Task 16, CW Trivia, 3 TPE, 3 Total – Verification Word: JoeK

Task 1, 3 TPE, 6 Total - Another year for Xavier Doom in St. Louis, another year of disappointment. I got Doom to my 350 cap pretty quickly this year, so I couldn’t add to his build much. However, with the Scarecrows suffering from the worst draft class in STL history (just about everyone went IA sadly), I figured Doom would play a ton of minutes and be “THE GUY” this year. Not so much. Doom averaged only 15 minutes per game, and didn’t get a ton of special teams time either. His line of 6-15-21 was only a 7 point improvement. Doom did collect 50 hits and 61 shot blocks. He was good in his own end. He was 13th among all forwards in Defensive Game Rating. These numbers are just “okay”. I expected him to be a little bit better, but sadly I think the quality of the team around Doom is affecting him and he’s not doing as well as I’d like. I’m looking forward to my 3rd season at the 425 cap. Should be a doozy. (176)

Task 2, 3 TPE, 9 Total – Clearly I’m extremely biased for this task, but for sure I’m going to pick the NOLA cup finals. S46 and S55 were ridiculous battles with Buffalo, but the truth is that, to me, S54 stands out the most. The two Game 7 series’ with Buffalo were great, but they were supposed to be. Everyone expected a good series for those two. But in S54? All we got to hear about was how great Hamilton is. They swept Manhattan and beat Buffalo in 7 games. Everyone around the league was saying that Hamilton was just going to walk all over the Specters and win the championship. Everyone that wasn’t in our locker room that is. It was obvious that season that HAM/BUF only looked like world beaters when in reality they just inflated their stats against the 0-50 Tampa Bay team, along with Toronto and Baltimore. Basically the three worst teams in the league. After hearing about how NOLA didn’t have a change against the “unbeatable” Hamilton squad, it was even better to completely out coach them and sweep them relatively easily for our first ever cup win. Completely unexpected by most of the league. (196)

Task 7, 3 TPE, 12 Total – The prediction for the IIHF tourney is always the same here: The USA will win the gold baby. Team USA has been consistently one of the best teams in the FHM era, winning a ton of medals, and that would’ve been even more had we not forgotten to switch our goalies back for the medal rounds after the Round Robin. Canada will always be feisty as well. Team Japan looks to stick around, and Great Britain (who were 11-1 last tourney) will attempt to continue its excellent play of late. I think a team like Switzerland or Germany both have the potential to pull off some upsets and vault themselves into the “upper tier” in this one. In terms of scoring, look for Wagstrom to play well again, but I think Monkey D. Luffy will take the scoring title, although I think Maxime Bouchard might step it up and challenge for it as well. As for the best goalie? Look for Aleister Cain to continue being an international play monster. (170)

Task 13, 4 TPE, 16 Total –
a. While both teams have great skaters, its hard not to give the edge to Hamilton. They have Theo Morgan, who just set records this season, to go along with Wilson, Scarn, Clapper, Phelps, and Jazz. They’re just so solid up front. BUF is good too, for sure. It’s a lot closer than it looks and feels. (57)
b. It would be a fool’s errand to not tweak tactics during a series like this. Staying complacent is the quickest way for your opponent to make the right moves to figure out how to beat you. If you’re constantly making some tweaks, they’ll never be able to get a full read on what you’re doing every game. (58)
c. The greatest of the Great Lakes is very easily Lake Erie. Why you ask? Well, look at the terrible competition. First off, Lake Ontario is like “Canada’s Lake”, so it’s out when America is superior. Speaking of Superior, Lake Superior is anything but. Because it calls itself the superior lake, it simply can not be. Lake Michigan is in Michigan which a horrible state, so that’s out. And not a single soul ever remember Lake Huron exists. As a result of just awful competition, Lake Erie is the winner. (90)
d. I think once it’s safe I’d like to eventually hang out with Evok again. She’s my good friend and I had fun with her at TDZ’s wedding oh so long ago. If we’re looking for people we’ve never met before, I’d like to hang with Frick Nasty who’s on Hamilton technically. I know I’d have a great time with him, he’s a cool dude. (65)