

For scoring, first you would have to go with overall matchup victories. Next, would be the team with the minimum number of games played. Then on to goal differential per game. (179 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.)

Tampa Bay would make a great location for a playoff team to have to bubble. In the sunny Tampa Bay area, players, coaches, and fans would be able to enjoy watching games from outside of the arena in order to encourage social distancing guidelines. In addition, anyone can just dive into the Bay to kill anything that may affect them.

During their downtime, player’s can socially distance themselves by renting (or buying their own) jet skis and just going around the bay. Not only can they work on their non-winter tans, but they can enjoy the fresh air and still interact with everyone around them while staying apart. Also, who can say no to cruising around the bay at 50MPH.

This is of course assuming that everyone wishes to bubble in the first place. Florida has the specific distinction of being isolated from worldwide issues and insulating themselves with the magic of Florida Man. Nothing can stop the overpowering Florida from killing any sickness that enters the bubble area. (169 words)


7. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
What's your prediction for this season's IIHF tournament? Which teams do you expect to do well (or not well)? Which players?

Last year, Team Japan was a surprise for most of the tournament. They managed to come in second in their Round Robin Group last season to team USA. This year they have a slightly harder Grouping with Great Britain and Germany but I still expect them to come in second at worst behind Great Britain.

This is also considering their roster. Last year, they had capped players that would typically be playing in WJC and other lower TPE players. With another season under their belts, I fully expect them to be more competitive with their roster. Yes, other rosters improved as well but I feel like teams will sleep on Japan yet again.

Monkey D Luffy put on a clinic this season with 30 goals and 33 assists. I fully expect he will continue to carry this through the IIHF tournament to carry them into the semi-finals at worst, if not into the finals. (154 words)


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.

Nope