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 don't think I've ever correctly predicted what was going to happen in any of my IIHF Predictions. You have your usual contenders with teams like Canada, USA, GB, Japan, and then some teams that have been on the rise with Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, etc. I think there are only really four or so teams that have been consistently been bad for a while now, those being Latvia, Austria, Ireland and Russia. But with such a short tournament it really is impossible to predict because almost anything can happen. I think Canada will be at or near the top again for sure, and I expect Japan to be up there with them. USA and GB should be in the mix like they always are. But for gold I think I’m gonna take a swing and say that Sweden will pull it out. They’ve slowly been building a very strong squad that has flown under the radar a little bit. Karl Krashwagen to be tournament MVP.

Quote: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 joined the league nearly (4?) years ago now, so I was around for about 15ish seasons of STHS and now about 8-10 seasons of FHM. I think each really has their pro's and con's. I think parity is a much larger issue with FHM than it was with STHS which for me is quite frustrating. While STHS had a real randomness factor which wasn't great it still kept things fresh and didn't allow for the same 2-3 teams to win every single season. FHM does have a much superior sim experience though and now that we finally have a fantastic index it has been really enjoyable. Watching the livestreams of the sim is really fun.

As for the player aspect, I will speak mostly for Toner here as he played in both different sim engines. Personally the timing of the switch sucked for me. In STHS I had a maxed player build and had been the number one defenseman on my team for about 7 or 8 seasons with a Stevens and another Stevens nom. I personally think I was on a HOF trajectory at the time and could have ended my career with 600+ points had we stayed with STHS. Unfortunately in FHM, not only was my build weakened due to the new scale, but not knowing anything about the engine I allowed my coach to influence my build and it turned Toner into what was mostly a defensive dman. I remained a top 4 defenseman for most of the rest of my career but sadly ended up with 499 points, just 1 short of 500 and 101 short of what was originally my goal of 600. At this point I think I will be hard pressed to make the HOF.

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.

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?
I think they certainly both deserve to be here. They were probably the two best teams in the league coming into this season. Chicago made a couple big moves during the offseason and it has paid off for them. Buffalo has obviously been a top team for 10+ seasons now so it is no surprise seeing them here either.

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 mean, the record speaks for itself. Buffalo having been here as many times as they have is more impressive in my opinion. They have been consistently at the top going back to nearly the mid S40’s at this point. Chicago has done a great job as well, but they haven’t had the consistent lengthy success that Buffalo has maintained for so long.

c. Everyone's a critic: Nitpick one thing about either team's logo, jersey, rink design, goal horn, or general site demeanor.
Personally Chicago’s branding isn’t my favorite in the league. I have never been a huge fan of Black/Yellow color schemes and the logo/name just don’t really do it for me. I don’t really know a whole lot of the people there so I don’t really have much to add. Buffalo on the other hand I quite like their branding, the green is nice and the logo is cool. I know a handful of folks there and they’re good shit, although their circle jerk forum presence can be annoying at times (come at me buffabros #leeout)

d. Who is the best player to play for either team? Is it a current player? Retired? Traded? Make your case.
Current players:
BUF – Probably Monkey D. Luffy, he is a top earner and has lead the team in stats most seasons for the last almost 10 seasons or so.
CHI – Easily Martijn Westbroek. While Chicago has been a good to great team for much of his peak, this guy has been the leader on the ice the entire time.
Retired:
I can’t remember all of the retired players that played for Chicago, but the answer for me is Alexis Metzler. One of the best d-men of all time, and he did a lot of it when Buffalo wasn’t as great a team as they are now. He carried that team from the blue line for a long time.

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: BAP

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)

https://simulationhockey.com/showthread....pid3085243 - Claim 3