No Surprise by Hot Start Composure (1st at 8-0-0) Underdogs (2nd at 8-0-0) Denial (3rd at (8-0-0) Vertigo (5th at 7-0-1) Outside Looking In 6th Sense (18th at 6-1-1) Recent Accomplishments : Defending ESHL Champions (S13), NACL Runner-ups - To the surprise of many, 6th Sense has reunited after temporarily going their separate ways at the conclusion of the last ESHL and NACL seasons/ Road to ESHL Championship Round 1 = Bye, Round 2 = 4-0 sweep of Flawless, Round 3 = 4-3 win over Entourage, and Round 4 Championship Series win over Resilience. What to Expect? : Everybody expects 6th Sense to qualify for the playoffs and expect the team to make a serious push to compete for a championship. Like many of the other top teams they have the fire power and ability to get hot at the right time, and only currently find themselves outside of the playoffs due to tie-breaker. - Their only two losses so far coming in their opening night series against Rizvter and Tropix (7-1-0) without Twistified in their lineup, which kind of comes as a surprise. Look for @John Bri I 7 I , @F0G 19 and @Vaporize 17 to lead 6th Sense to another championship aspiration filled season. X-Factor (20th at 6-1-1) Recent Accomplishments: N/A - A new roster, X-Factor finds itself consisting of many veterans but the roster is headlined by former Hidden Potential teammates @CT 66 and @Shockz. Rounded out with @TheHeroicDuck and @Po1andsFinest the roster looks to be in good shape to compete for a playoff spot. - Through the 8 game regular season X-Factor is the only blemish on Composure's perfect record of 8-0-0 as they were able to take their second match-up to overtime before ultimately losing 6-5 on a game winner from @mR Hit DaT. - Similar to 6th Sense, they find themselves in a good spot after Week 1 to easily slide into the top 16 as they're only currently outside due to tie-breaker. What to Expect? : I think many people will agree that X-Factor should be competing for one of the 16 playoff spots come the end of the 4 week season. Their two losses coming to Composure, their next 4-8 match-ups should result in more favorable match-ups with the modified 8-team block swiss format (unless they pull 6th Sense). Teams in the Same Boat Entourage (26th at 6-1-1) - Nothing to really say here. Lost some points for OT wins, as the team had a tough opening night series against . It also didn't help that they played a very under rated Flawless team. Having already played in their next 8-team grouping, look for an easier strength of schedule next Wednesday. (28th at 5-2-1) - Tough opening night matching Entourage, and getting caught by surprise when playing No Sympathy in their first game. Look for them to leapfrog teams with an easier strength of schedule next Wednesday, as they've already played Entourage in their next 8 team grouping. Turning Point (35th at 5-2-1) - Adjustment Point? Turning Point features a much improved roster (particularly with their d-core) with the additions of long term Resilience members @D-O-U-G-H-T-Y and @LemeIin. Extremely tough match ups on the second night as the system was not kind to them, facing both Vertigo (7-0-1) and Underdogs (8-0-0). Early Trouble! Is it already too late for these Teams? FlaPanthers Gaming (39th at 5-3-0) - Not the worst start for the newly represented NHL affiliated club, with 2 of their 3 losses coming to Caps Gaming Champions Entourage. The team is comprised of many AHL calibre players, and led by AHL personality @Broomball16. - Week 2 will be a very important week for the FlaPanthers Gaming squad, as they'll be competing against many talented and mid-tier clubs. Anything less than 6-1-1 or 6-2-0 will probably eliminate them from contention. Homeland Esports (51 at 4-4-0) - Homeland is one of the few esport organizations who have been dedicated to growing an NHL brand, so it's always interesting to see how they preform and grow within the community. Unfortunately they've had a fairly tough strength of schedule to begin their campaign facing Ruthless (11th at 7-1-0), Montage Moment (17th at 6-2-0), and Unknown Talent (10th at 7-1-0). Anything less than a 7-1-0 week will likely see Homeland Esports taken out of contention. - Their roster is actually loaded with talent, but hasn't pieced it together. @PieR Talent has found success on the PS4 side of the NHL community, so hopefully we see that translate to the Xbox side with Homeland Esports. Problematic (68th at 3-4-1) - Disappointing probably sums it up best. Without knowing what happened, the Underdogs has returned home and Problematic no longer houses the Underdogs / Phantoms hybrid roster. Problematic is no longer fielding their most competitive roster to date, and is instead a lineup filled with question marks. - Sounds stupid to say, but this may be too big of a hole for this roster configuration to dig out of with all of it's AHL and question mark talent. @PBM Kap and company pulled off an impressive win against Montage Moment on stream, but I don't see this team coming anywhere close to competing for a playoff spot with this roster. Most Wanted (78th at 3-4-1) - Probably the most surprising of them all, this is the same team that beat Entourage in 7 games back in S12 ESHL Playoffs. Besides Vertigo, they haven't played anybody amazing. Very surprised to see this team struggling so hard out of the gate. Look for Most Wanted to go a necessary 8-0-0 if they want any chance on getting back into the playoff hunt. Clout 9 (82nd at 2-5-1) - Need more from @OG Kevin Bacon and the squad. A long ways away from their surprising success in the Caps Gaming tournament. Anaheim Ducks Gaming (88th at 2-6-0) NJ Devils Gaming Club (90th at 2-6-0) - Unlike FlaPanthers Gaming, Anaheim Ducks Gaming and NJ Devils Gaming Club find themselves at 2-6-0. I'm sure this isn't the start the clubs imagined, but they should have more favourable matchups in week 2 due to their current placing. I'm really surprised they didn't reach out to any of the established top tier teams and look for representation, as I'm sure that would've looked better and would have been easier to promote / advertise their inclusion.
