1: CW trivia: pastrami

Quote:3. Written, 3 TPE, New Year New Me (150 words min.)

What is your player's New Years resolution? What aspect of their game do they want to work on in S69 to help them reach the finals next season? If they did make the finals this season, is it because of something they resolved to work on last season? If so, then what's next?

Sophie Bordeleau's main New Year's resolution is to work on her skating and strength. Last season, her playmaking game was very strong, but she only managed to get 12 goals throughout the season and wanted to get better at creating plays for herself. She did help Leon Athanasios get to a 40-goal season with crisp passes, and her defensive game was pretty solid on a subpar Pride team, but Sophie did find it a little more difficult to adjust to the speed of the SHL. Working on her skating will help Sophie better utilize that shiftiness that led her to become one of the best players ever to play in the SMJHL, and as an undersized centre it's always important to get stronger and be able to win those puck battles against bigger players. This really strikes in the offensive zone. Her game with the Quebec City Citadelles was predicated on using her speed and vision to be able to get to open spots and use her deceptively quick release to beat goalies, and working on applying that to the SHL will let her reach her potential.

Quote:4. Written, 3 TPE, Dream Series (150 words min.)

Many teams have rivals they'd love to trounce in a playoff series. Maybe you as a player have another specific player you'd love to beat to win the cup and lord it over them for the rest of their lives. Tell me who you'd love to play in a playoff series and why! Why would you love to beat this team or player? What would it mean to you or your team? Keep it friendly.

 

Sophie's dream playoff opponent would be the Winnipeg Aurora. A big reason for this is that one of the players that she followed during her journey to the big leagues was Lias Ekholm-Gunnarsson, a similarly undersized player who used his skill to become a great piece on their team. Sophie would love to be able to face off against and beat an opponent that she compared herself to growing up, really proving her place in the league. The Aurora themselves are also one of the best teams in the SHL with so many deep pieces, and for the young San Francisco side to take down a top side would give so much momentum to the team and show why the Pride are the best place to play in the league. In the games against Winnipeg, Sophie already gets excited to be able to play on the same stage as so many talented players, but for the two sides to meet in a hard-fought playoff series would just be a dream for her.

7: Milestones +2 TPE

Quote:16. Written, 3 TPE, A Country Built on Hockey (150 words min.)

If you could peacefully create a U.N. style alliance of countries for the sole purpose of creating the best possible international hockey team, which countries would be in it and why? Tell me about your super team. What would you name it? This can be SHL related or real life! Have fun!

Going with real life because I don't know what countries SHL peeps play for, but it would have to be the union of Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway (sorry Iceland, should have had good players) for me, naming it Team Nordic. Building from the goalie out, this team is just stacked with Juuse Saros and Jacob Markstrom, and on defense it just gets better with Karlsson, Hedman, and Miro Heiskanen anchoring the fort for a good defense of all ages. Up front, though, it's the kids taking over the show with Elias Pettersson, Mikko Rantanen, Patrik Laine, Nik Ehlers, Sebastian Aho, William Nylander, and Kaapo Kahko among others. Veterans aren't left behind either with older guys like Mats Zuccarello, Mika Zibanejad, and Gabriel Landeskog holding the fort. Overall, I think it's just such a young and fast team that there's really no way to consistently defend against it with enough depth to stop them breaking through and scoring all the goals they want.

23:

Quote:23. Written, 2 TPE, Acrostic Poem
An acrostic poem is when you create a poem using every letter of a given word. For example:

Big
Ugly
Raving
Lunatic
Of
Kindness

This is my acrostic poem for Burlok. Write me an acrostic poem using your player's name!

Singularly
Outspoken
Proud
Hen
In
Existence


TPE: 14.5 + trivia/16