S74 Championship Week! 1/21 DEADLINE

S74 Championship Week! 1/21 DEADLINE

sulovilen
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#199

01-21-2024, 02:33 AM (This post was last modified: 01-21-2024, 02:34 AM by sulovilen.)

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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.

triviayes

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3. Written, 3 TPE, Haven’t I Seen This Before? (150 words min.)

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?

If I knew the answer to their success, I’d probably be an SHL GM! Honestly, as a very recreational SHL player, I have no idea. Just looking at the rosters and TPE totals, teams like Philadelphia and Edmonton should be way stronger than New England and Winnipeg. And the regular season results seem to reflect that, as Edmonton especially was very dominant and Philadelphia also put up some great results. At a glance Winnipeg’s roster looks very experienced, as they have lots of S62 players, and even some older than that, whereas Edmonton and Philly seems to be mostly built on players from S65-S68. Then again, New England also falls into that category. So yeah, Winnipeg’s success would lead me to believe that experience matters a lot in the playoffs? But since NEW is also doing well, maybe that’s not everything. Then I guess it should be tactics or build related things. Maybe they are really good at matching their strategies against the opposing team in playoff series, or maybe even their players are well suited for such matching efforts? That would explain why the teams are really good in the playoffs even if they aren’t as consistent in the regular season.

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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?

b. Based on the regular season, Edmonton felt to me like the end boss for the season, so I think both teams actually got a bit lucky in the sense that they managed to dodge them. But after that the strongest regular season teams were Buffalo and Philly, and NEW beat both of them. So I think they had a more difficult - and impressive - way to the finals.

c. New England, by far. While San Francisco surprised everyone by making their way to the conference finals, everyone still rather takes a team that barely made the playoffs, than a team who finished third in the regular season. So I think NEW beating Philly is a lot more impressive than Winnipeg beating SFP. And NEW was even able to score 7 or more goals three times against Philly, which in itself is quite a show of force.