In the absence of Bored MD Dad, I'll take a stab . . .
GROUP 1 - would be clear favorites against teams outside of group 1 Hawks Madlax Venom
GROUP 2 - could beat group 1 teams on a given day, but need to do it consistently to move to group 1 BBL Texas Nationals True National Black Express North
GROUP 3 - could compete with any teams above them, but would likely be underdogs 3D NE Next Level 2Way Crabs LI Express Chucks Mad Dog West Laxachusetts Colorado Kings
Others: NXT, FCA, Legacy, Freedom, West Coast Starz
Considerations: - Recency bias acknowledged - summer performance valued over spring, which is valued over fall - Teams within each group are interchangeable and fairly even - This is a snapshot in time - things could change dramatically based on the results of PrimeTime in 1.5 weeks
This looks solid except that Texas Nationals should replace Madlax in Group 1. What has Madlax won recently? They're Group 2 at best. Plus, Texas Nationals beat Venom twice in NY to win NLF earlier this summer. Anyone who was watching the last Texas Nationals v. Hawks game at Naptown is still wondering why Texas Nationals pulled their goalie after the first half! Kid completely shut the Hawks out in the first half with about 10 saves. How the coach pulls a hot hand like that in an elimination game is beyond me!
Also, Next Level deserves to be Group 2 with the hoco win. Otherwise, this looks right to me.
With summer being biased, Next Level not ready for group 2. No tourney wins plus the first tourney drubbing. If they finished strong at a good tourney maybe but Hershey is not quality.
Yeah, MadLax guy, if it makes you feel better, then keep telling yourself that NextLevel is two tiers below you. They are “lucky” every time they beat you. Three out of the last four have been “lucky” outings, if memory serves. Including at the “not quality” tourney they beat you at last summer. They are “lucky” when they win HoCo, including a dominating—er, “lucky”—performance in the semis. You don’t see Hawks people on here denigrating NL. Healthy respect should be the norm in an age group with a boatload of talent and parity. But you simply aren’t capable.
+1 NextLevel has better goaltending, face offs, coaching, and balance (ie, not relying on one player). So it is not a surprise that they usually beat ML.