Chicago looks to build on cup win

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It’s been a long ride for the Chicago Phoenix to get to this point, but if you ask many within the team this is just the beginning.  Coming off of the franchise’s first-ever Continental Cup in just their fourth season of existence, the Phoenix are now looking to transition to a new phase and go even further than before.  Now, the team that was once the underdog darlings of the playoffs are the favorites that everyone will be looking to knock off their pedestal.  It’s a new challenge for a team that is still relatively young in many departments.

“Going into the next season, we honestly have to approach things in a different way,” says goaltender Jean-Pierre Camus.  “Before it wasn’t as much pressure, we knew we’d already made it pretty far considering where we came from.  But now all eyes are on us.  Now we know that whenever a team plays us, they’re going to be motivated by the fact that we’re the defending champs.  We’re going to have to accept that, plan for it, and come in with an adjusted mentality.  Before, we could just get away with making the finals or the conference finals, now if we don’t win the cup that’s going to be a disappointment to a lot of people.”

Chicago has made some interesting roster adjustments in the offseason, signing forward Jungkok (who had been traded from Malmo the Prague in Season 76) and acquiring defenseman Spencer Elsby from the Helsinki Titans in a trade.  At the same time, two members of the original Chicago Phoenix roster in Adam Syreck and Squirrely Dan (Chicago’s top two regular season scorers) have left in free agency due to cap restrictions. The team has also let some of their younger players and prospects - Steve Eso, Yuuto Kira Cloudera, Jordan Tate, Maksym Janikowski - go via trades.  How will this affect the Phoenix’s attempt at a repeat championship?  Only time will tell.