With only the MN State tourney and the ABA Nats left on the schedule, it's time to call em as we saw em from Sept to March. It was apparent early on there would no longer be a top twenty, as there are barely 20 competitive men's teams left.
Every year more and more fade away. This season we said goodbye to the Nordic Stars, Sticks&Stones, Barrie's Legends, and Watkins Legends. Some of the players from those teams caught on with other squads, but by and large the majority of those teams rosters disappeared from the rinks.
For those that did play, it became a clear cut #1 and #2 with the next four in line a substantial ways behind.
Here we go
1. Kelly Lake - Back in the #1 spot after passing on Nats last year (and actually helping Legion take their place in the rankings for 11 months). It will be a big surprise if the Lakers don't add another National Championship to their resume.
2. Met X - More often than not KL's date in the finals, these speed merchants have to find a way to bury the ball in the big spots.
3. Legion BC - The defending National Champions are looking to take the #1 spot back in St. Louis Park
4. Chiefs - They are always competitive, but just can't get over that semi-final hump.
5. C&L - Fun to watch, but manage to find the most excruciating ways to lose tight games.
6. Blizzard - Can they knock off any of the five teams ahead of them in either State or Nats? We are guessing yes, but it seems the roster is always unsettled right up until ball drop.
7. Wolves - These guys have taken their lumps the last two years banging heads with the top four teams, but we give them a lot of respect for competing at the top level after being reclassified A. They didn't duck anything, well done fellas.
8. Bombers - The boys from the Buckeye State have just missed on some major titles, going runnerup at Nat B, and International Intermediate.
9. C+ - Plenty of co-mingling here with several Eastern US teams, and could just as easily mention them as well, but it's the le habitant sweaters we see the most, so we call #9 for them.
10. Red Rock/Flames/Ice Mafia Tie - These three play each other so often, with a variety of head to results, that we made a case for all of them here at #10
Good luck to all in the remaining two tournaments. Check back for the season ending after at Nats.