The biggest storyline this season has to be the slaughterhouse of a division that is the Great Lakes, where if the playoff formatting wasn't bad every team would be making the playoffs. The Hamilton Steelhawks lead the division on 38 points, buoyed by not only their returning stars (Scarn, Morgan, Michaud) but new acquisitions and rookies (Jones, van der Heijden, Ibrahimovic, Basher), and a point behind them are the surprising Toronto North Stars, who have a game in hand AND one of the league's best pairings in Meszaros-Barron, as well as a stacked goalie tandem of Stratton and Carpet and an evenly distributed scoring chart, getting goals from all three lines. The Buffalo Stampede sit 3rd on 32 points, having overcome a rough start to roar back into the 3rd spot in the GL, thanks to Augustus Wang's stellar displays and goaltender Elizabeth Doyle continuing to stay hot. The division is so stacked that the reigning Challenge Cup Champion Chicago Syndicate are in last with 31 points. They have 2 games in hand on the Stampede who are just a point ahead and should figure to sneak into 3rd. This is the tightest the GL has ever been, and the race for 3rd looks to be really, REALLY close. Only time will tell.