Quote:5. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)
We're adding 2 teams to the SMJHL this season. Do you think we should keep the current SMJHL playoff format of everyone makes it? Or is it time to just take the best 8 or 12 teams and let em duke it out? Defend your stance.

In an ideal world, I think that the 12 team format would be best, but only if it could be the top 6 in each conference. However, FHM makes teams qualify by division instead, and with uneven divisions, 6 teams would just have auto seeding into the playoffs every season. And I kinda think that trying to keep the concept of 'give as many teams playoffs to keep new players interested' gets cancelled out by the fact that division RNG will just screw over some teams anyway. So I think that with the limitations FHM gives us, an 8 team option would be the best. I know that it's a developmental league with the goal of player retention, but there's still plenty to keep players involved, and is partially the GM's job to keep rookies interested and enjoying the LR enough to survive a season or two without playoffs. Plus the way the J is structured, team rebuilds shouldn't keep teams out of the playoffs for more than a few seasons. 

2 TPE 

Quote: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?

I'll just start off by getting the usual stuff out of the way, as always I expect CAN and USA to have good showings in the tournament. According to the index, for this IIHF tournament the CAN team has both the #1 rated forward and defense group by TPE, so the expectations on them will be high, despite not medaling last season. USA comes in ranked 3rd in offense as well as 3rd in skater TPE overall, so they'll find themselves among the top like most seasons. I think Sweden will be a team to keep a look out for, and may fly under the radar. They got eliminated in a tough 2-1 OT game to the eventual gold medal winners last season, and now with the new addition of Wagner they boast the second highest TPE skaters in the IIHF. As for my own team, I think this will finally be the season we see Finland advancing to the medal round. It's been a continuous climb up over the last year or so, but now we come in ranked with the 5th best forward group by TPE, and 5th best defense as well. Not to mention that Carpet and Goodman may be the best goalie tandem in the tournament. We'll have the high end talent like Kekkonen, Leppanen, Seppala, and Fitted, as well as a ton of solid depth throughout all 4 lines/3 pairs. 

3 TPE

Quote:14. Graphic, 3 TPE - The Procrastinator Special!

Welp, you waited until the last day to grind out your CW and you also like doing graphics instead of writing. That's cool, too! Create a Series Recap broadcast graphic - the contents can be whatever you want, but your graphic must list both teams and at least 3 stats for each.

Relative stats (per game) for both teams during the course of the 7 game finals



3 TPE

Quote: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.

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 personally think that any time a team has a long-term continued dominance it becomes more impressive, though taking an expansion team to 1 cup win and another game 7 is certainly impressive. But at this point BUF has seemed to ice one of the stronger rosters pretty much every season I've been on the site, and what's more impressive is that manage to keep their future assets/picks always stocked to either slowly add more talent to their roster, or use in trades to make instant additions.

1 TPE

Quote:13. Written, 2 TPE - The Procrastinator Special! (100 words min.)

Welp, you waited until the last day to grind out your CW and the CC finals are longggggggg over by now. congrats to [TEAM], woo! Reflecting back on the series, who gets your vote for series MVP? Make the case why this player deserves it over any other.

I think this one could go one of two ways, but my first choice would be Aron Hernadivic. His balanced 4 goals and 4 assists in the 7 games was the highest point total among BUF players, and tied with Westbroek for the finals lead. On top of his points lead, he also put up a 61 CF% and an insane 4.6 GA/60 compared to 1.4 GA/60 in the series, and was 2nd for BUF forwards in hits. However I think you could make the case of picking the most clutch player in the series, and that would be Steve Harrington. He saved all his scoring for when it mattered, putting up 3 of his 4 goals on the series in game 7, a performance that solidified BUF's comeback and was an all-time SHL finals showing.

2 TPE    

Quote:15. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is completed through a Google form linked below. Make sure to spell your answers correctly or you will not get credit. Post your verification word in your CW post.

Verification: juke

3 TPE

Quote:17. Milestones, up to 3 TPE
Milestones are folded in with CW. So just link your Milestone claim as task 16 for up to 3 TPE towards your 16 total.
MILESTONES TBD (check back later)

Milestone link

2 TPE

16/16