1. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is completed through a Google form linked below. Make sure to spell your answers correctly or you will not get credit. Post your verification word in your CW post.

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2. Written, up to 4 TPE - Grab Bag: Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.
a. Atlanta is a recent expansion team reaching its first finals appearance. Chicago has been a dominant force in the league for a long time now, with their last cup win only seven seasons ago in Season 57. If you're betting on these finals, do you go for the experienced vets in Chicago, or the hungry Atlanta first-timers?
b. Chicago's lineup is much more active with their sticks than Atlanta's, racking up 97 takeaways to Atlanta's 79. This late in the playoffs, how do you adjust to a team that's so adept at picking your pocket?
c. Atlanta has only 32 penalty minutes in these playoffs compared to Chicago's 45. With emotions high and the Challenge Cup on the line, do you think discipline will play a big role in this series? 
d. Similar to last season's finals, we see Chicago running a balanced ice-time attack against Atlanta's targeted approach that has some players seeing sheltered minutes. Last season the more balanced attack won out. Do you think we'll see the same again? Why or why not?

a.)  Whether I am a sentimentalist or a realist, I have to go with Chicago.  I think that the Syndicate’s administration has developed a system to keep the team competitive year after year.  They have a blend of experience and youth which bodes well for the playoffs and the future. As well, Chicago uses a balanced attack, so their eggs are not all in one basket.  They have a number of ways to score.  Atlanta does have significant talent and they very well could be the dark horse that upsets Chicago’s run, but I think experience will prevail.  Of course, there is no accounting for the vagaries of the sim engine.  In reality, anything could happen.

b.)  It is true that if you are having the puck taken away from you that your scoring chances are reduced.  When looking at this statistic, there is more than what meets the eye.  Firstly, Chicago has played 2 more games than has Atlanta.  So a more viable stat would be takeaways per game.  That would be 5.39 for Chicago as compared to 4.94 for the Inferno.  So less than 0.5 takeaways per game difference.  Could this make a difference ?  I think that it could if this series becomes a closely fought affair.  Puck possession will mean a lot if your team has the puck, the other team can not score.

c.)  The comparison between the two teams based on penalty minutes is similar to what I discussed about takeaways.  I think you have to look at penalty minutes per game.  So, that is 2.5 minutes per game for Chicago and 2.0 minutes per game for Atlanta. Also, the number of penalties a team takes may, in part, be influenced by who they play.  What immediately strikes me is that these teams do not take a lot of penalties.  Given the stats that I mentioned, Atlanta woulks have one more power play every two games.  Not a lot !!  Special teams could have an influence on the outcome of this series, but based on what I have discussed, I think the tale will be told in the 5 on 5 play.

d.)  Yes, I can see where Chicago will run a balanced attack as compared to the targeted attack of Atlanta.  Why won’t there be any change?  Well, that is how these teams were designed and how the GM’s chose to deploy their players.  It is way too late to change that at this time.  When a player plays “sheltered minutes”, at some point he will be exposed to the other team's better players.  This is a vulnerability that can be exploited by both teams.  In terms of the +/- ratings, there is not much to choose between these two teams, bearing in mind once more that Chicago has played 2 more playoff games and the quality of the opponents are different in each case.

3. Written, up to 4 TPE - Grab Bag: Pick up to 4 Four Star Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.
a. Newfoundland has gotten 25 points in 11 games from two of their top D, Rand al'Thor and Mikko Rashford. If you're Quebec's coach, how do you adjust to Newfoundland having guys on the blue line that are just as offensively dangerous as the wingers?
b. Quebec has three players shooting 20% or better in Bertrand, Utah, and Kidd. If you're the Newfoundland defense, how do you find a way to bottle up three forwards that can't seem to miss the back of the net?
c. Looking at each teams' PDO, we see that Quebec is riding a bit of a hot streak while Newfoundland has actually been a bit unlucky. Do you think this is a good thing for either team? Is Newfoundland bound to find some luck, or are they going to get stuck in a rut? Is Quebec going to come back down to Earth, or did they get hot at the right time?
d. Newfoundland has appeared in all 4 of the last SMJHL finals and won 3 of them. Quebec, a consistently strong presence in the SMJHL, has a lot of playoff success behind them as well, having won several series since their last 4 Star in S58. How do you approach this series mentally on either side? If you're Newfoundland, are you worried your streak can't last forever? If you're Quebec, do you fear that you can't take down a goliath?

a.)  If a team has defenseman that are high scoring and handle the puck a lot, as does Newfoundland, the most effective way to limit their output is to deny them time and space.  This means that Quebec will have to match their best defensive wingers with that pair of defensemen. 

b.)  Essentially the same as the previous answer.  If these guys are shooting at a +20% rate, then you have to limit the number of shots they take. They will still be shooting at a 20% rate, but 20% of 5 shots is a lot better than 20% of 10 shots. Another option is to play guys who have a high shot block rating against players who have a high shooting percentage.  The attempt here would be to limit the number of shots that reach the net.

c.)  I don’t know that short term “hot/cool streaks” will make much of a difference.  What I look at is the goal differential during the regular season.  Here both teams have played the same number of games although not against the same opponents.  Newfoundland has a goal differential of +184, while Quebec's number is +63.  Huge difference !!!

d.)  To be honest, I don’t think that Quebec has the horsepower to slow down the Newfoundland juggernaut.  Using the goal differential again, it appears that Newfoundland is scoring 3 times as many goals as Quebec.  However, there is no accounting for how the sim engine will react to the massive stats assembled by Newfoundland.  Anything can happen.

4. Written, 3 TPE, Origin Story (150 words min.)
Everyone wants the Challenge cup… but how did it get here? Tell me the origin story of the Challenge Cup! Where did it come from? Who paid for it? Who forged it? What did it look like in Season 1 vs. now in Season 64? Has it changed a lot? Maybe it has been damaged?

As with all prestigious trophies, the Challenge Cup comes with a fabled past.  In the early days of the SHL there was no physical trophy.  The winning team merely had bragging rights until the next playoff season.  Railroad magnate J.R. Booth thought this to be unacceptable for a professional league, and so he donated the Challenge Cup.  Booth commissioned Skye Silver in Northern Scotland to forge a trophy that would be an icon in the world of professional sports.  The Skye Silver artisans came up with the Challenge Cup which looks pretty much as it did back when it was created.  Like the Stanley Cup, over the years, rings have been added to its base in order to inscribe the names of the players on the winning team.  Despite falling off a train and being “forgotten” on the team bus, the Cup has remarkably remained undamaged over the years.  It continues as an icon of sports art.

5. Written, 3 TPE, Cup Check (150 words min.)
Which league has the more prestigious cup in your opinion, the SHL or the SMJHL? Which cup is harder to win? A lot is said about the different skill sets required to GM in each league, so which do you personally think is tougher to manage? Is a trophy case with three Four Star Cups as cool as a trophy case with three Challenge Cups? Maybe you think it’s even cooler. Why?

This is a pretty tough question as each league has its own unique set of challenges.  The SMJHL has a TPA limitation as well as a limited amount of time a player will spend on a particular team before moving on to the the SHL.  The GM’s here have to make relatively short term decisions and understand how variable the team will be from season to season.  The SHL by way of comparison has no TPA limit and so the GM’s must try to attract the best talent possible with an eye to retaining that talent for as long as that player is productive. You may see big trades here if a GM goes all out for a cup win.  But he sacrifices part of the future of the team when doing that.   So, in response to the prompt, I think it is equally hard to win either the Challenge Cup or the Four Stars Cup, although for different reasons.  Winning any cup is rare, there are high TPE players in the VHL who have never even gotten close to a cup.

7. Milestones  2 TPE

https://simulationhockey.com/showthread....pid3209465

8. Graphic, 3 TPE, Recovery
Whether you’re in the playoffs or not, you’ve gotta' find time to heal up some of the injuries you’ve earned over the season. Show me your player doing their favourite relaxation or resting routine, whether it’s for physical wear-and-tear or mental exhaustion, how do you fix yourself up?