A Hockey Blogger Invitational update
by James Mirtle on Mar 10, 2009 1:18 PM CDT
16 comments
The Forechecker's got an update up on my annual Blogger Invitational fantasy pool. Both he and Kent from Matchsticks & Gasoline have had terrific seasons and are heavy favourites going into next week's playoff rounds:
| Rk | Team | W-L-T | Pct | Pts | Moves |
| 1 | Tha Gnomes | 172-85-29 | 0.65 | 373 | 29 |
| 2 | The Fab Forecheckers | 152-97-37 | 0.60 | 341 | 9 |
| 3 | The Alcoholic Army | 153-105-28 | 0.58 | 334 | 20 |
| 4 | Mirtle's Merry Men | 147-105-34 | 0.57 | 328 | 38 |
| 5 | Sharkspage | 143-113-30 | 0.55 | 316 | 60 |
| 6 | Matt of the Battle | 141-112-33 | 0.55 | 315 | 8 |
| 7 | The Petes | 139-110-37 | 0.55 | 315 | 9 |
| 8 | Sleek's Battlebots | 135-118-33 | 0.53 | 303 | 25 |
| 9 | Islanders Army | 137-121-28 | 0.53 | 302 | 2 |
| 10 | Spector's Spudheads | 123-124-39 | 0.50 | 285 | 32 |
| 11 | Covered in Chris | 120-132-34 | 0.48 | 274 | 18 |
| 12 | JapersRink All-Bums | 122-139-25 | 0.47 | 269 | 34 |
| 13 | Denomme's Danglers | 113-136-37 | 0.46 | 263 | 36 |
| 14 | Sasquatch Watchers | 106-148-32 | 0.43 | 244 | 23 |
| 15 | Kings of Men | 100-154-32 | 0.41 | 232 | 29 |
| 16 | Pension Plan Puppets | 97-158-31 | 0.39 | 225 | 1 |
| 17 | Mighty Mallards | 96-159-31 | 0.39 | 223 | 4 |
| 18 | Puck Daddy | 89-169-28 | 0.36 | 206 | 9 |
Almost everyone in the pool is a notable blogger, with a few exceptions. The Alcoholic Army is my cousin, one of the smartest hockey people I know, and The Petes is a good friend of mine here in Toronto who's also a big fantasy nut. They tend to do pretty well every year, even against some of the brilliant puckheads here.
Covered in Chris is from the now-defunct blog Covered in Oil, Denomme's Danglers and Sasquatch Watchers are two fellows I work with at The Globe, Kings of Men is HockeyBuzz's own Danny Tolensky and Mighty Mallards is Mr. Millard from Global Edmonton.
This is a very, very difficult pool, so there's no shame in finishing out of the running.
For the first time, there is a little bit of a wager on the line, and I don't like my chances of taking it home. I've won the first two pools, but am in tough with this bunch of pluggers. My goalies have really hurt me this season, but the Merry Men have a ton of firepower:
Centre: Ribeiro, Little, Umberger, Peverley, Sakic (IR)
Left Wing: Booth, Versteeg, Whitney, S. Kozlov
Right Wing: Hossa, Sykora, Holmstrom (IR), Hejduk, Erat, Giroux
Defence: Gonchar, Robidas
Goal: Price, Conklin, Auld, Gerber, Ramo
This is a massive, 18-team league with 20+ player rosters, so it's a toughie and about 50 per cent of the NHL is drafted back in September. There are not enough goalies to go around, and a well-timed pickup like when Tha Gnomes grabbed Steve Mason can win the pool.
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Forechecker in 2nd place with only 9 moves… strong drafting there.
by Habs on Mar 10, 2009 1:54 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
No kidding. I rotate a lot of my guys, but it’s mostly the same bottom five guys on the roster. Little and Versteeg were free agent pickups, for example, and someone dropped Gonchar when he was first injured.
by James Mirtle on Mar 10, 2009 2:03 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Thx...
I had a couple busts; Rod Brind’Amour being the biggest, and Ville Koistinen’s been a disappointment as well. Robert Lang was a real prize until he get injured.
More fun than a stick to the face!
On the Forecheck is SB Nation's blog covering the Nashville Predators.
by Dirk Hoag on Mar 10, 2009 6:57 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
The Forechecker
He is unreal. He is so prepared it’s ridiculous. In the live chat along with the live blog I knew I was screwed.
That and only having one goalie…and having to leave halfway through the draft.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
by PPP on Mar 10, 2009 8:50 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
PPP making us look bad.
Pension Plan Puppets*
* Blog contains less than 2% puppet content by weight.
by Chemmy on Mar 10, 2009 2:04 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
What the hell? Is PPP trying to get Tavares for next year? He does know this is just fantasy hockey, right?
jrwendelman
The Artist Formerly Known as "Junior", who blogs at heroesinrehab.ca/blog
"But if someone so eager to engage into fist talk, we can always meet after season end in Minsk." (Mikhail Grabovski and a well-meaning but not particularly skillful translator)
by jrwendelman on Mar 10, 2009 2:35 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
dang
he is clearly experimenting to see if he could do a better tank job than good ol’ Cliffy.
by Karina on Mar 10, 2009 3:00 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Bingo
I am better than Cliffy AND Burke.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
by PPP on Mar 10, 2009 8:49 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Just wait until I win the lottery. I’ll look like a genius next year.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
by PPP on Mar 10, 2009 8:49 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I think I’ve surrendered in the “B” Pool. I’m still watching and changing my lineup, but there’s not much sense in making FA moves, because I’m dead last with a bullet, and it’s not a keeper league so I can’t start hoarding kids for next year. Missing the draft and landing three backups by free agency makes it very hard to do much.
by Doogie2K on Mar 10, 2009 2:14 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Kings of Men
Wow … 15th place … Imagine what we (I’m partnered with Tolensky), could have done if the draft actually let us draft a team, instead of the auto-draft, considering I’m fighting for the last playoff spot in the ‘C’ pool ….
by Kats Hockey on Mar 10, 2009 3:12 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
I got lucky with Mason, although it was a calculated pick-up knowing Hitchcock and how lousy Leclaire had been.
I’ve also been fairly fortunate with injuries this year. I think the only significant guy to miss a lot of time for me was Semin.
by Kent Wilson on Mar 10, 2009 3:59 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Man, I had no interest in Mason when he went on the wire. Shows what I know.
Going with two Ottawa goalies was the dumbest thing I did. I remember picking between Gerber and Thomas with my third pick and going the (really) wrong direction.
by James Mirtle on Mar 10, 2009 4:01 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Love to see Wyshy in last. Damn Devil fans don’t know anything about hockey.
What about an update on our Yahoo league? I am actually not sucking this season!
I have a blog too! www.scottyhockey.com
Let's Go Rangers!
by Scotty Hockey on Mar 10, 2009 5:01 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Here is my team in Mirtle’s blogger league:
Center: Laich, Malhotra, Madden, Handzus, Cullen, McDonald, Oshie
Left Wing: Marleau, Wincester, Cote
Right Wing: Hudler, Fehr, Stewart,
Defence: Rafalski, Boyle, Barker, Colaiacovo
Goal: Nabokov, Danis, Bryzgalomite.
IR: Rene Bourque, Marco Sturm
Team is either very hot, or very cold offense-wise, but defense and goaltending have been solid. Been switching out role players week-to-week with guys that get first line ice time until I ran out of roster moves. Two worst moves of the season, trading Dustin Brown and Kyle Quincey to Sleek for Ladd and Sanford (out of the league 2 weeks later). Also dropping Ryane Clowe by mistake after night at bars, picked up by Sleek on waivers.
Mirtle beat me twice head-to-head by 1 point. Ramo stood on his head for the second one, against the Bruins! This is the second straight year I gave an auto-drafted player a starting goalie, Khabibulin to Spector.
by pj48 on Mar 10, 2009 6:57 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Sanford is 5-1-2 in 10 games played with the Manitoba Moose of the AHL after being sent down, with a 1.31GAA and a .951SV. He earned consecutive wins including a shutout, in back-to-back games against Peoria at the end of Feb. With the Vancouver Canucks, he registered a 7-8-0 record in 19GP, with a 2.59GAA and a .906SV.
With Luongo out, I would have picked Sanford as an emergency #1 over Schneider, who looked overwhelmed in a couple of NHL starts and seems ahead of him on the AHL depth chart (leads the AHL with a 1.70GAA), and LaBarbera, who came into the season in much improved physical condition but was not as focused mentally in a number of difficult Kings losses.
Still can’t understand why no teams made a move on Sanford at the trade deadline. Either they wanted too much in return, or Vancouver wanted an insurance policy on Labarbera/Luongo, or teams do not stay up to watch West Coast games.
by pj48 on Mar 10, 2009 7:10 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
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