Task 8 +3 TPE
Rude Sniff performed very well in my opinion in this, his first season. I hoped he would have had a little bit more of an impact, but he did still have a solid rookie campaign. Playing out of position as a winger instead of a defenseman, Rude notched ten points, seven of them goals. He ended his season with a solid plus two differential and managed to stay out of the penalty box save for two times over the whole season. To improve next season, he will need to continue working on his defensive abilities. Now that he will have the opportunity to be an impact player on the defense corps, he should have every chance to show what he improves. His offensive ability will need a boost as well and hopefully he will notch some more goals to beat this season's total. If he does well, he could win the most improved player award.


Task 10 +3 TPE
The Nevada Battle Born have a bright future ahead of them. After an already stellar season, we only lost one player to a call up from the second pairing of defenseman. This means that Rude Sniff will slot in on defense as a highly improved player. Add in the fact that every one of their draft picks from season 56 hit and have excelled in all aspects and will be similarly improving immensely, we will be a much stronger team than we were at the top of our conference. While the loss of Danger is a heavy one, one that won't easily be filled by one second season defenseman, the Battle Born should remain at the least contenders as they were this season. If they do well in the draft again, and there's no reason to believe they won't, the bottom ranks of the team should be swarming with excellent depth to compliment the obscene top power.


Task 11 +3 TPE
The Battle Born flunked out of the second round. They played no other round (first round bye) so it was a heavy loss. Rude Sniff blamed himself personally doing little to nothing in the post season. This off season, Rude Sniff aims to improve defensively. He has been working on having an active stick, putting himself positionally in the right places to shut down offense, and continues to improve his already strong skating ability. He is stronger and smarter than he was at the beginning of his first season and also aims to be able to contribute offensively. He has worked on his shot, and leaning on his excellent puck handling ability, should be a great break out skater and if he works on his passing, a great break out passer. It's hard to see him not being an important impact player in the upcoming season and if he can just improve his point totals without letting his other stats slip, it will be a win for him.


Task 12 +3 TPE
Rude Sniff is a dynamic player. Notching 10 points in his first campaign, he can be seen to be a great goal scoring defenseman with 7 goals. He skates exceedingly well and handles the puck even better. He is no slouch in his own end as he boasts a respectable plus two goal differential on the season as a fourth line forward. That said, he did spend the season playing out of position. This could have all kinds of implications that drafting suitors should be wary of as it may indicate that he can't be trusted fully as a defensive player. This journalist does not feel that this should be an issue, however, as Rude Sniff has all the tools he needs to shut down any and all plays making their way into his zone. Falling all the way to the second round in his SMJHL draft, Sniff could very easily see himself in the first round in this upcoming SHL draft.


Task 13 +4 TPE

A. Which player from either team has the best name in this series (just the name itself, nothing to do with the player themselves).

Vaseline Podcalzone is the best name for the Newfoundland Berserkers. It is the perfect play on real life Canucks prospect Vasily Podkolzin. Vasily should consider changing his name and also joining the SHL. On the Whalers, KnockedOut ByOvechkin is Vancouver's best name. Seeing as Ovi isn't the freight train he used to be, it makes me laugh to think of him knocking anyone out.


B. This season, Vancouver has some of the best offensive depth we will ever see a juniors team have, but Newfoundland have gotten very strong performances out of their defense and goalie these playoffs. Can the Berserkers contain the sheer offensive firepower of the Whalers?

Newfoundland's defensive corps is excellent... in the top two pairings. While they have strong defensive ability amongst those four player, their ability to defend completely drops off on that bottom pairing. Yes, these two players are rookies and can't be expected to be huge players, but playing them for 15 minutes per night is only going to spell disaster for the Berserkers against Vancouver's high end offense.


C. You're in another timeline where Carolina and Anchorage are the two cup finalists. What went right for them in this timeline's semis compared to ours where they lost?

Carolina did well in their first round. They scored plenty, but let a lot in. They just managed to out score their opponent. When they came up against Vancouver... Well that strategy just doesn't work against such stacked offense. Maybe they scored more, or maybe they shut Vancouver down better. As for Anchorage, they would have scored more. Newfoundland just narrowly out defensed their opponent.


D. We've been talking about the playoffs, but it's performance throughout the season that helped even get our finalists into the playoffs here. Who was the key player to success for either team (or both) during the regular season and why?

Vancouver's obvious top contributor is their star center Daniil Nikiforov. Scoring 54 points in 50 games he led the league in points and found himself as well in the top 10 for faceoff percentage at 61.7%. Newfoundland's best player was their own star center Mats Marner. While he led the Berserkers in points at 41 in 50 games, he clearly doesn't match up to Daniil.