Goin' Into the Conference Finals

The Eastern Conference will have one of the more marquee match-ups that the league (and the pool, for that matter) could have wanted. Ryan Miller and the Sabres will play host to Ray Emery of the Senators. Miller, the more popular in the pool of the two keepers (31 to 3 in selections), should be the difference in deciding who moves a little further to the top of the pool. Four of the top five teams in the pool have Miller and Rob had Brodeur (before elimination). The top team with Emery is Derek, who enters the Conference Finals in 8th... 10 points out of the money. Our leader in the pool, Dan, will enter this series with five players... three top players for Buffalo and a couple workhorses for Ottawa. Mike E., who is in second, will enter the series with the full six players... a great blend of both teams. There is a fair bit of difference between the top teams when it comes to this series, so there still should be some shuffling of the deck before the Cup Finals.

On Friday night, the Western Conference Final will get started in Anaheim where the Ducks will take on the Red Wings. The Ducks are the only team going into the Conference Finals with a skater to lead their team in pool points... Chris Pronger, at 11 points. The goaltending match-up isn't as popular as Miller in the other series... between J-S Giguere and Dominik Hasek, they only have 23 selections between them (8 and 15, respectively). Both Benson and Brian are holding Hasek going into this series, as well as having a goalie in the East series, which could give them an advantage down the stretch. The popular picks from both teams are Scott Niedermayer (43) and Nicklas Lidstrom (24)... a pair of defensemen. It seems no one thought that these teams were gonna score enough to win games and saved these teams for their D-men. Lidstrom, however, has had plenty of success with 12 points so far in the playoffs. Both these series should keep this pool interesting by the looks of everything...


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