Looking Ahead In The Conference III Belt Race

by J.R.

With last night’s win in Nashville, Colorado won its first Conference III Belt, becoming the sixth team in two weeks to have the title (only Minnesota hasn’t had a reign in that time) and continuing a run of one-and-done champions.

The six other teams had already had a turn with the strap and Colorado waiting so long for its reign has implications for who will ultimately finish the season with the title (as noted before, the Belt will not travel into the playoffs, even if a playoff team ends up with it).

For now, six teams have the chance to hold the hardware at season’s end. Winnipeg is the only team without a path to the title.

Let’s take a look at where the Belt could go.

 

Great Game Previews In History: 26 March 2014

by J.R.

Today In History

During the Breton War of Succession in 1351, thirty knights and squires from the House of Blois and thirty from the House of Montfront met in an arranged battle — the Combat des Trente — midway between the castles of Josselin and Ploërmel during a war fought to determine who would be king of Brittany.

The battle had little to no effect on the outcome of the war — ultimately won by the English-backed Montfort, though terms in the peace treaty ensured that a successor who would be friendly to the French would eventually take the throne of Brittany — but is nonetheless the most remembered part of a relatively-forgotten war.

According to legend, the battle was simply a chivalric exercise, fought in honor of the women who led the two factions: Joan of Brittany and the eventually-crazy Joanna of Flanders; however, other historians claim that the people of the countryside had been abused by the Montfort’s and umbrage was taken by the House of Blois’ Jean de Beaumanoir.

In any event, this wasn’t a battle that would seem normal to modern military historians (or to fans of Conference III). The two sides fought for hours to no result and then (this blows my mind) TOOK A BREAK FOR REFRESHMENTS.

“Je suis tellement soif!”
“Alright, mate, that’s drinks then.”