9th July
The dust has finally settled, and another epic edition of the Altador Cup tournament has come to a close. The Darigan Citadel, having lost in last year's final, simply would not be denied this time around as they turned back a gallant effort by Roo Island for the win.

The championship game started out as a defensive struggle, with Roo Island unveiling a 1-3-1 zone trap that thoroughly confused the Citadel's offense. The zone forced Darigan into far too many long, loping passes that Roo Island was able to pick off and quickly take downfield. These turnovers allowed the islanders to build a slight lead in the early going, but it would not last.

The downside of Roo Island's trapping zone was that, when Darigan was able to beat it and find an open player along the perimeter, the shooter would often have a clear (albeit distant) shot at the goal. As Darigan familiarised themselves with the trap, these shot opportunities came more frequently and at closer distances, eventually forcing Roo Island back into a standard man-to-man formation. By the time their trap had been beaten, the Roo Islanders were far too fatigued to keep up with the Darigan scoring attack, allowing the Citadel to cruise to a decisive win.

Unfortunately for Lilo Blumario & Co., their fans were unable to fare any better. The Rooligans took a decisive loss in the noisemaking contest and a narrow defeat in the slushie slinging category, giving the Darigan Citadel a clean sweep in the finals.

As for the match-up between the Round Robin's third- and fourth-place finishers, the surprising squad from Shenkuu continued to steamroll past their opponents, giving the crew from Krawk Island a sound thrashing to finish third overall in this year's competition. Having exceeded everyone's expectations in their first appearance at the Altador Cup tournament, one would have to imagine that Shenkuu will be among the odds-on favourites to contend for next year's title.