Hockey: Week Two Review

Par for the course with last week, here's a quick review of the highlights and low-lights of the second week of the 2010-2011 NHL hockey season.

I'll stick mainly with the same format as last week also, emphasizing on some of the surprises and disappointments, and a quick focus on who's Hot and who's Not.

Surprises

Rick Rypien an enforcer for the Vancouver Canucks was suspended indefinitely earlier in the week, following a game with the Minnesota Wild where he received a game misconduct and grabbed a fan while being escorted off the ice. On Friday the league suspended Rypien for six games, in what many would consider as setting an example, and also fined the Canucks 25,000$, per league policy.

Holy Hat Tricks Batman! Hat tricks are not a rarity in the NHL, but it always seems that when one of them takes place, a chain reaction soon follows. This Friday night alone saw 3 of 5 scheduled games feature a trick, with Rene Bourque of the Flames tallying three, Daniel Alfredsson doing the same and also scoring his 1,000th career point, and Steven Stamkos rounding out the trio, with a four point night against the Atlanta Thrashers.

Despite my somewhat early doomsaying, a fire must have been lit under the asses of the Anaheim Ducks, whom after nearly starting the season on a 4 game deficit, finally started to see their stars put pucks into the back of the net.

Disappointments

There are still a few teams with high potential who are trying to catch a break. The Buffalo Sabres, despite having some bright flashes in week one, have lost 6 of their last 7 games, including a 5 game losing streak where most games were decided by one goal. Likewise, the New Jersey Devils are having trouble falling into a groove, although Martin Brodeur managed to nab two shutouts, including a decisive one Thursday night in Montreal.

Who's Hot

Teams:
Pittsburgh Penguins - (5-3-0) - 4 Game W Streak
Boston Bruins - (4-1-0) - 4 Game W Streak
Tampa Bay Lightning - (5-1-1)
Dallas Stars - (5-1-0) 
Toronto Maple Leafs - (4-1-1)
Chicago Blackhawks - (5-3-1) - After a bit of a slow start, the Hawks have picked up steam with an early season hot streak by Marian Hossa and some clutch scoring by Patrick Sharp who racked up 3 game winners in a row.

Players:
Steven Stamkos, C (TBL) - 8G 6A +6 - A 4 point night Friday, including a Hat Trick has Stammer on course for what is sure to be a repeat and surpassing of his breakout sophomore season last year.

Marian Hossa, RW (CHI) - 7G 4A +4
Brad Richards, D (DAL) - 2G 8A +9
Daniel Sedin, LW (VAN) - 7G 4A +2
Henrik Sedin, C (VAN) - 10A +1

Tim Thomas, G (BOS) - 4W, 1 Shutout, Save% .978, GAA 0.75 - Thomas has started all four games following the Bruins opening game loss and has been a force, as per usual. 
Kari Lehtonen, G (DAL) - 5W, 1L, Save% .927, GAA 2.60

Who's Not

Teams:
Buffalo Sabres - (2-5-1)
Edmonton Oilers - (2-3-0) - After a breakout start to the season with a 4-0 win over Calgary and a close win against Florida, the Oilers are now on a 3 game skid, which is enough to scare any Oilers fan with memories of last season.

Players:
Simon Gagne, LW (TBL) - No points, -4 in 6 games
Kimmo Timmonen and Chris Pronger, D (PHI) - No points, -4 combined
Tyler Myers, D (BUF) - 1G 1A -9 - Sabres are in a slump and their sophomore defenseman ranks worst in the league on the +/- right now and is not showing an early season strength shown in his Calder nominated Rookie season.

Here's to hopefully another interesting week in NHL hockey.

Hockey: Wheelin' and Dealin'

11:59:59 PM of Friday October 15th has come on and gone, which signifies the locking of my current hockey pools player selections.

As I've mentioned before, our hockey pool follows an odd set of rules and processes in order to accommodate players, and groups of players with different levels of experience and knowledge of hockey pools and hockey in general.

The player selection process of our pool is half draft and half open - I know, it sounds ridiculous but works well enough when put into practice. It operates specifically as follows:

1st - 2nd Round: Open Draft - (Any position)
3rd - 4th Round: Draft - (Center only)
5th - 6th Round: Draft - (Left Wing only)
7th - 8th Round: Draft - (Right Wing only)
9th - 10th Round: Draft - (Defensemen only)
11th Round: Draft - (Goaltenders only)
12th - 20th Rounds: Open Player Selections

To put it plainly: Drafted players are locked from the get-go and can only be traded, since a drafted player is owned solely by that participant/team. Players selected in open rounds are up for grabs for anyone and you had a week to finalize those choices - or make trades for drafted players, etc.

During the player draft, there was a bit of wheelin' and dealin' by poolies trying to score some draft positions, despite some protesting. This past week also saw a bit of the same as we had a week to finalize our player selections before the rest of our rosters were locked. Final rosters consist of 12 Forwards (4 C/LW/RW), 5 Defensemen and 3 Goalies - weird I know.

I haven't seen the final rosters for some of the other teams yet but I've heard some interesting things. It's hard to make a decision on a group of players after only one week, since that week can be a poor representation of the next 75+ games that are left in the season. When it came down to the wire I only swapped a couple of names out of my open selections.

My group of drafted players was actually, pretty surprising considering my draft position(s), and the choices people actually made during the draft rounds. I did get shafted by a few people who targeted some of my personal most wanted players right out of the gate, but I'm definitely not complaining about who I did get to draft first because of it. I also traded my 4th round pick for an extra 11th round draft choice, since a lot of Centers were getting taken early on, so I took a gamble on who would be left - but it worked out.

Here's my pool roster with the selections made during our October 2nd draft, before the regular season kicked off:

Team 6 - The Djentlemen

Round 1: Steven Stamkos (TBL)
Round 2: Marian Hossa (CHI)
Round 3: Mikko Koivu (MIN)
Round 4: Traded for Round 11
Round 5: Henrik Zetterberg (DET)
Round 6: Thomas Vanek (BUF)
Round 7: Phil Kessel (TOR)
Round 8: Johan Franzen (DET)
Round 9: Drew Doughty (LAK)
Round 10: Tyler Myers (BUF)
Round 11: Jimmy Howard (DET) & Johnathan Quick (LAK)
Round 12: Jack Johnson (LAK)
Round 13: Derek Roy (BUF)
Round 14: Travis Zajac (NJD)
Round 15: Claude Giroux (PHI)
Round 16: Kristian Huselius (CBJ)
Round 17: Tyler Ennis (BUF)
Round 18: John Carlson (WSH)
Round 19: Pavel Kubina (TBL)
Round 20: Cam Ward (CAR)

Obviously I'm quite happy with a lot of the choices I had available to me in the draft rounds, especially getting to snag Steven Stamkos in the first round, much to my surprise.

Some of my friends organized their choices and trades to be very team centric, or by gunning for a specific list of players. I've gone a little bit all over the board but with a focus on some of my favorite teams and players that have proven themselves to be good choices in the past.

The results overall for the first week of the season have been more than good given this group of players. Except for the fact that Johan Franzen is out indefinitely. Of course we're only an average of 4 games per team, into the season so there's plenty that can change between now and April.

Personally I just want to see last years' winner lose to his girlfriend again, like he did during our playoff pool. Good times.

Hockey: Finalizing Picks and Week One Review

Last Friday I took the time to do a more or less quick write-up of the beginning of the 2010-11 NHL hockey season, including short outlooks on some of the teams and plays that were in the spotlight (or limelight) for the beginning of week one.

I also alluded to the fact that I rejoined one of my old hockey pools, so needless to say for the past week I've been tracking some of the games, keeping an eye on early stats and getting a feel for what changes (if any) that I would need to make to the picks in this particular pool.

The pool itself follows most of the standard rules you'll find in any hockey pool or fantasy hockey league but with it's own tweaks and spins that make it more enjoyable for first time participants, and even allows groups of people to fill slots in the pool roster.

Friday is the deadline to finalize your picks for the season, leaving some moments throughout the year for potential swaps and changes. After all, injuries do happen. But this Friday remains the last chance to give your initial picks (aside from drafted players - they're locked) a bit of a makeover.

As such I've decided I'm going to do a sort of Week in Review of what's gone down in the NHL, including surprises, disappointments and my take on who's Hot and who's Not.

Since this is the first week there's not too much to go on, as for who's really Hot or Cold, give it another week and we'll see who's really sleeping on the job.

Suprises

The Toronto Maple Leafs started last season 0-8 and notched only 2 wins in their first 11 games. In a complete 180 degree turnaround the Leafs have opened up this season at 3-0, including a lashing of the Ottawa Senators and their latest victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight.

Mr. Lady Byng, Pavel Datsyuk, who won the Lady Byng Memorial trophy 4 years in a row (prior to last season) got into a scrap with Corey Perry during their opening game against the Anaheim Ducks, marking Datsyuk's first regular season fight in nearly 10 years in the NHL.

The Lady Byng trophy is given to the player judged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.

Disappointments

The Anaheim Ducks are off to a disastrous start, currently sitting 0-3 and currently facing Vancouver as I write this. In 4 games, the Ducks have scored only three goals and allowed a whopping 15, though I wouldn't blame Jonas Hiller for that (see below). The Ducks blue line is obviously reeling from the loss of Scott Niedermayer and need to get their act together if they hope to get things back on course early in the season.

I hate Sidney Crosby and the Penguins but luckily this falls under disappointments, which is fine with me. The Kid and his partner in crime, Evgeni Malkin haven't started off the season with much of a spark, having each only 1 goal and an assist in 4 games. Hardly tragic, considering this is only the first week - but like I said, I hate those guys, so good riddance.

The New Jersey Devils began the season with a streak of bad luck, including blowing a lead in their opening game and a blowout against Washington which saw Martin Brodeur surrender 7 goals. They notched their first win tonight in OT thanks to Ilya Kovalchuk's first goal. Their front line has the potential to go on a tear, so I don't expect them to sit in this category for long.

Who's Hot

Teams:
Toronto Maple Leafs - (3-0-0) 

Washington Capitals - (3-1-0)

Players: 
Alex Ovechkin, LW (WAS) - 4G 3A +3
Steven Stamkos, C (TB) - 3G 2A +1 (only two games played) 
Marian Hossa, RW (CHI) - 3G 3A +5
Derek Roy, C (BUF) - 4G 1A +1
John-Michael Liles, D (COL) - 5A +4

Johnathan Quick, G (LA) - 2W Save% .964, GAA 0.96
Nikolai Khabibulin, G (EDM) - 2W, 1 Shutout, Save% .969, GAA 1.00
Jimmy Howard, G (DET) - 1W 1OTL, 1 Shutout, Save% .932, GAA 1.94 

Who's Not

Teams:
Anaheim Ducks - (0-3-0)
Ottawa Senators - (0-2-1)

Players:
Anaheim Ducks, except Jonas Hiller - faced 39/43 and 45/49 shots in his first two games before being pulled before the end of the second period of their third game, after already having faced 35 shots in as many minutes.

Like I mentioned before, it's still very early in the season, but it's definitely off to an interesting start.

Hockey: Keep Your Stick On The Ice

The 2010-2011 NHL hockey season officially kicked off yesterday afternoon and so far the games we've been given have been pretty interesting, in some cases quite close and others ridiculously surprising.

I've opted to rejoin one of my old hockey pools, for a bit of nostalgia - and the hope that I can swindle some noobs out of their rupees.

A lot of teams and players have a lot to prove this coming season. Whether it be for a rebound year, a second chance at glory or for bittersweet redemption, each and every team in the league has something to prove this year.

It's hard to ignore that at the beginning of every season eyes are almost guaranteed to be locked on the leagues biggest stars and success stories from the past.

The Washington Capitals and the likes of players such as Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin and Mike Green will have a lot to prove this coming season. After blowing away the competition during the regular season last year and claiming the Presidents Trophy they ended up blowing a tire in the first round of the playoffs, when they were eliminated in game 7 by the Montreal Canadiens.

The Pittsburgh Penguins equally will have many eyes on them, and their new fancy arena, after also succumbing in the second round to the Habs, during their Stanley Cup defense run last season. Their fan-dangled new arena didn't get the inauguration they were hoping for today however, as the Pens lost 3-2 to last years Eastern Conference champs, the Philadelphia Flyers.

Speaking of the Flyers, they'll have a lot to prove this season, as they hope to show that their success down the stretch last season wasn't just a fluke. From my perspective, they should have ample opportunity to prove it wasn't, as they now tout one of, if not the, strongest defenses in the league, and the talent up front to get the job done. So long as their 'high flyers' don't fall into any slumps.

Last years Stanley Cup champs, the Chicago Blackhawks equally have a lot to prove. After shipping away a large portion of their former roster during the post-season, many people are doubting the Hawks' ability to repeat. They do still possess a strong forward core with Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp, and of course the rock solid defensive tandem of Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith.

Jiri Hudler is back from the KHL and ready to have a breakout season with the Detroit Red Wings. Detroit has long been one of my favorite clubs and should rarely be counted out, especially with players of the caliber of Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Holmstrom, Franzen, Lidstrom and Kronwall.

The Edmonton Oilers are most likely the most hopeful team in the league, wishing for a complete 180 of a season, following last years ludicrous disaster. First round draft pick Taylor Hall and fellow rookie Magnus Paarjavi will hope to flourish. Things are off to a good start for them, as they shutout the Calgary Flames today 4-0, in a great season opener.

Steve Yzerman has given the Tampa Bay Lightning a new breathe of life. Despite a disappointing run last year, the 2004 Stanley Cup champs still managed to wow the hockey world with Steven Stamkos' breakout 51 goal sophomore season. Continued support from Martin St. Louis and a resurgence by Vincent Lecavalier could give the Bolts just the charge they need to make it back into the playoff picture.


You could go on and list almost every team and what questions they will have to face, and obstacles they'll have to surmount - but I'm way too lazy for that.

Other teams to keep an eye on this year:

• Phoenix Coyotes
• Los Angeles Kings & their Ice Girls
• New Jersey Devils
• Montreal Canadiens 

You would think I'd be saying to keep an eye on the Ottawa Senators, seeing as how they're technically the 'Home Team'. But I gave up on them years ago.

The only thing the Sens ever did right was win me 150$ when they lost in the Stanley Cup finals to Anaheim back in 2007.

Here's to a sure fire kickass hockey season.

Lord Stanley: Cha-Ching!

Well it's over. The Flyers lost, which I had expected but they pulled off one hell of a playoff run regardless. Congratulations to the Hawks are in order.

But despite the Flyers losing in game 6 and costing me points in my playoff pool - since I actually picked the Flyers following New Jersey's early exit in round one - thanks to my player picks (across nearly every round) and an overload of scoring and playmaking by these guys, I've another victory once again.


Mark, I'll be expecting my pool winnings by next week - I know where you live. Better luck next year, suckers!

Lord Stanley: About to Earn me 120$ - Again

In all fairness, the Stanley Cup isn't going to have me win my current playoff pool - which has been both odd in its creation and hilariously awesome in its working - its more thanks to a few key individuals and certain teams that I'm pretty much guaranteed the top spot come the next couple weeks.

While Mike Cammalleri did earn me more points overall in the second round than if Pitt had actually won, based on my pick in 6 games, I'll thank him, Jaroslav Halak and the Habs for their surprise run.

But when it comes to playoff pools, I tend to aim for the Dark Horse and my choice has payed off. If anyone's going to win me some free money (and beers) it's going to be this guy and his band of Merry Men:


Mike Richards has been leading the Philadelphia Flyers on an amazing playoff run, after a real up and down season. But despite the fact they had to fight down to a shootout to make the playoffs, they've been the Dark Horse of the entire field. Upsetting the New Jersey Devils in the first round was a pleasant surprise. But coming back from a 3 games to none deficit in game 7 - while trailing 3-0 in the 3rd period mind you - to take out the Bruins was nothing short of one of the greatest comebacks in playoff history. Following that up with eliminating the 'Cinderella' Habs, the Flyers haven't let up and they show no sign of sitting down against the Hawks now as they're about to tie the series 2-2 in game 4.

Despite the outcome of this Stanley Cup Final, I pretty much have my pool in the bag, thanks especially to some breakout performances and hard play by Mike Richards, Dany Brière, Claude Giroux, Ville Leino and Scott Hartnell. Not forgetting the minute consumption and shut down defense of Chris Pronger and Matt Carle, and the stellar goaltending of 'backup' Michael Leighton.