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.
past

2. 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. Atlanta is a recent expansion team reaching it's first finals appearance. Chicago has been a dominant force in the league for a long time now, with their last cup win only seven seasons ago in Season 57. If you're betting on these finals, do you go for the experienced vets in Chicago, or the hungry Atlanta first-timers?
I'd bet on Chicago to win just due to having more tpe, and I think more dominant stats in the regular season which is usually a pretty good indicator, but outside of that I wouldn't be shocked if Atlanta won as I think the new team is usually more motivated and hungry for their first win especially if you relate it in terms of testing, but the experience can help the veteran teams if they are still hungry.

b. Chicago's lineup much more active with their sticks than Atlanta's, racking up 97 takeaways to Atlanta's 79. This late in the playoffs, how do you adjust to a team that's so adept at picking your pocket?
In FHM i think this stat might actually be a bad thing since I think the weaker teams usually have more takeaways because they have the puck less often, but regardless the teams just need to play more smart and responsible to avoid have the puck taken from them so often, better, smarter zone exits and passes.

c. Atlanta has only 32 penalty minutes in these playoffs compared to Chicago's 45. With emotions high and the Challenge Cup on the line, do you think discipline will play a big role in this series?
I don't think these teams have any real rivalry towards each other but it's the finals and the playoffs so anything can happen but in general i expect both teams to be pretty disciplined with not many penalties as you don't want to give the opponent any powerplay opportunities as both are pretty deadly, maybe if this was a rivalry in the sim there would be more penalties.

d. Similar to last season's finals, we see Chicago running a balanced ice-time attack against Atlanta's targeted approach that has some players seeing sheltered minutes. Last season the more balanced attack won out. Do you think we'll see the same again? Why or why not?
I think the balanced attack is better and will win out in general, especially if the weakest links of the balanced attacks are as strong as the targeted approach, but it's not impossible for a targeted approach to work especially if they have much better top end talent, its how Chicago won their 1st cup vs a more balanced approach.

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5. Written, 3 TPE, Cup Check (150 words min.)
Which league has the more prestigious cup in your opinion, the SHL or the SMJHL? Which cup is harder to win? A lot is said about the different skill sets required to GM in each league, so which do you personally think is tougher to manage? Is a trophy case with three Four Star Cups as cool as a trophy case with three Challenge Cups? Maybe you think it’s even cooler. Why?

I think the SHL cup is way cooler, prestigious and harder to win, but on the other hand I have multiple challenge cups and no four star cup so maybe that affects my opinion but I also think i've only played 4 total junior season on my 3 players combined over 10 years which is kind of amusing when you consider most players now play 4 seasons in juniors before even being called up. I think being a GM in both leagues has its difficulties and easy parts, I also think SMJHL gming now however is much different from SMJHL gming in the past. Now in general the majority of active players you draft probably do stay for all their eligible seasons in juniors so you can build around that and have a window of when the compete similar to the SHL in a way, while in the past with so few players in the league it was complete luck if your players would be called up or not and what you would have to work with.

6. Written, 3 TPE, Dream Team 150 words min
You have to create the perfect SHL or SMJHL line for your player to be on. Who do you put on your line and why? Is it something about their style of play that compliments yours? Does it only include players from the present, or do you dip into the past to find an incredible D pair? Or are you just choosing your friends ‘cause they’d be fun to win the cup with?

There's a lot of answers I could go for with this, the first easy one is the original all Smeb forward line with me, Kit Smeb and Parker Smeb, I think we only ever actually played a few times together in the SHL as a line before Parker made his transition to Defense and Kit's development stalled and rarely played on my line much after. The other answer is a line I did play on a bunch and a line that was together when we won the cup and that I had tons of success on with me, Martin Westbrook and Lallo Selman, all great players and around the same age building up tons of synergy together and getting to play with friends. The S46 and S47 draft classes were so stacked in general I could probably make 10 dream teams out of the players from those. I could also put all 3 of my players on a forward line together or come up with some cool combos of past players as there were a lot of players I looked up to when I first came into the league.

7. Milestones, up to 3 TPE
Milestones are folded in with CW. Just link your Milestone claim below this task 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.
milestones

16. Written, 2 TPE, Home Country (100 words min.)
Why did you choose your IIHF country? Is it where you’re actually from? Is it where your friends play? Was it for a specific role play reason? I want to know how you decided where your player comes from!

The main reason I chose Japan for my IIHF country was there was no Korea when I created which is where all the Smeb's are originally from and coming into the league IIHF expansion was occurring with Japan being the newest addition to the league along with Switzerland, The idea of being on a new IIHF expansion team and leading it to success sounded appealing as well as it's close proximity to Korea is what led to me and the other Smeb's picking Japan for our IIHF country we also got to play with a variety of other players around the league who helped come together to make the new team a success which was nice.