How The First Round Was Won

There were some excellent entries into the HBIC Playoff Pool, and I routinely offer up a day of reflection on those picks to recognize the outstanding predictions made by entrants. There were also some interesting trends that emerged in the opening round of the Playoff Pool, so we'll look at those as well. In short, I was very impressed by a number of people who called a pile of series correctly. And remember that no one is out until the Stanley Cup is awarded! Hang in there, and keep playing if you're down! There's still a chance you could earn a prize!

Colorado vs. Minnesota

There was one person who stood ahead of all others in this series. Daniel W. predicted the correct team winning in Games Two, Four, Five, Six, and Seven for five points. He also called the Gabriel Landeskog game-winner in Game Two and the Zach Parise game-winner in Game Six for four more points. And because Daniel was one of the few people who picked Minnesota to win in seven games, he also earned another five points for predicting the winner and the number of games correctly. All told, Daniel was the winner of this series with fourteen points! Well done, Daniel!

Average score in this series: 5 points.

St. Louis vs. Chicago

LJ S. earned some notoriety for his predictions in this series. LJ predicted the correct team winning in Games One, Three, Five, and Six for four points. He also correctly identified the Alex Steen game-winner in Game One, the Jonathan Toews game-winning goal in Game Three, and the Toews game-winner in Game Six for an added six points! And because he correctly predicted the Blackhawks winning this series in six games, LJ picked up another five points for his efforts. Afte rthe dust settled, LJ had scored fifteen points in this series! Awesome job, LJ! That was the top score from all the first-round series!

In a rather weird trend, 33 of 41 entrants called a Chicago win in Game One - 80.5% of you. Of course, with St. Louis winning that game, 80.5% of you missed points in that first game. However, that was the one game that seemed to bring everyone together more than any other in the opening round.

Average score in this series: 7 points.

Anaheim vs. Dallas

Richard B. came out on top in this series after everything was totaled! Richard correctly predicted the winning team in all six games for a quick six points. He also called Jamie Benn's game-winning goal in Game Three for an added two points. And since he called all six games correctly, he also got the additional five points for predicting Anaheim advancing after six games. Final tally on that series was a cool thirteen points! Well done, Richard!

Average score in this series: 5 points.

San Jose vs. Los Angeles

We had two entrants tie for the best score in this series. Michael D. at #33 called a great series. He had the correct winning teams in Games Two, Three, Four, Six, and Seven for five points. He called the Anze Kopitar series-winning goal in Game Seven for an added two points. And because he correctly predicted the Kings beating the Sharks in seven games, he added another five points to his total. After some mad calculus, Michael had scored twelve points in the series! Excellent job, Michael!

The other entrant who equaled Michael's total was Ty F. Ty called the correct winning team Games One, Two, Four, Six, and Seven for five points. Like Michael, he also knew that Kopitar was going to score the series-winning goal for another two points. And like Michael, he also called the Kings in seven games for the added five points. Tack on twelve points to Ty's score for his predictions in this series! Well done, Ty!

Average score in this series: 6 points.

Boston vs. Detroit

We had two leading scorers in this series as well. Vernon O. correctly predicted the winning team in Games Two, Four, and Five for a quick three points. From there, Vernon called the Jarome Iginla game-winner in Game Four and the Milan Lucic game-winner in Game Five to add another four points to his total. And because he had Boston winning in five games over Detroit, he picked up the additional five points in the series. All said, Vernon picked up twelve points in this series! Well done on this series, Vernon!

Neal L. didn't let Vernon get away in this series, though. Neal correctly predicted the winning team in all five games for an easy five points. Neal also called Jarome Iginla's game-winning goal in Game Four for another two points. And because he called all five games correctly with Boston as the winner, he picked up the additional five points as well! Neal finished with twelve points as well in this series! Excellent work, Neal!

Average score in this series: 5 points.

Tampa Bay vs. Montreal

If there was one series that messed everyone's pools up, it was the Montreal sweep of Tampa Bay. I'll talk about this in a second, but let's recognize two entrants first. Dan F. was one of the two scoring leaders in this series. Dan correctly called the winning team in Games One, Three, and Four for three points. He also called Tomas Plekanec's game-winner in Game Three and Max Pacioretty's game-winner in Game Four. Putting all that together sees Dan pick up seven points in this series! Well done, Dan!

The second guy who picked up seven points was Andrew G. Andrew actually called the exact same series as Dan: all three games, and both game-winning goal-scorers. Sweeps rarely produce many variations on points, so this was to be expected by me. In any case, great job, Andrew, on picking up seven points in this series!

I can tell you that no one picked a sweep for either team in this series. It was about a 50/50 split for which team was going to win the series, but the sweep is where it matters. The problem with sweeps is that they are basically all-or-nothing. If you think a series is going long and there's a sweep, you earn virtually no points. However, if you're going to call a sweep, you better be certain because even one mistake can cost you a pile of points. As the average score in this series shows, the former came to pass.

Average score in this series: 3 points.

Pittsburgh vs. Columbus

Greg C. made his mark in the pool with this series. Greg correctly predicted the winning team in Games One, Two, Three, and Six for four points. He also correctly predicted Jussi Jokinen's game-winning goal in Game One and Evgeni Malkin's series-winning goal in Game Six for another four points. And because he called Pittsburgh to win in six games, Greg also secured five additional points. Added up, Greg brought home thirteen points in this series! Excellent work, Greg!

Average score in this series: 4 points.

NY Rangers vs. Philadelphia

Michael D. at #1, who had an excellent opening round, dominated this series en route to the top spot in the pool after Round One. Michael correctly predicted the winning team in all seven games for seven points. He also predicted Brad Richards' game-winning goal in Game One for another two points. And because he predicted every game correctly, he had New York winning in seven games for an additional five points. My trusty calculator says Michael earned fourteen points in this series! Excellent job, Michael!

Average score in this series: 6 points.

As stated above, Michael had himself a whale of an opening round with 66 points. He correctly predicted the winning team and length of the series in four series of the eight played. If you're doing the math, that's an easy twenty points! Michael has himself a good lead going into the second round, but there are a pile of people hot on his tail. Can they overcome the deficit? Will they be able to catch him? All I know is that Michael deserves some kudos for winning Round One of the HBIC Playoff Pool! Just as a note, the ten best finishers will get a prize, so shoot for the top-ten if you're trying to hunt down Michael! You will get a prize!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!