10-26-2022, 09:58 AM(This post was last modified: 10-30-2022, 09:35 PM by Leafs4ever. Edited 9 times in total.)
Task 1: (3 TPE)
Verification: Strongo
Task 2: (4 TPE)
a. Seattle is back in the finals for the second time in a row. While last season was an unexpected run led by a miracle goalie performance-- this season's appearance comes at no surprise to those who watched their offseason closely. What roster changes do you think have put Seattle in this position again? Do you think it's enough for them to finish the job this time around?
There is no doubt which roster changes led Seattle to another Challenge Cup berth. In the off-season, they made a couple of monster trades with Los Angeles. In those trades, they acquired Luukas Lilja, Jonas Kahnwald, and Jimmy Wagner. These are 3 elite players in the SHL who were coming off their own Challenge Cup win in Season 65. They completely fortified the Seattle lineup and brought in veterans who have been there and won it all. (77 words)
b. Manhattan has charged from a ninth place regular season finish to an Eastern conference championship and a shot at the Challenge Cup. I don't think that it's out of line for me to say that not many saw this coming. How do you think they got to this point? Who's performing better than expected? Do you think they have enough gas to complete the Cinderella run?
Their top line is on a rampage and playing out of their minds, led by Lev Lebedev. They are carrying this team past the competition and willing the Rage all the way to the Challenge Cup Finals. Their goalie, sporting a 0.925 save percentage, is giving them exacting the support they need as well. I don't know if it's sustainable, but a good recipe for success and an elite top line and a hot goalie. Manhattan has both right now. (80 words)
c. At this point in the playoffs, Manhattan has played four more games than Seattle. With the schedule as tight as it is in the playoffs, do you think that extra hockey will affect them? Could it be a positive that MAN has been in a near constant routine of game days while SEA has seen a bit more rest? Or do you think that wear and tear will start to show on MAN if this series goes to 6 or 7 games?
The playoffs are a brutal grind so give me the rest whenever you can get it. Manhattan has played more and playing consistently can help mask the pain, but once you have a couple days of break, your body starts to REALLY feel it. I guarantee the Rage are feeling those extra 4 games right about now. You want to feel as good as possible in the playoffs and no doubt rest helps with that. (75 words)
d. In many ways this seems like a battle of who can stay hotter longer. Both teams have PDO ratings as high as 110 while barely having any players that dip below 100. Seattle and Manhattan are both on absolute heaters of strong goalies and high shooting percentages. What do you think is driving this, and who do you think can keep it going longer? Who comes out on top?
Playoff series are such a small sample that you can't really look at higher than average stats and wait for a regression to the mean. The teams are on a heater right now because they know you have to elevate your game in the playoffs. They have one more series to fight through so I expect similar performances that brought them here. I always default to the more experienced team in situations like this and I think Seattle getting here last season and losing is going to push them past the team that surprised everyone to get here. (98 words)
Task 5: (3 TPE)
As one of the veterans on the team, the coach likes to move me around when we hit the road during the season. I tend to rotate through the younger players on the team and pair up with a different one each trip. The goal here is for me to show them the ropes and help them out as much as I can. I've enjoyed being a leader of sorts for this team so I was happy to help this way.
As an older guy, I have a more subdued night-time routine on the road. It's less going out and more staying comfortable and getting as much body rest as possible. The muscles don't heal like they did in the early going so I have to make sure I stay on top of my healing. I love to just lay down, read a book, watch some TV, or play some cards. There will be some times when I head out into the town and enjoy some night-life, but those days have become rare.
(173 words)
Task 6: (3 TPE)
Listen, superstitions are very common in sports, I get it. When you get into a groove, you don't want to change anything and mess with a good thing. I think every athlete knows these things don't actually help, but it can give you some comfort to believe that you have some control. I'm not huge into superstitions, but I don't find myself doing some small things when we hit a win streak.
If our team goes on a streak and wins 4 in a row, I'll start to get into superstition mode. The easiest thing that you can control and keep the same is the food you eat. I will have all the same meals as I did for the 4th win the streak. I'll eat the meals in the same places, sit in the same seat, and drink the same beverages. The trainers on the team have gotten wise to this so they are great at making sure all the ingredients I need are readily available after that 4th game. It seems crazy, and it is, but athletes are just built to believe they can control everything in their profession. As long as it's not harmful to themselves or others, do what you what to give you that extra edge.
4. Written, 3 TPE, Tough to Swallow (150 words min.)
I think the best SHL team that missed out on the challenge cup this season is clearly the Winnipeg Aurora. I’m not just saying that because I was literally just traded there, but WPG had an outstanding season and I don’t think anyone was surprised they finished at the top of the standings at the end of the regular season, with several players amongst league leaders including legit best goalie candidate Rebecca Montagne. While their playoffs performance was nothing to sneeze at, unfortunately they hit the same brick wall that many of us suffered through this season when they met Seattle. Seattle, already having a great season, got even hotter, sending WPG home 4 games to 2 in the conference championship series. Seattle goalie Willie Miller stood on his head yet again and kept the powerful WPG offense off of the scoreboard while Seattle's own offense was firing on all cylinders to keep WPG out of the final series.
159 words
5. Written, 3 TPE, Hotel Rooms (150 words min)
Before Miguel Hefeweizen began playing professional hockey, staying in a hotel always seemed like a fun and cool experience, and it usually was when he took vacations and such. But when you play 30+ games on the road every season, traveling and staying in hotels becomes a bit of a drag. While Miguel loves his teammates, sometimes, at the end of the day he needs a bit of alone time in the peace and quiet. Fortunately, his team is willing to pay for players to have their own hotel rooms so he doesn’t have to worry about ending up with a roommate who snores or stays up all night. By now, Miguel has his travel packing list down pretty well. He brings his own pillow and his own fan for white noise. Other than his laptop and headphones for tunes and movies, though, his list is pretty basic. Miguel is definitely one of the first to bed on the team, and while he likes a nice drink, doesn’t like to stay out late.
172 words
10-26-2022, 11:20 AM(This post was last modified: 11-04-2022, 10:33 PM by kenvald. Edited 7 times in total.)
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1. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 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.
trivial
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2. Written, up to 4 TPE - Grab Bag: Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.
c. At this point in the playoffs, Manhattan has played four more games than Seattle. With the schedule as tight as it is in the playoffs, do you think that extra hockey will affect them? Could it be a positive that MAN has been in a near constant routine of game days while SEA has seen a bit more rest? Or do you think that wear and tear will start to show on MAN if this series goes to 6 or 7 games?
Routine games usually wins over rest. Although teams that play fewer games still practice and whatnot, getting into and staying in the grove can be key to prevent players from leaning back and getting too comfortable. If the series goes to 6-7 games I think both teams will be equals in this sense. As they'll both have games recently in mind and body.
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d. In many ways this seems like a battle of who can stay hotter longer. Both teams have PDO ratings as high as 110 while barely having any players that dip below 100. Seattle and Manhattan are both on absolute heaters of strong goalies and high shooting percentages. What do you think is driving this, and who do you think can keep it going longer? Who comes out on top?
At this point I have to assume there's some weird voodoo stuff going on. Or some other supernatural powers in effect. And whoever comes out on top should have to tell us exactly how they did it, and which god they prayed to. Because I need some of that good luck. Don't we all?
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4. Written, 3 TPE, Tough to Swallow (150 words min.)
In your opinion, who was the best SHL or SMJHL team to NOT win the Challenge Cup / Four Star Cup? Who was on that team, and why do you think they deserved to win it all? What round did they lose in and how? Was it bad luck? A hot opposing goalie? Inexperience?
The season 53 New England Wolfpack. The very first FHM season. They won the President's Trophy. Not with too many points ahead of the team in second, Hamilton Steelhawks. But the players the team was able to field that season were insane. Not often do we see that level of talent on the ice all at the same time.
New England pretty handedly beat the Manhattan Rage in the first round. But swiftly fell in the second round to, you guessed it, Hamilton. Hamilton easily took down New England in five games. Hard to say exactly why Hamilton turned out to be such a wall. Many would probably claim that they had an upper hand when it came to FHM research. Which allowed them to cream their opposition even if they faced teams much stronger than them on paper. Since then New England has been in a constant state of re-build/tool without much to show for it. Defeated by FHM.
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5. Written, 3 TPE, Hotel Rooms (150 words min)
During the playoffs it’s not uncommon to have to spend several days on the road in the same city. Whether you’re in the playoffs or not, who does your player share a room with on the road? What do you get up to? Are you the type to drag around a PS5 everywhere you go, or are you the first to hit the bar after the game? Are you a night owl or an early riser?
Sven is the kind of player who would always opt for a single-bed room. It's not that he doesn't like his teammates, but the autonomy that's rendered by having a room to himself is something he'll gladly negotiate into his contract even if it incurs a pay cut.
After any game or other team activities Sven will most likely head back to the hotel bar with whoever's interested on the team, have just a beer or two, and then head on up to his room to deflate. The physical rest is important but for Sven it's also nice to mentally slow down and not have to think about or talk to other people. Likely he's brought his Nintendo Switch to play some games on to unwind, or he simply watches whatever garbage TV is on before bed. If he really wants to reward himself he hops into a bath to truly melt for an hour or so.
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7. Milestones, up to 3 TPE
Milestones are folded in with CW. So just link your Milestone claim as task 7 for up to 3 TPE towards your 16 total.
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Post your claim in the milestones thread for tpe earned per stat, and then link that post in your CW submission. This is done because the person who grades CW will be a different person than double-checks milestones.
17. Written, 3 TPE, Nu Metals (150 words min.)
Gold, silver, and bronze are old news! Also we’re running out of them in the simulated world so we can’t be wasting it all on simulated medals! Choose new metals to be used for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place at this year's tournament, and tell me why you chose them.
The new IIHF tournament medals will be made out of redwood trees instead of bronze, glass instead of silver, and concrete instead of gold.
Redwood is a great replacement for bronze as the trees can get extremely tall. We can carve millions of 3rd place medals from a single tree. It's not like the trees are doing anything useful just standing there, swaying in the wind. Plus, the redwood color isn't too far off from bronze.
The silver replacement has a lot more metaphorical meaning behind it. Just as fragile as glass can be. Equally fragile is the opportunity to win the entire tournament. A single mistake, a single poor decision, can make the difference between being number 1 or number 2. And the 2nd place medal should remind us about this, always.
On a similar vein the concrete medal is to show just how tough and solid you were for being able to beat everyone else. To become the best. Nothing can stop you, except maybe a concrete drill.
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