One thing that caught me by surprise was Toronto's rise in the rankings. I'm not used to seeing them among the top teams, and here they are second in their division and third overall. When doing my playoff predictions, I thought Toronto had a pretty good chance to make the finals given their matchups and how they faired against each other during the season.

Another surprise during the season was Buffalo's placement. They were third in their division, fifth overall. However, once again they have made quite a show in the playoffs and made it to the finals again. They consistently show that they can stomp through the playoffs if they want, no matter how much better other teams look in the regular season. I'm wondering how long they can keep doing it, but I'm also hoping they can surprise me in many seasons to come.


I've brainstormed several things that I think would help people on both sides of this question that I'm positive weren't actually done.

Non-finalists:
- win more
- do better research on baby goat physiology. I've seen it time and again, you think sacrificing any goat will better your odds but different breeds and body types really make a difference. First, the younger the better, hence the "baby" mentioned above. Second, what kind of creature would you think could help you get over the mountain that is the finals? That's right, a mountain goat. All kinds of mountainous goats can work, however they should be native to the general area surrounding whichever stadium your game is taking place. This means you can't get lazy and just ship a bunch of goats around with you, you have to arrive to an away game with enough time to send your designated goat hunter out to fetch the nearest, youngest goat possible. There are many other nuances to goat sacrifices, some of which delve into individual team secrets, that I won't get into here. Just know that with proper goat selection, you've already done 60% of the work.

Finalists:
- guard your goat selection secrets with your lives. You're doing something right, so don't give up that advantage to anyone. Watch out for opposition on the hunt and eliminate anyone tailing you for information.


a. I say Buffallo keep doing whatever they've been doing over the past couple seasons. They don't seems to have the overall best stats each season yet they do very well during playoffs. I didn't even think they'd get past the first few rounds because one of their opponents had a decently superior record against them in head-to-head stats, but they still made it.

b. I think offense may have an advantage here. Great defense works to prevent scoring, but you still have to get some offense out there to win a game. Like the Islanders have shown, stingy teams make a lot more 1-goal games with much less opportunities for error. One slip up and you could lose your overall advantage, which raises the stress level of games on average.

c. I kinda favor the steel hawks overall branding over the stampede. I like Hamilton's logo more, the hawk looks sharp and dangerous. However, I like Buffalo's name more, the whole name contributes to the branding imagery while the steelhawk's city doesn't allow that kind of addition. Overall, I think the logo edges out the name since imagery is more important and more memorable to us humans.

d. I'd have some fun and just go for pure offense. I'd go with Michael Scarn as the center for the large amount of special teams points. Monkey D. Luffy would be the right wing with their also-impressive special teams points and their highly effective, no-nonsense playstyle. Theo Morgan would take the left wing with their great offensive record. And to round it out, Alexander Selich would be the defender and use their passing skills to set up easy opportunities.


https://simulationhockey.com/showthread....pid3007792


@Keenan, I think it's pretty neat how well you're taking the PT head mantle after hotdog stepped down. Nice work!

@hotdog, I think it's pretty neat how well you've taken off the PT head mantle after Keenan stepped up. Nice work!

@Zombiewolf, I'm glad to see positive change in the updating system during your peaceful takeover. I hope that they continue to be improvements in the seasons to come.

@"luketd", I'm glad you ran the league so well that people decided to make you commissioner to publicize you running the league!