2019 Winter Classic Review

Well, I don't know about you, but I thought that today's edition of the Winter Classic was certainly one of the better games in their 11-year history.  The ice didn't prove to be an issue, the boards were lively and somewhat unpredictable and the weather looked pretty good for the players and all the fans in the stands.  The atmosphere looked fantastic and it led into a very good game.

The Bruins and the Blackhawks battled well on the grounds of Notre Dame, both teams skated well, played a physical brand of hockey and drove the net effectively.  It was a very evenly contested game, with scoring going back and forth through the first two periods, but the 3rd period belonged to the Bruins, who had that extra little bit of finish when it counted and it came from the team's 4th line. 

Sean Kuraly, a non-hockey pool player from the Bruins' grind line, was able to bury a fat rebound off of his own player, in behind Cam Ward, midway through the final frame and that ended up being enough to give the Bruins another outdoor victory.  The Bruins top line and power play were most effective in this game, carrying much of the load, as David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron each finished with a goal and an assist, while Tuukka Rask held down the fort at the defensive end, making 36 saves for the win.

Well, after the first of two outdoor games to be played, Jesse's team has the early lead in the outdoor games pool, which sadly doesn't pay.  Jesse had Rask's win and another point from Jonathan Toews on the Chicago side to give his team 3 points, better than Stacey M. and Eric's teams, which finished with 2 points each. 

Next up, the Stadium Series game between the Penguins and the Flyers, going in February.  That could be one hell of a contest and possibly one that could generate a fair bit of offense... and penalty minutes.

Goalie Announcements (Jan 1)

Happy New Year!  The calendar has officially flipped and we're ready to get this year started.

Three games on tap for New Year's Day and that includes the Winter Classic, which is going in Indiana, of all places this year, Notre Dame Stadium.  But you already knew that, reading the Winter Classic Preview yesterday, right?

It's pretty quiet for a Tuesday, but it is also a holiday, so there you have it!  The outdoor gets going shortly, so let's press publish on this one and get going.

Cam Ward (Scott) versus Tuukka Rask (Jesse)
Both coaches were nice enough to offer up their starting goalies yesterday after their respective practices, so we know that both Scott and Jesse will have their respective legs up this morning/afternoon for the Winter Classic today.  Both teams haven't been doing so well of late, Jesse's team is 20th in the second segment of the season, while Scott's is 24th and this would be a great scenario for the outdoor games pool, if there was one, since these two aren't close to the overall money and would have that leg up on the mini-game, thus far.

Michal Neuvirth (Stuart) versus Juuse Saros (Eric)
The first of two evening games will see the Flyers in Nashville to take on the Predators.  Neither one of the evening games have seen confirmed goalies, but three of the four teams played last night, including both of these teams, so we're going with the opposite starters from last night as the projected starters for tonight.  Stuart did get some minutes out of Neuvirth in relief last night, but that could mean just about anything.  Eric's keeper hasn't seen much action of late and will likely be a refreshing change to the Predators' lineup.

Jack Campbell (N/A) versus Marc-Andre Fleury (Troy)
The Golden Knights are the only one of the four late teams to not have played last night, which says to me that Fleury will get another start, since he's been the workhorse for the club and has been given just about all of the opportunity this season, only relenting for the odd back-to-back situation.  The Kings, on the other hand, welcomed Jack Campbell back from injury and I would have to believe that he will take the second half of Los Angeles' back-to-backs on the schedule, auditioning for a spot on a hockey pool roster for Week Eighteen.

2019 Winter Classic Preview

We're ringing in the New Year tonight and that means that the NHL is going outside tomorrow.

It's a couple of the usual teams playing in the Winter Classic, as the Blackhawks and Bruins will be meeting at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, IN, home of the Fighting Irish.  These two teams have been pretty well a constant in these outdoor match-ups, either one of them playing in a good portion of the outdoor games in the NHL's last 10 years of outdoor games.

The jerseys that each team are going to be wearing are looking fairly sharp, excellent throwbacks to the early days of these two sides, we'll be in for a visual treat.

More importantly, the question is, will be treated to a lot of points in the hockey pool?  Between the two NHL clubs, our 25-team hockey pool has 23 players selected, but not all of them are going to get to play.

Pool Team	Chicago	Boston
Benson	Corey Crawford	Zdeno Chara
Brenda		Charlie McAvoy
Brian	Alex DeBrincat
	Henri Jokiharju
Derek B.	Dominik Kahun
Eric		Patrice Bergeron
Jesse	Jonathan Toews	Tuukka Rask
Mike		Torey Krug
Neil	Gustav Forsling	David Krejci
Scott	Cam Ward
Stacey M.	Brent Seabrook	Jake DeBrusk
		David Pastrnak
		Jaroslav Halak
Stuart	Dylan Strome	Brad Marchand
	Patrick Kane
Tony	Erik Gustafsson
	Duncan Keith
	Brandon Saad

On the Chicago side, Corey Crawford is out indefinitely with a concussion and defenseman Henri Jokiharju is away in Vancouver/Victoria playing in the World Juniors for Finland, so neither are playing in tomorrow's game.

For Boston, Brad Marchand is expected to play, coming off of an upper-body injury, so minus any setbacks, he should be there.  Charlie McAvoy's status will be dependent on whether or not he practices on Monday on the outdoor ice, he has been on the IR for the last couple of days, but is eligible to come off when he's ready to go.  He's day-to-day and questionable for tomorrow's game.

What does that leave us?  Well, Stacey M. leads all teams in the pool with three skaters and a goalie, while Stuart and Tony will each have three skaters on the ice for this game.  We don't know who the starting goalies are going to be just yet, so there's still some intrigue left here in the pool.

No money in the outdoor games again this year, which was too bad for Tony's team last season, as he walked away with the title with 8 points in the three games outdoors last season.  He's certainly got another good shot at it again with three players in this game and the Stadium Series later on in February, still to be played.

It's an 11am MT start tomorrow, so you should have more than enough time to sleep in and nurse those hangovers before the game starts. 

2018 Winter Classic Review

Another New Year's Day, another Winter Classic, already come and gone.  The 10-year anniversary game was a pretty good one, it saw the New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres head to Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets.

Apparently, it was one of the coldest Winter Classics on record, as the cold front in the US northeast was still hanging around and the game was -6 Celsius at the time of puck drop, which really isn't that bad.

The Rangers got out to an early lead in the 1st period, jumping out to a 2-0 advantage before the halfway point of the frame and then after that, it was a lot of back and forth through the shadows, keeping a pretty good pace.  The Sabres had to work their way back and they used the first minute of both the 2nd and 3rd periods to help tie the game up at 2-2, before the two teams headed to overtime to decide it.

A power play, halfway through the extra frame, gave the Rangers the added advantage and sure enough, that was all they needed for J.T. Miller to swipe one past Robin Lehner and earn themselves the win.

The winning goalie, Henrik Lundqvist and the overtime goal scorer, Miller, also added an assist to lead the way for the Rangers in this game, each coming away with 2 points, while Rasmus Ristolainen and Kyle Okposo each had a couple of points each on the side for the Sabres.  That's not too bad of a haul, considering some of the poor results we've seen from some of these outdoor games.

Team	GP	Points
Tony Dourado	2	5
Wes Moroz	5	3
Stacey McDonald	1	2
Brian Towers	2	2
Benson Greenley	1	2
Troy Berkley	2	1
Steve Bishop	1	1
Stacey Campbell	2	1
Brenda & Seward	2	1
Dale Bradley	1	1
Cam Wagner	2	1
Mike Somerville	4	1

Tony came into this game with quite a large advantage, thanks to having the shutout in the NHL100 Classic earlier, and he was able to get a goal from Sam Reinhart of the Sabres, bringing his total up to 5 points in two outdoor contests.

Wes, who led all teams in the Winter Classic with four players playing, had both Okposo and Ryan O'Reilly, who combined for 3 points on the day, giving him 2nd place in the contest.  The other three teams with 2 points each above, had the remaining players that had 2 points a piece in this one.

There's only one more outdoor game left and that will be the Stadium Series game between Toronto and Washington in March and that will be the next time you see one of these posts.

Goalie Announcements (Jan 1)

Happy New Year (again)! This one is a quick one, as there is only one game on the schedule to start off 2018 and that's the Winter Classic. No, it isn't a survival game at all, but we'll put the post up, regardless. It's more fun that way.

Well, here's hoping that you're not too hungover to enjoy the proceedings of an afternoon outdoor hockey game in New York.  I know there's no money on it, but it might be a good game.

Henrik Lundqvist (Brian) versus Robin Lehner (Kristy & Don)
All eyes are on the number one goalies in this one, Henrik Lundqvist versus Robin Lehner.  It also makes for a top 10 match-up in the hockey pool, as Brian's 8th place team takes a shot to close the lead that Kristy & Don have on him in 5th place, which has now grown all the way up to 20 points, as of this morning.

It's a brand new year, we should all have a brand new outlook (in theory) and it all starts with the only game on the NHL schedule today, so tune in, if you're not feeling well enough to traverse into the cold... or in Brian's case, the warm summer weather.

2018 Winter Classic Preview

It's that time again!  It's time to ring in the New Year and nurse our hangovers with an outdoor NHL game on the television.  Yes, the Winter Classic is back on January 1st and will go tomorrow afternoon at Citi Field in New York, with the Rangers taking on the Sabres.

These games haven't exactly been the goal scoring feasts that us poolies would have ever hoped for, as teams find one way or another to tighten up defensively, trying to limit their mistakes on the outdoor ice or in the less-than-controlled conditions, but still, it's a marvel to watch from time-to-time.

These two teams line-up rather lopsided to the visitors in pretty well every fashion.  The Rangers hold a playoff spot, while the Sabres are last in the Eastern Conference heading into this game.  The players divvied out in the hockey pool are very heavily weighted towards the Rangers, as you can clearly see below.

	New York	Buffalo
Benson		Rasmus Ristolainen
Brian	Mika Zibanejad
	Henrik Lundqvist
Cam	Mats Zuccarello
Dale C.	Ryan McDonagh
Wilton		Zach Bogosian
Eric	Nick Holden	Evander Kane
Jeremy	Chris Kreider
Kristy & Don		Jason Pominville
		Robin Lehner
Mike	Kevin Hayes
	Brady Skjei
Scott	Rich Nash
Stacey C.	Pavel Buchnevich
Stacey M.	J.T. Miller
Steve	Michael Grabner
Tony		Sam Reinhart
Troy	Kevin Shattenkirk
Wes		Jack Eichel
		Ryan O'Reilly
		Kyle Okposo
		Marco Scandella

Of course, if this was a mini-game, we would all be chasing down Tony's team, which leads after the NHL100 Classic with 4 points and he does have representation in this game, in the form of Sam Reinhart of the Sabres.

Wes bought heavily into the Sabres as well and he leads all teams in the pool with four players likely to play in this game.  He had a player playing in Ottawa in the first outdoor game of the season, but didn't come away with any points, so his team would start 4 points back and in need of a big game from the home side.

Three other pool teams had points in Ottawa, but two of those teams don't have any representation in tomorrow's game, only Stacey C., who has Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich.

There is also two goalies, and the likely starters, taken in the pool, with Henrik Lundqvist probably taking on Robin Lehner, which actually is a top 10 match-up between Brian's free falling team against Kristy & Don, who remain entrenched in the money conversation. 

There's plenty going on in this game, pool-wise... it's a shame there is no money on it.

Special Games in the 2018 Season

Last season, the wheel of mini-games was brought in to determine what games our hockey pool would have to keep the masses entertained and we did experience the outdoor games pool, which made use of the four games the NHL put on outside, which was kind of interesting.  No one really went out of their way to play in these mini-games at the waiver drafts, but it still paid off and made these special events a little more interesting, with money on the line.

The outdoor games pool will be back on the wheel, I'm sure, and we'll give it a few spins after we finish drafting our teams and we might take advantage of the other games that will be played as well, including the All-Star Game.  All of the major events were announced on Monday, just ahead of the start of the Stanley Cup Finals

A preseason series in China will start the calendar of events off, as the Kings and Canucks will showcase the game in Shanghai and Beijing, increasing their annual travel significantly.  I can't imagine that these games will help either team in the early part of the season and it could be a good reason to avoid them at the hockey pool draft, until the mid-season anyways.

Preseason games that will go for Kraft Hockeyville are another solid event, especially for the rural areas of both the US and Canada.  The US game will feature the Blues and Penguins in small town Pennsylvania, while the Canadian game will feature the Devils and Senators on Prince Edward Island.  Both games slated for late September.

The first regular season event will see the Colorado Avalanche and Ottawa Senators play their season series against each other in Stockholm, Sweden.  November 10th and 11th will be set aside for the SAP Global Series, which is a bit too small to make a hockey pool mini-game out of, but it will still likely have an impact on their regular season schedules.

There will be three outdoor games this year, which could be enough for an interesting mini-game this year and they are as follows:

NHL100 Classic - Montreal Canadiens @ Ottawa Senators, Dec. 16 @ Landsdowne Park in Ottawa
Winter Classic - New York Rangers @ Buffalo Sabres, Jan. 1 @ Citi Field in New York
Stadium Series - Toronto Maple Leafs @ Washington Capitals, Mar. 3 @ Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, MD

Finally, the NHL said that they are not going to head to the Olympics this coming February, so in lieu of that, the All-Star Game will go ahead again this year and it sounds like the 3-on-3 tournament format will continue on in Tampa Bay, played January 27th & 28th.  I did keep track of All-Star numbers last season and that was also somewhat interesting.  Marcie would have won that one, by a landslide, as her team was nearly unstoppable, when it came to the mini-games.

I think with some changes to the player swap rules, likely doing away with the Waiver Draft altogether, it might free up some time and keep a few more people engaged, until they have no moves left, that is.

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.

Winter Classic Preview

Two outdoor games down, two to go.  The next one comes right after the Centennial Classic, as the regular scheduled outdoor game, the Winter Classic, will go a day later than normal and it will feature a pretty good Central Division battle.

The Chicago Blackhawks will take on the St. Louis Blues at Busch Stadium, the home of the Cardinals.

Yes, it's the Blackhawks... again!  The NHL wants to sell tickets and the Hawks do just that.  Both of these teams are playing pretty well this season, so it should make for a pretty good game, one would assume.

	Chicago	St. Louis
Benson		Alex Pietrangelo
Brenda & Seward	Niklas Hjalmarsson
Clayton	Patrick Kane
Dale C.	Artemi Panarin
Derek B.		Vladimir Tarasenko
		Jay Bouwmeester
Derek W.	Jonathan Toews
Eric		Jaden Schwartz
Grant		Paul Stastny
Jeremy	Brent Seabrook	Alex Steen
Kristy & Don		David Perron
		Kevin Shattenkirk
Marcin	Artem Anisimov
	Corey Crawford
Mike		Jake Allen
Ryan	Richard Panik
Scott	Scott Darling
Stacey C.	Marian Hossa
Stuart	Brian Campbell	Robby Fabbri
	Duncan Keith	Carter Hutton
Tony		Colton Parayko

So, there's our lineup in the hockey pool, leading up to the big game tomorrow.  Marian Hossa has been confirmed as being out, much to the chagrin of Stacey C., who hasn't had much luck this weekend.

Marcie won't have any help to defend her lead, but it also doesn't look likely that Scott will have any help either, as it will be Marcin's goalie who should be getting the start for the Chicago Blackhawks.  Marcin, opens the day, tied for 2nd in the outdoor games mini game, 3 points back of Marcie, and has two key figures for the road team.

Stuart, who has yet to see any action outside this season, will have three skaters going and will also have a back-up goalie sitting on the bench, just in case.  His team could find a way to both get on the board and make some noise.

Jeremy, Kristy & Don and Derek B. will also have a pair of players going and Derek is still yet to see any action in these outdoor games as well, so he'll need a big effort from his guys, if he wants to play in the money talk.

Now that we've had some action already, it's all unfolding and getting interesting.

Welcome to the 2016/2017 Draft Hockey Pool

Happy Thanksgiving weekend everyone! I really hope that the technical problems didn't put too much of a damper on your enjoyment of the draft. I know that I have been able to do it a whole lot faster than what we had seen this year, but some things just were not going the right way.  Of course, thanks for the patience of the three/four online guys... you guys must really wanted to be there, if you're going to take the time out of your out-of-town holiday to spend it with us and Brian, you're a champ of the online selection process, but you've had lots of practice, so far... keep up the good work!

It's a 25-team league this year, which is awesome!  Sure, it's two less than last year, but the overall scope of the pool may have improved, thanks to a few less goalies getting picked up and thinning out the talent pool.  A warm welcome to a couple new faces, Marcie and Marcin, both joining the draft for the first time, hope you guys really enjoy yourselves.

So, thanks to the World Cup of Hockey, the schedule has been compacted a week and it is starting a little later than usual, which was the cause of most of the scheduling problems for the draft, as it were.  It didn't help us at all, as we all would prefer to have most of the team rosters set before we all sit down and draft, which is why the draft landed on the long weekend, unfortunately.  It was still a good turnout, which is fantastic.

Instead of a 27-week season, which is the norm, it is a 26-week season and I usually like to split this season up into thirds, so we have the Waiver Drafts in even segments, but this year won't be the case.  Since a lot of people are in a hurry to move their players early on in the season, the first segment will be the shortest of the three, so I will conduct the first Waiver Draft in Week Eight this season and I will be e-mailing reminders to everyone about that and updating the blog accordingly.

Also, if there are injuries leading up to opening night, teams will have until puck drop (5pm on Wednesday night) to swap out an injured player for a healthy player and be 100% healthy for the start of the year.  You're not going to get a great player, but if it is a long-term injury, you could be in better shape.

Next up, we have the three mini-games, as selected by the wheel at the conclusion of the draft and they are as follows: the PIM pool, the goalie survivor pool and an outdoor games pool.  There is no rookie pool this year, much to the chagrin of some, but the wheel wanted what it wanted and that's what we've got this year.

We all know about the PIM pool, the most combined penalty minutes in the season from your team is the winner.  According to the draft numbers, Kristy & Don are the early favourites for this mini-game, as their team combined for 612 minutes in penalties last season, followed closely by Cam at 601 minutes.  The all-rookie setup of Scott's team didn't register much of anything last season, so they are at the bottom of this list, coming in at 217 minutes in penalties.

Last year's champ, Derek B., finished the year at 762 minutes in penalties and made a few changes through the season to achieve that number.  The record has been set!

The goalie survivor pool is a fun pool, I think and makes for good writing on the blog... every team starts in the survivor pool and in order to stay in the pool, your goalies must register at least one win, in the Monday to Sunday week.  Having one starting goalie is good, having two is great!  Having none... well, you're not paying attention to this one.

One of this year's departures, Allan, won his money back last year with the best goaltending setups in the pool, which included Ben Bishop of the Lightning and included a Waiver Draft swap of Jeff Zatkoff of the Penguins for Connor Hellebuyck of the Jets mid-season, and his team never faltered all season, registering at least a win in all 27 weeks.

It looks like Cam and Kristy & Don are aiming for mini-games here as well, as they have the best goalie tandems, based on last year's points, out of the draft.  Cam's two goalies, Marc-Andre Fleury and Roberto Luongo, while the pool's first duo has Jonathan Quick and Semyon Varlamov (again!), both putting up good arguments for the mini-game.

Finally, the outdoor games pool... this one is fairly straight-forward.  The NHL will have four outdoor games this year, starting with the Heritage Classic in Winnipeg here soon, the Centennial Classic in Toronto, the Winter Classic in St. Louis and then the Stadium Series game in Pittsburgh.  The cumulative amount of points from your team in these games, from the Oilers, Jets, Canadiens, Maple Leafs, Blackhawks, Blues, Flyers and/or Penguins, will win.  This one will be decided at the end of February, so that's kind of neat too.

Now, the relationship of mini-games to the Waiver Draft was contentious last season, as the move to change strategic focus in the hockey pool caused quite the stir last season and it shifted the competitive balance to a point that was deemed unfair.  So, with that being said, a rule change has been instituted for the Waiver Draft... any player dropped will not be made available until the start of the next round.

The idea for this will at least allow the basement dwelling teams a shot at strategically dropped players ahead of the winning teams, if they so choose to stay in the race, instead of move towards the mini-games.

As for the prize money, I am still going to work through the year's budget and then determine what our prizes will be, I should have something by early next week.  I am still waiting on a number of teams to pay, it is $60 this year, for those who have forgotten... but I have also put a PAID/NOT PAID spot on your team page, as a gentle reminder.

Have fun everyone... let me know if you have any questions or any player moves before the season starts!

A Look at the 2017 Winter Classic Logo

It may have been announced a little while ago, but it didn't really get a feature on the blog when it happened, but the 2017 Winter Classic will go in St. Louis this season, where the Blues will face the regular opponent for this extravaganza, the Chicago Blackhawks.

At the beginning of August, shortly after the Heritage Classic announcement, the league showed off the look of the new logo for the Winter Classic, which is set to go on January 2, 2017 this season.  Unfortunately, there wasn't any immediate looks at the logos that the two teams would be using for this game, like we had for the Canadian game.

Thanks to 27 hockey pool teams last season, the Winter Classic between Boston and Montreal featured 29 players in the hockey pool, some of which didn't play, due to various reasons, like injury and being in the minors, but that was still a lot of picks to be noticed in this game.

This time around, it could be very much the same, as the Blues and Blackhawks are both likely to be very popular at this season's hockey pool draft in October and we will have at least one opportunity to change up players.  In a mock draft done today, done to my early projections, with 27 teams again for the coming year, I have 24 players taken from these two teams, including four players taken in the 1st round.

I am just polishing off the finishing touches to my mini-games post, where there is a chance that a game like the Winter Classic may have some meaning in the mini-games for the coming season.  Stay tuned!

Outdoor Games in the 2017 Season

We still have a lot of hockey to be played before this really becomes a general concern to us poolies, but on Wednesday night, the NHL finished formally annoucning all of their outdoor games, which we'll see next season.  In total, we'll get to see four games on outdoor ice and for the first time, there will be two games in Canada this season.

On Sunday, the NHL officially announced that the Heritage Classic will be played on October 22nd in Winnipeg, where the Jets will take on the Oilers in a match-up that takes place before New Year's Day, which I believe is another first for outdoor games in the NHL.

On New Year's Day, we'll have the Centennial Classic, which will go along with the celebration of the Toronto Maple Leafs and their 100 years in existence.  The Maple Leafs will take on a previous outdoor game rival, the Detroit Red Wings, as they played outside a couple of years ago on the same day at Comerica Park.

January 2nd will see the St. Louis Blues host their first outdoor game next season, as theey will set up shop in Busch Stadium, home of baseball's Cardinals, and they'll take on outdoor regulars, the Chicago Blackhawks, in a good Central Division match-up.

Finally, the Stadium Series will keep going on, next season taking place in Pennsylvania, as the Flyers and Penguins will renew hostilities in their cross-state rivalry at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.  This game will also celebrate their arrival in the league, back in 1967, 50 years after the fact.  This game will go on February 18th.

This means that we'll have eight quality teams playing in these outdoor games and I think that could make for good theatre in the hockey pool next year, as a possible mini-game.  As we draw to a close to this regular season, we're starting to think of other neat ways to keep this pool fresh and interesting, especially for those who are not quite in all of the money races, near the end of the year.

More announcements like that are coming this Summer.

Habs Take It Easily, 2016 Winter Classic Review

Well, if you were watching the broadcast of the Winter Classic, you would have heard more than enough times that the conditions for the game were perfect.  That's what you want to see, a great game at a regular NHL pace and that would make for a more competitive game.

Sure enough, the team that welcomed a spark plug to their lineup was far more competitive than the team that had their main spark plug suspended from the game before.  This was somewhat of the theme throughout the game, as the Montreal Canadiens were the better side, right from the drop of the puck, all the way through to the final horn.

The Canadiens carried the play in the 1st, outshooting the hosts by a sizeable margin, but only converting once.  The 2nd was a little bit more even, in terms of zone play, but the Habs still pounded two more goals past Tuukka Rask, who was held out to try in the warm New England air.  The 3rd period saw a bit of a push back from the Bruins, scoring early in the frame, but the Canadiens responded back with one of their own and then another kick at the can to seal it, as the visitors take the game 5-1 in the end.

How did this game stack up in the pool?

Montreal		P	PIM		Boston		P	PIM
Mike Condon	John R.	2	0		Tuukka Rask	Dale C.	0	0
Carey Price	John S.	0	0		Jonas Gustavsson	Stacey C.	0	0
---					---
Max Pacioretty	Dale C.	2	0		Patrice Bergeron	Neil	0	0
Tomas Plekanec	Jeremy	2	2		David Krejci	Dale B.	0	0
Alex Galchenyuk	Dale C.	0	0		Loui Eriksson	Cindy	0	0
Dale Weise	Stacey M.	1	0		Brad Marchand	Brian	0	0
Brendan Gallagher	Derek & Dan	2	0		Ryan Spooner	John S.	1	0
David Desharnais	Benson	1	4		Matt Beleskey	Brenda & Seward	1	0
Tomas Fleischmann	Kristy & Don	0	0		Jimmy Hayes	Jeremy	0	4
Lars Eller	Stacey M.	0	6		Brett Connolly	Mike	0	0
Torrey Mitchell	Derek W.	0	0
---					---
P.K. Subban	Dale B.	1	0		Zdeno Chara	Brenda & Seward	0	0
Andrei Markov	Neil	0	0		Torey Krug	Tony	0	4
Jeff Petry	Stacey M.	1	0		Colin Miller	Eric	0	0
Nathan Beaulieu	Cindy	0	2		Dennis Seidenberg	John S.	0	0

The teams of the day were coming away with 2 points a piece, as no pool team really stood out more than the other in this one.  There was plenty of scoring to go around, scoring above the weekly average in points, which is a nice change from most other outdoor games, which are usually weather-related stalemates.

The returning Brendan Gallagher helped guide the way for the Canadiens on Friday afternoon, being one of four Montreal players with 2 points a piece.  Mike Condon, Max Pacioretty and Tomas Plekanec all had noticeable games and helped flood the table with points.

An unlikely character ended up being the goon of the game, as Lars Eller finished with 6 minutes in penalties, thanks in large part to being Jimmy Hayes' punching bag with only a couple minutes to go in the game, each player receiving double-minors for roughing, which was compounded with a hooking call earlier in the game.

All in all, it wasn't a terrible game to watch, although it was very one-sided for the better part of the game and the Bruins didn't have much passion in this one.  It could have used either a closer result or some more fisticuffs, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

In the 2nd period, Montreal forward Dale Weise left the game with an upper-body injury, believed to be a wrist problem, not to return for the 3rd period. As you could see in the table above, he had already made his mark in the game, picking up an assist, but that was it for him.

Weise was one of Stacey M.'s three entries in this game and he has been a pretty good addition to her team since the Waiver Draft, picking up 5 points and 2 PIM since his activation in her lineup.
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Goalie Announcements (Jan 1)

Only two games on the slate for New Year's Day, the Winter Classic at Foxboro between the Canadiens and the Bruins and then the late game, the Canucks hosting the Ducks indoors.

Our starting goalies today for the outdoor game will be Tuukka Rask (Dale C.) getting the call for the Bruins, going up against Mike Condon (John R.) for the Canadiens.  These were our expected starters all week and with some time off between each team's last game, it should come as no surprise that they go with their best (available) in this contest.

In the late game tonight, although it hasn't been confirmed, it is expected that the Canucks will go with Jacob Markstrom (Wes) in net, playing host, and the Ducks, on the second half of back-to-back nights, will go with Frederik Andersen (Benson).  John Gibson (Clayton) is working on back-to-back shutouts this week, which would make for the argument to start him tonight, but that does seem somewhat unlikely on this Pacific Division trip.

Nothing else on the go today, we'll be back at it with a full slate of games on Saturday, including some afternoon offerings, so the announcements will come early again and we'll see what John P. has to do to qualify for next week in the survivor pool.

2016 Winter Classic Preview

Now that tonight's games are over, let us look forward to tomorrow's outdoor clash, as the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins go head-to-head at Foxboro Stadium, home of the New England Patriots.

This one really has the makings of a great game, in terms of the match-up, the importance of the game and just how many pool players are involved this year.  Of course, having 27 pool teams this season certainly helps the cause, doesn't it?

The Canadiens are struggling through some major injuries, especially to their number one goalie, which has seen them fall from a big lead they had in the Atlantic Division and now see themselves right in the thick of the race for the division lead, sitting just behind the Florida Panthers.  The Bruins, they are right behind those two and could find themselves in the lead, with any kind win over the Canadiens.

Let's have a look at the players chosen in the pool, shall we?

Montreal			Boston
Mike Condon	John R.		Tuukka Rask	Dale C.
Carey Price	John S.		Jonas Gustavsson	Stacey C.
---			---
Max Pacioretty	Dale C.		Patrice Bergeron	Neil
Tomas Plekanec	Jeremy		David Krejci	Dale B.
Alex Galchenyuk	Dale C.		Loui Eriksson	Cindy
Dale Weise	Stacey M.		Brad Marchand	Brian
Brendan Gallagher	Derek & Dan		Ryan Spooner	John S.
David Desharnais	Benson		Matt Beleskey	Brenda & Seward
Tomas Fleischmann	Kristy & Don		Jimmy Hayes	Jeremy
Lars Eller	Stacey M.		Brett Connolly	Mike
Torrey Mitchell	Derek W.
---			---
P.K. Subban	Dale B.		Zdeno Chara	Brenda & Seward
Andrei Markov	Neil		Torey Krug	Tony
Jeff Petry	Stacey M.		Colin Miller	Eric
Nathan Beaulieu	Cindy		Dennis Seidenberg	John S.

Players in red are injured, players in orange are suspended, players in blue are in the minors.

Dale C. and Stacey M lead the number of active players listed in this game, both teams having three players to hit the ice tomorrow.  Dale's team includes the projected starting goalie for the Bruins, Tuukka Rask.  It's unfortunate that the other two of his players are on the other bench, but that's the way it goes.  No one drafts for the Winter Classic.

What we do know for sure is that Brad Marchand won't be in uniform for this game, as his 3-game suspension kicks in tomorrow and what a poor time for that to happen.  This will strike one of Brian's players from the lineup, which maybe has more play in the PIM pool than the overall standings.  Also having some play in the PIM pool, was the announcement that Brendan Gallagher will be dressed for the Habs, returning from his broken hand.  Great news for Derek & Dan.

The money teams, heading into this game, have some presence or maybe it would be better to say, that only some of the money teams have a presence.

Brenda & Seward have a couple of key Bruins in the mix, which will keep it interesting for them.  Matt Beleskey hasn't quite been the force he was acquired to be, but Zdeno Chara keeps pounding away.

Jeremy has a player on either side, Tomas Plekanec of the Habs or Jimmy Hayes of the Bruins, both have some offensive upside in this game.

John P. is noticeably absent, likely because of his love for the Maple Leafs.

Neil, who has climbed up, back into the conversation, also has a couple players going on Friday afternoon, one on each side, Andrei Markov for the Habs and Patrice Bergeron for the Bruins.  Can he make the jump back in before the end of the week?