This weekend I went up north to Muskoka with a group of friends. We rented a cottage in the winter because we wanted to check out some skating trails in the area, but sadly Global Warming ruined the weekend with warm temperatures all week. Instead, we were greeted with a beautiful sunny day with brisk temperatures that didn't require a jacket. We were lake side so the view was serene and made for the perfect backdrop. Even though that white mansion you see in the photo below was not our cottage, we still loved our cottage. On Saturday night, we had a wonderful dinner together with chicken parmesan, ravioli, and a side salad. Afterwards, we did the most Canadian thing ever, watch Hockey Night in Canada. It was the Toronto Maple Leafs vs the Boston Bruins and with a win, Toronto could overtake Boston for 2nd place in the Atlantic Division. It was a crazy back and forth game and neither team was giving an inch. It was tied at 3-3 with the 3rd period winding down, when Toronto went ahead on a point shot in the last minute of the game. This game definitely had a playoff atmosphere and no one would be angry if Toronto and Boston end up facing each other in the the playoffs.
Three weeks ago, I made a weekend recap post, where I spoke about the NA LCS standings and how it seemed like a Top 6 was emerging. Another 3 weeks have passed and we are now two thirds of the way through the regular season. The original Top 6 were Echo Fox, Cloud 9, Team Liquid, 100 Theives, Team Solo Mid, and Counter Logic Gaming. Now with 6 weeks done, a new Top 6 has emerged with Clutch Gaming going 5-1 to vault themselves into a 3rd place tie, while Counter Logic Gaming goes 0-6 and drops to a 9th place tie. Analysts had CLG ranked very high in the pre-season, but it looks like they haven't found their way after the departure of their main shotcaller, Aphromoo. Aphromoo is now on 100 Thieves, whose recent hot streak has them in a 3-way tie for 3rd place with Clutch Gaming and Team Liquid. Surprisingly, TSM is in 6th place with a record of 6W-6L, but they are only 1 game behind the 3rd place logjam.
If we take a look at the strength of schedule for the remaining games, Echo Fox, Cloud 9 and Team Solo Mid have the easiest schedule and all should easily qualify for playoffs with Echo Fox and Cloud 9 more than likely earning a playoff bye. This leaves Clutch Gaming, 100 Thieves, Team Liquid, and with an outside chance, FlyQuest battling for the last 3 playoff spots. Their modest schedule means that any of these teams could go on a hot streak, but FlyQuest is 3 games behind the other 3 teams, so they have to hope that someone goes on a bad run. OpTic Gaming, Counter Logic Gaming, and Golden Guardians all have the most difficult schedules, so I don't seem them challenging at all, but they could still play spoilers for the teams above them.
My prediction is that Echo Fox finishes 1st, Cloud 9 2nd, Clutch Gaming 3rd, Team Liquid 4th, Team Solo Mid 5th, and 100 Thieves 6th to round out the playoff teams. FlyQuest will move up to 7th, Counter Logic Gaming to 8th, OpTic Gaming 9th, and lastly Golden Guardians 10th. Even though there is only a third of the season left, I can imagine something crazy happening to shake up the standings, but its not something I would predict. Let's hope for a few more upsets to spice things up going into the playoffs.
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