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.

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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. Two old faces are back in the ring, proving reports of the dynasty’s demise were greatly exaggerated! Pick either of our finalists, and tell me what about them impresses you the most!
b. Upsets were a theme this year - which of our finalists had the more difficult road to the promised land and why?
c. Which of the finalists had the more impressive conference finals victory, and why?
d. If it ain't broke don't fix it: Who you got? Who wins? Why?

a. My money would be on New England in this one. They've arguable had the tougher road to the finals, beating two of the top teams in the league in Phildadelphia and Buffalo, while Winnipeg went up more against other middle of the pack teams, who themselves had managed to pull off upsets in earlier rounds.
b. As I said in my previous answer, I think New England clearly had the tougher road to the finals on paper. Of course there are no easy opponents in the playoffs, especially the later rounds, and dispatching of a team like San Francisco, who just eliminated the top regular season team in the entire leagu, as Winnipeg did, is no easy task. But beating both Buffalo and Philly and not even having to go to seven games for that was hella impressive.
c. Sorry for repeating myself here but those questions are kinda lending themselves to it. Once again it has to be New England. The Philadelphia Forge were such a strong team in the regular season, beating them in six games was just super impressive. One might argue that New England is actually a better team than their own regular season standings position indicates, but that doesn't change the fact that they beat one of the leagues best team in the Conference finals.
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Quote:4. Written, 3 TPE, The Char B1 bis In The Room (150 words min.)
This league was until quite recently dominated by a cabal of four teams. Two of them, Winnipeg and New England, are our finalists. A third, Philadelphia, was a finalist last year. The fourth... was Montreal. Does the success of Winnipeg and New England prove that Montreal pulled the plug too soon and should’ve kept the gang around? Or did at least one of the others just get lucky and Montreal made the better decision, without hindsight? What team-building lessons can we learn from this?

That's a very interesting question. I wouldn't go so far as to call these four teams you mentioned a "cabal" though, of course there are some teams who did very well in recent seasons, but the group isn't as clear and homogenous as dominant groups of teams in the past. Things aren't as lopsided anymore and you had teams like Seattle as a part of this group as well, you have Edmonton who just recently entered it and then you also have teams like Buffalo or Atlanta who are quietly up there on a consistent basis as well. With that being said, I do think there is an argument to be made that Montreal blew it up to early. I for once was a bit surprised when it happened, I did expect them to have enough in the tank still to compete for a bit longer. But then again, getting ahead of the cycle could turn out to be a brilliant idea in hindsight. Otherwise they might've just ended up with the same group of teams again, if everyone started and concluded their rebuild at roughly the same time. Might be better to be ahead of the curve here.

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