2. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)
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?

As the home team I would choose the ability to be immune from penalties/offsides/icing any day of the week even if it meant the other team being allowed 6 skaters at all times for the game.

Being immune to taking penalties allows for various different tactics even without taking advantage of no offsides/icing. Imagine for a second you have a player coming down the ice at you full apeed and you have the option to take the body. You know you can hit as hard and in any manner you so desire so you give an extremely hard hit near the boards and knock them out. No boarding call on you, but that player may be done for a bit. The physicality cannot even be answered for by you as, if you are fought, the other player sits out for 5 minutes whike you are fine. The entire series your team will put the other on their heels from this play and, chances are, will take plenty of penalties out of frustration that you will rarely be playing 5v6.

5. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)
Which SHL or SMJHL team was the best team to not make the finals this season and why?

No questions asked, rhe best team in the SHL to miss the playoffs was the Manhattan Rage. They played a good season with a .561 points percentage over the 66 game season. Ending the season with a 34-26-6 record and posting a +19 Goal Differential on the season is a pretty good stat. Unfortunately, the Eastern Conference was stronger overall than the Western Conference. In the east, they finished a whopping 14 points out of the playoffs. However, in the West they would have been 4th beating out the LA Panthers by 10 points. It is an unfortunate circumstance that the East was much stronger across the board than the West, as can be noticed by the worst team in the East (my own Tampa Bay Barracudas) amassing 54 points, beating out the bottom 4 teams on the West, including the league worst New Orleans Specters with 26 points. Had Manhattan been in the Western Conference they may very well have not only made the playoffs, but modt likely with a much better record.

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?
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.

A: The biggest thing that Buffalo can do going into the series is to look at how they matched up against Hamilton in the regular season. In their 6 matchups, the teams split the series 3-3. Howver, 2 of Hamilton's wins were in OT/SO whereass 2 of Buffalo's wins were shutouts. I feel like, given this info, Buffalo can play their game and expect to match up or even beat Hamilton in a 7 game series.

B: These types of stats are always an interesting one to me. Especially when they are cherry picked. For instance, the series between these 2 teams in the regular season ended with Hamilton scoring 18 goals whereas Buffalo scored 27 goals. Given this, I believe the matchup actually favors Buffalo as they had a +9 GF during the regular season against Hamilton.

C: This one is based solely on bias more than anything else. First, I love Hamilton's colors, as I think I had pointed out last year. And a Hawk, can never go wrong with a Hawk. That being said, the deciding favtor here is location. Being a born and raised New Englander, anything New York is evil. It's bad enoigh that people think New Yorkers are New Englanders. But then the tourists. It's not even like they stay away after the summer. Those leaf peepers are almost even worse.

15. Milestones, up to 3 TPE
New this season, Milestones are folded in with CW. So just link your Milestone claim as task 16 for up to 3 TPE towards your 16 total.

https://simulationhockey.com/showthread....pid3007673

16. Written, 3 TPE
I loved this as a mPT when hotdog did it last season, so I'd like to bring it back as a permanent fixture. After all, we could all use a little positivity every now and then. Say something nice about another member or members, no word limit.

Honestly, this year has been an insane one both on the site and in real life. Luckily, I have been highly encouraged to continue with the site even through my stretches of inactivity by everyone in the Tampa Bay locker room.

This starts at the top with @trella and @hockeyiscool. Both of them offer huge encouragement for just sticking to everything and helping out where I can.

Both @PremierBromanov and @Fitted2106 are huge locker room presences and are amazing to talk to and hang out with.

@Rangerjase and @Muford are hilarious to chat gaming stuff with as well as mess around.

And of course, @rum_ham has had to deal with me since his time in St. Louis and it has been amazing to see him embrace and grow on the site.

Honestly speaking, I couldn't be here without all of them and the rest of the Tampa Bay locker room as well as the members of St Louis who gave me a chance to begin with.

4. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
If you're sitting at home watching the Finals: What do you plan on doing differently next season to help your team reach the promised land? If you're playing in the Finals: Is there anything different you plan on doing next season to continue your team's success?

First and foremost, it is time to hit the gym. This past season has seen a sharp decrease in the improvement of my on ice product (although I still consider myself a great locker room presence) and this year I want to change that. Being drafted where I was, I am feeling as though I have been a bust. But that just means I need to embrace my new role and strive to improve in that to bring Tampa Bay to the playoffs next season.

I also plan on making more money. Afterall, money makes the world go round. Expect to see some more "expert" analysis of what is going on in the league, as well as the SMJHL. Afterall, they are the future of the upcoming Tampa Bay Revolution.

Finally, I am going to learn the tactical side of the game. You can teach and train the basics, but true hockey knowledge and IQ are going to take a deeper dive to help bring both myself and the team to the next level.