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?

Overall, S55 was a rough year for Nicolae Antonescu, who succumbed to a bit of a sophomore slump in comparison to his admirable rookie season, where he took over the starting position as a first-year netmider. While he did play far more games than his rookie season, his second year as the starter for the St. Louis Scarecrows saw him perform worse in every major goaltending category.
While Antonescu appeared in a league-high 45 games,he has a career-low 3.22 GAA, a 0.894 Sv%, and only 1 shutout. With a game rating of only 62 this season, Antonescu was a factor in the Scarecrow’s overall struggles this season, not advancing any further in the playoffs than last season. Looking to next season, Antonescu hopes to take a forward step in his development next season, applying his newly-earned 425 capped-build to improve his fundamentals. Overall, this season is an unpleasant result that will hopefully rebound into long-terms success for later seasons.

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.

Either of the new expansion GM’s can look to the last expansion for inspiration on how to build a team through the New Orleans Specters. Having appeared in the Challenge Cup finals in their inaugural season, as well as winning the Challenge Cup last season with less than 10 years into the league, NOLA has arguably been the most successful franchise given an average season for them. The wisdom they can take? Build from the net out. Drafting Aleister Cain was the excellent choice, as he has been the franchise's main starting goalie and one of the highest TPE earners of the league. Credit to the rest of the players drafted and developed by NOLA over the years, but not having to worry about your starting goaltender for 10 seasons helps the focus go to drafting a formidable defense and high-octane offense. My bet will be that the first goalie off of the board will be Samat Beibitzhanov, and if he develops close to the way Cain did, building a stingy defense will go far in making a potential expansion club competitive not only in quick order, but set up for long-term success too.


3. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)
It's too late for this go-around of expansion, so hypothetically - should there be SHL franchises in other continents? I saw some interesting European proposals in the PT. Should these - or proposals for any other continent that's not North America -
become a reality in the SHL?

In my argument, no, there shouldn’t be expansions outside of North America. While a sim league is thankfully spared the inconvenience of actually having to travel, the aesthetic of having a sports league that demonstrates some practical realism is something I can always appreciate. If there were a large enough expansion all in one go, perhaps, but that will likely never happen, with expansion only coming in two teams at a time. Having only two teams outside of North America seems odd, and unappealing. Besides, there are still many untapped markets within the realms of North America, with a sim league giving opportunities to have teams in places not quite big enough for typical IRL markets, like Anchorage and Kelowna. I anticipate a team will eventually be placed in the state of Pennsylvania, and as for the Phoenix Screamin’ Cacti… well, HO has to approve it one day, right?

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.?

I could be really biased on this one, as I’m heading up Team DACH for this upcoming WJC, but I’ll tip my hat to the UCORCAL team roster. All but their 4th line forwards are capped to 425 TPE, and the bottom line players are all at 340 TPE or above, which is insanely stacked. Their defense is not any weaker, with the top two pairings all at the 425 cap, and the bottom pairing sits at the 350 cap or above. Finally, they have two transferred goalies parachuting into this tournament that are well over the 425 cap. Out of the 22 players named to the UCORCAL roster, 17 of them are above the 425 cap, and 21 out of the 22 are above the 350 cap. This is one of the most stacked rosters I’ve seen for a WJC, and I’ll vouch that they make it to the final. I’m hoping DACH will be there against them, and if I want to push DACH to glory, I’m almost sure I’ll have to go through UCORCAL at some point of the tournament.

14. 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.

Honestly, when is Cain going to get some playoff-related hardware (Besides the Challenge Cup, of course)? Yes, his regular season statistics are usually better than his playoff ones, but the finals have shown how vital it is to have a star goalie. In such a close-scoring series, where most games have been 1-goal difference-making thrillers, Cain has kept his team in it after going down in the series 2-0. Being outshot most games by one of the best teams on paper I’ve seen since the Calgary heydays (and Buffalo’s team from last year), Cain and the Specters have come back for 3 games straight to take a series lead. No fault of Elizabeth Doyle, who is an emerging superstar already, but Cain has nearly double the TPE, and the advantage in net is showing, despite both goalies playing great this series. If the Specters finish off the Stampede within the next one or two games and repeat as champions, I would argue on behalf of Cain for playoff MVP, let alone the series MVP.

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.

Confirmation word: Crows


Total TPE Claim: 3 + 3 + 2 + 3 + 2 + 3 = 16 TPE claimed