Post by St. Louis Sting on May 17, 2021 20:27:40 GMT -5
As always, the end of the two winter sports brings significant updates to our league standings. The Sting and Warriors jockeyed back and forth in both NHL and NBA all year, finishing with the top two regular season records in both and facing off in championship in both sports. St. Louis pulled out the win to raise their third NHL championship banner, riding the coattails of who other than Connor McDavid, who scored 23 points during the championship matchup. The goalies didn't show up in the finals, but the skaters did more than enough to secure the victory. In the third place game, the Grizzlies easily handled the Buffalo Wings. Meanwhile, the other playoff teams that had already been ousted, Dallas and Pensacola, watched the carnage from the golf course. What is notable about that, though, is that all four teams in the Central division reached the playoffs and, in fact, were the four best regular season teams.
Syracuse obviously took the NHL loss hard and came out with a vengeance in a rematch with the Sting. The matchup was a bloodbath through the first few days, with Syracuse taking a large lead and doing a little bit of streaming to pad a few categories. It really didn't matter, though, as the Warriors to proved to be too much of a match for the Sting despite a deceptively close 5-4 final score. Playoff Dame showed up a little bit early, and Steph continued his season-long tear through the league to leave the Sting in the dust. Rounding out the podium teams, the Strips defeated the Titans in convincing fashion.
As you may expect, finishing atop the league in both the regular season and championship leads to a large influx of league points in a very short period of time. Both teams picked up significant ground on the Grizzlies in the all-time standings. It wasn't enough to dethrone the long-time leaders, but both teams are well within striking distance now and make a clear top tier. The middle of the pack remains relatively muddled, though Dallas pulled away just a bit with a strong NHL performance that was somewhat offset by a rebuilding NBA year. Vegas continues to climb up into this tier after poor ownership early in the franchise's history set them behind. The Wings and Stars didn't get rewarded significantly for their playoff appearances and remain buried in the standings due to poor performances in their non-playoff sport. All-in-all there was very little change in the standings or surprising leaps. Perhaps the MLB season will bring us more upsets (and a continued reduction in COVID impacts to our fantasy land)!
Syracuse obviously took the NHL loss hard and came out with a vengeance in a rematch with the Sting. The matchup was a bloodbath through the first few days, with Syracuse taking a large lead and doing a little bit of streaming to pad a few categories. It really didn't matter, though, as the Warriors to proved to be too much of a match for the Sting despite a deceptively close 5-4 final score. Playoff Dame showed up a little bit early, and Steph continued his season-long tear through the league to leave the Sting in the dust. Rounding out the podium teams, the Strips defeated the Titans in convincing fashion.
As you may expect, finishing atop the league in both the regular season and championship leads to a large influx of league points in a very short period of time. Both teams picked up significant ground on the Grizzlies in the all-time standings. It wasn't enough to dethrone the long-time leaders, but both teams are well within striking distance now and make a clear top tier. The middle of the pack remains relatively muddled, though Dallas pulled away just a bit with a strong NHL performance that was somewhat offset by a rebuilding NBA year. Vegas continues to climb up into this tier after poor ownership early in the franchise's history set them behind. The Wings and Stars didn't get rewarded significantly for their playoff appearances and remain buried in the standings due to poor performances in their non-playoff sport. All-in-all there was very little change in the standings or surprising leaps. Perhaps the MLB season will bring us more upsets (and a continued reduction in COVID impacts to our fantasy land)!