NBC Power Rankings

Everyone knows there are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and the best hockey can be found on Sunday mornings in the Dorchester NBC League. Building on the momentum of last year’s great season, there is a lot to look forward to this year, not the least of which is the great news that our league has finally been surpassed on the national stage! Now, let’s not get too hyped up, and instead dive right into how these teams look after the big draft.

Team	Ranking	Record	Status
	1	0-0-0	Last season this upstart team came out of the gate like a rocket, plummeted through the end of the regular season to finish below 0.500, but somehow managed to rally in the post season to hoist the most appropriate trophy in all of sports. In a sign of the difficulty of building a dynasty in the salary cap era, GM Dwight Fickling was forced to turn over his entire roster. He opted for more veterans this time around, and even brought Marty Smith out of retirement. Only time will tell if his moves prove to be enough, or if this team will go down as a dynasty of 1.
	2	0-0-0	Last year’s Cinderalla story caught everyone by surprise as they rode an EBUG to the NBC championship finals. It was something unexpected, and something unlikely to be repeated as new league rules prohibit teams from intentionally injuring their own goalie in order to secure a better replacement. GM Luke Ramsey has been around for a while though, and he positioned himself to stay a step ahead this year by grabbing last year’s top offensive duo: Gord Dejong and Wes Goldie. Those two played together last year, and Goldie won his first scoring title. That’s all you need to know about their chemistry.
	3	0-0-0	The fact that Taz did not get drafted to this team has to be the most obvious mistake this town has seen since that time he tried to spell his own full name. Aside from that travesty, there are many other of questions here, but perhaps the most intriguing is: which Ian MacDonald is the one with the little “d”?
	4	0-0-0	I sure hope Adam Bender can cover a lot of ground in his own zone, because if you think Matt Jansel and Darryl Candy are coming back for anything other than a face off, you’re kidding yourself. This team’s construction looks to be centered around a formula for high risk, high reward hockey. If you discount the complete absence of talent, you could make a case that this team resembles the 1980’s Oilers. It remains to be seen if that style of hockey can be successful in this league, in the modern era.
	5	0-0-0	This team may have guys named Motor and Fast Dave but look for the real speed and production to come from the line of Bishop-Shoniker-Gurmin. Beyond that line of majestic talent, the only other thing worth watching here is how long it takes Ryan Grayson to make Phil Nolet quit; before Christmas is currently going off at even money.
	6	0-0-0	Unfortunately for Assurance, the longest active draft streak continued this year, once again Erik Cochrane will be stuck on the team with the worst goalie. Dave Grayson may have seen this curse coming though, as he wisely picked up some level of insurance - or assurance - in the form of Trevor Macdonald. We will have to see how long before the media creates a goaltending controversy with this team.
	7	0-0-0	​A rookie GM comes with rookie GM mistakes, and you can’t do much about that. But, over time and with more experience, you’d have to think Jeff Carsey wouldn’t do things like drafting Tyler Jeffries. The only thing worse, would be taking him as an “A” player. We will see if Ryan Morrison can lead a speedy defensive core to overcome that blunder and propel this team to its first playoff berth.
	8	0-0-0	Brandon Haasen made some interesting decisions on draft night, bringing back Kevin Bachert after last year’s midseason trade and hanging onto veteran defenseman Johnny Warren. I know he swapped out his goalie, but if my team gave up the most goals in league history, I don’t think I’d be bringing anybody back. We’ll see if the changes can bring his laughingstock of an organization back to respectability.
			That’s it for this edition. Good luck, and let’s have a great season!