I think Sydney Shaw is more of the talent than anything San Francisco is. He’s that player who can just go ahead and create as much offense as the team needs. Exceptional players do exceptional thing. There is no doubt that San Francisco has a scheme that works for a player like Shaw, but there is just something about Shaw creating their own space. Running circles around a man down defensive team. Some of that could be SHL defenses; but I think it’s more about Shaw being just an absolute threat in the offensive zone. The skating technique is second to none, and to add on top of the skating ability. You have the size. Size has a lot to do with it. Not getting knocked off the puck is a huge key when it comes to this. Puckhandling is absolutely insane. You can’t play hockey without the greatest ability to have Puckhandling. You don’t score goals without an elite shot and Shaw has just that. The elite shot that most defenseman don’t have. I don’t think there has been a player as talented when it comes to shooting as a defenseman. They have the ability of a forward to just score goals unlike any other.

I think if we had a final in another country it should be held in Europe. I’d say Sweden would be the first option somewhere like Stockholm would be a perfect fit for it. There is just an amazing hockey culture in Sweden in the sense that it might be different from North America, but it’s not something you can deny. The Swedish fanbase is something to be cherished. I’d say that for anyone in Sweden it would be a celebration that would shut everything down. It would become a holiday that everyone celebrates around the country. I could also imagine a place like Finland being a great place to have one as well. Helsinki has a really nice arena and on top of that the fans love Hockey more than anything else. Which is a huge opportunity to expand the SHL fanbase past the North American territory and move into Europe and build a foundation where we are a global league rather than just a North American League. It’s something to be cherished that we do have fans from Europe and we don’t get to go see them very much. I believe that Europe would be a key place to expand our game to. Even if it was just for SMJHL for a bit.