+16


verification word = please


As someone who has won a Four Star Cup with the Newfoundland Berserkers, and more recently won a Challenge Cup with the Chicago Syndicate this season, I would have to say it is difficult to determine which one of the two is harder to win. I guess in terms of time, it takes a lot longer to rebuild a team in the SHL compared to the SMJHL, given the nature of the two leagues. Of course in a league where players can stay a maximum of four season, it will be easier to rebuild a team from the ground up. However, it still does require a serious amount of strategy in the SMJHL to get your team to the top. Some teams like Newfoundland definitely seem to have cracked the code to staying on top, given their success over the past many seasons. I would still say that the Challenge Cup is the ultimate goal and the most difficult.


+3 - Milestones Claim


To be honest, I really have no idea how to predict which way this season's IIHF tournament will go. It really feels like a dice roll to me on which teams get hot. Of course in the IIHF tournament, you are looking at the best players that each country has to offer, and it only takes a few of them to get hot and take over on the world stage. I would like to say that maybe my home country of Japan has a good chance of doing some damage, but I would not say that Japan is a favourite to win by any means. Though it can sometimes be good for a team to have that scrappy, underdog mentality to carry your team further than it would normally go. I would have to hope that we can harness and channel some of that energy into a good performance for Japan this season.


I decided to make Japan my IIHF home country for a multitude of reasons. First of all, being a person of Asian descent myself, Asian people are rather unrepresented in the game of hockey, for various reasons. It is fun to see that a team like Japan who has never been a powerhouse in hockey, be such a powerful team in the SHL, and even being able to win the championship and take it all home. It also definitely helps that a lot of the people on my SMJHL and SHL teams have also decided to represent Japan, it is a great group of people we have there.


I am happy to say in response to the procrastinator's topic that my SHL team - the Chicago Syndicate - ended up winning the Challenge Cup. And I would have to say I definitely believed we had a strong chance of winning before the playoffs started. We all knew in the locker room that the goal was nothing short of a challenge cup, and anything less would not be worth it. Thankfully, we finally managed to crack the code and even had a great series comeback from down 3-1, where I ended up scoring the game winner in game 7. That was definitely one of the highlights of my career.