1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
While these two teams are no strangers to the Cup finals, we did see some very interesting things this season. Looking back, what do you feel was the most surprising part of the season?

I think one of the larger surprises this season in the SHL was the changes in the Southwest Division landscape. The Great Lakes was once again a double coinflip to see who undeservedly missed out on the playoffs with 4 competitive teams. The Atlantic was still a far second in the Eastern Conference, but most of the teams there started to improve/mellow out to be relatively competitive with each other, and the Northwest division had a familiar 1-2 punch of good teams in Calgary and Edmonton, with Winnipeg being decent and Minnesota remaining at 4th once more in that division. The Southwest, however, saw the largest changes in my opinion, standings-wise. While the Panthers didn’t change course too much with a bit of a slide back, the Renegades made the huge leap to the top of the league in points, becoming the first non-Great Lakes Division President’s trophy winner since the Wolfpack of S53, and the first Western Conference President’s winner in the FHM Era. San Francisco saw a marked improvement, nearly doubling their regulation wins from 12 to 20, and took Toronto to 7 games in the playoffs. New Orleans had a significant collapse, halving their wins from last season and crashing to the bottom of the league this time around.

4. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
If you're sitting at home watching the Finals: What do you plan on doing differently next season to help your team reach the promised land? If you're playing in the Finals: Is there anything different you plan on doing next season to continue your team's success?

While sitting at home and watching the Great Lakes Finals Matchup 2: Electric Boogaloo, I think the San Francisco Pride as a team just need to keep growing as a whole to peak at a competitive window. We have plenty of active players still growing, including a hefty S55 class that made its debut this season, and a pipeline of strong prospects that will bump out some of the remaining IA corpses in another season or two. While I don’t think I’ll be competing for  the Challenge Cup quite as soon as next season, things are overall looking up, and Nicolae Antonescu personally wants to keep up his own performance level as things grow. A 0.920 SV% as a rookie and a 18-19-5 record was a better performance that I had hoped for, and I'm looking to make sure Antonescu doesn’t slump as he gets less shots against as time goes on. He did well for games with 40, 50, or even 60+ shots against, but when those numbers start going down with the defense growing stronger, I’m aiming to still have a high SV%, and not slump back down to more average numbers.


5. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)
Which SHL or SMJHL team was the best team to not make the finals this season and why?

My answer here has to be the Texas Renegades. The President’s Trophy winners bucked the Great Lakes trend, and while the GL division is still fully represented in the finals, the cracks are forming, and the youthful but stacked in TPE Texas is there to muscle in. Perhaps another season of growth from their overall youthful and active squad will push them over the top, but their highly potent offense, solid defense, and great tandem of goaltending was already good enough this season to make the finals, in my opinion. Breaking through that Great Lakes playoff barrier is going to be tough, especially due to the possibility of facing a GL team on either side of the bracket, but for now, The Renegades look like the next best shot to seriously outcompete any of the Great LAkes teams, which is more than just about anyone else can say right now.

6. 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?

In the IIHF, change is a bit more of slow burn and slight turnover from season to season compared to the SHL, especially for the nations with larger memberships, so unless the IIHF system is massively overhauled or something truly crazy happens (which is unlikely on both fronts) The same nations with plenty of talent to draw from will be near the top of the heap - Namely Canada and the United States, who I bet will once again be near the top of their groups. Teams with solid high-end activity still riding their respective waves, like Czechia and Great Britain, will also be at the top of the heap. Getting near the middle, with slightly more active players in one of (or both) quality and quantity will fill in the middle spots, like Japan, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and maybe Norway. More niche teams that have top earners but low depth will suffer as usual, with Austria doing better than most in that boat, followed by teams like Ireland and Finland. Until all of the Petrovs get a couple more years of development, Russia will be near the bottom again, and Latvia simply has the smallest pool of players out of the IIHF nations, and will likely struggle to earn wins because of it.

15. Milestones, up to 3 TPE
New this season, Milestones are folded in with CW. So just link your Milestone claim as task 16 for up to 3 TPE towards your 16 total.

Starting Goaltenders (40 GP or more)
Wins (W): 28 or more
Loses (L): 28 or more
Overtime Loses (OTLs): 4 or more (5)
Shutouts: 4 or more
Saves: 1835 or more
Save %: 0.916 or higher (0.920)
Goals Against Average (GAA): 3.03 or lower

Total Milestone claim of 2 TPE

16. Written, 3 TPE
I loved this as a mPT when hotdog did it last season, so I'd like to bring it back as a permanent fixture. After all, we could all use a little positivity every now and then. Say something nice about another member or members, no word limit.

I really have to commend what @Thatguy91 and @AgentSmith360 have been doing over at San Francisco. Even in the few seasons I’ve been in the LR, I can see a clear buildup of activity and engagement, a lot of casual conversation, and in general a lot of new ideas being explored that are more often than not paying off. It’s easy for me to see that you guys are putting in work focused on making things better for those in the Pride LR, and I wanted to let you both know it shows, and it’s working.

Other shout outs include @nyumbayangu for his dedication to creativity and imagination, @Capt_Blitzkrieg , @EricNCSU , and @TheSparkyDee for making my player’s time in St. Louis amazing as always, and a throwback thank you to @Jkortesi81for taking a chance on my first player, and showing me the ropes of the SHL.


3+3+2+3+2+3 = 16 total TPE Claimed