The Elite League in France is going to start into the postseason this weekend. The federation installed a new format, similar to Italy, to determine the two finalists for the championship series. The top four teams after the regular season SENART, ROUEN, SAVIGNY and MONTPELLIER are scheduled to play a double round robin on the next six weekends with the best two teams advancing into the finals, which are supposed to start on October 11.
The favorites going into the playoffs are the TEMPLIERS, which took the regular season title with a 24-4 record and of course the HUSKIES, which have won the last three French championships in a row and four of the last five. The LIONS could play spoiler with the BARRACUDAS the heavy underdog in the field.
SENART also has the best record against the three opponents in the postseason, having lost just two of the twelve games this season. ROUEN won three of four each versus MONTPELLIER and SAVIGNY, but lost three (one due to ruling) against the TEMPLIERS. The LIONS swept the season series versus the ‘CUDAS, but had 1-3 records against the top two in the league. MONTPELLIER has just one victory in twelve games against the top three in the standings. However most of the matches were pretty close.
On Sunday the playoffs start with the matchups (doubleheaders) of SENART versus SAVIGNY and ROUEN against MONTPELLIER.
We also recommend to check out the impressive media guide by the ROUEN HUSKIES (pdf-file), which has information on all four teams.
Complete Schedule:
Sunday, August 31:
Senart – Savigny
Rouen – Montpellier
Sunday, September 7:
Montpellier – Senart
Savigny – Rouen
Sunday, September 14:
Senart – Rouen
Montpellier – Savigny
Sunday, September 21:
Savigny – Senart
Montpellier – Rouen
Sunday, September 28:
Senart – Montpellier
Rouen – Savigny
Sunday, October 5:
Rouen – Senart
Savigny – Montpellier