It seems like half the league is outta town this week. Lineups may change last minute.
My Cup Size Is Stanley (-130)
Team Sexy (-110)
Over 7.5 Goals (-120)
Under 7.5 Goals (-120)
The pick: A rematch of last week’s OT thriller sees Team Sexy missing their top five draft picks as Avery is out planning for his upcoming wedding while Barch and DeMarco are also sidelined and Ryann/Mike Marian are missing and presumed dead. Tim Burke will be pulling iron man duty in playing for like half the teams in the league while Sexy will be enlisting the help of a couple subs who have still not responded to my emails but presumably will prevent blue from playing with four guys and one girl for the game. Cup Size will be missing Cherie and Gene, among others, and will look to avenge last week’s loss. This game is probably too close to call without knowing who the hell is actually playing in it so I’d say smart money is on the under.
The Charging Cheetahs (+120)
Hungry Hippos (-160)
Over 8.5 Goals (-120)
Under 8.5 Goals (-120)
The pick: The Hippos will roll into their second game of the night with a temporary hold on first place potentially on the line if Cup Size beats Sexy right before. Zisser will have a lady in attendance so he’ll be extra motivated to play his best, but the Cheetahs have lost four in a row after a 3-0 start and are anxious to get back on the right track and avoid slipping into the play-in round just a season after going undefeated in the regular season. Dave GDR will be subbing in for Charlie in net but otherwise the Cheetahs should have most of their regular roster in tow. Fully warmed up after two periods at 6:00 and with a shot at the franchise’s first ever top seed in the balance, look for the Hippos to come out firing and take this one down.
Cleveland Browns (-145)
Ball That (+105)
Over 7.0 Goals (-120)
Under 7.0 Goals (-120)
The pick: It’s a Fuzz reunion slash civil war as Rich and the Cleveland Browns do battle with Jeff, Miles and Ball That. Rich, if you remember, had promised before the draft to “block Miles” and snag him before Jeff got a chance to, but was seduced by the hockey skills and good looks of Luke and Tim K, allowing Jeff to put together one of the top units in the league. Goaltender Scott Heese is out this week so Tim Burke will be subbing in for Orange. This looks to be the game of the week as the first place Browns will need to play airtight defense to prevent the preseason favorites and always dangerous Ball That from knocking them out of first. Unfortunately for orange (and for me, who will probably have to take another team photo after the game), it seems likely that the city of Cleveland will have reason to celebrate once more. Browns overcome the loss of Ramy and pick up a tight win. Rich remains scoreless on the season.
The Varsity Warriors (-120)
The Purple Parrots (-120)
Over 6.5 Goals (-135)
Under 6.5 Goals (-105)
The pick: Two teams who were kind enough not to request subs this week face off in the primetime game this week. Both teams need a win in the worst way, as either team can still hold out hope to get a top four seed and thus a mini-bye by winning their final two games. The Warriors haven’t had a full roster all season; the closest they came was against the Hippos where they had everyone show up and Alex sub for Derek, a game that was their only victory of the season. Other games where most of the roster showed up such as last week against Ball That and Week 5 against My Cup Size Is Stanley have ended in narrow losses that could have gone either way. The Parrots, meanwhile, lost to the first place Cleveland Browns last week but have otherwise picked up their play the past few weeks bolstered by Creamy at center and LJ/Carlin holding it down on defense. This is a tough one to call and seems like a true pick’em, but if the Warriors have their full squad showing up look for the defending champs to climb out of the basement with a hard fought victory.