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.

March Madness Survivor Winner, Next Up Stanley Cup Playoffs

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The championship game is tonight, Michigan vs. Louisville, but we already have a winner in our March Madness Survivor Pool as of Saturday’s Final Four games. sdterp won out by virtue of Michigan and Louisville advancing. He picked Michigan and is the only entry still alive that can make a pick in the Final, as he saved Louisville.

mbmurray was the next closest, also picking Michigan so he got to the Final, but he used Louisville back in the Sweet 16 round. Based on the tie-breakers set out in the rules, even if Louisville loses tonight, sdterp outlasted mbmurray by virtue of being able to make a pick.

Our remaining alive entries all got bumped in the Final Four. 503jesse, evan0202 and liverob all picked Syracuse. yoletmein was down to his last option and lost with Wichita State.

Tough, tough year for predicting college basketball and it certainly made for a wild survivor pool, which happened to be our biggest March Madness pool by a long shot in our seven year history. Thanks everyone for playing, and congrats sdterp for ultimately winning it!

Our next pool is the Hockey Playoffs, as sixteen teams start the NHL’s “second season” gunning for the Stanley Cup. Which sixteen teams? Only the Chicago Blackhawks mathematically qualified so far with about 10 games to go in this lockout shortened regular season.

There is still plenty to be decided in the bottom half of each conference. The last regular season games are on Saturday April 27th, so the playoffs usually start a few days after that. Check back in later this month to get in the pool. See you then.

March Madness Survivor Final Four and Championship Picks

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For those still in the wild 2013 version of our March Madness Survivor Pool, or just following along out of interest (that would be most of us), we are down to just 6 survivors after the Elite Eight and heading into the Final Four this Saturday.

The Elite Eight round followed the same game plan as our prior rounds, with a big upset knocking a chunk of people out of the pool. This time it was Ohio State, picked by seven entries, who fell to Wichita State. We also lost one entry on Marquette who mustered a paltry 39 points against Syracuse. We started the Elite Eight with 14 alive entries, and now… just… six… for all the marbles with a potential for only two more rounds.

First, congrats to our competitors who made it this far. Clearly, a solid accomplishment to be in the last survivors and top 4.6% of entries this year. Now the big decision comes and they have all week to agonize over it. The first Final Four game is scheduled for Saturday at 6:09 pm Eastern, Wichita State vs. Louisville. Syracuse and Michigan square off at 8:49 pm.

Five of our six entries do have a choice to make, because they have two teams they haven’t already used. As luck or skill would have it, in each of those five instances the available teams are not playing each other in the Final Four. And, there are four different combinations of possible picks. Here is a summary of available picks for our six alive entries.
Teams Used
Final Four Pick
 Possible Champ. Pick?
503jesse
Wichita St., Michigan
Louisville or Syracuse
 yes
evan0202 #5
Louisville, Michigan
Wichita St. or Syracuse
yes
liverob
Wichita St., Michigan
Louisville or Syracuse
yes
mbmurray #2
Louisville, Syracuse
Wichita St. or Michigan
yes
sdterp
Wichita St., Syracuse
Louisville or Michigan
yes
yoletmein #2
Syracuse, Louisville, Michigan
Wichita St.
no

 
It is pretty simple: pick the winner this round that is going to lose the Championship game. Hope you have the Championship game winner on-deck, to guarantee winning this pool. Sure, simple. Best of luck to our competitors!