Next up, an award that isn't at all controversial, the Joe McKeil, recognizing the best coaching.

Your honorable mentions went to the Buffalo Stampede for doing Buffalo things and having the league's 2nd best record, the Western Conference's best Texas Renegades , and the Seattle Argonauts . Don't ask me, I didn't nominate 'em.

Your finalists:


Minnesota Monarchs – 30-34-2, 62 points (10th)
164 GF (14th), 226 GA (11th), -62 goal diff (12th)
Improvement from S58: +9 points (53>62)

Minnesota was expected to be a bottom feeder and also-ran team heading into S59; their talent level did not match up to the rest of the Northwest Division, or the league at large. Despite that, they found a way to compete for a large portion of the league well above what their roster’s TPE indicated they should have. While some found their strategies controversial and unconventional, they rode a hot goalie late into the playoff hunt.

Hamilton Steelhawks – 56-9-1, 113 points (1st)
308 GF (1st), 145 GA (2nd), +163 goal differential (1st)
Improvement from S58: +10 points (103>113)

Hamilton had, quite literally, a season for the ages. They set a new league record with 113 points and were a dominant team. The coaching, yet again, found the way to best utilize their personnel, on their way to dominant seasons from Aaron Wilson and Theo Morgan. The defending S58 champions fell short in the playoffs, but that doesn’t take the shine off a historic season.

Chicago Syndidate – 49-15-2, 100 points (3rd-T)
264 GF (4th), 151 GA (3rd), +113 goal diff (4th)
Improvement from S58: +12 (88>100)

After S58, Chicago’s faithful were disappointed. They finished sixth in the league, but were on the outside looking in of the stacked Great Lakes Division. They casually opened S59 with a 19-0-1 record on their way to a 12-point improvement (with pretty much the exact same roster as the season before).
HM: Buffalo Stampede, Texas Renegades, Seattle Argonauts