Peppermint




2b. It’s New England, not even close. New England had to win against Buffalo - and their .727 winning percentage, second in standings, third in GF and GA- then win against Philly - winner of the fierce Atlantic division, .705 winning percentage, second in GF, second in GA. And they also won against Hamilton, which had a very interesting season, and is known to cause surprises against big teams. (67 words)

2d. I am not sure about that one, but I’ll go with my brain and pick New England. I love a good comeback story and Winnipeg fits well the narrative with the season they had (and the curse they used to have), but I have been a fan of how New England is built for many years. My pick is NEW in 6. Go Hammer, win that one. (67 words too).



First of all, congrats to the San Francisco Pride. What a run. Two beautiful series against two of my favorite teams in the West. The Panthers had a great season, finishing 8th, and they were clearly my favorite for the series. Sobchak played well, and the Scholz Murray Hargreeves line were too powerful. Then, Edmonton (finished 2nd). I did not have a 7-2 and a 5-2 win on my bingo card. After all, the Pride finished 14th this season.

I would not consider Baltimore’s (#5) win vs Atlanta (#4) an upset series, but it was nice to finally win against Atlanta for once. Atlanta has been the Platoon’s nemesis for the last 4 playoffs. Devoir played very well, because Atlanta did shoot a lot.

New England finishing 9th and beating Philly (#3) and Buffalo (#2) was also nice to see. The Wolfpack had lost some good players, like Svoboda, but managed to win the Cup. We all thought they had no chance to win another one before a few seasons, with regression hitting hard on the team’s veterans, but congrats, it was impressive. (183 words)