The end of week 10 also brings the end of the semi finals of the FHL UK Cup. Once we go into week 11 at midnight on Tuesday we will be down to the final 2 teams left to fight it out for the cup.
Out two finalists are “The Kessel Run” managed by Paul Edwards and “Dyson’s Destroyers” managed by Mark Taylor. Both teams have gone through 8 knockout rounds to get to the final and gone further than over 300 teams in the year’s competition. Lets have a look at the two line-ups to see where this years final could be won or lost. Each GM may well be making some trades and changes to their captain picks that we won’t find out about until the game week starts.
The Kessel Run are having a strong season and currently sit in third position in the league table, having briefly held the top spot before last week. They go into the cup as slight favourites due to their consistent scoring for a number of weeks, having averaged 231.7 points across the last 5 weeks.
Dyson’s Destroyers were the underdogs when knocking out the team who were second in the league last week, can they do it again this week? They are having a good season so far, currently sitting in 41st, and are averaging 186.8 points across the last 5 weeks.
If we look in goal then both teams have Evan Weninger who is playing every game for Manchester this season. The difference maker will be Matt Greenfield for “The Kessel Run” and Eamon McAdam for “Dyson’s Destroyers”. If you have read our fixture preview for this week you can see that Sheffield have three games to Guildford’s one, so you would expect Greenfield to play at least one extra game this week. So in goal it looks to be advantage “The Kessel Run” in terms of opportunity points.
In defence “Dyson’s Destroyers” have Cardiff duo River Rymsha and Cody Donaghey who both play three times in the week. Donaghey has been the top scorer in the game briefly but seems to run hot and cold in his scoring so far. “Dyson’s Destroyers” also have Sam Jones and the in-form Drydn Dow currently on the roster with both playing three times as well.
“The Kessel Run” meanwhile have none of their defenceman playing three times while the high priced Ben O’Connor will only have one game this week. Charlie Curti and Brady Norrish have been picking up solid points this season without putting up any huge scores. You’d have to say it is advantage to “Dyson’s Destroyers” if you look at opportunity points for defenceman.
Up front we don’t have many players in common across both teams, with just Cole Sanford and Mitchell Balmas on both rosters, so there is the potential for different scores across the week. “The Kessel Run” have Guildford duo Ryan Tait and Lewis Hook who are both averaging at least 26 points per week across the last five weeks, but only have the one game this week. Patrick Watling and Josh Waller both play three times and have been scoring consistently lately so could be potential captain picks. Rounding out the forward group they have Storm’s Tyler Hinam and Blaze duo Alessio Luciani and Nathan Ripley.
“Dyson’s Destroyers” just have Matt Alvaro from Guildford who has the one game this week however Sheffield’s Mikko Juusola should play in all three games. If we look at who is currently hot, Gary Haden from the Clan had 39 points last week and Kyle Osterberg from the Flyers has averaged 17 points over the last five weeks despite not scoring last week. Rounding out their forward lines we have Storm’s Cameron Critchlow, Anthon Eriksson of the Flyers and JD Dudek of the Blaze.
Both GM’s captain picks have been good lately and this could be the difference between winning the cup and going home empty handed. GM Mark Taylor picked out Gary Haden for 78 points last week, while “The Kessel Run’s” Paul Edwards had Cole Sanford for 74 points.
Overall it looks like “The Kessel Run” have a slight advantage in goal whereas “Dyson’s Destroyers” have the edge on the blueline. Up front “The Kessel Run” have more form players but the key could be that they have more players with a shorter game week. We have a final between two good teams so may the best team win!
