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MN_Moosey · 11-06-2020, 10:31 PM

Code:
1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

Reflection on your season - how did your player fare on the ice this season? Did you meet or surpass your individual player goals or did you come up short? Whether you excelled or disappointed - what can you attribute that to? What will you try to do better next season?

This was my final season in the SMJHL. After breaking out last season, I made some small improvements on the counting stats. More points and a major plus minus change was the biggest improvement from the previous season. All of this had to do with team success. The team was stacked up to a major contender this year and it was my second season on the first line. We did not have a solid line at first with the departure of William Hartmann to the majors but soon the team would fill those holes and I definately benefited from them. Adding Rotticus Scott, who has a pretty natural scoring touch, only made me better. Nikoforov was already a great partner for me but adding that second just boosted everything. Being up near the top of the leaderboards in plus minus with a +30 and points with 33, this was a stellar final season. I couldn't as for a better send off from the juniors.
(164 words)

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5. Written, 2 TPE

Write an SHL themed Haiku Sonnet (see link below) which I just learned is a real thing. The format is: Haiku Haiku Haiku Haiku Couplet

A game about ice
and a wood enclosed surface
they strap on their skates

But here on this site
we write many words each week
to improve ourselves

A different view
From behind a computer
We cheer at the screen

For this is a sim
that we get really into
Boy do we love it

The love of the game unites us
And winning is always a plus

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6. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)

Which SHL or SMJHL team was the best team to not make the finals this season and why?

The Calgary Dragons were the top team in the west going 38-8-4 and were the number 2 seed overall going into the playoffs, only behind Hamilton. The Dragons were all set up to succeed this season and were dominant in their division with a 12 point lead over second place Texas. They have solid players like Batsbak, Parmborg, and Bouchard who all amassed over 60 points. Kata Vilde was a monster in net as well posting a 1.65 GAA and a .936 SV%. They were a strong team yet they fell in the quarterfinals to Edmonton in seven games. The scoring just dried up when they needed it most and they failed to advance in the postseason.
(117 words)

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11. Graphic, 3 TPE

Design a Challenge Cup/Four Star Cup Championship banner for one of the teams in the finals, like those which appear on the side of the site.

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16. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is now 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.

bongo

***golden_apricot*** · 11-06-2020, 10:32 PM

pt pass

*AgentSmith630* · 11-06-2020, 10:37 PM

PT Pass

Tylar · 11-06-2020, 10:44 PM

ISFL Affiliate - 3 TPE
ISFL Affiliate - 3 TPE

1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

This season for Liam Slate was a bit up and down. My goal was to hit a point per game pace as I was in my first season as a 425 and one of the best players on the team. Unfortunately, Liam Slate fell short of that with 41 points, but he was tied for first on the team. Liam Slate bounced around from first and second line, but at the end of the day the team did well. One place where Liam Slate unexpectedly improved was in his own end. He put up way better defensive numbers this season and showed he is capable of playing a two-way game. He tripled his shots blocked and takeaways. Next season Liam Slate will be counted upon to be one of the best if not the best offensive player on the Newfoundland Berserkers so I would hope to improve offensively next season. Liam Slate’s goal is to be a point per game player next season.

Code:
163 Words

4. Written/Graphic, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

I am going to split this into two for East and West. For the East I think Buffalo provides the best city for a hub due to the distance to most of the teams in the east. For one, no one wants to be there so it should be easy to book accommodations of SHL’s size and its distance to the border. Although if we are being realistic the border would be closed, if that is the case then I would pick Winnipeg as a Canadian Hub city if the SHL had to split it for similar reasons to Buffalo. For the West I am picking a different city in Salt Lake City, Utah. Salt Lake provides a relatively central location for the West although the Canadians teams get the shaft a bit. I am thinking in similar to Buffalo, that no one would want to be there right? In the bubble I would think SHL players would be gaming. Many play video games on consoles or pc’s. I would bet there would be lobbies of among us, LOL, and many others in the hotel.

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185 words

7. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

What's your prediction for this season's IIHF tournament? Which teams do you expect to do well (or not well)? Which players?
I am biased, but I think Great Britain is going to take the gold because they have excellent management and a group of great players. I think their management group has some of the best strategic people in the game which includes Atlanta Co-General Manager who turned an expansion team into a playoff team. I believe Japan is another who is going to do extremely well which was shown last season, but I believe they pop off even more this season. They have a group of veteran players which are now supplemented by younger players. I would expect Latvia not to do well again and I have a feeling Finland is going to be bad again just because they blew up last season. I am not convinced they are capable of fighting with the top teams at the moment. In terms of players, I feel like this is a cop-out answer but Monkey D. Luffy Is one of the best players in the SHL world and plays for one of the best nations in Japan. If I have to pick someone else, I think I will go with Slothface of Great Britain as he showed last season he was great.

Code:
200 Words

13. Written, up to 4 TPE - Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.

a. Both of these teams have an impressive set of skaters - without factoring in any coaching or tactical strategies, which team do you think has the better roster of skaters on paper?
I think Hamilton honestly. I think their depth is better overall although Buffalo has the better goalie likely. Hamilton’s team is kind of insane honestly, like Clapper, Wilson, Morgan and Scarn at forward alone is insane. Although, Buffalo has Luffy who is probably the best player overall arguably. I think Buffalo’s defense might have a slight advantage, but I pick Hamilton based on what I said before. (67 Words)

b. Do you foresee the teams making any strategic adjustments during the course of the series? Should the teams be quick to switch tactics or stick with what they've been using?
I believe these two teams will be in a chess match. Strategies will be tweaked after each game and I expect the games to be close whether they’re high scoring games or low scoring tense games. I think tweaking strategies is important if you lose, but if you win why change anything. I expect this series to go back and forth and be fun to watch with all the talent in the Champion Cup Finals. (75 words)

c. These two teams hail from the Great Lakes Division. Which of the Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior) do you think is the Greatest and why?
I would say Lake Ontario because it is Canadian. Canada is better than the United States of America so that is enough. Also its coastline is along New York which is one of the best states in my professional opinion. Honestly, I haven’t even seen the great lakes in person nor could name them if someone asked me. (58 words)

d. If, once it is safe to do so, you had to go hang out in person with one of the users on Buffalo/Hamilton, who would you hang out with and what would you do? (if you pick gabe you get -1 tpe)
I would hang out with Bird because he is very sweet and he has bought me gifts before because he is my sugar daddy. We would go out and have noodles at a local joint in Newfoundland and talk about when my next batch of gifts is coming. Bird has been a good friend for many years and is a lovely human. (62 Words)

MCP_ · 11-06-2020, 10:50 PM

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2. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

Of the 10 most recent finals series, which do you think is the most memorable and why? Which will be remembered in history as the best/most important/most memorable series or victory? S46: BUF over NOLA, S47: WKP over CGY, S48: BUF over WPG, S49: EDM over NEW, S50: CGY over TBB, S51: HAM over EDM, S52: MAN over SFP, S53: HAM over EDM, S54: NOLA over HAM, S55: BUF over NOLA.

For me, there are two series that come to mind: S50, and S54. S50 will always be the most memorable to me, but in a disappointing way, unfortunately. For the uninitiated: Tampa Bay got reversed swept by Calgary in the cup finals, which to this day haunts me. To this day, I will never forgive the Simon T Hockey Simulator for how it played with our emotions, going from "WE GOT THIS!" to "WHY ARE WE NOT DOING ANYTHING!?!?".

As for the most important... that's really tough. S46 established Buffalo as a league powerhouse, not to mention the expansion New Orleans Specters had done well up to that point; S51 was important because of the circumstances surrounding it and the lead up to the change to FHM, and S54 established that HAM was indeed mortal (and also maybe for the fact I won a cup that season but who's asking eh?). For the sake of the PT, I'll go with the one that was both memorable and historic and say S54. The fact that Hamilton got swept in a series shocked a lot of people, and it was quite the feeling to be part of that team that did so. Of course, that was all after some stuff happened behind the scenes with me that are well documented. To say it was bittersweet would be a complete understatement.

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3. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)

FHM's 12-team playoff bracket setup has received a fair bit of scrutiny. It re-seeds after the play-in round and for some reason puts the #1 seed and #2 seed on the same side of the bracket. I challenge you to come up with a different playoff format - can you come up with a format that's dumber/worse than this? be creative! Come up with the worst possible format for a 12-team playoff.

This will be fun. SO: For a 12 team playoffs, it would be dumb as hell to what I will call: THE GAUNTLET.

In THE GAUNTLET, the stage is once again separated by conferences. The two lowest seeds of the conference then play a 7 game series against each other. The winner of that series then plays the next highest seed for another 7 game series. This continues even until the highest seed. The winner of that gauntlet then plays in the Challenge Cup Final against the winner of the other conference gauntlet. For some added bullshittery in the finals, a team that loses a game can call a team that they eliminated in the gauntlet to play for them. Meaning, if the team only eliminated, say, 2 teams, they can only call on those two teams.

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5. Written, 2 TPE

Write an SHL themed Haiku Sonnet (see link below) which I just learned is a real thing. The format is: Haiku Haiku Haiku Haiku Couplet

At the top of the league
Hamilton and Buffalo
kick all the team's shins

Half the league's tanking
They're all copying Tampa
Chomp Chomp Water Dog

Tampa Bay will rise
above the water and eat
the competition

LA and Texas
Baltimore and New England
will be okay too

As the current champs cheer now
The dwellers plan their future

Code:
13. Written, up to 4 TPE - Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.

a. Both of these teams have an impressive set of skaters - without factoring in any coaching or tactical strategies, which team do you think has the better roster of skaters on paper?

b. Do you foresee the teams making any strategic adjustments during the course of the series? Should the teams be quick to switch tactics or stick with what they've been using?

c. These two teams hail from the Great Lakes Division. Which of the Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior) do you think is the Greatest and why?

d. If, once it is safe to do so, you had to go hang out in person with one of the users on Buffalo/Hamilton, who would you hang out with and what would you do? (if you pick gabe you get -1 tpe)

a) It's a tough call considering the gobs of talent both teams have, but at the end of the day, Hamilton edges out Buffalo by just having Theo Morgan. He's an absolute beast on the ice, and it's gonna be tough for any team to contain him, regardless of how good they are.

b) For Hamilton, I think they'll just let players like Theo Morgan do their thing while having A. Jobin keep the net safe all the while, while I could see Buffalo trying to stiffle Hamilton's offense, which is one of the best in the league. Considering their defense got gutted a bit last offseason, they need anything they can get.

c) This is quite the tough question, given I live nowhere near the great lakes and the only lake I live near is a man-made one, I would have to go with Lake Erie. I don't know why, but Erie is a pretty neat name all things considered. So yes: Lake Erie would be the greatest by virtue of "I like the name."

d) Probably Monkey D. Luffy AKA Astatine. We both go way back when we were both drafted in S46 by the Lethbridge Lions. We were basically the undisputed superstars of the franchise, with him being the captain and me being alternate captain. It's been a while since we've both talked for a long time, and I would like to do that again sometime.

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14. Written, 2 TPE - The Procrastinator Special! (100 words min)

Welp, you waited until the last day to grind out your CW and the CC finals are longggggggg over by now. congrats to [TEAM], woo! Reflecting back on the series, who gets your vote for series MVP? Make the case why this player deserves it over any other.

For series MVP, it's hard to argue for anyone but Theo Morgan. Theo Morgan has been quite the story this season, scoring 80+ points in 50 games in the regular season, cementing himself as league MVP. This excellence was exemplified by his playoff performance. Everything he did throughout the playoffs, and especially the finals, made all the difference. Even when playing a formidable foe in Buffalo, he always showed brilliance on the ice, namely on the scoresheet. Some people might argue for A. Jobin for being lights out, but for his pure offensive brilliance not only in this series but the rest of the season, Theo Morgan gets my vote.

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16. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is now 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.

Rem

**.bojo** · 11-06-2020, 11:00 PM

Quote:4. (3pts) If the SHL needed to set up a playoff bubble (like the NHL did in Edmonton/Toronto or the NBA in Orlando), which city would be the best candidate to host as the hub city? What would the players do during their time in a playoff bubble? (For graphic option, make an advertisement [like a pamphlet/brochure] in support of a specific city as the hub city and highlighting the reasons why.)

Quote:8. (3pts) The arenas in Buffalo and Hamilton want to make sure they're pulling out all the stops on the big stage. Help the concessions department of one of these two teams develop a new product, with marketing specifically pertaining to this finals series, to be sold at the arena during the finals. Describe the product and the marketing in 150 words or create a promotional poster showing the product, its name, the price, etc.

Quote:9. (3pts) Design a Challenge Cup championship hat for one of the teams in the finals. (A four-star cup championship hat for the SMJHL is ok as well.)

Quote:10. (3pts) Create a magazine cover that highlights either a player in the finals or a standout player from the regular season.

Quote:5. Write an SHL themed Haiku Sonnet (see link below) which I just learned is a real thing. The format is: Haiku Haiku Haiku Haiku Couplet

Great Lakes Division
Why must you be so damn good
Two teams in finals?

FHM bracket
means nobody else can win
Just HAM, BUF, or CHI

So in offseason
All the pending UFAs
Will go and sign there

"I want to win now"
Well no fucking shit yo
How can we contend?

When players just leave their teams
The second they get any good

*snaps fingers*

Quote:16: TRIVIA

word: poopoopeepee420

awils13 · 11-06-2020, 11:04 PM

Code:
1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

Reflection on your season - how did your player fare on the ice this season? Did you meet or surpass your individual player goals or did you come up short? Whether you excelled or disappointed - what can you attribute that to? What will you try to do better next season?

Going into this season I knew that I'd be 4th or even 5th option offensively due to the offseason additions of Michael Scarn and Theo Morgan so I expected my stats to regress compared to last season when I led the league in points somehow. I'm still very happy with my individual performance, I was 1 point short of 60 points but I did score 20 goals for the 7th straight season, with 2 of those goals coming in the last game of the regular season. Obviously I'm also quite happy with our team performance as we won 40 games and captured the presidents trophy for the first time in my career. I would say we overperformed slightly, I mean, you don't score almost 230 goals without a certain amount of luck, so I can't really complain. I'm not exactly sure what to expect from the next season as we move to the 66 game era, I guess 25 goals and 80 points would be nice.

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2. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

Of the 10 most recent finals series, which do you think is the most memorable and why? Which will be remembered in history as the best/most important/most memorable series or victory? S46: BUF over NOLA, S47: WKP over CGY, S48: BUF over WPG, S49: EDM over NEW, S50: CGY over TBB, S51: HAM over EDM, S52: MAN over SFP, S53: HAM over EDM, S54: NOLA over HAM, S55: BUF over NOLA.

I was in 3 of these and of course, the 2 that we won are special to me but I'd like to choose a series that didn't involve my team and the one that really stands out to me is the S50 series between CGY and TBB. Well, first of all, a reverse sweep in the finals is insane, it doesn't get better/worse/more entertaining than that, depending which side you're on, so I feel like that alone makes it one of the best finals in recent history. It happened during our short-lived rivalry with Tampa so I was rooting hard for Calgary, I knew the sim results before the PBP happened since I had access to them but I decided to avoid spoilers for games 6 and 7 and just followed the PBPs along with everyone, that was pretty fun. Looking back, it's a shame that Tampa decided to go in another direction and started a rebuild because I feel like our rivalry had the potential to be very entertaining for many seasons.

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6. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)

Which SHL or SMJHL team was the best team to not make the finals this season and why?

On paper, Chicago is probably the best team not to make it and they were just 1 win away from making it, but I mean, Chicago has such a long history of playoff disappointments, so was anyone really surprised? I don't think so. I was surprised, however, to see Calgary get eliminated in the first round in just 5 games by Edmonton. Edmonton is a good team with experienced GMs, no doubt about that, but still, Calgary was neck and neck with Hamilton for most of the regular season and they had the best defense this season with just 85 goals allowed, normally having a good defensive team bodes well for you in the playoffs, so I definitely didn't expect that outcome.

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7. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

What's your prediction for this season's IIHF tournament? Which teams do you expect to do well (or not well)? Which players?

Well, this is probably going to be the best Canada team that we've had in a while, tpe-wise at least, so I'm pretty optimistic about our chances. Our projected roster has 3 people over 2k tpe and 6 more people over 1800 tpe, and our lowest tpe skater is like 1400 tpe. Our goalie, Frans Eller, has added one more season of training and he is now over 1k tpe as well. Not to mention that Gabe is not our fed head anymore, so really, on paper this seems like a roster without many weaknesses, if any. Of course, it's hard to predict what will happen in a sudden death playoffs and some other teams like USA or GB are stacked as well, so it's not going to be easy but I think we should medal, at the very least. I also expect Theo Morgan to continue his incredible season and be one of the best offensive players in this tournament. If I had to guess, I'd say Canada beats GB in the gold medal game with USA winning bronze.

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13. Written, up to 4 TPE - Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.

b. Do you foresee the teams making any strategic adjustments during the course of the series? Should the teams be quick to switch tactics or stick with what they've been using?

I think it's a combination of both. You need to be careful not to change too many things because whatever you've been doing has gotten you this far, but on the other hand, sometimes some adjustments are necessary. I think both teams will try to tweak some things like line matching but overall will stick to what they've been using.

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14. Written, 2 TPE - The Procrastinator Special! (100 words min)

Welp, you waited until the last day to grind out your CW and the CC finals are longggggggg over by now. congrats to [TEAM], woo! Reflecting back on the series, who gets your vote for series MVP? Make the case why this player deserves it over any other.

As always, it's very difficult to pick the finals MVP because so many people deserve it, this was truly a team effort. You could go with Jax Duggan who played solid defense all series and scored the cup-winning goal, or Theo Morgan who was a beast offensively as always. Dick Clapper, Michael Scarn, all played extremely well. But if I had to vote someone for finals MVP, I would have to go with Jobin. Jobin had a couple of bad games to start the playoffs but he got better with each game and stood on his head in the finals. He posted .933, .966, .936, .966 sv% in 4 games that Hamilton won, this really wouldn't have happened without him.

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16. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is now 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.

Gabe sucks

*leviadan* · 11-06-2020, 11:05 PM

Quote:1. Expectations - 3 TPE

This season was practically a breakout year for Burlok. Despite being his rookie season in the big leagues, he surpassed his point total in all but one of his prior junior seasons! With 25 points in 50 games, he scored the most goals he's ever scored, and saw his shot totals increase significantly. This is only six shy of his 31 point career high in S53, the year where it seemed like every single Detroit Falcon could do no wrong.

I think this is largely attributed to increased ice time, a refocusing of his game, and time with a hall of fame caliber SHL center. Much of the year Burlok was given the opportunity to wing Andreas Kvalheim, one of the leagues greatest. This definitely put him in a position to succeed, as he could just stand in front of Kvalheim shots and have the puck bounce off of him into the net. This is a great way to pad out your point totals. Hopefully he has the same opportunity next season!

Quote:3. Playoff Organization - 2 TPE

My idea for a playoffs bracket begins on day one of the regular season. The leagues previous champion begins the season with a crown, and when they lose the crown gets passed to the winner. Every time the team that currently holds the crown loses, it passes to the winning team. At the end of the season, whichever team holds the crown gets a bye to the second round.

The remaining 17 teams enter into a contest based on points earned divided by four. Your points earned divided by four is equal to the amount of guesses you get as a team to predict the seven day rolling average of the Bitcoin price. The eight teams that come closest advance to the playoffs. They all play the first round and winners move on. You might have noticed that there are now 5 teams in the second round. At this point the team with the crown gets to choose a team to eliminate, and plays in their series instead. This is the bonus of getting the crown.

From there you move to round three and crown a new champion. Easy.

Quote:5. Haiku Sonnet - 2 TPE

The change from Falcon
to Renegade rends my soul.
My bones crack and break,

my wings crunch and snap,
a dusty hat bursts forth from
my pained, fragile skull.

Please. End it all now.
Marrow morphs to gun metal,
talons turn to spurs.

Alas, I'm grounded.
My birth nest a memory,
Texas underfoot.

My soul reeks of smoke and sand,
I still remember the sky.

Quote:8. Finals Marketing Stunt - 3 TPE

Quote:13. Quick Topics - 3 TPE

b) With Hamilton clearly being the team to beat in this series, I expect that Buffalo will have to make a lot of big adjustments throughout the series. They're going to need to try and keep Hamilton guessing on their game plan to have a chance in this series. If we're just talking team against team in a standard game of hockey, I think Hamilton takes it. But with trick plays? Five forwards on the ice? A pulled goalie in the first period? Buffalo can cause enough havoc to take games off of Hamilton.

c) Look, I grew up on Lake Huron. It's a great lake-- it's a Great Lake even! I live on Lake Ontario now, and it's fantastic. They took some of the sewage out, so now and you can even swim in places! I love it! But when we're talking about this big beautiful bodies of water, I have to say that the champion is right there in the name. Lake Superior is... clearly superior. Just look at that huge bastard! It even has a national park floating in it. Amazing. I will not be hearing any counter arguments at this time. Thank you.

d) If I HAD to hang out with someone on one of these teams, I guess it would have to be A Jobin. I'd like to go on a hike with him-- but I'm worried he'll be too used to getting carried and might expect the same from me. So instead we'll just hang out in a McDonald's play place and I'll try to figure out the secret of his first name. I also really miss ball pits.

Quote:16) Trivia - 3 TPE

Verification: barn.
____________________
TPE Earned: 16/16

[Image: pin1_1.gif?ex=661a1734&is=6607a234&hm=b8...1bf5caed8&]

**JamesT** · 11-06-2020, 11:28 PM

Code:
1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

Reflection on your season - how did your player fare on the ice this season? Did you meet or surpass your individual player goals or did you come up short? Whether you excelled or disappointed - what can you attribute that to? What will you try to do better next season?

This past season my player for the Edmonton Blizzard

had a decent regular season producing 15 goals and 29 assists with a total of 43 points in 50 games played. This was a drop off from S55 where I produced 18 goals and 28 for 46 points but that is just a complaint. I would like to one day break 50 points but I have started to hit regression so I should be satisfied by producing 40+ points from here on out.

For the team we defeated the Calgary Dragons

and came back from 3-0 to force a game 7 against the Hamilton Steelhawks

but ultimately came up short. However, our team showed up tremendous poise and resilience and I could not have been more proud of our squad this season.

For next season, I think I should transition into a 200 ft player and excel in both ends of the zone. I want to mirror myself with such players as Patrice Bergeron and Jonathan Toews as some of the best two-way players in the world.

(176 words)

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2. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

Of the 10 most recent finals series, which do you think is the most memorable and why? Which will be remembered in history as the best/most important/most memorable series or victory? S46: BUF over NOLA, S47: WKP over CGY, S48: BUF over WPG, S49: EDM over NEW, S50: CGY over TBB, S51: HAM over EDM, S52: MAN over SFP, S53: HAM over EDM, S54: NOLA over HAM, S55: BUF over NOLA.

A bias answer coming up here but the most memorable finals would be in S49 when the Edmonton Blizzard

took down the New England Wolfpack

in the CC finals. That season we were having tremendous success with our future hall of fame goaltender in Tommy Tuck and defencemen Tor Tuck providing excellent leadership and consistency throughout the season. I was only in my third year in the SHL and was still trying to figure things out in the league.

I remember that the Wolfpack

were the heavily favoured team against us because they finished 1st in the East while we finished 4th in the West. We had tough series against the LA Panthers

and went to game 7 against our cross town rivals the Calgary Dragons

While New England defeated Tampa in five games the Manhattan Rage

in 6 games.

The finals was something nobody could have expected as we managed to sweep the series capture the Challenge Cup. This was my first time capturing a championship in my hockey career and has made me realize how difficult of a journey it is to reach the mountain top. I just hope that I can get there again someday.

(198 words)

Code:
4. Written/Graphic, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

If the SHL needed to set up a playoff bubble (like the NHL did in Edmonton/Toronto or the NBA in Orlando), which city would be the best candidate to host as the hub city? What would the players do during their time in a playoff bubble? (For graphic option, make an advertisement [like a pamphlet/brochure] in support of a specific city as the hub city and highlighting the reasons why.)

In the NHL they hosted in the cities of Edmonton and Toronto and had the finals in Edmonton. With this in mind, the city of Edmonton has proven to be suitable destination to have a playoff bubble setup. This would be my pitch to have the SHL playoff bubble be in the city of Edmonton (for Western teams) and the city of Toronto could host the Eastern teams. The finals would be in Edmonton just like the NHL. The SHL could follow this format by the NHL and it was proven to be successful for two months.

For activities that players could partake in while in the bubble would be playing table tennis, soccer, basketball, playing video games and lots of facetiming with loved ones who cannot be in the bubble. The environment would be different because you would see fellow teams all in the same building while eating and unwinding after games or getting in some workouts.

(158 words)

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6. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)

Which SHL or SMJHL team was the best team to not make the finals this season and why?

The best SHL team to not make the finals would be the Edmonton Blizzard

because we almost completed the miraculous comeback against the Hamilton Steelhawks

who many thought would be the CC champions before the season began. We were down 3-0 but managed to force a game 7 and almost made the comeback. We would have faced Buffalo in the finals who also made the 3-0 comeback to defeat Chicago in game 7. While we may not have the highest TPE earners on our roster, each of our lines have a balance of grit, speed and scoring ability making each line a threat whenever we are on the ice.

(109 words)

Code:
13. Written, up to 4 TPE - Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.

a. Both of these teams have an impressive set of skaters - without factoring in any coaching or tactical strategies, which team do you think has the better roster of skaters on paper?

b. Do you foresee the teams making any strategic adjustments during the course of the series? Should the teams be quick to switch tactics or stick with what they've been using?

c. These two teams hail from the Great Lakes Division. Which of the Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior) do you think is the Greatest and why?

d. If, once it is safe to do so, you had to go hang out in person with one of the users on Buffalo/Hamilton, who would you hang out with and what would you do? (if you pick gabe you get -1 tpe)

a. On paper I believe that the Hamilton roster has a better set of skaters, their roster has a plethra of high earners on their team and the team has plenty of fantastic skaters such as Aaron Wilson who has a balance of 20 and acceleration of 17, Dick Clapper and Michael Scarn has impressive balance with 18 as well. These impressive skaters makes me believe that Hamilton has the better skaters in the finals.

(74 words)

b. I do not foresee any strategic adjustments over the course of the series. Hamilton is the heavy favourite to win the finals and it is up to Buffalo to adjust their playstyle to matchup against the talented roster of Hamilton's that they have to overcome if they wish to capture the Challenge Cup. Buffalo could try to up their physical play in the series but they need to be careful in avoiding penalties to give Hamilton a potential powerplay. So Hamilton does not need to change anything and Buffalo should look to be more physical in the series.

(98 words)

c. From all the great lakes, the one that is the greatest would have to be Lake Superior. The answer is in the name of the lake itself thus making it the greatest of all great lakes. Compared to the other lakes of Huron, Ontario, Michigan and Erie having a lake named "Superior" is an alpha move so that is why I believe that Lake Superior is the best lake of all great lakes in the world.

(76 words)

d. If I could hang out with any player between the teams of Buffalo and Hamilton would have to be Hamilton's Theo Morgan. I had the pleasure of getting to play with him last season when he signed a one year contract to play with us and he produced monstrous numbers. I also have gotten the chance to play with him on Team Canada

and he seems like a swell dude. My only regret is that he did not re-sign with us in Edmonton and to see him tear up the league in Hamilton hurts a bit inside. We would get some dinner at a ramen place and catch up on what's been going on off with our lives outside of hockey.

(121 words)

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16. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is now 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.

Thanos

Mooney · 11-06-2020, 11:33 PM

3 TPE: ISFL Affiliate Username: PMoney

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1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

Reflection on your season - how did your player fare on the ice this season? Did you meet or surpass your individual player goals or did you come up short? Whether you excelled or disappointed - what can you attribute that to? What will you try to do better next season?

Patrik Money went into his second season in Kelowna with renewed purpose and a new position, Centre. While he still played on the wing at times, callups to Kelowna meant he was also facing off in the middle of the ice. This seemed a welcome change for him as he massively improved his contribution to the team. 12 goals and 13 assists was a massive increase from his 5 goals and 8 assists of the season before. Increases were across the board with a better all around game and a game rating of 62 to show for it. After a mediocre rookie season, this was a massive relief and exceeded the goals he had set himself. The disappointing thing was that he could not help his team turn more games into victories. Some of these increased stats came from more ice time due to callups and sadly Kelowna did not have its best regular season, but did manage to win a playoff series. Next season he is already capped and ready to push the Knights back to the top

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3. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)

FHM's 12-team playoff bracket setup has received a fair bit of scrutiny. It re-seeds after the play-in round and for some reason puts the #1 seed and #2 seed on the same side of the bracket. I challenge you to come up with a different playoff format - can you come up with a format that's dumber/worse than this? be creative! Come up with the worst possible format for a 12-team playoff.

The Playoffs should reward teams for regular season performance. #1 and #2 on the same side of the bracket both hurts these teams for their performances and makes for a potentially less interesting final. My format for the playoffs has no such issue as I suggest we run an entirely gauntlet based system. The team with the worst record in the playoffs plays the team with the second worst. The winner of this will then play the team with the 3rd worst and so on. The losers of each game would then drop down into a losers bracket where the winner of the losers bracket will play the winner of the winners bracket. The Pros of this are a true underdog story, a team coming from nothing to win 11 consecutive series to make the finals. The cons of this are numerous including length of playoffs and the #1 seed only requiring 2 series to win the trophy but that’s not part of the storyline.

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5. Written, 2 TPE

Write an SHL themed Haiku Sonnet (see link below) which I just learned is a real thing. The format is: Haiku Haiku Haiku Haiku Couplet

Season Fifty Six
now Hamilton reign supreme
The Challenge Cup champs

While In the juniors
Vancouver take Four-Star crown
Whalers gonna whale

Expansion teams rise
Atlanta make playoffs success
Seattle come close

San Francisco last
re-build continues for pride
4 wins not a lot

What will happen next? Only time will tell
Find out soon in the SHL

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8. Written/Graphic, 3 TPE (150 words min. if written)

The arenas in Buffalo and Hamilton want to make sure they're pulling out all the stops on the big stage. Help the concessions department of one of these two teams develop a new product, with marketing specifically pertaining to this finals series, to be sold at the arena during the finals. Describe the product and the marketing in 150 words or create a promotional poster showing the product, its name, the price, etc.

The teams in the finals will always use this opportunity to make some extra money on the merch side of the sport. With the Stampeded and the Steelhawks being in the final, many people have asked who would win in a fight between a real pack of stampeding buffalo and a hawk made from steel?

That’s why the concessions departments joined together to make fighting robots that battle out in an arena. While this is not a purchase for everyone with a high price tag of $1,000 and requiring a boxing ring sized area of room to set them up, they will be a high profile story and something for the rich and famous. They have been designed to be on equal footing with a good chance of either winning and while they can be automated to battle on their own, they can also be controlled almost like a set of RC cars for the Buffalo and a drone for the hawk. There are weak areas on each of the buffalo and the hawk and the aim of the fight is to hit the weak area which disables the robot. The robots will be shown off by having a fight at half time in the first game of the series.

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16. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is now 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.

Moonshine

Fantobens · 11-07-2020, 12:42 AM

16. Booo

**Lime** · 11-07-2020, 12:55 AM

Code:
1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

Reflection on your season - how did your player fare on the ice this season? Did you meet or surpass your individual player goals or did you come up short? Whether you excelled or disappointed - what can you attribute that to? What will you try to do better next season?

I had very high expectations going into this season. I had been mediocre for the first few seasons of the SMJHL, but in the last season I stepped up and earned a playoff MVP nom in our Cup winning season. I was looking to carry over that momentum to the SHL, and press for a Jesster win. I ended up tied with Edward "Yeehaw" Williams for most points from a rookie this season, which should be enough to make anyone happy. I probably secured a Jesster nom too. But I don't think I would be truly happy without the win. I've said from the very start that I wanted to be the best. I think my possession stats and passing skills were very good this season. Perhaps I focus on my shooting percentage to become a more well rounded player next season. There is plenty of time to work on a future Karpotsov.

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2. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

Of the 10 most recent finals series, which do you think is the most memorable and why? Which will be remembered in history as the best/most important/most memorable series or victory? S46: BUF over NOLA, S47: WKP over CGY, S48: BUF over WPG, S49: EDM over NEW, S50: CGY over TBB, S51: HAM over EDM, S52: MAN over SFP, S53: HAM over EDM, S54: NOLA over HAM, S55: BUF over NOLA.

There are a few historic finals in his list. First Cups for Buffalo in S46, NOLA in S54. Classic storylines like the Hamilton and Buffalo dynasties. Heartbreak in Tampa and San Fransisco. But the most infamous will always be the S51 finals between Hamilton and Edmonton. The controversy surrounding their win made Hamilton turn heel (at least I think this was the start). They would go on to win another finals, and appear in two more (at the time of writing) over the next 5 seasons, cementing them as the boogeyman of the SHL. Although the outcome hasn't been decided yet, I think the S56 Challenge Cup will be remembered for a long time. As far as I know it is the first time two division rivals have met in the finals for one. Secondly, it will define the dynasties of Buffalo and Hamilton. It will be very interesting to see what happens, and even if I remove myself from my personal interests I can tell this will be a big piece of SHL history.

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3. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)

FHM's 12-team playoff bracket setup has received a fair bit of scrutiny. It re-seeds after the play-in round and for some reason puts the #1 seed and #2 seed on the same side of the bracket. I challenge you to come up with a different playoff format - can you come up with a format that's dumber/worse than this? be creative! Come up with the worst possible format for a 12-team playoff.

That is nowhere near the worst possibly playoff format. Let me teach you. The first round holds all of the matching seeds facing off against each other. 1 seed in the west vs 1 seed in the east and so on. This encourages teams to try to be bad enough not to have to face the best team but good enough to still make the playoffs, which will make for some funny coaching decisions at the end of the season. Now of these matchups, the team to score the most goals gets a bye to the finals. This encourages teams to run up the score and dab on bad teams. Notice I said the team that scores the most goals, not necessarily the winning team. This encourages teams to play all forwards and destroy the integrity of the game. Now the team that scores the least amount of goals has to play the rest of the winners in sequence, from least to most goals scored. If they lose, that team then takes their place and plays all of the other teams.

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6. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)

Which SHL or SMJHL team was the best team to not make the finals this season and why?

I think we all know the best team to not make the SHL finals was Chicago. As ecstatic as I am to make it past them and into the finals, there are a lot of good players on that team that have worked their asses off to make it as well. They were one of two teams, the other being Calgary, that I thought had a chance against Hamilton this postseason. They were second in goals for, and third in goals against during the regular season. Even given that, they seemed to underperform. I figured they would finally pull it together and be a force to be reckoned with in the playoffs. Unfortunately, Buffalo is just too solid of an organization to be rocked.

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13. Written, up to 4 TPE - Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.

a. Both of these teams have an impressive set of skaters - without factoring in any coaching or tactical strategies, which team do you think has the better roster of skaters on paper?
I think Hamilton is the better team on paper. They have Theo Morgan, Aaron Wilson, and a host of other offensive powerhouses. That team put up the most goals by a large margin, and with second best goals against to boot. All of the advanced stats favor them as well. They are well rounded and lethal.

b. Do you foresee the teams making any strategic adjustments during the course of the series? Should the teams be quick to switch tactics or stick with what they've been using?
I think we've seen from the series so far that adapting is the key to winning. Buffalo adapted many times and out-coached our opponents. Hamilton has some of the best coaching in the league so you best believe they'll find your weakness if you stagnate. Best to keep on your toes and try to get your opponent out of their comfort zone.

c. These two teams hail from the Great Lakes Division. Which of the Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior) do you think is the Greatest and why?
One of those lakes is Superior but lake Michigan is the greatest. I have lived near it my whole life and it has yet to attack me. There is a lot of water and it could easily wipe me out if it wanted to but it has been really chill so far. Too chill sometimes. That lake effect snow gets on my nerves sometimes.

d. If, once it is safe to do so, you had to go hang out in person with one of the users on Buffalo/Hamilton, who would you hang out with and what would you do? (if you pick gabe you get -1 tpe)
I would never hang out with anyone on Hamilton because they willingly associate with gabriel johnson. I hang out with people in Buffalo locker room all the time but if I had to pick one person to meet in person it would be fish and tomen so I could buy them a beer for getting us into the finals.

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16. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is now 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.

lime

Total: 17 TPE

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