After a break through season in 2010 which saw Chicago make it to the postseason for the first time, the Blaze have clearly not decided to rest on their laurels, bringing forth an impressive roster for 2011.  In addition to their two veterans GM Mesgen Amanov and GM Dmitry Gurevich, they have added former Arch Bishop and consecutive second place US Championship finisher GM Yury Shulman to the effort as well as the recently relocated GM Josh Friedel, giving them a whopping four GMs and making them one of the most top heavy teams in the League.

    But as results have shown time and time again, top players do not win Championships alone, and in particular for teams with so much strength at the top, much often depends on their young, underrated talent to provide the necessary backup for overall team success.  For the Blaze, this responsibility will likely largely fall on their longtime young star and now National High School Champuion, NM Eric Rosen as well as their new young weapon, NM Sam Schmakel.  The latter in particular is integeral to Chicago's probable strategy of really stacking the top three boards, even enabling the use of triple GM lineups - a fairly rare thing in the USCL.  But with so much strength and so many strong lineups, Chicago will almost certainly be a team to watch out for in 2011.