1. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1.5 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer: Chickenwing - 1.5-3 TPE

2. Total: 2 TPE
b. Upsets were a theme this year - which of our finalists had the more difficult road to the promised land and why?: Both teams were ranked pretty lowly coming into the play-offs, the Winnipeg Aurora had to defeat the San Francisco Pride, the Texas Renegades, and the Minnesota Monarchs. Meanwhile the New England Wolfpack needed to defeat the Philadelphia Forge, the Buffalo Stampede, and the Hamilton Steelhawks. According to the index the teams where 9th and 10th instead of 8th and 10th, so I will take 9th and 10th into account. With these opponents Winnipeg needed to beat the number 16, the number 6, and the number 14. While the number 14 did defeat the number 1 of the league in a big upset I wouldn’t say these defeats the teams the Wolfpack needed to defeat, with them getting the 13th placed team, 3rd placed team, and 2nd placed team for 2 upsets in their 3 games. Because of this I do think the New England Wolfpack had the harder route to the cup final, while I certainly do not want to count out the impressive performance of the San Francisco Pride. 171 words, 1 TPE

c. Which of the finalists had the more impressive conference finals victory, and why?: Both teams had quite a confident conference finals win, with the Winnipeg Aurora winning 4-1 against a San Fransisco Pride, who just beat the favorites in the Edmonton Blizzard with 4-2, while the New England Wolfpack beat a very strong team in the Philadelphia Forge with 4-2. Purely looking at the conference final, I would give it to the New England Wolfpack, but when also taking previous rounds into account you got to say that the San Fransisco Pride are a very strong team as well, and might even be the more difficult team with them just gaining a massive confidence boost beating the Blizzard, and the Winnipeg Aurora did shut them down quite confertably. 115 words, 1 TPE

3. Despite being the 8th and 10th ranked regular season teams in the league, our finalists from Winnipeg and New England represent two of the most dominant teams over the past several seasons. What do you think is the secret to their success? What can other teams learn from them? Which one is more likely to be back again next year?: Looking at these stats I would say it is more likely for the Winnipeg Aurora to be back again next season, while the west does have the Edmonton Blizzards who are really strong this season, I would say that (also based on the previous few seasons) west have less teams which are really close to eachother than the east does, since S70 the West had 2 finalists, while East had 3. Also, in the regular season standings the Texas Renegades (number 2 in West) was 6th in the overall ranking, with 4 eastern teams in the gap between Texas and Edmonton. 1 thing to also look at, is that the New England Wolfpack also had a more difficult route to the final compared to the Winnipeg Aurora, which has to count for the chance of either of these teams making the final, as the other teams in a conference are a important factor to take into account. Of course 1 team can go full rebuild over the next season and break this all open again. 175 words, 3 TPE

Total: 6.5 - 8 TPE