After his inaugural season in the Mr. Man, Alex Baillie is hoping to return with as more of a challenge in this year's tournament.  One thing for sure is that he won't have to worry about a sophomore jinx as there is no where to go but up.

"I figured that all of the other competitors were chumps," Alex was overheard mentioning while on a phone call that he wrongly assumed was private.  "After meeting everyone, I realize that they are chumps, but it apparently will still take a bit of an effort to beat them.

Alex will be attemting to avoid being the first human since his brother Daniel to go winless in his first two years as well as avoiding the chance to match Daniel by losing the first nine games in his career.  One of Alex's games last year ended in a 2-1 overtime loss to Pittsburg to avoid going pointless in his freshman year.

Ryan Dunbrack, at 10 years old, will be setting the mark as the youngest Mr. Man competitor in League history.  Research has revealed that no debuting human has won their first match in regulation against a human since the birth of Man in 1995. 

Ashley George won his first match (Buffalo 7 Montreal 5 in 2005) but lost his first human match (NY Rangers 4 Buffalo 3) to Troy.  Nick Munro lost his first overall match to a computer team (Pittsburg 10 Detroit 2) but won his first game against a human beating Terry (Detroit 8 Ottawa7) in 2003.  In 2002 Daniel last his first game against a computer team (Edmonton 5 San Jose 0) and his first against a human, Terry (Ottawa 6 San Jose 0).  The only competitor to actually win their first match against a human (second match overall after beating a computer team Dallas 2 Minnesota 1 in 2000) was Dave Doggett downing Terry's Phoenix Coyotes 5-4 in OT.

"I feel I have every shot at winning the Mr. Man this year," Ryan announced confidently after losing an exhibition match to Ottawa 3-1.

After medalling in the past 6 years with no golds to show for it, Ottawa hopes the a recent aquisition will be the missing ingredient to taking home top honours in this years tournament.

"I bought a PS3" announced Mr. Dunbrack at the recent E3.  "If I lose this year, I don't have any excuses.  Well, no real ones, I'm sure I'll figure out something that I can blame my ineptitude on - I have had a lot of practice on that side of things over the past six years."

Kidfest showed that having the PS3 is no guarentee of greatness.  During the event which saw him go undefeated in a couple of games, it was shown that his barely beating kids demonstrates that just having the system in no way makes winning a sure thing.

After San Jose exacted revenge by knocking Vancouver out of the playoffs in an OT first round game last year,  Daniel hopes to have a better showing.  Anyone who took some time away from congratulating Jody at that point to gaze at Daniel would have seen that the tears that he was shedding were very bitter with the distinct undertones of citrus.

"How could I let that happen?" pondered Daniel in the deep dark recesses of his mind where he was holding his post game news conference.  "All humans will rue the day of reckoning which I have slated in my PDA for December 26th, 2010."

A constant disappointment since winning a Bronze Medal in 2004, Daniel Baillie will attempt to finish with some dignity for a change.  He hasn't decided whether this will be through victory or just lowering his standards.

The once offensive juggernaut that has been Troy Rankin's New York Rangers have not won a game by more than 1 goal since the first game of the 2008 tournament.  Last season saw the Rangers winning just two games in the entire tournament - a 3-2 squeaker over Alex Baillie's Red Wings and the first round OT thrilling against Pittsburg in which New York won 4-3 with 27 seconds remaining in the first OT period.

"Some people are born for greatness while others have greatness thrust upon them," Mr. Rankin noted during a sermon that he was ask to give to a local chapter of East Coast Lutherans.  "And if any of those people are in my line of fire, tell 'em their days are numbered."

One thing that you can count on with a competitor like Troy is that you can never count him out.  At least until he makes his inevitable first round exit. 

Ash finished last season in fine fashion to forge on of the most dominant campaigns in Mr. Man history.  Not only did he have the first perfect season since the 2000 Colorado Avalanche, but his 34 goals for versus his 6 goals against was arguably one of the best showings ever.

"I expect to see a lot of tight competition this year - nothing is a sure thing," Mr. George commented his weekly Save the Snowmen rally.  "I don't mean for first of course, I should easily have that locked up.  I meant for the 'Loser of the Year' award for the team that finishes in second place."

Another championship will lead some to start rumblings that this is becoming the first dynasty that the Mr. Man has had since Christian Poirier's Avalanche of the late '90s.  However, Mr. Man history shows that dynasties don't come easy.