1. 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 Word: boring

4. Written, 3 TPE, Rules (150 words min.)
There have been a lot of rule changes in the SHL. Where do you think these changes have gone right, where do you think they have gone wrong? Would you ever want to go back to a previous way of doing things? Do you think the SHL is fine as is?

I assume this was written in lieu of the changes to regression in the past season to help smooth out parity. I'll have to say that the move to make regression harder is a bit of a stumper for me. When we look at the issues with the league it comes more from meta building and backroom deals between friends. Making players drop off in regression quicker does nothing to solve either of these problems. One of the defining features of the SHL was the ability to have a player last for in-game years. Something that really doesn't add to the fun is spending two years consistently earning to having one or two seasons as a top dog in the league. Honestly, if anything, it discourages people from wanting to build players in this league as it requires a consistent grind to be anything close to good in the SHL. Other leagues, such as the ISFL, allow players to be much better earlier in their career. My rookie season had me notching more than 100 tackles and 6 sacks as a rookie linebacker. The SHL simply doesn't allow you to be impactful until you're around 1200-1300 TPE and you're still pretty bad. There needs to be changes to the league that make meaningful parity shifts. Archetypes needs to happen. People need to be capped at certain levels in their builds. Because the SHL has a problem that regression changes won't fix. Overall I haven't liked many moves the league has taken to combat problems because they only do things skin deep. No meaningful real change. 

[265 Words]

6. Written, up to 4 TPE - Grab Bag: Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.

a. What is worth more to you, a cup win in the FHM era or the STHS era?

STHS era seems more meaningful to me as it was a lot harder to repeat. Once you get the right players in place with the right tactics and meta setup in FHM you're pretty set to be good. Maybe STHS was just more random and could be considered the worse sim engine. But winning with a more random sim engine and doing it multiple seasons in a row was really an accomplishment. 

[72 Words]

b. Be honest, would we have seen the same final 4 as last year (Chicago, Texas, Hamilton, Buffalo) had BUF/HAM and TEX/CHI not run into each other in the second round?

Most likely we would have seen the same. Hamilton just matched up with everyone in the East the best of anyone and Texas matched up with Chicago very well. They still had to play each other and the team with better setups and tactics won each time. So there is no way that there was any other final than we saw this season.

[63 Words]
 
c. Hamilton has a population of roughly 5 people. Where would you relocate the franchise?

Salt Lake City. We need to have a cool team in Salt Lake. Or maybe we should just move the Raptors to Salt Lake City and give the Hamilton franchise to Colorado. Denver deserves an SHL team instead of an SMJHL team. Denver is the 15th largest metro area in the USA and would be much better suited to a hockey team than the five people in Hamilton. 

[68 Words]

d. Who is the best player to NOT make the final in the past 2 years?

Ethan Duncan. Backbone of the Baltimore Platoon and a player that hasn't been talked about nearly as much as he should. Has some of the best scoring touch and passing in the league and is no slouch in his own zone. He is what made Baltimore go the last couple years and should continue to be a great player for the team in the future. Hopefully he gets to play in a finals soon. 

[74 Words]

12. Milestones, up to 3 TPE

Daniil Nikiforov Milestone Link

18. Written, 3 TPE, Apocalypse Now 150 words min
In the not so distant future (s64), 4 Texas Hamilton finals in a row have seen most of the SHLers quit out of spite. Only a select few remain. Head Office reeeeaaally likes having 20 teams so they have now allowed every user to have 5 players to fill the void of everyone who left. Name your other 4 players that aren't your current player, select their positions, and decide their focus and path in the league. Postulate where they end up after the draft and how the players pan out.

My first will be Samilton Heelsocks. He'll follow the same build path that every other player builds right now in the league. Focusing his puckhandling, getting open, offensive read, checking, and strength. We'll also put in some other stats to a mid-tier build but Samilton will be the ultimate center. After that we'll have Tamilton Sealclocks. She'll be a great defensive prodigy that will once again put points into the same 5 stats but this time they'll put a couple more defensive stats slightly higher, but honestly, it doesn't matter. My 3rd player would be Pamilton Realtalks. Another forward that follows the build of puckhandling, getting open, offensive read, checking, and strength. She'll have the same exact build as Samilton Heelsocks with the exact attributes but will only put up half of his points because, you know, FHM. And my final player will be Golees Donmatter and he'd play goaltender. He'd only earn half the TPE of the other three players because taking up that amount of salary cap with a maxed goalie is just a waste. He'd build like other goalies but only do like half the activity check and trainings a normal player does in a season and will only claim stuff when it's beneficial to the salary structure of his team. 

[214 Words]