Playoffs Preview: He Finally Did It!
Season recap, regular season awards, and quarterfinals preview.
Chelsea’s Dagger Makes History!
Let me take you back to 13 years ago.
Gangnam Style and Call Me Maybe were the top-2 songs in the world. The Costa Concordia ran aground in Italy. Barack Obama was just re-elected President. Lance Armstrong had his 7 Tour de France titles stripped for doping. We were using the iPhone 4.
What also happened back then? An awkwardly tall 13 year old Ian Kwant joined the Maryland All-Stars fantasy hockey league and missed the playoffs for the first time.
He would then go on to do that 12 more times, creating the most infamous drought in the history of the league.
Well folks… that drought ends today! After 13 long years, Ian Kwant has finally made the Maryland All-Stars Cup Playoffs!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He ends the season on a league best 8-game win streak that saw him defeat 6 playoff teams in that stretch. A truly generational run. Chelsea’s Dagger is the hottest team in the league and is coming for the Maryland All-Stars Cup!
Regular Season Awards
Montgomery Trophy
Awarded to the team the finishes in 1st place in the regular season.
Mr. Dub is the 2024/25 Montgomery Trophy champion! He finishes his league-leading regular season with a 18-4 record and 6,202 points. This is Mr. Dub’s 4th Montgomery Trophy and 1st since 2013/14. Welcome back to summit!
Gordon Bombay Trophy
Awarded to the team that finishes the regular season with the most points.
Mark is the winner of the 2024/25 Gordon Bombay Trophy! He takes home his 3rd straight and 5th all-time! Team Weinstein finished the season with an incredible 6,266 points. Mark is also the first Gordon Bombay Trophy winner who did not win the Montgomery Trophy in the same season, breaking yet another longtime streak. Congrats, birthday boy!
Historically, the winner of the Montgomery Trophy and Gordon Bombay Trophy has gone on to win the Maryland All-Stars Cup 57% of the time. It is safe to say both Weinstein’s are the favorites going into the playoffs!
The Odd Ones Out
I am absolutely gutted. My Blitzkrieg, who finished the regular season 3rd in the league in points (6,057) and spent the majority of the season in the top-5, finishes in 9th place and misses the playoffs for just the 2nd time in franchise history. I genuinely don’t know what went wrong… typically if you put up the 3rd most points in the league you are worrying about seeding, not contention.
It is hard not to look back at this week 8 loss against Chelsea’s Dagger and shed a tear. The Blitzkrieg lost by a mere 2 points that week. Given my large points advantage over #4-#8, this means I missed the playoffs by 2.1 points :((((
Team Wong also fought hard until the very end, but it was not enough. After starting the year 6-0, Kendall was never able to string together a solid run of form and finishes the season 11-11. In a different year, 11 wins may have been enough, but the league-wide parity we just saw sends Wong to the golf course early.
Final Regular Season Standings
Maryland All-Stars Cup Playoffs: Round 1 Preview
Maryland All-Stars Bracketology
Montgomery Trophy champion and #1 seed Pray to Pagans for James Hagens goes head-to-head with #8 Philly’s Elite in a matchup that looks about as one sided as you can get. Mr. Dub won both regular season meetings in convincing fashion and is second in the league in total points, while Jordan is 9th. Mr. Dub is on the hunt for his 4th Maryland All-Stars Cup and Jordan is searching for his first. Can Philly’s Elite play spoiler and make some history?
3-straight Gordon Bombay Trophy winner and #2 seed Team Weinstein faces off against #7 Lou’s Still Clueless. Fresh off of two absolutely massive wins against Mr. Dub and the Blitzkrieg, respectively, Mark and Eric both have their sights set on the ultimate prize. After their blockbuster midseason trade that saw Jason Robertson join Team Weinstein in exchange for Jordan Kyrou, Mark has won both regular season matchups and is scoring at an unmatched pace. Will he continue his dominance or will Eric get the upset?
#3 Snow Cones snapped his 4-week losing skid this past week, but has struggled to score at a consistent rate as of late. The Swiss Machine will face 6th seed Unleash the Fury in a matchup that can easily go either way. Finishing the season with a 13-9 record, Katelyn is looking to avenge her finals defeat to Lexie’s Legit from last season and go all the way. This one should be epic!
Playoff newcomer and #4 seed Chelsea’s Dagger plays our defending champ and #5 seed Lexie’s Legit. Despite his superior record, Ian has less points than Lexie. Lexie also has the experience and poise that it takes to make a deep playoff run, while Ian is an unknown. These two teams are just about as even as it gets and should give us an absolutely incredible quarterfinal matchup. Will the Cinderella story continue or will the defending champ continue her quest towards becoming the first team in the history of the league to win back-to-back titles?
Commish Notes
Each team gets a maximum of 20 adds per season, including the playoffs. Be mindful of your total during the next few weeks!
Thank you to each and every one of you for making the 15th regular season of Maryland All-Stars fantasy hockey one of our most competitive ever! I hope you had as much fun as I did.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you have a wonderful day!