I would have to say Maine. Even before I fully entered the league, the Zerks made it well known how little love was lost between them and the Timber. There's a long and glorious history between the two teams, with the Zerks taking the edge recently in their matchups AND winning the league. Truth be told, however, the feud sinks a little deeper than surface level, with a certain amount of respect between the two teams. Players are often cordial to each other off the ice, and some are even good friends. The games between Maine and Newfoundland are always nail biters as well; often times, they come all the way down to the wire, with each team putting in the fullest of effort at all times. At the end of the day, Maine is easily the Zerks rival - but not in a "blood feud" way. It's decayed into more of a respectful hatred more than anything.
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Thunder39 Registered
S40 & S42 Challenge Cup Champion
It's probably not the hottest of takes, but like others have said, Great Falls is probably Regina's de facto rival in the league. Both joined the league at thestart of this season and are fighting this season to have the better finish than the other.
Regina currently has a narrow hold on the lead in the standings, and some stellar play by their rookies could help propel them to a better finish than most pundits had them by season end.
The Grizzlies are letting that effect them though as they are clawing for every point. (Get it? Clawing? I'll see myself out)
The fierce battle between the two rookie franchises will be hard fought and right to the finish line. For years to come they will be scrutinized and compared to each other, whether it be championships, regular season succes or even draft success. I hope to help Regina make a name for itself in the coming seasons and get them the upper hand in this buddy SMJHL rivalry.
Being new to the team and the league, I have a lot to know and learn about the league and our rivals. From what I have been able to speak with our more experienced players and the staff, our rival is undoubtedly the St. Louis Scarecrows.
The atmosphere before a match against them is always different and obviously you have to give 100% of one to fight with your teammates to achieve the goal.
The fans ask us for victory in the preview of the games we play against them and there are tense moments on the rink. Even with a very aggressive game with a lot of punches and there are even fights.
The games against them are important for our morale and it is decisive if we want to achieve important things in the season. Achieving victory is not only a joy for the team, but for all the fans who accompany us every day.
The biggest rivals for the Colorado Raptors are, in my opinion, the Vancouver Whalers. This is because they are one of the top teams in the SMJHL along with us, so the two of us will be competing in the playoffs for a title. We have played each other four times so far this season, and the series is currently even at two wins apiece, so the two teams are very evenly matched. On a more personal note, the biggest rival for me is probably the Regina Elk. They aren’t nearly as good as us, so it’s not particularly evenly matched, however they are in our division and also they passed on me twice in the draft. They had the two picks before Colorado picked me and they could’ve used either of them on me but chose not to. I’m kind of insulted by that. However, Colorado let me into their locker room even before they drafted me, and I was always kind of hoping it would be them, so I’m glad they passed on me and it worked out. But I’m still pissed.
Considering I have only just entered the league, and being on a brand new team, I feel like the only rival for Regina so far are the Great Falls Grizzlies. The battle of the expansion teams. While they do share a common goal of proving themselves for legitimacy, they do take pride in winning against each other. Regina has been the more dominant expansion team so far, thanks to their rookies. However Great Falls is still competitive and can hold their own in any matchup. Each team thinks they are better than the other, while each game always comes down to the wire. This is always a matchup you can look forward to watching on the live simulations, regardless of where they are in the standings. These two franchises will be compared for years to come. Winning the Four Star Cup is an achievement in itself, but for Great Falls and Regina, the bragging rights are worth more.
I'm sure someone who knows more about the league would have a better answer for who QCC's biggest rival is, but I always enjoy when we play Anchorage or St. Louis. I was a DFA to Anchorage on my last player and had a good time there - everyone was very pleasant. I spent my last player's entire junior career with St. Louis and I'm still close with some of the guys from that locker room in other leagues. Neither of them decided to bring me back on my new player - which in one way makes sense, I flamed out in terms of activity on that player - but is a bit sad because I did hit the minors cap on him and kept him active in terms of the sim for a few seasons so he had a solid career even if he never amounted to anything but a juniors lifer. Already off to a better start this time though.
My team the Grand Falls Grizzlies biggest rival would be the St Louis Scarecrows. The teams are very close together and fight over new which team new fans will choose to root for. The Scarecrows have been around the league for a while now while the Grand Falls Grizzlies are the newest expansion team in the league and are looking to make a new for them selves. Some of the former players on the Grand Falls Grizzlies have either played for or have thought of playing for the Scarecrows before the Grand Falls Grizzlies were accepted in to the league as an expansion team. Both teams are very offensive and this is why the rivalry is so great because every game is such a high scoring affair and it is very fun for the fans to watch their respective teams duel it out in high scoring games. It will be fun to look and see how this rivalry expands in the next few seasons!
The Newfoundland Zerkers biggest rival has got to be the Maine Timber. In my eyes, they are our biggest rivals just because that series against them in playoffs of last season made me love the culture of SHL. Just watching the Zerks locker room erupt after each win was something incredible. I truly would love to see it happen again except with me on the ice this time. Timber is a tree and my favorite past time just so happens to be chopping trees. They were one of the teams to reach out to me before the draft and one of the few I had a genuine conversation with. Them passing on me round after round really just lit the fire underneath me that made me want to chop tree over and over. An angry herd of berserkers could take down an entire forest, let alone on group of Maine Timber. I look forward to many more great games against them.
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