FANTASY REPORT: Week 14

FANTASY REPORT: Week 14{mosimage}Ski Racing Magazine Fantasy Ski Racing League

Week 14 results – ended Feb. 25
Interosseous Membrane 302 vs. Rick’s Rangers 293
The Hammers 120 vs. Birds of Pray 80
The Blacks 354 vs. Team PMS 334
Weekend Warriors 254 vs. The Ribbons 87
Hawk’s Harem 290 vs. Schwarzeneggers 260
Smokin’ Mirrors 161 vs. The Destroyers 0

Pl Team W-L-T Points Streak
1 Team PMS 11-3-0 3,666 L1
2 Interosseous Membrane 10-4-0 2,678 W3
3 The Blacks 9-5-0 3,309 W4
4 Ribbons 9-5-0 2,420 L1
5 Weekend Warriors 7-7-0 2,874 W3
6 Smokin’ Mirrors 7-7-0 2,778 W1
7 Rick’s Rangers 6-8-0 2,548 L3
8 Birds of Pray 6-8-0 2,287 L2
9 Hammers 6-8-0 2,207 W1
10 Hawk’s Harem 5-8-1 2,076 W1
11 Schwarzeneggers 4-9-1 2,264 L4
12 Destroyers 3-11-0 2,364 L1

Week 14 recap
The premier game of the week involved the top of the standings, the top of the points total and saw every advance during the week countered. In the end, the Blacks edged league-leading Team PMS 354-334, the best scores for the entire season from each team. Team PMS got 130 points from the ailing Janica Kostelic, with Nicole Hosp kicking in 80 and Julia Mancuso posting her first major win in the GS column. The Blacks, however, countered with Hermann Maier notching his bronze medal, a silver from Marlies Schild, the SG gold from Michaela Dorfmeister, and then two solid 50-point contributions from Kostelic in slalom and Hosp in GS. It was enough to end Team PMS’ eight-week win streak and bring it into range for the season title. In fact, four teams still have a chance to make a run.

In one of the closer matches of the season, Interosseous Membrane got just enough to slip by Rick’s Rangers 302-293. The Rangers were powered by Anja Paerson with 162 points on her own, and may have gotten a big confidence boost when Benjamin Raich won the final event of the week. Problem there was while the Rangers had Raich in the slalom position, the Membrane had Raich in an overall position, deftly countering that final surge. With an additional 80 points from Aksel Lund Svindal and Tanja Poutiainen (40 from each) the Membrane posted its second-highest point total of the season for the narrow win.

A third high-scoring and close game featured Hawk’s Harem over the Schwarzeneggers, 290-260. The Harem tallied well in its overall positions, getting 120 from Poutiainen and 124 from Mancuso, while the Schwarzeneggers got just 60 from the two overall roster spots, all from Alexandra Meissnitzer. But the Scwarzen-yolks added 80 in slalom from Hosp, 60 from Maier in GS and 60 more from Meissnitzer in the SG position, while the Harem struggled with 26 in slalom from Sarah Schleper and 30 from Maria Jose Rienda Contreras in GS, making the battle a little closer than the Harem might have liked.

The Hammers and Birds of Pray both had hope in their matchup, mostly because neither scored very well. A podium in slalom from Schild was the big score of the week for either team. The Hammers tacked on disappointing totals from Lindsey Kildow and Massimiliano Blardone. The Birds got a total of 40 points in an overall slot from Bode Miller and another 40 from Paerson in one of the few races she wasn’t a major force, the GS, handing the win to the Hammers.

The other two matches were routs. The Weekend Warriors put up a strong 254 total, hitting gold medals in both slalom (Paerson) and GS (Raich) to handily douse the Ribbons, which used a final night podium from Rainer Schoenfelder just to climb to an 87-point total. And the Smokin’Mirrors, based largely on one of Dorfmeister’s golds, was able to walk on by the Destroyers, who followed up a massive week 13 score with a goose-egg for week 14.

The top of the standings list closes with three weeks remaining.

Week 15 schedule ends March 5
Rick’s Rangers vs. Team PMS
Birds of Pray vs. The Hammers
Interosseous Membrane vs. The Blacks
Weekend Warriors vs. Hawk’s Harem
Smokin’ Mirrors vs. Schwarzeneggers
The Ribbons vs. The Destroyers

World Cup schedule
Women’s SG Hafjell, March 3
Women’s CMB Hafjell, March 4
Men’s GS Yongpyong, March 4
Women’s GS Hafjell, March 5
Men’s GS YongPyong, March 5

Current Rosters
Rick’s Rangers: Paerson, Ertl, DH Goetschl, SL Raich, GS Poutiainen, SG Miller

The Hammers: Kildow, Jaerbyn, DH Strobl, SL Schild, GS Blardone, SG Kernen

Birds of Pray: Miller, Strobl, DH Maier, SL Palander, GS Paerson, SG Aamodt

Team PMS: Kostelic, Hosp, DH Dorfmeister, SL Zettel, GS Mancuso, SG Mancuso

Interosseous Membrane: Raich, Svindal, DH Rahlves, SL Poutiainen, GS Miller, SG Paerson

Smokin’ Mirrors: Dorfmeister, Fischbacher, DH Miller, SL Rocca, GS Zettel, SG Goetschl

The Ribbons: Goetschl, Rahlves, DH Cook, SL Schoenfelder, GS Maze, SG Maier

The Destroyers: Aamodt, Walchhofer, DH Buechel, SL Ligety, GS Kostelic, SG Svindal

The Schwarzeneggers: E Goergl, Meissnitzer, DH Meissnitzer, SL Hosp, GS Maier, SG Meissnitzer

The Blacks: Maier, Schild, DH Mancuso, SL Kostelic, GS Hosp, SG Dorfmeister

Weekend Warriors: Zettel, Defago, DH Walchhofer, SL Paerson, GS Raich, SG Rahlves

Hawk’s Harem: Poutiainen, Mancuso, DH Kildow, SL Schleper, GS Rienda, SG Maze