1. Written, 3 TPE, Ups and Downs (150 words min.)
So this was a tough season for everyone in the SHL. Dealing with trolls online, horrible PR from product endorsements, and on top of that all some minor identity fraud to add to the pile. Are these the worst things to happen to your player this season, or did something unimaginably horrible happen? On the flip side, were there any bright spots hidden in the countless nuisances and problems? What good things on and off the ice happened this season for you?

Outside of the chaos in my personal life, I had a pretty good season. Nothing really bad happened outside of my twitter being hacked, the ph pr controversy, and the troll situation if I'm being honest. I had my best season on the ice, scoring 99 points and setting the new all-time record for goals in a season with 49. It's something I never expected to do as a player; I always thought I'd be a star but not almost 100 points and 50 goals star. While the early playoff eliminaton to Buffalo, where I played jackshit, stung a lot, it didn't dampen the great season I, and we as a team, had this past year. Off the ice, I spent more time with my family, which was nice. I deleted all social medias for a bit to just relax and focus on both family and hockey, and I'd say it worked wonders for me over the past season.

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4. Written, 3 TPE (60 words min.)
Ugh, poetry is so 17th century, we're ditching that prompt. Earlier in the season I had you flex your songwriting in an SHL style parody, but this time you don't have a song to lean on. You're writing your very own diss track about something SHL related. A player, A team, A GM, anything. You can write a diss track about CW if you want.
Here are the rules: At least 12 lines (and at least 60 words total) but if you wanna do more go for it. I'm not laying out a specific rhyme scheme but there has to be rhyme in it. Be creative! This prompt is not for everyone, if you have a problem with it there are like 15 other prompts I made for ya. NOTE: THIS IS ALL IN JEST; ANYTHING OVERLY MEAN OR MALICIOUS WILL NOT BE GRADED. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

imagine making me do all of this work
and yes i think you're a major jerk
cw is a massive waste of time
that is why i spit this rhyme
sure i want my tpe
but don't make me work just give it for free
cw is bad
it makes me mad
that i spend like two hours
for tpe that i want but don't want to work two hours for
so this was my diss about cw
i think it's bad

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6. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
What's your prediction for this season's IIHF tournament? Which teams do you expect to do well (or not well)? Which players?

After last season's semifinal appearance (and 4th place finish) for my beloved Switzerland last year, I'm incredibly excited to see us hopefully make another deep run. We've been consistently good in the group stages which earns us preferential quarterfinal matches; of course the main goal is to just make it out of the group this season but it would be a pleasant surprise to win the group again. I of course anticipate the big two of the USA and Canada to bounce back from bad tournaments last year, while Japan and Norway have established themselves as top teams as well. The United Kingdom is in IIHF purgatory it seems and I don't back them to do much after missing the medal rounds like Canada last season. I also believe that we will see Ireland, Austria, and Latvia at the bottom again as I feel they're the weakest teams in the IIHF. Germany can play sleeper again as their bronze squads remain mostly intact.

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7. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
We're at a point in the SHL where a good chunk of the playerbase played back in the STHS era, and a good chunk has known nothing but FHM. If you're in the latter part of the league you must have heard the horror stories... so: Let's make a hypothetical.
Players who played in both eras: What would have happened if we just had one sim engine? Posture how your career would have gone if we stayed in STHS (sans exploits). Or what if you had created in FHM the whole time? Would things have gone better or worse?
For you FHM babies: What if we were still in Simon T land? Would your career be where it is now? Or would randomness have stunted the dynasties you may or may not have been part of?

I think my career in STHS would have been far worse than it's been in FHM. The only good thing about Simon T was the randomness of it all (Toronto making it over New England in S51 I believe was the funniest thing I've ever seen on this site) and while I could exploit the meta to be a sim league god, it just would not be fun. I think my career (or at least my junior career) would have been worse on FHM too; it's hard for J players to be a consistent PPG and I considered myself lucky to even be a ppg player in S53. So while I would consider my SHL career to have gone the same in the FHM era, my junior career probably would have been much worse than it was in the STHS-FHM hybrid era (S50 to S53). On the other hand, my first player would've had a far better career in FHM. No 13 point seasons on a stacked Minnesota team in the S40s and no ending my career with consecutive 26 point seasons for me if FHM was the actual engine back in the S40s and early S50s. Simon T was too random at times to just be a good consistent engine.

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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. The salt special: Do these teams deserve to be here? Or were they gifted a trip to the finals through puck luck and bullshittery?
the series against buffalo, for us, could have gone either way. that's probably their only instance of bullshittery these yoffs (even if it's incredibly biased). chicago had to beat texas so i'd say their trip to the finals was less lucky since the renegades just won the cup, but buffalo had to beat atlanta in the finals (no offence fire bois but it's not a close match).
b. Buffalo has been here many times in the past 20 seasons, this is only the second (I think I'm too lazy to check) time for Chicago. Which is more impressive? The continued dominance of Buffalo? Or the solid couple of runs Chicago has made despite the team only being 15 seasons old?
i'd say buffalo being that good for like twenty seasons is impressive but considering that the syndicate have been a playoff fixture for almost their entire existence, and being a dominant team at that for the most part, deserves much more plaudits as this team was basically built from scratch and has stayed together for a hell of a long time
c. Everyone's a critic: Nitpick one thing about either team's logo, jersey, rink design, goal horn, or general site demeanor.
chicago still has a tacky logo. not as bad as their first one but still not a good one. the logo isn't scary, it isn't intimidating, it's just a guy. in black and white. basically a worse version of the old columbus crew logo, and i hated that columbus crew logo.
d. Who is the best player to play for either team? Is is a current player? Retired? Traded? Make your case.
the best player to ever play for the buffalo stampede is @Ragnar aka Chimkin Wing. no shl player EVER had a shutout on his debut then scored forty points in the shl as a forward. until chimkin wing came to town and did just that. he is the greatest player in buffalo history. as for chicago i guess it's westbroek cause i think he has the most points in syndicate history. if he doesn't, i don't care it's still him