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.
Bababooey


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?
This is a post being written with intense hindsight, but even in the moment before the finals it's insanely difficult to oversell Los Angeles accomplishments. As mentioned in the prompt they were runners up in S63 and they are returning with a more refined team. Kierkegaard, Wagner, Weston, and Bobby Lane are the bulk of the veteran depth--three of them listed there are accomplished in many regards, including as Kraken legends. The meat of their forward core is... also built on Kraken legends but it also features smart acquistions aside from the draft like Strongo and Burke. The point being here is that the Panthers have come up from a long line of playing together, and are peaking at the same time during another chance to win the cup. After a strong regular season it is hard to deny that they are... were the favourites.

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?
Going to prompt B (which I omitted here, whoops) is the key for Tampa's chances here. Given the 102 points from the top 6 the Barracuda don't need to match straight up with LA's top pairing. In order to get by the top pairing they have to accept that one line might not be scoring, but they need to be able to accomplish one other thing: not get scored on. It is one thing to accept not scoring, but the GF/60 number is a much more concerning one for Tampa Bay. They need to at least possess the puck in an effective manner to neutralize that pairing of players to avoid getting score on. That is naturally easier said than done, but depth scoring was key for the Barracuda for a while so it is not out of the realm of possibility.

4. Written, 3 TPE, Do You Touch It? (150 words min.)
In the NHL there’s a well known superstition that any team that touches their conference championship trophy won’t win the Stanley Cup. Are there any superstitions like that in the SHL playoffs? If so, what are they? Where do they come from? Does your team or your player believe in them? Why or why not?
The superstitions for the SHL oughta be pretty basic, y'know? Don't touch the confy finals trophies, never change your jock strap, and never say you're gonna win the cup until you actually do it. With how some specific player(s) in the league be out there saying they are bound to win the cup, and have not won the cup, it seems only natural to assume that superstition bleeds into players not being able to proclaim victory before it's been realized. In a similar vein to wordy superstitions, proclaiming draft position to be wrong is a death sentence when you are going against the person you made the proclamation against--regardless of the time away from when it first happened. It can be 20 seasons from now and if Fedor Sotakov faced off against Pasta the Turtle in a series, Pasta the Turtle's team would come out victorious. Just as long as Pasta hadn't changed their jock strap, if that had happened then it's a true toss-up on which superstition takes control and demands an L.

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!
Everyone remembers the infamous Jack Crasher rule, but they often forget to note the man who suffered the bulk of that collapse--Johnny Boppa. It's a real classic sob story, heart breaking tale, yadda yadda. The way it's told is that ol' Mr. Boppa is an honest to god good man. He works hard, represents his clients fairly, and was a prominent agent back in the days before the incident. He's running a classic offseason--making calls, organizing contracts, conferring with clients. All agent-y type stuff. Then he receives a contract he didn't communicate on, followed by numerous contracts by nearly half the league demanding his client sign with them given he agreed to contracts with them in confidentiality. Everyone knows the Crasher story from there. While Jack was banned from the league itself (or whatever his punishment may have been, memory be hazy and all that), Boppa had the unfortunate fate of continuing to work in the SHL, but as the man who signs the contracts of the inactive players in the world. His office is a mess of paperwork. Every offseason hundreds of contracts lineup that he has to sign. He has no choice, his client can't sign them and he has no power to deny them. But he still has to be the person that tracks down Geezus Kryyst to communicate terms of payment and of contract over the offseason before their corpse is wheeled into the net.

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.
Milestones +3 TPE

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.
Man, how a dude is feeling is a tough question. I dunno. At one point I am stressed to be starting a full-time job and losing out on the free-time of summer, but at the same time realizing that there's nothing to be afraid of since the free-time isn't used for anything useful at all. So really wondering if it's worthwhile to fear that I'm missing out on something that I don't need? Especially when I'm still able to go out, enjoy bars, hang out with freinds, etc.? Maybe it's just not worth it to question, but I enjoy just being able to sit down for some time, do nothing, and not have to worry about getting up early. But at the same time I can't really stomach sleeping in, because it feels like I'm missing out on life--even though I just want to enjoy nothing sometimes. Who knows, and so really, how can I know how I'm feeling?