Preparation Has Begun

With the NHL's regular season coming to a close, another annual tradition kicks off here on HBIC. Just as I've done in past year, the HBIC Playoff Pool will open tomorrow as the NHL Stanley Cup Playoff picture if finalized. There won't be a Detroit for the first time in running this pool while there will be a Toronto for the first time. Columbus will make a second appearance - their only two appearances - back in the pool, so there will be some changes to which entrants will need to adjust. And on that note, there will be some changes to the HBIC Playoff Pool this year.

The HBIC Playoff Pool is something I've run each year here on the blog, but I've found myself doing a lot of work for a number of people who only play for a round or two. Once they forgot to play for a round or they realize the picks they made have them light years behind the leaders, they quit. The first round of the playoffs is, for me, the most work I do in the pool as everyone and their dogs come out of the woodwork to enter the pool. Because of this, I am making a change.

Entries this year will be limited to those who played all the way through to, and including, the Stanley Cup Final last season AND those that I know personally whose reputation of good standing precedes them AND those that read this blog. While I certainly encourage those who read this blog to enter since you've stuck with me through everything on this site, I will not be advertising it on other sites as I have done in the past. Those are from where most of these one-and-done entrants came, and I don't have the time nor the inclination to weed through entries whose owners do not read this blog regularly to get updates and future rounds' spreadsheets.

Some of you may complain about this ripple in the pool's water this year. After ten years of watching hundreds of people enter to play only to have them never fill out another spreadsheet, I want less work when it comes to this pool. If you land on the pool's page through a search engine and fill out the spreadsheet, I'll take your entry. But if you do so, make sure you check back after every round. You're on notice as of right now: you enter for one round, you enter for all rounds. If that's too much work for you to handle, don't enter. If you do and you fail at keeping your end of the bargain, I'll be taking names when it comes to future contests, giveaways, and HBIC Playoff Pools.

As of tomorrow, we'll know who plays where and when, but the Stanley Cup Playoffs will start on Wednesday. The spreadsheet for the first round of the pool and the rules of the HBIC Playoff Pool will be posted tomorrow. You have until puck drop on Wednesday of the first playoff game to get your entries in. Let the games begin!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!