S61 Championship Week

S61 Championship Week

grimreaper
Registered
S34, S38 Challenge Cup Champion

#266

10-17-2021, 09:01 PM (This post was last modified: 10-17-2021, 09:11 PM by grimreaper.)

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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.

Post

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11a. Written, 2 TPE - The Procrastinator Special! (100 words min.)

Welp, you waited until the last day to grind out your CW and the CC finals are longggggggg over by now. congrats to [TEAM], woo! Reflecting back on the series, who gets your vote for series MVP? Make the case why this player deserves it over any other.

Congratulations to the Hamilton Steelhawks on another Challenge Cup win, this time in an impressive sweep over the Texas Renegades. My selection for Finals MVP is the Hamilton goaltender A Jobin. A strong team needs to be backed up by a strong goaltender and Jobin provided that for the Steelhawks. Jobin conceded only 6 goals to the high scoring Texas team across the 4 games of the Finals and his tremendous goaltending performance allowed the Steelhawks to sweep the series with ease. This include conceding only 3 goals across 120 minutes in front of a hostile Texas crowd, a feat that is not be to sniffed at. A great goaltending performance all around.

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113 words

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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.

https://simulationhockey.com/showthread.php?tid=119534

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.

+3 TPE

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13. Written, 3 TPE, Parody (150 words min.)

There has been some discussion on the forums but its always good to hear more opinions: Parity. Going back 6 seasons including this one there have been 4 teams in the finals: Buffalo, Chicago, Hamilton, and Texas. If you add New Orleans you can go back 8 seasons. 5 different teams for 8 straight finals. Is this an issue? Does it need to be fixed? Can it even be fixed? I'm interested to hear opinions, approaches, or just doom and gloom on whether you think this will change, or if we will still be talking about the same teams making the finals over and over in 5 seasons.

Parity is a major discussion amongst the league however it ultimately boils down to the fact that SHL careers are too long and regression is not impactful enough. As it stands currently, a player once reaching 1800+ TPE can remain at that level for many seasons by fighting off regression every year. What this allows is for teams that have secured a number of high earning individuals to keep them all together for extended periods of time, and with no real salary cap imposing itself as it would do in a real life league, this allows teams to build perpetual contenders with the same core group of players from season to season. Really there may not be a way to truly achieve consistent parity, as it would require an overall of the league's systems that would see player movement increase dramatically which a lot of users wouldn't be for as they just want to play with their friends. But if the league really wants parity, that would have to happen.

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170 words

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14. Written, 3 TPE, Upswing (150 words min.)

What team on the outside looking in do you believe will be the next to break into the playoffs? What team will be the next new team to break into the finals (other than the core 4 listed in the above task)? Who seems to be building and earning at a rate that they will be a scary team in the future? We have already seen some successful rebuilds in Texas, Toronto, and Tampa, and some unsuccessful ones as well. Who is on the right track?

I have to put my homer goggles on and go with the Manhattan Rage. Although the Rage won only 9 games this past season and picked up only 19 points across 66 games, good for second last in the entire league, that is all by design. The Rage management have heavily invested in a full rebuild, opting to attempt to build assets through the draft to secure a strong group of players that can challenge for the Challenge Cup in seasons to come. Whilst the next few years are also likely to be bumpy, the Rage have several top talents coming up the the team this season such as Robert E O Speedwagon and Robert Black, and they have a host of high draft picks across the next few years too, including first overall in the upcoming SHL Draft. The Rage may look like the runts of the league just now, but in 5 seasons time look for them to be pushing for the playoffs and beyond.

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167 words

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15. Written, 2 TPE, The yearly IIHF task (100 words min.)

Write your predictions for this year's IIHF tournament or WJC if you care about that more. Will there be surprises? Will any players make their country proud? Who's gonna suck? Be bold!

My prediction for this season's IIHF tournament is that Team UK will make their way all the way to the Final and capture the Gold Medal. Admittedly, that is my prediction every year as Team UK is far superior to any other IIHF nation. This season in particular though, Team UK are clicking and seem to have the right balance of personalities and talent on the team that can lead them to another international success. I predict that Team Canada will also make it to the Final ahead of stiff competition from the Scandinavian teams, however it will be Team UK celebrating at the end of the tournament.