The Finals Are Set To Go

TEAM ........................... PTS .... REM
Dewhirst Destroyers ............ 221 .... 6
Halos .......................... 209 .... 3
NO SHOOTOUTS - REAL HOCKEY! .... 183 .... 3
Fourn-Y-A ...................... 174 .... 3
Scammer & Z-Dog ................ 172 .... 3
Team Slim Shady ................ 167 .... 4
Sherpa's Yaks .................. 165 .... 4
K-9 Fornicators ................ 165 .... 3
Corndogs Rejects ............... 162 .... 3
Pony Boy 2 ..................... 162 .... 3
D-Wall ......................... 160 .... 3
1st Pick ....................... 159 .... 3
The Shaving Moes ............... 158 .... 3
Bubbs .......................... 149 .... 6
Bailey's Team .................. 143 .... 1
Wilson St. Samsquanchs ......... 140 .... 3
Wallace ........................ 140 .... 0
Eleven River Dogs .............. 136 .... 3
Big Feet ....................... 134 .... 3
Get Bent!! ..................... 134 .... 2
Zambonies ...................... 133 .... 0
Impact ......................... 132 .... 2
Favourites #1 .................. 130 .... 3
Pony Boy 1 ..................... 126 .... 3
Little Joe Riders .............. 125 .... 3
Team Stompin' Tom .............. 122 .... 3
Pwest .......................... 121 .... 1
Lucky 1 ........................ 111 .... 3
Big Tom ........................ 111 .... 3
Les Mascouches ................. 108 .... 2
Gilmore ........................ 107 .... 2
It's Not That Bad .............. 105 .... 3
Phuck U ........................ 102 .... 1
Favourites #2 .................. 100 .... 2
Team Chevy ..................... 98 ..... 3
Snipers ........................ 97 ..... 3
Rick's Red ..................... 96 ..... 3
Thanx For Comin' Out ........... 94 ..... 1
Red, White & Blue .............. 92 ..... 0

Well, it looks to be all over except for the snivellin'. With the Stanley Cup Finals set, Carolina hosting Edmonton, the pool is pretty much now down to whatever races everyone else can make out of it. The money looks to be pretty much settled with the Dewhirst Destroyers... but stranger things have happened, so I'm not handing over the wad of cash yet.

Two more teams became officially eliminated from getting any more points in the pool, the Zambonies and Wallace will have to wait until next year to take part in the money hunt. While two teams have the maximum amount of players going into the finals... the Dewhirst Destroyers and Bubbs.

So here's a quick recap of Game 7...

The untaken, Cam Ward, stopped 22 shots for his 11th win of the playoffs. He will be ridden all the way through the Finals, we should all imagine, so all the Martin Gerber takers, including myself, haven't been too impressed that Ward is taking away all of our points. Rod Brind'Amour scored the winner, but he wasn't on the list... it's kind of unbelieveable, I know... but what can ya do? Doug Weight & Justin Williams each scored a goal in the Hurricane win... Williams also had a pair of assists for a 3-point night, Weight had an assist as well for a two-point night. Cory Stillman had a pair of assists and Ray Whitney had a point as well.

The final points for the Sabres came from Jochen Hecht (who had a goal and an assist), Ales Kotalik, Brian Campbell and Chris Drury. The Sabres will now pack their bags and hope they can re-tool for another run next season.

Points from eliminated players:
Ryan Miller, 11W 1SO
Daniel Briere, 8G 11A 3GWG
Chris Drury, 9G 9A 1GWG
J.P. Dumont, 7G 7A 1GWG
Ales Kotalik, 4G 7A 3GWG
Jochen Hecht, 2G 6A 1GWG
Maxim Afinogenov, 3G 5A
Jay McKee, 2G 3A 1GWG
Brian Campbell, 6A
Toni Lydman, 1G 4A
Teppo Numminen, 1G 1A

Check back on Monday for a Finals preview for the pool...

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A Signing For Next Season

Former Stanley Cup champs, the Tampa Bay Lightning have seen more of their fair share of scrutiny... and rightly so, in my opinion... about how good of a team they really are. They struggled all year with their goaltending situation after losing Nikolai Khabibulin to Unrestricted Free Agency last summer. Let's face it... he was a greedy European goalie, who didn't really deserve all that money for one good run. The Lightning would have been laughing at the Blackhawks if they didn't have problems of their own. John Grahame and Sean Burke, although making it to the playoffs, didn't command the respect the usual Stanley Cup champs would have done the season after.

Ring in Free Agency 2006... the market opens in a month for all Unrestricted and Restricted Free Agents and as a poolie, one loves this part of the season. The speculation, the lead-up, the signings and then the analysis that leads up right through training camp and into the regular season where all the formulas are put to the test.

The Lightning have decided to make a splash before all the new FA's hit the market by signing an NHL UFA (Unrestricted Free Agent) who played in Europe last season and then led the Swedish Men's Hockey Team to a World Championship gold medal last month... Johan Holmqvist.

Now all you NHL fans may remember Holmqvist from way back in the 2001/02 season, when he last played for the Rangers. Actually, you probably don't... he only played 9 minutes in one game for the Rangers, but he was there. He has since played in his native Sweden, getting quite a few minutes in the Elite League and in various International competitions.

As reported on TSN.ca today, Holmqvist signed his deal after he was scouted by Lightning goalie coaches and was given a very heavy recommendation to be signed by Jay Feaster, Lightning GM.

In my five seasons of doing hockey pools, I have found that the best indication of bandwagon jumping is by the players some teams pick to represent them. Tampa Bay attracted a lot of attention and rightly so, since they did win the Cup, at the beginning of the year. People thought they were a good team, a winning team, but no one really paid attention to the off-season... that one of the pieces of the puzzle was lost due to salary cap reasons or anything like that. The Lightning now have themselves the possibility of a good goaltender again, one that a lot of players haven't seen and if they haven't lost many people from their bandwagon, as they probably have, Holmqvist may become a popular commodity come the September pool drafts and a favourite amongst the Lightning faithful (snicker, snicker).

Myself, personally, will actually rate him quite highly. He may work out in the same way as a Miikka Kiprusoff for the Flames or his compatriot Henrik Lundqvist for the Rangers... a good goalie from out of nowhere. I did have him pegged kind of high in the 2001/02 draft, as I went back and looked at all my historical draft documents, he was 42nd on my goalie list, in what was a large pool draft.

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Game 7 Tonight!

TEAM ........................... PTS .... REM
Dewhirst Destroyers ............ 219 .... 8
Halos .......................... 206 .... 6
NO SHOOTOUTS - REAL HOCKEY! .... 179 .... 6
Fourn-Y-A ...................... 169 .... 6
Scammer & Z-Dog ................ 165 .... 5
Team Slim Shady ................ 162 .... 6
Sherpa's Yaks .................. 162 .... 5
Corndogs Rejects ............... 161 .... 4
K-9 Fornicators ................ 159 .... 5
D-Wall ......................... 157 .... 6

There's a new team in the Top 10 going into Game 7 tonight... D-Wall has ridden the waves of long playoff series' to push themselves into the upper eschelon of the playoff pool.

The lead got knocked down to 13 points from 16 as the Halos cashed in on a huge game by the Sabres to force the final and deciding game of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Daniel Briere, a Halos favourite, had himself a three-point night on Tuesday, scoring the overtime winner and adding an assist to lead his team back to Carolina for tonight's Game 7 match-up against the Hurricanes. Ryan Miller won his 11th game of the post-season making 25 saves in the process. The Sabres also scored pool points with J.P. Dumont's goal to open the scoring and Brian Campbell's assist on Dumont's goal. A relatively cheap night for the winning team.

For the Hurricanes, their only goal had come from Bret Hedican from Matt Cullen and Cory Stillman, so there were a couple points from Hurricanes in the pool.

Okay, now it's a bit of what's the situation if who wins...

We know that Edmonton is through. The Dewhirst Destroyers have 3 Oilers, Dwayne Roloson, Ryan Smyth & Jaroslav Spacek. The Halos... have none. Already, it's advantage Destroyers.

If the Sabres pull through, the Halos will be blessed with only Daniel Briere, while the Destroyers have none. So, that would be a 3-on-1 situation for the Halos to make up 13 (plus or minus what happens tonight) to force the tie-break.

If the Hurricanes blow over the Sabres, the situation gets a few more players, but it isn't any easier for the Halos. The Halos and Destroyers will each have two players each... the Halos having Ray Whitney & Oleg Tverdovsky... but the Destroyers have Eric Staal & Frank Kaberle. A distinct advantage for the Destroyers as Staal has been one of the best players in the playoffs so far.

It is highly unlikely that the Halos will pull this playoff pool out... but a clean sweep of the Oilers by the Sabres in the Final, each game running around 5-0 or 6-0, Briere getting 4 points in each game, could mathematically do it. Yes... I agree... improbable.

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Ducks Are Gone

TEAM ........................... PTS .... REM
Dewhirst Destroyers ............ 217 .... 8
Halos .......................... 201 .... 6
NO SHOOTOUTS - REAL HOCKEY! .... 177 .... 6
Fourn-Y-A ...................... 165 .... 6
Scammer & Z-Dog ................ 163 .... 5
Team Slim Shady ................ 162 .... 6
Sherpa's Yaks .................. 160 .... 5
Corndogs Rejects ............... 160 .... 4
K-9 Fornicators ................ 159 .... 5
Pony Boy 2 ..................... 155 .... 3
1st Pick ....................... 152 .... 5
D-Wall ......................... 151 .... 6
The Shaving Moes ............... 150 .... 5
Bubbs .......................... 142 .... 6
Wallace ........................ 138 .... 3
Bailey's Team .................. 138 .... 2
Wilson St. Samsquanchs ......... 136 .... 3
Get Bent!! ..................... 133 .... 2
Big Feet ....................... 130 .... 3
Zambonies ...................... 129 .... 3
Favourites #1 .................. 129 .... 3
Impact ......................... 129 .... 3
Eleven River Dogs .............. 128 .... 5
Little Joe Riders .............. 120 .... 5
Pony Boy 1 ..................... 120 .... 3
Team Stompin' Tom .............. 119 .... 3
Pwest .......................... 118 .... 1
Lucky 1 ........................ 110 .... 4
Big Tom ........................ 109 .... 5
Les Mascouches ................. 105 .... 2
Gilmore ........................ 104 .... 5
It's Not That Bad .............. 102 .... 3
Phuck U ........................ 101 .... 2
Favourites #2 .................. 100 .... 2
Team Chevy ..................... 98 ..... 3
Rick's Red ..................... 96 ..... 4
Snipers ........................ 95 ..... 4
Red, White & Blue .............. 92 ..... 0
Thanx For Comin' Out ........... 91 ..... 2

There's actually a little bit to report tonight, as I had some problems with my hardware and didn't have the playoff pool available to me until tonight. As you can see there is a little bit of a difference in the pool standings, as the Destroyers have moved even further ahead and Red, White & Blue, the only team in the pool with zero players left is now two points away from permanently being in last place. Ouch.

So... I guess I'll have to start with Game 4 in the East. The Sabres were looking to pull ahead in the series 3-1, but the Hurricanes and Martin Gerber had other ideas... namely a 4-0 decision to tie the series up at 2 games a piece.

Gerber's first start in just over a month paid immediate dividends to the Hurricane cause on Friday night. His 22 save effort earned him a solid four-point decision and finally became the big player that six pool teams thought he would be. The other multi-point 'Canes were Mark Recchi, who got the bonus point for his opening score, which turned out to be the winner, and Bret Hedican who added a goal and an assist. Eric Staal extended his point streak to 14 games with the other pool counting goal, while Frank Kaberle, Aaron Ward, Ray Whitney, Doug Weight, Justin Williams & Cory Stillman all added assists for the pool's cause as well.

Keep reading for Game 5's result...

Yup... the Mighty Ducks are finished in these playoffs. Anaheim couldn't climb back into the series at home in Game 5 on Saturday night. The Oilers won the game 2-1 and sent the Edmonton faithful into a frenzy, as this will be the first final for the Oilers since 1990.

Dwayne Roloson again was a stalwart in the net for Edmonton making 32 saves and despite giving up the first goal of the game. His 28 points now extends his pool lead in points and the Destroyers are still the only team to cash in on him. Unfortunately, for the Oil-favouring pool picks, there were only two assists from the Oilers' 2 goals that counted. Marc-Andre Bergeron and Shawn Horcoff each recorded points on the two goals, scored by Ehtan Moreau and Raffi Torres, neither of which were on the selection sheet. But now they'll all get to rest up, including those pool players, as they've had enough hockey to tire out the best of the marathon runners. At least a six-day rest is in their calendar as the Finals won't start until at least the 3rd of June.

As for the Ducks, they only registered two assists in the pool in the loss. Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne registered their last two points in the pool in the loss. The Ducks were not a substantial force in the pool points-wise... but they were for knocking out some of the big teams before getting eliminated. They were responsible for 117 selections being taken out of the pool, in Calgary and Colorado picks, but there were only 22 Ducks picked to make a run.

Points from players that were eliminated:
Ilya Bryzgalov, 6W 3SO
Teemu Selanne, 7G 7A 2GWG
Joffrey Lupul, 9G 2A 1GWG
Scott Niedermayer, 2G 9A 1GWG
Ryan Getzlaf, 4G 4A
Sean O'Donnell, 2G 3A 1GWG
Jean-Sebastien Giguere, 3W
Jeff Friesen, 3G 1A
Rob Niedermayer, 1G 3A
Vitaly Vishnevski, 4A
Corey Perry, 3A

Sunday night... Game 5 in the East. The pivotal game that neither team wanted to lose. No one wanted to face elimination in Buffalo on Tuesday, so the pivot was then set in Game 5. Martin Gerber started his second consecutive game and Ryan Miller started yet again for the Sabres. But it was neither or the starting goalies that would get the better of decisions... rather Gerber was pulled in the second after going down 3-1 and Cam Ward came in to salvage a 4-3 overtime win in Game 5.

Ward came in and made 15 saves in the last 46 minutes of the game, including overtime for his 10th win in the playoffs. Now the Hurricanes are just one win away from meeting the Oilers in the Finals. Cory Stillman had 3 points, including the winner and an assist in the game to be the big gamer for the Hurricanes. Mark Recchi had another goal, Doug Weight, Frank Kaberle & Ray Whitney each added assists as well. Eric Staal also had an assist to extend his scoring streak up to 15 games in these playoffs. He's also the leading point skater in the pool.

For the Sabres, Chris Drury & Toni Lydman each had a goal and Jay McKee had the only other pool worthy assist in the game. The Sabres will look to even the series on Tuesday in Buffalo in Game 6.

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Ducks 6 Oilers 3... Game 5, Here We Come.

TEAM ........................... PTS .... REM
Dewhirst Destroyers ............ 206 .... 10
Halos .......................... 196 .... 8
NO SHOOTOUTS - REAL HOCKEY! .... 166 .... 8
Fourn-Y-A ...................... 158 .... 6
Team Slim Shady ................ 156 .... 6
Scammer & Z-Dog ................ 155 .... 5
Corndogs Rejects ............... 153 .... 4
K-9 Fornicators ................ 152 .... 5
Sherpa's Yaks .................. 150 .... 6
Pony Boy 2 ..................... 147 .... 3

The lead has been stretched to 10 points... and it gets worse. There will be another game for the Oilers to score some points, which isn't good news for the Halos. The Halos didn't need an opportunity for the Destroyers to cash in on big Oiler points yet again.

The series isn't over yet. The Mighty Ducks through the kitchen sink at the Oilers and that seemed to distract the Edmonton-faithful enough to stop any rioting in the streets last night. The series will shift back down to Anaheim for Game 5 on Saturday. It will be a 7pm start on CBC on Saturday night.

Remember Jean-Sebastien Giguere? Yeah, he started the first few games of the playoffs against the Flames for the Ducks. Would you believe he came back in to the crease for the Ducks and got credit for the win? Well... he did. And it was his 3rd win for him in the playoffs and believe it or not... there is a team in the pool, Rick's Red, who have him too. Unfortunately, they are not in the Top 10... rather Rick's Red, if they had Bryzgalov's 18 points, they would be... still not in the Top 10. Anyways... Ruslan Salei was the big bonus winner for the Ducks, scoring the winning goal, 5:42 in the 2nd period. Joffrey Lupul had a pair of goals and Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and an assist to sum up all the multi-point players for the Ducks. Teemu Selanne, Scott Niedermayer & Sean O'Donnell all had points as well for the Ducks.

Ryan Smyth & Marc-Andre Bergeron scored a goal each for the Oilers in the loss last night, whilst Chris Pronger had a pair of assists and Shawn Horcoff & Sergei Samsonov each had one of their own.


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Sabres 4 Hurricanes 3

TEAM ........................... PTS .... REM
Dewhirst Destroyers ............ 203 .... 10
Halos .......................... 195 .... 8
NO SHOOTOUTS - REAL HOCKEY! .... 164 .... 8
Fourn-Y-A ...................... 158 .... 6
Scammer & Z-Dog ................ 155 .... 5
Team Slim Shady ................ 154 .... 6
Corndogs Rejects ............... 153 .... 4
K-9 Fornicators ................ 152 .... 5
Sherpa's Yaks .................. 149 .... 6
Pony Boy 2 ..................... 147 .... 3

The lead remains at eight points going into, what possibly could be, the series decider in Edmonton on Thursday night. But it was the Hurricanes and Sabres providing the entertainment last night... and a few more points.

Game 3 went off, much like the first two in the series. The eventual winning team would amass a lead and then defend it to the bitter end. Buffalo was no different, winning 4-3 in dramatic fashion, yet again.

Ryan Miller won his 10th game of the playoffs, making 24 saves in the effort. He is now in 2nd overall in pool players for points with 22. The bonus point went to Ales Kotalik scoring Buffalo's fourth goal and then adding an assist on their first goal. Daniel Briere scored a pair of goals for the Sabres, he's now up to 7 in the playoffs. J.P. Dumont tallied a pair of assists in the win as well. Other single-point getters for the winners include, Jochen Hecht, Jay McKee, Chris Drury, Maxim Afinogenov & Toni Lydman.

For the Hurricanes, Cory Stillman had a pair of goals as the only multi-point player on their side. Eric Staal scored the other goal, while Aaron Ward, Justin Williams, Doug Weight & Frank Kaberle all had assists on the goals.

The series continues in Buffalo on Friday night. This series is far from over.

Saying that, the top two teams will remain somewhat interesting. If the Dewhirst Destroyers are to have the Oilers eliminate the Ducks tonight, then 3 of their 10 guys will not play again until the Oilers meet whomever wins in the East. So... if Buffalo and Carolina goes for a while and Daniel Briere, the best Eastern Conference centre in the pool, keeps the Sabres in it with his scoring touch, then the Halos have a small chance of pulling some points back, since each team have two different Hurricanes each.

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A Wild One

TEAM ........................... PTS .... REM
Dewhirst Destroyers ............ 200 .... 10
Halos .......................... 192 .... 8
NO SHOOTOUTS - REAL HOCKEY! .... 160 .... 8
Fourn-Y-A ...................... 153 .... 6
Team Slim Shady ................ 152 .... 6
Scammer & Z-Dog ................ 152 .... 5
Corndogs Rejects ............... 152 .... 4
K-9 Fornicators ................ 148 .... 5
Sherpa's Yaks .................. 146 .... 6
Pony Boy 2 ..................... 144 .... 3

The lead was increased by the marquee game for the Destroyers. A gain of 4 points on the Halos was welcomed by the Destroyers last night, while points from the Ducks helped NO SHOOTOUTS to pull away in 3rd. I bet at the beginning of the game that all the penalty minutes would have counted in the pool, eh??

The Ducks were in pretty deep losing the first two games at home to Edmonton, having to go to Rexall Place... and despite the huge effort early in the 3rd by the Oilers, the Ducks made a game of it. But for Oilers fans, the rollercoaster ride finished on a positive note, winning 5-4.

Despite the five goals for Edmonton, most points were captured by non-pool players, limiting the points that were gained and/or lost in the Standings. Dwayne Roloson continued to roll, winning his 7th straight game. Sergei Samsonov had a pair of assists. And the only other two points from the Oilers... Chris Pronger had a goal and Jaroslav Spacek had an assist. That's it.

For the Mighty Ducks, Teemu Selanne had a pair of goals, Sean O'Donnell had a goal and Scott Niedermayer, Ryan Getzlaf, Vitaly Vishnevski & Joffrey Lupul all had assists.

Game 4 will go on Thursday to try and close out the series.


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The East Is Square At One

TEAM ........................... PTS .... REM
Dewhirst Destroyers ............ 194 .... 10
Halos .......................... 190 .... 8
NO SHOOTOUTS - REAL HOCKEY! .... 157 .... 8
Fourn-Y-A ...................... 153 .... 6
Scammer & Z-Dog ................ 152 .... 5
Corndogs Rejects ............... 152 .... 4
Team Slim Shady ................ 151 .... 6
K-9 Fornicators ................ 148 .... 5
Pony Boy 2 ..................... 144 .... 3
Sherpa's Yaks .................. 143 .... 6

Game 2 in the East panned out the way it probably should... as the evenly matched pair of teams bring their series to a draw. Sadly, it didn't have quite the same effect on the pool as our new leaders, the Dewhirst Destroyers, have kept their four-point lead going into Edmonton & Anaheim's 3rd game tonight.

Carolina did much like Buffalo did in the first game... build itself a lead and hang on for dear life as the other team chips away at you... still managing to hang on.

Cam Ward won game number 9 for the Hurricanes after only making 16 saves in the 4-3 win. You can't really say that he was tested a great deal... 6 shots in the 1st, 4 in the 2nd and 9 in the 3rd. Justin Williams scored the winning goal 7 minutes into the 3rd period, building a 4-1 lead, but was the eventual winner. Ray Whitney (pictured) scored a pair of goals and Frank Kaberle opened the scoring in the game. Cory Stillman, Eric Staal, Doug Weight all had pool worthy assists in Game 2 as well.

For the Sabres, Chris Drury had a goal and an assist on the comeback trail. Ales Kotalik, Daniel Briere, J.P. Dumont and Maxim Afinogenov all had assists in the game.

The series will now shift back to Buffalo on Wednesday.

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We Have A New Leader...

TEAM ........................... PTS .... REM
Dewhirst Destroyers ............ 190 .... 10
Halos .......................... 184 .... 8
NO SHOOTOUTS - REAL HOCKEY! .... 153 .... 8
Corndogs Rejects ............... 149 .... 4
Fourn-Y-A ...................... 148 .... 6
Scammer & Z-Dog ................ 147 .... 5
Team Slim Shady ................ 145 .... 6
K-9 Fornicators ................ 144 .... 5
Sherpa's Yaks .................. 141 .... 6
Pony Boy 2 ..................... 139 .... 3

The heading is true... the Dewhirst Destroyers have now claimed top spot with the results over the weekend. A favourable 2-0 series lead for the Oilers saw the Destroyers pick up enough points to take on their rival Halos and still pull away further from the pack behind them. Already moving out to a 6-pont lead does give an indication that it'll be hard, if not impossible, for the Halos to sort of recover from this lack of players. The Oilers doing so well should mean big things for the Destroyers... it's looking like the end of any competition in this pool.

On Friday night, the Oilers got right back into their playoff run when they took on the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim at the Arrowhead Pond in California. A very tight-checking game for the most part saw the Oilers slip past the Ducks 3-1 to take a 1-0 series lead.

Dwayne Roloson had the biggest game of all the players, registering a win and adding an assist for a 3-point night. He had flipped a huge pass down the ice to Mike Peca to open the scoring for the Oilers and claim his first assist of the post-season. Ales Hemsky was the only Oil goal scorer to register his goal in the pool and luckily for him, it was the game-winner. Other point getters for the Oilers were Ryan Smyth, Chris Pronger and Shawn Horcoff, each having an assist.

Scott Niedermayer had the only point for the pool-worthy Ducks. The Ducks just couldn't manage to get any offense generated against the rolling Oilers.

The Saturday matinee saw a very fast-paced game with lots of action and a tight finish, which sets the stage for a pretty exciting series. The Buffalo Sabres hung on to beat the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final Game 1 3-2 to take the 1-0 series lead.

Jay McKee scored the eventual winning goal, his second goal of these playoffs to lead the Sabres to victory. Ryan Miller made 29 saves for his 9th win of the playoffs. Jochen Hecht had a pair of assists in the victory. Daniel Briere added the 2nd goal for the Sabres and that was the only other Sabre point recorded.

No goals were counted for Hurricane pool players, but Bret Hedican, Cory Stillman & Eric Staal all recorded assists for the pool's cause.

Sunday night saw Game 2 in Anaheim between the Ducks & Oilers and shockingly, it was a lot like a repeat performance of Friday night. It was another 3-1 win for the Oilers, to go up 2-0 in the series, but that's not where it stopped either.

Dwayne Roloson had the win and yet ANOTHER assist on a Mike Peca goal, which gives the Oilers netminder a whopping 24 points to lead all players in the pool. 10 wins, a shutout and 2 assists leads the way in the pool... taken only once... by the leader. Chris Pronger had a goal and Ales Hemsky, Ryan Smyth & Sergei Samsonov all added assists for the pool in the win as well.

Jeff Friesen scored from Samuel Pahlsson and Rob Niedermayer for the Ducks only goal on Sunday.

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Edmonton Is Through

TEAM ........................... PTS .... REM
Halos .......................... 182 .... 8
Dewhirst Destroyers ............ 179 .... 10
NO SHOOTOUTS - REAL HOCKEY! .... 148 .... 8
Corndogs Rejects ............... 147 .... 4
Scammer & Z-Dog ................ 146 .... 5
Fourn-Y-A ...................... 144 .... 6
Team Slim Shady ................ 143 .... 6
K-9 Fornicators ................ 142 .... 5
Sherpa's Yaks .................. 138 .... 6
Pony Boy 2 ..................... 138 .... 3
The Shaving Moes ............... 134 .... 5
1st Pick ....................... 134 .... 5
Wallace ........................ 131 .... 3
Get Bent!! ..................... 129 .... 2
Bailey's Team .................. 127 .... 2
D-Wall ......................... 126 .... 8
Favourites #1 .................. 121 .... 3
Bubbs .......................... 118 .... 6
Wilson St. Samsquanchs ......... 118 .... 5
Big Feet ....................... 118 .... 3
Zambonies ...................... 118 .... 3
Team Stompin' Tom .............. 113 .... 3
Impact ......................... 112 .... 5
Eleven River Dogs .............. 111 .... 5
Lucky 1 ........................ 106 .... 4
Pwest .......................... 106 .... 2
Little Joe Riders .............. 102 .... 5
Pony Boy 1 ..................... 99 ..... 3
Les Mascouches ................. 99 ..... 2
Favourites #2 .................. 96 ..... 2
Phuck U ........................ 94 ..... 4
Team Chevy ..................... 93 ..... 3
Big Tom ........................ 92 ..... 6
Red, White & Blue .............. 92 ..... 0
It's Not That Bad .............. 89 ..... 3
Gilmore ........................ 88 ..... 5
Rick's Red ..................... 84 ..... 7
Snipers ........................ 84 ..... 4
Thanx For Comin' Out ........... 81 ..... 3

The run for the Sharks is over. The two top scorers in the league have been eliminated from the playoffs and from a lot of teams in the pool. The Oilers shut out the Sharks 2-0 to win the series 4 games to 2 and will move on to face the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in the Western Conference Finals.

Dwayne Roloson earned his first shutout of the playoffs, which was a huge 4-point game for him. Mike Peca, a non-pool participant, scored the winning goal, unassisted... spoil sport. But the second goal was scored by Shawn Horcoff from Todd Harvey and Ryan Smyth.

For the Sharks, they leave the playoffs after a high-scoring regular season and first round of the playoffs. Unfortunately, when the Oilers' fortunes turned for the better, the Sharks couldn't find theirs again and thus lost the series in a tailspin.

Points from eliminated players:
Patrick Marleau, 9G 5A 2GWG
Vesa Toskala, 6W 1SO
Jonathon Cheechoo, 4G 5A 1GWG
Joe Thornton, 2G 7A 1GWG
Christian Ehrhoff, 2G 6A, 1GWG
Tom Preissing, 1G 6A
Nils Ekman, 2G 2A
Kyle McLaren, 3A
Marcel Goc, 2A
Ville Nieminen, 2A
Scott Hannan, 1A

Well, there isn't a lot of players left now whom are still active and there certainly wasn't a lot of people banking on the Oilers to make it very far... hell, they had to face the Red Wings to start and then the high-flying Sharks in the second round... but here they are. The Oilers were the least selected of the playoff-bound teams, with only 13 selections and the Dewhirst Destroyers are the only team with 3 Oilers on his selection sheet. Oiler players are also the top scoring bunch in the pool, with a combined 101 points between everyone on the sheet. Makes you wish you had some, doesn't it?

So, we're down to 2 series and we begin again in the West...

The Mighty Ducks will host the Oilers on Friday night, puck drop is at 7pm MT and should be on CBC. The Ducks have played some very good hockey so far in the playoffs, eliminating the Flames (quack!) in seven and then sweeping the Avalanche out as well. For the pool, there were only 22 x's marked in Anaheim boxes on all the selection sheets, which isn't many more than Edmonton's 13, so there won't be very many people claiming a whole lot of points from this series. Rick's Red leads the pool in Ducks with the maximum of 3... while the lead-chasing Dewhirst Destroyers leads the pool in Oilers with his 3.

The question is... will Ducks be a tad water-logged after sitting in the pond too long, waiting for their next opponent?

On Saturday afternoon, Carolina will host Buffalo in the Eastern semi-final. There's no question that both these teams were a little more popular, being higher seeds in their respective Conference, much unlike their Western counterparts. There were 90 Hurricane selections and 50 Sabre selections... which kind of leads you to believe that if there is still some people cheering on in this pool, that they'll be looking at the Hurricanes to do well. Both teams in this series had near-equal amounts of rest, so when the puck drops at 2pm on Saturday, they should all be well-rested and ready to go.

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One Series Left To Decide

TEAM ........................... PTS .... REM
Halos .......................... 182 .... 11
Dewhirst Destroyers ............ 174 .... 11
NO SHOOTOUTS - REAL HOCKEY! .... 148 .... 10
Corndogs Rejects ............... 147 .... 7
Scammer & Z-Dog ................ 146 .... 8
Fourn-Y-A ...................... 144 .... 9
Team Slim Shady ................ 143 .... 7
K-9 Fornicators ................ 142 .... 8
Sherpa's Yaks .................. 138 .... 8
Pony Boy 2 ..................... 138 .... 6

The Hurricanes did it. They elminated the Devils in five games, moving on to face the Buffalo Sabres in the Conference Finals. They managed to stop, what once was, a surging Devils team and stop them in their tracks with great intent.

In the finale, Cory Stillman scored the winning goal for the Hurricanes, Mark Recchi had two assists and Frank Kaberle, Eric Staal, Ray Whitney, Dough Weight and Justin Williams all recorded a single point each.

The last game for the Devils only saw them score one goal... Brian Gionta from Zach Parise and Brian Rafalski. Not a very meaningful set a points from the last of the Devils.

Points from players eliminated:
Patrik Elias, 6G 10A
Jamie Langenbrunner, 3G 10A 1GWG
Martin Brodeur, 5W 1SO
Scott Gomez, 5G 4A 1GWG
Brian Gionta, 3G 4A 2GWG
Brian Rafalski, 1G 8A
John Madden, 4G 1A
Zach Parise, 1G 2A
Paul Martin, 3A

What can ya say? The Oilers are on a roll. Scoring 12 goals in their last two games means that they've found a way to get shots past Vesa Toskala after being stymied in the first two games of the season.

It was a multiple-point haven for the Oilers... Ryan Smyth led the pool players with 2 goals and 2 assists, Shawn Horcoff had a goal and 2 assists, Jaroslav Spacek, Ales Hemsky & Chris Pronger all had 2 assists and the winning goalie, Dwayne Roloson had a pair of points for the win. The lead for the pool has been cut down from 15 to 8 points... thanks to the big Oilers win.

For the Sharks, Christian Ehrhoff had a goal and an assist, whilst Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Ville Nieminen & Jonathon Cheechoo all had single points as well.

There is still at least one more game left in the series... two, if the Sharks win on Wednesday night (8pm on CBC).

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Halos vs. Destroyers

Well, growing closer to the third round, it looks like this pool is becoming a two-horse race. The Halos are running away from Dewhirst Destroyers... but you can't count anyone out just yet.

The Anaheim Mighty Ducks are already through... and between two the two leaders, there are a few ducks to speak of. The leading Halos will rely on his defensemen choices in Sean O'Donnell and Vitaly Vishnevski to pick up a few points here and there. The Dewhirst Destroyers have the bulk of the scoring from Anaheim in Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer. All players are going to get a good rest when they face the winner of the other conference semi-final.

The other team already through to the Conference Finals is the Buffalo Sabres. They are not as well represented as the other NHL teams as Daniel Briere is the only Sabre unique to both teams and he's on the Halos.

So, those are both teams who've made it through... and then we look at the series that are not finished and there we see a little bit more difference between our leaders.

The other Western Semi-Final has a major difference in pool team players. The Halos are holding onto 2 unique Sharks, while the Destroyers have 3 unique Oilers. Both pool teams have Joe Thornton, so he doesn't really count at all... but the Halos also have Jonathon Cheechoo and Patrick Marleau, so if the Sharks are to win... and win big... then the Halos are pretty much invincible to losing this pool. On the other hand, the Destroyers will rely on Dwayne Roloson, Ryan Smyth and Jaroslav Spacek to beat the Sharks and make more of a closer race in the pool.

Both of our leaders are sort of hoping for a Carolina win in Game 5, because they both have more Hurricanes than Devils. But for the Halos, Patrik Elias is on their team as the only unique Devil between the two. If the Devils win another game or two... OR three... then Elias will be one of the big reasons as to why they win. For both teams though, each of them have two unique Canes each... the Halos having Ray Whitney and Oleg Tverdovsky and the Destroyers employing Eric Staal and Frantisek Kaberle. Arguably, Staal is the better of the two scorers and we be much more beneficial in the long run.

In closing, the pool will rely mostly on the Edmonton/San Jose series... if San Jose parts with Edmonton, then the Halos have pretty much clinched the $390. That's the series to watch!

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