Quote: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. An LAP team that was disappointed in a S63 finals loss is back again to face a TBB team that has been hungry for their chance in the entire FHM era. Who are you taking as a winner and why?
b. Tampa Bay’s top forwards have been absolute power houses on this run, totalling 102 points across their top 6. If you’re LA, how do you line-match against two lines that are on an absolute tear?
c. L.A.’s D pair of Kierkegaard and Kahnwald are maintaining a shocking 2 more GF/60 than GA/60, despite playing more than 21 minutes a game including PK time. If you’re Tampa Bay how do you get around these two? Hope to outlast them in endurance, or look to more depth scoring?
d. TBB’s roster has racked up many more shot blocks (294) than LAP has (188). Do you see this as a good thing? Is this an iron willed team that’s willing to lay down their bodies to get the job done, or do you think it paints a picture of a team that can’t maintain possession and has to find another way to keep the puck out. Maybe a bit of both?

A. For me it has to be TBB because the chance at redemption is extreme. They're not too long removed from a 0-50 season, a mediocrity record that will last the test of time. That's worth fighting to erase not only for the players who were on that team and have retired or moved on but for TBB players now and in the future.

B. The obvious answer is always play hard and get into the dirty zones. But really its play to their weaknesses, get them to take penalties, take away the passing lanes. Playing a shutdown defense against a powerhouse team is not easy but if you're getting down and blocking shots as well as forcing them into passing situations its easier.

C. This is a situation where having a competent bottom six is paramount. This is where you ice those hot defensemen and grind them down into making mistakes or playing out of position. I think leaning on the depth, the grinders and the two way players is where you ice them down. Forcing them out of position by playing heads up hockey is how you win.

D. TBB is not as defensively gifted as LA and the blocked shots shows that. For me, it takes guts to drop down to block a shot and doing it almost twice as much as LA has shows the deficiency. TBB will need to add guys in the offseason to shore up that weakness. Feels like a defensive weakness more than an inability to keep possession though.

Quote:3. Written, 3 TPE, Four Star (150 words min.)
Tell me what each of the four stars on the Four Star Cup stands for! Some will say it’s for each of the four divisions in the SMJHL, but you and I know better! What four things are embodied in the SMJHL’s greatest trophy?

I think the four stars stand for perseverance, dedication, sportsmanship and community. The Junior League is where these things are drilled into you for better or for worse. Usually a majority players will come up understanding that to get ahead in the show you need to have these traits in abundance. But some require having it drilled into them on a daily or weekly basis. The J is all about community, giving back to the cities that host them. Its about sportsmanship, giving back to your teammates and being a consummate professional. It's about dedication, honing your craft, training hard and always forcing yourself to do and be better. It's about perseverance, staying the course, pushing on even when it all seems lost. Any player that comes up with these traits instilled in them goes onto a long, healthy and successful career in a premier sporting league.

That's what they mean to me.

Quote:5. Written, 3 TPE, Mysterious Person 150 words min
Make up an important character from SHL history. Tell me their name, what their job was, and why they’re important. Maybe they were an eccentric team owner? An agent that represented half the league? Heck, make it a real person from SHL history if you want! I’m always down to hear cool old SHL stories!

The only person I think of from time to time in this league that makes me truly laugh is the guy from Minnesota who proceeded to tamper half of Buffalo, my former player included then just left. I don't remember their name but I know someone reading the thread will absolutely remember the media the guy put out which had a list of targets, all under contract still that Minnesota could target in FA in I believe S48 or S49. I remember half the league turned out to do their best Wes McCauley impressions including my then teammates who posted first in the LR many KEKWs then headed over to the thread to do the same. The other person who I do think about and still have a screen saved on my phone is the "Hold this L, Ugly" person. Bruh/Sis/Non-Binary pal, if you're out there, you have made me laugh when I needed it on many occasions.

Quote:7. 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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.

+1 TPE

Quote:15. Written, 3 TPE, IIAM Excited for IIHF (150 words min.)
Write your predictions for this year's IIHF tournament or WJC! We’ve had some federation shake-up this season that will surely lead to some interesting results. So who do you got? Who’s going to take it all this season and why?

I am gonna be a massive homer here but its gonna be Great Britain. Why? Because it took until the year before my regression but I finally got selected to represent Great Britain which means we are gonna win it all. America is great and all and Canada is a powerhouse but Great Britain leads the world in colonizing places, winning wars, showing up and generally clearing house where ever it goes and that's us this season. We rule the waves and ice is water which means we rule that by default, its just the way it is. In all honesty though, I expect us to do pretty well, we've added youth and retained strong players. I think there are surprises out there in Sweden and Germany, they've always had strength to build off of. Ireland as well, you can never count Doyle out.

My picks: GBR, USA, CAN

Good Luck

Quote:23. Written, 2 TPE, How Are You? (100 words min.)
Instead of asking you about other people this season, I figured I’d ask about you! How are you feeling? Take a couple of minutes to write about what’s going on in your life and how you’re feeling lately. I think taking the time to write things down helps me appreciate or understand them better, so maybe this could help you! Or you can just rant about your cat annoying you for 100 words and collect 2 TPE. I guess that works too.

Honestly it hasn't been going too great. My roommate has been having mental issues and we finally got him on the road to getting help when one of his best friends committed suicide. We've been friends nearly our entire lives so its hard when he lashes out on me because I'm the only other person who seems to care. That coupled with my own stress and issues and no one to talk to about them means I am effectively carrying the stress of two people on my shoulders. It's hard, its getting harder and with everything currently going on in the world some days it feels like that grip is getting harder and harder to maintain on a daily basis.