In this alternate reality, the Hamilton Steelhawks show up to the playoffs. After being humiliated 4-1 by Buffalo in this reality, in the alternate reality, Hamilton is able to beat Buffalo in 5 games, instead of what happened in this reality. This offensive juggernaut of a team learn how to perform in the playoffs and make it past to the next round. Manhattan still manages to beat Chicago in a close 7 games, but goaltender Peter Larson is getting tired of carrying the team. In the Eastern Conference Finals, Hamilton barely manages to beat Peter Larson and the Rage in a tough, grueling 7 game series where Larson had 3 shutouts in the 3 wins the Rage had and only allowed 1 goal in the game 7, but was not enough to lead Manhattan to victory. With Hamilton thinking they can beat a defensive juggernaut now, they learn they have to play the San Francisco Pride, a team that is built on defence. The West played out exactly the same, but we have the matchup of the 2 best regular season teams facing off in the finals. Offence vs defence, instead of offence vs goaltending like last round. And who wins? Well, defence wins championships. Unlike in this reality where goaltending stole the show, defence steals the show in the alternate reality and the Pride are able to win the Challenge Cup.

Best odds go to the San Francisco Pride. They finished first in the league, had the best goal differential and this team is built from the back out. All their defenders can be top 4, even top 2 defenders on most teams, and yet, 6 of them are on one team. That’s just unfair. Even without offence, good luck scoring more than 1 or 2 goals against this team a game. And once they make the playoffs, they are built for a 7 game series. Frustrating the opposing offence every game. Toronto has to be the team with the worst odds. While they may have made playoffs, they are going through a rebuilding phase and trying to rebuild even more. They’re trying to load up on prospects and be ready to fire out an all star team sometime in the near future. This season was a rare anomaly that they made playoffs, so don’t expect it again.

One attribute that I’m going to be putting a lot of emphasis on will be defensive read. As an aging winger, my offensive skills are slowly deteriorating, and I’m not the offensive juggernaut I once was..if I even was at all. I’ve always been a defensive player, season in and season out, I prided myself in helping the team win with my defence and if I chipped in offensively, even better. With defensive read, I’ll be able to keep myself relevant and take some PK time from the top offensive guys so they’re rested if we ever do have to go on the penalty kill. Defence is my specialty and that is not changing.

Gabriel Wong is looking forward to spending more time with the team this offseason. With the influx of younger players on the team and how the Platoon are going through a rebuild/retool, Wong is looking forward to mentoring all of the younger players on the team. Gabriel may not be the hall of fame player that the Wong family line is used to, but he still brings a lot of valuable assets to the team. Ben Wong was a pure goal scorer but was never able to win the cup, and Hunter won the cup but was a goaltender. Gabriel is the only Wong to have won a cup as a skater. He has the knowledge to know what it takes to win and what it takes to get to a level that is good enough to even compete for the cup. Gabriel has cancelled his usual trip to Asia with the other Wong’s this offseason and has decided to stay in North America to be around his teammates more.

Peter Larson is going to be a perennial John McBride winner for best goaltender for seasons to come. Having what I’d say is a breakout season, Peter Larson finished the season first in save percentage and 3rd in goals against average. He is a large reason why the Rage are even in the Challenge Cup right now in the first place. This guy knows how to keep his team in games night in and night out. The Rage will always have a chance to win not only the game, but a cup every season if this guy can be on his game every night. He faced significantly more shots this season than first and second in goals against average, which only makes his case stronger that he will be a dominant goaltender for a long time and a perennial McBride nominee.

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