And Ye Shall Be Crowned Champion

The final totals have been verified. I did short-change one entrant two points on an addition error, so David F.'s total increased by a couple of points. However, all other scores were determined to be correct after careful counting of fingers and toes, and we now have a champion crowned in the HBIC Playoff Pool for 2014! This one, like the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, went down to the wire, but one entrant came out on top! Let's see how this series broke down.

LA Kings vs. NY Rangers

Two gentlemen achieved the highest total of the Stanley Cup Final round with eight points. Ty F. and Dan F. were the only two entrants to correctly pick the Los Angeles Kings to win in five games over the Rangers, and that pushed them ahead of the rest of the field. In fact, only three people called a five-game series in Ty, Dan, and Jared R., but Jared picked the Rangers in an upset. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. So congratulations to Dan and Ty on their excellent picks in the Stanley Cup Final to give them the best rounds in Round Four!

Tie-Breakers

Sixteen teams started this journey, but only one would stand as a winner. However, in order to help me out, I asked you which team would finish the playoffs with the most penalties in minutes. Not surprisingly, the two finalists finished one-two as the Kings racked up 320 PIMS in their playoff run. The Rangers stood second at 240 PIMs. Anaheim, eliminated by the Kings in Round Two, was third-best in PIMs with 236. Needless to say, getting out of the Pacific Division was a war for the Kings. The complete list is here, but the tie-breaker factored into this year's championship total!

Final Tally

The leaderboard has been updated, and this was one of the closest races for a top-ten finish I've seen in recent years. The actual finishes of the top-two finishers was determined by the penalty minutes tie-breaker! I'm not going to draw this out with any additional suspense or anguish, so here are the top-ten finishers who earned a prize this year!

1. Scott M. (NYR) - 91
2. Westin F. (PIT) - 91
3. Tyler J. (BOS) - 88
4. Ty F. (BOS) - 86
5. Ryan P. (LAK) - 85
6. Daniel W. (BOS) - 85
7. Michael J. (BOS) - 84
8. Dan F. (BOS) - 84
9. Forrest B. (BOS) - 80
10. Jay F. (PHI) - 80

Congratulations go out to Scott M. who rallied from behind to pull even with Westin F. in this series, and then took the championship in overtime with his tie-breaker choice of the New York Rangers! I will be contacting each of you starting this weekend, so check your inboxes often! Scott M., you'll be first, so expect an email asking you to choose from the prizes on Friday!

These Guys Helped Out

I want to thank those who helped with some prizing as well, so this section is the unofficial advertising section. Help these guys out when you can. If you need a gift for a family member, friend, loved one, or whomever, these are the guys you want to go to first.

Mark Penxa came through with a couple of awesome t-shirts for the prizes. Mark has his own website where one can discover all the awesome artwork he produces, and his paintings are second-to-none. The man is a genius in blending sports and art. He's also developed a couple of t-shirts, and I'm happy to offer his Arts & Athletics t-shirts in the draws. Thank you, Mark! Please visit his site and check out his work. Awesome stuff!

The boys at the Pond Hockey Brewing Company decided to toss a couple of Puck Off! bottle openers my way to include in the HBIC Prize Pool! These bottle openers work realty well, and I've been using my test opener for some time now. I've even received some comments from guests who wanted to know where I got it as we watch hockey on TV. Do yourself a favor and pick up a Puck Off! bottle opener! Thank you, Keith and Kyle Jordan! One of the best products HBIC has ever reviewed!

I received Rob's artwork, and I'll be tossing the art in with the Grand Prize and the Saucy Senator prize. I didn't photograph it so it's sight unseen, but Rob's work is awesome and will be worth it. If you want to pick up some of Rob's work, check this site. If you want to see his online repository of work, hit this site up. Fantastic stuff on both sites! Thank you, Rob!

My Gratitude

To everyone who sent in entries, I want to thank you for participating in the 2014 HBIC Playoff Pool. I received a lot of "thanks for doing this again" comments on the entries, and I want to acknowledge those thanks as well. I enjoy running this pool, and I really like the interaction. You guys make the playoffs fun for me, and the HBIC Playoff Pool is the biggest giveaway annually I do through the blog. Because this blog generates no income, it's a labor of love and passion for me. You guys make it all worth it, though, with your commitment to the pool. Thanks again, everyone. You're all awesome!

Last But Not Least

I have a pile of stuff that I am going to involved with this summer, and I know everyone who has participated in the HBIC Playoff Pool is pretty knowledgeable when it comes to hockey. Thanks to these two facts, I want to remind everyone that HBIC is always "of the people, by the people, for the people", meaning if you have a hankering to write an article or two HBIC would be happy to post it. I love alternate viewpoints on here, so if you have something you want to write about in the hockey world, send it here and I'll post it. You can use it as a published writing sample for use on resumés or attach it to your LinkedIn/Facebook/whatever social media site you like. You'll get full credit for the writing! So if you're interested, send me your article whenever you like!

Congratulations once more to Scott M., the 2014 HBIC Playoff Pool champion!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!