And the Winners are......
Congrats to our 2010 playoff pool winners Reel Feel Technology, Kelso & PenHawks (who beat Gnarly Farley in the tiebreak). You've earned your $ now don't spend it all in one place.
PenHawks (again!) & Ovie to Shine won their respective brackets to win a tidy $80 each.
Admittedly, my daily updates slowed to a crawl this past playoff season but between househunting (then a homeowner) & a new daddy - my hands were pretty full. If interested, the daily recaps for the 2009 playoff are still available.
If you're interested in a 2010-11 NHL regular season pool, email me at pd@zambonination.com.
-PD
The Big Pavelski Steps Up
April 30, 2010
Great start to the second round last night. Great game. Is it just me or are the Sharks actually learning from their past mistakes? Last night they showed the bend but don't break mentality that it takes to win in the playoffs. Impressive series start for them.
Going up 3-0 early I thought for sure we'd have a Chris Osgood sighting but credit to Babcock for sticking with Howard - the kid hung on and gave the Wings a chance.
Marleau missing the game was a huge surprise but Pavelski stepped up bigtime. With last nights 3 points (2 goals, 1 assist) he picked up right where he left off last round. To the 4 entries that picked him - smart move.
Brackets and standings are both up to date. The new bracket pairings are set so if you advanced you'll wan to check out your competition.
I'm always interested in your feedback so if you've anything you like to see or just general hockey talk I'd love to hear it.
Monteal is in Pittsburgh tonight to kick off that series. Will the Halak heroic's continue? It's going to be a very intriguing game.
If you missed my 2nd round predictions - check out the homepage as they were posted yesterday prior to puck drop.
Enjoy your weekend everyone!
-PD
Stanley Cup Playoffs Conference Semi Finals Preview
April 29, 2010
(4) 
vs. (8) 
Montreal will ride the emotional wave to jump out to an early lead in the series against a Penguins team that's been idle for almost a week now. The Pens have proven to have the pedigree and after a slow start Sid will lead them to the conference final for a 3rd straight year.
Zamboni Nation Prediciton: Penguins in 6
(6) 
vs. (7) 
Two underachieving regular season teams saved their seasons with first round upsets. Fans in both cities love tough hockey and that's exactly what they're gonna get in this one. Philly's depth will be tested w/o Carter & Gagne and B's will get a jolt of offense w/Savard's return. I'll be watching to see how many minutes will pass before Pronger tests his elbows on Savard's concussed melon. Physicality aside, the difference in this one will come down to goaltending. The Bruins have Tukka Rask and Tim Thomas, and they're both much better than Brian (don't call me Bobby) Boucher.
Zamboni Nation Prediciton: Bruins in 6
(1) 
vs. (5) 
This will be a very interesting series. Will SJ coach Todd McClellan's previous job as Detroit's assistant head coach offer any leverage in his knowledge of how Detroit plays? Does Babcock who coached Thorton, Marleau, Heatley & Boyle with Team Canada during the Olympics give the wings an advantage? No longer sould he be known as little Joe, The Big Pavelski is going to continue his awesome post season and the Sharks sandpaper players will continue to grind on a Wings team that's had little rest between series.
Zamboni Nation Prediciton: San Jose in 7 (I know.. I know)
(2) 
vs. (3) 
Do I really need to set this series up? It's going to be intense, physical, ugly & hard hitting hockey where the goalies have targets on their backs. Both teams have their share of yappers and I'm betting there's gonna be alot of goaltender interference calls. This series is what playoff hockey is - teams that develop a hate for one another through an intense & physically demanding series. Oh yeah - both teams can shoot the lights out too. For me this series fate sits in Luongo's hands. Even after backstopping Canada alot of people wonder how he fares under this kind of pressure. Is he an average goalie on a good team & a great goalie on a bad team? We're soon to find out.
Zamboni Nation Prediciton: Blackhawks in 7
Holy Halakinaw!
April 29, 2010
With apologies to Joe Bowen (Leafs play by play man), that's about the best way for me to sum up last nights events. What an epic performance by Halak once again last night. Certainly one for the ages for a franchise with a very established record of goaltending heroics in the post season. I don't believe there's been a bigger upset in recent history than an 8 seed coming back from 3-1 down to win a series? All I can say is Wow.
Usually there's major upset each post season and that's one of the top reasons why playoff hockey so compelling. Last night we witnessed as big an upset as there could've been. The offensive regular season juggernaut shot blanks all series long. That combined with the spectacular play of 'shaky' Halak doomed the Caps.
Hope Ovie likes the taste of Crow cause he's gonna be eating lots of it till at least October. To call his comments stupid is an understatement especially now that the upset is complete. In the playoffs rule #1 is you don't give your opponent extra motivation and that bulletin board fodder was exactly that. Dumb dumb move Ovie. Your legion of doubters is growing.
We've our first winner of the pool with Go Sens Go as the first round leader. Congrats. They suffered alot of casualties so keeping that lead is going to be tough. I'll also be updating the brackets later this evening as well as sending out my semi-final predictions.
The second round kicks off tonight with Detroit - San Jose at 9PM on TSN tonight. Enjoy!
-PD
The Sharks of the East?
April 28, 2010
Ovi & company have to be feelin the heat. I'll be honest - I'm shocked Montreal & Washington are going to game seven tonight. I thought this was gonna be a quick and without Halak maybe it would be. I've not had a chance to watch much of this series but from what I hear & read he is without a doubt the sole reason the Habs have a chance. I think Ovechkin's comments of a shaky Halak really served as motivation for him. A scan of the twitterverse after the last game had a very common thread - Halak should've been the games 1st, 2nd & 3rd star. It's crazy to hear numbers like the habs are 8-0 when Halak makes over 45 saves and just yesterday CBC ran a poll rating his performance with the best all time montreal goalie performances. We're not talking Patrick Roy Stanley Cup final heroics but make no mistake - Halak's making an impact and soon to be rewarded handsomely for it in the offseason.
Will he steal the steal this series? That remains to be seen but it should be an awesome one to watch. After the Capitals sh!t the bed last year in game 7 against Sid & Co last year & losing in OT to the Flyers in game 7 the year before the writing could be on the wall. In my mind, the Capitals are very close to being labelled the Sharks of the East - can't win when it matters & only has bite during the regular season.
I apologize for thew lack of updates. Our household has been hit by the cold season & on top of that we've been doing more than our fair share of house hunting - spare time is a foreign concept. Those of you that have been checking, I've managed to keep the stats updated - just no time to write & send updates. I apologize for that and will continue to send regular updates whenever possible.
The Wings showed us all last night that experience is a very valuable thing. It was a great game up until the end of the 2nd when Detroit sucessfully killed off the 5-3 & sprung Stuart for a breakaway goal as he was exiting the penalty box. To score that goal with under 5 seconds left in the period - that's a swift kick in the balls & would be tough for anyteam to come back from let alone the Jets I mean Coyotes. Once that goal happened it was game over.
Conference semi's in the west are almost an exact replica of last years with the exception of San Jose instead of Anaheim. The Canucks-Blackhawks rematch should be nothing short of awesome given last years intense series & the bad blood that brewed during their regular season matchups. San Jose has a real chance to shake their post season chokee reputation by knocking off a Wings team that's a threat to win it all year in year out. In the East the matchups are dependant on tongith outcome. Caps win it'll be Flyers-Caps & Penguins-Bruins but if the Habs pull of the major upset it'll be Pittsburgh-Montreal & Boston-Philly. All great matchups.
For those keeping track of my predictions, I'm 2 for 4 in the western conference and perfect so in the est pending tonights outcome.
Enjoy game 7 tonight folks - it should be awesome.
-PD
3 OT's, 3 Gooseggs and the Devils are cooked
April 23, 2010
Well that was certainly an interesting night. The Devils are the first one to leave the party. Who would've thunk that one? To go out on a shutout though is very surprising. I guess Lamarillo's temper tantum between games 4 & 5 really amounted to a whole pile of nadda. They paid a lot to bring in Kovalchuk before the deadline but my guess is he won't be signing there and will be available to the highest bidder come July 1.
At the other end of the spectrum is the Senators. A triple OT victory has to put really put some wind in those sails. I didn't see the game (shocking I know) but I'd have to guess that win had to be a huge confidence boost heading home for game 6 but I'm still calling on the Pens to win the series back at Mellon for game 7.
The Sharks & Hawks showed their mettle last night - dominating wins by both teams. I feel I can say an upset is no longer in the cards for either dog in that series.
Will the Habs & Sabres take a page out of the Sens playbook and stave off elimination tonight? I doubt it but as we know I've been off on my predicitons before. :) LA and Detroit are back on the road trying to win back home ice advantage.
Speaking of LA, how good a player is Drew Doughty going to be? The kids only 20 and was just nominated for the Norris. That's insane even by NHL standards. Only Bobby Orr was younger to win the Norris.
Enjoy tonights games eveyone & have a great weekend.
-PD
The Curse of Marian Hossa?
April 21, 2010
After last nights 4-1 drubbing by Nashville, the city of Chicago is putting out an APB on a Blackhawks team that finished 2nd in the west this year. The same team that inspired so many in the 2009 playoffs with their youthful will and unexpected conference final appearance.
Coming into this playoffs, the questions were about the situation in net - not their lack of scoring. If you said they'd score only 4 goals thru 3 games I'd have asked if you took all your meds this morning.
I must admit to not watching much of this series and yes Nashville is a great defensive team. But I'm still at a loss to explain the Hawks in this series so I'm going to take an easy out and blame Hossa.
Yes Hossa - the guy that helped Pittsburgh get to the finals 2 years ago but lose to the Wings.
Yes Hossa - he who shunned the Pens to sign with same Red Wings only to lose the cup to the team he so publically shunned.
Yes Hossa - who then shunned the Red Wings to sign with the up & coming Blackhawk team.
Yes Hossa - the one with the girls name.
Yes Hossa - the guy with the reputation of thinking the grass is always greener on the other side.
Yes Hossa - the one with the ridiculously long 12 year contract.
The consequences of signing Hossa resulted in Hawks denying the return of Martin Havlat who BTW was a catalyst in helping the Hawks reach the next level. Havlat, he who very publically expressed his desire to return. Then in order to have enough room under the salary cap - they dumped Cam Barker to the Minnesota Wild this past winter. The same Cam Barker that was drafted #3 behind Crosby and Bobby Ryan.
The irony in all this is Preds actually have a higer payroll with the players that are actually playing in the series.
I liked the Hawks last year - I really did. They were an exciting young team that was a ton of fun to watch. Hossa's signing began my dislike for that team. Then Patrick Kane & his 20 cent cabby fiasco happened. Sure he apologized & said the right things but if you walk like a douche and act like a douche.... Need I say more?
So hockey pool be damned (I picked 6 Hawks), if they lose - to quote Nelson from the Simpsons "HAH Ha!".
Enjoy tonights games everyone!
-PD
Bizarroland - more goalies than games
April 20, 2010
That's the situation in the Caps-Habs series with both teams having already switched their series starting goalies. Last night Washington really showed off their depth and that's bad news for Montreal. We all know about Ovie, Backstrom, Semin & Green but overlooked is the Chimera's, Bradleys and Knubles. The Caps are much tougher team than last years edition. The fickle Habs fans and their love/hate relationship with Carey Price continued with a rousing ovation upon entering last nights game. This ain't gonna be pretty & will soon turn back into jeers. The writing is on the wall - cover your eyes and ears Habs fans.
How bout the grand old man Mark Recchi setting up the game winner last night? 42 and points in 3 straight playoff games. Good for him. With injuries mounting for Buffalo, their reliance on Vezina candidate Ryan Miller is even greater now (as if that was even possible). Johnny Boychuk is quickly earning a rep as most hated man in Buffalo. After taking Vanek out last game, last night he delivered the hit of the playoffs last night on AHL rookie scoring stud Tyler Ennis. Ennis didn't come back.
The goalie theme continues as Luongo was also chased from net last night. He has to be better to give the Canucks a chance. On the other hand Jon Quick is quickly establishing himself as a gamer as all 3 games the Kings have allowed the first goal but Quick has enabled them to battle back. Unlike the Bruins and Caps (0/12 & 0/14) the Kings powerplay is on fire (7/12). Last night they were dominate once again with the man advantage. Michael Handzus' veteral presence and playoff experience was evident last night with his keister parked in front of the net and 2 PP rebound tap-ins. Big scare for LA as Doughty looked like he might've been injured in the 1st but that was quickly dismissed aside with his 4 point night.
Kings, Caps and Bruins all had statement games last night. Game 4 will be pivotal for each series.
Just for kicks, some links from the twitterverse. This 5 year old Buffalo kid knows his playoff hockey, USA Today has some insight into the secret to playoff success & finally, did you know Bryan Smolinski is still playing? He was just named IHL player of the week. Looks like Recchi's not the only graybeard still going.
We've a new leader atop the standings and it looks as if a few others have benefitted from Doughty's big nite last night.
All five other series resume tonight. Take note of the strange start time in Detroit as that one's scheduled for a 6:30 start. San Jose's expecting a lift tonight with the other Danny (Heatley) returning to the lineup - as if that intimidates anyone anymore.
Enjoy tonights games folks.
-PD
Show me the way to beat San Jose
April 19th, 2010
You have to wonder if Steve Smith is on a flight bound for Denver today to console Dan Boyle today. Danny Boyle need not worry - he has a gold medal and a cup ring already. If history is any indication he sure as he'll won't be getting a second one - at least not with the Sharks. I believe the Avs were outshot something ridiculous in the final 2 periods, as in 40something shots to 7. It's long been known that a goalie can steal a series for you - we just may be seeing Craig Anderson do it for Colorado. Sidenote: of the 7 Avs taken, 5 were selected by my wife (Moof Moof). I though she was crazy but look who's laughing now.
Quite the commanding performance by Crosby last night. That goal he scored was pure determination and a beauty at that. When Sid's on him game like this the Pens are gonna be hard to beat - just ask Alfie. I think I have my new favorite video clip - I can watch that 1000 times and still won't get sick of that one.
These playoffs have been crazy close so far - of the 20 played so far 13 have been one goal games with 7 required overtime. Hell - we're not even 1/2 way through the first round and it's already one of the closest rounds I can remember.
Standings are completely up to date with Grips Grinders in first. Posted last night were the entry brackets. If you've signed up for them - I'd suggest seeing who you're matched up against. In order make it those work, it requires multiples of 16 so I must apologize to those of you that didn't make it in there. I tried creating a 3rd bracket but just didn't have enough people to make it happen. As a result I had to deny 8 bracket entries - 3 from my family's entries and the final five to sign up for it. If you're not listed - that's the reason why. I'll be following up with individual emails.
Should be an interesting game in Montreal tonight - especially is Theodore is in net. Bos-Buf change cities to Boston an the Kings-Canucks switch to LA.
Enjoy tonights games everyone!
-PD
Today's a Quickie
April 18, 2010
Standings have been posted. Quick update for now - I had my entire update written but deleted before I had a chance to send. Probably a relief for most of you. :)
Big wins last night for Washington & LA. Washington b/c down 0-2 going on the road would've been a huge obstacle & for LA, losing the first 2 games in OT of any series would be very demoralizing.
Sitewide audit has been complete. Standings, NHL Stats & Pool Entries are now all viewable. For the record - our collective wisdom predicts a Washington-Chicago final. Complete NHL team selections viewable on the Stats page.
Early leader is Grips Grinders who has a three point lead over Bring It!. Check out the entries page to see how you stack up against the competition.
I'll update with prize breakdowns as well as the brackets later this evening as that's the final piece I need to sort. Five games today - I'll be watching Pitt-Ott as well as SJ-Col with the most interest.
Happy Sundoy folks and happy hockey watching.
-PD
OT the way it Should Be
April 16, 2010
Three super tight games last night - 2 of which required OT to declare a winner. Now that's what playoff hockey is about. I understand the rationale behind regular season overtime but that doesn't mean I have to like it. 5 on 5 till someone scores is in my mind the only way to determine a winner. If the NHL ever considered regular season OT rules you can count me out. Regular season OT dilutes the game as well as confuses the standings. For example, if a team is 40-30-12 then it looks like they're a great team when in fact they've 40 wins and 42 losses. The NHL needs to fix this. I could go on but I won't.
So the Habs continued the trend of upsets with a huge win over Washington. Ovie without a shot on goal? For real? WOW! Big shocker. I didn't see the game but are we close to seeing a repeat of last year where Jose gets benched for Czar-lamov?
My Kings lost last night. No biggie - they fought hard and played a great game from what I saw (those of you keeping track I'm 0 for 2 trying to stay awake during late games). Quick bailed them out in the 1st period as the Nucks dominated the shots on goal. Can't say enough about Vancouver's signing of Samuelsson in the offseason - brings a winning veteran (did someone say swedish?) presence to a team that really needs it. With this said, the Canucks are supposed to hold serve - it's called home ice advantage. Roberto - you got lucky in OT! This series is far from over.
Speaking of Quick - I was reading the Hockey News during my morning commute & it had a great article about the lack of goaltending experience or recent success for all playoff teams. There are 7 starters - yes SEVEN with zero playoff experience (Quick, Rask, Elliot, Rinne, Niemi, Howard, Anderson). Combine that with the fact that Halak only having played one postseason game plus the rest haven't done anything of late in terms of playoff success. The only exception to this is Fleury. Some of you may say Brodeur but since the Devils won in 03 he owns a losing record with 3 first round exits.
Still doing some housekeeping on the site - hope to have everyone's teams, bracket matchups & most importantly the standings updated this weekend. I can tell you that the most heavily picked teams appear to be Chicago & Washington. I'll be provide exact numbers as soon as possible.
Busy night tonight with 5 more games, including the Hawks-Preds season opener. With the faves from Wednesday night bounce back? We'll see.
Enjoy tonights games everyone.
-PD
An Upsetting Start
Happy Playoffs Everyone!
April 15, 2010
Welcome back to the returnee's and to those that are new - a huge thanks - I hope you enjoy yourself and become a regular year in year out.
We all know that there's always upsets every playoff year - but did anyone envision all 4 underdogs winning on the opening night of the playoffs? Yes I know that technically Phoenix are the favorites over Detroit - but these are the Red Wings we're talking about here.. The same team that has been to the Stanley Cup Finals the past to year and the same team that finished the regular season on fire. Colorado is definitely the most shocking of the night - but as we all know by know, should we really be that surprised San Jose had dropped the opener?
I spent the majority of last nights first games reviewing entries & making sure there were no mistakes. Those of you with errors have been notified. I still have maintenance to do on my end as there were a number of requests trickled in requesting to switch players. As long as you had the change to me before last nights games started - it was ok. This creates more work for me as I need to make sure I'm very thorough in the updating already registered teams.
As for numbers we're at approximately 85 entries which is up from last year. Thought not a huge increase, I'm still quite happy about that. I'm going to hold off until the weekend before I announce official counts as this pools past history has shown me that even I make mistakes sometimes. I may need to do some shuffling on the bracket side of things as we need multiples of 16 in order to make it work perfectly - my count was 41 to play the competitive brackets but I need to double check this & be a little more thorough to make sure everything adds up. If there are 7 of you that wish to join the $5 bracket and didn't indicate previously - it'd be appreciated.
Apologies as I didn't properly explain how the brackets work - it was something I introduced last year and forgot to explain this year. Basically it's 16 teams placed at random in a tournament bracket. Teams are placed in head to head matchups for the duration of each round & the team with the highest total advances when the round is over. It's a winner take all scenario, when the cup is awarded and you've won your bracket - you win $80 bucks.
It's going to be a different post season for me - that's for sure. Gone is my nightly Stanley Cup ritual of beer, munchies & watching as much playoff hockey as I can possibly consume. That's all been replaced by baby bottles, naps & baths. But I wouldn't have it any other way. I tried watching the Wings-Coyotes after everyone went to bed - but about 10 minutes into the game, it was watching me asleep on the couch.
The other four series kick off tonight and I've a feeling that the favorites will return a sense of normalcy to these playoffs. That is except for my team of course. GO Kings GO!
It's a little early in the playoffs for me to be this long winded so I'll stop typing now and let you get back to your day.
Enjoy tonights games everyone.
-PD
Quarter Final Round Predicitions
2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs
April 13, 2010
Eastern Conference
(1) 
vs. (8)
Montreal's a small team & will try to rely on goaltending & powerplay to win the series. Problem is the Caps PP is better & their top 6-7 skaters are arguably the best in the league. Maybe Gionta & Gomez can rekindle some of East Rutherford magic from earlier in the decade but I'm still not buying. It'll be fun to watch the Habs fans boo Theodore but the propecia poster boy will have the last laugh when Montreal is Ovie & out.
Zamboni Nation Prediction: Washington in 5
(2) 
vs. (7)
I personally don't care for either team here - my favorite part is it's an old school Patrick division matchup. Philly's been a disaster this year but can salvage the season with a first round upset over the Devils. Laviolette can coach and win a playoff series. He did it in Carolina and before that Long Island. Kovalchuk has 4 career playoff games - his reward for making the playoffs this year: that asshole Chris Pronger. Brodeur may be well rested for a change but wasn't he well rested last year too?
Zamboni Nation Prediction: Flyers in 7
(3) 
vs (6)
If defensive games with 1-0 & 2-1 scores are your thing - this is the series for you. Miller was the hero for Team USA and Buffalo is going to need everything he has this series. Boston got hit hard by injuries this year but I believe they're a better team than they've showed. Neither team is healthy and neither had a 70 point scorer, I'll take the physicality of Zedeno Chara & Milan Lucic to put them over Buffalo in this seven game series. .
Zamboni Nation Prediction: Bruins in 6
(4) vs (5) 
This is the 3rd time in 4 years these two teams faced each other in the opening playoff round. Ottawa won 4-1 in 2007 then Pittsburgh 4-0 in 2008. Ottawa missed the playoffs last year and now has a goalie with little to no playoff experience. Pittsburgh on the other hand are the defending stanley cup champs and their captain just scored the olympic gold medal goal in overtime 2 months ago. Jason Spezza thinks they're gonna win.
Zamboni Nation Prediction: Penguins in 5
Western Conference
(1) vs. (8) 
I said last year to slap me if I pick the Sharks again. But Thorton, Heatley, Marleau & Boyle are gonna eat up Anderson - another goalie with no playoff experience. The Avalance are a surprise playoff team and aren't even supposed to be in the playoffs yet. They're a young team that's getting better and shows how young the NHL is getting. Sharks win at least one round this year.
Zamboni Nation Prediction: Sharks in 4
(2) vs. (7) 
Nashville has an awesome defense, very good goalies but a popgun offense. When it tightens up in the playoffs I really dunno how the Predators are gonna score. Even the Leafs leading scorer had more points than Nashville's highest scorer. Chicago has supposed to have learned from last year and be an even better this year. If Chicago is the team they think they are they don't lose this first round series. Chicago's goalie situation is a bit suspect but the team is still strong and deep enough to beat Nashville in a series that'll be harder than it could've been for the Hawks.
Zamboni Nation Prediction: Blackhawks in 6
(3) vs (6) 
Disclaimer - I'm a Kings fan and I've drank the kool-aid. This will be the best series of the first round and it's gonna mean some late games for those of us not on Pacific time. Both teams can score, have great goaltendings and can lock down on D. Playoff vets like Ryan Smyth and Rob Scuderi will only help the likes of Kopitar, Doughty and Quick with their lack of playoff experience. Separated by only two points in the standings the Canucks better use home ice to their advantage else it'll be deja vu of the Canucks getting upstaged by a younger & very talented upstart team.
Zamboni Nation Prediction: Kings in 7
(4) 
vs (5)
This is a strange matchup in that it's the NHL's franchise against the NHL's model franchise. No one in their right mind imagined Phoenix with home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. They play a very responsible type of hockey and make very few mistakes. They're a type of team than can and will give Detroit trouble. Detroit was super hot closing at the end of the regular season but the playoffs are much different. Will the conspiricy theorists think that Bettman has dirt on Illitch?
Zamboni Nation Prediction: Coyotes in 7
WE WANT THE CUP!
April 11, 2010
All 30 teams have completed their regular seasons & the playoff seedings have been determined. Most importantly & for you hockey poolies out there, Registration is NOW OPEN!
We've 6 new teams from last years playoffs - Buffalo & Ottawa are back for the second season in the east, while half of the west is new this year as Phoenix, Nashville, Los Angeles & Colorado have all qualified for the post season.
An interesting observations is that Pittsburgh, New Jersey, Montreal & San Jose are all back with the same seedings they had last year. San Jose & Detroit are the 2 hottest teams closing out the season by going 8-1-1 in their final 10 games. The Sharks & Red Wings as well as the Boston Bruins are all riding 3 game winning streaks.
If you're wondering when the games begin for each series, NHL.com has entire schedule for the first round.
For those of you looking to do some research, both CBC & TSN have posted interesting articles in the past few days in regards to playoff pools.
And have I mentioned yet that we are now ACCEPTING REGISTRATIONS?!! What are you waiting for? Get your team in.
Game on Folks.. Game ON!
-PD
PS. Pick sheets available in Excel and PDF formats.
New to ZamboniNation? Check out last years recaps.
Zamboni Nation is back for the 2010 Cup run!
April 7, 2010
Greetings friends & fellow poolies. ZamboniNation.com is back again for another spring of exciting Stanley Cup playoff action.
This year's NHL season was an interesting one with this being an Olympic year. That Canada-USA gold medal game was one for the ages.. What more can be said other than WOW! How bout Sid? All I can say is the kid got a golden horseshoe - and I'm not talking Southern Ontario either.
Some of the stories from the season I found interesting were Phoenix rising from the dead, Henrik Sedin leading the NHL in scoring (so far), the Leafs shaking up the trade market and GOLD BABY GOLD!! Sorry - had to get that out of my system.
These playoffs are going to be awesome. The usual suspects are back (San Jose, Detroit & Pittsburgh) along with other teams expected to take it to the next level in Vancouver, Washington & Chicago. What I find intriguing is the young teams making a move - who honestly thought LA & Colorado were going to make the dance? If you did - I certainly hope you visited the sport books in Vegas.
Last year we gave out over 1500 in prize money & this year we want more! But to make that happen, we need more people and more entries.. We've gotten bigger in each of our 7 years and I see no reason why that should change now. Last year marked an international presence which was awesome. I never thought I'd run a hockey pool with entries from the Cayman Islands, Japan & USA.
The biggest change I've made this year is instead of picking individual goalies, you now select a team's goalies. Given there are so few games I didn't see the benefit of having goalie A or goalie B on your team. Case in point - Chicago. I think Joel Quenville shakes one of those magic 8 balls to help him decide his starting goalie on any given night.
Quick rundown of the rules:
1. One Entry per email address
2. Maximum of 20 players - no more than 8 from a single team
3. 12 forwards, 6 Defense & 2 Goalies
4. Scoring: 1 point for goal/assist/win. 2 points per shutout.
5. Prizes for 1st, 2nd & 3rd overall finishers plus the leader after each round. (amounts TBD)
6. Optional $5 bracket pool (16 entries per bracket in head to head eliminations each round; 1 winner per bracket)
7. Daily updates online & by email
If your friends, colleagues, coworkers & family members are hockey fans, tell them about this - the ZamboniNation.com playoff pool - it's the best player pool out there.
Online registration isn't live yet. I'm waiting for the eastern conference participants to be decided. If you still wish to visit the site (www.ZamboniNation.com) please do. I'll be sending another email when online registration opens. Attached are this years pick sheets in excel and PDF formats. Feel free to circulate & pass the word.
Thanks for your time everyone. I hope to see your entry in my inbox.
Game ON!
-PD