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1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
Reflection on your season - how did your player fare on the ice this season? Did you meet or surpass your individual player goals or did you come up short? Whether you excelled or disappointed - what can you attribute that to? What will you try to do better next season?

Lyle’s season isn’t quite over yet.  He and his New Orleans team mates will be playing in the Challenge Cup finals for a second consecutive season.  Lyle’s regular season was solid, even though his numbers dipped slightly from last season, but that doesn’t bother him at all.  He knew that the trade which brought in Rex Kirkby, one of the best defenders in the entire league, might affect his stats, but Lyle didn’t think twice about it.  Rex was going to make the Specters better, that was and is the only thing that matters to Lyle.  He has another shot at raising the Challenge Cup with his team mates and being still somewhat early in Lyle’s (this is Lyle’s 5th season in the SHL), so no matter what, he feels that this season has been a huge success.  Win or lose, Lyle will be confident in knowing that he has done everything he can to try and help the team win the ultimate prize.  What will he try to do better next season?  He will try to do this all again, and be once again playing for that beauty cup.

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2. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
This offseason will be extra exciting, as it features the rare expansion draft! Write about how you think the expansion draft will play out, either for one or both of the expansion teams or from an SHL team's perspective.

This is my first expansion experience, I’ve been excited about it since it was first being talked about.  It really hit home though, when the protected lists were released.  Seeing some of my team mates on that ‘unprotected’ list was rough.  And I know every team / player probably felt similar feelings.  But I know that which ever Specters are selected, they will make that team better for it.  I have no idea how this draft will play out, I know that the last expansion, NOLA was able to create an immediate contender, so much so they made it to the same spot we are in right now, the Challenge Cup finals against Buffalo.  I don’t know if that could be a possibility again, but there are definitely some very solid players available, and we have 2 new GMs who seem to be very competent, so anything can really happen.  All I know is that with Carrius Darrow available, he should be the hands down first pick, at least that’s what I would do!

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5. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
What are your predictions for the upcoming IIHF or WJC tournament? What team do you think will win/surprise people/be bad/etc.?

Last season, after winning the Challenge Cup, my player went on to join his team Canada team mates and proceeded to win the gold medal in the IIHF tournament.  I’m hoping this will go exactly like it did last season! It wasn’t easy last season, there are a whole lotta solid teams playing yet again.  USA, Great Britain and Czechia will most likely be making the most noise again, but after last tournament, when team Japan shocked everyone, I think that them and Switzerland will be the other two teams to be fighting for those medals.  As for the other end of the spectrum, I think Latvia and Russia will once again struggle against the other nations.  A lot can happen in these tournaments though, and as we saw during the last one, the single knock out round could have a huge upset, which no one sees coming.  I’m just hoping that doesn’t happen to Team Canada this time around!

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13. Written, up to 4 TPE Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.
a. Both of these teams have stacked defenses - which team do you think has the defensive advantage in this series?

I couldn’t agree more here, the Buffalo defense is the top of the league with Darrow, Selich and Poop but I feel NOLA has had more of an offensive punch with their defenders. I know NOLA has played three more games, but they have gotten 45 points from their backend to Buffalo’s 27 points.  At the end day though, this is going to be a tough series, and both these defenses will be put to the test.

b. In the two regular season matchups, each team won once at home. Do you expect the results to reflect a home ice advantage in this series?

I always feel that playing on home ice gives the home team an slight advantage, but looking at our last series against Edmonton (and first round), that wasn’t necessarily the case.  NOLA has won 4 games at home and 4 games on the road during these playoffs (including a game 7 win in Edmonton), so, so far it doesn’t home ice advantage doesn’t really seem to be affecting the Specters all that much.

c. Based on FHM player ratings, New Orleans has higher average ratings in bravery, aggression, and fighting? Will that toughness have any impact on this series?

I don’t know all that much about how certain ratings play in to FHM results, but if I just go off on my real world hockey knowledge, bravery, aggression and fighting will most definitely have an impact on the series.  But that impact could be good or bad.  If NOLA plays too aggressive, they may end up short handed, which with Buffalo’s firepower may really hurt us in the long run.  But if we dominate to game physically, we could control the flow of the game.  So, will these ratings impact the series? Yes, but to who’s advantage is still up in the air.

e. There are several animal names in this series - which of these animals is the coolest? sloth, hippo, otter, monkey, fox, kirby.

Gotta go with the sloth here.  Not only is sloth one of my favourite Phish tracks, they are also pretty rad animals.  If I could go through life at the same pace as a sloth, I would be a happy man.  Nothing against the other animals (and non animals) listed here, they are all cool in their own right, but I’ve always had a soft spot for sloths, and that includes Jimmy Slothface.

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

Tuesday