1953 Season Preview - Schedule
The season will kick off with the Blue Wings hosting the Rouge on CBS.
Ottawa will host Ontario for the first CBC game this season
A couple of returns will happen this season, starting with QB Andrew Glover returning to Buffalo in his first start with Montreal, then in Week 4 WR Eugene Burns returns to Providence, and after a couple of seasons, WR John Rivera will finally return to Hartford.
The 2 "rivalry" weeks were split because the league wanted to have Boston and Providence play later on in the season. Week 6 will still feature the 4 rivalry matchups. 
Weeks 6-8 are all divisional games to hopefully make the race for the playoffs more intense, where at times weeks 9 and 10 have been a bit duller.


1953 Season Preview - Power Rankings

1 - Buffalo Blue Wings
Won McCallister Cup
Record: 6-4
The defending champions remain on top of the power rankings. This offseason they were able to add a couple of pieces in the draft while maintaining almost all of the championship-winning team from last season. OL Jean Mathieu-Baptiste will only add to a very strong O-line headlined by recently re-signed Casey York and Melvin Marshall. Clifford Church should solidify himself as a strong #3 option for Medina. LB Ben McCray also got an extension after the team acquired him via trade last year and should make the LB core stronger. The concern on defense would be a bit of decline in the secondary as Oscar Patterson returns but will likely show more decline this season. Overall, the hope this season would be that Buffalo can get off to a good start rather than the 0-3 start from last year. Their confidence and experience should help them stay positive and keep going even throughout losses. Buffalo should be in the mix with every other team. 

2 - Ottawa Royals
Lost in Semi-Finals
Record: 7-3
The Royals had the best record last season. Unfortunately, they still have yet to win in the playoffs and take that next step. The addition of WR Eugene Burns to the already top-notch offense will only make them more deadly. Not to mention the young RB in Alexei Volkov now entering his second season. The big concern would be that they sacrificed the defense and they will have to outscore their opponents to win rather than hold them back. LB Leo Davenport will likely see a bigger workload as minor injuries have hindered their top LB in Mickaël Beaumont. DL Olaf Viktorsson will make his debut in week 1 and hopefully, he can transition well to the next level and be a difference-maker for the Royals. If 1952 MVP Jean Matieau can maintain his high level of play in his second season, Ottawa should be able to finish near the top of the North division once again. 

3 - Boston Independents
Lost in McCallister Cup
Record: 7-3
It will be a very different season for the Independents, as they start to truly transition from their old stars to the younger talent. QB Larry Larson still remains the team’s starter and Bonner will be a big piece to their success. The addition of WR Ellis Lindholm should help make the passing game even easier for Larson. The defense is mostly the same from last year which ended up being the second-best in the league. DB Lester Murphy and S Michael O’Brien will lead the way for the defense to try and repeat the success from last season. Expect another playoff appearance from Boston even under first-year head coach Dean Reed.  

4 - Ontario Tigers
Missed Playoffs
Record: 4-6
It might be a surprise how high the Tigers appear here, but they had a great offseason and their new home should only help the team take yet another step forward. LB Roland Hensley is the best piece they added and he gives the Tigers a force in the middle of the defense being paired with Aengus Lynch. The secondary all return to give Ontario the 3rd best defense heading into the season. Laurent Barzeau will still be the key on offense but expect the team to look more to the air as Wilbert Benjamin gets better alongside their other young receivers. Duane Logan will hope to return to his All-Star level of play to finally get the Tigers to the postseason. 

5 - Providence Gold Stars
Lost in Semi-Finals
Record; 6-4
A rollercoaster of an offseason for the Gold Stars puts them at the #5 spot. Bruce Woodard does return as a starter but his leash will be a lot shorter than in years past. The same goes for RB Gene Fischer who has been injured and struggling over the last few years. The new receiving core will be the main thing to watch for early on in the season to see if they will help add another side to the offense. The defense should be solid once again. Their secondary is still the top in the league, but they did have major weaknesses on the defensive line, which they tried to address with the Eugene Burns trade. The Gold Stars should be a lock for the playoffs based on their division, but they are still a complete wildcard on how they will fair overall. 

6 - Montreal Rouge
Missed Playoffs
Record: 6-4
The Rouge’s record looks a lot better than it probably should after the team was repeatedly blown up in their losses last season. The lower-ranking comes primarily from uncertainty on the aging defense which still could be as good, and in their new starting QB in Andrew Glover. Glover has had some chances to prove he has skill, but his lack of experience might show if he is constantly on the field with the pressure of starting. Marchal will still be able to keep the offense going if Glover Struggles, but I can’t imagine Guy Clarke being patient with Glover. The Rouge have the defense and offense to win now and they want to win now. 

7 - Worcester Athletics
Missed Playoffs
Record: 2-8
QB Riley Kiernan and LB Scotty Williams enter their second season looking like top tier players in the league. They should both take their play to the next level and give the Athletics more firepower and possibly another win or two this season. Athletics are still a long way from being a playoff team, but they look much better than last season. Their rookies for this season like OL Cliff Strautzenberger who will add help on the line and RB Marcus Devonshire who will pair up with Jacque Montier to carry the run game should continue to build the Athletics towards success. Expect a more competitive team out of Worcester this season. 

8 - Hartford Hawks
Missed Playoffs
Record: 2-8
The Hawks had a very up and down offseason. While they got some solid pieces at the draft like their starting QB Lee Rogers, they lost a lot more in the veterans and depth. There were many players not happy with the team, most notably LB Roland Hensley, and they wanted to win. Hartford was also struggling with finances which they had to trade Mcleod to Providence to get rid of some of the payroll. There are a lot of concerns coming from around the team and owner Jonathan Sampson about the future of the team. Even with the young talent, expect Hartford to continue to struggle. Hopefully, Lee Rogers can live up to his expectations and give Hartford a competitive team in the end.

This season looks to be very interesting as the top 6 teams are all around the same overall rating which means this may be a very wacky season. But let's see who can predict the champion this season. Who's making the playoffs? Who goes to Providence and who takes home the Cup?

Week 1 Games
MTL @ BUF - July 17 - 7 PM ET - CBS
WOR @ PRO - July 18 - 2 PM ET
HAR @ BOS - July 18 - 2 PM ET
ON @ OTT - July 19 - 3 PM ET - CBC

Last edited by Wallflower (5/11/2020 8:59 pm)

Perhaps a changing of the guard in North division with Buffalo taking its place as the division powerhouse instead of the usual Montreal?

1-0 Royals let's see if we can dethrone Buffalo this year!

1953 Week 2

Worcester Athletics - 20, Ottawa Royals - 34 - Worcester Stadium - July 24 - 7 PM ET
The first official game at the brand new Worcester Stadium was quite exciting. While the final score may say differently, the Athletics were in this one. QB Riley Kiernan was able to lead the Athletics to the endzone first finding WR Christian Venegas for the score and the early 7-0 lead. Ottawa wouldn’t fall too far behind as Matieau would lead the Royals back the other way to score with Allen Atkins bringing in his 3rd of the season. The Athletics would get another field goal before the Royals would add another touchdown off the legs of RB Alexei Volkov. Things got bad for the Royals after the Athletics would get a field goal to make it 13-14. Midway through the second when WR Willard Brooks would collide with LB Scotty Williams. A Completely clean hit would leave Brooks down and would have to leave the game. The Athletics were able to keep the Ottawa offense at bay in the first half. However, the Royals would get going when Volkov exploded for a 47-yard run to start the second half, which would set up his second touchdown of the game. From there the Royals seemed to take over the game. WR Eugene Burns would add another touchdown not long after which would give the Royals a 27-13 lead after a missed extra point. The Athletics would still stay in the match after Kiernan threw his second touchdown to WR Clyde McIntosh, but Volkov would add yet another touchdown to seal the deal for Ottawa. 

Montreal Rouge - 20, Boston Independents - 17 - Mount Royals Stadium - July 25 - 2 PM ET - CBC
The Rouge got a bounce-back win over Boston after a great performance from their defense. Both teams would only get field goals in the first quarter, but the Rouge would turn up the pressure in the second resulting in a huge turnover. The Rouge would send rookie LB Rusty McVee on the blitz after Larry Larson, and he would get to the veteran QB. The hit popped the ball straight up and down into the hands of LB Quinton Brewer. To make matters worse, Boston DL Craig Newman would fall awkwardly trying to tackle RB Élisée Marchal and would leave the game while Marchal would escape and take it into the endzone. The Rouge would keep the 10-3 lead into halftime. The Rouge would add a field goal to their lead before Boston found some footing where RB Joel Bonner would finally break into the endzone. The Rouge would retaliate with another Marchal touchdown. QB Larson would lead a final surge and find WR Ethan Walters in the endzone, but Montreal would be able to stop the remaining attack and seal the win for the Rouge. 

Hartford Hawks - 12, Buffalo Blue Wings - 27 - Arnold H. Bensen Park - July 25 - 2 PM ET
QB Lee Rogers made his first start in Hartford with a slightly better game than week one, but he still struggled at times. The first quarter was strong as he would lead the Hawks to back-to-back scoring drives to go up 6-0. The Blue Wings would not wait much longer to start putting points up and QB Angelo Medina would find WR Travis Gallagher in the endzone. Up 6-7 the Blue Wings would march down the field again and get a field goal this time after DL Sean Bowen made a timely stop. The score would remain 6-10 until the end of the first half. Buffalo would begin the second half with another touchdown, this time RB Arthur Conner burst through to score. The Hawks would get a good start to their next drive but Rogers would overthrow Lloyd Marshall and into the hands of Frazier Brooks on a second and 7 at about midfield. The Blue Wings would capitalize with another touchdown with Arthur Conner. The Hawks would eventually get the ball to the endzone on Lee Rogers’ first career passing touchdown to WR Robert Lang. That was all they could get as Fraizer Brooks would get a second interception later in the game that would give Buffalo another field goal and seal the win for the team once again.

Providence Gold Stars - 27, Ontario Tigers - 24 - New Providence Stadium - July 26 - 3 PM ET - CBS
The Gold Stars changes continue to work as they pull off a tight win over Ontario. Things started in the Tigers favour as they would score early in the first quarter on a RB Laurent Brazeau touchdown. Providence would only get a field goal after that. Providence would eventually break through after falling behind 3-14 after Brazeau’s second touchdown. WR Peter Brooks would find just a bit of space in the endzone behind the Tigers and would score to make it a 10-14 game. The Tigers would maintain the lead into halftime. Out of the half, things got bad for the Tigers. While they would add a field goal early, they would suffer a major injury. LB Aengus Lynch would go down awkwardly on his ankle while tackling RB Gene Fischer and would have to leave the game and will likely miss up to 4 weeks. The Gold Stars would continue that drive and score with TE Marion Warren and tie the game up. Duane Logan would get the offense ticking once again. RB Laurent Brazeau would get them down most of the way before Logan made a couple of on-point passes to get WR Wilbert Benjamin a touchdown. Bruce Woodard would lead the Gold Stars back the other way once again to score another touchdown. Once again it was WR Peter Brooks scoring to tie it up once again. With time running down the Tigers were forced to pass the ball more and that is a bad thing against the Gold Stars as Lee Wolfe would take the ball away and set the Gold Stars up for the game-winning field goal which K Bernard Barnett would nail to give Providence a 2-0 start. 

Players of the Week

OFF: RB Alexei Volkov OTT - 3 Rushing Touchdowns 132 Rushing Yards

DEF: LB Quinton Brewer MTL - 1 Interception, 13 Tackles

Standings
NORTH
Buffalo 2-0
Ottawa 2-0
Montreal 1-1
Ontario 0-2

NEW ENGLAND
Providence 2-0
Boston 1-1
Worcester 0-2
Hartford 0-2

Power Rankings
1 - Buffalo -
2 - Ottawa -
3 - Montreal +3
4 - Providence +1
5 - Boston -2
6 - Ontario -2
7 - Worcester -
8 - Hartford -

Week 3 Games
​PRO (2-0) @ BUF (2-0) - July 31 - 7 PM ET CBS
ON (0-2) @ HAR (0-2) - August 1 - 5 PM ET
WOR (0-2) @ BOS (1-1) - August 2 - 3 PM ET
MTL (1-1) @ OTT (2-0) - August 2 - 3 PM ET CBC

Last edited by Wallflower (5/13/2020 10:32 pm)

Yikes Tigers let's please win some.