(S15) - Ultimus Week

[StamkosFan]

PBE PT

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2) Underdog
Written: Write about one of the away teams in any matchup and explain why they can win. Must be completed before the sim.
Graphic: Create a graphic showing why the underdog will win

The Ultimus Championship is just about here, with the San Jose SaberCats against the Baltimore Hawks. It should certainly be an interesting game with both teams as leaders of their respective conferences, so I dare say either side has the chance to win. Judging by who is the away team, the "underdog" would be the Sabercats, but they won the championship last year so I believe they know what it takes to win and have experience on their side. They executed their game play perfectly last year, and there's no reason to be unable to do it again. San Jose only has one less win than Baltimore, so it's pretty even in my eyes, there's no major gap so they easily have a chance to win. I think San Jose's offense is a bit more potent, as evidenced by the conference finals performances where San Jose got 37 points and Baltimore got 34. The Sabercats can win by outscoring Baltimore plain and simple, and if the defense steps in and shuts them down the way they did in the conference finals against the Otters, then that's all the better. They're riding a lot of momentum from that win and also brimming with confidence thanks to their success last year, so San Jose can easily come away with the title as far as I'm concerned.

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7) Next year
Written: If your team has been eliminated, why will next year, or the year after that, be the year that your team is going to win the Ultimus or Ultimini.
Graphics: Create a statistical summary of what improvements your team has made from the previous year or why your team was better than their record.

The Yellowknife Wraiths were tantalizing close to finally breaking through and making the playoffs after years of struggles and hardships, but fell short by one win to the Philadelphia Liberty. But next year, they'll be a force to be reckoned with; many of the stronger teams will lose some seriously Grade A players in the expansion draft, while the Wraiths have the ability to protect most of their important player. They're also extremely young, so a lot of their players are just hitting the prime of their career; as some of the guys start crossing the 1000 thresh-hold, the star power will carry over to the score sheet and add on some extra wins. The Wraiths have so much talent as receiver right now, as well as two top tier running backs, so really they just need their young quarterback to advance a bit more and then they can take on and defeat any team in the league. Additionally, their defense has a great foundation with solid quarterback, serviceable safeties, and an up-and-coming faster-earning defensive end. The top teams now are staring down regression, but Yellowknife is on the way up and ready to win in the near future; their window is almost here.

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8) Strategies
Written: Unless you won the Championship, what changes does your team need to make in the offseason to improve your chances next year.
Graphics: Create a graphic showing the holes in your team and how to overcome them.

I feel like Yellowknife is lacking in veteran leadership, so we really need to sign a free agent to bring in some experience. If we could sign a safety, it would really help out defense, which I think that safety weakness cost us a lot of wins this year and was the difference between making the playoffs and not making the playoffs. We also need to have our guys keep updating and have someone cross that 1000 TPE mark, because then you'll see that huge super star difference making factor. Maybe we need to trade a young player that is a few years away from hitting their prime and making an impact on the turf for a guy who's in his heyday now and can put them over the edge. Youth is great but rebuilding isn't supposed to last forever, so it's time to move away from the youth movement and go for some veteran talent. Maybe they don't even have to move a younger player for an older, higher TPE one, perhaps instead they can move draft picks which are even farther away than prospects. Plenty of teams would be interested in a package of picks for a good player, and that's the sort of deal Yellowknife should be looking into to go for a championship title.