salisbury almost went down as well. crazy
I agree with brianjames' point. You also must consider that there is a random element in the cup. Every team with a run that long is bound to have a few home and a few away games. Given the absolute predominance of HCA at the high-levels, the question is who you get in your away games. Some top teams (like KDB himself) were eliminated on away draws to other top teams. The case was Ice Storm who went out in one of the first rounds.