Some reactions to the first two tourneys: Eagle Stix impressed.
And despite their dud versus Eagle Stix, Coppermine looked like they aren't going anywhere.
M&D is improved and played some very good games.
Hero's went undefeated as expected, but didn't play the toughest schedule and avoided Eagle Stix. Hero's will remain the pregame favorite against pretty much anybody, but has a habit of letting lesser teams stay close (see eg. Jesters (twice over the weekend) and Liberty).
Hero’s does not look like the favorite, not sure how that was seen. Narrow margin wins and not a hard schedule. A few of the top teams appear to have improved and hero’s may not be better with the new additions.
Just noting that Hero's was the #2 team last year, added several very talented players, and are the only undefeated top team from MD so far. Your point that the new additions are not guaranteed to help them improve is acknowledged (see eg Coppermine summer of '23 versus Coppermine summer of '24last year versus the year before).
They also tied a team that other top MD teams beat easily, along with 1 goal games against teams that the other top MD teams beat soundly. The point is that Hero's is a top 5 team, no doubt, however to say they are the clear favorite wasn't seen from this weekend.
Having looked at the scores from the 3 tournaments where top teams played, and watching my DD play many of those teams, I don't think there are any more "clear" favorites. Players and teams have improved from all over the country and, as others have said, many teams move towards a play to showcase rather than play only to win mentality in HS years. I just think you're going to see all these teams trade wins and losses and it's not at all a big deal for a team to tie or lose to a team they would beat more times than not. Which, ultimately, makes things a lot more fun IMO.
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