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?
Tor Tuck’s career goal has been mentioned recently of hitting 1000 games played with the Edmonton Blizzard. As the season came to a close after a disappointing loss in the playoffs, he still held the hope that he would have the stamina and time to play a few more seasons, maybe bring the fans in Edmonton another title, and get to his career goals with his team. Unfortunately, Tor Tuck made the tough decision today to go to another team to continue his career. There were some disagreements with the management in Edmonton on how veteran players were being treated and as a veteran player himself, Tor Tuck decided it was time for him to call it quits. Obviously it was a tough decision to make and it is going to impact the work he has put in over his long career. It probably is not fair to say that anyone is at fault, but two different philosophies that led to Tor Tuck following short on those goals.

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.
I am not so sure that expansion drafts are always too exciting as players are forced to go to teams where they may not find the success the expected and teams that we thought were going to be good lose players unexpectedly. However, I think that both expansion teams will do their best to be competitive and end up with some really solid pieces to start their franchises with. It is unlikely either of the expansion teams ends up as the bottom feeder in the league, as they will likely end up in better positions than some existing franchises. Overall, the SHL will at the very least have a new wrinkle for the season as the new teams find their identities, build rivalries, and maybe even surprise some teams and make a run at a championship. I would like to make a prediction on what expansion team will fare better, but at this point it is too early to call it.

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?
I do not think the SHL should expand beyond North America. We have seen the negative impacts associated with these expansions in other leagues time and time again in professional sports. It is already tough on the players to compete for a 50 game season and playoffs. If we have to start adding many more days of travel we are going to take a toll on the players that make this league and this game so popular. Perhaps this is something that the SMJHL could experiment with to enable more players from other nations a shot at making it in the big leagues, but to keep the competitive advantage to a minimum keep all SHL teams based in North America as they are now.

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 am going to shock everyone when I say the team I think is going to surprise is Norway. Now, I know I have predicted this several times but my theory here is if I keep doing it eventually I will be right. Norway is consistently just on the outside looking in and if they are able to sneak into the medal rounds and get a hot hand going then they would really surprise some people. To add some facts to the argument, Norway has recently been transitioned over to a new federation head that is much more competent than whoever was running it before. Thus, with their new leadership I think they could really stir things up and get on track to be not just one of the greatest IIHF teams in the world, but the greatest IIHF team that is bringing home medals in the world. Let us hope that this is the tournament where Norway shows what they are really made of.


6. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.) The world's hottest app is TikTok - which SHL or SMJHL player would have the biggest following on TikTok? What do they post there?
The player that would have the biggest following on TikTok is definitely going to be the legend himself, Tony Pepporoni. Tony has been one of the faces in the SHL for some time and has been in the conversation for the best player in the league multiple seasons throughout his career. His face is plastered onto just about everything you could think of from billboards to beer bongs and he is genuinely beloved by everyone. Both men and women look at Tony and recognize the sex appeal he possesses immediately. His TikTok videos could be him watching paint dry and he would rack up the views and followers.

16. Trivia, 3 TPE. Verification: FFF