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Jorec · 10-25-2020, 08:21 PM

The Maine Timber haven’t had a great regular season but despite that, I expect them to go very deep into the play-offs. Specifically, I expect them to make the finals and go that extra kilometer to win it all and bring the Cup home.

44 words

*Scrufdaddy* · 10-25-2020, 09:04 PM

I think Chicago is a scary first round for Winnipeg. Really any matchup coming in at the bottom seed is going to be a rough go of things, especially in a re-seeding format, but Chicago managed to be above 200 GF while staying sub 100 GA (just barely on both counts) while Winnipeg is closer to the opposite. If we can steal that first round series, we'd be guaranteed Hamilton in round two who are even better on both accounts. If we can manage that first round match up, I'll have some amount of hope for the second round, but I'll also be happy with that result.

***Pythonic*** · 10-25-2020, 09:13 PM

According to my general manager, I am not allowed to say that my team is going to win the Four Star Cup. Therefore, I have to give that honor to the Anaheim Outlaws. It's a true underdog story. Everybody basically counted the Outlaws out before the season began, but then Boxman and Long John Donair showed up on the scene and started scoring like a bunch of mini Leon Draisaitls. It was really surprising to see them get to where they are right now.

***JaytheGreat*** · 10-25-2020, 09:37 PM

I'm very excited to be back in the playoffs and while I would like to win the Cup, I would settle for knocking Atlanta out of the playoffs.

Rest In Peace Dangel

1st SHL Goal - S52 Game 1 vs Tampa 3. New England Wolfpack , Jakub Bruchevski 1 (Eko Van Otter 1, Delver Fudgeson 2) at 8:10

Scarecrows

**Lime** · 10-25-2020, 09:52 PM

The favorites for the Challenge Cup going into the playoffs are firmly the Hamilton Steelhawks. Ultimately I don't see them getting knocked off and will be expecting another Cup for them. The other big regular season teams were the Chicago Syndicate and Calgary Dragons. Chicago was the only other team to break 200 goals, and could stand up to a shootout. Calgary had the best goals against in the league and should be able to make things tough for those Hamilton shooters.

Let's see how it worked out between them in the season looking at their head to heads.

Hamilton vs Chicago
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In the regular season the series between these two was tied 2-2. We can see they traded blows, no clear pattern and all very close wins until the final game of the matchup where Hamilton won 5-2. This is actually very close on paper, unfortunately I think we all know that in practice, Hamilton has the much better playoff success. Given that Hamilton has the slight edge in the regular season, and a massive tactical edge in playoffs, I think Chicago will put up a fight but it won't be enough.

Hamilton vs Calgary
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This is an even closer matchup. Series tied 1-1, goals tied 7-7. Both games make it to the shootout. I feel like Calgary is the only team I'd bet to beat Hamilton. Calgary has a great offense with the three top CF% players, and a stifling defense. If their shooters get hot and their defense figures out how to shutdown Theo Morgan, they have this matchup in the bag. For reference, let's look at how Calgary matched up with Chicago.

Calgary vs Chicago
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Here you can see why Calgary is the harder team to beat. They handily beat Chicago in both games by 2 goals, while the Steelhawks split their games with Chicago. Calgary has the chops to beat any team in this league comfortably.

We can quickly go through the other teams in the playoffs to see how they'd fair against Hamilton.

Winnipeg Jets: They got trounced by Hamilton twice, 6-0 and 5-0. They will not survive.
Los Angeles Panthers: Another team that didn't score on Hamilton. Two 2-0 losses. No dice.
Buffalo: Actually won a game against Hamilton, albeit in overtime. Buffalo doesn't really have any advantages here, and Hamilton won 3 out of their 4 matchups. Maybe a 4-2 series if Buffalo is lucky.
New England Wolfpack: A fringe team with negative goal differential. Lost all 4 of their games, some by a wide margin. Silver lining is they did take Hammy to a shootout once. I think Wolfpack win 1 off a lucky bounce in a series.
Edmonton Blizzard: Regular season series tied 1-1, but Hamilton has goals with 5 to 3. Another team I think will go 4-2.
Atlanta Inferno: Another team with no wins against Hamilton. They will be looking at 1 win along with Wolfpack.
New Orleans Specters: Both losses but close, including an OT loss. Solid 4-2 team.

I really don't think anyone other than Chicago or Calgary could take Hamilton to 7.

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