Being quite new in dipping my toes back into the SHL and SMJHL, and with the new season just starting, it is difficult at the moment to tell who's going to be the biggest rival for Badger and NBB.

In terms of the league, it seems that Colorado Raptors is the upcoming rival on the books and the team to beat if Battleborn are to secure third place; as of writing it currently, both COL and NBB are tied for Wins, Losses, Overtime losses and points with a couple of very close games - they are also just above NBB in the Southern conference. Though saying that, NBB are doing better in their away games than their home games at the moment.

If there was any friendly rivalry within NBB for Badger, it would be in his new position as right wing - he would want to prove himself a useful asset and a decent winger against the likes of Yuri Boyka III and Lucas Raymond who is a longer serving player on the NBB roster.

[175 words]

Badger Hennessy
SMJHL S79 draft pick #47
Center | #42 | Left handed
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Career Statistics:
SMJHL Regular Season:
S79 | NBB | RW | GP 66 G 28 A 36 PTS 64 S% 18.2% TOI 1164
   

Our biggest rivalry would be Maine. First because my cousin is in their team. So me and Charles really want to beat him each game. Another reason would be that we inflicted them one of their 3 losses in their 23 first game (20-1-2). As a bottom of the barrel team right now, I'm pretty sure they're pissed to have loose against us. All teams make the playoff, and we will probably take on them in the first round. We already upset them one time so we can do it again. I'm pretty sure no one in their team think of us as real threat but that will be the reason of their downfall. The Carolina Kraken hype train will peak right in the playoff and we will prove everybody wrong . And we will start by taking out the first team of the league in the first round.

From what I've heard, one of the biggest rivals of the Maine Timber has always been NL. From what I heard, both teams have been at the top of the Junior league for a while now and they have had a couple of good playoffs series against one another. Looking at this start of the year I think that Anchorage is one of the team to beat. Colorado and and Nevada are also 2 teams that shouldn't be taken lightly. As for personal beef, I have a thing against Carolina only because my brother and cousin are playing for them lol. So I want to beat them everytime we play them. They're also one of the only team that handed us a loss, even if it was an OT loss. Also, looking at the standings, conferences and the constitution of our teams, we could meet in the 1st round of the playoffs which would be amazing !

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Go timber !

The Carolina Kraken of a historical rivalry with the Detroit Falcons and Maine Timber. In the past few seasons, Maine have remained atop the standings while Carolina and Detroit have been inconsistent. Although Detroit has been on the top half of the standings more than the bottom and the opposite is true for Carolina, I’d argue these two franchises have a stronger rivalry than either has with Maine due to Maine's dominance. Each year, it appears either Carolina or Detroit will do well while the other suffers. S78 is no different as Detroit is currently in 6th while Carolina is in 15. That won’t stop the rivalry though as Carolina looks to dig themselves out of a hole while Detroit looks to improve upon the decent start they have had to the season. These two teams have played each other three times so far with all three games being lopsided. Carolina won the first and Detroit won the next two. The teams have two games remaining against each other. If Carolina wants to make a push for a spot in the top half of the standings they will need to have strong showings against the mid-pack teams like Detroit.

Go Kraken!

The Vancouver Whalers do not have a clear rival, but any team that challenges them has been answered. During their existence, they have faced the Newfoundland Berserkers twice in the finals, and took home the Four Star Cup both times. Newfoundland was dominant for a long time before Vancouver ended their era in the mid 60s. Vancouver has never lost in the finals, though they would prefer a worse record if that meant more appearances. Yukon is their geographical rival, and Vancouver lost two games to them earlier in the season, and are eager to win them back. Vancouver has made the playoffs quite regularly, but usually come to an early exit, often to Anchorage or Maine, and they will be eager to prove that this year they will live up to the expectations from last year after the Cup championship. No matter who they face, the Whalers are up to the challenge.


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Its rivalry week in the J! This week we're zeroing in once again on Jimbob Ghostkeeper and the Detroit Falcons. As the season rolls on, Jimbob finds himself in the right in the mix. He's had a decent start to his career, and as the season continues to fly by, he's played no shortage of games. After a challenging start to the season, Jimbob found himself centering the Falcons' third line and having some decent production to kickstart his tenure with his team. Throughout this chapter of his first season, he's found himself against some of the stronger teams in the league, while assisting his team in climbing up the rankings. Along the way, his Falcons have crossed paths with the Carolina Kraken and the Quebec City Citadelles multiple times. Through conversations with some of his veteran teammates, he's learned of some heated games against both teams. In the near past, QCC and Detroit have been pitted against each other in the playoffs. In both of these recent seasons, Detroit has bested the Citadelles. On one of these occasions, the Falcons went on to win the cup. Just last season, Detroit and Carolina met up in the playoffs as well. Unfortunately for the Falcons, they fell in 6 to the Kraken. It seems as though the intensity between these two teams has spilled over into S78, as the teams have matched up 4 times this season. In these 4 contests, the Kraken bested the Falcons only once. After their initial 7-3 defeat, Detroit rallied and won the next three games 5-0, 8-1, and 5-2. Ghostkeeper was able to add 5 points in the latter 3 games, adding to the frustration of the Kraken squad. With only 2 matchups between these two teams remaining in the regular season, Jimbob Ghostkeeper and the Falcons aim to keep up the strong play against this budding rival, and to continue their climb in the standings as they search for the thrill of playoff hockey.

credit: @Aurora

Berserkers historical main rival is Maine. I haven't been around long enough to witness but just in the past 10 years it's clear there is some bad blood between the two franchises.

Rivalries are born in the playoffs and they've gone toe to toe quite a bit over the last 10 years including meeting in 3 cup finals. The Berserkers got the better of Maine in season 70 raising the cup while Maine answered back in season 71 and 73 stopping Newfoundland from establishing a dynasty. In the following years there were no additional cup finals matchups but the rivalry lived on with Maine eliminating the zerks in the 2nd round and the final meeting in recent history being season 75 with Maine being eliminated 1 round shy of the finals.

Hopefully S78 produces the first playoff matchup in years with Newfoundland looking to regain the upper hand in the rivalry, but with how both teams are set up for the future a renewed rivalry is all but assured.

Yeah our team’s biggest rival is the Ottawa Highlanders you know? What even is a Highlander anyways? They have some of the leagues biggest players and I don’t mean in height.
The Ottawa Highlanders got their big team start after a street hot dog vendor won it big on a scratch off. The vendor, Frank Coney, moved to Ottawa after schools became an issue for his kids in New York. When they arrived it took Frank awhile to find a job. To make ends meet he bought a hot dog cart. He first opened up for lunch Ottawa’s Financial District and quickly became a sensation even through his hot dogs were terrible. Coney closed up one day and went to the convenience store for a frozen fruit juice drink and bought a scratcher. Once he won his first order of business was to franchise a hockey team.

This is where it goes downhill. The Highlander’s mascot is a hot dog without a bun. It’s shriveled because it’s been steamed. Yes I said steamed. Frank Coney only steamed his hotdogs and swore by them. He only used “meat based” wieners and not beef. He would soak them in garlic and then leave them in the steam bin in the cart overnight. Coney brought those same dogs to his stadium for fans and players. The hotdogs somehow made the players do better and no one knew why.
As a player for a stadium that serves grilled hot dogs, it’s terrible to play away against the Highlanders because they only have that one kind. They don’t even sell any other foods. It seems a bit unfair that their team has an advantage because their food is gross and inedible. Opponents like myself either have to play hungry or they have to have limited shifts because they’re running to the bathroom to vomit.
In summary, I’m not sure why Frank Coney didn’t name his team The Steamed Dogs but he sure did incorporate them into everything. Even the stadium is shaped like a dog! I loathe playing there and I loathe steamed hot dogs even more.

Master Empoleon - RD
THE ONLY MASTER EMPOLEON

Looking back on the recent history of the Colorado Raptors, there have been plenty of teams that you can argue have been their biggest rivals, including the Detroit Falcons, the Carolina Kraken, and the Quebec City Citadelles. However, between S53-S63, the Anaheim Outlaws went toe-to-toe with the Raptors every season. Both teams were never at the top of the conference but they always found themselves fighting for third and fourth, with the Raptors usually finishing ahead of them by a tiny margin. I would compare it to the NHL rivalry brewing between the Canadiens-Red Wings-Senators battle happening in the NHL right now where all the teams involved are trying to take the next step but find themselves battling amongst each other. The Outlaws did get the better of the Raptors in the playoffs a few times but just the sheer amount of times both teams finished within a few points of each other after 66 games was insane. Ex-players from the Raptors still remember the days of these famous regular-season battles.

[171 words]

Normand Marineau || C || #42 || Colorado Raptors || Team France || S79
Name: Normand Marineau
Age: 19
Birthplace: Saint Pierre et Miquelon, France
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 195 lbs
Number: 42
------------------------------------------------------------
Career Statistics:
SHL Regular Season:
TBD
SHL Playoffs:
TBD
SMJHL Regular Season:
S79 | 66 GP | 23 G | 21 A | 44 P | +8 | 1 PPP | 18 PIM | 122 SOG | 66 HIT | 40 SB | 54 TA | 54.9% FO
S78 | 66 GP | 18 G | 29 A | 47 P | +6 | 6 PPP | 24 PIM | 189 SOG | 45 HIT | 31 SB | 68 TA | 53.7% FO
SMJHL Playoffs:
S78 | 13 GP | 1 G | 4 A | 5 P | -9 | 0 PPP | 2 PIM | 27 SOG | 12 HIT | 5 SB | 4 TA | 42.4% FO
------------------------------------------------------------
International Career:
IIHF Round Robin:
TBD
IIHF Medal Round:
TBD
WJC Round Robin:
S78 | 12 GP | 1 G | 3 A | 4 P | +0 | 0 PPP | 2 PIM | 11 SOG | 6 HIT | 2 SB | 5 TA | 60.3% FO
WJC Medal Round:
S78 | 1 GP | 0 G | 0 A | 0 P | -1 | 0 PPP | 0 PIM | 0 SOG | 0 HIT | 1 SB | 1 TA | 44.4% FO
------------------------------------------------------------
Career Earnings and Draft Selections:
Signed a 1 year, $3,000,000 ELC Contract with the Minnesota Monarchs in S79
Drafted 1st Round, 14th Overall to the Minnesota Monarchs in the S79 SHL Entry Draft
Signed a 1 year, $5,000,000 Rookie Contract with the Colorado Raptors in S78
Drafted 2nd Round, 17th Overall to the Colorado Raptors in the S78 SMJHL Entry Draft
------------------------------------------------------------
Awards and Achievements:
Won the Colorado Raptors S78 Cassius Darrow Trophy for Most Outstanding Rookie

There's really no rivalry per se for Newfoundland.

They do have a history of facing the Maine Timber in the playoffs that could be considered.

However, there is the personal rivalry between Ima Noobie and the Carolina Kraken.

It all began innocent enough during the scouting period when Noobie was having a wonderful conversation with the Carolina GM. A conversation that took a sharp left turn when the discussion of hot dogs came about. However, this had nothing to do with steamed vs microwaved. No, the Carolina GM suggested that it was acceptable to put mayo on a hot dog.

From there, the feud escalated.

Ima Noobie took a KitKat bar, turned it sideways and took a bite out of the middle of it. An act that horrified the Carolina GM (and a couple of other scouts as well).

The Carolina GM went to drastic measures to gain justice for the mistreated KitKat bar, not only on Noobie but the entire rookie class. The Kraken traded away half of their first round picks, destroying everyone's mock draft and the GM in question could be heard laughing wickedly. "Muahahaha! Finally, I have my revenge!"

I am unaware if the Kelowna Knights have any existing rivalry with another team already, but based on the current seasons games there are a few possible candidates. The Newfoundland Berserkers and the Great Falls Grizzlies have both had some back and forth with the Kelowna Knights. But the Quebec City Citadelles stand out. At the current point in the season the Kelowna Knights and the Quebec City Citadelles have a 2/2 record, with two more games scheduled, prime opportunity to keep the streak going. I also have my own personal reasons, after the Kelowna Knights second loss to the Quebec City Citadelles, my own friend and recruiter had the audacity to rub it in, and I had to retaliate when we beat the Quebec City Citadelles in the following match. The new CO-GM for the Quebec City Citadelles is also a friend of mine, and we have a bit of character rivalry in our Dungeons and Dragons campaign, so why not carry that over here? Yeah that's right, if you're reading this Gwen these hands rated Q for Quebec!

As a new member to the SMJHL and someone who has been out of that league for about 20 seasons, I do not know who the traditional rivals are. Add to the fact that there are about 8 more teams now than when I first joined back in the 50's and I'm even more confused. So I am going to have to make the rivalry based branding. With that being the case, I will have to say that the Great Falls Grizzlies are the biggest rival to the Thunder Bay Walleye. I don't know the exact ecosystems of these two cities, but I do know that bears have a history of eating fish. With one of the sides constantly eating the other, that makes it a pretty serious rivalry. The current standings seem to be in favor of the rival that enjoys eating its competition as well. Little do those bears know that we are creating a series of breathing apparatuses that will allow us to train on land and use weapons. Those bears will rue the day they decided to eat fish.

The Great Falls Grizzlies’ biggest rival in the SMJHL? Im glad you asked PT man. It is undoubtedly the Anchorage Armada. This rivalry was built on the blood sweat and tears of being based somewhere where nobody lives. GFG has always strived for the crown of being the best team based in the middle of nowhere, and they fight hard for that title. Things really got tense for Grindle himself when the Armada, with their unbelievable gall, passed on him to pick a guy named after a throwing event at the olympics. who do these guys think they are? The two teams have different styles too, and it reflects in their play. Traditionally the armada have favored playing a style where they play bad hockey and get really lucky even though they're not very talented, and the grizzlies prefer to play good, hard-nosed, strong hockey for strong men. We are GRIZZLIES! the ARMADA are TWINKS!

Grindle Waters-Johnson || LW || Great Falls Grizzlies || 241 TPE
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 210 lbs
Birthplace: Rimouski, Japan

Transactions
S78: Drafted by Great Falls Grizzlies with the 5th overall pick in S78 SMJHL Entry Draft
S78: Signed to a 5m rookie contract by the Great Falls Grizzlies

Stats

Awards

Seeing as I am brand new to the SMJHL I am not familiar with any traditional rivalries in the league for Yukon. As a team that has sniffed the bottom recently they'll need to build their way up and out of the barrel completely before they can start to talk about rivalries. Rivalries are built in big games. Heated battles with something meaningful on the line. Its hard to argue anything meaningful has been played for in Yukon as of late. They got off to a good start this season, winning 8 of their first 9 games including 2 regulation wins over Vancouver. Next they would look more like their former selves taking a 4-1 beating at the hands of the Whalers on October 22nd. Since then Yukon has gone through an abysmal stretch during which they would go 4-15-3, including another 3-1 loss to Vancouver. It's unlikely anything in particular was said in those games, but the Malamutes cannot have felt good since that initial 4-1 loss to Vancouver. You have to assume they would love to get some revenge when they play again on December 23rd and look to take the lead on the season series.