If you've been following the daily updates, by now you will know the score: Muenster Blue Jays led Norwich No for a good portion of the two weeks, but a surge in the last few days saw Norwich first tie and then move ahead to claim a deserved H2HWS title.

Here are the results of the final match-ups:

H2HWS Final

After 24 hard-hitting weeks, we're down to the final two. And, despite the abject failure of the London Knights in 2009, it's good to report that we still have an English representative this year - #1 seeds Norwich overcame the challenge of Psydney to take a deserved (considering their regular season performance) place in the final. Facing them will be the 6th-seeded Muenster Blue Jays, who overcame the challenge of Helsinki. So it's England vs Germany - a match-up which any football fan will know has it's history!

Semi-Final Results

Wow! If the rest of the playoffs are anything like this week, then we're in for a highly exciting and memorable climax to the 5th H2HWS! After Muenster & Psydney both looked like they were walking away with the match-ups halfway through the week, Mr. Needle & LA fought back to the extent that both - yes, both - match-ups were decided on the tie-break! Read on to find out which teams made it to the semi-finals...

Playoff Round 1

The final week of the regular season turned into something of an anti-climax, with the team most in danger of losing a top 6 spot - Muenster - taking an early lead against rivals Ealing, and not looking like losing it all week. All this week did, really, was to confirm the end of the 4-year reign of the London Knights. You can hear wr breathing a huge sigh of relief, I'm sure!!

Week 22 Results

...or breathing his last, at any rate. Barring a miraculous string of results in the final week of the regular season, the London Knights will not be qualifying for the playoffs this year, leaving the way wide open for a new champion. Who will that be? Four teams have secured their places, and the final two are pretty much set, with three teams (the Knights included) having a very outside chance of sneaking in. Here's what happened in the penultimate week...

Week 21 Results

We had one of those topsy turvy weeks this time round, where teams who had big leads with a day or two to go ended up with narrower wins than hoped, whilst at least one other team turned a Friday deficit into a very comfortable win. Norwich are still the only team to have a guaranteed playoff berth, but, unless they lose both the last two weeks 12-0, Helsinki are as good as there too...

It's gonna be another shortened update this week, because I'm moving tomorrow and there's a whole bunch of stuff to be done today! Look out next year for the newly renamed Oxford Knights; for now, let's take a look at Norwich's contiinued dominance of the 2009 H2HWS...

Week 18 Results

Apologies for the lateness of this week's H2HWS update - I have unexpectedly been without internet access for the last couple of days, thanks to my provider having major problems! This is why I always set my line-ups a couple of days in advance, just in case I can't get online for whatever reason!

Anyway, because I've been delayed, I'll just post the results and standings this week, with little comment. Here we go:

Week 17 Results

We're getting to the business end of the regular season here, and things are really hotting up! One team is a whisker away from guaranteeing their playoff involvement; two more teams are as good as in; the fourth-placed team are also looking good. But after that, it's looking like 6 teams battling for 2 places with only 6 weeks to go. The Knights are one of those teams, but after another defeat, they've slipped to their lowest position in the standings all year. It's looking like it will take a miracle to stop the championship from finally leaving Old London Town...

We'll keep it short 'n' sweet in this shortened week where anything could happen. Three teams benefitted with big wins - the one at the top & the two at the bottom! Results and standings on their way...

Results

With one exception, every match-up this week ended with a score difference of 3 or less, meaning that there wasn't a lot of movement in the standings. The exception, as you'll see, was Mr. Needle (who is on his 4th team name of the year - but I'll continue to use his original name in this blog to avoid confusion!) As we enter the lottery that is the All-Star Week, there is much still to play for...

Week 14 Results

Yes indeed, the unthinkable is a potential reality in 2009! Not the fact that the London Knights may not win the H2HWS - that run was bound to end at some point - no, that they may not even make the playoffs! Another defeat this week has bumped them out of the Top 6, and, frankly, even with what seems to be a decent line-up on paper, there is no sign of that changing any time soon. When one of your best hitters, Jason Bay, hits .080 for the week, you know you're in trouble!

Week 13 Results

Into the 2nd half of the regular season, and it's no exaggeration to say that pretty much every team still has a chance to make the playoffs. One team seems guaranteed of a place (and probably the #1 seed), but after the 2nd-placed team was trounced in Week 12, the remaining 13 teams have 5 places to battle for...

Week 12 Results

Sometimes I really hate H2H! This was one of those suck-tacular weeks where I went from having a lead in a close game on Saturday, only to be blown away by a lights-out Sunday from my opponent! Not good...

Week 11 Results

We're 10 weeks into the H2HWS now, and Norwich are starting to look like the '08 Thrashers, in that they are ominously building a comfortable lead at the top. Behind them, 6 teams are over .500, fighting for 5 playoff places, with the remaining 7 teams in need of some impetus to get back into contention. One of those teams had just the sort of performance needed this week - read on to find out who it was!

Results

Well, this last week has been spectacular in the way that most games ended fairly close, with two exceptions. Last year's finalists, the Knights & Thrashers, had miserable weeks as they were comprehensively beaten by Helsinki & Norwich respectively. Could this be the year when the title goes outside London? Perhaps...although Norwich look like they want to keep it in England! Results time...

Results

A day later than usual, here is the situation after two months of the 2009 H2HWS. Just for a change, I won't be writing a precis of each match-up; instead, I'll be picking out some of the quirkier stats through 8 weeks...

Results

Well that didn't last long! The Knights' reign at the top lasted a grand total of 1 week with a dismal performance in week 7 - more of that to follow. There was only one contest decided by a margin of less than 3, as a couple of the teams in the bottom half closed the gap on the top 5 with excellent performances. On to the results:

Results

First of all, kudos to anyone who spots the cultural reference in this week's headline! Readers from the UK may recognize it...if anyone from overseas knows where it comes from, I'll be amazed!

The reason for that title is that, although we are only 6 weeks into the season, there is already a 7 game gap between the top 5 teams and the rest of the league; and the top 5 are the only teams over .500 at this stage. We can never read too much into standings in the middle of May...but the rest of the league certainly can't afford to let that gap get any bigger. Let's check out how that gap arose this week:

Week 5 saw a week of mixed results in the H2HWS. A couple of teams had big wins, other match-ups were very close, the 5lyers came crashing back down to earth, and the clash between the top 2 had a very exciting end to it!

Results