Like most players, my season had its up and its downs. I knew I'd be starting out on the first line as the most experienced center on the team, so I worked a lot on my offensive skills between the seasons. Sadly, that didn't really work out; I love Sven [Svenson] and Gud[mundur Kristjansson], but we couldn't find our vibe as a line. I was switched to the second line, where things were better and I had a good season offensively. I had only two goals, but tied my own record for assists with 15 for a very decent total of 17 points - all while still being seen as mostly a shutdown center. Playing with two players with a similar playing type, Carlos [Brown] and [Juni] Panda obviously helped. Despite a rough end to the season, we came back strong in the playoffs and were probably the best line on the ice for the whole series against KEL.


The SHL should definitely expand its reach to other continents, mainly Europe. Not only are there a lot of players born on the other side of the Atlantic ocean in the league, there are also a lot of hockey fans over there. It's hard for them to have to delocate their hopes and dream to North America. If the SHL was limited by realities such as travel distances and times, I would obviously argue against it, the downsides of transcontinental travel would overcome the upsides of playing close to home the European people. Some good places to have a team would be Oslo, Moscow or Berlin, to name only a few.


In all humility, I truly believe I would be the most successful player on TikTok, based on the fact that I am one of the best to follow on Twitter according to my peers. I've established my presence with a lot of dank memes and this can translate to TikTok. I'll be able to join in on all the recent trends, with Star Wars Prequel Memes and The Office videos to pander to an audience that can relate to me. Obviously, I'd add a special hockey touch to each one of my videos, to keep a little side different to other people.


It is no secret that some people in the SHL are completely illiterate, but that problem extends far beyond our rinks. According to the National Institute for Literacy, over 30 millions Americans are illiterate. The two finalist teams put their difference aside to tackle this issue with the Read the ice project. This project will encourage young athletes across the U.S.A. and Canada to read one book every week by giving out money to teams who will include a "book club" time to their training schedule. Young hockey players will be able to help each other out picking up books and the strong sense of belonging that a team brings will help the kids to persevere in their reading. To raise funds for the project, the teams will organize great booksales before the first home game of either team during the finals. Editors from across the country are invited to these events and give a cut from the book sales to the project.


c. This is playoff hockey, you need to play hard to win. Aggression, Bravery and Fighting will play a part in the series and in NOLA's tactics. It will be interesting to see how BUF responds to this physical play; they know they cannot match NOLA in tough play, so they'll have to play smart.

d. There are indeed a lot of great and creative names in this series, but my final choice has to go with Michael Scarn. The reference to The Office's Michael Scott's alter ego in his movie Threat Level Midnight gets a chuckle out of me every time. I'm always picturing Scarn doing the Scarn each time he scores.

e. Hippos are the coolest. They're big and slick and dangerous. When people think about dangerous animals from Africa, they always think about great felines or sneaky snakes, but never of the absolute units that are these tanky hippos. Plus it's the animal with the best kids game to its name: Hungry Hungry Hippos is way better than that dumb Monkey Chain game.


thanks