http://probaseballexperience.jcink.net/i...t&p=295997 Affiliate (3 TPE)

1. (3 TPE)

Easily, without a doubt, the most surprising part of the season was the emergence of the Tampa Bay Barracuda. The Tampa Bay Barracuda, clearly, have been written off for a long time as the bottom dwellers of the league, and this year they were able to prove everyone that Tampa Bay is no longer the Laughingstock. While they did not make the playoffs this year, they made leaps and bounds of improvement that no one really saw coming. Yes, they were still bottom team in the East, but 54 points was a huge improvement, and far from the worst. They were tied with New England with 54 points, and the Monarchs, Argonauts, Pride and Specters all had less points then the Tampa Bay Barracuda. With the team still being quite young, and having a few more call ups in this upcoming season, don’t be surprised if the Barracuda are able to sneak into the playoffs.

(155 Words)


2. (2 TPE)

I am 100% going with being immune from penalties, offsides and icing, and then having my team be full of brutes, running people into boards and gong to try and injure players. The other team can’t play with 6 skaters if you continue to take everyone out of the game. You have to believe in your team to be the hardest hitting mother fuckers out there, and always going for blood. You aren’t gong to get a boarding penalty, or a 5 minute major for fighting. You are going to knock the goalie out of the net and get easy goals in theory too. God, no penalties is a dream come true.

(112 Words)

3. (3 TPE)

I will say there are a few different players that if I were to see retire today, would be locks for the Hall of Fame. Some of them are, in no particular order, Tor Tuck, Tony Pepperoni, and Julio Tokolosh. While some people look for outstanding stats, which all three of these men have, it has to do more with character and what they have done with the Edmonton Blizzard throughout their whole careers. They are the faces of that franchise, and when you think Edmonton Blizzard, you think these three all-time greats. You have to appreciate what these guys have done on the ice, as well as what they do off the ice, and I have been more then lucky to share a locker room with all three of these guys, and I would love to always share a locker room with them. Even though I am in Tampa Bay, I can appreciate greatness from anywhere.

@ErM
@TommySalami
@Julio Tokolosh

(160 Words)

4. (3 TPE)

While Vladmir Petrov sits at home, missing the playoffs for the first time in his career, there are a lot of things he has come to realize he needs to do to become more effective for wherever he plays in this upcoming season. Outside of continuing to pass well, Vladmir Petrov needs to figure out a way to finally get the puck more often into the back of the net, and continue to get takeaways and not have so many useless giveaways. Vladmir Petrov needs to get his head out of his ass, and keep pushing harder and harder to make sure that everything he has promised himself will come true. That means without a doubt, a lot more off-season training and grinding to become one of the greats in this league. Vladmir will stop at nothing to prove to the world that the Petrovs need to be here and continue to strive for greatness.

(155 Words)

5. (2 TPE)

One of the better SHL teams of the season that I am just surprised did not make the finals this year was the Toronto North Stars. I will say, I admittedly did not pay full attention to the standings nor the stats, but I do know that @ml002 has run such a great ship over there, and that he has righted the way for a long time, and it’s finally paying off, but they were just bested in 7 this season. They just got very unlucky this year, and were not able to come away with a game 7 win. I fully expect seeing Toronto making many more deep runs.

(110 Words)