While these two teams are no strangers to the Cup finals, we did see some very interesting things this season. Looking back, what do you feel was the most surprising part of the season?

3 TPE

For me the most surprising thing has to be the meteoric rise of the Toronto North Stars. Toronto went from a mid level fringe playoff team to a strong cup contender in the span of a year. I honestly don't know what changed all that much. Players like Mika Kandinsky and Harry Carpet were always there and had high TPE but the rest of the team really galvanized around them. The Great Lakes as a whole is a super strong division and Toronto went from the bottom feeder to one of the good teams in a year, boxing out the defending champion Chicago syndicate from the playoff picture altogether. It's crazy to think that they were so stacked that they could successfully have a turnaround of this magnitude in the year. I think the sky is the limit for Toronto, formerly the land of the eternal rebuild, they can be optimistic for once.

Oh no, the head honchos of the league are worried that there aren't enough story lines for the finals! Therefore they're changing the rules for the finals. The home team will get to choose to either a) play the whole game with 6 skaters on the ice at a time or b) be immune from penalties/offsides/icing. Whatever the home team chooses, the visitors get the other perk. Which one are you choosing, given the choice and why?

2 TPE

Obviously I would choose the penalty option, because I and my players would be able to injure the other team with impunity. If there's no penalties there are no majors and no ejections so I can just physically abuse the other team until they don't have the capacity to stand up anymore, removing their bench, in addition, I do not get penalties for fighting but they do, putting them on an eternal power play. There is no reason to take an extra skater when said skater can immediately just be taken out of the game through a well placed dirty hit or fight.

Which players, if any, do you see as locks for the Hall of Fame? As in, if they're career ended today they're in. Anyone on the cusp? Anyone on the right track, but still needs to put up a few more great seasons?

3 TPE

I am going to go back to Toronto for this and say that in my opinion Harry Carpet and Mika Kandinsky are both fairly clear options for the hall of fame. Both of them are over two thousand tpe and have had strong careers, with Mika being the strongest player for russia on the international front for years now, and Carpy being consistently an above average to elite goalie depending on the year and has been a big part of Toronto's recent success, and has propped them up in their lesser years. Given that, as well as the fact that they are both around two thousand tpe earners I think it makes it pretty obvious that they are on the hall of fame shortlist. It is not that common to have a player earn that high, much less to have two of them together on the same team, it's pretty crazy.

Which SHL or SMJHL team was the best team to not make the finals this season and why?

2 TPE

Imma be real I hate this question buuut I need 2 more teepee eee in order to fill out my championship week point task. In order to meet this requirement I have to bullshit this task out as much as I physically can. So as I say that it's probably like the Texas Renegades or Toronto North Stars or something I dunno, maybe it was the Atlanta inferno where Nathan Explosion went for one last shot at winning the cup. Fuck it I don't know I just want the TPE and milestones are shit now.

What's your prediction for this season's IIHF tournament? Which teams do you expect to do well (or not well)? Which players?

3 TPE

I think this is going to be a big year for Russia, we have a lot of players that are unbanking and I would not be at all surprised to see Russia make a run for the playoffs, and firmly place themselves in the tier of the mid-majors like Czechia and Japan. Outside of that, I think it will be more of the same on the top of the food chain, with the standard Great Britain United States Canada axis taking the lion's share if not all of the medals in the playoffs. Great Britain is what I aspire to make Russia, as unlike them Russia has the history of being a hockey nation and so therefore has the advantage of more new creates coming in every year, while not a lot leave. I want players to return to Russia and feel like they got a good experience out of it.


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?
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?
c. Which of these two teams' brandings do you prefer? Take into account colors, logo, name, location, and anything else you consider relevant.


3 TPE

a. Honestly I do not see a way for Buffalo to win this, Hamilton is by far a stronger team and it really shows in everything, I think everyone thought this was gonna be the year when the steelhawks dynasty finally collapse but honestly It really does not look like that is the case.

b. Offense will always win because shot volume matters more than basically every single other stat in FHM. More shots equals more games won, simple as that. Sure that does not guarantee a win.

c. I stand by that Buffalo's logo is just a reversed simplfied version of Dinamo Minsk's logo. Look it up its straight of fax. So therefore by default Hamlton wins even though I find their branding to be fairly meh. I will be informing both of these teams to not draft me because of this.


Milestones

none of them fuck you