Task 1

Top 5 Hits of the First Round

5. First Hit of the Playoffs

Game 3

Colorado Mammoths vs. Prince George Firebirds.

The first hit of the playoffs was a massive one. Finn Krüger was completely mollywhopped by Declan Reilly just 34 seconds into the first game of the playoffs. Finn was caught watching the puck and was completely up-ended by a huge body check from Declan that sent Krüger flying several feet horizontally before laying on the ice for a few seconds. No penalty was called on the play.

4. Name Changing Hit

Game 12

Montreal Militia vs Kelowna Knights

Luisa Koller stole our hearts with this hit against Miervaldis Fridrihs Ozolins, and no, I didn't just sneeze and hit random letters. Luisa swooped in and landed the most beautiful of all hip checks on the skater formerly known as Michael. Miervaldis flipped and landed on his back. Some say his name was changed in the process.

3. Clutch Big Hit

Game 33

St. Louis Scarecrows vs Colorado Mammoths

Four minutes and ten seconds into the very first overtime game of the playoffs, Wolf Von Hammersmark left his own hammer's mark on Finn Jakobsen, sending Finn sailing to the ice in this high-speed, open ice collision. Finn seemed a bit rattled by the hit, but apparently not too rattled, as just about 14 minutes later, Finn scored the game winning goal.

2. The Tooth Fairy

Game 28

Kelowna Knights vs Montreal Militia

Luisa Koller came out of this game with a new nickname: The Tooth Fairy.
Mike Izzy came out of this game looking like the main dragon from the movie "How to Train Your Dragon" (which does not actually cover that topic) - Toothless. A jaw shattering shoulder caught Izzy in the chest while his head was down, causing a few of his chiclets to forcibly remove themselves from the inside of his mouth.

1. Series Clinching Turn-Over

Game 41

Colorado Mammoths vs St. Louis Scarecrows

The clock reads 11:15 left in the 3rd Overtime period. Alexander Zajac sees Finn Jakobsen trying to skate the puck out of the zone instead of a break out pass and decides to go in for the check. 11:14 left. Zajac squares his shoulders. Finn, tired as can be after 5 periods of hockey, makes a mistake and keeps looking at the puck instead of where he's going. Zajac loads up. 11:13 left. The collision could be heard three states away. Finn gets flattened by Zajac's check. The puck bounces off of the boards and right back to Zajac's stick. Skating around the other forwards, he slings it on net, where it gets deflected. 10:52 remaining, the missed shot banks perfectly off of the end boards behind the net, right to Asvard Lyszczarczyk's stick and is easily deflected into the net. Finn continues to lay on the ice, both out of exhaustion and because he's unable to breath after being hit square in the chest.

Task 2


Task 3
Hoid Wit sits, exhausted, on the bench. Three periods wouldn't be enough to settle this game. Cheering his team on, Hoid yells from the bench, "Let's go boys! We got this!" His breathing has slowed back to normal levels but his heart kept pounding. One goal away from clinching the Four Star cup, Hoid, with the first goal of this game with his first shot, Hoid knew the outcome of the game was on his stick. Daedric Heikennin wins a faceoff in the neutral zone, but shortly turns it over and Vancouver heads back up the ice. Hoids legs are getting restless on the bench. The coach taps him on the shoulder, letting him know he's up next line. His teammate Emiya Shirou puts a soft shot on net and Aleksandrov, the Mammoths goalie, kicks it away, right to Whaler Brandon Gauthier who smacks it at the net, missing wide left. It rotates up the board where Emiya takes another shot, and it dies in Aleksandrov's mitt. Line changes come in. Fresh legs hit the ice, and Hoid takes his rightful place among his team. The faceoff in the offensive zone is won by Robert Phelps. The puck shuffles around a bit as Hoid creems toward the net. Sophia Bennet smacks a streamer at the goalie but it's delfected wide by Angelo Odjick. The actiony boards at the Pepsi Center in Denver bouce this deflected slapshot right back out to Aleksandrov's right, the opposite direction of his sight. Hoid noticed immediately as it bounced and began screaming as soon as that puck crossed the red line and ended up right out in front. With the smoothest of taps, Hoid notches his second goal of the game, and the last goal of the series. His signature celebration of sheathing his stick as if it were a sword was directed at the horde of oncoming Whalers rather than the crowd. Smashed up against the glass, his team ruffled his head with every new arrival. The Vancouver Whalers had just won the S35 SMJHL Four Star Cup!

Task 4
Nour Harrak, rookie in Kelowna, deserves to win MVP of the playoffs. Nour, in his first season, put up 12 points in the playoffs, averaging only 18.53 minutes per game. Despite Kelowna’s heartbreaking second round loss to the eventual champions, Nour finished in the top 10 in scoring, being one of two players outside of Vancouver and Colorado to do so. It’s hard to say what would have happened if the Knights had pulled out the victories they needed to move on. I think Nour would have been the clear and away winner if his team had made it to and won the Four Star Cup. I’m not one to diminish someone’s value because they didn’t lead the league in scoring, considering that Colorado had 5 extra games. Nour’s numbers are extremely impressive and I look forward to seeing more from this astonishing young man in the many many years to come.

Task 5