1. CW Trivia - 3 TPE
verification word: sven

10. Written, 50 to 200+ words. Took Me By Surprise (117 words, 2 TPE)

I'd say Kelowna took me by surprise. Honestly, I didn't realize they had such a good season after not doing too hot for the last couple, but then they kinda ripped through playoffs in general and brought perennial powerhouse Maine to 6 games before finally falling. I know it always has to sting when you get so far and end up finishing just short of the ultimate goal, but they've got a lot to be proud of this season and hopefully they have got enough left for next season to keep building on the success they enjoyed this season. You have to think they're not too far away from being cup favorites after a season like this.

12. Written, 50 to 200+ words. Is It Always The Same? (165 words, 3 TPE)

IIHF and WJC tend to get piled on a bit more than the rest of the leagues just cause they're kinda easy to make fun of in my opinion. There's always a couple of feds that are underperforming because on barely active GMs, low recruitment, or both. But if you look at the last couple of seasons, things have hardly gone according to "plan". It seems to be pretty common knowledge that Canada and USA are the powerhouses, for roster availability at least. Sweden I'd say is pretty close right behind them. However, if you look at the past 5 seasons those teams are not even in the medal rounds more often than some of the smaller, less known teams. IIHF and WJC are a pretty welcome distraction, and honestly if people would give it more of a chance, there's a lot of pretty compelling results that come out of it. I would even go so far as to say there's a lot of PARITY.

8/8