11-22-2024, 03:07 AM(This post was last modified: 11-22-2024, 03:16 AM by amjohnson636. Edited 3 times in total.)
Prompt 6:
The best team that missed the finals in my opinion was the Texas Renegades. Before I hop into my argument why I would also like to highlight that I think the Toronto North Stars were the team that should also be playing in the finals. Toronto unfortunately had a really bad first round matchup and Buffalo sent them packing early. I think that Texas was a team that could very well take down the Forge. The Renegades' regular season demonstrated a lot of resilience as they finished second in a very top-heavy Western Conference, and in the playoffs, they moved forward with ease. Texas only dropped one of their first nine playoff games and that being in the first round to an up-and-coming Seattle squad. I think teams that have an easy time in the earlier rounds set themselves up for failure as hockey playoffs require a lot of grit in order to come on top. It is almost as if them playing so well was their downfall. Meanwhile the Pride battled it out against Calgary the round before and really grew as a team in order to take down the Dragons in seven. I think Texas will have another strong year next year and I am excited to see what they do! (218 Words) (4 TPE)
Prompt 10
For the first time in my few seasons of experience in the SHL there was some significant competition at the bottom of the standings. Playing for Montreal I have learned what it is like to struggle for points as I was drafted when the Pats only put up 3 points in a single season. Teams like the Blizzard really impressed me this season and I think that it may just have been the sim acting a little strange this time around and letting some teams off easy. I do think that teams like MAN, MTL, and SEA will see a significant rise over the next three seasons as they are the ones I would say to keep a lookout for! I think that come next year Buffalo will have the largest fall off and could very well miss the playoffs with how brutal the East is looking. It will be interesting to see how the developing teams pan out in the future such as Seattle who has built a strong squad, one that I think will contend with MTL in a cup battle in a few seasons from now! I think that teams at the bottom have to have a lot of spirit and that all of the ones at the bottom of the table this time around really demonstrated some! (200+ words) (4 TPE)
11-22-2024, 07:05 AM(This post was last modified: 11-22-2024, 07:06 AM by Salming.)
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.
Verification word: Borje
12. Written, 50 to 200+ words. Old Reliable IIHF Analysis Write your predictions for this year's IIHF tournament or WJC! Tell me about your team! What are your expectations for your player? What teams are you watching out for this time around? Did last season's results surprise you and how much do you expect them to change this time?
Team Finland is always a medal contender. Last season it failed to win a gold medal. It was a disappointment. This time they can go all the way and not lose in the playoffs. There are some youths coming up and ready to take bigger role. So, I would like to guarantee that it will be a better hockey team this year but in sports in general everything can happen and puck luck has a huge role too so I can not do that. I can just promise that it will give themselves a chance to win and hockey gods will then decide afterwards if it really wins or not a medal. Carpet in the net gives it a chance to beat other powerhouses every year. It is up to skaters and coaches to perform well too. When it comes to other teams, I expect big powerhouses like Canada, USA and Sweden dominate the event too year after year. The hockey culture is so incredible deep in those countries so they should contend for medals every season. Simply no excuses. Teams like Ireland, Japan and UK should not celebrate at all in the international stage. Maybe Switzerland always improves from last seasons. So, those are my excellent predictions and preview for the upcoming tournament.
Words: 200+/4 TPE
13. Written, 50 to 200+ words. Five Nation Tournament The only international tournaments in SHL are WJC and IIHF but in real life we have had Olympics, World Cups and now the 4 Nation tournament. What kind of tournaments besides of IIHF and WJC you’d like to see in SHL? How they would be different from the current tournaments? How often they would be played and would they be played instead of current tournaments or would both be held at the same time? Or would you think it would be instead better to restructure current tournaments?
Of course I would like to see Winter Olympics Games because there is no bigger stage in sports. Olympic Gold Medal is the hardest achievement to win in the world. I admire Olympic Gold Medalists more than everything. The tournament would be of course played every fourth season. So you could attend to it maybe 3-4 for times during your career if you are lucky and the team is not deep. In the prime you could have two chances for Olympic glory, I think. There would be TOP12 teams from previous World Champs and format would be similar to real Olympics.
10. I haven't really been around long enough to make any sensible assessments but I am glad that this season hasn't seen any overt tanking. Not dunking on anybody who made the decision to because if you gotta do it to succeed you gotta do it - I'm not a GM because I don't think I'd have the skill to do it - but it struck me as very unrealistic that a team would make the finals and then do a complete teardown of the roster, way beyond what any NHL team would commit to. I hope this does speak to a changing mindset about tanking. (103 words, 2 TPE)
12. After his rookie season, Simo has never played in an international tournament that he did not win a medal in: three golds straight for Team Norden and a silver and a bronze for Team Finland in the IIHF, so unsurprisingly there's only one acceptable outcome from this season's tournament and it's a Finnish gold. Looking at the roster, it's hard to see a weak spot - Shaggy Carpet is maybe the most talented goaltender on the planet, Nash Topalo is still going strong for a season 68 draftee and there's a clutch of hot fresh talent like Simo's old Falcons teammate Teemu Salami coming through the ranks - but you can say much the same about most of the other rosters. It won't be an easy road to the final but it'd be silly to say the Fighting Finns aren't up to the challenge. If he had a goal, for Simo it'd be to find a way to contribute a bit more offensively - he averaged a monster 4:17 on the penalty kill and that has always been his bread and butter, but no matter how good a single dimension is it still makes you a one dimensional player. And if he's going to become a true superstar, Simo needs to find the extra gear. (213 words, 4 TPE)
It is very impressive that the Philadelphia Forge has never missed the playoffs in twenty seasons. While I am unaware to how exactly they have achieved that, I have picked up some general wisdom in the short time I've had across a handful of leagues. I think the best way to achieve long term success, in the SHL and in other leagues, is to draft great users. At the end of the day so much of the league comes down to the community and each team's locker room. You can draft high earners all you want, but if they do not mesh well and get along in a LR - the team will fall apart. On the inverse, a great LR can often help uplift players that aren't quite fully invested in the league yet, pushing them to earn more for their player and team.
8. Written, 50 to 200+ words.
Both teams are respectable juggernauts who both deserve to be here, no question about that. That being said, I think that San Francisco gets the edge here. First, as mentioned, they have the home ice advantage in this finals series, which gives them a huge boost over the Forge, in my opinion. Second, while The Forge have higher scoring headliners, The Pride simply have better depth. It's been a long slog for both teams to reach this point in the season, and having spread their talent around just a bit more gives the Pride an edge that the Forge simply don't have. Finally, the goalie play for San Fran is simply better, and it may come down to that in the end. Justin Time just has that ice running through his veins and I think he'll give San Francisco yet another edge in this finals series.
(146 words, +2 TPE)
7.I think Quebec City has the series. They have players who have consistently stepped up in the playoffs so far, and the league's top points scorer who has not stepped up in the finals, yet, but very likely could in the next few games. Cristoforo Roccamontepiano, who finished the regular season with 118 points, has only scored one point in the finals, with a goal in game two. Their offence is firing on all cylinders with six goals in each of the first two games. Defense has held Colorado to one goal in game one and three goals in game two.
101 words - +2 TPE
12. I don’t know who decided a 34 hour bus trip was the correct way to travel from Thunder Bay to San Francisco, but Tip Toasty jumped on the responsibility of managing the trip by starting with a full inspection of the mechanical health of the bus. The last thing you want to do is get stuck in the cold in rural Montana or Nevada. The team made the trip with a rotating group of three drivers taking 8 hour shifts while the team hung out in the back. There were, of course, food and bathroom stops, but they were plotted out to reduce the travel time as much as possible. The Walleye stopped at several sights on the way, and took several chances to stop and see some natural beauty. They stopped at Yellowstone National Park, a detour that added practically no travel time to the itinerary. Once in San Francisco, the team had more chances to relax and stretch their legs, with trips down Highway 1, curated nightlife opportunities, and some of the best food many of the team has ever had. The team had a chance to catch a basketball game in Oakland between finals games, as well.
200 words - +4 TPE
11-22-2024, 03:51 PM(This post was last modified: 11-22-2024, 04:11 PM by roastpuff. Edited 2 times in total.)
1. CW Trivia 3 TPE
moisture
10. Written, 50 to 200+ words. But I Thought You Were Tanking 4 TPE 203 words
We are finally seeing the results of team draft orders changing and also team mentality changing somewhat since Head Office has started making changes to reduce the impact of tanking on the likelihood of obtaining the first overall draft pick. We are also seeing an uptick in scoring, and therefore a decrease in save percentage, due to some reason or other. Whether it is tactics, players focusing on offense instead of defense, or other factors, the general trend is that scoring is up. Points records are being broken, player point averages are up in general, and game scores are higher than ever. It is probably also the cycle of teams changing as the ones that were tanking for a few seasons before now are on the upswing, and the previously dominant teams are on the downswing cycle. This obviously makes the point distribution change towards the team that were previously tanking but are now trying to instill a winning culture into their locker rooms. Players are probably also tired of losing, and want to win, and the general managers recognize that and are moving to change how they operate to attract free agents, who want to win and score points and not waste their prime years in a team that is losing.
12. Written, 50 to 200+ words. Old Reliable IIHF Analysis 1 TPE 55 words
I am hoping that as Team Sweden's forward corps and goalies are now cresting 1400 TPE that they will be putting up a much stronger result this tournament than the few disappointing quarter final knockouts in the past few seasons. I predict that Team Sweden will get a medal, and possibly contend for the finals.
11-22-2024, 03:52 PM(This post was last modified: 11-22-2024, 03:53 PM by bluesfan55.)
trivia verification word: brough (3 tpe)
Written, 50 to 200+ words each. Short Prompts
2. Gnabe Dabson leads in both goals and points while Tony Soprano is second for both. Is that enough to give offensive advantage to Philadelphia?
Hypothetically, it should be. Tony Soprano has all of the makings of a varsity athlete, and he has been showing it these playoffs. Gnabe Dabson's been the big surprise, considering that he is a stinky poopoo head who eats his own farts, but he has not been doing that in the playoffs and has been a big reason why the Forge find themselves where they are. But you never know, and with the Pride having such a hot goalie in Justin Time right now, it's anybody's guess as to who is going to get the advantage. I think the Forge should have it, but they did just let up double digit goals in a finals game and lost, so I don't know if that's theirs anymore. (126 words, 2 tpe)
3. Cale Salad is currently 6 points ahead of next defencemen in points for these playoffs, if they keep it up could we see defenceman winning Anton Razov?
I think Cale is deserving of the Razov. I said in the prior prompt that Dabson and Soprano had been major reasons why the Forge are in the finals, but Salad is probably THE biggest reason why at this moment in time. Scoring for defensemen has been up in the league as a whole recently, but you usually don't see a defenseman score a lot in the playoffs. Until this year. Salad currently has 23 points, with the next-closest player being Toasty with 15. That's an 8 point lead. He's been simply sensational these playoffs. But if we're being serious here, it has to be Dabson. Dabson has 40 (FORTY!!!) points so far. The next-closest is Soprano with 34, then a bunch of Pride players. Salad has been the best defenseman in these playoffs, but Dabson has been the best player period. Even if the Forge lose the finals, he should win the Razov. (154 words, 3 tpe)
total tpe: 8
ty to @High Stick King @EvilAllBran and @Ragnar for the sigs
11-22-2024, 03:55 PM(This post was last modified: 11-22-2024, 04:00 PM by NUCK. Edited 1 time in total.)
Trivia: Nuck
3. Cale Salad is a true anomaly in this day and age of SHL players. Not only has he made the jump from star forward to star defenseman but he made it with ease and confidence. Cale was a up and coming standout at the forward position when he out of nowhere made the jump to blue liner. I dont think anyone was expecting it and few still cant believe it, me being one of them. But boy has he cemented himself as a stud on the back line. He is showing his offensive pedigree from the back end, leading everyone at all positions in scoring by a whole 6 points. We are currently seeing history being made here with a defensemen leading the pack and possible going to end the playoffs on top of the points scoring leader board. I personally am cheering for him and would love to see the forwards lose to a defender. All to often the defense is left to carry the hard load of work and more often then not they are not dually rewarded for their work and dedication. Having the opportunity to see a hard working defender take the scoring title would be so fitting and deserved.
204 words
11. Being that we are in Hamilton and have to travel all the way to San Francisco by bus, I have arranged for us to stop at every SHL arena along the way and hit each of the arenas with some drunken petty vandalism, Steelhawks style. That means doing silly stuff like writing HAM in the snow with urine and posting it to X.
63 words