1. Written, 3 TPE
It was an interesting season to say the least for Karlstraße Scholz. Coming off a career season that saw him score 41 points, compete for the cup and secure a nomination for the Scott Stevens award, he took a bit of a step back in S54. On one hand he once again collected 41 points, including 10 goals which was 1 more than last year, but his defensive play took a huge hit with his CF%, giveaway/takeaway ratio and defensive rating all going down. He did manage to set a new career high in hits though. While not a poor season, he fell off towards the end of the regular season taking his name out of the running for Stevens in S54. As for the playoffs the Blizzard were unable to exit the first round and Karl was a big reason why collecting just 3 points, no goals, and an ugly -5 rating in 6 games. Needless to say both he and the Edmonton Blizzard are looking to bounce back in a big way in S55.

4. Written, 3 TPE
Looking back at S53 there are definitely a few teams that prospered in the new format (and sim engine) and some that struggled. My represented team, Norway, fell in to the latter category, collecting just 5 wins and being outstore 47-27 through 12 games. We do however have a young team with many players still yet to hit their peak so I'm optimistic we'll improve in S54. Two teams on the other end of the spectrum that did very well are the United States and Canada. Combining for 22 wins and just 1 regulation loss they dominated the competition outscoring their opponents 109-34. The states would go on to win the gold medal and Canada secured the bronze. I wouldn't be shocked if we saw either one or even both of those teams in medal contention again in S54. Also quick shoutout to Czechia that secured the silver. While not as dominant as Canada or USA they won when it mattered and I bet they'll be in the running again this year.


5. Written, 2 TPE
From the Specters I'm going to take the obvious choice and select Joe Kurczewski. One of the few, if not only, remaining players from the S31 draft, he has accumulated so many accolades there is no doubt he'll make hall as a first ballot entry. Nominated for an insane 13 awards, he's walked away with 4 wins including a Mexico, a Dar, a Razov and a Khan. Sauce in 6 all star team appearances and an insane 4 Challenge Cups... it's a no brainer here. From Hamilton there are a number of worthy names as well, but I'm going to select Tig Murphy. Not the biggest name on the roster, he's been nominated 3 times for the Steven's and won it once. He's been a two time 1st team all star and has 2 Cups in his cabinet too. The biggest takeaway is that the S43 selection just hit regression so he'll have many more seasons to pad those totals.

13. Written, 4 TPE
13a. Cain has had a strong career, but coming in to these finals he's unfortunately built a bit of a reputation as a bit of a choke. Kryyst on the other hand enters his 3rd consecutive final, the last 2 of which he won the playoffs MVP. No knock on brother Cain, but the advantage goes to Kryyst on this one.
13b. Wow both are defensemen too haha. Gabe stepped in to the limelight last season with a dominant regular season performance and a nomination for the Razov in the playoffs. He built upon that this season with a shiny 44 point regular season and very likely a nomination for defender of the year. Darnell on the other hand had just 9 points compared to the previously mentioned 44 Gabe collected. No knock on Darnell here, but at just over 16 minutes a game compared to Gabe's near 22 it's hard to argue in his favor. Advantage Hamilton again. They got the better dick.
13c. Hindsight is 2020, and with a dominant 4-0 series win you could definitely make a strong case head-to-heads provide a very accurate forecast for a playoff series as the Specters were a perfect 6-0 against the Steelhawks in S54. Regardless of the series going the way it did I still believe head-to-head matchups provide a greater wealth of information than overall stats. This goes double given that Hamilton was in the same conference as Tampa Bay, Baltimore and Toronto who combined for 26 wins, 2 less than the 4th worst team in the east.
13d. I mean I like Canada as much as the next person, but New Orleans is a no brainer here haha. Home of some of the most amazing food in the USA I would totally get my eat on and try everything I could get my hands on. In the evenings, assuming I hadn't already passed out due to over consumption, I would check on the insane night life and enjoy the fantastic culture.

14. Written, 2 TPE
As is often the case we have two very worthy nominations in the top forward and starting goalie for the Challenge Cup winning team. With a ridiculous 5 skaters cracking 20 points on the New Orleans roster it's difficult to differentiate who really stood out the most, but one thing is for certain and that is the dominant play of Aleister Cain between the pipes. Winning all 12 games for NOLA on their cup winning run he racked up a sparkling 0.923 save% and 2.89 GAA. What's most impressive is he did it while facing drastically more shots than the opposing finals goaltender.

16. 3 TPE - Sent. Verification word = karl