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Huck24 · 09-01-2020, 04:32 PM

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1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
Reflection on your season - how did your player fare on the ice this season? Did you meet or surpass your individual player goals or did you come up short? Whether you excelled or disappointed - what can you attribute that to? What will you try to do better next season?

Lyle’s season isn’t quite over yet. He and his New Orleans team mates will be playing in the Challenge Cup finals for a second consecutive season. Lyle’s regular season was solid, even though his numbers dipped slightly from last season, but that doesn’t bother him at all. He knew that the trade which brought in Rex Kirkby, one of the best defenders in the entire league, might affect his stats, but Lyle didn’t think twice about it. Rex was going to make the Specters better, that was and is the only thing that matters to Lyle. He has another shot at raising the Challenge Cup with his team mates and being still somewhat early in Lyle’s (this is Lyle’s 5th season in the SHL), so no matter what, he feels that this season has been a huge success. Win or lose, Lyle will be confident in knowing that he has done everything he can to try and help the team win the ultimate prize. What will he try to do better next season? He will try to do this all again, and be once again playing for that beauty cup.

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2. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
This offseason will be extra exciting, as it features the rare expansion draft! Write about how you think the expansion draft will play out, either for one or both of the expansion teams or from an SHL team's perspective.

This is my first expansion experience, I’ve been excited about it since it was first being talked about. It really hit home though, when the protected lists were released. Seeing some of my team mates on that ‘unprotected’ list was rough. And I know every team / player probably felt similar feelings. But I know that which ever Specters are selected, they will make that team better for it. I have no idea how this draft will play out, I know that the last expansion, NOLA was able to create an immediate contender, so much so they made it to the same spot we are in right now, the Challenge Cup finals against Buffalo. I don’t know if that could be a possibility again, but there are definitely some very solid players available, and we have 2 new GMs who seem to be very competent, so anything can really happen. All I know is that with Carrius Darrow available, he should be the hands down first pick, at least that’s what I would do!

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5. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
What are your predictions for the upcoming IIHF or WJC tournament? What team do you think will win/surprise people/be bad/etc.?

Last season, after winning the Challenge Cup, my player went on to join his team Canada team mates and proceeded to win the gold medal in the IIHF tournament. I’m hoping this will go exactly like it did last season! It wasn’t easy last season, there are a whole lotta solid teams playing yet again. USA, Great Britain and Czechia will most likely be making the most noise again, but after last tournament, when team Japan shocked everyone, I think that them and Switzerland will be the other two teams to be fighting for those medals. As for the other end of the spectrum, I think Latvia and Russia will once again struggle against the other nations. A lot can happen in these tournaments though, and as we saw during the last one, the single knock out round could have a huge upset, which no one sees coming. I’m just hoping that doesn’t happen to Team Canada this time around!

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13. Written, up to 4 TPE Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.
a. Both of these teams have stacked defenses - which team do you think has the defensive advantage in this series?

I couldn’t agree more here, the Buffalo defense is the top of the league with Darrow, Selich and Poop but I feel NOLA has had more of an offensive punch with their defenders. I know NOLA has played three more games, but they have gotten 45 points from their backend to Buffalo’s 27 points. At the end day though, this is going to be a tough series, and both these defenses will be put to the test.

b. In the two regular season matchups, each team won once at home. Do you expect the results to reflect a home ice advantage in this series?

I always feel that playing on home ice gives the home team an slight advantage, but looking at our last series against Edmonton (and first round), that wasn’t necessarily the case. NOLA has won 4 games at home and 4 games on the road during these playoffs (including a game 7 win in Edmonton), so, so far it doesn’t home ice advantage doesn’t really seem to be affecting the Specters all that much.

c. Based on FHM player ratings, New Orleans has higher average ratings in bravery, aggression, and fighting? Will that toughness have any impact on this series?

I don’t know all that much about how certain ratings play in to FHM results, but if I just go off on my real world hockey knowledge, bravery, aggression and fighting will most definitely have an impact on the series. But that impact could be good or bad. If NOLA plays too aggressive, they may end up short handed, which with Buffalo’s firepower may really hurt us in the long run. But if we dominate to game physically, we could control the flow of the game. So, will these ratings impact the series? Yes, but to who’s advantage is still up in the air.

e. There are several animal names in this series - which of these animals is the coolest? sloth, hippo, otter, monkey, fox, kirby.

Gotta go with the sloth here. Not only is sloth one of my favourite Phish tracks, they are also pretty rad animals. If I could go through life at the same pace as a sloth, I would be a happy man. Nothing against the other animals (and non animals) listed here, they are all cool in their own right, but I’ve always had a soft spot for sloths, and that includes Jimmy Slothface.

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16. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is now 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.

Tuesday

*traphag* · 09-01-2020, 04:35 PM

PBE +3

1:

It was Alex's second season in the SHL and one that came with a bit of team turmoil. Despite all the distractions with management changes, Alex did what he set out to do: steadily improve from last season. He did his part to make his team better, particularly on the power play where he got three of his five goals on the year. This is an area where he really shined as part of the Anaheim Outlaws so it was good to see the team play to his strengths. He also was able to show his skills as a passer and a shot blocker, a true two way threat. Alex will, as he always does, work as hard as he can to keep improving and do whatever the team asks him to. The next couple of seasons will be true rebuilding years and could be tough to swallow, but Alex hopes to be one of the bright spots for Pride fans. (161 words.)

2:

From the perspective of the San Francisco Pride, the expansion draft won't hurt us as much as some simply because we have fewer players that we have a strong desire to keep. There will be some assets for the expansion teams to take away from us for sure, but we'll still have the beginnings of a strong core in place. I am a bit surprised that we chose to keep aging goalie Geezus Kryyst over a very promising prospect like Kriss Darzins. I guess the hope is we'll finally put the old guy in the net for a few games next seasons, but Kriss has been a steady updater that an expansion team will be more than happy to scoop up. Perhaps we were otherwise too stacked at his position or something. I know very little about the inner workings of these things, which is why I'm not a GM. Regardless, the Pride isn't presently in great shape and it seems that the expansion draft won't impact that by much. It's quite likely these expansion teams will be better than the Pride next year, but I'm hopeful we'll make up some ground in the next few seasons. Despite all the turmoil, I have faith in this team. (207 words.)

13:

a. There is a lot of defensive talent on both sides of the puck, but I have to give the nod to Buffalo here. With a guy like Poopity Scoop who is one of the premier defenders in the league leading the way, it's going to be tough for NOLA on the offensive end. This will be a hard fought battle for sure.

b. I think home ice advantage will be extremely important in this series. The fans for both teams are very loud and fiercely loyal, and that atmosphere is going to be very tough for the opposing teams. Each team is going to have to get things done on their home ice if they want any chance of taking home the cup.

d. I already mentioned Poopity Scoop. I should be a mature human being and not enjoy a name that is meant to make young children giggle. However, it seems that I am a child at heart who enjoys the occasional poop joke. So the name makes me giggle, and I need things to giggle about in These Times. So Poopity Scoop it is.

e. I feel that of the animals listed the monkey is probably the coolest because of how primates are so similar to humans yet not. Like, imagine if we were that hairy and just walked around swinging on things and eating bananas and stuff. I feel like being more like monkeys might be good for our society in some ways, but occasionally I feel depressed and feel like we couldn't possibly do any worse so anything would be an improvement. OK, this is getting dark for a championship week response so I apologize. Basically, I think monkeys are cool and on the rare occasion I go to the zoo I find them fascinating to watch.

16: boom

Bruins10 · 09-01-2020, 04:49 PM

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1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

Reflection on your season - how did your player fare on the ice this season? Did you meet or surpass your individual player goals or did you come up short? Whether you excelled or disappointed - what can you attribute that to? What will you try to do better next season?

This year was a major step forward for Kaspars Claude in the regular season. In regards to the playoffs, I am always pleased with the way he produces in the sim. He has won trophies, he has won championships and always seems to perform well when the games matter. But in the regular season, when you see your player getting picked a lot in the fantasy section, thats when you know you doing something right. Putting up 36 points as a defenseman, one goal shy of leading defenseman in goals this season is an accomplishment in my book. Especially when you compare the performance to last season, where Claude put up only 25 points and 7 goals. He was able to more than double the goals scored and have 11 more points all in the time of one season? The next thing is going to be to increase the amount of shots blocked and the hits I can put up on the stat line, to become a dominant fantasy player and to have that big presence on the ice aswell.

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2. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

This offseason will be extra exciting, as it features the rare expansion draft! Write about how you think the expansion draft will play out, either for one or both of the expansion teams or from an SHL team's perspective.

I really have a feeling that the expansion draft will be polar opposites when the two teams finish selecting. The league being transparent with the protection lists makes it just so much more exciting from the get go. But looking at these lists, some great names and players were left availble to be picked up. Now, you look at the general Managers and the players they have, they are in two different stages that is forsure. Hotdog has Eko Van Otter coming over from Buffalo automatically and will be entering or have already entered the prime years of his players career. Selecting players that are closer to his age group that will give him a chance to win now might be a better idea for hotdog, so players like Aleister Cain and Cassius Darrow would be very interesting for the Atlanta Inferno. Looking at the Seattle Argonauts, Notorioustig is coming with Tig Murphy who is a lot older and if i remember correctly, playing out one more season before he recreates with someone else. He has also acquired some extra 1st round picks in the upcoming draft. All this points to me seeing him go for a little bit of a younger team that will be ready in a couple seasons from now. Alexander Roach, Clean Kostitsyn, Keith Lee, Kaarlo Kekkonen, Alexander Wachter would maybe fit the time line for the Argonauts better. All in all, going to be super exciting to see how the players get selected and then it will make for an even more interesting Free Agency period, with major players admitting that they want to test the market.

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7. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.) The two finals teams have decided to team up for a fundraising opportunity to benefit both cities. What noble cause will the teams decide to benefit? What sort of fundraiser will the teams hold together? How will the two teams mesh before the finals start?

Honestly, where can we even start? 2020 as a whole has been one screwed up calendar year and I think that so many people can really use the aid from a fundraiser. Looking at the world right now, you have the Black Lives Matter protesting and the unfortunate events of people being murdered and gun downed. Whether it is from police officers or a teenager, it is not something that you want to see happen. I will not bring up any more of the political stuff going on in the world, but I think that is where the money is needed the most right now. For the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery and Trayvon Martin and Jacob Blake, I think they are the ones that are grieving the most and will have expenses to pay for the funerals and even for the hospital bills. I know that if the money would be given to them, the money would be put in safe hands and would be put to good use.

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13. Written, up to 4 TPE Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.

a. Both of these teams have stacked defenses - which team do you think has the defensive advantage in this series?

b. In the two regular season matchups, each team won once at home. Do you expect the results to reflect a home ice advantage in this series?

c. Based on FHM player ratings, New Orleans has higher average ratings in bravery, aggression, and fighting? Will that toughness have any impact on this series?

d. What is your favorite name from a player appearing in this series? Why do you like that player's name?

e. There are several animal names in this series - which of these animals is the coolest? sloth, hippo, otter, monkey, fox, kirby.

a) I am going to use the logic of being biased and go with the New Orleans Specters. With the way that Kaspars Claude, Lyle Odelein, and Rex Kirkby have been playing, no matter which one is on the ice, a difference will be made. They can be paired or they can be separated and they still get the job done
b) It is tough to say, because if you go based on that logic, we are going to be going to a Game 7 and would end up making the Stampede the winners. But in the case of a game 7, literally anything can happen, Any team can be any team in one game, so I hope it does go to that point and we have ourselves an entertaining finals.
c) It is the playoffs baby! That is all that needs to be said, and that is where the players make the difference. We are here to play playoff hockey and we are here to watch playoff hockey, and that is what the Specters do. Yeah, they might be useless stats in the regular season. But now that the games count like they do, they can make a huge difference on the ice for us.
e) Kirby is the coolest forsure. Just because he can become any other animal on that list if he really wants to. He can swallow him and spit him out and absorb their powers. Hopefully Rex does that on the ice and takes up all the ratings on the ice for himself and can just be one dominant player. Atleast it would take the weight off my shoulders a bit.

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16. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is now 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: Mondial

Toast · 09-01-2020, 05:07 PM

Code:
1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

Reflection on your season - how did your player fare on the ice this season? Did you meet or surpass your individual player goals or did you come up short? Whether you excelled or disappointed - what can you attribute that to? What will you try to do better next season?

Going into my third season with the Newfoundland Berserkers, my expectations were high. Jukka Timone moved on to the SHL and I strongly felt that I was going to be relied upon as the top guy, but that didn't end up happening.

Jack Klompus was used as more of defensive guy and put up decent numbers point wise but I was awfully surprised at how good he was defensively this time around. In the off-season I worked on his offensive stats to even him out some more so it surprised me when he was putting his body on the line more and blocking more shots than almost anyone on the team.

Overall, I feel as though Klompus was really a guy that Newfoundland could count on for some solid play. It wasn't anything spectacular, but he got the job done and was a solid part of the team.

Going into the next season there is a big question of if I will go to the SHL. If that's the case, then we have a whole bunch of TPE to play with and I will definitely focus on defense before offense to make sure I'm not just holding Minnesota back. If I stay in Newfoundland it's going to be redistributing some points and hopefully becoming more of an offensive presence.

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219

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2. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

This offseason will be extra exciting, as it features the rare expansion draft! Write about how you think the expansion draft will play out, either for one or both of the expansion teams or from an SHL team's perspective.

I think I am more interested in seeing which players are going to be taken from the teams rather than who are the expansion teams going to select. My eyes right now are on New England and two players of interest, even if neither of them get selected.

Igor Volkov has one of the most out-spoken player agents in the league, fighting for everyone to behave themselves and hold themselves to the standard that a major league should (not that many agree with this). Volkov entered the spotlight last season when he publicly demanded a trade from the Minnesota Chiefs to go to a team who would have a post-season run. New England picked up the defender for a low cost and placed him on the third pairing.

Fast forward a season and the defender now finds himself hurt as his new team has determined him to be expendable. Is there an expansion team willing to take on this play and his out-spoken agent?

The other interesting player is Andrei Kostitsyn. Clean has been an icon in the SMJHL for the Berserkers in his quest to find his brother and now he finds himself as one of the rare S53s that are up for grabs.

The interesting thing here is his public updating protest since the firing of Ace. Is there an expansion team willing to take on this prospect?

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230

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4. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)

Which SHL or SMJHL team was the best team to not make the finals this season and why?

The Edmonton Blizzard are the best team to not make the Finals, without a doubt. Through various tests, this team time and time again stood tall above the rest and on paper looked like a favourite to win it all.

FHM seems to take any knowledge that we pretend to have with how things will play out though and throws that out the window. I gambled on Edmonton winning the Cup and now I'm going to lose TPE over that but that is not the reason I write this. I think they have a very strong roster and easily could have been the #1 team.

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105

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6. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.) The world's hottest app is TikTok - which SHL or SMJHL player would have the biggest following on TikTok? What do they post there?

The world's hottest app is not something that has caught the attention of Jack Klompus, however it is something that has caught on in the Newfoundland locker room.

Andrei announced that he was leaving when the team had a week off to go on a camping adventure and that he would post updates on TikTok?

The guys were delighted every time to find the oddest TikToks anyone has ever seen. Andrei did not attempt to dance in any of these clips but he did send some questionable videos on how to pitch tents and running through a forest screaming "SERGEI," which was terrifying... but entertaining.

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105

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7. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.) The two finals teams have decided to team up for a fundraising opportunity to benefit both cities. What noble cause will the teams decide to benefit? What sort of fundraiser will the teams hold together? How will the two teams mesh before the finals start?

I would love to see some sort of mock-up of New Orleans and Buffalo coming together to take a stand for the Black Lives Matter movement. In a time where the news is getting more and more depressing by the week, imagining these two teams coming together for some sort of benefit brings a smile to my face.

The Hockey Diversity Alliance had some fantastic ideas which I would love to see here. Painting the blue lines black with a BLM logo on the ice to bring simple awareness to some viewers would be a fantastic start as well as a donation from each team to get this whole movement going for the SHL.

The teams could have some sort of virtual Finals festival for fans to take part in. A look into the team's locker rooms in both cities, interviews with players and staff, stuff like that to give people incentive to pay to attend. All proceeds could then go to any hockey development programs in the two cities and anti-racism programs. The SHL community came together to take a stand and to see the two teams in the Finals continue that fight would be something as a member of the community that I would be very proud of.

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210

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16. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is now 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.

Toast

**The__Y-man__100** · 09-01-2020, 07:36 PM

Code:
1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

Reflection on your season - how did your player fare on the ice this season? Did you meet or surpass your individual player goals or did you come up short? Whether you excelled or disappointed - what can you attribute that to? What will you try to do better next season?

Boris has had about an average year with his new team in New Orleans. Hitting the 10 goal mark was no surprise for Boris as that is what he tends to do (career high GWG i might add as well). Slightly lower on the assist count this year as Boris has averaged 25 over the last few seasons, but for whatever reason only got 17 in the regular season. what's funny though is Boris has 11 assists in the playoffs so far (2nd most on the team) so it is clear that he did not let his regular season struggles get to him as he has been picking up his game when he needed to. while nothing will ever beat the +/- rating of S53, Boris has a +15 this year which indicates while he might not be the flashiest player, he definitely knows how to play efficient with the puck.

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2. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

This offseason will be extra exciting, as it features the rare expansion draft! Write about how you think the expansion draft will play out, either for one or both of the expansion teams or from an SHL team's perspective.

I have said it once and I will say it again, I have full confidence that @hotdog will succeed with his team. His time in new England was very valuable as he learned a lot from one of the "grandfathers" of the site and with time hopefully comes wisdom. Not to mention the great work he has done leading the PT department, I feel he can only go up in his on site accomplishments. I feel if he wants to build a young team with potential, or snag up all the older dudes to make a push now, he will succeed regardless as he is not one to make a half ass plan. The big thing I am interested in seeing is who he takes as his goaltender. With a lot of big names on that board both old and young, I feel this specific pick will be a huge factor in how the rest of his draft goes.

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3. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)

It's too late for this go-around of expansion, so hypothetically - should there be SHL franchises in other continents? I saw some interesting European proposals in the PT. Should these - or proposals for any other continent that's not North America -

become a reality in the SHL?

For the purpose or realism, I am going to go against this idea. Don't get me wrong, myself being Ukrainian there is nothing more that I want to see then getting an on site team to be located in Ukraine or one of the slavic nations. However from a financial and time zone stand point, it is just something that you would never see in the real world as the home team would have a ridiculously unfair advantage. Now I know this is just an online site so people should be allowed to be creative, but still, I feel like some lines cannot be crossed

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5. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

What are your predictions for the upcoming IIHF or WJC tournament? What team do you think will win/surprise people/be bad/etc.?

I feel like Latvia still has another year or so to build. After beginning a hardcore rebuild last off season where we saw this once great nation only win one game, a lot of building blocks have been added with regards to young talent. HoF accounts and promising prospects have joined the team, but everyone is still so young, realistically half of our forwards are still in the SMJHL for one more season (so they are not using an uncapped build). While the future does look bright, the team is not yet a medal contender unless certain players unexpectedly go off in this tournament. One big boost will be the addition of a reliable goaltender in Thor Odinson. While Hronch is an elite goaltender, it is impossible for one guy to play the whole tournament. Our backup last season finished with a 72 save percentage... that is pretty ugly and makes it very hard to win game.

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16. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is now 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.

NOLA

14 TPE

First ever Yukon Malamute draft pick (1st overall S65)

Zema · 09-01-2020, 08:27 PM

1. Reflections (3 TPE, 170 words)
After a rookie season with 18 points over 50 games, the expectations had increased for recent 8th overall SHL draft pick Alex Oscarsson. And he had a regular season to remember 37 points in his sophmore campaign became the total after dropping off towards the middle after an insane start to the season. The newly appointed assistant captain of the Maine Timber played on a beautiful line with Kyle Sutton and Patrick Shepherd for the bigger part of the season establishing themselves as a top tier line in the league.

As for next season, there will be some big shoes to fill both on and off the ice. The two other players in the captains trio MAS and Valentin Kalashnikov are both set to leave for the big leagues, creating a huge hole on the team. You will also see newly acquired Rikard Hammerberg get promoted. For Alex, he needs to step up even more when it comes to the off-ice part to make sure the semi-finalists stay on top.

2. Expansion draft (3 TPE, 155 words)
For the expansion draft it will become very interesting to see what Atlanta does. Hotdog has a huge history with New England, so who will he choose from over there? One of the best dmen in the league got left exposed by Buffalo. Will Seattle take a shot at him? Or is the brilliant talent of Alexander Roach too much of a draw?

The most important things for these expansion teams are finding the right people to start building the right culture. With both the expansion draft and the regular draft coming up, they'll have a ton of difficult choices to make.

I can see Atlanta looking to become more competitive earlier. Having Eko Van Otter on the team is an insane boost to anyone, especially for an expansion team. At earliest we are still talking 5-6 seasons for Atlanta, while you can probably expect to see Seattle fully contending by season 7 or 8.

3. SHL expansions overseas? (2 TPE, 109 words)
I would love to see some overseas expansions for the novelty of it. But there are still some good locations around the US and Canada to be explored before that, and it should only be done if the expansion bid is a clear tier above anything else.

The hardest thing to pin down is where do they play? Will they play over at their European country of origin, or will they have a remote location in North America where they play some games? Homestands maybe? I think there are more logistical role playing things to be figured out before we can see it as a reality for the SHL.

5. IIHF/WJC (3 TPE, 154 words)
I'm gonna be a boring homer and answer Sweden on both questions.

For the IIHF, I think they have one of the most exciting rosters that is still up and coming. Some players in their prime of course, but this is a team that will only get better. Lead by Ola Wagstrom offensively, they can definitely turn it on at a moments notice.

As for the WJC, we saw some graduates go out last year. Most notably, Sven Yxskaft and Taylor Johansson. But, this is still a team that you can count on. You will see Rikard Bjerg and DuBölk take bigger responsibilities on the ice, and Hammerberg looking to be the leading offensive player beside his Maine partner Oscarsson. You also have Sven Svenson, Kwame Dakari and others to lead the charge offensively. Jerry Huuveri will once again stand in net, looking to take revenge for last years untimely defeat in the quarterfinals.

6. TikTok (2 TPE, 101 words)
I think there is only one answer to this, and it's gotta be (clean) Andrei Kostitsyn. The guy is a character beyond belief, and has made himself a name around the league as an extremely humble, unique personality that is not afraid of the spotlight. Most of his content would of course be about finding the current origins of his brother Sergei, but I don't think there is anyone out there denying their willingness to hear about that.
Clean would bring in so many new viewers to the SHL just from his incredible following coming from TikTok. Andrei leads the way.

16. CW Trivia (3 TPE)
milk

***notorioustig*** · 09-01-2020, 10:26 PM

Task 1:

It was a disappointing season in a few ways for Tig Murphy. After a hot start that saw him pick up 11 points in just 14 games, his offense completely stalled. The perennail 30+ point defender would finish with just 29, failing to reach the 30-point plateau for the first time since his 11 point rookie season. All the more heartbreaking was that, with the news that Murphy will be moving on from the Steelhawks this offseason, he finished with 397 points in his career as a Steelhawk, just three points shy of a major milestone. While the team was once again strong and especially so with the addition of Guy Zheng on the back-end, Murphy's performance was definitely lacklustre and perhaps a sign that his best days are now behind him. With that said, he did bring his best in the playoffs, putting up 8 points in 12 games, including the game winning goal in an elimination game versus Manhattan.

Task 16:

argos

Task 6:

If anyone on these teams was going to be a TikTok star, it would without question be Augustus Wang @Ferda. Most of his content would be him working out shirtless in front of a mirror, never once looking at or addressing the camera. Despite this, his TikToks would consistently deliver some of the highest interaction rates with the user base. He would use this to amass a large following of preteens that would do his bidding, like dox opposing players and harass his enemies. Some of his workout videos would even be turned into TikTok "challenges," where fans would try to recreate his emotionless exercises into some sort of dance.

Task 3:

This is an interesting question because there are a couple of different ways you can approach it. In theory, we are attempting to make the league, its teams, and it's locations as accurate to real-life as possible (although there are some exceptions, it's typically the kind where a junior team plays in a major hockey market rather than a small hockey market having a major league team). This is good because of the improved immersion aspect, and it does make the league feel more real rather than a crazy fantasy scenario that would never occur in real life. It's definitely the side I would come down on myself. However, there is also the argument that because none of this is real, especially something like travel restrictions and budgetary concerns, major hockey markets in Europe should be in play. We do have a number of Europeans on the site and it can be argued that representing that part of the world has some merit.

Task 2:

The expansion draft is definitely going to be interesting, and I know it's certainly forced me to work hard to prepare. I've said this on a couple of podcasts at this point, but I think it's very difficult to predict how things are going to play out. Neither myself or hotdog knows how the other will be approaching the draft and there is realistically not enough talent available in the draft to create two competitive teams. It could play out that both GMs attempt to build slowly and prioritize youth, or it could be a dash to accumulate as many above average SHL players as possible from the start. Alternately, we could see a scenario where one GM feels they want to compete sooner and the other intends to take a slower approach, thus leading to them mostly staying out of each other's way. More likely is a combination of both, where both GMs have a shortlist and try to get their most prioritized pieces early and then fill out from there.

Task 13:

a) I think it's pretty clear that the high end of Buffalo's defense is just a little bit higher, and their low end is fairly comparable. The top three group of Cassius Darrow, Poopity Scoop, and Alex Selich are an insane trio, but younger players like Augustus Wang and Nicholas Owens are more than capable of holding their own on the biggest stage. While NOLA's defense is close, I ultimately think Buffalo's is just a little bit better.

e. I think I have to say that a hippo is the coolest animal of the ones listed. They're huge, they're strong, they can swim fast, they will fuck you up at a moment's notice, and they're probably the only one of those animals that could be considered to be intimidating. Plus I've always found the name Hippo Passamus to be very amusing, so how could it be anyone other than my dear friend @Mayuu?

*AgentSmith630* · 09-01-2020, 10:58 PM

Code:
16. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is now 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.

Bjerg

Code:
5. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

What are your predictions for the upcoming IIHF or WJC tournament? What team do you think will win/surprise people/be bad/etc.?

It's hard not to think of the USA dominating the IIHF tournament again this year, but with their surprise early exit in the first round of elimination, we can only hope (as a player who roots for a different team in their group Sweden

), that it can be shown that they are not as dominant as everyone thinks. There are several teams that could challenge them this year, such as Japan (the team that knocked them out last year), Sweden, Czechia, Austria, and Great Britian. Some other teams might show some challenge, but they'll need a few more seasons before they're ready to take on the perennial powerhouse of the USA IIHF team.

On the other side of the spectrum is Russia, who, from sources I've talked to, seems to be struggling with recruiting and activity. Unless something or someone can turn them around soon, they’re in for a long hard road in the upcoming seasons. Has a country ever been relegated from the IIHF tournament? It could be that, if it’s possible and the turn around doesn’t happen, that this might become a reality for Russia.

187 Words

Code:
3. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)

It's too late for this go-around of expansion, so hypothetically - should there be SHL franchises in other continents? I saw some interesting European proposals in the PT. Should these - or proposals for any other continent that's not North America -

become a reality in the SHL?

It would be extremely interesting to have a team, or multiple teams, on different continents. As far as I know, FHM doesn’t punish long distance travel for teams, so flying across the ocean to play a few games should have no noticeable effect in game. If we were to consider this in-fiction, it would be hard to only have one or two teams on different continents, as the amount of travelling would make it prohibitively expensive. I could see a European Division take shape if there was enough growth and demand in the SHL to have multiple teams across the Atlantic. They could play each other most often, with inter-divisional games coming in clumps so that travel isn’t a huge factor. I would liken it to the NFL playing games in London. First you have games from teams based in North America to judge interest and build fanbases, then, slowly, you look for options for a multiple team expansion so that a division can be created.

166 Words

Code:
1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

Reflection on your season - how did your player fare on the ice this season? Did you meet or surpass your individual player goals or did you come up short? Whether you excelled or disappointed - what can you attribute that to? What will you try to do better next season?

Bjerg had a decent season, and was more present on the scoreboard compared to his rookie season (S54: 3G | 8A | -15, S55: 5G | 9A | +2). He doesn’t look at his offensive numbers when deciding on if he improved this season though, since he considers himself a Shutdown Defenseman. With 65 Hits, 66 Shots Blocked, and a DGR average of 69 (nice) this season, he unfortunately only saw improvement in his DGR average, as he had 74 Hits, 68 Shots Blocked, and a DGR of 64 last season. He attributes that to the increased pressure of moving up to the second line of defense and being relied on more heavily this season than last (19:42 TOI last season and 20:43 TOI this season), as well as being an integral part of the PK unit, averaging 2:41 of Shorthanded Time this year. He’s looking forward to some big improvement this offseason (moving to the 425 Cap instead of 350), and he’ll have some big shoes to fill, with Mikkel Asmus Sondergard and Valentin Kalashnikov both likely moving up to the SHL, leaving the top line of the Timber defense open for him and his classmates.

196 Words

Code:
2. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

This offseason will be extra exciting, as it features the rare expansion draft! Write about how you think the expansion draft will play out, either for one or both of the expansion teams or from an SHL team's perspective.

As someone who has the opportunity to be on the inside of the War Room of an SHL team (SFP), expansion drafts are a tough piece of business. Not only can you not protect everyone who helps make the locker room a fun and engaging place to be, but as a team in a rebuilding phase with a new GM, it can be difficult to lose any players who can help keep the team afloat during the rebuild. Picking who to expose and who to protect is one of the most difficult choices a GM can have to make, as players might not necessarily appreciate the fact that they’re being exposed. There’s always a strategy behind the GM’s decisions, but for players who feel like they’re being left out in the cold, it can be hard to see what that strategy is. The league needed this expansion to relieve some of the pressure from an influx of players in the last few seasons, so I’m excited to see how they can perform in their first season. Hopefully they’re more of a QCC, making the playoffs in their first season, than an NBB, who played well but ultimately fell short.

199 Words

Code:
13. Written, up to 4 TPE Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.

c. Based on FHM player ratings, New Orleans has higher average ratings in bravery, aggression, and fighting? Will that toughness have any impact on this series?

e. There are several animal names in this series - which of these animals is the coolest? sloth, hippo, otter, monkey, fox, kirby.

C. I don’t think toughness will have an impact on this series unless either team decides to get down and dirty with their tactics, calling for their players to drop gloves at the slightest provocation. It’s possible that if one team falls behind, they could try and cheese out a win this way, but hopefully we see a clean series, and nothing too out of hand takes place. (67 Words)

E. Well, the fact that Kirby is an all-consuming force from outer space automatically makes him the coolest animal. He can consume anything, take the powers of whatever he can consume, and is virtually indestructible. Not only could Kirby eat/absorb all the other animals in this list, it wouldn’t even be a challenge. (53 Words)

*fishy* · 09-02-2020, 12:05 AM

Quote:1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
Reflection on your season - how did your player fare on the ice this season? Did you meet or surpass your individual player goals or did you come up short? Whether you excelled or disappointed - what can you attribute that to? What will you try to do better next season?

Aron Hernadivic fell a little bit short of personal expectations this season, with his stats across the board taking a dip compared to the season prior. Much of this can be attributed to the preseason acquisition of Joe Kurzcewski, a wily veteran whose best days are behind him. The downgrade from Nicolaj Muller, who put up a 40 point season on the wing across from Hernadivic in S54, to Joe, who Aron had to establish chemistry with, led to poor results for Buffalo's third line, and played a part into Buffalo's acquisition of Eko Van Otter, which allowed Viktor Marius to slide down onto the third line. Marius helped reignite the third line's spark, allowing Hernadivic to flourish like the season prior. Although this season was a disappointment personally, Hernadivic is a true team first player, and Buffalo has made their first cup run with Hernadivic this season. A win over the Specters in the finals is the ultimate goal, and is the only thing Aron truly cares about. (169 words, +3)

Quote:3. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)
It's too late for this go-around of expansion, so hypothetically - should there be SHL franchises in other continents? I saw some interesting European proposals in the PT. Should these - or proposals for any other continent that's not North America -
become a reality in the SHL?

No, no team should be in Europe until the potential markets in North America are all saturated. Look at the number of available elite hockey destinations still available for future SHL and SMJHL teams - Ottawa, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Cleveland, Kansas City, Saskatoon, etc. Until North America is over saturated with SHL teams, we should keep the teams within N.America to provide more realism. Expanding into Europe isn't an awful idea, but we would need to expand 3-4 teams to Europe in order to ensure they have their own division. If its only 1-2 teams, they would have trouble attracting free agents due to the extensive travel theyd have to endure. (110 words, +2)

Quote:4. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)
Which SHL or SMJHL team was the best team to not make the finals this season and why?

As much as I'd love to put Hamilton or Chicago in this spot, the only answer for this is the team that tied wth the President's Trophy winning Buffalo Stampede - the Edmonton Blizzard. Edmonton had some dismal performances upon going up 3-2 over New Orleans in the Western Conference final, blowing this lead and losing late in Game 7 to the Specters. The Blizzard were dominant in the regular season, only losing out on the President's Trophy because Buffalo had a superior goal differential. This was an all-in season from the Blizzard, and they only have a Western Conference Finals appearance for their gamble. With Theo Morgan rumoured to be heading out of town, and Bo Kane heading to free agency, the Blizzard could look drastically different next season. (129 words, +2)

Quote:6. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.) The world's hottest app is TikTok - which SHL or SMJHL player would have the biggest following on TikTok? What do they post there?

I think its a no brainer that Buffalo would be the most popular team on tiktok, 1. their on-ice success attracts all the bandwagoner fans, which is helped due to their elite logo and branding. Additionally, Buffalo is home to super stud defenceman Augustus Wang, and the man with all the hair, Steve Harrington. These two would be a hit with all the young folk on tiktok, and would be competing with one another for the biggest tiktok following. As each of these players, especially Harrington, are both young and hip and hot they would be super popular. Wang would be wise to use tiktok to further the potential of his weed brand. (113 words, +2)

Quote:13. Written, up to 4 TPE Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.
a. Both of these teams have stacked defenses - which team do you think has the defensive advantage in this series?
b. In the two regular season matchups, each team won once at home. Do you expect the results to reflect a home ice advantage in this series?
c. Based on FHM player ratings, New Orleans has higher average ratings in bravery, aggression, and fighting? Will that toughness have any impact on this series?
d. What is your favorite name from a player appearing in this series? Why do you like that player's name?
e. There are several animal names in this series - which of these animals is the coolest? sloth, hippo, otter, monkey, fox, kirby.

a. As the series showed, Buffalo was one of the most complete teams in recent SHL history, dominating each team they played on their way to the Challenge Cup. The only bright spot for New Orleans was the play of Alestair Cain, who singlehandedly prevented his team from getting blown out. Buffalo's ability to suppress NOLA's offence to the tune of about only 25 shots a game showed Buffalo's defence was way superior. (72)
b. As the series went along, with Buffalo winning their first two on home ice, followed by NOLA winning the next two on their own ice, home ice advantage mattered. As each team lost a game on home ice, Buffalo having line matching combos in Game 7 due to being President's Trophy winners, ended up mattering as the Stampede won the series on their home ice. (65)
c. Toughness did have a play, as NOLA played by far their best game of the series in Game 7 when they focused on a more physical brand of hockey, trying to aggressively forecheck the Stampede into oblivion. This however ended up wearing the Specters down themselves, as they couldn't keep up with the Stampede and captain Monkey D Luffy in overtime.(61)
d. The coolest animal was none of those mentioned above, it is actually Aron "Fish" Hernadivic. Fish, as seen through his Wang's Kush sponsorship, is one of the best dressed users on the site, wearing only the coolest, sickest clothes, and driving the coolest, sickest cars. Pretty fly shit from a fish. This snub shall not be forgotten. (Monkey D Luffy also cool for scoring the Cup winning goal). (68)
(+4)

Quote:16. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is now 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.

Word: pls, +3

mee · 09-02-2020, 12:39 AM

16 TPE.

Code:
1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

Reflection on your season - how did your player fare on the ice this season? Did you meet or surpass your individual player goals or did you come up short? Whether you excelled or disappointed - what can you attribute that to? What will you try to do better next season?

Johnny Shuffleboard had a solid season, turning in a total of 19 points. This was a slight downturn from last season's 21 and that was unfortunate. All in all, Shuffleboard was hoping he'd take a larger step forward than he did. His lack of a step forward was made up for in team success as the team went from missing the playoffs to sweeping away the first round before falling in the second.

Shuffleboard improved his defense quite a bit, his plus/minus stat went from minus 25 to minus 1. Will still on the wrong side of things this vast improvement does show some of the work he put in over the off season improving his defensive game. Defense is an under appreciated part of every game, and hockey is no exception. Putting in the hard work even for something nobody notices shows Shuffleboard is interested in being a better team player.
(153 words)

Code:

Code:
3. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)

It's too late for this go-around of expansion, so hypothetically - should there be SHL franchises in other continents? I saw some interesting European proposals in the PT. Should these - or proposals for any other continent that's not North America -

become a reality in the SHL?

It is not a good idea to expand out of North America. Travelling is a very difficult part of being a professional athlete. The NFL plays games in London every season, MLB did so for the 2019 season, and they have to factor in getting teams enough rest on both sides of the journey. Now imagine a team which has to constantly fly the Atlantic to go play teams? I'm not sure how Anchorage got approved for the same reason. For the sake of the players it is not a good idea to have international teams, the travel would be too taxing.
(102 words)

Code:

Code:
4. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)

Which SHL or SMJHL team was the best team to not make the finals this season and why?

The Carolina Kraken where by far and away the best team to now make the SMJHL finals. They finished with the number two seed and easily swept away the Vancouver Whalers in their first playoff matchup. Yet, due to some crazy insane rule they had to face off with Newfoundland in the semi final. This coming despite the fact that Newfoundland was the number one seed and Carolina was the number two seed. The Kraken likely would have demolished the Timber or the Knights in the semis. The true championship was played in the semi final. And now the Timber will face a more tired Newfoundland team and may pull an upset. A terrible bracket rule leads to an unfair result.

{121 word}

Code:
5. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

What are your predictions for the upcoming IIHF or WJC tournament? What team do you think will win/surprise people/be bad/etc.?

I will boldly proclaim that the United States of America will once again win the WJC gold. Not bold enough? Remember how hard it always is to go back to back in anything. The USA team always has a target on their back, but it's more now, coming in as the defending champs. And it's time for a Johnny Shuffleboard coming out party. He scored his first SMJHL goal in a WJC (S53 for Team World) and it's time for him to show the world how much of a more complete player he became over his second season in the SMJHL. Look for Shuffleboard to put up a point per game in the tournament. OK, that's unlikely to happen, but Shuffleboard is at this point good enough to avoid being a minus player out there, which for him would be a big positive. Even without him, the States are poised for another long run.

Code:

Code:
6. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.) The world's hottest app is TikTok - which SHL or SMJHL player would have the biggest following on TikTok? What do they post there?

Without a question it would be Name Redacted from the Vancouver Whalers. His posts would usually be lame memes, but his whole name change saga likely would have garnished a worldwide following just like the virus he was originally named after. Every now and then he'd have a solid funny meme but it would likely cross some kind of line and he'd have to change it to meme redacted. As this continues to happen it would become a joke no different than his current name. His following would spread like a wildfire, like a pandemic spreading to all corners of the world.

(102 words)

Code:

Code:
13. Written, up to 4 TPE Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.

a. Both of these teams have stacked defenses - which team do you think has the defensive advantage in this series?

b. In the two regular season matchups, each team won once at home. Do you expect the results to reflect a home ice advantage in this series?

c. Based on FHM player ratings, New Orleans has higher average ratings in bravery, aggression, and fighting? Will that toughness have any impact on this series?

d. What is your favorite name from a player appearing in this series? Why do you like that player's name?

e. There are several animal names in this series - which of these animals is the coolest? sloth, hippo, otter, monkey, fox, kirby.

c)Grit isn't actually a real stat. It is some made up intangible that somebody once decided sounds cool. We hear about how gritty a team may be all the time. But hockey is a game of skill. Wasting ability in bravery, aggression, and fighting that could have been used for skill will actually hurt New Orleans. (56 words)

Code:
16. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is now 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.

shuff

*Tomen* · 09-02-2020, 04:24 AM

PT Pass claim

Thank you all for the amazing sigs & player cards
Germany

3. Buffalo Stampede , Eduard Selich 5 (Maximilian Wachter, Alexis Metzler) at 16:25
5. Buffalo Stampede , Eduard Selich 6 (Steven Stamkos Jr., Brynjar Tusk) at 19:48
8. Buffalo Stampede , Eduard Selich 7 (Brynjar Tusk, Alexis Metzler) at 13:55
9. Buffalo Stampede , Eduard Selich 8 (Anton Fedorov, Mikelis Grundmanis) at 15:12
10. Buffalo Stampede , Eduard Selich 9 (Dickie Pecker) at 19:43 (Empty Net)

C9Van · 09-02-2020, 05:10 AM

PBE Welfare/Affiliate + 3 TPE

Code:
1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

Reflection on your season - how did your player fare on the ice this season? Did you meet or surpass your individual player goals or did you come up short? Whether you excelled or disappointed - what can you attribute that to? What will you try to do better next season?

This season was pretty damn good for me. I finally started on the 1st line of a team and was pretty damn good. I ended up making the Edmonton Blizzard record books and the only sad statistic I can give myself is the fact I was 1 goal off 20 goals. I am mainly a passing player mind so that is not exactly an awful thing but to really be making a case of how fucking good Jon Forty-One finally is, is great to see happen. I am now one of the better players in my shitty draft class and proving all of the dicks in minors wrong. The Whalers are still cursed and overall it is great to see me max earn.

I kinda stopped caring about anything other than Great Britain and personal stats for the Blizzard cause I want to become one of their best ever players and closing in on the top 50 already. So yeah, overall pretty good.

[163 words]

Code:
5. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

What are your predictions for the upcoming IIHF or WJC tournament? What team do you think will win/surprise people/be bad/etc.?

I think the United States will once again choke to get to medals. Now this is a bold statement sure since they usually have the most Total Points Earned but they will forget to take out the back up goalie like they stupidly did last tournament and then get rekt again by a god awful team again. Thus missing medals. I think the safe bet past that is Canada, Great Britain and Czechia winning a medal or hell. Gold, silver and bronze in some form of order since they have the most Total Points Earned.

I cannot see any other nation really playing well enough unless groups help them out and they fluke an upset vs someone. But hoping for flukes is not exactly going to win you gold medal any time soon.

I hope Latvia surprise people though. I have not seen them do anything in a long time so it would be nice to see them get far. I am mainly just hoping for more cash so then I do not need to do media any time soon.

[180 words]

Code:
13. Written, up to 4 TPE Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.

a. Both of these teams have stacked defenses - which team do you think has the defensive advantage in this series?

b. In the two regular season matchups, each team won once at home. Do you expect the results to reflect a home ice advantage in this series?

c. Based on FHM player ratings, New Orleans has higher average ratings in bravery, aggression, and fighting? Will that toughness have any impact on this series?

d. What is your favorite name from a player appearing in this series? Why do you like that player's name?

e. There are several animal names in this series - which of these animals is the coolest? sloth, hippo, otter, monkey, fox, kirby.

A - I will pick Buffalo purely cause I think they have the better D players and players with more TPE. So that would also mean that they are not facing as hard offensive players. Buf are the favs and NOLA struggled hard vs Blizzard so would make sense that they have the better defensive players. [55 words]
B - I mean it could but I think this will be over in 5 games. Like NOLA do win a game at home but Buffalo just own them in all the others. I cannot see them putting up much of a fight in away fixtures in Buffalos arena but maybe upsets happen. Just do not think they will. [58 words]
C - Nope not at all. Sure they will be the more aggressive team and will probably win fights more but that just means to me that Buffalo have points in more important stuff and will score more goals or simply stop them from scoring as many. It is a nice bonus but not enough to make a difference. [58 words]
D - One sec, I am just going to look this up cause I dont give a fuck about these teams usually. Oh it would have been Elizabeth Doyle but the winner is Monkey D Luffy. I like One Piece a lot so he instantly wins it for me. Just a fun name even though he would be a shit ice hockey player if he was real. Stretching wouldn't really help him. [70 words]
E - The Sloth wins it. Purely because of the user. I love slothfacedkilla. He is fun to talk to so naturally he beats all of the other bollocks animals. The sloth is also a pretty cool animal and whilst I love Otters the clear winner is the sloth for me. All other animals need not apply. [56 words]

Code:
16. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is now 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 - regret

majesiu · 09-02-2020, 05:19 AM

0. PBE Affiliation

awils13 · 09-02-2020, 08:55 AM

Code:
1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

Reflection on your season - how did your player fare on the ice this season? Did you meet or surpass your individual player goals or did you come up short? Whether you excelled or disappointed - what can you attribute that to? What will you try to do better next season?

This was the best season of my career as my player set career highs in goals, assists and points. I didn't check my stats until the end of the season and I was quite surprised to find out that I led the league in points. I helped to run some tests in the middle of the season and I literally never got a test sim where I'd win the points title, usually it went to my teammate Dick Clapper or to someone else. So I'm not sure what happened there but I'm obviously pleased with it. I probably overperformed though, because a 12.15 sh% is way above my career average. I don't really care how I do next season as long as I get at least 50 points, anything else is a bonus. I would like my player to perform better in the playoffs though, as he's been a choker lately. I got 32 points in 26 playoff games in my first 3 seasons in the shl, but only 33 points in 47 games since then. Even the year we won I was below ppg, so i need to get better

Code:
2. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

This offseason will be extra exciting, as it features the rare expansion draft! Write about how you think the expansion draft will play out, either for one or both of the expansion teams or from an SHL team's perspective.

I will try to predict the top 8 picks of the expansion draft

1. D - Cassius Darrow: 2k tpe defenseman who has GMing experience, he's highly likely to go 1st overall unless I missed someone
2. F - Bo Kane: young player just entering his prime, someone to build an expansion team around
3. G - Aleister Cain: probably has 8-10 seasons left depending on how he fights regression, the team that drafts him won't have to worry about goaltending for a while
4. F - (Clean) Andrei Kostitsyn: ok he probably won't be picked in the top 5 but an expansion team could use someone like Andrei in their LR
5. F - Boris Poroshenko: he's from my draft class and iirc he got off to a slow start but has been earning steadily ever since
6. D - Oliver Cleary: iirc he wanted to test FA, but if he commits to signing with an expansion team he'd be a great pick here
7. F - Kriss Darzins: Darzins is a great young player with a lot of talent
8. F - Piotr Czerkawski: he's in regression but still has a few good seasons left, he'd probably play in the top 6

Code:
4. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)

Which SHL or SMJHL team was the best team to not make the finals this season and why?

As much as I'd like to say that Hamilton was the best team not to make the finals, I don't think that's true. We kind of struggled in the first half of the season and there was even a slight chance we'd miss the playoffs, that didn't happen, but we didn't play our best hockey in the playoffs anyway. To answer the question, I think it's Edmonton. They made some huge trades in the offseason, including the trade for Theo Morgan who is arguably a top 3 player in the league, Edmonton tied Buffalo with 80 points for presidents trophy and took the series to 7 games against NOLA, so they could've easily made the finals.

Code:
5. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)

What are your predictions for the upcoming IIHF or WJC tournament? What team do you think will win/surprise people/be bad/etc.?

I think Canada and USA will be good as always, and I feel like that's especially the case in WJC because they get the most creates and their prospects haven't transferred or gone inactive yet. I expect team World to do well also, since they get players from all of the smaller nations, and sometimes their roster is even more stacked than Canada's or USA's. I think Canada will win but I also think there will be at least one upset, and a team outside of the 3 I mentioned will make it to the final. I think that's likely to happen because even though tpe is much more important in FHM than it was in STHS (the one time I was a WJC gm team Sweden went on an insane PDO streak despite having only 2-3 good players). But anyway, I feel like the difference between 200 tpe and 350-425 tpe in juniors is not as big as the difference between 2k and 1k tpe players in shl, so there should be at least one upset.

Code:
13. Written, up to 4 TPE Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.

a. Both of these teams have stacked defenses - which team do you think has the defensive advantage in this series?

b. In the two regular season matchups, each team won once at home. Do you expect the results to reflect a home ice advantage in this series?

c. Based on FHM player ratings, New Orleans has higher average ratings in bravery, aggression, and fighting? Will that toughness have any impact on this series?

d. What is your favorite name from a player appearing in this series? Why do you like that player's name?

e. There are several animal names in this series - which of these animals is the coolest? sloth, hippo, otter, monkey, fox, kirby.

a. While it's fairly close, I have to say that Buffalo has the defensive advantage. They have higher average tpe and their defense includes multiple 1.8-2k tpe players like Selich, Darrow and Sccop, and their other defensemen are well above 1k tpe. They also allowed the fewest number of goals in the regular season, so they already proved to be a great defensive team.
b. This series started with 2 home wins for Buffalo and then NOLA came back with 2 home wins of their own, so so far the home ice advantage has proven to be true for each team. We will see if that continues to be the case moving forward, but I don't think home ice is that important.
c. I think it really depends on their tactics and player roles. If they decide to use a goon or an agitator, that would give them an advantage, as we've found out earlier. But I think it has more to do with those player roles specifically rather than the bravery/aggression/fighting attributes themselves, so I don't think this will have any impact.

Code:
16. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is now 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.

Gabe

juke · 09-02-2020, 09:01 AM

Quote:1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
Reflection on your season - how did your player fare on the ice this season? Did you meet or surpass your individual player goals or did you come up short? Whether you excelled or disappointed - what can you attribute that to? What will you try to do better next season?

Unfortunately for the second CW in a row, I have to write about how I thought my player had a disappointing season and didn't live up to expectations. I didn't set the bar too high - I knew that I would struggle as a rookie, especially with only 3 seasons in the J so my TPE wasn't as high as a lot of other rookies - but it was kind of unfortunate to watch almost every other rookie eclipse me in performance. As for what we can attribute to that, to at least give my player some benefit of the doubt, I had the 8th lowest ice time in the league so I didn't have as many chances to produce as most other players. But also at the same time I probably need to work on my build/optimize my roles and tactics. To improve, I plan on banking all my TPE until preseason, then doing some testing to see the best way to apply that 100 or so TPE.

168 words - 3 TPE

Quote:2. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
This offseason will be extra exciting, as it features the rare expansion draft! Write about how you think the expansion draft will play out, either for one or both of the expansion teams or from an SHL team's perspective.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how the expansion draft plays out, specifically to see what strategies each GM use for the expansion draft. In a surprise to a lot of people, one of the best defensemen in the league in Darrow was exposed, and will be expected to get grabbed right away. This poses the question of whoever takes them, with one of the top Ds on their team, will they shift their strategy to more of a win now rather than build for the future? Especially with one of the best goalies in Cain also exposed. I think in an ideal world to the expansion GMs, one of them would aim to build to be good in a shorter term, and one would aim to slowly build up to be a contender later. This would allow the two expansion teams to not necessarily get in each other's way while picking players, and one could grab the higher TPE players in their prime now, and one could target the younger players, specifically any S53s that got exposed. If the two GMs did have similar drafting strategies and got in each other's way, another interesting concept will be GMs drafting a player that they don't particularly need from a team with 1 player already picked, just so they could block the other expansion from grabbing their guy or a positional need from that team.

234 words - 3 TPE

Quote:5. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
What are your predictions for the upcoming IIHF or WJC tournament? What team do you think will win/surprise people/be bad/etc.?

I think the predictions for IIHF will be about the same as they've been the previous season or two. I think that USA and Canada will be the top 2 teams to beat, and a lot of eyes will be on the USA team, who swept the group stages last year at 12-0 then a blunder by starting their backup goalie in the medal round cost them a chance at a medal. Barring any sort of mishap like that again, I would put them as the favorites once more. I think that a second tier of teams in Czechia, Great Britain, and Sweden will all be primed for a good international tournament and will all have expectations to compete for a medal. On the WJC side, I want to make a homer pick for Finland to surprise some people. We got a bronze medal last year, and only lost Potts and myself on the WJC side, and a ton of young players are continuing to improve and ready to step into our roles as well as fill out the roster. There's a ton of strong WJC rosters, but I think Finland has the potential to once again surprise people and play in the medal games.

205 words - 3 TPE

Quote:12. Podcast, 3 or 4 TPE
Record a mini-podcast on any of the below topics!
- Highlights of the S55 season (on or off the ice)
- S55 playoff round-up
- S55 Challenge Cup/Four Star Cup finals Breakdown
- S56 predictions

1 person Mini-Pod: 3 TPE for 5 minutes or 4 TPE for 7 Minutes
2 person Mini-Pod: 3 TPE for 6 Minutes or 4 TPE for 8 Minutes
Post the direct link to your podcast.

2 person mini-pod with Nhamlet - https://soundcloud.com/nhamlet21/s55-cw
4 TPE

Quote:16. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is now 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: Juke - 3 TPE

Total: 16 TPE

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