Quote:Which team is your team's biggest rival in the league and why? This could be due to recent history, old history, medium history, personal beef, branding antagonism, passing on you in the draft, etc. - whatever the reason, which team in the league would you consider to be the biggest rival of your team?
Written option: 150 words on the above

Both the Colorado Raptors and Great Falls Grizzlies are trying to claw their way out of the bottom of the standings.

There’s also the fact that Jani Manty and Jae-ik Barron went 2 and 4 in the S72 SMJHL Entry Draft, and technically both were passed on by the Raptors, who had the first overall pick.

The nature of a rebuild is such that I could easily see both of these teams go from being basement dwellers to established rosters in the same time frame. If this happens, you’ll see this new “rivalry” become a full fledged one in short order.

Everyone knows that the fastest way to build a legitimate rivalry is to have two teams play meaningful games against each other. It happens in the NHL now with the way the divisional playoffs work: you’ll often see Tampa Bay play Toronto in the first round, for example.

As GFG and COL see each other more and more and there are actualy stakes on the lines, the rivalry will go from one based on league position to one based on matchup history.

If there is one roadblock to this, it’s the way that divisions work where there are different team groupings every season.