Stanley Cup Final To Decide Pool, Football Survivor On Deck

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Our Stanley Cup Playoffs Hockey Pool that kicked off the first week of May is winding down, with only a handful still in the running to claim a decorated spot in the top three. If you are amongst that exclusive group, well done, and enjoy the ride to the finish.

At the start of the Finals round of the playoffs, Kartin still managed to hold on to top spot thanks to picking every series correct through Rounds 1 and 2. It all fell apart in the Conference Finals though, when both his picks of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Los Angeles Kings got knocked out. Now he tries to stave off the competition with numerous Chicago Blackhawks picks, and a Boston Bruins pick to hoist the Cup, nipping at his heels. If the Blackhawks win, he will get knocked out of the top three. If the Bruins win, he should stay in the top three.

Ds0589, currently in second place, has a healthy lead on third. A Blackhawks win should vault him into first regardless how the player points or bonus for games in the series shake out. The lone Bruins pick belongs to 2011 pool champ (also on the Bruins – sensing this is not a luck or coincidence thing) markymark2281. He may or may not finish in the top spot even if the Bruins win, because he needs the 20 points for picking the winner plus some help.

It should be a great finish. With the Blackhawks down 2-1 in the series after last night’s shutout loss, and Game 4 in Boston, they’ve got their work cut out for them. And really, since I’ve been even more anti-Bruins than usual since the miracle come from behind win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, it seems all the more obvious now they are the team to beat.

After the Stanley Cup Playoffs conclude, we’ll got into a short hibernation before we crank up the biggest pool we run every year, Football Survivor. Very likely, the same format as always. Why mess with a good thing? When sign ups are open it will be posted on the website, plus like us on Facebook and follow us on the Twitter for the latest.

Conference Finals Start Today – Pens vs. Bruins, Hawks vs. Kings

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Next round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs are set to start today with the number one and number five teams from each conference squaring off for a trip to the Stanley Cup Final.

Our Hockey Playoffs Pool gets back in the action too, after a two-day layoff. Kartin has a huge 23 points lead thanks to going perfect through not only the opening round but now round two as well. That is damn impressive.

However, with 15 points earned for each of the Conference Finals series, and 20 points up for grabs for picking the Stanley Cup Final winner, it isn’t carved in stone he’s going to win this thing. We have some entries backing Chicago to hoist the Cup, and one Kings and one Bruins entry within striking distance of the top three.

In the East, Pittsburgh Penguins host the Boston Bruins. Where I live in central Ontario, and in close proximity to southern Ontario, some less than scientific polling found on one side people are pulling for the Bruins because it shows well for the Toronto Maple Leafs that the team that barely edged them out made it all the way to the finals. On the flip side, some people are just pulling for the dastardly Bruins to finally get the boot out of the playoffs. I’m in the latter camp by a wide margin. This will be a tough series though, so Penguins in 7 is my pick.

Over in the West, Chicago Blackhawks host the Los Angeles Kings. Did you realize the last four Stanley Cup winners are the last four teams standing in this tournament? And of course you know the Kings are the reigning champs, and with good reason. Jonathan Quick is nothing short of amazing. The Blackhawks fought back hard to get past the Detroit Red Wings after more or less cruising through Round 1 (although Minnesota Wild did give them a run for their money on a game-to-game basis).

I picked the other series to go seven games and yet, I find this one a much tougher one to call. Lets go with Chicago, in 7. If the Kings had home ice one would almost have to take them and their perfect record in L.A., but Jonathan Toews seemed to light a spark in that Detroit series and they’ve got more scoring power overall.

As predictable as it sounds, lets see the two #1 regular season teams in the finals. Should be some great hockey – no matter what Damien Cox says – leading up to that.

Maple Leafs Roller Coaster Ride Over, Stanley Cup Playoffs Carry On

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Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs wrapped up last night. The Toronto Maple Leafs had our expectations on an extreme roller coaster ride from being down three games to one to the Boston Bruins, and up, up, up the expectations went winning the next two, taking a 4-1 lead in Game 7, before it all came crashing down. A solid season and series by all accounts for the Buds, but still a bitter pill to swallow at the end.

Over in the other Game 7, between the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals, it was anything but a dramatic finish. The Rangers steamrolled the Caps 5-0 for the win to advance after being down most of the series.

Our Hockey Playoffs Pool is updated, and congrats to Kartin who holds down first place after going eight-for-eight picking the Round 1 series winners. knuckle_pucks is the lone other entry that went perfect in Round 1, and sits in second place, while markymark2281 is in third place.

There are still a lot of people who can make a run at this thing given we have a lot of different combinations of final four teams within striking distance of the top three spots in the pool. Although there are not many Ottawa Senators picks, so personally, Go Ottawa! I’ll definitely be pulling for the upset over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

And I don’t have to wait long to see how that series might shape up. Wasting no time at all, the NHL kicks off Round 2 tonight with two games: Ottawa at Pittsburgh, and San Jose Sharks at Los Angeles Kings. Detroit Red Wings play at Chicago Blackhawks Wednesday to start their series, while the must be tired Rangers and Bruins being Thursday in Boston.

Good luck to all of you still in the running in the pool, and enjoy the rest of the playoffs!

Stanley Cup Playoffs Official Predictions

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The deadline is today to join our Hockey Playoffs Pool. We are over 50 entries in the pool right now, which should make for a tough, two month battle to see who can best predict the Stanley Cup Playoffs. After last night’s debacle by the “we’re just glad to be here, kids” – the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Islanders – I will admit to making some changes to my picks today.

I didn’t have the Leafs advancing past the Boston Bruins, but I did pencil in an upset by the Islanders over the Pittsburgh Penguins. That is now off the table. I won’t make it a sweep, as I still expect the Isles to make a series of it, but I’ll pick the #1 seeded Pens to get through to at least the next round. I’ve been burned by overreacting to the first game in prior years, so hopefully it doesn’t try to teach me yet another lesson this year.

The other series I mostly left alone from my original picks, although I keep flip-flopping on the Washington Capitals-New York Rangers series. Then by the time I get into making my picks for Round 2 and beyond, I don’t have strong beliefs any which way. I just know I don’t want to pick the favoured Penguins, as I expect many will, nor can I support the hated Bruins advancing very far. There is the old heart over the head pick system at work, another sure recipe for disaster.

At any rate, here are my picks for the pool, and we’ll see if they can stand up to ridicule between now and June.

Round 1 Winners
Penguins
Bruins
Rangers
Senators		 Blackhawks
Ducks
Blues
Sharks
Round 2 Winners
Rangers
Senators		 Blackhawks
Blues
Conference Champions
Senators Blackhawks
Stanley Cup Champion
Chicago Blackhawks

 

My five players are Logan Couture (SJ), Patrick Kane (CHI), Evgeni Malkin (PIT), Rick Nash (NYR) and Erik Karlsson (OTT). I really wanted to put in Alex Steen (STL) as one of my five, especially after his two goal opener, but I couldn’t justify dropping any of these five to fit him in.

Good luck to everyone in the pool!

Hockey Playoffs Pool Deadline Thursday Night

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The NHL announced the schedule for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which directly impacts the deadline for our Hockey Playoffs Pool. The schedule is a little more hodge-podge than in the past. This year, the opening round series start on three different nights instead of two.

Blackhawks-Wild, Ducks-Red Wings and Blues-Kings all start Tuesday. Penguins-Islanders, Bruins-Maple Leafs and Canucks-Sharks all start Wednesday. Finally, Canadiens-Senators and Capitals-Rangers each start Thursday.

As we like to give a little more time to get people in the pool, we normally set the deadline to the start of the earliest Game 2 of all of the opening round series. We’ll stick with that this year, but it doesn’t give much time to comprehend the results from those last two series starting on Thursday. The earliest Game 2 on the schedule is Blues-Kings, Thursday May 2nd at 9:30 Eastern.

That is our deadline – Thursday at 9:30. The opener of Habs-Sens or Caps-Rangers may not even be finished by that time, so consider those two series a little more challenging to pick this year than in the past. Or easier, maybe, if you’ve fallen victim to the overreaction from one game in the past, like I have.

Final Seeds Set For Stanley Cup Playoffs

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Way to go Boston. Just when we were counting on you – for once – you failed us miserably. Not sure why I expected anything different. The Bruins couldn’t muster a point in their final regular season game against the Ottawa Senators, which means Boston keeps the #4 seed, facing the Toronto Maple Leafs, while the #2 seed Montreal Canadiens face Ottawa to open the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Montreal-Toronto would have been très magnifique, but alas, not meant to be.

The NHL hasn’t posted the playoff schedule yet but all of the seeds and opening round series matchups are finally set. I updated our Hockey Playoffs Pool, so now it is up to you to sign up and fill in your bracket, plus five skaters, to see how well you can predict who is going to hoist the Stanley Cup in … uh … two months time? We’ll be watching the finals from our smartphones at the beach.

Here are the opening round series matchups:

Eastern Conference Western Conference

#8 New York Islanders
vs.
#1 Pittsburgh Penguins

#8 Minnesota Wild
vs.
#1 Chicago Blackhawks

#7 Ottawa Senators
vs.
#2 Montreal Canadiens

#7 Detroit Red Wings
vs.
#2 Anaheim Ducks

#6 New York Rangers
vs.
#3 Washington Capitals

#6 San Jose Sharks
vs.
#3 Vancouver Canucks

#5 Toronto Maple Leafs
vs.
#4 Boston Bruins

#5 Los Angeles Kings
vs.
#4 St. Louis Blues

Maple Leafs-Canadiens Series Hinges on Bruins-Senators Result

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Say it ain’t so! The dream of a Toronto Maple Leafs-Montreal Canadiens opening round series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs rattled around in our heads for a couple weeks now, but as of today, the next to last day of the regular season, the teams don’t match up any more. The Habs downed the Buds in convincing fashion, while the Bruins lost to the Washington Capitals in overtime. That moved the Habs up to the #2 seed and Bruins down to #4.

Round 1, Leafs-Bruins? No thanks. Especially not with Leafs-Habs behind door number two. There is still hope though. The Bruins host the Ottawa Senators Sunday in the final game of the regular season. If the Bruins can manage just a single point, they move back to #2, Habs drop to #4, and Leafs-Habs is back on. Come on, Bruins! Can’t believe we actually have to cheer for or count on the Bruins to make this happen. Fingers crossed everyone.

At any rate, the seeds in our Hockey Playoffs Pool are updated as of tonight’s games, before the late game results from the Western Conference. The San Jose Sharks-Los Angeles Kings can change seeds, with the winner of their game getting #5 and facing the St. Louis Blues. The loser gets #6 and faces the Vancouver Canucks.

Signing off, and cheering for the Bruins tomorrow… just for one day.

Hockey Playoffs Pool Now Open

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Stanley Cup PlayoffsAnd we’re off! The Hockey Playoffs Pool is open and ready for you to decide who are the contenders and who are the pretenders in the run for the Stanley Cup!

The pool is the same format as the last few years (why change a good thing?). Pick the winner of each series, how many games the series will take for your team to win, and any five players to earn points for goals and assists. The five players must be from five different teams, so no stacking up on Kadri, Kessel, Lupul and van Riemsdyk, Leaf fans!

There are still three days left in the NHL regular season schedule, so the seeds could still juggle around a bit. Columbus is on the outside looking in right now but could still overtake Detroit or Minnesota in the Western Conference. We’ve got that covered though. Even if you enter the pool today, you can edit your picks as many times as you like all the way up to the deadline.

Plus, the pool deadline is not the first game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which is expected to be next Tuesday, April 30th. Instead, it will be the start of the second games of the opening round series, probably Thursday, May 2nd. This gives everyone a chance to assess Game 1 of each series and adjust their picks accordingly.

Make sure to spread the word about the pool. Give us a Like on Facebook or Follow on Twitter. Let us know what series picks you are struggling with, and I’ll be interested to hear how many Maple Leafs vs. Habs faithful we have in the pool. Good luck!

Hockey Playoffs Pool Coming Soon

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Oi! I fell deathly ill yesterday. That is the first time in a long time I can remember taking a full sick day where I didn’t touch a bit of work. I was in no condition. Thankfully, I’m feeling much better today, even if my energy is not at its peak.

The Hockey Playoffs Pool! That is what we are eagerly waiting for. I’m a day behind plan but very close to releasing the pool for the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The playoffs are scheduled to start next Tuesday, April 30th (tax deadline day!).

The last regular season game is Sunday, Ottawa Senators vs. Boston Bruins, which doesn’t give much time from the end of the regular season to the start of the playoffs, but once the pool is up you can enter whenever you like, and come back and edit your picks all the way up to the pool deadline.

Plus, the deadline will very likely be extended to Thursday, May 2nd, after each series is one game old. I need to see the full schedule to make a final determination, but go on that assumption. We’ve done it the last two years and it worked well… except for the fact I can’t help but overreact to the result of the first game!

I just updated my “if the playoffs started today” post from last week. Detroit Red Wings are in as of now, overtaking Columbus Blue Jackets, and I’m sure the Chicago Blackhawks would prefer it the other way around. No changes in the Eastern Conference since my last update.

Okay, Hockey Playoffs Pool will be up soon, perhaps later today. An email newsletter will go out to people who played last year.

If The Stanley Cup Playoffs Started Today (Updated April 27)

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Every team in the National Hockey League has 4-6 games 2-4 1-3 0-2 games to go in their lockout-shortened 48-game regular season schedule, and as thankful as we are for the owners and players coming to their senses and giving us real hockey, real playoff hockey – The Stanley Cup Playoffs! – is the crème de la crème of televised pro sports events. This is what we’ve truly been waiting for.

The Montreal Canadiens already punched their ticket to the playoffs, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are a centimetre away from doing the same in! There is a powerhouse team running away with each conference, Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks. The New York Islanders might make made the playoffs. Say what?

The Detroit Red Wings might not! The Ottawa Senators looked dead in the water losing star defenceman Erik Karlsson early in the season. They are strongly in the mix and the Winnipeg Jets are right on the cusp, too. This is setting up to be a ridiculously exciting time for hockey fans.

Our annual Hockey Playoffs Pool is a go again this year, with the same format as usual. Pick the winner of every series from the opening round to the Stanley Cup Final. Guess the number of games your picks will take to win each series. Pick five players and score points for goals and assists. Get your entry in before the deadline, and then sit back and watch the action, and hopefully the points add up in your favour.

The last regular season game is Sunday, April 28th. I expect the playoffs will start the following Wednesday Tuesday, similar to last year. The deadline was set to Friday the last couple years so each opening round series was one game old, and I’ll likely do that again to give everyone a little more time to enter, research, overreact to Game 1, adjust and submit their final picks.

I’m going to work on the playoffs pool today. It will go live on the website as soon as possible, with the seeds set based on the current playoff picture. As the seeds shuffle around, I’ll update the pool. Keep in mind you can enter early, and then simply come back and edit your picks as much as you like all the way up to the deadline.

Okay, without further adieu, here is the NHL Playoff Picture going into the games scheduled on Thursday, April 18th Monday, April 22nd Thursday April 25th Friday April 26th Saturday April 27th:

Eastern Conference Western Conference

#8 New York Rangers
vs.
#1 Pittsburgh Penguins

#8 Minnesota Wild
vs.
#1 Chicago Blackhawks

#7 Ottawa Senators
vs.
#2 Boston Bruins

#7 Detroit Red Wings
vs.
#2 Anaheim Ducks

#6 New York Islanders
vs.
#3 Washington Capitals

#6 San Jose Sharks
vs.
#3 Vancouver Canucks

#5 Toronto Maple Leafs
vs.
#4 Montreal Canadiens

#5 Los Angeles Kings
vs.
#4 St. Louis Blues

Feel free to tell your friends about the pool (although probably best once it is up and running), and enjoy the final stretch run to the playoffs.