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S57 PT #4 - Rivalry Week
#1

Which team is your team's biggest rival in the league and why? This could be due to recent history, old history, medium history, personal beef, branding antagonism, etc. - whatever the reason, which team in the league would you consider to be the biggest rival of your team? (SHL or SMJHL).
Written Task: 150 words min. on the above
Graphic Task: Make a Rivalry Week promo graphic highlighting the two teams squaring off (like what Donini has done for the 3on3/Primetime graphics)
You will receive 3 TPE for fulfilling all requirements.
Deadline: Sunday, December 27th at 11:59PM ET

Affiliate claims from either PBE or ISFL are accepted; link directly to your post and note if your username is different there.
If you have any questions/concerns, please PM me.

This task is for SHL players and send downs only, it is not for SMJHL rookies.

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#2
(This post was last modified: 12-27-2020, 11:18 PM by hockeyiscool.)

I would say the biggest rivals for the Tampa Bay Barracudas at the current time would either be the New England Wolfpack or the Baltimore Platoon. The primary reason is that we're both in a similar point in the organizations the three of us from the Atlantic have all decided to rebuild about the same time. So we're all trying to fight for the same resources (players, draft picks, etc.) The reason why I would say the New England wolfpack are our rival is because they are the team between us and making the playoffs and going forward they will be the team we're contending with. This season is a slight mulligan because making the playoffs this season would have been a luxury. For the current season our rival is the Baltimore platoon. Both of us play a similar game style and are two of the only teams in the league that have players on the roster who are actively trying to get into fights we're also both competing for a higher draft pick.
#3
(This post was last modified: 12-28-2020, 12:00 AM by Dextaria.)

With the two teams that I've been on, I would say that the rivals of the Vancouver Whalers would be without a doubt the Kelowna Knights (sorry Anchorage). Both BC teams, tied for the most number of Four Star Cup wins and being one of the oldest teams in the league. The Whalers and Knights rivalry stems back many seasons where the two teams have battled it out in division games, as well as in the playoffs. I would say that the Whalers have the leg up in terms of being the oldest team in the league; however, the next Four Star Cup win from either team may push them to bragging rights territory for a short period of time.

As for the Toronto North Stars, I've heard the Hamilton Steelhawks and Buffalo Stampede being thrown around as the greatest rivals. I haven't been on the team for long; however, when I did join I knew what was certain, the team's greatest rival at the moment is the division/playoffs. With a stacked Great Lakes Division, it seems that even though the North Stars are doing great, they will miss out on the playoffs once again. Okay, but in all seriousness, I'd consider the Hamilton Steelhawks the greatest rival team for Toronto. Plus, I know a couple of players on that team that I'd love to go up against.

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#4
(This post was last modified: 12-25-2020, 09:15 PM by yosh.)

The Newfoundland Berserkers have had a fair amount of rivals in the past few seasons. We’ve seen a few common foes in the playoffs in the past few seasons that could have ultimately led to a rivalry or some form of animosity. For example, we’ve faced off against the Maine Timber several times, including in the Season 55 Finals. The phrase “Lads it’s tree” and “chop trees” was certainly a common mention in the Newfoundland locker room during those games.

Despite several great rivalries, I think Newfoundland’s greatest rival to date is the Carolina Kraken. For one, in Season 54, the two teams clashed in the eastern conference finals, going into a seventh game that Carolina ultimately won to advance to the final where they would go on to win the Four Star Cup. The two teams clashed again in Season 55, but this time around Newfoundland defeated Carolina to advance to the finals.

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#5

I'd say Hamilton's biggest rival is just the entire Great Lakes. The Great Lakes all really don't like each other for a whole multitude of reasons, be it 40 passing, players being traded within the division and having the best rookie season in the current era, winning finals against each other, claims of espionage, so many reasons. The worst part about the Great Lakes is that all the teams are currently good, and it can be certainly argued that they are the best 4 teams in the league at the moment, but sadly only 3 of Toronto, Hamilton, Chicago, and Buffalo can make the playoffs. Its kind of like a big family, where all the teams fight each other all season and act like they hate each other, but as soon as another team picks a fight with a Great Lakes team the entire division comes to that team's defense. Well besides Hamilton I don't think anyone is going to fight for Hamilton.

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#6

I don't think I really need to say this but Hamilton is Buffalo's #1, #2, and #2 rival and its not even close. Sure, Buffalo has faced NOLA in two finals, but both were victories for the Stampede. That puts them up there. But nothing comes close to a division rival that has taken Buffalo out of the playoffs countless times, and in many seasons was the only thing that stood between Buffalo and the Cup. Hamilton too has been knocked out cold by dominant Buffalo teams. If they weren't already big rivals, this last Challenge Cup cemented Buffalo-Hamilton as one of the all time rivalries in the SHL. This is the first time two division rivals have ever faced each other in the Challenge Cup so it was bound to be a huge milestone. Although the players get along well off the ice, on the ice there will always be a heated and vicious rivalry.

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Germany Berserkers Stampede Stars Barracuda syndicate
#7

at the moment the Buffalo Stampede appear to be our current rivals, as they're second in our division. The Steelhawks have been destroying recently, and are looking to make another run for the cup. Buffalo at the moment seems to be the closest in terms of pure performance as they sit at 79 points, compared to Hamiltons 86. It will be interesting to see if Buffalo can possibly take a lead over Hamilton to be the first seed, however that doesn't seem likely. Over the past couple seasons, the New Orleans Specters have also had some close and tough matches between the Steelhawks.

Although, I'm told that a one way rivalry between the San Francisco Pride and the Hamilton Steelhawks is occasionally a thing because our players tend to absolutely destroy the Pride. Allegedly, this is where the Hamilton Steelhawks earn their raises with multi point games. I am severely, severely underweight and yet the win percentage for the Pride is somehow lower than my body fat percentage.

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#8

I think it's pretty clear that the biggest rival of the Quebec City Citadelles is the Nevada Battleborn. This is mainly due to the fact that both teams were founded in season 55 and had the exact same opportunities to build up and create a successful team. In the inaugural season for these teams, the games between the two were always ones to watch since neither team was set up to have a winning record and these games were always a good chance to pull ahead of the other team. Quebec was able to take the early advantage in the rivalry by finishing 10th in the league to Nevada's 12th and pull off an upset win in the first round of the playoffs. Season 56 went the way of the Battleborn, with the team improving to 5th over Quebec's 8th and tieing the overall battle of year-to-year standings. Finally, season 57 might be the season to determine which of these two expansion rivals earns the bragging rights of winning a four star cup, with Quebec breaking out to lead the league and show why they're the better of the two rival teams.

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#9

Speaking as a member of the Texas Renegades, I think there are a number of teams that I would consider our rivals. First and foremost, I consider the Los Angeles Panthers to be one of our biggest rivals. Since Texas has been competitive again, it seems like we've always been trading games with the Panthers season after season. Texas has since surpassed the Panthers in recent seasons in my opinion, and it's shaping up to be another fairly close competition this season. Words have been exchanged between members of both teams both on and off the ice, and it won't take much for things to spill over. Another more recent rival of Texas I believe is with the Calgary Dragons. While they haven't always played each other much, this new schedule in FHM pits them against each other more often. And with the seeding for the playoffs determined by which of the two division winners does better within the conference, there is a lot more at stake between Calgary and Texas as they both battle it out for supremacy in the west.


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#10

The rival of the Blizzard, well, it's kind of obvious, isn't it? Regardless of if the teams are competitive or not, or if they play in the playoffs, there is always going to be a driving force bringing the Blizzard and Dragons against each other. Based off of pure geography, occupying the same province as Calgary is a big enough reason for constant hatred between the teams. Beyond that, even, the cause for rivalry is evident. Even beyond that, the teams have had a storied history against eachother. They have faced off 6 times over the last 10 playoffs by my count, and the series have been very even from what I can gather. They've been back and forth, with Edmonton getting the better of Calgary in 6 games most recently. Even beyond the impact repeated playoff series have on franchises and their growing hatred, they have also been the best in the north west for as long as the FHM era has existed, flip flopping as 1st and 2nd in the division each season. Just, the obvious pick here and it comes down to both teams being very good at the same time, and being a 4 hour drive from each other.

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#11
(This post was last modified: 12-27-2020, 02:02 PM by _Blitz_.)

Toronto, as my teammates have pointed out, has beef with our whole division. Picking one team doesn't really work for us right now. I think we might've once had a case to call Hamilton a rival, since both teams are in the Greater Toronto Area and the teams were founded around the same time. With the struggles that Toronto has had, though, I think we just kind of fell out of rivalries. It's not really fun if one of the teams is better than the other, or they're both really bad. 

I think eventually it might be cool to have a bit of a rivalry with Tampa Bay since we're both eastern teams that have had long rebuilds, and Tampa should be good in a little bit of the same overlap that we are. I think we could see a more bitter rivalry with Chicago as we begin to compete with them more so than Buffalo or Hamilton for Playoff berths.

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#12

Toronto’s biggest rival... What’s a rival? A team you really don’t like, hate even, probably, for different reasons. Lately I would argue that our entire division is our biggest rival, because all three of them are the reason we can’t make the playoffs despite improving so much. #drainthelakes All three teams are the best three teams in the entire league right now, even better than all the teams in the West. If that isn’t reason enough to hate every single one of them, then tell me who should be our biggest rival? Chicago is the newest of the three, being an expansion team, so perhaps it has to be one of the other two and we can exclude them a little. They also haven’t won the Cup lately unlike Hamilton and Buffalo both have. Hamilton is geographically the closest team to us. I don’t even know why they need a team there when we have a team in Toronto. And nobody really likes them anyway, so okay, if it can’t be the entire Great Lakes division – which it still is in my mind – then it’s Hamilton, closely followed by Buffalo.

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#13
(This post was last modified: 12-21-2020, 05:06 AM by jRuutu.)

For Nevada Battleborn at the moment there is only one true rival - Quebec City Citadelles. Both teams joined the SMJHL at the same time, so it's only natural that the teams keep an eye on each other. The start for both teams was tough, not that many wins and most of the players in the teams were just starting their SMJHL careers. Slowly but steadily both teams have improved, last year Nevada played well and now during this ongoing season Quebec has been the brighter of the two so far. The fresh-faced rookie players are now getting closer to being SHL level players.

What makes this rivalry special is the fact that it came from nowhere so to speak. Usually, these things start after an incident of some kind or two teams playing tough games against each other, but with Nevada and Quebec the rivalry is there purely because they joined the league at the same time. Someone could say that is not a rivalry and they would be correct, the relationship between Quebec and Nevada is closer to friendly rivalry. Both teams have gone through similar paths and know what that experience is like.

Interesting to see what the future holds for the two teams, this season as mentioned has been Quebecs, but as we know playoffs is a mystery. Would be a great ending to many players SMJHL career to have Quebec and Nevada play against each other in the finals. If that is the case, then we could be well on our way to a rivalry that is not so friendly anymore!
#14

I feel like the rivalry situation is one that has changed a lot over the years for Texas. When I think back to when I first joined the league in the mid S20s, Texas really had that bad boy thing going on and were always pissing off every team, so it wouldn't be a reach to say that they were a rival to every team in the league. After that mellowed out a bit, the team still had the same sort of feel but on a lesser extent and we became rivals mainly with the Edmonton Blizzard who we used to beef with for some reason I've forgotten and had some good playoff series with. Now that divisions are a thing, it would probably be the Specters and the Panthers who are our main rivals, although it looks like the Specters are going into a rebuild. The Panthers have made some ill advised win now moves so maybe they're trying to topple us, so we'll see whether that actually pays off for them at all in terms of settling our rivalry.

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#15

The easy answer as a rival for Quebec City Citadelles would be Nevada Battleborn because both teams joined SMJHL at the same time but I choose different route. Rivalries are born especially in the playoffs and so far Citadelles have faced in the playoffs three teams. On season 55 Citadelles beat Anaheim Outlaws on round one in six matches but lost then to Newfoundland Berserkers. Last season Citadelles lost to Colorado Raptors on round one in six games. From those three teams, only one plays in the same division. That team is Newfoundland Berserkers and that's why I pick them to main rival for Citadelles. Colorado and Anaheim even play on other conference so it would hard for me to imagine them some kind of rivals for Quebec City. On season 55 NL won all seven regular season meetings and also beat us on playoffs like I wrote. On S56, wins were 4-3 in our advance. And this season we have been really dominant against NL by winning all four meetings so far. Games have still been tight with one goal margins so NL and Quebec are two teams whose matches are always very exciting and tough. That's why they are rivalries for each other.

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