Blackhawks Win! Final Results of the Pool Posted

It's over.  The end of the 2014-2015 season and playoffs... the +Chicago Blackhawks are champions.

I think the only question I have about tonight's game is... do the #Blackhawks, as a group, want it enough?

— Clayton Corley (@opiatedsherpa) June 15, 2015

Yesterday, I had suggested that the only thing that was going to be stopping the Blackhawks from winning the Cup last night was their own want and desire to do so.  Without a doubt, they had more than enough will and desire to put away the Lightning with a clutch 2-0 victory.

The Tampa Bay Lightning played well in Game 6, especially before Duncan Keith opened the scoring with a follow-up shot on his own rebound, going shelf in tight on Ben Bishop.  With that goal, you could still hear the hearts break under the Tampa jerseys, despite the crowd roar in the United Center.

The Lightning didn't give up, however, and made Corey Crawford earn that win, as he turned out to be absolutely stellar, especially in tight, when the traffic in front of his net.  In total, Crawford made 25 saves for the shutout victory, including 14 stops in the 3rd period, when Tampa really put on the pressure.

Before it was all said and done, Patrick Kane did add the 2-0 goal, taking a sweet feed from Brad Richards, who had a pair of assists in the game.

Crawford, with the shutout, had a 4-point night, leading the way in Game 6 in points, while Keith having the winner and Richards with a pair of assists, came away with 2 points each.

And there you have it!  The big trophy was handed out, the third time in six years for the Blackhawks.

There are many arguments for the dynasty tag for this Chicago team, especially given the salary cap culture that we now live in.  It's an argument worth having for another time, I'm thinking, as the blog may not be the best place to put it, but they have been a great team and definitely worth the selections in the playoff pool and I'll leave it at that.

Duncan Keith of the Blackhawks may have come away with the Conn Smythe Trophy, as the best player in the playoffs and rightfully so.  He was an absolute monster and every one of his goals were game winners, logging a ridiculous amount of ice-time and being the go-to guy in this Cup run for the Blackhawks.  However, that doesn't make him the hockey pool MVP, that goes to a more measured approach, the most points collected.

This brings us to Tampa Bay starting goalie, Ben Bishop.  His 13 wins, 3 shutouts and 3 assists were good enough for 35 points, far and away the better player.  His nearest competition was in the other net in the Finals, as Corey Crawford, who didn't play nearly as much in the opening round of the playoffs, finished with 30 points.  Bishop, who was revealed to have a torn groin muscle, keeping him from playing at his best, but he still put up a gargantuan effort in the Finals.

Just for argument's sake, Tyler Johnson was the best skater in the pool, finishing with 13 goals, 10 assists and 4 game-winners, giving him 27 points in the pool and his Finals were also hampered by a broken wrist, suffered early on in the series, revealed last night.

So, this brings us to the good stuff!  A hearty congratulations to Fontanna, who ended up running away with the pool, although the final standings may not be as impressive as her team was during the playoffs.  Fontanna finished with 272 points, the best point total since the 2011 playoffs.  Her team did very well in the game-winners department, leading the pool with 22 bonus points, four better than Scott G.'s first team and five better than four other teams.

With the win, she'll take home $300, a pretty nice return on the $10 investment for getting into the pool.

The real race in the Cup Finals was for 2nd place and as it was outlined in the preview, the race between Jesse and Thor would come down to the goaltending and the winning side in the Finals would likely be the determining factor... and so it was.

Jesse, on the shoulders of Corey Crawford, pulled away from Thor in Game 6, thanks to the shutout, creating a 6-point cushion and winning $50 for his efforts.  Thor ends up with his money back in this pool, which isn't too bad... it just means his team played for free.

Thanks again for everyone participating again this year.  Hopefully, this will possibly get you all interested in the draft.  I am expecting to get some details for a date soon enough.  As soon as the regular season schedule drops, I will be all over getting a date setup.

In the meantime, I will have lots of study help for your team, since the regular season pool is the real prize in the year.