Round Two Starts Now

Well, I guess that title isn't entirely true. The second round actually started earlier tonight, but you may have caught yesterday's post that said that everyone would get the free three points because the NHL scheduled the second round to start before the first round had ended. Yeah, it's dumb, but this is the NHL and their magical scheduling. So while the second round has officially started, the HBIC Playoff Pool moves into Round Two officially right NOW!

To get you going, I have created another pretty little Excel document that can be opened in both Microsoft Excel and OpenOffice Calc. Fill this out and send it back to me WITH YOUR NAME AS THE NAME OF THE EXCEL DOCUMENT just like you did in the first round, but note that it is a Round 2 spreadsheet (ie. TeebzR2.xlsx). Send all picks to the pool email address: hbicplayoffpool-at-gmail-dot-com. Easy, right?

I will say this about the Nashville Predators: they got a helluva performance out of Pekka Rinne tonight. I'm not sure how they're feeling after a game in which they appeared to be running on fumes, but they'll have to get themselves ready for another West Coast team that looked pretty solid in the San Jose Sharks.

The will be the third time that the Predators have played in the second round, ousting Anaheim in 2010-11 and Detroit in 2011-12. The Predators have never been further than the second round, though, as Vancouver knocked them out in 2011 and Phoenix killed Nashville's season in 2012. It will be another tough test for the Predators in this series against San Jose, but they played very well against Anaheim to close out this series after being down 3-2 in the series.

For the Ducks, this is the fourth-straight season where they have been up 3-2 in a series only to lose the series on home ice in Game Seven. That's a record, folks, and not one that Ducks fans or the team should celebrate. As much as saying this sounds crazy, Bruce Boudreau's job will come under scrutiny once again as he's lost his sixth Game Seven in his coaching career as well. Despite all the regular season success Boudreau has led the Ducks to, it will ultimately be up to management and the owners to decide if Boudreau comes back for another season.

We'll see how this Predators win affects brackets as well.

With the Lightning-Islanders series already underway, I was impressed to find every single HBIC Playoff Pool entrant calling the Islanders with a John Tavares game-winning goal! Well done, all! Get your second round entries in before the start of the games tomorrow evening, and everything will be alright. If, for some reason, you can't get that done, EMAIL ME ASAP.

May the odds be ever in your favour!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!