Die Nationalmannschaft were the talk of the 2005 season, and despite losing the EHCS to eventual champion China, the German squad has given hope to 11 other teams all looking to break free from the stranglehold of runner-up finishes.  Germany broke the French dominance of Europe by winning a league best 101 games last year, prompting teams in the other three divisions to beleive that they may be able to beat Australia, Venezuela, or China.

Australia has been challenged in their bid to stay atop the ONA division by all three of their rivals, each of whom has finished less than 10 games back at some point in the past 5 years.  However, the Boomerangs won by their largest margin ever in 2005, which may mean that the rest of the division will have to wait awhile.  Likewise, Venzuela has dominated the CSA division rather lopsidedly, but the challengers are on the rise.

Perhaps the team with the best shot at overcoming their shortfalls is Japan.  In the past three seasons, the Osim have finished 3, 1, and 3 games out of first place.  That's not a lot of ground to make up, and despite the fact that China went on to win the Federation Cup, their 80 wins were the fewest by any postseason participant ever (Venezuela won the CSA division in 2002 with 84 wins).  That's good news for Japan, as it seems likely that one or two slight improvements might finally have them popping some bubbly of their own.

With the 2006 amateur draft underway, the new season isn't far away.  Hope springs eternal as opening day approaches.