Trivia Verification Word: juiceisloose

2:
Back in the early seasons of the SHL, it is exactly how you would picture it in your head.  The stands are filled with hat wearing men in gray and brown suits, there is a nasty cloud of cigar and cigarette smoke up in the rafters where no banners hang.  The white paint on the ceiling is slowly turning yellow, but the lights remain white shining down onto the ice.  The players who just finished their pregame six pack of beer are skating onto the ice.  They have wooden sticks and loose skates, no helmets and limited teeth.  Goalies, after recently hearing about the requirement to wear helmets the next season, have begun pulling their teeth in protest.  It’s a brutal style of play but holy shit it is fun to watch.  Who cares about speed and goals when you can watch two tall skinny men throw bones until they’re both knocked the fuck out.  What a time.

3.
Hamilton has a rich history of wining cups to the point where they could be called a dynasty in the past few seasons.  Their last championship, in S61, was not the case of an underdog team prevailing.  Hamilton dominated the regular season and had one of the best cores of all time.  They had three hundred fifteen goals for throughout that regular season with only 141 goals against.  That is a seriously impressive goal differential, the best in the league that season.  They suffered only 3 losses throughout the entire playoffs that season.  They won the presidents trophy as well as the Mathiachouniard trophy, had multiple individual season award winners on the team including a one of the best goaltenders in SHL history.  The team was stacked and it was clear from the beginning of the playoffs that they were the team to beat.  Absolutely dominating the regular season then continuing that trend in the playoffs. 

4.
A dino league huh.  I guess there would be a team call the t-rex’s and another called the raptors.  The winning trophy every season at the end of the playoffs would be a statue of the sun or a meteor or something like that.  Cavemen in the stands and cavewomen shaking their ass with pom poms on the sidelines while the announcers describe it as a family friendly event.  I imagine it would be very similar to today’s games, just a lot colder and outdoors.  The ice age would probably be the birth of hockey right?  All that ice around.  Just needed some berries for the blue and red lines.  Boom, an ice rink.  How do they measure?  What’s the unit of measurement?  Who cares, it’s better than sitting in the cave all day.  No television so everyone has to go to the games.  Great sense of community, hunters and gatherers alike sitting next to one another, no pitchforks and torches.  Not a phone in sight, just good classic fun.

6.
a. Honestly I have always been more of a depth guy, as a Blues fan especially.  I think there is a serious advantage for teams who can find a way to still win while resting their top guys for extended lengths early in the games.  Obviously teams who are top heavy with star players can succeed, but it becomes less of a team effort and more of a one to two line effort at that point. 
b. Move the puck!  Just keep moving the pass with crisp passes, don’t center your game plan around shots from the point with screening forwards down low.  Try to set up your offensive zone and get shots off from down low, attempt to score more off of the rush as well.  There are plenty of ways to get around a stellar defensive pairing if you are creative. 
c. Fight fire with fire and play a strong counter attack game.  Be aggressive, if they are shifting two defensemen up into the attack then have 1 forward behind them for a streak pass up the ice and a quick breakaway.  After one or two of those then they will stop playing their game plan and start playing yours.
d. Score early and play a possession oriented game to maintain the puck and limit the other teams scoring chances.  Fire shots on net frequently and with purpose to rattle the goaltender.  Maybe even talk a little shit on the ice about the scoreboard.  Give him the stinky mitts to the face even, the world is your oyster.



Milestones, +2TPE

Championship week total: +16TPE