Who's Winning EU?

[Renomitsu 934]

Riga, Latvia – After a whirlwind of an end to the regular season, the first round of the playoffs shook things up yet again. The conferences demonstrated their stark contrast – with the 1 vs. 4 EU matchup resulting in a 4-0 sweep and the 2 vs. 3 matchups taking it the distance, as opposed to the both tightly-contested North American Conference games. At this stage, the presumptive winner of the finals is projected to be whichever team emerges from North America – much in the same way Moscow dominated the playoffs during their Continental Cup winning season.

 

Although Prague looked poised to take Moscow on in the Conference Finals this season – one of the franchise’s earliest playoff appearances – Europe has stubbornly returned to its trend from the past few seasons and presented a Moscow/Riga competition instead. And while Riga has faltered slightly from its heyday rife with elite forwards, they’ve gradually made a name for themselves as a scrappy team with a rapidly-emerging young offense led by the likes of Patrik Tallinder and Kyl Oferson. Throw into the mix a few veterans – notably new additions Phil Marleau and Acyd Burn – and the Reign have an offense of misfit players previously seen to be ‘underperforming’ now taking on the best the European Conference has to offer. Meanwhile, Moscow continues its monstrous run of high-class offensive-minded players like Jaguar, Smitty, Pavlov, and Zoiderberg, but have added some awesome newer players in Foilen, Lagesson, and Telker in just the last few seasons.

 

Moscow are the favorites to emerge from EU, but what are the chances Riga forces yet another lengthy upset series?