UFHL Playoff Preview: Franchises Draft Rosters to Pursue the Klein Cup

UFHL Playoff Preview: 16 Franchises Draft Rosters to Pursue the Klein Cup

The Klein Cup playoffs are rolling right along, with the first round now underway following the inaugural Playoff Draft for the Ultimate Fantasy Hockey League. COVID caused a strange start to the postseason, with the UFHL mirroring the NHL’s play-in round by expanding to 24 franchises while awarding byes to the top four seeds from both conferences based on the regular-season standings. That produced the following results.

Play-In Round Legends Conference Byes = 1) Grizzlies 2) Gators 3) Titans 4) Monarchs Matchups 7) Yetis defeated 10) Royals 8) Duckman’s Domination defeated 9) Blades of Steel 11) Stallions defeated 6) Elite Assassins WC3) Crypto Knights defeated 5) Outlaws Allan Conference Byes = 1) Defenders 2) Strong Island 3) Tornadoes 4) Rock Republic Matchups 5) Snipers defeated WC2) Murder Hornets 6) Power Players defeated WC1) West Coast Express 7) Battle Hawks defeated 10) Blizzard 8) Dynasty defeated 9) Bombers As you can see, there were a couple upsets in the Legends Conference, while all the top seeds prevailed in the Allan Conference. The winning franchises advanced to the first round — the Round of 16.

First Round Matchups Legends Conference 1) Grizzlies vs. 8) Crypto Knights 2) Gators vs. 7) Stallions 3) Titans vs. 6) Duckman’s Domination 4) Monarchs vs. 5) Yetis Allan Conference 1) Defenders vs. 8) Dynasty 2) Strong Island vs. 7) Battle Hawks 3) Tornadoes vs. 6) Power Players 4) Rock Republic vs. 5) Snipers Prior to the first round, the UFHL hosted its inaugural playoff draft on Monday night, with those 16 franchises filling out their 23-man rosters. UFHL Playoff Draft Order NOTE: This draft was non-snaking — meaning this order remained the same for every round. 1) Grizzlies (Connie & Andrea Charanduk) 2) Defenders (Miguel Vidal) 3) Strong Island (Brandon Broderick) 4) Gators (Lorne White) 5) Titans (Jacob Cambridge) 6) Tornadoes (Machen Mathews) 7) Monarchs (Ashley Murray) 8) Rock Republic (Donny Tulk) 9) Yetis (Colin Mills) 10) Duckman’s Domination (Dean Millard) 11) Snipers (Juha Soudunsaari) 12) Power Players (Justin Davis) 13) Battle Hawks (Serge Beauchesne) 14) Dynasty (Ryan Clements) 15) Stallions (Ian Constable) 16) Crypto Knights (Chericce Schulz) The results from the UFHL Playoff Draft can be viewed here (click the Playoff Draft Results tab for a pick-by-pick, round-by-round summary). The event, which was held through a Jitsi Meet video conference, was also live streamed on the UFF Sports YouTube channel.

Here is how the franchises stack up for the first round, with a roster comparison followed by a bit of analysis.