It has been a wild 2 years in the league for the Nevada Battleborn. One of the two new expansion teams in the SMJHL (the other being the Quebec City Citadelles), Nevada has had to work hard to create a fertile base for growing the players they have, and there have been trials and difficulties, but the management would have known that these trials are just part of the course for a new team. Right now, they are focused on competing and getting themselves a Four Star Cup but let’s have a look on how they did in their previous two seasons.

S55: Mammon’s Baby Steps
Announced for the S55 Season, Nevada is Founded and GM’ed by Jearim and Nokazoa. Both have lots of experience as leaders, with Jearim being the former Co-GM of Texas Renegades and Nokazoa the current Team Canada Federation Head. However, there was always the tough task of building a team from scratch.
Nevada’s MO was to go for youth, and as we can see, the big core are from the S56 Draft. Weaver, Bane, Afalava, Zoidberg III, Kamado, Vermette and Funk were all drafted by Nevada, and were further bolstered by Supernaw, Danger and Helminen. Of course, this did mean that their first season would be chalked up as a dud, and that much did happen, with Nevada ending last in the league 24 points and a 10-36-4 record. They also didn’t get far in the playoffs, getting swept 0-4 by the Kelowna Knights. However, this could be considered huge growing steps for a young franchise like the Battleborn, and they could afford to throw away a year like this to nurture their young guns.

S56: Straight River Flip
This year was a huge step up for Nevada. There wasn’t much activity in terms of drafting, just picking up 4 draftees in Kekalainen, Wright, Sniff and Johns III, but that could be chalked up to the S56 draft being weaker than the prior S55 draft, which by itself was a major draft. However, not only are they developing into key pieces already, but that draft was more of an afterthought as the main objective was growing the S56 core, and in that they have made great progress.
In the S56 SMJHL season, Nevada were a strong team and managed to fight their way to the #4 seed and a bye week in the playoffs. The older players also checked in, especially Zelma Zuntnere who was Nevada’s best points producer with 42P (23G, 19A). However, this was also aided with a deadline trade in acquiring Rock Strongo for Kekalainen and two 1st round picks. This trade not only solidifies their core, but it’s a statement of intent, letting the SMJHL know that they will be the team to fear in the foreseeable future. As for their time in the S56 playoffs, they were bounced in the Quarterfinals by the Anchorage Armada in a 5-game series; proof that progress still needs to be made.

S57: All-In for Royal Flush
Now we get to the offseason, and we see that NBB is all in for this season. Only 3 current players won’t be able to reach the 450 cap, and with how deep that roster is, they will be looking to strike as the favourite heading into this season. Whether they further bolster an already stacked team or start looking towards the future is up to them, but what we can already say is that Nevada is playing with chips to spare and are ready to start dealing big.

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