Week Thirteen (3/21/08): Preview

The first place Jets, standing at 9-3, come into this week looking to continue their tear on the rest of the FHL. Brian Barca’s league leading 24 assists and 48 points are well ahead of anyone else in the league. The Hawks are in a playoff positioning battle. With four teams locked at 6-6, they could finish anywhere from 2nd to 5th place. The Hawks are a new-look team after their huge 5-player deal with the Pirates, in which they sent Shane Lucas, Brian Hreha, and Drew Hruska in exchange for Jeff Rogers and Dan Rojtas. The Jets own the season series 2-0 (6-3), but the Hawks know they need to win to keep up in the standings. Once again there is a common theme in the match-ups this week: the FHL Playoffs. The Crosby’s are apart of the four-way tie at 6-6 in the standings. This week, they have an advantage of facing an underachieving Pirates squad. After making two huge trades, the Pirates still find themselves last in the league, at 3-9. Although they are in last place and without defensemen Roy McDonald III and Brian Hreha, they are going up against a Crosby’s team who will be without their best d-man, Buddy Doyle. Roy McDonald IV of the Crosby's has been one of the leagues best player and quite possibly the MVP of the FHL. McDonald is first in goals with 26 and only 11 points behind Barca for first in the league with 37. The Pirates and Crosby’s have split the season series 1-1, but the Pirates have a total games advantage of 5-3 in head to head match-ups. For the Pirates, the goal is to start crawling out of the cellar of the FHL. For the Crosby’s, getting a first round bye is on their mind. The Kings are taking a huge hit this week, as MVP-caliber player Chad Kanz, will not be in the line-up due to the birth of his child. Congratulations to Mr. Kanz on that. As for the game, the Kings and Boyle are the other two teams locked in, tied with a 6-6 record. The Kings are expecting their south pawed forward Adam Cristallini to continue to score goals for them. Boyle has been great since trading away Jeff Rogers to the Pirates for Nick and Zak Siniawski. Boyle has a slight edge over the Kings in the season series, 1-1 (5-4). This is a huge game for both teams. You win, and you have he advantage over the other for the 2nd seed and a bye in the first round. You lose, and you are a step behind, and will have to battle to get back into the race for second.