the most surprising part of the season was toronto's rapid rise to the nearly the top of the eastern conference. the north stars have long remained at the basement of the great lakes division, and their surge to finish 2nd in the entire conference and to push the buffalo stampede to game 7 in the semi-finals was very impressive. the team has largely in recent seasons been unfortunate to be in the great lakes division, having a very decent roster but still not one worthy of title contention nonetheless. that changed this season when the north stars seemed to get a real grasp of strategy and coaching to turn their potential into current ability, and really take control of their own fate in the conference. this resulted in the surprising exclusion of the chicago syndicate from this season's playoffs and the great lakes will continue to be a real battle for seasons to come between the 4 teams.


Playing with 0 penalties is well worth the disadvantage of letting the away team play with 6 skaters on the ice at all times. Why? Because you can simply send in the biggest enforcer on your team to hack away and physically assault everyone on the other team. by the 10 minute mark into the game, the away team will be bruised and battered from having to deal with so many cheap shots and slashes and hacks at their bodies and likely will be demoralized from the fact that the referees are unable to do anything to stop it. even with the extra man advantage, having the ability to destroy your opponent is too hard to pass up.


Elizabeth Doyle is a surefire lock for the Simulation Hockey League Hall of Fame whenever the Buffalo Stampede netminder decides to hang up her skates. The goaltender for the Stampede has had a cerebral career, including winning both Rookie of the Year and Goalie of the Year in her very first season in the SHL with the Stampede. Doyle already has a Challenge Cup to her name and continues to lead a very strong Stampede team to the playoffs year after year, often advancing deep into the postseason. While the Stampede and Doyle have been unable to finish off the season lifting the cup in recent seasons, she is a very talented goalie who is integral to the Stampede's league best defense at preventing goals. The Stampede have absolutely the best goalie at the top of her career right now and she will certainly have a spot waiting for her in the Hall of Fame.


The Hamilton Steelhawks are champions once again, for the second time in Scarn's three season stint with the club. However, this will likely be Michael Scarn's last and final season in a Steelhawk uniform having believed he has achieved all he can with the organization. While this is a bittersweet moment, Scarn will look forward to a new challenge next season joining a new team and trying to lift that team into contention. Scarn is a very solid player at retaining the puck and centering the offense for whatever team secures his talents. The big thing at the moment is that Michael Scarn continues to battle against age and regression, which he has done well so far to avoid taking a big hit to his production, but this is undoubtedly a losing battle over time. Michael Scarn will have to continue to earn TPE and do his point tasks to ensure his next team can make the Challenge Cup.


The best team in the SHL to not make the Challenge Cup finals was the Texas Renegades. While the Renegades undoubtedly play in a much weaker Western Conference compared to the loaded Eastern Conference (particularly the Great Lakes with 4 teams who arguably have a legitimate claim to be the best team in the SHL), the Renegades had a disappointing end to the season crashing out to the eventual champion Hamilton Steelhawks. Getting matched up with the top team from the East before the Challenge Cup was a difficult matchup for the Renegades, and their team will be disappointed to have not capitalized on their season to get further into the postseason.


https://simulationhockey.com/showthread....pid3010188