Round Three Totals

Another round of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs are done, and that also means another round of the HBIC Playoff Pool is done. Los Angeles has been lights-out in their games this postseason, especially on the road, and the New Jersey Devils out-dueled the Rangers in their series. Who would have expected that Wayne Gretzky's former team would be playing the team Wayne Gretzky called a "Mickey Mouse organization" for hockey's greatest annual prize? There were a couple of excellent prognosticators seen in this past round, and we'll take a look at who moved up, who jumped ahead, and who paced the rest of the field in the third round of the HBIC Playoff Pool.

If you remember, I guaranteed everyone who entered this round six points for simply sending in an entry due to the fast turnaround in the NHL Playoffs coupled with the focus I was putting on my vacation. I'm happy to say that not one entrant finished with a total of six points in this round. Here are your round leaders, your overall round leader, and the newest spreadsheet for the NHL Stanley Cup Final.

NEW YORK vs. NEW JERSEY: Four entrants finished this series with an impressive ten points in this series. I'm not going to break down all four entries, but the four people who performed well with their predictions were Casey H., Andy S., Jackson N., and Terry C. Well done, gentlemen, on this excellent series!

PHOENIX vs. LOS ANGELES: There was one entrant who did extremely well, scoring an incredible 14 points in this series. Scott M. received the freebie three points for Game One, but he also correctly predicted the winning team in each of the remaining four games. Tack on Shane Doan's correctly-predicted game-winner in Game Four for another two points, and then add another five for correctly calling the Kings' series win in five games. All totaled, Scott earned 14 points for this series! Well done, Scott, and keep up the excellent work!

If you're looking at the leaderboard to the right, we have a new leader based on the third round scores. Casey H. scored a remarkable 20 points in this round to jump up the standings to the top spot! He currently holds an eight-point lead over Ty F., former leader LJ S., and Andrew G. as the Stanley Cup Finals starts, so these four entrants are almost guaranteed a prize in this year's pool. Well done, gentlemen, and congratulations to Casey for the excellent predictions in Round Three!

If you haven't entered your predictions for the Stanley Cup Final yet, I've uploaded the spreadsheet for you to download. Get cracking on sending this in before the Stanley Cup Final starts on Wednesday night. I know you're good for it. Send all entries to the designated email address in the same YOURNAME.xls FORMAT, and we'll see how this entire pool plays out once the dust has settled.

Well done to all the entrants, and thank you for making this pool so enjoyable this year! Keep up the good work, and you might be getting an email regarding some free gear!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!