#1

Well first of all I'd have to decide which conciousness to upload, the one of my current player Philipp Winter who would fall into the grizzled vet category, or that of his grandfather Hall of Famer David Winter. On a sidenote, it's kinda rude to not even give my third player Nicolas Winter a chance to participate here given that he is neither an active player nor a Hall of Famer, but I digress. I think I would end up going with David and the Hall of Famers team, just because it is a bit more special to get such a group with players from all kinds of different eras and backgrounds together, a what-if that could never be replicated in reality, whereas Philipp still has the chance to play with and against his peers that would currently fall into the grizzled vets team. The group of players I've selected to join me in that thought experienced are therefore very different as well: Ron Mexico, Esa Anrikkanen, Sophia Bennett, Robert Phelps and John Falkirk. Those four would allow for very some interesting comparisons... How does an old-timey superstar like Ron Mexico compare to modern era greats such as Robert Phelps? How does one of the very first female HOF-inductees in Sophia Bennett compare to her male counterparts from different eras? How good was Esa Anrikkanen, whose main attributes were always "consistency" and "longevity" really? And lastly, how would John Falkirk fare, one of the few players from the very early seasons of the league who snuck into the HOF despite not having a particularly impressive record? All those questions and many more could be answered through the Hall of Famer team!

#2

Pretty cool idea to have this as a season-long continuous PT, it's nice to see you guys come up with cool stuff like this. Prompt #2 is a little too generic for my liking, I think there is a better middle ground between crazy promps and "just write about your season", but maybe some people like it that way. Alright, to the task at hand... As described in the previous PT, I would be participating with my first player David Winters alter ego as a member of Team Hall of Famer, so this first game is basically the biggest contrast one could imagine: A bunch of legendary players, a lot of them being seniors these days and some actually already having passed away, versus a group of players so young that many of them aren't even allowed to order a beer in a bar or rent a car yet. It's the ultimate test of experience vs hunger, of tactical prowess and skills that have been honed over decades vs explosive physicality, talent and creativity. Ultimately I see my team emerging victorious however and I'm gonna go full boomer here for a second for the purpose of this: I think a lot of young players underestimate how good the legends of the olden days used to be, they see themselves earning TPE at a faster rate and think that that's because they work harder, when in reality these old legends were just as good if not better, while operating in a league and TPE ecosystem that was much different from the one we have today. And given that the Hall-of-Fame team is made up of all Hall of Famers, so exclusively players with both an elite mindset and skill, i see them having the edge against a younger team where the jury is still out whether they will all reach the great potential they undoubtedly have or fall short at some point along the way.

#3

Well it turns out the "Superstars" team carry that name for a reason, as they were the first squad to beat us in the round robin stages fo this tournament. I have to say that I wasn't completely surprised, in a tournament with as much quality as this one everyone can beat everyone, but I still would've expected us to have the upper hand of course. The superstars of one generation vs the superstars of all the other generations that came before them? Should have been a win for us but oh well, luckily things aren't that easy and predictable in hockey. Unless you are the current version of the SHL of course where parity is a constant issues and seasons are more predictable than ever. But I digress. One thing that did become apparent in this loss was the physical aspect of the game - players today simply are in much better shape than we had to be in our primes, and it showed in the battles along the boards and as the game went on and Enduracne became more and more important. I would argue that we had a slight edge in raw skill but we couldn't quite match their combination of both skill and physicality this time so this is definitely something we have to figure out until our next matchup...

#4

Whew for a second there I thought I was on team grizzled vets because well, that's where my current player would be, until I remembered that for the purpose of this tournament I actually chose Team Hall Of Famers. Is guess that's what happens when you get up there in age and it's getting time to upload your conciousness into a tournament like this one here... So alright then, let's get at it Vets! As a matter of fact, this win felt surprisingly easy for us... We struggled against the Superstars in the Round Robin and to our surprise, the young up and comers also gave us a run for our money at times as well. But the Grizzled Vets are basically the same kind of team that we are, just not as good. They are also built on experience and skill and instincts that have been honed over decades, not just as much of it as on a team where every single player is a Hall of Famer. It was basically the best match-up that couldn't happen to us in the Semis, even though I was still a bit surprised to see us move on with such ease in a 4-1 game.

#5

It's finals time and we are meeting the Superstars... again! This truly is a battle of the best of the best and to be completely honest, the finals that were to be expected beforehand if you just looked at the teams on paper. The very best of today versus the very best of the past, legendary Hall of Famers who dominated their peers versus the current creme of the crop which is better trained and more profesionally developed than players have ever been.

And the game did indeed turn out to be a really close one. The Superstars would go on to score the first goal of the game at the hands of Theo Morgan but the Hall of Famers would adjust quickly to tie it midway through the first on a Benjamin Wong goal, before the Superstars would take the lead again just a minute before the first intermission on a bit of a lucky deflection in front of the goalie. The second period turned out to be a rather boring, or should I say tactical one, with teams looking to minimize mistakes and adjust their systems so we went into the second intermission with the Superstars still up 2-1. The third would end up being a lot more exciting however, just a few minutes in the Hall of Famers tied the game on the man-advantage but the Superstars would come back taking the lead once again with a rocket of a shot from the blueline by Nicholas Owens. So we went into the last ten minutes with the Superstars still up 3-2. With the game on the line, it was time for the absolute best of the best to step up and maybe the most legendary player in the game did just that: Ron Mexico picked up the puck at his own blueline, dangled his way through the Defense before putting it right under the crossbar with a beautiful wrister to tie it at three a piece. Despite a couple of other good chances the goalies would stand tall for the rest of the third period with John McBride putting in some especially clutch saves. So the game went into overtime - and there the conditioning advantage that the modern day athletes have finally started to show itself. The Superstars took more and more control of the game, gained possession and let the Hall of Famers chase the puck. Only McBride's sensational performance kept the Hall of Famers alive at that point until suddenly - a quick save, an outlet pass and a BREAKWAY FOR JOE MCKEIL. Forehand... Backhand... Back to the Forehand... Backhand again... SCOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRREEEEEEESSSS!!! The Hall of Famers win it in Ooooooooovertime!

Final thoughts: Overall I thought this was a really cool idea. It got a liiiiitle stale towards the end as the stuff we wrote about started to repeat itself a little bit, but it was still a neat idea in general that kept me more engaged over the course of a season than the regular PTs.