Personally I was extremely upset with how the season went. As a player in the SHL it doesn't matter what happens to your team, gain a superstar, lose a few of them, you expect to do as well as you did last season if not better. Last season the Edmonton Blizzard won the Challenge cup. This season we didn't even make it past round 1 of the playoffs. Sure that's a team thing, but I'm a team player. If you want to talk individual stuff then I'll indulge you. This season I had 2 points less than last and for the first time in my SHL career I ended the season as a minus player. I did have more shot blocks but I think you can attribute that mostly to having possession of the puck less than we did last season. I think the biggest difference you'll notice is that I had 94 hits this season whereas last season I had 21. I don't really value hits though. You end up taking a lot penalties due to reckless play. All in all I'm disappointed and really need to up my game next season. (193 words)


1. Between Buffalo's (WannabeFinn, Tomen) and New Orleans (JKortesi81, TheDangaZone) which set of GM's have the tactical/managerial advantage in this series and why? There's no question in my mind that the tactical and managerial skills advantage definitely goes to to New Orleans. Since I've joined the SHL JKortesi81 has been the co-gm of St. Louis in the SMJHL. I'd say that arguably the SMJHL takes a better tactician to win the cup than the SHL because most players on a level playing field. TheDangaZone helped him out a lot in STL too so I know he's more than competent. (76 words)
2. Between Cedric Robinson and Aleister Cain which goalie would you say had the more impressive run towards this championship series, and why? This is a pretty lopsided one. Cain had to go through Calgary who had the best center in the entire SHL last season and then the had to go head to head with the best offense in the entire league this past season in Minnesota. Meanwhile Robinson had to play Manhattan who I believe only made the playoffs for the first time in a few seasons, then Hamilton who are really on the downswing. I'm much more impressed by Cain's ability to keep NOLA in games right now than Robinson's. (90 words)
3. Between both rosters, create an all Challenge Cup starting lineup! (D, D, F, F, F, G) and in 50 words or more explain alittle about your selections. Essentially my thoughts here are that NOLA is simply the best offense in the league, so I went with the players on their offense that I thought were the best. Smyth is the best all around forward on their team, while Kurczewski and Augustus are easily the best offensive forwards in the league. Buffalo on the other hand is propped up by their defensemen with McZehrl and Walker leading them. In net it was pretty easy to pick since it's a direct comparison, Cain is just the better goalie hands down. (91 words)
F - DeMaricus Smyth
F - Roman Augustus
F - Joe Kurczewski
D - Charles Walker
D - GOD McZehrl
G - Aleister Cain
4. Choose 1 young player from each team (either on their roster or a prospect of theirs) who you believe will be there teams next important player and why? *tag that player* Every team needs a good goalie to go far in the playoffs, but when you have a great goalie you've got a really good chance at being the next Challenge Cup Champion. Aleister Cain went into this season essentially as a rookie goaltender (though he had played several games as a backup for Edmonton in seasons prior). Now in his first season as a starter he's looking like MVP material. @SlashACM (71 words)
6. Who are the 3 most dangerous players on the ice in this series and why? The three most dangerous players this series are New Orleans' three centers: Oisin Fletcher, DeMaricus Smyth and Roman Augustus. Each of these centers are legit on the level of all star and they have one of them on each line. Personally I think center is the most important position on the ice because they play so much offense and defense and if they're good enough they make everyone else on their team a better player while they're on the ice. Buffalo will need to find a way shutdown all three lines if they want to win. (96 words)

The commissioner of the SHL was kind enough to give me full reign over what the charity event we do this season is. I thought a comedy event would be the perfect thing to do for our charity even to raise awareness for adults with Alzheimers. It's an awful disease that ravages the elderly. @Blastmeaway is always willing to help me out with stuff so he and I got to together to interview comedians. We ended up going with Eric Andre who had a great pitch for bringing a large group of elderly people together in central park in New York City and do a live comedy show. Unfortunately his master plan was actually to have all of the gates drop down from the sides of the comedy area and all of the elderly people with Alzheimers were let loose in New York. Several people were lost during that time and the police had to come out in droves to find all of the elderly people. The good news is that is showcased just how awful the disease is and since it was broadcast on national television we raised over 25 million dollars for research. Eric Andre you crafty son of a bitch. (203 words)

At this point Brady McIntyre is almost entirely assured to make the 20 man roster for the Blizzard. TPEwise he's 2nd on the team for defenseman behind Tor Tuck. The unfortunate part is that Tuck and McIntyre play a very similar sort of game where playmaking is more important than scoring goals for them individually. That means that McIntyre will likely be spending this season on the 2nd pair, all but solidifying his spot in history as the best 2nd pair defenseman ever to grace the SHL. On the upside he'll get to spend another season alongside defensive partner Ensio Kalju @jRuutu who McIntyre has built up a lot of chemistry with. If management were considering putting McIntyre on the first pair he'd be competing with long time top pair defender Connor Tanner. Tanner is shoot first defenseman like Kalju so for the sake of play styles this isn't likely to happen, but McIntyre has been putting up bigger numbers than Tanner for a while now so it just might pop into the back of the coach's mind before the season starts. (182 words)

Sent to PT Director.