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

verification: parity

Quote:3. Written, 3 TPE, Draft Busts (150 words min.)
There are a lot of "could-have-been" draft picks in the SHL, but let's have some fun thinking about someone that busted hard. Write about their potential and where they were picked, and how that franchise could look *if* they had in fact panned out.

There's a user that I remember from my draft class: uhh. He was drafted 11th overall by the Hamilton Steelhawks, and I remember hoping that the team that drafted me (the Jets) would manage to pick him up. The reason I was so high on him was because he was an active user at the time and had some good writing chops, as evidenced by posts in the media subforum and via PGTs (back when they were a thing). He wound up going IA not long after his first seasons with the Steelhawks, and I don't actually know if they would be a better team with him considering they wound up winning a thousand Challenge Cups anyway, but it's interesting to think of what could have been.
Speaking of the S50 draft... Ricky Bobby was taken by the Jets and was looking to be an important member of the rebuild until he completely ghosted us, which is a shame but I get that sometimes people lose interest.

Quote:6. Written, up to 4 TPE - Grab Bag: Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.
a. What is worth more to you, a cup win in the FHM era or the STHS era?
b. Be honest, would we have seen the same final 4 as last year (Chicago, Texas, Hamilton, Buffalo) had BUF/HAM and TEX/CHI not run into each other in the second round?
c. Hamilton has a population of roughly 5 people. Where would you relocate the franchise?
d. Who is the best player to NOT make the final in the past 2 years?

a. I don't really think it matters. I would certainly take any cup win at this point, but I think if I had to choose with a gun to my head I'd choose a win in the STHS era. Why? Because the results back then seemed much more random than they are now. The teams winning in the recent FHM era began the season pretty much knowing they'd get to the conference finals at the very least, and I think that predictability takes some of the magic out of deep cup runs.
b. Yes, yes, a million times yes. There was no doubt in my mind that two of those four teams would be facing off in the finals this season. As painful as it is for my player to see retirement come sooner than anticipated due to a change to regression rates, there needed (and needs) to be changes to ensure that the same four familiar faces aren't meeting in the finals in the future. It's monotonous, repetitive, uninteresting and downright demoralizing for players not on one of those four teams.
c. I would have said Montreal, easily, were it not for the fact that the Patriotes exist now. So instead, I'll go with another city with five people: St. John's. It's the capital of my home province, and even though Newfoundland has a team in the SMJHL already, I think it would be neat for the province to have one in the big leagues as well. Of course, it's never going to happen, because there's no reason why one of the least populous provinces in Canada should have TWO teams before Pittsburgh has even one, but it's fun to think about.
d. Karl Krashwagen. He's by far Baltimore's MVP and it's criminal that he hasn't had the chance to show off the kind of clutch playoff performer he can be. This is the kind of player that can single-handedly turn a playoff series for his side, and Baltimore has been a contender I believe, so it's not like he was all that far from the finals as it is. Hopefully he gets a chance once the top four teams slide down a little.

Quote:12. Milestones, up to 3 TPE
Milestones are folded in with CW. So just link your Milestone claim as task 12 for up to 3 TPE towards your 16 total.
Post your claim in the milestones thread for tpe earned per stat, and then link that post in your CW submission. This is done because the person who grades CW will be a different person than double-checks milestones.

Milestone claim link here

Quote:14. Written, 3 TPE, Blow it up (150 words min.)
In your opinion, which team is on track to completely sell off all assets and begin a long rebuild? A few teams are already in the midst of this, but what teams are watching their window slowly close and need to get younger soon in order to start the climb back to the top?

Toronto. It's hard to say that because it's the team I've been a part of for several seasons now, but unfortunately the window has passed and it's time for the management (whenever the team gets one, giving the SHL's issue with finding willing GMs) to get much younger. It sucks, because I would have said we had a couple of more seasons in us to contend, but it's especially out of reach now with the changes to regression.
I think in the end the thing that killed us was a lack of knowledge about FHM, and the lack of a coordinated game plan to tackle team building, game-wise. The LR had a great group of people in it, but we didn't really have people that knew the ins and outs of the sim engine and had time to meticulously test strategies and line combinations to maximize our chance of winning. I think the future can still be bright for the North Stars, but it's going to take a few seasons where it's torn down and rebuilt anew.