I mean it was definitely a tumultuous season marked by on ice issues but I think there was a silver lining to be found.  My gambling addiction meant that I was there to catch a steady pay when Italy captured the Euro Cup. It also meant I was there to feel the pain of my other teams choking away my entire paycheque.  But you can’t win if you don’t risk it all - or something like that. Another big bright side of the season was the ability to relax and reconnect with our new additions Timonen, Marner and Boris. I had some long running ties with each but we’d been apart at the SHL level for a long time and it was well overdue to get us all back together under one roof and really back on the same page.  I think that showed up with some real good synergy on the ice and it should only get better here.


I’ve woken up and god dammit these aren’t my hands they’re TINY.  I stumble over to the mirror only to see the ugly mug of Corey Kennedy staring back at me. For fucks sakes, what did I do to deserve this fate? I wouldn’t wish it upon the worst Steelhawk.

I head down to the practice facility to see that my own body had taken a “personal day” - I could only imagine the disgusting things he was doing.  I decided that it was business as usual, so let’s go through a game day routine. Hit the weight room: weak as shit. Went and had a pasta lunch: pooed myself from the gluten. Went for a walk: booed by my own fans. Went home: belongings on the curb and the girlfriend kept the dog.

Safe to say, I won’t be asking Corey to switch bodies ever and I’ve never looked forward to going to bed more than I did in that one day.


I had a stance on this but I forget so just gonna absolutely wing this. I think that everyone should make it. Yeah yeah participation ribbons etc. but at the end of the day the SMJHL is a developmental league and you’re dealing with members still trying to latch onto the league. There isn’t much worse that you can do to them other than making the offseason even longer and leaving them with no hockey to play.  They didn’t do anything wrong, sure they got drafted to a bad team but that’s just life sometimes.  Should be looking to find ways to keep them engaged for as many days as possible, rather than forgetting about them when is convenient for other teams.


After their strong debut showing in last years tournament I’d expect the duo of Nham and Sota to have another strong showing this year with Japan.  They’ll only have better players and more experience to show for the last year and I know they’ll be hungry to find more success after the Newfoundland win. I’d look for Minamino to really take over the reigns on offense to lead the team with Westbroek and Smeb stepping aside. I’m intrigued to see how Talls does in net as one of the SHLs brightest stars in net. I think he’ll have the chance to really step up and become Japans goalie of the future and to truly burst on the scene in this IIHF tournament.  Other than that, I’ll be rooting for my fellow Chicago Syndicate members to do well. International Juke is an animal and I’m sure there’ll be hell to pay for both teams when he’s on the ice. Jules Watt may be making his last exceptional IIHF appearance so I hope he excels. 


Mat Smith gets my vote for playoff MVP cause the dude was an absolute monster for Chicago and was the reason that they even had a chance to win the cup in the first place. Besides supplying the pre game angsty playlists and getting everyone fired up and just a lil sad, he brought his game on the ice and carried a Chicago team that was often outmatched in shots. That doesn’t happen often, as Chicago is known to take a lot of shots and they even have a role in discord devoted to taking shots, which is prob where Mat got so much practice. So maybe I change my pick to Corey and Juke for taking a lot of shots and potentially training Mat. If not then, then Jules Watt because you can’t underrate his exceptional play on the ice. What exactly did he do? I just said it- he was exceptional. You can’t ask for much more than that and he was so exceptional that he’s now dead and gone like the TI and JT song.

Word: SDCore