Quote:1. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1.5 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.

Verification Word: Bob

Quote:10. We’ve seen Tampa Bay and San Francisco make the finals twice in a row and both 3 times in the last 5 seasons. What do they do differently that other teams should follow for better success in their future playoff runs?

I believe there can be several factors that go into what set the San Francisco Pride and the Tampa Bay Barracuda apart from the rest of the league. Both teams are effective in both their drafting and trading strategies, keeping themselves one step ahead of the pack by effectively utilizing their assets in the most impactful way possible. Being able to bring in veteran talent with their already stacked rosters keeps them ahead of the curve. Meanwhile, both teams have kept a respectable amount of future picks from the upcoming season 82 draft and onwards.

Tampa Bay has kept their roster well spread out in terms of age, allowing them to slowly rotate aging players in and out as needs be, keeping them in a constant state of stability and competitiveness and allowing them to remain in a comfortable spot for any future trades and draft pick-ups that may come along.

San Francisco on the other hand has begun to age into regression at a more accelerated pace, which may close the future window on a four-peat going into next season. They have a solid number of picks in the draft moving forward but only a single prospect in the pool, which should give them some pause moving into rebuild territory moving forward.

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Quote:12. Expansion is once again a season closer and will potentially lead to each team losing three or four players. How do you think missing these players will impact different teams? Will it knock down the current competitors or maybe mess up the raising challengers? Do you expect those teams be able to recover with the assets available for them or do we finally see free agent movement like never before? What teams you would predict to be in cup contention for S83 and why?

With the four expansion teams heading into season 83, season 82 will be very interesting for everyone involved. Every team on the board will be looking to benefit in it's own way, whether that be amassing draft picks, veteran players, making deals to protect rosters, or offloading aging veterans to help regression on the roster.

That being said, expansion teams also have all types of strategy going into this season and expansion/S83 entry drafts, likely to find themselves in the best possible position to grow and succeed early.

I believe teams like San Francisco, Montreal, Philadelphia, and Seattle have the most to gain here. They have enough ability to move around and wheel and deal some trades that can benefit them early and often, keeping them in a position to show consistent competitiveness and to remain a threat to the league.

On the flip side, teams like Winnipeg, Buffalo, Baltimore and Los Angeles have some ground to lose here if they don't play their cards right. They are all in states of flux right now and one wrong move could spell disaster and force a rebuild they don't want, or necessarily need, without the addition of the expansion draft.

Therefore, to say one team has the more or least to lose is impossible, but any team with the right mindset can win the expansion season.

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Quote:The IIHF has always been known to be hard to predict. Last season saw the 8th seeded Norway win the entire tournament after taking down 2nd seed Ireland, 3rd seed USA and 4th seed France. In season 77, we saw a similar situation with 8th seeded Ireland taking on 6th seeded Japan in the finals. How do you feel about the volatility of the IIHF, do you wish the series were longer so the stronger teams didn’t get upset as much? Or do you prefer the chaos that is single elimination?

I don't believe that I would call competitiveness and the ability to win in clutch situations "volatility" as much as I would use the word 'parity' to describe it. That a team with a low seed/ranking going into the tournament was able to run the playoff gamut and take home the gold medal is a testament to the way the tournament is built, run, coached, and played. Keeping it single elimination adds further excitement, heartbreak, and interest to the tournament as anyone can win that one game to move on or take home a gold on any given day, and that no one team should ever be counted out.

I would point at coaching and GMing being the number one and two factors for how teams perform, react, and fall in the tournament. A single change of roster, strategy, or role of a team or player can cause massive sweeping changes for the team, and those management groups willing to put the time and effort into staying on top have all the ability to win. Meanwhile, teams who are perennially expected to win and do well season after season can fail due to complacency or lack of managerial experience, and that can easily become the downfall of the nation that season.

In summary, things in the IIHF are great, leave it alone, if your country loses, do better next time!

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Quote:15. Written, 50 to 200+ words.- The Procrastinator Special!
Looks like [TEAM] won Season 81 Challenge Cup! So who won and why? What could the other team have done differently to change the result? What was your favorite part of the series?

Wow, the Pride did it again huh? I mean, showing up in a big way and writing 'dynasty' all over the walls is one way to get it done for sure. Tampa Bay fought well but San Francisco had the momentum, the focus, and the passion to end this one, showing one of the more dominant set of seasons we've seen in the league maybe ever. I'm not sure much would have changed that, beyond positive PED tests on players, but that's a whole different issue of sabotage and cloak & dagger tactics we can just leave alone. Congrats to the 3x champs.

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