Quote:Task 05: (Written, up to 6 TPE)
Pick up to 6 challenge cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth '1' TPE. Each answer must be '50' words or more.

[b]3. Which player in the finals should be considered their team’s playoff MVP and which should be considered their teams unsung hero thus far and why?[/b]
I will continue to wax poetic later on that no matter what happens in this series, Beauxjeaux Biscuit’s already won the Anton Razov Trophy. Instead, I’ll talk about Calgary’s playoff MVP, which as of now is probably either Kata Vilde @BarnabasCollins or Nicky Pedersen Jr. (@mstuk41).  Vilde hasn’t been lights out spectacular every game in the playoffs, but he’s having a reasonably strong run to the Challenge Cup Finals that would be good enough most seasons to be in the discussion for best goalie of the playoffs. He let up 2 or fewer goals in 3 of the last 4 starts of the Texas series, and is 8-0 in the playoffs when Calgary scores three or more goals.

The key to the series, then, is whether Calgary can score goals in clutch moments. Much of that weight has fallen to the second line, led by third year pivot Nicky Pedersen Jr. He leads the Dragons with 11 postseason points and two game winning goals. One of those was an overtime series clincher versus archrival Edmonton.

As for an unsung hero, I’ll go with Casey Creller @Mook. He’s play 23 minutes a night, leads the team with a +8 rating, 8 points, and otherwise solid all-around defensive game (26 hits, 13 SB, +15 hit differential). He may be taking a few more penalties than the coaching staff would like, but he’s bringing the sort of gritty edge that you need late in the playoffs to shift momentum.

[b]4. Which player do you believe will be the difference maker in their franchise winning the title here in S47?[/b]
Beaujeaux Biscuit @.bojo is the key. If he continues to play the way he did against Buffalo and Chicago, West Kendall could sweep Calgary. In all honesty, Calgary is not nearly as intimidating offensively as Buffalo is/was, so overcoming Biscuit may be a big ask.

If Calgary has any hope in this series, Mike Izzy @Mike Izzy will have to exert his will more than he has thus far in the playoffs. He is Calgary’s best player, and needs to play like it. The top line for the Dragons has been decent, if unspectacular. Both the Izzy and the Pedersen lines will need to be clicking every game for Calgary to find a way to overcome the Beaujeaux Wall.

[b]6. Which young players in this series (S42-S47) have a chance to break out and make a name for themselves here in the Challenge Cup Finals? (*Tag that player)[/b]
Rainbow Dash (@Eggy216) has already caught the attention of many with his four goal game to open the playoffs, but the human behind those assists might be the bigger story. Rookie Maxime Bouchard @Weretarantula is a smooth skating playmaker who is helping Pedersen Jr and Dash score the big goals that have been the story of the Dragons’ run to the Finals. He will need to continue being productive to have any hope of beating Beauxjeaux Biscuit.

For West Kendall, the attention will be in net and on the deep, veteran bunch of forwards. On the blueline, Rex Kirkby @Acsolap and Nat Emerson @Thelastheraclid will also be asked to play significant roles. Emerson so far has been asked to lay the body and block shots, but the young Kirkby has been thrust into top pairing minutes for the shallow defensive group of West Kendall. So long as he keeps getting pucks the Platoon’s bevy of grizzled old scorers and doesn’t screen Biscuit, he’ll finish the playoffs with a plus rating.

[b]8. Star netminders Kata Vilde and Beaujeaux Biscuit have both carried there teams into the finals. Which franchise goalie has a better chance to carry their franchise to a title?[/b]
It’s Bojo. Beaujeaux Biscuit is coming off a three game stretch where he was inarguably the best player in the world. He stopped 90/92 shots in the final three games of the Buffalo series, and has all around been a force throughout the playoffs. He has an inhuman .950 save percentage. Further, he’s done it before… twice. He backstopped the S41 and S43 West Kendall teams to Challenge Cups, and will likely do it again (to many’s dismay).

Quote:Task 09: (Written, 3 TPE)
Which organization that didnt make it to the finals would you consider to be the biggest disappointment? What do you think are the main reasons why they fell short this season? (Must be 150 words or more)

The answer of “most disappointing” performance goes to the Manhattan Rage. After a strong season in S46, the young Rage backslid, especially defensively. They remained effective in special teams, finishing second in the league behind Buffalo with a combined 108.66% (compared to their first place position at 106.32% in S46). They also improved their SF/A% slightly, but they saw their goals for per game drop from 3rd to 6th and their goals against drop from 10th to 13th. This team struggles to stop their opponents from scoring goals—in S46, their offense was productive enough to disguise this flaw, but they were not so lucky this season. Despite being the better team on paper in their first round matchup, @JayWhy and his team were flummoxed by the upstart Chicago Syndicate (who then were sacrificed to the Platoon gods). Scottey Crawfling @Kmarko had a rough regular season and an even worse S47 playoffs. He will need to bounce back next season for Manhattan to succeed.

They will also need to see better defensive play and more consistent offense from their forwards. No player might embody this better than Alex Winters @39alaska39. He had the worst season of his young career, scoring only 11 goals and 27 points, alongside an embarrassing -23 rating. With the addition of Matthew Auston at midseason, Winters got lost in the shuffle and never clicked in his role.

Quote:Task 11: (Written, 3 TPE)
Writers on the internet have jokingly tossed around the following playoff roster idea: "when a team eliminates another team, they get to claim a player from that eliminated team to join their roster" Pretend the SHL has adopted this rule this postseason. Pick one of the teams in the Challenge Cup final and pick any player from a team that they've eliminated to add to their roster for the finals. Why did they choose that player? How will this player help out? Where will they play in the lineup? (must be 150 words or more, *tag all players)

There’s no question here: Buffalo’s fourth best defender by TPE, Charles Walker @Zombiewolf , would be West Kendall’s second best defender by a wide margin. In fact, WKP’s best defender, the do-everything-because-no-one-else-can Ludwig Koch Schroder (@rabidsponge21), would sit as the third best on the Stampede if the roles were reversed.

As such, I think West Kendall would recruit Tatu Makela @WannabeFinn to join their ranks for the finals. Despite a down year production-wise, Makela brings a dimension of physicality that is absent on West Kendall’s roster, and would help them against the wily old Calgary Dragons. Makela would slot into the first unit at even strength and on the penalty kill, and probably the second unit on the powerplay. He would be heads and shoulders above any other option West Kendall has, but the coaching staff may choose to stick with what’s working for the man advantage, creating massive mismatches for the second unit. The addition of Makela would slot Rex Kirkby (@asshat) to the second pairing, where he’d be a better fit, with Karsten Kadinger, slotting Sven Brokstad down to the third pair with the gritty Nat Emerson. This would give them a massive advantage on defensive depth for their matchup with Calgary.

Quote:Task 12: (Written, 3 TPE)
Theres no path to the finals without a little bit of adversity. In 150 words or more, write about the adversity one of the teams faced on the road to the Challenge Cup Finals. (*tag anyone involed)

The West Kendall Platoon faced minimal adversity on their way to the Challenge Cup Finals until their Eastern Conference Finals matchup with the Buffalo Stampede. The Platoon quickly fell behind 2-0 then 3-1. Heading back to Florida for Game 5, the Platoon faced their own disappointing end head on. They struggled to find an answer for Cedric Robinson (@grok) and the offensive might of the Stampede in the first four games. It was at this point that Beaujeaux Biscuit (@.bojo) went from very good to simply unstoppable. In the final three games, Biscuit made 90 of 92 saves against Buffalo’s vaunted offense, vexing Stampede linesmaster @Tomen. The defending champions did not roll over and accept defeat, continuing to pressure Biscuit and the WKP defense while playing staunch defense. After outscoring WKP 9-6 through the first two games, WKP carried the scoring 7-2 in the final three games on their way to yet another Challenge Cup final.

In the end, @TheWoZy curse continues. Noro WoZy will never see the Challenge Cup Finals, adding yet another cursed name to the Buffalo Pantheon of Disrepute.

Task 13: Submitted to PT DIrector