Task 1 – 3 TPE, 3 Total:
Perhaps the most surprising thing, to me, of the SHL season this year was just how bad New Orleans ended up being. Like don’t get me wrong, I knew we’d be not great, but I didn’t forsee the 10-50-6 record of death. Yuck. There were some really cool things that happened during the season, but the biggest surprise for me is actually Esa stepping down from GM of the Calgary Dragons. He’s been one of the most recognizable faces in the SHL for a very long time. As his friend, I can tell you that even though he’d say he was going to quit a bunch of times and never mean it, I really didn’t see this coming. It was such a surprise and came out of left field! The SHL will never truly be the same as we lose one of our longest tenured and most respected GMs. Good luck out there Esa! (154)

Task 3 – 3 TPE, 6 Total:

I’m not entirely sure if I’m allowed to talk about this, being on the HOF committee and all. But when I read this question, the first player that came to mind was FR Finn-Rhys. I think he’s been a fantastic defenseman for a LONG time now, but he was just starting to really get noticed by the league more recently. However, his trade to New England could derail his HOF chances, OR it could be the best thing for him. That’s fun to watch. As for older guys, DeMaricus Smyth is almost retired. He’s a former MVP who’s won a cup and even successfully switched to defense near the end of his career and was able to reinvent himself as a bad ass defensive defender. I think he deserves a good look. Finally, I think Martijn Westbroek is on a HOF path as well, but he’s going to suffer unless he wins a little more hardware. Hopefully that will be the case. (162)

Task 4 – 3 TPE, 9 Total:

Sadly, as much as I plan on doing things a little differently for the New Orleans Specters, the truth is that we have another season of suffering ahead of us. Barring the most outlier of outlier seasons, We’ll be battling for 1 or 2 OA next year. It’s just our time in the grand scheme of the SHL to be not great. However, I don’t imagine this to be lasting very long. After ANOTHER successful draft where we acquired 5 new active players, the future of the Specters looks VERY bright. As much as I want to sit here and say we’ll be competing for the cup next year, the best thing we can do as a franchise is to truly stay the course. A new update scale that’s much nicer to lower TPE players is right in our wheelhouse, and our actives are going to be kicking ass sooner than later. (152)

Task 12 – 4 TPE, 13 Total:
12. 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. Hamilton finished 13 points above Buffalo in the standings this season. What is one thing that Buffalo can do to give themselves a leg up despite this?
I think Buffalo already did the one thing they needed to do to give themselves a leg up this season when they proceeded to make a trade deadline move for Dick Clapper. Adding a 2k player to any roster is going to improve it a bit, and Clapper may have been the missing piece for Buffalo. (56)

b. Hamilton was 3rd in the league in GF this season. Buffalo was 2nd in GA. This begs the age old question: what will win out, a great defense or a great offense? Why?
The answer is always a great offense. Teams with the greatest offenses tend to eventually figure out how to crack even the best defensive schemes. Buffalo has had one hell of a defensive run with Lizzie Doyle being just FANTASTIC as usual, but with all of the offense Hamilton can throw at you, its only a matter of time before one of those lines finds a mismatch and scores. (69)

c. Which of these two teams' brandings do you prefer? Take into account colors, logo, name, location, and anything else you consider relevant.
This is the easiest answer for me: give me the Buffalo Stampede branding all day. It’s a classic logo for one, and has always been one of the top ones in the league since they began the franchise. Plus, they’re in Buffalo, which is my hometown. Also, Green is my favorite color, so that also works in Buffalo’s favor with me. Plus, the name Stampede is superior to whatever a Steelhawk is. (72)

d. It's all come down to this: game seven overtime. Which four players are you sending out to win the game for you. This is in a fantasy sense, so feel free to mix and match from both teams.
Since I can mix and match, I’ll take two from each team. I’ll send out Bobby Sharp and Micheal Scarn to play up front for my forwards, but for my defense, I’ll have Monkey D. Luffy play D (and pinch up on the rush to help score). The other defenseman will be Samuel Michaud for sure. That gives 4 fantastic players who can absolutely get me the OT winner more often than not! (73)

Task 16 – 3 TPE, 16 Total:

The first thing I’m going to do is talk about how great @Nictox is. Nic puts up with my nonsense, and reigns me in when I’m getting a little too ridiculous with my ideas for trades or how to run the team. He’s been one hell of a rock, and a big reason the Specters haven’t like, dissolved. I’ll also give a shoutout to @Huck24 , who’s been nothing but a fantastic friend to have ever since we drafted him like 100 years ago. Shoutout to @overdoo , who’s been great with giving advice and generally helping out with war room activities. He’s a swell boy. And finally, I’ll end this by saying @Arkz is awesome, and we’re incredibly lucky to have him. He’s been a beast in the locker room and for getting our sim boxscores up, even when they weren’t that fun to look at. Thank you all for what you do for the team!