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Jearim · 09-24-2018, 08:14 AM

The Western Conference this season is about as unpredictable as any we’ve seen before. What started with the defending champions sitting out of the playoffs now has them holding on to the final playoff spot at the halfway point of the season. Texas Started off in last place before making a push into a playoff spot, only to fall one spot out of the playoffs spot. Edmonton and Winnipeg have been playing musical chairs with the top 2 spots. Seattle and San Francisco have had a hard time getting themselves going. Seattle being closer to a playoff spot just behind Texas. Los Angeles has been sitting in a playoff spot all season and are slowly gaining a comfortable grip on a playoff spot.

28 games into the season, Teams have been jousting for position, scraping for ground against the others teams. With 22 games to go, the battle for a playoff spot spans between 3rd and 6th, separated by 4 points. L.A, Calgary, Texas and Seattle about to battle it out in a 22 game marathon. Lets take a look at the four teams in the heat of the race.

6th-> Seattle Riot. Riot

|| Record 13-12-3 -> 29pts

The Riot started 5-2 before going 6 straight losses. The Riot beat Calgary and Edmonton during that 5-2 span. They are 3-1 in 4 games against defending champs Calgary and 2-1 against Conference powerhouse Edmonton.

Seattle has a solid group of players with 8 players with 20 or more points. Louie Garrett leads the team with 15 goals and 37 points, 12 more points than Alexander Zajac who is second on the team in points with 25. The teams top Defender is 7th on the team in points with 22 and has a +10 in the +/- category. Seattle rookie Matej Elias has 7 assists this season after transferring to defense.

Starting Goalie Johnny Yuma has played 25 games and has a 0.900 GAA, and a 3.13 sv%. he’s 12 - 10 - 3 during that span.

Seattle still has games against everyone except Minnesota and West Kendall.

5th-> Texas Renegades

|| 15-13-0-> 30 PTS

Texas started the season dead last in the west losing the first 4 games of the season. They have since gone almost .500 with a few 2 or 3 game win streaks to give them just a few more wins than losses.They have beaten last years finalists, New England twice, they are 2-1 against Calgary this season and beaten Winnipeg and Edmonton.

7 players have 20 or more points on the Texas roster. Conklin Owen and offseason Acquisition Brynjar Tusk lead the team with 25 points. Owen leads the team in goals with 13. Horvat, Jensen, and Dude are second with 24 points. Iam Essellemm is having a great sophomore season with 23 points already, 9 goals and 14 assists. Rookie Defensman Daniel Karlsson has 13 points and Harvey Danger sits at 8.Noah Kohn has 6 points. 3 goals and 3 assists.

Last seasons Rookie of the year, Walter Hobbs has had a mediocre first half of the season. 12-9 in 21 games with an.897 SV% and a 3.26 GAA. Of course having 19 goals against in the first 3 games of the season will affect your numbers.

Texas still has everyone to play minus Manhattan and New England. They still have 3 against Calgary and 2 against L.A. Both sitting in playoff Spots above them.

4th -> Calgary Dragons Dragons

|| 15-11-2 -> 32Pts

The Defending Champions started the season with a statement, shutting out Winnipeg on the road. after going 2-1 to start the season they started to slide putting together a 4 game losing streak and a 5 game losing streak before winning 6 straight and climbing back into a playoff spot. Calgary is a team that should not be underestimated. While they haven’t dominated anyone in season series play, they have done well not losing any series. They have even gone 3-2 against Western leaders, Winnipeg.

With 8 players over 20 points, 2 of those have 30 or more. Both Roman Augustus and Mike izzy have more than 30, 31 and 30 respectively. Augustus even has 18 goals. Mikko Lina sits at 28 and will most definitely pass the 30 points mark this season. The two rookies this year, Your Overload and Jack Daniels have no points to their name so far this season.

Richard C. Chocolate, the Calgary Guarantee that they will do well every season, is 12-11-2 this season with a 0.892 SV% and a 3.19 GAA.

Calgary has to play everyone as well minus Minnesota and Toronto. They have 4 left to play against Los Angeles and 3 against Texas. They also have 2 left against Seattle.

3rd-> Los Angeles Panthers

|| 16-11-1-> 33Pts

L.A sit 3 points above 5th but have been playing really well. after a 5 -2 start to the season that saw them beat Calgary in an overtime thriller 1-0, they have bounced around between wins and losses, going 2-1 or 1-2 until the last 6 games where they went 5-1, beating both Calgary and Texas to give themselves a small cushion on a playoff spot. However that could change quickly if they get too comfortable.

6 players have 20 or more points. Jean-Luc Reflieux will pass 30 as he has 29 points at the moment and leads his team in points. Sophia Bennett leads the team in goals with 15 and is tied for second in points with Matthew Auston with Rookies Lightning Jones has 2 goals this season and Mikkel Haugen has 1 assist.

Evgueni Marmeladov is 14 -11 with a 0.906 SV% and a 3.25 GAA.

LA also have everyone to play, minus New England and West Kendall.

The playoff race in the west will be a tight one and may even come down to the last few games of the season. seattle sit 9 points back of 1st place Winnipeg with 22 game left. while Edmonton and Winnipeg sit comfortably in playoff spots, they too can not get too comfortable with the 4 teams chasing them. It’s going to be an interesting final 22 games.