Gordon Head Hockey Pools

This will forever be one of the closest playoff pools. In the final round it was between Brody and Ben. Brody was up on Ben by ten points. However, it was Brody's Kopitar (LAK) against Ben's four Rangers. Whoever won the cup was likely going to win the pool. LAK did what they were built to do and rolled over the Rangers. Brody is the newest winner of Gordon Head Hockey Pools. Another point of interest is that Dan set the dubious record of losing all his players at the conclusion of the second round.

 Ben picked first, followed by Ranon, then Gord, Mike, Dan

Another year of Ben. He laughed at us all at the round-up/play-off draft, as he considers himself the least knowledgeable member of the pool. And  yet he comes out on top again. Hmmm. It was another dominating victory as well. After a brief battle with Crawford, Ben pulled ahead and stayed there (despite losing Stamkos early in the season). This year was definitely marked with Ben style play as drafts and trades were often motivated out of spite instead of rational decision making. All in all, it made for a slightly silly but fun year (especially for Ben- again).

For Forward selection:

Dan picked first, followed by Chris, then Ben, Ranon, Gord

For Defense selection:

Ben picked first, followed by Ranon, then Gord, Chris, Dan

For Goaltender selection:

Ranon picked first, followed by Dan, then Gord, Ben, Chris and Brody.

Dan picked first, followed by Ranon, then Chris, Brody, Ben and Gord. 

Much to everyone's dissatisfaction, this year was a lockout shortened season with only 48 games starting in January. The pool had to scramble to find available members, and as a consequence entry in the pool was only $20 with a winner takes all pot. Gord led pretty much the entire way, with two known hiccups, one at the beggining of February when Dave passed him for a day, and the other at the end of March, after Dan made two trades and passed Gord for a day. Other than that he never looked back... well almost didn't look back. With yet another Sidney Crosby injury, Gord spent the rest of the season in April watching Dan catch-up, fall-back, catch-up etc. until he ran out of time. It's tough to say what would have happened in a normal season. Some big nights this year though. Gord set a record night with 18 points including a 10 point game from two players, and Dan took two runs at that record falling short at 17 points each time, notably he predicted his first run, and only a Fleury injury in the middle of the game prevented him from a new record.

For Forward selection:

Gord picked first, followed by Dan, then Ranon, Dave, Chris

For Defense selection:

Ranon picked first, followed by Chris, then Dan, Gord, Dave

For Goaltender selection:

Gord picked first, followed by Dave, then Dan, Chris, Ranon

These playoffs will likely go down as the most competitive playoff pool ever, Chris won the pool by passing Ben in the second to last game of the playoffs, with an assist by Elias in a cup losing effort. And with this win, along with the bracket win, Chris almost completed a sweep of the entire year, which leaves us begrudgingly acknowledging the 2011-2012 year as "the year of Chris;" and he is now our first true champion- with a target on his back. This said, these playoffs were also the most embarrassing for all of us. Only the winner was able to match the previous low bar of 65 pts and all time new lows were set. Andy's gamble on the Canucks has given us a new low bar which will likely never be repeated. If it wasn't for his Henrique pick, he would not have made it to 30 by the last round. Many of us were knocked out of the running by the first or second round. The memorable first round Pittsburgh/Philly series, with its outrageous scoring, and ultimate win for Philly sunk many of us and vaulted Chris to the win with his two Flyers and two Devils.

 Dan picked first, followed by Ranon, then Gord L., Shaun, Andy, Chris, Gord N. and Ben.

Oh how the mighty have fallen. Ben from first to last. Chris comes in and does a last minute sweep of the draft and rocks the pool for its entirety! Ranon and Dan battle it out all year; Gord L. goes from seemingly perennial second place finisher to dead last most of the year, only to claw his way into fourth; Gord N. the bridesmaid of three different categories. In this game there are no guarantees. Although there is an element of skill, in scouting and drafting the right kind of players, there are so many variables that often makes this pool akin to betting on horses. Chris's horses were by far the thoroughbreds of the year. Another excellent regular season, better than the first.

For Forward selection:

Chris picked first, followed by Ranon, then Dan, Gord L., Ben, Gord N.

For Defense selection:

Ben picked first, followed by Gord L., then Ranon, Gord N., Dan, Chris

For Goaltender selection:

Dan picked first, followed by Chris, then Gord N., Gord L., Ranon, Ben

The sophmore playoff pool was fantastic. Much more competitive, more strategy, more side bets, and, with the introduction of the bracket, more opportunity to flex our understanding of the game. Dan's win was a significantly smaller margin than Jeremy's the previous year, but this field was much tougher; and the Flyers were a lot less lucky, so were the Habs. I can see the signs of the competition and skill level increasing over the following years. This year demonstrated how unpredictable yet consistent hockey can be concerning the draft of hockey players to perform and produce points in professional sport's toughest tournament.

Ranon picked first, followed by Chris, then Ben, Pat, Dan and Gord

The first season was a very memorable one. Injuries dicatated a little to much of the drama, and in the end- stability, games played and consistent scoring led Ben to victory.  This season saw Ranon take an early lead, then Gord grasping a three month hold on the "coon" postion (ie first place or looking to win it all) until Ben mounted a slow yet steady assault on Gord's lead, surpassing him by February and then coasting to end as our first champion.

For the Forward selection:

Pat picked first, followed by Eric, then Ben, Gord, Chris, Ranon, Dan

For the Defense selection:

Gord picked first, follwed by Pat, then Chris, Ben, Dan, Eric, Ranon

For the Goaltender selection:

Gord picked first, follwed by Chris, then Eric, Ben, Pat, Dan, Ranon

The 2010 Playoff Pool was marked with Jeremy's huge sucess- choosing all four of the top point scorers of the playoffs. 

Alex picked first, followed by Dan, then Pat, Gord, Meaghan, and finally, Jeremy.