It’s a bit hard to say because coming into my rookie season, there was a very tangible goal to aim for and that was to be the Jesster award winner as top rookie. Unfortunately falling short of that, there wasn’t quite the same drive this season. If anything, much of my performance from last season continued for the most part so to see that I can have some relative consistent success is good. The biggest concern in my game right now is my sub 8% shooting percentage. I continued to spend a decent amount of time in the season playing with some great linemates like Martijn Westbroek who is an amazing goalscorer. Yet at times when playing with the rookie Jean-Uthred Ragnarsson Tremblay, even they seemed to have better shooting luck than me. Coming out with 50 points is still 50 points but I’m getting to the pivotal part of my development where I have to start deciding where I want to go in terms of my focus. Rather it’s the general do it all guy like I have been or really invest in my scoring ability to be the guy of the future. For the upcoming season though, the priority will likely be improving my physical ability. As much as the league relies on contact play, it still feels like that I’m both too weak still and still too slow to even get to the play.


One of the things that seems to be lacking in the FHM era of roles is the combination of both finesse and size. It feels that either you pick one or the other, that is you’re a shooter/passer who stays away from the middle of the ice or you’re all about hitting. The screener might be one exception but it appears to be center-specific with its faceoff demand so my alternative is to create the Puck-Possesser. This style is all about holding the puck and using their physical size to play a finesse game. Puckhandling is key, along with offensive read, stickchecking, balance and strength being some of the important attributes as well. I would also be okay with making screening an important attribute as while this player possesses the skills to hold onto the puck and allow plays to develop, being able to control the puck against the boards like a power forward, they aren’t a physical player in engaging with others, rather being protective of the puck.


Is it possible to answer this prompt without talking about Quebec City? Actually if anything it feels quite often like the conversation revolves around how the top two seeds in the league being pitted against each other in the semi finals based on just how the playoff seeding works with FHM. In past seasons, it would have been the 2nd seed with teams like Newfoundland, Carolina and Carolina again having to face the cup winners each time as the #1 seed. However this time the #1 seed was the team that was knocked out instead with Anchorage being the team to take it all. Part of it might be the slight discrepancy in parity but it sure feels like that the true finals are held in the upper half of the semi finals every season.

https://soundcloud.com/nhamlet21/s57-cw


a. I would have originally given the edge to Hamilton. A slight one but still an edge nonetheless as the corsi numbers had shown Hamilton consistently having the overwhelming possession totals. Chicago certainly did as well but just slightly less and seemingly having inconsistent goaltending in the regular season. Guess that wasn’t the case in the end thankfully.
b. It comes down to the trio of Wilson/Scarn/Morgan versus Smeb/Westbroek/Selman. I think while Hamilton has been absolute lights out in terms of being able to dominate on raw skill, Westbroek’s league best ability at playing in front of the net and continually wrecking havoc on goalies through screening and tipping shots is just a chaos generator. There may be times that it doesn’t pan out and the shots end up wide or saved anyways but making a mess in front of the net seems to be more effective than trying to break down a well oiled machine through puck movement.
d. Would you rather get a lap dance from Hugh Jazz, have a staring contest with Luke Atmey (velv's old player), reach for objects on high shelves with Dale Miller, or play League with Parker Smeb?
God anything but the league option. I’m sure that it would make me a full fledged Chicago Syndicate member if I were to dip back into it again but I already get enough second hand disappointment about the game from those who play it to be able to live vicariously through the game. Nevermind the time commitment on both per game basis as well as the investment to be familiar with skills, systems and the general meta...there’s just too much to be bothered with so yeah I’ll grab all the high up things with Miller.
tea