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GCool · 02-26-2022, 08:08 AM

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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: LAP

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2. Written, 3 TPE, Back In My Day (150 words min.)

The SHL has been around for the sim-time equivalent of 63 years now! That’s a lot of time for things to change. What was the league like 62 years ago in season one? Did nobody wear helmets? Were players allowed to smoke on the ice? Plenty would have changed in over six decades!

Well, back in the true GOLDEN AGE of simulation hockey, the league could not be bothered with such niceties as 'helmets' or 'pads' or 'goalie masks'. With simulation hockey not being nearly as popular in its humble beginnings, the owners felt it best to get their players paid - rather than protected or insured. I suppose sometimes it comes down to those sorts of big decisions. At any rate, fighting was more or less encouraged; if there was not an official fight in the books by the third period, each team would send their enforcer out on the first shift to duke it out. Whichever team's enforcer won the fight got the neutral faceoffs moved to their attacking zone for the first half of the period. Over time, this rule went away, but not because of the huge advantage; people at home were having a hard time keeping up with where the faceoffs were. I guess it's hard to make all of that clear in radio commentary. [168]

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3. Written, 3 TPE, Those That Came Before (150 words min.)

When did your franchise last win a Challenge Cup? Write about that team, some of the key players, and what intangibles they had going for them to be able to win it all. If your franchise hasn’t yet won a cup, choose any cup winning team and talk about why you’d like your current team to emulate them. Did they have an all time great roster? Were they scrappy under dogs?

The last time the Los Angeles Panthers won the Challenge Cup was in Season 17, winning 4 games to 2 over the Toronto North Stars. The Panthers have been to the Finals a handful of times since then, but the S17 squad was truly special for a two reasons. First, the S17 Panthers had three award winners: Jamie Shelter won the Mike Honcho (fewest goals allowed all season), Fabian Fuhrberg won the Razov (playoff MVP), and Niclas Wastlund won what is now called the Lance Uppercut award for the league's top GM. So while the Challenge Cup champion typically has a fast track to the playoff MVP award, having the best goalie and the best GM sets your team up for success. Secondly, this team was built well with some stellar rookie power. The Panthers won THREE Ryan Jesster awards from S11 to S14, and all three of those winners (Smirnov Light, Brandon Donini, and Marian Potoczny) went on to make huge impacts. That's good drafting and management right there. [172]

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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. Los Angeles has been riding their top players for almost a full minute more of ice time than Hamilton has theirs. If you were a coach, do you buy into this strategy? Do you let your top guys leave it all out there every night or aim for the most balanced attack possible?

b. Guy O'Shea and Evangelos Giannopoulos have been absolute block machines for Hamilton in the playoffs with 109 between them. If you’re looking for offense in this series, how do you get around these two defensemen?

c. Los Angeles’ defense, on the other hand, has not been afraid to join the play and put up points. How do you prepare for a five player offensive attack? How do you counter?

d. The starting goalies for these teams, Olof Karsikko and A Jobin have been nearly unbeatable up to this point with a 0.937 and a 0.927 SV% respectively. If you’re a player on the other team, how would you get inside their heads so that you can put the puck in the net?

a. I'm not sure there's a right answer to always have in mind with this scenario. The Panthers lack the top-to-bottom depth that the juggernauts we're used to seeing battle every season in the Finals have. If the top forwards on the team can handle it with their stamina, there's no reason not to let them give the Panthers the best chance to win each night. I don't think it necessarily means that the team can't win with the other players on the ice; in fact, if they're more rested, it might even up the matchup. [104]
b. The key is going to be crashing the net and getting behind those defenders. A lot of those blocks are going to be coming from defenders venturing out to the point and blocking higher shots that are meant to be deflected a few times. Look for Donair to be harassing Jobin around the crease during this. [56]
c. There isn't a counter to a 5-man attack; you can't play 5-man defense, otherwise you're playing to tie and you can't do that in the playoffs! LA has been successful taking scoring from all angles, and Hamilton has done things a little more traditionally with staunch defense and high-octane forwards. If Hamilton stays tough at the blue line and minimizes chances for ANY of the 5 scorers on the ice for LA, it will eventually work toward their favor. [86]
d. This is truly Donair's time to shine. I'm here for it. We have to CRASH THE NET! That's the only way to really get inside a goalie's head. Making sure he knows that you're there and going to be blowing some snow up in his face every chance you get, for 7 games, while the rest of the team is firing pucks at maximum speed -- it's an 'if', not a 'when', I get to Jobin back there. [83]

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12. Milestones, up to 3 TPE

Milestones are folded in with CW. So just link your Milestone claim as task 12 for up to 3 TPE towards your 16 total.

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Post your claim in the milestones thread for tpe earned per stat, and then link that post in your CW submission. This is done because the person who grades CW will be a different person than double-checks milestones.

+3 Milestones

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14. Written, 3 TPE, Blew it up (150 words min.)

In your opinion, which team is has performed a successful rebuild and built a legacy around starting from the bottom? What constitutes a successful rebuild? Cups? Playoff appearances? Is this team still poised to do great things in the future?

I really think that, regardless of the final outcome in this series, the Los Angeles Panthers rebuild has been successful. The most important part of this rebuild has been the patience and togetherness that [most of] the entire team has shown over the past year and a half. The bulk of our core is from the same draft class, so that obviously helps with respect to the true 'window' of opportunity, but it wouldn't be like that if everyone in that class wasn't earning close to the max season in and season out. The goalposts naturally move as to what can really constitute a 'successful' rebuild, but I think that starting to make the playoffs a few seasons ago (despite losing in the first or maybe second round) and progressing to here has shown that the team is improving STILL and truly has a chance to be in this position consistently for the next 4-7 seasons. [159]

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21. Written, 2 TPE, No take backs 2 100 words min

Leviadan has made the grave mistake of becoming PT director. I'm already sapping his life source and joyful innocence (yum). How could you, as a user, also make his job unnecessarily difficult? Make media about his shit PT prompts? Write your submissions in Spanish?

DISCLAIMER: IF YOU DO ANYTHING TO MAKE HIS JOB HARDER YOU WILL BE BANNED 

Good luck! One super difficult thing could be to type up your PT in Word, and then post a screenshot here. I'm pretty sure that's as close as I can get to the forum equivalent of taking a picture of your computer monitor with your phone and then tweeting that photo. The second half of this action is the most important to be difficult, though: when I'm inevitably docked TPE because I technically didn't satisfy a word count on the forum, I'll take it to the ThunderDome and argue on [really loose and hardly factual] principles of working hard and doing the work and then just cuss out the entire management team across the league for allowing such a defamation to happen in the first place. Man, that sounds like the S20s for sure. [139]

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