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: 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.