TASK ONE:

Where were you when the back to back Challenge Cup champions went for their three-peat? Where were you when public enemy number 1, Vlad McZehrl and his Manhattan Rage stepped up to take on the behemoth that was the Wolfpack? Were you there when the Rage outscored New England 9-2 in Wolfpack territory? Were you there in overtime in game 3 in Manhattan when rookie netminder Aittokallio put up 41 saves to make it a 3-0 series lead? Were you there in double OT in game 4 where VLAD played 45 minutes? Were you there when the giants fell? When David overcame Goliath? Do you have your S32 broomstick to relive those memories when the dreams of a three-peat became a nightmare? Get it now while it's still available as you can tell your friends that you were there to watch the wolf cry as they were swept by the Manhattan Rage.


TASK TWO:

It's tough to pick the biggest game of the playoffs this season but I'm going to give it to Game 7 of the opening round between Minnesota and New England. The defending champions looked on pace to roll through their way to the Finals as usual as they went up 3-1 against Minnesota but the Chiefs fought hard and came out on top of two 1 closely contested 1 goal games in Game 5 and 6 facing elimination. Game 7 started out as a disaster for the defending champions as an early penalty found them down 1-0 as the Chiefs came out hard. Starting the second period off on a powerplay Flacko potted one in to make it 2-0. He followed that up a minute later with another power play tally to make it 3-0. Less than 30 seconds later he completed his natural hat trick and it looked like the Chiefs had done it and were finally going to put an end to the Wolfpack's reign of terror. But then the championship pedigree of New England came through and they slowly but surely came back in the game. 5 goals from 5 different players had New England come back from 4-0 to put an end to the Minnesota Chief's dreams.


TASK FOUR:

This season's MVP race is rather interesting as we have a record-breaking season in scoring for Vlad McZehrl of the Manhattan Rage, a breakout year for the LA panthers where Chris Crutchfield almost put up a point per game tally and Brett Broadway who willed his team into the playoffs and made a patchwork defense look impeccable all with very little goal support.

VLAD put up 70 points on the season and beat out Lord Pretty Flacko of the Chiefs who he was going neck and neck with in the league point's rankings. The hit against him is that he played close to 28 minutes a game which was more than any Rage defenseman and 3rd in the league behind Flacko and Lidstrom. Another knock is that despite his 70 points he still finished with a -2 rating on the 2nd seed team in the East. That's not a very inspiring 2-way effort. As for Crutchfield it's hard to give him the MVP as we're not even sure he's the MVP of his team since kind of exploded this season and had career years for many of their players. Cunningham led the team in points, Strange had a breakout year, Ruutu was a rock of a defensive defenseman as Crutchfield's partner. Everything came together for that team. Broadway on the other hand put up a record breaking season as well with 8 shutouts and a 2.02 GAA. Edmonton moved diminutive forward Theo Kane to the blue line to fill the void of Jackson-Rogers Tanaka and Broadway made him look like a Stevens nominee. I'm giving the edge to Broadway this season


TASK FIVE:

Lets take a step back from all the playoff action going on and take a look at some of the stars in the SHL that aren't participating in the post season. Here's All-Star lineup of players who's teams didn't make it into the playoffs:

LW - Toronto North Star forward Damien Wert highlights the forward core here as had a monstrous break out season putting up 51 points but still couldn't pull his team into that 4th seed in the East.
C - Texas Renegades center Geoffrey Allen came oh so close to the playoffs as Texas just got edged out by LA due to a tiebreaker. The franchise centerman put up 23 goals this season.
RW - Luke Fleming of the Winnipeg Jets put up another great regular season performance finishing with 44 points but it wasn't enough in the tough Western conference to get anywhere close to the playoffs.

D - Friedrich Muller was the only bright spot on the season for Buffalo as they just lost out to Minnesota in a tiebreaker for the final playoff spot in the East. Another 20+ goal season for the offensive defenceman caps a great career for the old German.
D - Vladimir Lidstrom continues his strong play on the blue line for Texas putting up 38 assists.

G - Another Renegade player here as Christoffer Bjornsson is making his way up the SHL goaltender rankings as he finished with 2.40 GAA and 4 shut outs on the season.