PBE Claim 3/16 TPE
Milestones +3 6/16 TPE

Topic 2
a.  For my money, I am going with experience in this case with my bet going on Chicago.  While Atlanta has put together a strong team, it will be tough to see them beating Chicago for the championship.  I could of course be completely wrong as I have not even looked at their records or head to head match ups but I just need to get this done.
b.  This is a good question but I do not see where this is a huge gap between the two teams.  Sure Chicago has put up about 20 percent more take aways but that will not mean too much in the grand scheme of things.  Atlanta will need to be a little crisper with their passing to not allow Chicago to put too much pressure on their players which force the turn overs.  It is easier said than done.
c.  Giving another team extended power play time is a sure fire way to end up losing a playoff series.  Usually they let things go a bit in the playoffs so you can still play aggressively but you need to avoid the bad penalties like retaliation for a late hit with a slash or a bad trip.  At the end of the day, smart hockey usually wins out so I expect both teams to try to avoid the box.
d. In a championship final, your team has been through hell to get there and is likely dealing with some minor injuries or at least fatigue.  Trying to rely on a shortened bench certainly gets your best players on the ice, but how effective will they be?  To me the best teams can run a balanced approach that involves their fourth line stepping up and giving the top players the time they need to rest and be most effective.

10/16 TPE

Trivia Verification Doneso 13/16 TPE

Topic 5 Cup Check - The difficulty of winning a championship in either league is actually a very good question to consider.  While I would say that in the SHL, you have some very tough teams that end up making life difficult for everyone else in the league, however when you consider that in the SMJHL, you have capped players taking up most of the top spots on a team, you are very much limited to tactics and team make up to determine if a GM is able to get their squad to the championship and to win it.  This is a very difficult task, especially with the terrible participation in most of the junior league.  You are lucky if you get three to four players who update on a weekly basis so what can you really do.  Of course if you are looking at it from the standpoint of pure difficulty of getting to the championship, then you have to give the nod to the SHL.  There are more teams and more full participation teams that are all going after the crown.

178 words 16/16 TPE