1. Trivia - Verification Word: Renes (3 tpe)

10 - Took me by surprise.
The St Louis Scarecrows have been in the midst of a major rebuild, like from the ground up.  They showed a massive improvement this season, improving from 22 wins and 15th place last season, up to 37 wins and 7th place overall this season.  Despite getting swept by hated rival, the Detroit Falcons, in the first round of the playoffs, this is still a pretty substantial improvement. Things can swing a lot from season to season in the junior league, but they certainly look to be on the upswing and should be able to continue this success going into next season. The do have some key players aging out this season, particularly Alexa Johansen, but hopefully that won't hurt too bad as they get more players moving up to the 425 level. Look for St Louis to continue on an upward path and make some noise in the next couple of seasons. (152 words - 3 TPE)

9 - It's been a while.
The team that looks to be in a good position is the Baltimore Platoon. They finished 9th overall, the second highest ranking of the aforementioned drought teams, but also pushed deep into the playoffs.  After a hard fought seven game series in the first round against New England, they cruised past Buffalo in the second round, taking that series 4-1.  Unfortunately, in the 3rd round they ran into the buzz saw that is the Tampa Bay Barracuda and fell 4-1 in that series.  Toronto, Calgary and Minnesota all got eliminated in the first round, while Manhattan missed the playoffs, so it would appear that Baltimore is in the best position to end the drought. (114 words - 2 TPE)

8 TPE Total