Quote:1. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1.5 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.

Malabar

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. I'm not sure many people would have seen this coming. Two teams that joined the league at the same time, both making the finals and competing against each other for their franchise-first cup. So... who do think wins it all? The first time to the Challenge Cup Seattle Argonauts, that have been dismantling higher seeded teams through their entire playoff run? Or the President's Trophy winning Atlanta Inferno that are back with a vengeance after a S64 Challenge Cup defeat?
b. You can't talk about Seattle's run without talking about the dominant performance of starting goaltender Willie Miller, who has posted a .935 SV% heading into the finals. If your Atlanta, how do you solve this brick wall? If your Seattle, what do you do to make sure your guy stays hot?
c. Atlanta's big storyline is their incredible depth. They have eleven players that have logged 10 or more points so far in the playoffs. If you're Seattle, how do you try to contain three lines of unending offensive pressure? If you're Atlanta, how do you ensure everyone is able to continue to contribute against such a stellar defense?
d. Seattle's powerplay has been on fire contributing 14 goals up to this point, which comes out to almost 30% of their goals scored (50G total) in these playoffs. Atlanta on the other hand have managed just 5 power play goals, which is only 5% of their scoring (59G total). In your opinion-- is this a good thing for Seattle, or a good thing for Atlanta? Maybe a good thing for both? Do you think a dynamic team like Seattle that can capitalize on so many of their PP chances will lead to Atlanta playing scared-- worried about what might happen if they enter the box? Do you think a relentless Atlanta team that is so flush with even strength scoring is going to be too much for Seattle to take?

a. Well hindsight is 20/20 but I don't think you needed to be an Expert to predict that Atlanta would win this one. Sadly this era of the SHL is one that is dominated by the favorites, with the teams that finished first in the regular season winning the Cup in both the SHL and SMJHL, and in pretty dominant fashion as well. So yeah unless things change dramaticall, my money will always be on the on-paper favorites.
b. Willie Miller truly was fantastic this postseason but sadly when his magic started to run out, the Argonauts cup chances withered as well. It would have been truly lovely to see him backstop the Argonauts to a Cup. But ultimately Atlanta were able to beat him not with their starpower but due to their depth. Put out three or four lines that are consistently dangerous and no goalie will be able stand up to that barrage forever.
c. Damn I didn't even see that this next question would be about depth when I wrote my previous answer, nice! Well right now I don't think there is much you can do to contain a team with so much depth, we have seen it time and time again in recent years that the deepest teams in the league just overpower the rest. You can pray that your goalie stays hot, that your own stars put in some magic performances, but ultimately the odds will be stacked against you.
d. I think it's a good thing for both, you can draw positives from both situations, but ultimately it's better for Atlanta. No Powerplay of that quality stays cold forever, it is simply much easier to get your PP-unit sharpened up than to instill extra 5-on-5 scoring into an entire team, if that team had been struggling with it so far. The one thing is just easier to add/fix than the other.

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3. Written, 3 TPE, It Gets the People Going! (150 words min.)
There’s been some great Stanley Cup Playoff marketing campaigns over the years. Lots of us probably know the “Because it’s the Cup” series of commercials, for example. Well for the S66 playoffs we’ve really turned on the money faucet and we want YOU to give us the next great playoff ad campaign. Tell me how you’d go about promoting the S66 SHL playoffs in a way that will have people talking about it for years to come.

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4. Written, 3 TPE, League vs. League (150 words min.)
Could any SMJHL team in history (if they were NOT capped at their usual 350/425 builds) have beaten any SHL team in history a 7 game series? Why or why not? What historical teams do you think are good candidates for this trial? Who do you think is the best team in SMJHL history and the worst team in SHL history? Would the J team have a chance? Make your case!

That's not even really a question for me, the answer is a clear and re-sounding yes. It is a pretty regular occurence in the SMJHL to see teams stacked with 3rd and 4th year players in the 600-900 TPE range and you can build a solid SHL-caliber lineup from that. It still would have been tough for that team to beat SHL teams for much of the SHLs existence - up until recently, when all-out tank operations became a thing in the big leagues. Now you see SHL teams tearing it down every few seasons, trading away everything they have and keeping their good rookies in juniors, icing pitiful rosters that mostly consist of IAs that are way below the older SMJHL player both in pure TPE count and build quality. There have been a bunch of teams like that over the last decade or so that wouldn't just have struggled against some of the best teams in SMJHL-history, but also just against a bunch of the better team playing in the SMJHL in that very season.

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.
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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.

https://simulationhockey.com/showthread....pid3257053

+3

Quote:16. Written, 2 TPE, Top Line (100 words min.)
Create the best line you can using real life or SHL hockey players from your player’s home country. Give me 3F, 2D and a G– and a short description of why you chose who you did!

I have to go for some old timey OGs for this so there is no way around Joe McKeil and Chris McZehrl as two of the Forwards here and of course I'll put in my own previous player David Winter as the 3rd player on that line. Three players that came into the league almost at the same time, that ended up shaping Team Germany for years if not decades, who still reign near the top of various all-time stat categories. Complementing them will be Darian Scherbluk and Brandon Cant to make for a great S7-S11 collection of players, with Timo Haas in net who didn't have a very long career, but who somehow is always the first guy that comes to mind for me when I think "German goalie".

Quote:17. Written, 3 TPE, Home Town (150 words min.)
In seasons past I’ve asked about your favourite foods or favourite things about your home country, now let’s get even more specific! Where specifically are you from in your country, and what do you like about it? Tell me some fun facts about your players home town and the kinds of places that you liked to go growing up!

I'm using my players families original home region and the one where I'm from in real life for this one. It's a region called "Rheinhessen" which is in South-Western Germany, a relatively rural part of the country but the again also very close to the Frankfurt Metropolitan region and the commercial opportunities it provides and a close connection to the World through one of the biggest Airports in Europe. Rheinhesse is actually one of the warmes regions in Germany and even outside of the current heatwave the whole continent seems to be in, things can almost feel Mediterranean here at times. Long and warm Summers, barely any Snow in the Winter and not a lot of rain either throughout the rest of the year - which is why we are one of Europe's biggest wine regions as well!