You Pick 'Em

With last year's HBIC Playoff Pool, there was a lot of behind-the-scenes work that I needed to do. I'm not against doing work by any means, but, with summer approaching quickly, I find myself becoming busier as the days push forward. Of course, we all enjoy warm summer weather, so you all know this. In looking forward to this year's playoff pool, I have decided to make a few changes. I had a few people complain that they weren't all that confident in their ability to pick players last season, and didn't enter the pool because of this lack of confidence in themselves. I want as many people as possible to enjoy the NHL Playoffs, so I've made a change to the format this year. It will still present challenges for you, the entrant, so I'm confident that you will still enjoy accumulating points throughout the playoffs.

Here is the format for the 2009 Hockey Blog In Canada Playoff Pool.

• Entrants will be required to pick the winner of each game for each series. In doing so, one will also choose the number of games played by the two teams in each series.
• Entrants will be required to pick the game-winning goal scorer for each game.

Sounds pretty easy, right? No real strategy as to which team will go further, who is playing whom, and all that jazz.

Points will be based upon your predictions.

• For each correctly-predicted team that wins the game, one point will be awarded. For correctly predicting the series length, two points will be awarded. For correctly predicting the series length and winning team, five points will be awarded. If one correctly predicts the series length and winning team, the two-point option is overrided by the higher-scoring option.
• For predicting the player who scores the game-winning goal per game, that entrant will receive an additional two points per game per correctly-chosen player.

The following example should help you weed through the rules:

• For the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia series, I predict that Pittsburgh will win Games 1, 2, 4, and 6. Philadelphia will win Games 3 and 5. I also predict that Evgeni Malkin will score the game-winner in Game 1; Chris Kunitz in Game 2; Jordan Staal in Game 4; and, Bill Guerin in Game 6. Jeff Carter will score Philly's winner in Game 3 while Mike Knuble will score in Game 5.
• If I correctly predicted the entire series (highly improbable with my record of prognostications) of Pittsburgh winning in six games with all my game-winner scoring choices being right, I would earn 23 points (6 for each correct game + 5 for correctly predicting length and series winner + 12 for each game-winning goal scorer).

The catch to this whole thing is that no one will be eliminated until the Stanley Cup is handed out. With each new round beginning, each entrant will be required to send in their picks just as they did in the previous round. This way, everyone has a chance at some free shwag. And everyone loves free shwag.

I would hazard a guess at there possibly being a tie between two or more people, so your tie-breaker, required at the start of the first round, is to name the team who will accumulate the most penalty minutes. Those who are tied will have their answers reviewed, and the entrant who picked the team with the higher PIM total for the playoffs will be crowned as the winner. Secondary tie-breaker, in case two entrants pick the same team for PIMs, will be number of series correctly predicted in length of games.

For example, if Entrant A picks Boston and Entrant B picks Detroit, and Boston has the higher PIM total, Entrant A would be the winner.

The best part of the HBIC Playoff Pool? It's FREE! That's right, kids. You can enter at no cost, and the shwag is up for grabs. The only thing I ask, to be fair, is that you only enter once, please. Make sure to include your full name on your email with your first round picks, and we'll get the show on the road on Wednesday night.

Please send your emails with your first-round choices and tie-breaker choice to me ASAP. I'll get your picks recorded, and we'll see who is the best predictor in this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!