Please note that these are my personal power rankings and may not reflect the standings exactly as they are. They will reflect recent play (not necessarily score) and not encompass the entire season as we get down the stretch. 1) Grand Rapids Griffins: As expected, @Gucci Goals and his Griffins came out the gates flying with a 7-1-1 record. Their one regulation loss came against the Chicago Wolves who are not too far behind them in these rankings. @lYoungBuck l42l posted an impressive 84 sv% on 50 shots over the course of 4 games. I expect the Griffins to remain on top of the western power rankings for a majority of the season without too much trouble. 2) Stockton Heat: Yes, despite their weak 5-3-1 record I have Stockton as 2nd on the week. Although they didn’t have the best record they beat both the San Diego Gulls and Ontario Reign, the two most competitive teams in their division. Looking further into their losses, they outplayed their opponents in most of their losses. As it stands now, the heat have the largest TOA differential in the league, 11 minutes beyond that of the Sound Tigers. I attribute the losses to inconsistent goaltending and/or defense and if @joek5 and @DavosJB and get back in their grooves, Stockton will find themselves on top of the standings, not just the power rankings. 3) San Diego Gulls: San Diego claimed the third spot this week due to stellar play by goalie @nicholas08chick. Nicholas stole wins from Bridgeport and Ontario while his team was being outplayed. In 4 games this week he faced 75 shots and only allowed 11 goals for an 85 sv%. The offensive talent is also there with @Hillhouse l13l and @Q SpLiFF reaching double digit points on the week, but in order for the team to continue to win they will need to play a better 2-way game. Nicholas won’t be able to keep this up all season. 4) Ontario Reign: Ontario had a solid week, but failed to get the W in big games like those against San Diego and Stockton which places them in 4th for the week. All lines played equally well with no visible weaknesses on the roster. The top scorers are @HEROxIDENTITY and @iTransitions proving that they are more than just a one line team as those two play on different lines. They will be facing off against the Griffins next week Sunday night which should be a good game to watch if someone is streaming it. 5) Chicago Wolves: Chicago did well in this first week winding up tied with Lake Erie for 2nd in their division. They played Lake Erie last week in which @Mirc City scored 4 goals to take an easy 5-1 win. They also claimed victory over Rockford who is close behind them after week 1. Next week they will have some harder matchups between Stockton and Ontario and will have to show that their defense and goaltending can hold up against the better offenses. Their 31 goals against is the highest of any of the top 7 teams in the west. 6) Lake Erie Monsters: The Monsters had a decent week going 6-3, but lacked consistency on some nights. Goalie and AGM @oldJAPANties had a few rough nights posting a 25 and 50 sv% on two separate occasions this week. Their 3rd line struggled with scoring which will need to be adjusted if they want to make a deep playoff run. However it is still week one and maybe the guys are still knocking off some of the rust. GM and AGM @v FrosTiC and @VVaGs82 are leading the team in points, however they haven’t been challenged yet. Hopefully next week we will see them play against Ontario or San Diego to see how they play against stiffer competition. 7) Texas Stars: The Texas offense really struggled this week only posting 19 goals in total, but were able to stay in games with good defense and solid goaltending. If they want to stay in the playoff race guys like @honesrule and @RunicHylander need to start producing to help @IXI Ein IXI in net. Next week they play Grand Rapids, Chicago and Lake Erie and will have to step it up or see their record worsen. 8) Iowa Wild: Iowa started this season off rough which a lack of consistency in the offense. They started the week 3-1, but had nothing to show to end the week and ended up 4-5. They need to get their act together for next week with games against San Diego and Ontario. Goalie @Notorious lll almost managed to steal a game from Grand Rapids, but his team failed to score in the 1-0 loss. If the offense can pick it up they should have a fighting chance next week against the harder matchups. If not, then they might have a pretty frustrating week. 9) Rockford IceHogs: I know it’s only week one, but I may have found @MadeOfTwoFaces protege. @LAINGX15 posted 14 points on the week with wins over Manitoba and Hershey, two teams that were not predicted to have much success. I hope he doesn’t make this a constant thing because one scrub hunter is enough for me. Rockford lost to divisional rivals Chicago and Lake Erie this week and will look to rebound next week vs Stockton and San Diego. 10) Milwaukee Admirals: I have to give credit to @MadeOfTwoFaces, he actually tried to play a good team this week. After getting humiliated (it was pretty ugly) by Gucci & co. he went back to the usual scrub hunting and still managed to get shutout in one of the games. My one request this season is that everyone plays their top line vs. Milwaukee every chance they get this season so we can see how “good” he really is @Borcobaby played very well and consistent for Milwaukee in net aside from the game against Grand Rapids, but I can’t put that on him. In fact I’m surprised he didn’t let in more. 11) San Jose Barracuda: The Barracuda are better than they may seem by a quick glance at the standings. Yes, they 3-3-3 records, but 5 of their 6 losses were one goal games. @Shtz2ez and @Falsy14 have the potential to put up a lot of points which they will have to start doing. It seems the defense will need to tighten up as well, giving up around 15 shots on net per game. @AGally l94l is going to have to step up and get his defense in shape. After a 0-2-1 week one his 6.75m contract is looking to be much more harmful than helpful to the Barracuda. 12) Charlotte Checkers: Despite the checkers having a sub par week they somehow managed to beat Grand Rapids in OT, so kudos to them. Even more surprising was that @macros73 was playing in that game. Goaltending seems to be a struggle for this team with @TEmery1 posting a sub 70 sv% and the trading involving the infamous @Tatar l21l. He posted better numbers than TEmery so it’s possible there was some internal issues going on there. Charlotte is yet to acquire another goalie so it’s unclear who will fill in for him, but bolstered their defense with @BearSkorn. Hopefully he can bring them some more stability in the back end and give the goalies some relief. 13) Bakersfield Condors: The only reason Bakersfield doesn’t have a worse record after week one is goalie @Hoeyy HD. He played very well last week despite his team constantly being outplayed. The scoring was lackluster, only scoring more than 3 goals on 2 occasions. He and the defense led by @M4TTH35 will have to continue their tight defensive play in order to keep games close and allow the offense to have a shot at winning. If Bakersfield can make some moves to increase their offensive capabilities they could move up, but as it is they likely don’t have what it takes. 14) San Antonio Rampage: San Antonio was shut out 4 times this week. You cannot expect to win if you can’t score a single goal in almost half your games. It was rough for @IHIAVOX who was recently waived after his team didn't score a single goal when he was in net this week. Snoopy would like me to point out that this was not the reason he was waived even though that was not what I was saying. They recently acquired @hicksy999 who will increase their offensive production, but he will not be able to do it by himself. @I2I SNOOPY I3I will need to make more moves to spark his team to get some wins. 15) Manitoba Moose: Like San Antonio, the offense on Manitoba just didn’t show up this week. The leading scorer on the team currently is @Beauregard93 with a measly 5 points. They attempted to switch things up a bit with some trades, acquiring players like @Rushpac who expressed his excitement in the chatbox. When you start out with such a poor team it can be hard to come back because you don’t have a whole lot to offer in trades. A lot will need to go right for these guys if they want any sort of shot at a playoff berth.
Per popular request, next week I will be an asshole and call everyone out to spice things up. I would like to start by saying @macros73 is cancer and @I2I SNOOPY I3I is so bad that @MadeOfTwoFaces could even beat him.
I will make a bold prediction and say that the Condors will finish higher than 13th in the West. Quote me on that boys.
Eastern power rankings: Bridgeport because Noob Hartford because trade rape Everyone else can fucking suck me
Great write up, again. Thanks for taking the time to provide content to the site. Keep up the good work. Also you should talk bad about @nicholas08chick he played lights out with the criticism from the previous rankings.
@Savage Ns Good Read. I just thought I should let you know. AGally wasn't on San Jose last week. So his record is from his old team.
