Waffle

For Switzerland, last season was a rough one in the IIHF tournament. We've retooled a bit, with some younger players coming through and taking strides and some nice transfers to help make things a bit better. I think we'll still have to fight for positioning, but it won't be as bad as last season. At least I hope it won't be. (61 words)

San Francisco ultimately pulled off the three-peat, with a six game triumph over Tampa Bay. The Cuda had their opportunities in this series. In Game 1, they gave up the game winner with 1:42 to go in the game, so they were not far away from taking it to OT. And in Game 4, they outplayed the Pride pretty significantly in the shot count. However, right after Tampa scored a game-opening shorty, San Francisco immediately equalized with a power play goal and rode a Justin Time legacy game the rest of the way. In Game 5, Tampa Bay came oh so close to overturning a 4-0 deficit, but San Francisco added an empty netter to hold on, and penalty trouble doomed the Barracuda in the end. This series was very very competitive, with fine margins. But in the end, the devil's in the details. San Francisco had those details ironed down, and used their championship experience to take home their third Cup in a row. Given some of the rumblings out of that camp, it's going to be the end of an era this offseason, and what an era it was, capped off by one final, well-earned Challenge Cup. (203 words)