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GabeyD · 11-23-2024, 10:37 AM

PBE Affiliate Claim +3 TPE

**No Goal** · 11-23-2024, 10:38 AM

GM off season pass

G2019 · 11-23-2024, 10:42 AM

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.

Codeword: Sconnie

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Muerto · 11-23-2024, 11:25 AM

1. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max

VW = custard

9. Written, 50 to 200+ words.
During their 20 seasons in league Philadelphia has never missed the playoffs. Which is impressive but still there are other teams with longer playoffs streaks, while other teams clean the house others try to stay afloat and do a retool while still staying in playoffs, both with varying successes. Out of last 5 Challenge Cup winners both Los Angeles and San Francisco missed playoffs about 6 seasons before they won their cup while New England has been in playoffs since S67. What in your opinion is best way to achieve success in SHL? Is it better to have high but shorter peak or should teams try to aim staying close to top but likely never reaching it for longer, potentially almost indefinitely? Can they somehow do both?

The simplest answer to all of this is ... it depends. Every GM when they take over is going to have a different set of circumstances in front of them, in terms of roster players and draft capital. Committing to a full rebuild is daunting because you know you are looking at probably over a year of real time before you start seeing results. But the only way to really be able to do this is if you have roster players that can you move for draft picks, and amass a lot of picks in a short stretch of drafts. Even then, you have to hope that they pan out. But if it does all work out, once you have a competitive team, it takes longer to drop off than it does to get there in the first place. Teams that tend to roll out a strong team year after year requires a lot of loyalty from players who believe in the team and the system. At that point you can just keep rotating new players in as old players age out and not see much drop in yearly production. Of course, only 1 team can win it all in the end so you could do everything right and still not win the big championship. I think the important thing is to have a vision and a plan and stick with it while not being so rigid that you can't adapt to changing circumstances!

[243 words = 4 TPE]

10. Written, 50 to 200+ words. But I Thought You Were Tanking
For first time since league changed to 66 game schedule all teams in league finished with more than 30 points and it wasn’t by small margin as Edmonton who finished last ended up with 38 points, which would have been enough to make playoffs ten seasons ago. Do you think it shows change in mentality of teams when it comes to tanking? Maybe they just got lucky? Or are we seeing the impact of the changes to how draft order is determined?

I was a bit surprised at how many wins both Edmonton and Winnipeg were able to get last season, my prediction metrics had them faring quite poorly, but just goes to show you that anyone can be wrong! But other than them, I feel most teams that were really doing badly just a few seasons ago were at the beginning of a rebuild which was starting to pay dividends last season - notably Calgary, Seattle, Montreal, and Chicago. So their improvement was expected. And even teams which were kind of low-key retooling, like Hamilton and Buffalo, still had high enough talented players to keep them competitive. Whether we will ever see a return to the sort of tanking that we saw in the past is debatable but in my opinion unlikely. Frankly there are enough active players around at the moment to ensure decent rosters across the board, so there is no reason to be so bad.

[169 words = 3 TPE]

***Reno*** · 11-23-2024, 11:43 AM

SMJHL HO CW Pass

soulja · 11-23-2024, 12:06 PM

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?

Gnabe Dabson and Tony Soprano are the best duo in the playoffs at the moment. Not only are they the best duo, but they also lead the playoff teams in points. There are no better one-two combination than these two playing on the ice at the same time. Dabson currently has 40 pts and Soprano is cruising with 34. If we compare this to the San Franciso Pride players, their best one-two combination stems from Logan Webb and Dominik Winters who have 33 pts each. As you can see, Philadelphia does have the advantage in terms of points here. But points alone does not make the team. One can score but if they are also letting in a lot of goals, this defeats the whole purpose. As a team, Pride is demolishing the Forge. The players from forge have negative +/-, so the players are playing at a disadvantage for their team. If we compare this to Pridem, majority of their players have a positive +/-, so they are beneficial while playing. I think that although Philadelphia has the better one-two, offensively, San Francisco is still better offensively overall. What is also interesting is that after Dabson and Soprano, the offense falls like a land slide. Their next best point producer is their defender, cale salad at 23 where as Pride has multiple closing 30 pts.

226 words--> 4tpe

6. Which team to miss out from the Finals was best in your opinion? Why them?
From the teams that missed out in the finals, the best team was probably the Calgary Dragons. I mean on paper, they are not very good. Quite abysmal to say the least since they have no depth and their highest tpe leader at the end of regular season was only in the 1500s. However, they were once a truly strong team in the past and probably had the playoff experience to let it all rip in the series. I was truly shocked when they destroyed the Panthers 4-1 in the series. I mean it doesn't even make sense to me as the Panthers were the 2nd best team in the league and were previous winners. Additionally, they even took the current contenders, the San Francisco Pride to a 7 game series. This is truly astonishing as they may have won it all if it wasn't for that game 7 against the Pride. To be honest, I don't know why they are the best but it definitely has something to do with their lines and strategy done by their coach. He must be some sort of genius who can make magic from nothing. Dude is literally the key reason why the Dragons went as far as they did. Or it could even be due to one of their players. His name is "Literally Wizard" so he may have done some magic to curse his opponents. They also have the twins in Solbergs who are like the Sedins from NHL. Something with this team is magic because they are overplaying their stats. If they are performing like this right now, it is only going to become scarier in the future.
278 words-> 4 tpe

Total--> 8 tpe

***luke*** · 11-23-2024, 12:33 PM

CW Pass

***Benpachi*** · 11-23-2024, 12:49 PM

CW GM Pass

***BadWolf*** · 11-23-2024, 01:47 PM

Gm pass

Nictox · 11-23-2024, 01:53 PM

1. CW Trivia
Verification Word: Specters

I do not think one player can change a game for either team. While Dabson and Soprano are both offensive dynamos, they will still need the rest of their team to help out. The playoffs, finals especially, are a time for all players, stars and depth, to step up and be better as a team. I do not think Philadelphia has an offensive advantage due to Dabson and Soprano. I think defense will always be the thing to separate these teams, that and goalies being brick walls. The thing with San Francisco is they have their whole squad putting up points. Their talent is spread out and the scoring is coming from everyone. If San Francisco shuts down that top line, I suspect the Forge will not be able to use their depth to score but San Fran will. That said, I could be completely wrong here and those two could pop off and drag their team into the top spot, either way, we are in for a really good game.
[171, +3]

4.
As I was saying in the other prompt, and all other prompts that involve playoffs, the best team is usually the team that can shut the other teams top talent down. There is no better defensive player on the ice than a stud of a goaltender. Justin Time has been a top goalie for a long time now with the stats to back it up. Combine that with San Francisco’s defense pairings, and you are looking at success. While Philly does have the two top scores in these playoffs, they are going to have a hard time finding the space they need to be successful.
[105, +2]

RIP Dangel #AD26 | RIP TDZ

***artermis*** · 11-23-2024, 02:25 PM

1. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE

angy

9. Written, 200+ words, 4 TPE

Success depends on your definition. Some may take to quantitative measures such as wins and cups. I understand. As a multiple-time general manager, I do agree that being competitive is incredibly important. I define being competitive as being able to win any given game, so at the very least, a .500 record is all I need to be happy. This is exactly why I never prescribed a rebuild for the sake of a rebuild, I would treat each trade as a stand-alone opportunity to increase value, either in the short-term, or the long-term so long as it does not compromise our team's ability to win games now, disproportionally.

All of this to say, that while I have no desire or appreciation for rebuilds, at the same time I must say I don't care about cups. All I need is consistency remaining competitive, as that alone should guarantee an occasional conference final at least. Cup runs may provide some good stories, it is the time spent in-between that keeps us interested; what keeps us here.

I think a good personal example is the fact that I have won 9 cups, both in the J and SHL. Out of all of these, two hold a special place in my mind, maybe 3. What I remember more vividly is the incredibly people I've met throughout my time here, so, when given the choice between trading those users away for one more cup, or keeping those users and finding new ones, I choose the latter every time. A good time sounds like success to me.

12. Written, 50+ words 1 TPE

As always, my only reason for existence is winning IIHF gold.... annnnnd I'm still waiting. Petr has assumed a depth role in Czechia of late, but has surprisingly had the best seasons of his international career, as the entire Czech roster is now over 1000 TPE. Petr's about to eclipse some international milestones as well: 200 games, and 150 points. With Czechia's resurgence, every season now presents the next best opportunity to win gold and boy am I patiently awaiting that.

***Aleris*** · 11-23-2024, 02:51 PM

1. Nerd

ISFL affiliate

10. The anti tanking measures are good. Edmonton not being complete garbage shows that its working. Teams are still gonna try to tank to get 1oa though because really unlike real life, draft classes in the SHL vary wildly by size. It's like if the NHL draft had Conner Bedard every draft but was only 2 rounds (but maybe sometimes 4 rounds). Every draft class is going to have some recreate that is absolutely worth selling literally everything to build a team around. At least the new system makes it much harder for teams to complete sell everything and sign basically a team full of IFAs to shoot straight to the bottom. A competitive league *every* season is better for everyone. Now we just need to deal with a small specific number of teams who tell their recreates to only go back to them and then are never bad.

***Takk806*** · 11-23-2024, 02:54 PM

GM Pass

OVOXO · 11-23-2024, 03:19 PM

SMJHL GM CW Pass

FingolfinandRingil · 11-23-2024, 04:19 PM

1. Bazooka

6. This was a really disappointing run for the Los Angeles Panthers, they finished second just behind the Pride, and many hoped they could get a repeat Challenge Cup. But they fell to the fifth place Calgary Dragons in a mere fives games, with the Panthers taking the first game at home, but falling apart for the rest of the series. Derek Martin led the Panthers with 104 points and 42 goals, ending up fourth overall in both categories. Willow Soberberg-Snooks was nearly a point per game and recorded over 180 blocks in the regular season. Grzegorz Brzeczyszczykiewicz played 55 games in net, not his best year stat wise, but deserving of a better fate then the first round exit they got. I had predicted a repeat of last years final, with the Panthers coming out on top, but that bracket went it the dumpster pretty quick with the Dragons winning and the Barracuda leaving soon after.

12. The IIHF season is beginning soon, with the classic leaders in front: Canada, Sweden and USA. Canada has always been good, simply because of the number of players, and the fact that they're well... Canada. Unfortunately, the rosters aren't out yet, but they will most likely include star defensemen Cale Salad, who has been declining recently, but still has what it takes. Sweden is led by the incredible Tony Soprano, who recently reached 2000 TPE, and placed third in goals and sixth in points during the SHL regular season. Max Carnage will return for the USA, the league leader in points and goals in S78, he fell off the leaderboard this year, but he still has his scoring touch.

3 + 3 + 2 = 8/8

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