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Steelflex · 09-29-2024, 12:42 PM

0. Affiliate Post +3 TPE

1. CW Trivia - Sneed +3 TPE

14. So it looks like Los Angeles won the cup, eh? I knew that. As a professional hockey analyst, many have asked me "what was their secret?" and without giving away my methods, I think I'm qualified to tell you that it was thanks to a stellar defense headlined by Elena Maximova, Rasmus Bergling and Grezegorz Brzeczyszczykiewicz. Maximova led all defensemen in assists and points while throwing out 86 hits, and Bergling played his role as an enforcer well, serving up another 89 hits over the course of the season. Having a couple of strong defensemen out on the ice makes things a little easier on the goalies, and Brzeczyszczykiewicz ran with it, as he was in the net for 36 wins and maintained a top 3 GAA of 2.82, saving 20.49 goals above average. It's not always the flashiest, but a strong defensive core that can stop attacks serves up more opportunities to the offense to score, so it's no surprise to me that this team made a real run and came away with the cup. 176 words (+2 TPE, dont need more)

Total: 8 TPE

EricNCSU · 09-29-2024, 12:54 PM

1. Trivia - Verification Word: Renes (3 tpe)

10 - Took me by surprise.
The St Louis Scarecrows have been in the midst of a major rebuild, like from the ground up. They showed a massive improvement this season, improving from 22 wins and 15th place last season, up to 37 wins and 7th place overall this season. Despite getting swept by hated rival, the Detroit Falcons, in the first round of the playoffs, this is still a pretty substantial improvement. Things can swing a lot from season to season in the junior league, but they certainly look to be on the upswing and should be able to continue this success going into next season. The do have some key players aging out this season, particularly Alexa Johansen, but hopefully that won't hurt too bad as they get more players moving up to the 425 level. Look for St Louis to continue on an upward path and make some noise in the next couple of seasons. (152 words - 3 TPE)

9 - It's been a while.
The team that looks to be in a good position is the Baltimore Platoon. They finished 9th overall, the second highest ranking of the aforementioned drought teams, but also pushed deep into the playoffs. After a hard fought seven game series in the first round against New England, they cruised past Buffalo in the second round, taking that series 4-1. Unfortunately, in the 3rd round they ran into the buzz saw that is the Tampa Bay Barracuda and fell 4-1 in that series. Toronto, Calgary and Minnesota all got eliminated in the first round, while Manhattan missed the playoffs, so it would appear that Baltimore is in the best position to end the drought. (114 words - 2 TPE)

8 TPE Total

Schocar · 09-29-2024, 01:47 PM

Trivia: Betelgeuse (3 tpe)

Prompt 5: As someone who has a longer name in real life, it’s a definite disadvantage for Tampa Bay. It’s all mental: more of their players would have difficulty remembering their teammates’ names, the announcers would have more opportunities to mispronounce the names, and the fans have a combo of both. All of this serves to lower Tampa Bay’s morale, as they are rarely referred to by their actual names but instead by numbers on the ice. When you see your opponents being referred to by their full names with respect, but then you’re simply pushed off with the title of number fifty, you have to put as much effort into ignoring that as facing the other team on the ice. (Word count 119, 2 tpe)

Prompt 6: James’s final season in the SMJHL was fun to watch, but a little disappointing overall. Hitting the cap for my TPE last season meant I didn’t get to see any marked improvement, and so I felt like I had less control over what was happening. Especially as our team tactics were outclassed pretty often. (Word count 54, 1 tpe)

Prompt 9: It might be (or really, certainly is) bias from my end but Calgary is in a great spot over the next few seasons to end their cup drought. The team’s used impressive Realpolitik to scoop up a lot of early drafts over the previous few seasons. This has come back to bite a little bit since they fell behind on this draft which is full of consistently active members, but what they’ve gained over the previous few is strong. What I understand of the GM’s plans might take some time to pay off with chemistry building and of course getting all of these J prospects to full SHL levels but once it all comes together Calgary will be a definite threat for the cup. (Word count 124, 2 tpe)

Total TPE: 8

Kalakar · 09-29-2024, 02:15 PM

1. +3 TPE Kal

5. +2 TPE, 107 words
I think there might be a new meta that will define the new era of the league. We haven't seen people theorycraft since the STHS to FHM movement, but maybe if players have names long enough, it could bug the systems to allow teams to score more goals. Look, I'm not a game developer, but it makes sense to me, and I think we should be wary of users creating long names thinking they're playing Scrabble. The reign of single names is over, watch out for the next draft class, they will all have names with maximum characters and will take over the league in no time.

6. +4 TPE, 218 words
Going into my first SHL season after spending 4 seasons in the SMJHL, I didn't really expect much. As a defenseman, obviously I wouldn't rack up a ton of points or any eyes towards the Ryan Jesster award and that was fine with me. We're still rebuilding over here in Montreal and everyone is committed so it's nice to see. We've started to rack up some wins at least, so we're no longer in the 0-66 territory. I think we're slowly creeping up towards a playoffs appearance, and next year will only be helped with our giant s76 class coming up to help us out. We've got some amazing talent and I've been excited for that draft class to come up for a few months now so I'm looking forward to what we can do with them now on the team. We're at least 2-3 seasons away from being a serious contender but next season we can finally start building some chemistry on the team that will last throughout our careers and hopefully be a strong team to play against. I think we should aim for the 16th or 17th spot in the league. I know there are a few other teams further into their rebuild, but I don't think we will be in the bottom two anymore.

charlieconway · 09-29-2024, 02:40 PM

Quote:1. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1.5 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is completed through a Google form linked below. Make sure to spell your answers correctly or you will not get credit. Post your verification word in your CW post.

pumpkin

Quote:Written, 50 to 200+ words each. Short Prompts
6. How was the season for you player? What you expect from next one?

For Jae-ik Barron, the season was a good one stats wise. He had 82 points, 27 of those being goals. In this way he was an important part of the Atlanta Inferno’s offense. Barron also had an average of just under a minute played on the penalty kill per game, which while not as much as some of his teammates, would still qualify as contributing in my opinion.

I think next season will see much of the same. What I’m hoping for specifically is for surpassing the 30 goal mark, as well as having more success in the playoffs with Atlanta. Personal statistical growth is nice but the goal is to win the Challenge Cup in the end.

Quote:11. Written, 50 to 200+ words. Give Me More
When things stay the same for too long there is risk of them becoming stale, so to ensure that doesn’t happen we need to add something or to something and as you were just elected as dictator of SHL you get to make the pick. Are we going to have more games? Maybe add few teams or 4th lines to current ones? Could even add more stats to spend our TPE by not standardazing the mental stats? What or to what would you add and why?

I really wish that specifically the mental stats were unlocked for players. It would add another dimension to building a player. I realize, though, that there’s always a danger of ‘ideal’ stats that everyone feels compelled to follow because they are so good as to be almost required. This is what happened with shooting in STHS, so maybe risking that isn’t worth it.

If there’s no will to change all of the mental stats, then I’d settle for just seeing the leadership stat be tied to seasons in the league. That would be interesting I think, and would differentiate two different players at the same TPE based on how long they’ve been around. Maybe even add a bonus for players that are the captain or are assistant captains.

Fourth lines would be OK if there was no choice but to do so, but I think if there’s an effort to increase the amount of spots in the league for impact players then the preferable thing to do would be to add more teams. The only upside to fourth lines would be if locker rooms were too inactive to maintain more teams, but I’m not sure if losing one player per team would do that.

Oh, and one last thing: to have 82 games on the schedule, to make it like the NHL. But that might not be possible with FHM.

Wearingabear · 09-29-2024, 02:47 PM

1. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1.5 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is completed through a Google form linked below. Make sure to spell your answers correctly or you will not get credit. Post your verification word in your CW post.

dope

9. Written, 50 to 200+ words. It Has Been A While
Tampa Bay has potential to end the longest standing cup drought in the league, even longer than what San Francisco ended by winning their first cup in S76, and even if they fall short here they should be in position to be competing for cup for seasons to come. But even as we have seen some droughts end there are still multiple teams that have had to wait for more than 25 seasons by now. Toronto hasn’t won since S35, Minnesota since S39, Baltimore since S47, Calgary since S50 and Manhattan since S52, which of these teams do you think is in best position to end their drought and why?

Well, look at this photograph. This is a broad cast of teams who haven't won a cup in forever. The Toronto North Stars, Minnesota Monarchs, Baltimore Platoon, Calgary Dragons and Manhattan Rage. Honestly, the first two teams you can just throw out the window. In my honest opinion, they don't have the teams and assets to compete before the other teams do. I'm going to go out on an outlier here, The Manhattan Rage are going to be the next team to win the cup. Wayne halloway will carry this team all the way through the regular season, the playoffs and eventually to win the cup.

13. Written, 50 to 200+ words. Out With The Old, In With The New
Team Russia got replaced by Quebec, which for sure got people talking about the IIHF. What other nations/regions would you like to see get their own team? Would you think they should replace current teams and if so which ones would you seek to replace? And most importantly, why you think that teams you picked would be more interesting or improve the IIHF in general?

Here it is, some time to throw around opinions that are stuck in my ways and won't allow anyone else to tell me differently. How rich is it that out of anywhere in the world, the PROVINCE of QUEBEC made it so they could become their own IIHF "nation". Who else would have the audacity to come out and think that they're better than other nations. The freaking french canadians, that's who. It wasn't enough to have teams in both the Juniors and the big League, but here we are stuck with another French Canadian team who will be the French Canadians who they are. Who should have we put in the IIHF instead? Nobody, dismantle the entire organization or make it every 4 seasons to make it a bigger special event. If we did that people would get more hyped about it and get their enthusiasm for the IIHF going again. Do we really need a special event inbetween seasons? Are people really going to get disinterested because there isn't games happening? Live streams attract no more than what, 20 people watching live? Activity Checks are at their highest, the league has the most teams it's ever had. I think we be creative enough to find something else do fill that void.

Allegiant · 09-29-2024, 02:58 PM

Prompt 6: (4/8 TPE - 200+)

This season was pretty miserable for Weston Windsor. After being drafted, he had a lot of expectations on him: it was expected that he would come out of the gate guns-blazing, ready to make a real difference on the Newfoundland Berserkers blueline. Instead, his offense-focused game found no real purchase, and he didn't so much as make the team's power-play for most of the year.

In the end, Windsor finished with 9 goals and 16 assists for 25 points, a marked downgrade from his rookie season and a rather meagre helping of points for a player who was advertised as an all-offense defender. It goes to show, in part, how much more difficult offensive play is for defencemen in the new SMJHL -- but it also indicates how poor defense can rob a team of offensive opportunities.

Going into the off-season, Windsor has indicated that he intends to take the defensive side of the game much more seriously going forward. Always a smooth skater, he intends to use his speed and agility to lock down opposing players even without the benefit of size and physicality. If he can make the transition to really playing the full length of the ice, then maybe -- just maybe -- he'll make next season the kind of success he'd promised for this season.

If not, then his path to the SHL is going to be rougher than anyone anticipated.

Prompt 11: (8/8 TPE - 200+)

If I was made dictator of the SHL, the first thing I would do is modify how point tasks are conducted to provide a 'free space' option for weeks where the prompts really don't feel right to you. This does present issues, like making it easier for cheaters to generate their answers, but the same could be said for some of the more comedic or referential prompts. Having an option to just ramble about a topic you enjoy in the SHL, almost like a miniature media post, might help some players complete their tasks if they simply aren't interested in the wackier or more comedic prompts that sometimes get provided -- while preserving those prompts for the people that enjoy them!

The second thing I would do, and I recognize this would be unpopular amongst coaches and general managers -- is I would allow players to swap their own roles, rather than leaving it up to the manager. I feel that players should be the ultimate decision-makers on how they want their own players to play. Instead of making a rushing defenceman and finding he's being played as a quarterback, or making a sniper only to have them be labelled an up-and-down winger, let the players themselves set their role through the portal. Maybe you have to limit changes to prevent overload on the simmers, but in the end, having players in control of the characters they create seems more rewarding than treating them like game pieces for coaches to play with as they like.

MrPresident · 09-29-2024, 04:01 PM

1. HawkTua (+3 TPE)

13. I truly, honestly, and genuinely believe, to the best of my own knowledge and personally believe, believe that Toronto, Ontario, Canada should receive its own IIHF federation team. As the centre of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Ontario, Canada, the world, and this entire universe, Toronto is the most non-sovereign territory that deserves a team, even more so than Quebec. Toronto is extremely deserving of an IIHF team, and it is outright pathetic that Quebec and Canada got one before Toronto, which is much more important than Quebec and Canada as a whole. Toronto has everything you need - economic generation to sustain itself as a nation, good branding (Toronto: We're the Centre of the Universe), historical importance (it's Toronto, need I say more?), lots of players, and a bazillion ice rinks to practice at and train every citizen to be a world class hockey player. Truly, the only reason the SHL IIHF selection committee snubbed Toronto from being taken as a nation is because there's a bunch of francophones running things who can't understand Toronto's slang, and thus didn't understand the application. As you might expect, this is a complete joke and I think Iceland is actually the place most deserving of the next IIHF federation, but it is what it is. (212 words, +4 TPE)

11. I think the one rule change I'd make is adding more games, to an 82 game season. Really, the main reason I would do it is to boost Kristian Seppanen's blocked shot stats, and guarantee he is #1 all time. Then, the moment he breaks the record, I would shut the league down to the shortest possible season, with single elimination playoff tournaments to minimize the costing stats that other players can get, thus making Kristian Seppanen, the star right defenceman from Finland for the Atlanta Inferno hockey team of the eastern conference of the Simulation Hockey League, otherwise known as the SHL, the forever undefeated champion of the SHL shot blocking scene. (113 words, +2 TPE)

CybershadeEDM · 09-29-2024, 06:03 PM

Short Prompts. 6. How was the season for you player? What you expect from next one?

Bishop Van Apeldoorn of the Ottawa Highlanders had a sort of middle of the road season. Bishop ended his season with a 20-21-2 record and was unable to earn a shutout, compared to his 30 win season with 4 shutouts the season prior. This was to be expected, considering him and his team had a bit of an unexpected season the prior season so regression was to be expected. Bishop is entering his fourth season in junior and hopes to continue to grow perfect his play while also stopping everything the opposing teams throw at him and he will play every game like it's his last.

(106 words)

10. Took Me By Surprise

Although it's only a small difference, One team I thought would do better is the New England Wolf Pack. I expected the Wolf Pack to finish the season with around 95-99 points rather than the 82 points they finished with. I think it might be because some players didn't replicate the same offense as the previous season.

(57 words)

CW Trivia Word: Egg

Z-Whiz · 09-29-2024, 06:17 PM

1) Trivia verification word: Quack

ISFL Affiliate - LINKY LINK

CementHands · 09-29-2024, 06:24 PM

Code:
1. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1.5 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is completed through a Google form linked below. Make sure to spell your answers correctly or you will not get credit. Post your verification word in your CW post.

CW TRIVIA LINK
Verification: Pickles

Code:
8. Written, 50 to 200+ words. The Path

Los Angeles comes to finals after two seven game seriesses while Tampa Bay has only lost one game after the first round and they have 3 less games during the playoffs. Do you think Tampa Bay gets meaningful advantage from seemingly easier path to the finals as they come in more rested? Or is there no stopping the train of the Los Angeles after they fought their way through teams that finished second and third during regular season? How do you think the path to the finals will impact the series and does it change who you favor?

Well I think LA is the better of these two teams and I simply thing Tampa got hot and isn’t that great of a team. And yea, they knocked us out round 1. And it sucks that yet again we gave them their toughest competition, such is life and we will deal with it. LA has taken on top teams each round and handled them. I think it’ll be more of the same beat down in the finals.
78 words, 1 tpe

Code:
9. Written, 50 to 200+ words. It Has Been A While

Tampa Bay has potential to end the longest standing cup drought in the league, even longer than what San Francisco ended by winning their first cup in S76, and even if they fall short here they should be in position to be competing for cup for seasons to come. But even as we have seen some droughts end there are still multiple teams that have had to wait for more than 25 seasons by now. Toronto hasn’t won since S35, Minnesota since S39, Baltimore since S47, Calgary since S50 and Manhattan since S52, which of these teams do you think is in best position to end their drought and why?

I believe Toronto is uniquely set up out of this group to be the first of them to bust their streak. I think they did the best job with their hard rebuild acquiring top quality assets and I do think they are in a great spot moving forward. The scariest team in the near term and team I see having a lot of season success is manhattan. They were able to spread their rebuild very well so they have an excellent diversity of talent which should go a long way to making them a very solid dominant team among the likes of the top contenders season in and season out. I don’t think they are going to have a high enough peak though. Minnesota in classic Minnesota fashion flubbed their rebuild. They have been so bad ever since I’ve been involved with the league and it isn’t just performance because they used to be ok just not great. He entire franchise has flubbed everything from their rebrand to continued rebrand. Strange graphical issues, but then behind the management door seeming to make odd trades. Their new management gave up a ton of future for some current talent, but that talent isn’t anywhere near enough to make a serious push in the playoffs and before you know they will be rebuilding again.

221 words, 4tpe

TPE scale reminder:
50-99 words, 1 TPE
100-149 words, 2 TPE
150-199 words, 3 TPE
200+ words, 4 TPE

8/8tpe

jbay7 · 09-29-2024, 06:35 PM

Code:

Code:
1. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1.5 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is completed through a Google form linked below. Make sure to spell your answers correctly or you will not get credit. Post your verification word in your CW post.

valiant (+3 TPE, maybe)

2. Derek Martin's numbers are certainly a bit inflated due to playing more games than TBB, and on paper one might think TBB has an edge offensively after the gaudy numbers that Max Carnage and Jimmy Wagner-Svenson put up during the regular season. Carnage led the league in points and goals while Wagner-Svenson was the leading assist man. Martin, Alexi Piastri, and Adam Prpich meanwhile were all top 10 in scoring during the regular season however, and ultimately upon closer examination LAP may have the edge scoring wise. LAP had a much tougher road in both the playoffs and the regular season than TBB, playing in the same division as SFP who was also a top team, and then facing them for the seeming 20th straight season in the playoffs. The fact is TBB simply has not faced an opponent as tough as LAP so far this playoffs and ultimately LAP has shown they can put up points against tough competition while I think TBB may struggle adjusting to the higher level of play. (176 words, +3 TPE)

11. I have always felt the biggest thing keeping things a bit stale in the SHL is the way most players essentially build their player in the same, cookie-cutter way as everyone else at their position. At the end of the day, the vast majority of players at 1800+ TPE are interchangeable as they all have the same generic builds. I have always thought that forcing players to choose "archetypes" for their player that either limit how much they can put into certain stats, or offer different TPE scaling of stats based on what they choose would be a way to freshen up builds and actually differentiate players more so that not everyone is just the generic jack-of-all-trades type player at high TPE levels. (127 words, +2 TPE)

Whikadoodle · 09-29-2024, 06:45 PM

Code:
8. Written, 50 to 200+ words. The Path

Los Angeles comes to finals after two seven game seriesses while Tampa Bay has only lost one game after the first round and they have 3 less games during the playoffs. Do you think Tampa Bay gets meaningful advantage from seemingly easier path to the finals as they come in more rested? Or is there no stopping the train of the Los Angeles after they fought their way through teams that finished second and third during regular season? How do you think the path to the finals will impact the series and does it change who you favor?

This may be controversial, but I Johnny fourstar will just come right out and say it loud and proud, los Angeles has the biggest benefit going into this series. That is momentum. Momentum is very very important. Momentum means that we know what we can expect from the team as they go into a brand new series. They are firing on all cylanders. Who can stop this team right now? Some may argue that rest is more important and ask if the la panthers can handle another hard fought series right now. But I say Thats short sighted. LA is fighting hard. They know how to win games. They haven't been sitting on the couch watching the game like you and me. They are worse than rested. They are so rusty! They will have to get back into a rhythm all over again while la has been in this rhythm the whole time! And that's why I think LA has the advantage going into this championship series. They have already proved they can beat tough teams. They just need to do it one more time. I think that they can accomplish that during this series and they will be crowned the challenge cup champions this season.

(206)

Code:
11. Written, 50 to 200+ words. Give Me More

When things stay the same for too long there is risk of them becoming stale, so to ensure that doesn’t happen we need to add something or to something and as you were just elected as dictator of SHL you get to make the pick. Are we going to have more games? Maybe add few teams or 4th lines to current ones? Could even add more stats to spend our TPE by not standardazing the mental stats? What or to what would you add and why?

If I were made dictator of the shl, which is a great idea that should totally happen, I would implement one big change. We would all start playing soccer! Soccer and hockey are sort of similar. There are goals and goalies. They involve teamwork. Grit and tenacity are needed to win. I think that many of our skills would transfer over. And that would give us a way to see who are really the best athletes. Who are the best teams, not just in hockey but also in soccer? I want to know so bad! So that is why I would make everyone also play soccer. They should do that in other sports. Make basketball players learn rugby. Make American football players play chess. Synergy! More games! More competitions! I think that every one in the league would really like this idea because we are curious. Who would be the best on and off the pitch and ice? Would. Some. Players be good at both? Would some all stars in the shl really struggle moving to grass? There are so many questions that need to be answered and I think that the fans would really like the additional competition. We should totally do it.

(204)

baz · 09-29-2024, 07:24 PM

Trivia Word : Wooper
(+3 Hopefully)

Affiliate: PBE PT

14. The Panthers ended up winning this season in a very dominant showing throughout the playoffs through a total of 24 games they dropped only 8 total. The Panthers came into this playoffs as the #1 team through the regular season and had a rough path to the championship. While round 1 was a very convincing win against Seattle, rounds 2 and 3 proved hard as they faced the San Francisco Pride then Texas Renegades who were both ranked 2 then 3 respectively for regular season rankings. Both of these games went the full way with a 7 game series that Los Angeles pulled out on top of. Then you add on the fact that they then had to play the fourth best team during regular season in Tampa Bay in the championship game. Los Angeles overcame a lot to get a much needed win for themselves as they take home the cup in a six game series agianst Tampa Bay. (160 Words)

Massive Coiler · 09-29-2024, 07:51 PM

Code:
1. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1.5 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is completed through a Google form linked below. Make sure to spell your answers correctly or you will not get credit. Post your verification word in your CW post.

Spumoni

3 TPE

Code:
8. Written, 50 to 200+ words. The Path

Los Angeles comes to finals after two seven game seriesses while Tampa Bay has only lost one game after the first round and they have 3 less games during the playoffs. Do you think Tampa Bay gets meaningful advantage from seemingly easier path to the finals as they come in more rested? Or is there no stopping the train of the Los Angeles after they fought their way through teams that finished second and third during regular season? How do you think the path to the finals will impact the series and does it change who you favor?

I don’t think there’s a major advantage one way or the other. One could look at rest as a major advantage, while another could look at stringing together more games and potentially getting hot would be a far more important positive factor. If I had to guess (knowing what I know about FMH, tbh) then more games would probably come in handy with the potential of getting players cooking right before the most important series of their lives. Having rest would probably only matter if the goalie couldn’t handle the workload, which I don’t believe is the case in our current instance. In short, more games > fewer games.

Word Count: 108 - TPE: 2

Code:
11. Written, 50 to 200+ words. Give Me More

When things stay the same for too long there is risk of them becoming stale, so to ensure that doesn’t happen we need to add something or to something and as you were just elected as dictator of SHL you get to make the pick. Are we going to have more games? Maybe add few teams or 4th lines to current ones? Could even add more stats to spend our TPE by not standardazing the mental stats? What or to what would you add and why?

Well for sure I’d be adding 4th lines to all the existing teams. Maybe practically you’d need to set a minimum ice time for them so they don’t play 3-4 minutes a night. But in any case, I want to see that dynamic and have some use for role-players, older regressed players, and just guys that don’t get their TPE all that high when they peak. I would like to see more stats needing TPE spent on them. Or maybe veterans (regressing) get a boost to some of the mental stats. I’d add more games if they could be simmed in the same amount of time (or ideally: Faster). My radical swing for the fences as the dictator of the league would be to remove everyone’s $ and reduce us all back to $0. Then, put a cap on how much you can earn outside of contracts on the season. Every time you make a new player, you can maybe spend your leftover money on creation, but after that first update, it goes back to $0. Anything to make free agency a thing.

Word Count: 182 - TPE: 3

Total TPE: 8

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