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With three weeks remaining in the regular season, it is starting to look like the top 7 spots for the playoffs have been accounted for. Hunters de Baskatong, Actus and Montreals Canadiens have all but clinched the top 3 spots in the league, and the other 4 (Fedidit Rangers, Montreal Canadien, Ice Monkeys and Bow Valley Buccaneers) are in a dog-fight for the 4-7 positions. It seems as if only 8th position is still undecided, as right now Toronto Legends hold a one point lead over Snowbirds.

Our Bucs have been steady since their rough start to the season nearly 2 months ago. Currently tied for 6th place with rivals Ice Monkeys, they have been meeting the fans expectations all year. Now they are in a dogfight for 4th position, and in this edition of Bucs Bounty we look at the 4 competitors and see which team has the best chance of having home ice advantage in the first round of playoffs.

4th Place: Fedidit Rangers (20-0-4-0-5, 64 pts)
Remaining games: 4 home, 5 Away, they play 5 teams currently in a playoff spot, 2 teams ahead of them in the standings and only one noname team. The average record of their remaining teams is 17-0-1-1-10, 54pts. They do not face an easy task in the last 2 weeks, but they have really bolstered their line-up in the last few weeks, running 2 consecutive training camps to have their players ready for the playoffs.

5th Place: Montreal Canadien (20-1-0-0-8, 62 pts)
Remaining games: 4 home, 5 away, they play 5 teams currently in a playoff spot, 2 teams ahead of them in the standings and only one noname team as well. Very similar schedule to the Rangers, the average record of the Canadien opponents are 16-0-1-1-11, 51pts. They have tough opponents ahead that they struggled against earlier this year, only winning 4 regulation games against these 9 opponents last time they played them. Montreal Canadien will have to improve their record against these teams if they expect to battle for home ice advantage.

6th Place: Ice Monkeys (19-1-1-0-8, 60 pts)
Remaining games: 4 home, 5 away, they play 4 teams currently in a playoff spot, with all 4 teams currently ahead of them in the standings. They play 2 games against noname teams, and the average record of the remaining teams is 16-0-1-0-12, 50pts. This schedule seems to really favor the Ice Monkeys, with only 2 sure loss games remaining (against Actus and Hunters). The unfortunate thing is they play both Montreal Canadien and Fedidit Rangers, 2 teams they are trying to catch, on the road. This makes the comeback a lot more difficult for the Ice Monkeys.

7th Place: Bow Valley Buccaneers (19-1-1-0-8, 60 pts)
Remaining games: 4 home, 5 away, they play 3 teams currently in the playoffs, with all 3 of those teams ahead of them in the standings. They get to play 3 noname teams, and the average record of the remaining opponents are 14-0-0-0-15, 42pts. Blessed with by far the easiest record, they only have lost to one of their remaining opponents, Hunters de Baskatong. It will be tough for them to match their record they got earlier this season against these teams, but with both the Actus game and Montreal Canadien game being played in the friendly confines of the Bow Gardens, the rest of the season looks pretty promising for the Bucs. A training camp occurring right now will end just before the Hunters game, so a playoff ready team will be ready to push for 4th position.

Looking at the remaining teams schedules, you have to like the Bucs chances of taking 4th place by season's end. our predicted places of these four very evenly matched teams are as follows:
4) Bow Valley Buccaneers
5) Fedidit Rangers
6) Ice Monkeys
7) Montreal Canadien

It looks to be a fun last three weeks of season 4, and as stadiums are filling up, everyone is ready for an exciting run to the post season.

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