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10) Cobra Kai

Richie Hero: Campbell. The team needs Campbell to play or they are in huge trouble. The good news for Cobra Kai is they really have no one you can expose. The bad news is they don’t have a game-changer among them. Liam is excellent but he’s not the type of guy that often goes end to end and scores. Their girls are very very good, but they aren’t Rehabs/Hookers/Fresh Kills good. Campbell is where they get an advantage that most other teams can’t match. I don’t think this is their year.

JW: Rich mentioned Campbell. I thought Campbell isn’t eligible to play, no? Campbell is clearly the X factor for Kai (wait, did I just say “X factor”? What are these other 3 clowns turning me into??). Oh man, and we still have 9 teams left to do??  Why did I agree to this. 

Meatbox: With Campbell in tow, I expect Cobra Kai to be one of the toughest outs in the playoffs (assuming he is able to make the trek down from Boston every weekend in October). However, given their seed, their path to the finals will end up being much tougher this season and it’s hard for me to see them going beyond the Elite 8.

Arya: I hate to make this all about Campbell but seriously, this Cobra Kai season has basically been a case study in how much they miss that guy.  Even with him leaving, I still picked them to win their division.  Losing Campbell is a tough blow, sure, but other teams manage to win without a top 3 goalie, and the dojo still has a bunch of great players.  As you probably know by now, my prediction was proven wrong as the Biters and Hookers both finished top 3 while Cobra Kai finished 10th. Fortunately, they were rewarded with a great first round matchup against the Demons (not an easy out, but preferable to the alternatives around them) and if Campbell comes in, they should win easily as it’s basically the same team who got the #1 seed last year.  A more alarming question is whether the win/loss and goals against splits with and without Campbell demonstrate that he’s been covering up some sloppy play these past couple years. A deep playoff run without him would put those conversations to bed. A deep playoff with him wouldn’t, but they’d be happy either way.

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The Heat Fears makeups from Week 12 were played this past Sunday. Some streaks ended and new streaks began, but none of that matters anymore, as next Sunday it’s win or go home for the month of October as the black top high school playoffs get under way.

In the meantime, on to the box scores…

Fresh Kills 0 @ Rehabs 2

Rehabs – Bryan’s Fruit Snacks (2), Monique (10)

Goalie Shutout Win – Matt T via FA

Goalie Loss – Barch Pile

Gremlins 2 @ Karma 1 F/OT

Gremlins – Erich (10), Carcella Molson (4)

Goalie OT Win – Charlie O’D via FA

Goalie OT Loss – Steve F

Game Notes: Gremlins came back to tie it on the strength of the not often known lack of 6 foot requirement for a goalie ball restart. Following the rules ain’t shenanigans.

Filthier 3 @ Fresh Kills 2 F/OT

Filthier – Thomas W x2 (8), OP James (13)

Goalie OT Win – Tim K (13-3, 4 Shutouts, 1.29 GAA)

Fresh Kills – Nate (8), Gabe (8)

Goalie OT Loss – Barch Pile (4-7, 1 Shutout, 1.96 GAA)

Poutine 1 @ Gremlins 3

Poutine – Brian S (3)

Goalie Loss – RJ F (7-6, 4 Shutouts, 1.44 GAA)

Gremlins – Cody (3), Courtney (2), Erich (11)

Goalie Win – Charlie O’D via FA

WTP?! 2 @ Karma 3 F/OT

DaPucks – @ballhogg x2 (14)

Goalie OT Loss – Ed P (10-6, 2 Shutouts, 1.83 GAA)

Karma – Derek Zed x2 (17), Scory Cory

Goalie OT Win – Steve F (7-6, 1 Shutout, 2.43 GAA)

Game Notes: After giving up another late one goal lead in the final minutes of the game, Karma put together a quick shift at the start of overtime to grab a third point on the day.

Editor’s Note: We don’t have a photo of Erich’s goal so I’ll have to post the tying goal from this game instead.

GANK 2 @ Pounds 4

Anklebiters – Joe P (4), Andy M (2)

Goalie Loss – Craig LaC (13-2, 5 Shutouts, 1.31 GAA)

Pounds – Karsten P (4), Davis A (3), Macayla E (3), Nick R (1)

Goalie Win – Sizzler (12-2, 1 Shutout, 1.57 GAA)

Math 2 @ Cobra Kai 6

Math – Lindsey H (1), Jon M (8)

Goalie Loss – Andrew via FA

Evil Dojo – Rachel L (3), Eff Gill Ween x2 (7), JJ Murph (2), Liam M (4), Pete FlaminGo (5)

Goalie Win – Ryan “Levine” (1-6, 2.22 GAA)

Game Notes: This was quite a late day game for a Levine goalie to play…someone really wanted that first win of the season!

Advanced Analytics: How do Cobra Kai never win any games? I dunno, because Olivier and Liam can only score 6 goals combined in a season perhaps? Guys hobbling on 1 leg have done better. Or at least, I assume Crime Stopper’s Rbrt Glnzr’s 73 goals last year were all legitimate.

Riots 0 @ Rainbows 4

Goalie Loss – Dave GdR (3-12)

Rainbows – Dan C x2 (6), Ryan M (3), Yetter (8)

Goalie Shutout Win – Casca via Demons

Demons 2 @ Gut Rot 1

Demons – Gino (5), Miles S (9)

Goalie Win – Zach L (7-5, 1 Shutout, 2.02 GAA)

Rut Rot – Mike F (1)

Goalie Loss – Sam S (1-8)

Game Notes: For all that this game was touted (and then deleted) to be, this was not much of a game at all. Hope Demons get some earlier games for the playoffs, not that they ever do anything remarkable in October over the years, anyways.

Mega 0 @ Sky Fighters 2

Goalie Loss – Mike T (6-6, 2 Shutouts, 2.03 GAA)

Sky – Tori x2 via FA

Goalie Shutout Win – OG James (5-4, 2 Shutouts, 1.98 GAA)

Game Notes: Was this past Sunday a live look-in at the 2020 Michaliga Katz divisional race?

Hookers 0 @ Butchers 1 F/SO

Goalie Shutout Shootout Loss – Dustin O (9-4, 3 Shutouts, 1.49 GAA)

Goalie Shutout Shootout Win – Tim Brk (4-8, 2 Shutouts, 2.28 GAA)

Shootout Winner – Matt DR

Game Notes: There were zero goals scored in both Butchers/Hookers matchups this season, played in both the opening and de facto closing weeks of the season, with two 1-0 shootout decisions, one going each team’s way. Dustin played for both games, and Tim Burke was snubbed for a star only once (as Max subbed in Week 1) this past week.

15) Butchers

Richie Hero: The Butchers have had a history of deep playoff runs, as they made it to the semis in 2010 and 2011, the first two years of their existence. With such a proud history, I have to believe they want revenge on the Rainbows for beating them last year. Yetter is the best player on the court, but I’m going to go with RGII and the Butchers. They prob can’t beat the Lbs. so they better hope for one upset, but if they play the Anklebiters, it will be a good game. 

Arya: As the 15th seed there’s no way mathematically for the Butchers to play the #1 seeded LBS in the Round of 16.  But they will give whomever they do face (Biters or Hookers) a lot of trouble if they play the way they can. Of course, they have to get there first and getting by a Rainbows team that eliminated them last season and improved won’t be easy.  They will get a slight lift in getting Tarzan back from his latest ACL surgery, but will it be enough? I give them 50/50 to get by the Bows but the Biters and Rehabs probably have too much firepower.

Meatbox: The Butchers are one of the hardest teams to read in this entire bracket. It seems like every year they give some of the top teams in the league trouble (wins over Hookers & Rehabs this year, while constantly giving trouble to the Lbs), but then they get upset in games they shouldn’t (see last years play-in matchup with the Rainbows). That being said, they are one of the two teams playing in the play-in round that I would be the least surprised to see make it to the elite 8. Just comes down to who shows up for them starting this weekend.

JW: This is the game of the week, and will likely be one of the tightest games in the entire playoffs. The Butchers will be itching to get revenge for last year, and the New Rainbows will be itching to prove they’re the real deal. This one goes to OT, but Jessica is not the hero this time (and even if she was, I won’t be there to film it). The OT hero……is Arthur.

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Third Star

Big Willie from Cobra Kai

With the evil dojo on the ropes, and all hope seeming lost, Will G dug deep to muster the umph that sparked their turnaround.  He potted two goals to give his team the lead that guided them to victory.

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Four heroes are going to dish on how the 20 BTSH teams who qualified for the playoffs or play-in game will do.  Any complaints should be directed at one hero in particular, Richie Hero, as he is used to dealing with random people yelling at clouds from his time manning the phones at Crime Stoppers.

20) Gut Rot

Richie Hero: When Gut Rot has a goalie, they win games. Eric and Ed have provided their fare share of W’s along the way, but sadly, Eitan refused to goalie 4 them and they’ve been stuck with a goalie by committee year. Truth be told, I think Russ is funnier than Eitan, and I don’t think Russ is that funny.

Arya: Gut Rot went from five wins and 18th place to two wins and 20th place.  Was Ed leaving really that big of a blow? Fans of narratives will say yes as Gut Rot dropped two spots while WTP went from 12th to 5th.  However, Gut Rot only let up three more goals this year than last year but scored 22 rather than 35, a massive 37% drop in scoring. Whatever the issue is, in playing one of the only two teams they beat this season, they have an amazing chance to notch an improbable playoff victory. If Shelly is there, I don’t think they can do it.

Meatbox: Given the fact that I lose championships every year, look for Gut Rot to win their first round matchup (they’ve beaten Mega once this season), forcing the Rehabs to have to play Fresh Kills in round 2 while Gut Rot is rewarded with a date with the Lbs. Did I just make this about me? Yes, I’ve gone full JW.

JW: Wait, when I was asked to do this I wasn’t told there would be hockey involved.

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