2a)
Whatever it comes to a situation like this, I always find it best to trust on the veterans over the inexperienced group. But ultimately having gone through the process usually seems to be the most beneficial way of succeeding. Look no further than Wayne Gretzky in the early 80s, where they lost to the New York Islanders in the cup finals. Gretzky tells a story of walking out of the building after losing the cup and passing the Islanders locker room, expecting to see them celebrating. Instead he sees guys with ice packs all over them, unable to move. He credits that for teaching him what it takes to win it all.


2b)
If I were coaching a team in this situation like the one that Atlanta finds themselves in, I would refer my players to the absolute fundamentals of a smart, simple game. Keep your sticks in the passing Lanes. Don't make blind passes. Don't pass in front of your own goalie. I would coach my team to look for short 5 to 7 ft passes to maintain possession and coverage instead of looking for long two line cross ice bombs. Otherwise Atlanta is going to lose on transition offense alone.


2c)
Comparing Atlanta and Chicago's penalty minute numbers is really only relevant if Atlanta can capitalize on Chicago's lack of discipline, or, as alluded to above, if Atlanta gets too fancy and Chicago creates a lot of turnovers, it might end up being at best a wash and at worse a negative to get a special teams opportunity. If Atlanta can take advantage of the power play and not turn over the puck to Chicago's very skilled defensive players, special teams could absolutely be a deciding factor in this series. But if Atlanta gets sloppy or overenthusiastic on the power play, it would not surprise me to see Chicago put up multiple shorthanded goals this series.


2d)
When I was a general manager in the SHL, I was always a big proponent of having a well-balanced attack throughout the lineup. While it only brought me one League trophy, I think there's definitely something to be said for having guys on your third line who would be on other team's top lines. The ability to roll line after line after line of attack, taking advantage of and exploiting the other team's lack of depth, can be the difference between success and failure in the SHL.


3a)
I'm a big fan of Rand and believe that he and Rashford both have very Bright futures in this league. From a Quebec perspective, you have to be constantly aware of when those two are on the ice and, again come up play a smart, simple game. Try to keep your stick in the passing Lane. Don't let guys into the middle of the ice in front of your own goalie. Keep a nice tight box in the slot. In the case of these two defensemen, it becomes almost a man-to-man coverage instead of zone, but you don't want to take it too far, as they are both slippery players and could very easily create odd man opportunities in close.

3b)
Twenty percent is a ridiculously high shooting percentage, and to have three players scoring at that rate is unheard of. Part of what Newfoundland has to do is simply hope that the percentages are unsustainable and these guys start missing some of the opportunities that they are getting. Aside from that, I'm going to repeat myself with what I just said: don't let guys into the middle of the ice in front of your own goalie, and keep a tight box in the slot. Just getting in the way of passes and shots, sacrificing your body to block a shot, can be the difference between victory and defeat.


3c)
As I alluded to above, if you are Newfoundland you have to hope that the Quebec players' hot streaks come to an end. Hockey is a game of inches, and right now those bounces seem to be going Quebec's way. It's impossible to predict how luck might rear its head over the course of even a single game, let alone a series, but it will be interesting to see if Newfoundland can either elevate their offensive game or limit the offensive game of their opponent.


3d)
This whole scenario is kind of weird to me, if I'm being honest. I guess it's a byproduct of players having hyperextended stints in the Junior League, but the idea of there being perennial powerhouses in the SMJHL is absolutely wild and kind of difficult to wrap my head around. At most, I would expect 2 years of success from a junior team before they have to rebuild, but that doesn't seem to be the case for either of these franchises. Ultimately, this seems like a series of can Quebec continue to score at their torrid pace, or can Newfoundland shut them down and win an absurd fourth title in five seasons.


+2 TPE - milestones


20)
I think Spartan really hit the nail on the head here: step one has to be a website redesign so that it looks modern and not like a giant misshapen BBS system designed by fromsoft. The site is an unwieldy monster and needs a complete makeover, which can be done for considerably less than 2 million dollars. Once that's done, I would suggest a fairly aggressive campaign on YouTube, ideally one with video clips of our new sim engine that we developed, mashing up the attribute depth of FHM with actual play-by-play video like an EA NHL game. Ultimately, I'd hate to see the league get super popular, as it would probably detract from the community, as hard as that is to believe, and I really hate the idea of microtransactions. Microtransactions should never have started as a model. What a disgrace. Look at some of the games that are released these days, where barely half of the content comes on the disc / in the download, and the rest costs $5 per gig of data. It's not difficult to imagine a training model like Matteo mentioned, and that would be the end of my interest in sim leagues for sure.


Trivia - Gimme