With the Club Championships field set, these Power Rankings look at the teams still in contention for gold in Sarasota, and orders them according to ability, performance and x-factors. These are not seedings for the Club Championships, but rankings in order of who in the remaining field is the strongest.
[table “20” not found /]Talking Points:
Electric Monkeys
Chain Lightning, the only team that has taken down the defending champs, Revolver, all season. Not to mention, they’ve only lost to one other team by one point this season. Furious George, a team that has taken their losses and spit it back in the faces of the teams that handed it to them. The Canadian national champions who have gotten better and better each tournament. A team that despite being down in any given game, has the tenacity and consistency to come back from behind and shut out a strong Sockeye team from Nationals. And then to do it again from a 0-3 deficit against a young and talented Rhino squad that laid the smackdown on Furious earlier that day. Furious is a team no one expected to be as good as they are. But with a full roster of new, “nameless” faces, they can’t be counted out of any game. Both these squads have beaten the best, Furious has beaten Chain but has lost to teams Chain has beaten. Chain gets the 3-spot because of their consistency and win over Revolver, Furious gets the 3-spot for winning when it counts. It comes down to who shows up to Sarasota and who doesn’t.
Doublewhat?
These guys have been all over the board this season. We’ll be the first to admit it, we expected a lot from Doublewide this year. Their Colorado Cup performance seemed inline with our expectations, but a shaky Labor Day performance (Gibson, or not) followed by a loss to Chain at Regionals has us questioning where exactly Doublewide stands.
I am, a Machine
Though their record may not reflect it, Chicago has had a breakthrough season this year. Playing close with the likes of Sockeye, and Rhino as well as handling Regional competition in Madison Club, Sub Zero and Madcow all season has a Machine team on the cusp of greatness. Yes, Machine fell to Sub Zero at the Central Regionals final in a non-need-to-win situation, but we’re still giving Chicago the nod based on their season performance. Welcome to the Top 10 Central division.
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