Task#1 - 3 TPE (170 words)
One of the biggest upsets this season for Luukas Lilja would definitely be the hockey equipment deal with Jofa, leading to a massive PR disaster and Jofa's stocks falling all over the world. This would affect Lilja's career indefinitely, being the poster person for the product that led to such immense disaster in the hockey market - but on the bright side, Lilja did have some good times this season. Celebrating Calgary's highly succesful last half of the season in Vegas gave him so many memories (and a lot of certain type of  alcohol PTSD's) but on the more important note, it did bond the Dragons squad very heavily. Heading into their next few seasons with some new and old faces, especially the old faces from their core this season, will be stronger than ever. Speaking of strong faces in general, Lilja's rookie season on the ice is expected to be a strong contender for the rookie of the season award. Thats something he will look forward in next few weeks.

Task#2 - 3 TPE (261 words)
PokéSHL, thats something out of the ordinary. But hey, lets go with it. Heading into the world of Pokémon with the eyes of an SHL player, picking your team would cause tremendous problems for everyone. On a personal level I would go to become an elite four member - with my loyal Calgary Dragons representing my Dragon-types as the 3rd or 4th encounter of the league. Being an oldschool dude with Pokemon who grew up playing the first 3 generations I would assemble my team according to the first three generations. I would have only 4 pokemon, but they would all be trained to perfection. My starter would consist have non-damaging setup abilities, which would prevent switching. So my choice for that would be Brennan Kennedy Jr, who would at first use Spikes for the first 2 turns, as most of the strong pokemon against Dragon type do not fly. After that, my 2nd pokemon would definitely have the Intimidate-ability, which leads to Attack stat loss, forcing the opponent to switch and take heavy damage from previous Spikes that were setup, and my pick for that would be #A-Rye Izzy. Next, I need a strong pokemon with the capability of sweeping, but not quite. Something fast, with high attack, so Barry Batsbak is a go-to here. Last but not least, I need my ace to finish the job if the other 3 did not quite make it. Esa Parmborg is my pick for sure, everyone facing him at the end would either lose hope at the beginning or at the end.

Task#5 - 2 TPE (121 words)
In my honest opinion, we need to have as many teams in the playoffs as possible in the SMJHL. In comparison to SHL, which is way more  competitive than the SMJHL is, its still setting the basics for every player. From a new players perspective, from a player who missed out the SMJHL draft, we need to keep the player in touch with the game as much as possible for as long as possible. Even if they do not qualify for the next round in the postseason, they atleast participated in the postseason. My point here is that we need to make the league more attractive for new users, which is why we need to have every team in the playoffs.

Task#6 - 3 TPE (225 words)
Judging how the IIHF will go every season is hard, as always, as new players join their representative countries and veterans fall out of the roster due to retirement, but there are still some solid ones that can be counted on heavily. Switzerland for example have exceeded expectations in the group stage for the last 3 seasons, in which they still are favourites for the top-2 spot in their own group. Canada also have been as strong as Switzerland in the group stage, making themselves the top-2 candidates this season too. Player-wise, Swiss goalie Markus Tegernako is no more, so thats a heavy shoes to fill in the Swiss squad. Whoever is going to fill them will have a hard time. Players from the USA squad have won the top forward of the tournament award twice in a row now, first Jon Forty-One and then Bobby Lane afterwards. Both of those do lack skill in their own SHL team, but on a national squad they are very hard to play against. My pick here is that the top forward will come from the USA squad once again, maybe Ethan Duncan or Danny Marston will claim themselves the award this time. For the top-3 this year, Finland will battle against Japan for the bronze medal, and Switzerland will try to beat Norway for the gold medal.

Task#12 - 4 TPE
A) From my point of view, Chicago definitely dont belong in the finals. Yes, I have to admit that they are stronger than during their previous Challenge Cup run, but as of right now it was definitely Calgary's year to be taking down the big three (Texas, Hamilton, Buffalo) in the finals. Buffalo themselves do belong in the finals for sure, beating Hamilton is never easy and it is definitely well deserved. (71 words)

B) Got to hand it to Buffalo for their success over the last 20 seasons. So many players have walked in and out of those doors, but yet again they do find themselves in the cup finals once again. This shows that the management part of their squad is spot on and they do make the best out of their players every season after another. (64 words)

C) Im just gonna say it out loud, I would have been thrilled to play for Winnipeg in their Jets-era, but now as they rebranded their franchise as the Aurora, which is not at all terrifying to face against, I'm not thrilled about their franchise at all. Yes, their franchise was not original at all but they could have done a better job making their franchise more "media sexy", so to speak, with their logo and jerseys and franchising in general. (80 words)

D) Im not that familiar with the league, being here for under a year now, but one of the most iconic players in the Buffalo Stampede franchise history is Monkey D. Luffy. During his time in the franchise, he has been a crucial part of Buffalos 2 Challenge Cup runs, as well as any other season that he has played in Buffalo. A franchise player, for sure, since the beginning. (69 words)


Task#13 - 2 TPE (129 words)
Just a prediction here, but my early series MVP goes to Chicago's own Martijn Westbroek. Looking at his performance so far in this years playoffs, he has definitely proven that even at his ripe age, he is still a crucial part of the Chicago squad. Given, if Chicago still wins the cup here.

For Buffalo's point of view, it has to be Aron Hernadivic. Proving himself worthy yet again this season, he has caught himself 9 goals and 10 assists for a total of 19 points so far in this years playoffs. Did I mention Buffalo has lost only 3 games so far this postseason? Yeah, thats what I thought. If he keeps on going like this in their series against Chicago, he will crown himself the playoff MVP.

Total comes out as 17, but idc