9. I think it’s better to have a high but shorter peak rather than tread water in the playoffs and consistently not get as high as one would like—or, rather, how deep they would like to be in this analogy. The short but higher peaks can be explained in a few ways—the first that comes to mind is the restructuring required from players either making recreates or dropping out of the league. The teams must wait for new blood to join their ranks and slowly improve until the whole team is at the Playoff level. This leads to short but higher peaks because of a whole new generation alongside the old, summoning the strength to succeed and go further than they could before. Another reason for short but higher peaks is a change in tactics used by the GMs. Some are hesitant to change tactics, while others could change frequently. Keeping an open mind about tactic changes is definitely how teams that previously couldn’t make the playoffs suddenly did, especially in combination with a newly structured team. At least, this is what I can surmise or assume from someone who has only played in the J. I’m hoping it’s at least somewhat accurate. (4 TPE)

11. The hometown of Carolina Krakens, Charlotte, North Carolina, is very far from San Francisco! It is across the whole country! According to the internet, by bus, which is how we’re required to travel for the sake of this prompt, it is about 69 hours and 39 to 47 minutes away! That’s 2.9 (rounded down) days of travel. Of course, we could not always be traveling, though. Let us say we travel for about eight hours (Dungeons and Dragons reference, anyone?). If we travel that long, it would take us about nine days (rounds up from 8.7) to reach San Francisco. Of course, this does not cover anything that might go awry! Traffic, bus malfunctions, the lateness of the players at any of the stops, or even consistently driving 8 hours. But this is still a great time for team bonding! My character, Walbilly Koala, and Swedish Chef spend a lot of time on the ice together because we are both Forwards. So, I think that would make us peas in a pod on any trip we go together! But I couldn’t have Koala neglect his defencemen either! For example, the beloved Chuck Stewart! We’d see what delicious local food we can find along the way to San Francisco! (4 TPE)

Verification word: Magibli