Weekend Update - 04/17
"Did you hear? The Coyotes were finally sold..."
"For real?"
"Yeah. Datsyk OWNS THEM!"
The above was a text message exchange about 1/2 way though the Bruins-Habs game last night between myself & a cousin of mine who's a hardcore wings fan. Gotta give him credit - made me laugh my ass off.
As much as I've ranted in the past about afternoon hockey on weekends - I'm beginning to see the light. If you had nothing to do yesterday, you could've easily watched all four games. For hardcores, being able to watch 4 live playoffs games in a single day is pretty awesome.
How bout my Kings last night? Huge win last night in a 4-0 spanking of the Sharks in their own tank. Without a legit #1 (Kopitar - injured) or #2 centre (Stoll - suspended), LA really made a statement in that game. Drew Doughty really showed the world during the Olympics last yest what he's capable of, if he keeps this up for the series & LA continues' to get awesome goaltending from Quick, the absense of Kopitar this playoffs won't be as severe as initially thought.
Buffalo-Philly looked like a crazy game. 3-3 after one period is pretty crazy for playoff hockey but Buffalo is playing a very dangerous game. Philly crawled into the post season & what do the Sabres do? They give them 9 powerplay chances yesterday. The Sabres should be wary of awakening that Philly beast - especially while Pronger is still out.
Of note is game 3 of the Caps-Rangers begins at 3pm today (Sunday). Was reading Elliot Friedman's latest 30 thoughts column on Friday and something really jumped out at me - from an interesting angle as well as it's implied humor.
8. For all the talk about Washington's improved system, Jason Arnott admitted he was shocked at how the Capitals looked without the puck during his first game with them. "I turned to someone and asked, 'Is this the way we play?'" he said last week. "I was new, but I decided to say something. You don't win the Stanley Cup like that."
9. A few other Capitals pointed out Alexander Ovechkin really pays attention to Arnott, but that's not what surprised them. "Even Semin listens," one said.
I've gone over the rosters a final time with corrections you have pointed out & I the rosters to now be in their final state. Our total count this year is @ 64. I'm quite happy about that. Prizes will be: 1st - $700, 2nd - $250, 3rd - $100 + $50 for the leader after the first 3 rounds. The balance of the fees will go toward site hosting fees + a free entry for myself for doing the work & keeping it up to date. If anyone has issues with that we can take your objections offline.
I've compiled the composite numbers once again this year. Our collective wisdom states a Canucks-Capitals Stanley Cup final which isn't too surprising given they're both #1 seeds. Everything else was pretty normal with the exception of Tampa recieving over 4.5 times as many selections as Pittsburgh. MON, LA, NSH & NYR all brought up the rear with only 6 selections each. Head on over to the stats page to see more breakdowns of team & player selections.
To spice things I've added an additional team to the standings (won't count towards prizes). Team Ultimate features the 20 most picked players from all combined entries. I thought it'd be interesting to see how we stack up. Also I was tinkering with the idea of a 2nd ghost team. The thinking behind that would be a selection of 20 players that no one selected. This would include Mon Goalies, LA Goalies, Kovalev, Holmstrom, Setoguchi, Modano, Koivu + others. Let me know you're thoughts. If there's enough interest I'll make it happen.
A popular request from last year was the ability to see how much a team's standings changed from the previous update. This has now been implemented on the standings page so head on over and you'll notice a new "Change" column which indicates the points gained since the previous update. If anyone has other suggestions - keep em coming.
It was pointed out to me several times of a glaring omission on the player selection process. Alex Edler. I apologize for that as that was my oversight. When I put the team listings together he was still injured and I mistakenly though he wasn't going to play i nthe playoffs this year. Sorry about that. Omission #2 was Eric Brewer in Tampa. But the good news is that no one has either (Team Phantom?) so it's a level playing field.
Okay that's it for now. Enjoy what's left of the weekend and I'll be back with another update tomorrow b/c the puck drops in a 1/2 hour. :)
Cheers everyone!
-PD
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