The San Diego Tidal’s top rival early in their tenure is the Nevada Battleborn. Geographically the closest matchup for the Tidal, the games with the Battleborn have been decidedly more intense than other Tidal games, with a very high average shot count. Theres also the added pressure of the team staffs’ personal ties, being somewhat close and therefore more driven to get one over on their friends. Captain Skyler Stevens also has decided, he just, hates Nevada. Why? Well, because, he’s a shark, and, well, the desert. So the captain has beef with the geography, and drives his team that much harder to get results. Stevens has been quoted as saying, “Frick that desert thing, the sea is much better”. The Tidal, it seems, agree, and not only are driven by Stevens, but their own motivations, to prove their habitat superior to the arid Nevada. Thus, a grand geographical beef.

My biggest rival in the SMJHL would have to be the team that I had the most history with when returning, the Kelowna Knights. Having been the co-GM there before and had countless players, I had angled to get drafted there from the onset of my return. Spending much of my time trying to position myself to them, it ended up to not be useful as I fell out of the original first round where Kelowna had 3 first round picks. I was distraught by the end of the SMJHL draft by the thought that my old team does not want me anymore. Following that draft I had made it my mission to be the biggest Kelowna Knights rival out there and wanted to make it my number one personal vendetta. These goals ended up ringing true, as Kelowna is last in the SMJHL currently. My current managers try to keep me focused on the other games ahead but I have only wanted one thing, revenge.

(This is a joke btw, I do not hate Kelowna)

I feel a rival of Nevada Battleborn would be the Vancouver Whalers. The Whalers' GM traded up to 2oa during the Junior Draft specifically to grab Gwendolyn Telenn, only for Nevada Battleborn to trade in the last moment to take her. Either way, Nevada has held the upper hand so far, having won in both games, even if the first was a 5/4 point game. As a team that's won roughly half their games and has roughly equivalent stats to Nevada, Nevada's simply edged out ahead of Vancouver in spite of the near equal footing. Despite Gwendolyn settling into the Battleborn team, Vancouver has continued to call for her personally to try moving to the Whalers instead (I have a tamper clause and it's light hearted, it's fine.) This brief rivalry will likely fade out over time as it was a personal rivalry near Gwendolyn, but it's a silent one nonetheless as Nevada fights off the Whalers for the season.

   

My biggest personal rival in the league is Colorado, not because they passed me up in the draft or anything like that, in fact the guys in the front office over there are great, it's just because that dickhead Baron Samedi plays on the team and I can't stand that smug motherfucker. Dude is basically always talking in riddles, saying obscure shit no one can understand about "the spirit of the ice" or whatever. No surprise that asshole already got in a fight in his first season, had no idea the spirit of the ice was so violent.

I scored a goal on Colorado earlier in the season and I stared that dickhead down for like a solid minute and I swear to god he was muttering a curse or some shit under his breath, and then I woke up the next day kind of nauseous with a killer headache -- I can't prove it, but I know Baron did it to me. Watch out for that dude, all I'm saying.

Being that both Tidal and Highlanders are new additions to the league it make sense that they are rivals. Although Tidal has done an better job to make impact and try to dominate the league. While Highlanders struggle and need to come up with an better strategy in order to finish well. With their season members leaving soon. Something must come about for Ottawa if they want to compete and merge more competitive against the teams in the league.

The Maine Timber have a big rival in the Newfoundland Berserkers. Which interestingly enough is handy this season as both are near the top of the standings and fighting for playoff positioning. Unfortunately Newfoundland is 9 points up on our beloved Timber, but there is almost half a season yet to gain ground. As a new entrant into this apparent heated rivalry, I’m just beginning to learn why these two teams hate each other. The proximity to each other could be a big factor but another less known reason could be that no one can understand a word anyone says in the Newfoundland arena. Even though most teams have players from many different countries and backgrounds, there’s only a handful of people on God's green earth that can understand the Newfanese language. And when fans are clearly yelling expletives and trash talking your team, it can be quite frustrating when you can’t even respond in any way.