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?

For Justin Keahi, the worst possible thing happened this past season. He was picked in an expansion draft by the Philadelphia Forge, ending any hope he had at playing his entire career with Tampa Bay. Tampa were so close to being a playoff contender, and Justin was ready to start battling for the cup every season. It would not be though, as they would expose Justin for the expansion draft, and ultimately lose him for nothing. With that said, Philadelphia faired well this season, at points performing better than Tampa. In playoffs, the Forge would end up with more wins than the fish, though both had a series victory total of zero. Now Justin looks to his future with the Forge, as he now sees himself helping lead the Forge to their first cup. Or at least getting paid the big bucks until he leaves them to chase a cup as his game starts to slow.

3. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
Freaky Friday.. or Monday. Tuesday? Anyhow, I think the finals will be over by Friday barring some kind of Re-sim :grimace: Anyways, I forgot the plot of the movie but there's something about a fortune cookie and now you're in your mom's body! But actually, it's the body of an SHL player, one from Chicago or Buffalo! (If you are on Buffalo or Chicago, you can't be yourself, pick a teammate or opponent). Now that you are them and they are you, what do you do during the big game? Play amazing and turn a scrub into a superstar? Play like a bum and try to help the other team win? Oggle yourself in the mirror? The world is so exciting in a new body...

Justin Keahi wakes up the day of game 7 of the SHL finals. Another season not in playoffs. Something isn't right though, he isn't in his own bedroom. He's in a hotel. Odd, he thinks to himself, but it's not out of the ordinary to party so hard the previous night that he ends up passed out in someone else's hotel. There is a banging at the door though, "Gunnar! Gunnar! Wake up, you're going to be late to meeting the team at the rink!" Justin thinks to himself, how did I end up in a hotel room of someone named Gunnar. He gets up to leave and he looks in the mirror. "I can't believe it." He isn't Justin anymore, he is Gunnar Söderberg, of the Chicago Syndicate. Not going to question anything, he puts on Gunnar's best suit and heads to the rink. Only one thing to do he thinks to himself, and that's winning the Challenge Cup with nothing but grit and fighting.

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?

Going into this season's IIHF tournament, there is not doubt about who will be the best team. It'll be the chocolate loving, cheese dealing, knife slinging, and watch collecting Swiss. That's right bitches, Switzerland are winning this motherfucker. They're going to beat the absolute dog shit out of all the other teams, I mean just crush them. They'll be the school yard bullies of the tournament, forcing all the other teams to give them their lunch money. If that's not enough, they are going to not let any of the teams score. They'll physically beat you so bad, that you won't even dare touch the puck. If you even think about it, they're putting you through the boards. It'll be gang warfare on ice, but it'll be one sided. The other teams might as well call in now and forfeit if they don't want to leave the tournament in body bags because the Swiss are winning this godamn motherfucking tournament.

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?

If we would have stayed in the STHS engine, Justin Keahi would not have a career, and MyLittleHexx as a user would not be active anymore. STHS encouraged the same build, no build diversity. If you even thought about having checking in your build, you were seen as cancer by general managers. It was fun for my first player where I was a defensive/two-way defensemen, but after that I was bored with the limited options I was allowed to build with. If FHM was the only thing I knew, I might have been more active with my previous two players. Being able to build a player how I want, without worrying about it being looked at as out of meta would have been so nice. Especially since I could start building my player with one player type in mind, then a few seasons pivot and completely build towards a different player type.

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?

Do both these teams deserve to be in the Challenge Cup Finals? No, neither team deserves to be here. They earned the right to play for the Challenge Cup. They fought and beat good teams to get here, and to say they deserve to be here is an insult to the work they put in this past season to get to this point.

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?

What's more impressive to me is the Chicago runs they've put together. Buffalo had how many finals and how many seasons of playoffs, but only have three cups to show for. Meanwhile, Chicago were an expansion team and made solid progress and are Challenge Cup champions in recent seasons. Anyways, I think both teams are solid and it should be a fun series.

c. Everyone's a critic: Nitpick one thing about either team's logo, jersey, rink design, goal horn, or general site demeanor.

For Chicago, the one thing I don't enjoy is there alternate jerseys. It's too much yellow for me, plus Yellow helmets never look good. There is not a single team that I can think of that has ever made a yellow bucket work, and the Syndicate join a long list of teams that failed to do so.

d. Who is the best player to play for either team? Is it a current player? Retired? Traded? Make your case.

The best player to play for the Chicago Syndicate is actually a player that never pulled the Syndicate jersey over there head and played a game with them. I'm talking Justin Keahi, who originally was a Syndicate prospect. He is a little wrecking ball on the ice, and an expert pest. He gets under the skin of his opponents, and really throws them off their games.