karl

A. No knock on Atlanta here, but I didn't have them making it out of round 2 in the tough eastern conference. They have a competitive squad, but I don't see them as a Challenge Cup team. Chicago on the other hand has the experience and the top end talent that make them look like a true champion team. If I had to put money on it I'd go Chicago all the way, but for the league I'm rooting for the 1st time Challenge Cup appearance Inferno.
B. It's tough to say. I can't tell if the takeaway's occur while carrying the puck or attempting to complete a pass. If they're clogging up the passing lanes then I'd suggest trying to carry the puck more. If they're double manning the puck carrier to force a turnover then look for the open skater. Beyond that though I think the Chicago defense/goaltending as a whole is suffocating and very difficult to compete against. I'm not surprised to see this stat.
C. I think discipline plays a huge role in the playoffs. While it's not impossible to score while down a man on the PK it is very difficult. The much more likely scenario is they score on the man advantage and put you further in the whole. If you can stay out of the box I think it significantly improves your odds of winning the game and therefore the Challenge Cup.
D. If you have a deep team that's possible of properly executing a balanced attack (like the Syndicate) then I agree it's best to use that strategy, but if you're team doesn't have that kind of quality depth then I would definitely load up the lines and favor the top two/three lines. It's not ideal, especially for the unlucky fellas that lose the ice time, but it does give you the best chance to win each night.

I haven't been involved in the SMJHL since before the switch to FHM so I may be a bit out of touch on this one, but in my opinion the SHL Challenge Cup is more difficult to win than the Four Star Cup. For starters there are more teams and a more diverse array of builds to choose/counter so the road to even get to the finals is more challenging. Secondly as a GM you need to manage the talent you have better because if someone is under utilized or putting up poor performances there is the chance they simply leave in FA for greener pastures. On the flip side I do see a few arguments for the Four Star Cup being more difficult to win. Whereas SHL teams have a more diverse variety of builds most SMJHL players have very similar ones, so each small tweak as a coach is much more important since TPE is so tight and you can't win on TPE alone. Secondly, with so many teams around the same TPE, it invites a lot more "sim luck" in to the playoffs, which can be frustrating. One thing is for sure though and that's building a perennial contender in the SMJHL is certainly more difficult given the high turnover of players so when you do make it to the Four Star finals you really want to make the most of it.

I'm a big fan of winning so while playing with my buddies would be fun, I wanna see some results! My dude is old as hell and knocking on the door of retirement so he won't be making any dream teams in his current form, but back in the late S50's he was a stud and even won a Stevens Award. We'll use S56 Karlstraße Scholz as the building block for my line. My defensive partner will be Texas Renegade's Ryosuke Sato. Kahnwald out of LA would be good too, but we already got the offensive minded Scholz so the big bruising Sato will slide in nicely beside him. Up front I want Mats Marner, the goal scoring machine of S64 who led the league with 51 genos, Theo Kondos, the silky smooth passer with a strong 2 way play, and Ryu Jones, the points leader of S64 and the main driver for the dominant Baltimore Platoon squad.

Scholz claim 2

This one is a bit of a funny story. At the time of creation I left my country as "undecided/international" so I could be groomed by each country. At that time I was still a GM and since I didn't get to enjoy my player being selected 112th overall I decided to get my thrills on the IIHF front. Several of the players on my team were IIHF heads and several more reached out, but I kept putting it off because I didn't want to make a pick and hurt people's feeling. People slowly became impatient and eventually the team Norway head went over my head and submitted the transfer for my player and pinged me without approval. Norway was in my top 2 destinations so I took it as fate, accepted the transfer, and joined the Norwegian boys.