Claimed:Interview with Team USA GM, for the S46 World Cup

[Nobody 99]

(Note the responses to this interview were done on the 27^th, before the start of the tournament. The bolded parts are done by xaviYEAH!, the responses are over 500 words in total.)

 

Congratulations on being selected as Team USA's General Manager for the upcoming World Cup! Having only joined the league in November, you are the most recent member to join the league out of all of those selected as General Manager. For those who aren't familiar with you, would you like to give a brief background on yourself and your roles in any other leagues you've been in or are currently in?

 

I first joined create a player sim leagues almost a year ago, but have done GM type leagues since 2012, in various EHM leagues. I first was introduced to player sim leagues on SHL, and have since than had a number of jobs, including SMJHL co-gm over there, in the past SMJHL season and this upcoming season. I have also GM’d another team in another player sim league, and although having a team that had a couple more inactive players than the others (cough, eaglesfan and flyersfan, cough). As for other sim leagues I am in, don't really have any jobs over there, just work to improve my player over time.

 

Looking at Team USA, the team has taken huge losses after the last tournament, with seven of the twelve players selected for the last tournament retiring. Do you feel that because of those losses, that you will have accomplished something greater than the previous GM's of Team USA if you were to take Team USA to their third consecutive final?

 

It might be tough to get them to a third consecutive finals, but with the right lines and strategies anything can happen. I don't think I will accomplish something greater than the previous GM's, as they all had to work to get to the finals, but this tournament will have a couple more bumps in the road to reach that third consecutive final.

 

Most teams would have been left in a hole having both of their goalies from the previous tournament retire, but Team USA has managed to retain a good group of goalies thanks to Callum Sinclair and Blake Campbell. With both of these goalies being very similar in talent level, will you be rotating the starting job between the two or will you have a fixed starter for the entire tournament?

 

I plan to have it be you win, you keep the spot, with the first two games to see which one gets to start for the next game(s). Although that way might not work that well as they won't be playing the same level of competition, I'll try and find out who played the better overall game based on if they were playing the same level of competition. (Post-response note, although I had planned to play both of them, had failed to do so.)

 

Jerrick Poole returned from absence recently to find that he had been moved from defense to winger. Looking at the rest of your team, do you feel that this move benefits Team USA or would you have preferred Poole to have been kept as a defenseman? 

 

I would preferred if he was a defense, as that would help Team USA, with a top 2 of Poole and Richardson, and gives another player a spot on the forward position, however that would also bump a defenseman. Even with that, having Poole at winger might help the team more as it give the forwards more depth, considering the next highest TPA for wingers if he wasn't there would be 295, a 265 TPA difference.

 

Despite all of the losses from the previous tournament, your team has managed to retain the services of future Hall of Famer Thomas O'Malley. How important is he going to be to any success that Team USA has in this tournament? 

 

Like everyone else on the team, he will is important for the success of the team, but he'll be probably more important than some players as he will be most likely be the #1 center on the team, and the #1 TPA of all the players on the team. And that will make him be more usable in all situations of the game.

 

Team USA lost in the final last time round to Team Western Europe who, in stark contrast to Team USA, have only lost two members of their previous tournament roster. Do you feel that Team Western Europe will once again be your biggest threat or is there another team in the tournament that you feel is stronger? 

 

Any team is a threat, but is Team Western Europe the biggest threat? Probably, as they have a high TPA team, with the arguably the best goalie in the VHL. But that doesn't mean they are unbeatable, as all teams are beatable, except Team Scandinavia since they are being GM'd by eaglesfan.

 

Final Question, there has been talks of implementing a player store purchase that would allow players to make a one-time switch in nationality. Would you support such a purchase becoming available or do you feel like such an option being available takes away from the spirit of the World Cup?

 

I don't think there should be a purchase that allows users to change their nationality as that should be something people think of when creating their player. Like do they want to join a nationality that is stacked with talent and may never play for them in the world cup, however they could choose a weak nationality that isn't stacked and be able to play for them in their first season (ex. Canada). But I’m a noob and that's just my opinion.

[Kendrick 4,741]

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