You will be playing good competition.
So, a big selling point was that ECNL teams would be playing great competition. Now that their season is moving toward conclusion and tryouts are about a month away, the truth is out and the competition has been anything but tops.
In looking at the schedules, there has been a total of one, maybe two, games where Portland teams played the top team from another conference. Not a big deal but when you look for playing teams that are in the top three of their conference, the list is pretty paltry. However, when you look for competition that is middle of the pack or bottom of the pack, there are LOTS of teams. In fact, the best competition that they've faced is from Washington. A team that is from their own conference.
Too bad Dallas was canceled, as there were a few good games scheduled there, but it might be a blessing that those were cancelled. It was foreshadowed that Portland ECNL teams would struggle in ECNL. Well, when they've had the good fortune of playing mediocre teams they have fared well. Winning some, or at worst losing by a couple of goals. Now when they have played some of these top teams, well, it's been as predicted. The recent showings against Washington Premier and Crossfire have demonstrated that. Lots of 4-0, 5-0 and even a 10-0 score in there. Ouch. I guess those parents who were on here claiming that Portland ECNL would be competitive out of the box either doubted those scores, or had some idea they would be playing against teams with goal differentials of minus 10.
The upcoming SD showcase offers some good competition, but it is pretty spotty. The California league teams that are scheduled are a lot of sixth and seventh place teams. At least there are no games against teams with minus 30 goal differentials. Games against Boise and Utah will provide those kinds of matchups.
So, lots of money to travel to play teams that you wouldn't have been matched up against if you got accepted to a tournament. At least in a good tournament, you would have had a flight of three good games. But it's for the best, as being in games where the score is 2-1 is much better than those 5-0 games against Crossfire. At least with Boise and Utah being terrible in all but one age group, it allows the Portland teams to finish as high as third in the NW league.
So, a big selling point was that ECNL teams would be playing great competition. Now that their season is moving toward conclusion and tryouts are about a month away, the truth is out and the competition has been anything but tops.
In looking at the schedules, there has been a total of one, maybe two, games where Portland teams played the top team from another conference. Not a big deal but when you look for playing teams that are in the top three of their conference, the list is pretty paltry. However, when you look for competition that is middle of the pack or bottom of the pack, there are LOTS of teams. In fact, the best competition that they've faced is from Washington. A team that is from their own conference.
Too bad Dallas was canceled, as there were a few good games scheduled there, but it might be a blessing that those were cancelled. It was foreshadowed that Portland ECNL teams would struggle in ECNL. Well, when they've had the good fortune of playing mediocre teams they have fared well. Winning some, or at worst losing by a couple of goals. Now when they have played some of these top teams, well, it's been as predicted. The recent showings against Washington Premier and Crossfire have demonstrated that. Lots of 4-0, 5-0 and even a 10-0 score in there. Ouch. I guess those parents who were on here claiming that Portland ECNL would be competitive out of the box either doubted those scores, or had some idea they would be playing against teams with goal differentials of minus 10.
The upcoming SD showcase offers some good competition, but it is pretty spotty. The California league teams that are scheduled are a lot of sixth and seventh place teams. At least there are no games against teams with minus 30 goal differentials. Games against Boise and Utah will provide those kinds of matchups.
So, lots of money to travel to play teams that you wouldn't have been matched up against if you got accepted to a tournament. At least in a good tournament, you would have had a flight of three good games. But it's for the best, as being in games where the score is 2-1 is much better than those 5-0 games against Crossfire. At least with Boise and Utah being terrible in all but one age group, it allows the Portland teams to finish as high as third in the NW league.
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