Top of the Rock has struggled mightily since joining the Frozen Factory in the fall of 2021. The former silver medalist in The Price is Right opened their season with a 3-1 record and then embarked on a five-game losing streak before finally winning again last week.
The boys took on Dirty Sanchez in this past week’s matchup and looked to win their first game against the league’s top team. So far, in their two previous matchups, Dirty Sanchez has owned the Rock, winning by almost 100 points in each outing.
It only took 12 weeks, but the Rock managed to rally from a deficit late in the week and win a matchup for the first time this season. This considerable upset started the 2022 calendar year positively, which could set the team up for success moving forward.
COVID protocols shut down the league for an extended period longer than the NHL intended, hence why week 11 was two weeks in length. The league’s original plan was a mini-break over Christmas, but the postponements added up, and fantasy owners had two weeks of uncertainty to navigate.
The Rock fell behind early on Monday by 13.00 points. On Tuesday, the score changed slightly as Sanchez took a six-point lead 14.50-8.50 into the break. Nothing changed between the two teams for the next six days as the teams sat with nothing to do. When the league returned to the ice Sanchez extended their lead, 44.50-25.50 on the first night. The Rock chipped away, lowering the deficit to 10 points on Wednesday before losing some of it again on Thursday.
On Friday, the matchup turned when the Rock grabbed their first lead, 173.50-159.50. The boys piled on the points throughout the weekend, securing the win by 49.50 points.
Now that the Rock has started a new win streak (two games), they hope to improve team statistics. After eleven weeks, they remain 60 goals behind the league leader (182), which ranks dead last. Despite the long losing streak, some other numbers have improved, like assists and the plus/minus rating. However, the overall rankings remain among the league’s worse.
Shorthanded points became a premium throughout the season, and with only five so far, the Rock has dropped to the bottom of the rankings. Despite some other middle-of-the-pack statistics, the team remains the toughest to play against in hits, blocks, and shots on goal.
Week 11 matchups were intense, with two close contests and one blowout. The Rock scored the second-most points of the week (285.00), coming in 30 points under Steve’s Great Team, who scored 315.00 in their matchup. The Manager-less Team picked up another win, jumping up to fourth place in the standings in the process.
There’s now a tie for first place as Steve’s team and Sanchez has identical 8-3 records, while the Rock stayed put in the third spot with a 5-6 record. The Stoned Assassins have made their way to the bottom while Icing finds themselves fifth place. 
Mika Zibanejad (New York) collected his first best player award by scoring a team-best 28 points during the matchup. His weekly total is the third-lowest total of any previous winners. In the few games that his Rangers managed to play, Zibanejad scored four goals with one assist. He had two power-play points to go along with 14 shots on goal, one hit, and one block. The center finished the week with a plus-three rating.
In between the pipes, Jacob Markstrom (Calgary) earned his fifth best-goalie award with 29.00 points. His weekly totals included two wins, five goals against, and 48 saves. Markstrom’s win tied fellow teammate Robin Lehner (Las Vegas) for most on the team.
The majority of the team collected points this week, and no one ended up negatively. However, Joel Eriksson-Ek (Minnesota) had the worse week with just 0.50 points on his stat line. The Wild center had only one shot on goal in limited playing time.
There was so much downtime between games that the Rock management didn’t have to execute any roster adjustments because nothing was happening. With so many players on the IR for various ailments, the team made one move on December 31st, cutting Viktor Arvidsson (Los Angeles) for the second time this season. The winger was let go to make room for a returning roster player.
Weekly Move Total: 0/4
Season Move Total: 15/50
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Keeping the Stats 