Winter Classic Pool Review

The threat of rain and the excess of moisture in the air at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, made this Winter Classic closely resemble those outdoor games of season's past, where the play wasn't nearly as crisp as a regular indoor game and really good scoring chances were certainly hard to come by.

One may have thought that we were going to be in for a good show, with the Blackhawks getting off to a rocket of a start, with Michal Kempny's goal, less than 2 minutes in, but it wasn't an offensive barrage, since we had to wait until the mid-point of the 2nd period for Patrik Berglund to tie it up.

The one thing that the Centennial and Winter Classic each shared, was a busy 3rd period and it quickly turned into the Vladimir Tarasenko show, with two goals in 1:53, midway through the 3rd and the Blues started to own the game.  An empty-netter from Alex Steen salted away the game and it was a 4-1 final.  Another home win at an outdoor game.

This game wasn't quite as high-scoring as yesterday's game, but it still offered 14 points to be had, 11 of which was collected in the pool, so that's a pretty good ratio.

Two of the teams featured in the preview post last night for having the most players in this game, did indeed collect well, as both Stuart and Derek B. came away with 3 points each, getting themselves on the board.  Jeremy and Mike each picked up a pair of points and Dale C. was the only other team to get a point in this one, so the Stadium Series game in February could still be very interesting.

Marcie didn't have her 3-point lead challenged, but now there are five teams right underneath hers with 3 points each, all behind by 3 points.  Five more teams have 2 points and four teams have a single point.  Nothing is impossible here, so I would say that Marcie's lead is good, but it'll be challenged.  Marcie's team hasn't scored a goal yet and that is the first tie-breaker in any competition in these games, so she'll need some help in Pittsburgh, I'm thinking.