Week Twenty-Two Newsletter

Well, it looks as though Dieter is hot again. He not only passed Jeff to re-take first place in the pool, but he opened up a 14-point lead on the top. Jeff had himself a tough week as he now is facing a drop down to 3rd place, as Don also gained 14 points on Jeff and is now only sitting 3 points back.

The rest of the Top 6 didn't change at all during the week, but Caterina is still knocking on the door in 7th place, gaining only a single point on Paul in the week. From there, however, the chase for the money does seem to drop off, as Marcus and Trevor both fell off the pace losing out on at least 10 points.

There is now only five weeks of play remaining in the regular season, so the crunch is really on now. I would suggest making a trade or two, you know... for bragging rights purposes. You don't really want to be where you are at the moment, do you?? Well, maybe Dieter does... but that's a different story.

Hot Teams Over the Last Four Weeks:
Dieter.... 253
Caterina.. 249
Jeff...... 245
Randy..... 241
Dale B.... 240

Cold Teams Over the Last Four Weeks
Fred...... 148
Greg...... 173
Mike W.... 178
Mike R.... 192
Jim D..... 192

Let's see what happened in Week Twenty-Two...

Player of the Week



I wouldn't really think 7 points, most weeks, is good enough to take a weekly award, but this week, it is. Jason Spezza (Box 14), taken 8 times, gets the job done for Week Twenty-Two.

In four games for the Senators this past week, Jason Spezza registered two goals and five assists. Spezza and Heatley are both running on 11-game point streaks, having 19 and 18 points respectively, in those games. It's a bit of a run for the Sens at the moment, they are 7-1-2 in their last 10 games, which has moved them into fourth place, two points ahead of Pittsburgh. Spezza holders have been quite happy with his performance over the last couple weeks, which has kind of overshadowed the box leader, Crosby.

In these days of small gains and losses, it's nice to see a big jump in the Standings, which makes choosing the Mover & Shaker so much easier. Dale B. moved up a whopping seven places with a big week of 67 points. Dale has been mired in the 30's for pretty much the whole season, having some sub-par weeks during the year, but lately, he's been one of the pool's hottest teams, which peaked this past week. He moved from 30th place to 23rd, wading through the tight pack of people in the 20's.

Dale benefitted from the Player of the Week, Spezza, and his 7 points as well as 10 players who all registered 4 points. Talk about having contributions from most of your line-up! There was only one active player on his roster that didn't register a point this week and that was Tom Preissing (Box 22).

It was only a few weeks ago when Jim was last dwelling in the basement, but unfortunately, the freefall has continued. Jim has now fallen another 4 spots, down to 30th. It was Week Three when Jim was last in the 30's... for a good portion of the season, he's been floating in the high to mid-20's before this slump hit. Jim had most of his players pick up at least a point, only seven didn't, but he didn't quite get the great production that he needed to move up instead of down.

Martin Brodeur – 102 points
The first player to crack the triple-digits this season is Martin Brodeur. Yet another four points for the Devils keeper, three better than Sidney Crosby in the week, moved him four points ahead of the Penguins youngster. Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier both still sit in 3rd and 4th, respectively, 13 and 14 points back.

In the Top 10 of pool scoring, only two players are from the Western Conference, Joe Thornton and Roberto Luongo (tied for 8th with 82 points). The West has been so tightly contested, that scoring has been coming at a premium, due to some good goaltending. Thankfully, there was equal opportunity for Western and Eastern Conference players, so no one was left out.

Pool Trades
Well, the pool hasn't seen a trade within itself since the 19th of February when Marcus picked up Ray Whitney for Patrick Eaves in Box 21. Everyone seems to be rather content with the position that they're in, if they have trades remaining. I'm sure Jeff and Dale C. would like to make a move to get rid of Henrik Zetterberg (Box 1), but sadly, they're out of moves to make.

Would you believe 6 teams didn't make a trade all season? It's true. 21 teams used up all of their trades.

Trades Remaining in the Top 10:
Dieter... 0 Paul..... 1
Don...... 0 Marcus... 0
Jeff..... 0 Trevor... 4
Dale C... 0 Caterina. 0
Larry.... 0 Suzanne.. 2

Injuries
Well, the most notable injury of the week would be the loss of Tomas Kaberle (Box 17). Eighteen teams lost Kaberle this week and he should be out for upwards three weeks with a head injury. The team isn't too quick to call it a concussion, but don't be surprised if he has a hard time returning to the line-up with those kind of symptoms. Kaberle has 49 points so far this season, which is six behind the box leader.

Rookie sensation, Anze Kopitar (Box 7) will be out of action for the Kings' 8-day road trip and will miss those 4 games coming up. He has already missed two games with an upper body muscle strain. He was picked up twice during the year, one of those teams being in the Top 10.

Despite being one of the hottest teams in the league of late, the Blues were hit with some long-term injuries. Both Jay McKee (Box 10) and Martin Rucinsky (Box 7) will be out indefinitely with hip injuries. Both players are not big players in the pool... this is just an FYI note. Manny Legace (Box 6) will also miss the next couple weeks after doctors scoped his knee. Like I said though, the Blues have been playing quite well and winning, without these three players.

The Detroit Red Wings will likely have a couple weeks of uncertainty before Henrik Zetterberg (Box 1) and their new addition, Todd Bertuzzi (Box 15) should return in a few weeks. Bertuzzi could be back as early as the 17th against the Canucks. How fortunate.

Somehow, I don't think there was anyone was really going to care, but Pascal Leclaire (Box 6) will not see any more action this season as the team shut him down after re-aggrevating his knee injury this past week.

Hockey Night In Canada this week...




The Battle of Ontario isn't quite the highlight of the evening's procession, but it should be a gooder. The Senators are rolling at the moment, despite their loss on Sunday, and there should be lots of points to be had in the ACC against the Leafs have players coming back to help out their scorers. The real highlight will be the 2004 Stanley Cup Final re-match in Calgary as the Lightning come to visit the Flames. The Flames who have been great at home will face the Dynamic Duo of the Lightning, Martin St. Louis (Box 15) and Vincent Lecavalier (Box 20). It should be a barn-burner.

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