Hockey Pool 2007-08

I was asked to participate in this years Hockey Pool by the great folks who are in my College Street Fantasy baseball league. With help from my favorite fantasy hockey website DOBBER HOCKEY( I guess he is the Canadien Dobber) , and my Pittsburgh Penguin bias, we will see how things shake out. I will post updates throughout the season good bad or ugly!


NHL 2007/2008 Pool

Pick one player from each box for a total of 12 players (8 forwards, 2 defenseman, 2 goalies). Scoring is one point for goal, one point for assist and 2 points for a hat trick. Shootout goals will not count for any stats per NHL rules. Goalies get 2 points for a win, 2 points for a shutout, 5 points for a goal and one point for assist. You are allowed to make 3 trades, dropping one player and picking up another from the same box. Trades will take effect on the following day and you will get the points for your dropped player up to and including the trade date and pick up the new players points starting the following day. Multiple trades are allowed in the same box.

Please note Crosby is broken up in box 2 with just his assists and box 8 with just his goals (2 points for hat trick applies as well). If you take him in both boxes and he gets hurt, you would need to make 2 trades.

Prize money will be determined by amount of entries. In the event of a tie, the tiebreaker will be most goals. There will also be a $50.00 prize for the Stanley Cup winner. If there is more than one correct prediction, a name will be drawn from a hat. If nobody picks the Cup winner, $50.00 goes to first place winner.


Here is my entry form.


Stanley Cup Winner: Pittsburgh Penguins


Category One: Heatley, Thronton, Lecavalier , Spezza, Briere, Igilna , Kovalchuk, Jagr, Hossa, Sakic, St. Louis, Ovechkin.


I selected Marty St. Louis in the first point scoring category. I know he is not projected to score as much as many of the others listed, but I got to know Marty a little bit while working on " Hockey Talk". "Hockey Talk" was the weekly magazine style show featuring the UVM Catamounts back in the 90's. I'll take a "friend" over a 100 point scorer every time!



Category Two: D. Sedin, Vanek , H. Sedin, Datsyuk, Alfredsson, Malkin, Jokinen, Savard, Tanguay, Brind'Amour, Whitney, Crosby ( assists).


I shyed away from Crosby's assists, as I felt I may be able to grab more points using his team mate Evgeni Malkin. If I grabbed both Crosby's and he got hurt, I would need to use 2 of my 3 moves just to replace him. Having followed Malkin as a Pen's fan, I know he has several more levels left in him.


Category Three: Gaborik, Kariya, Sundin, Langkow, Drury, Zetteberg, Bergeron, Hadjuk, Shannahan, McDonald, Marleau, S. Kozlov.


I selected Marian Gaborik. When healthy, Marian is a Category One talent.


Category Four: Cheechoo, Elias, Gagne, Koivu, E. Staal, Straka, Smyth, Richards, Afinogenov, Demitra, Pominville, Frolu.


I almost grabbed Cheechoo, but I have so much faith in Gaborik, that I have to believe he will drag Demitra along with him.

Category Five: Blake, Murray, Dumont, Rolston, Gomez, Havlet, Modano, Cole, Nash, Parise, Naslund, Recchi.

One of the guys over at Dobber Hockey projects Parise to get 90 pts. Should be fun to see.

Category Six: Kovalev, Tkachuk, Roy, Langenbrunner, Erat, Ribiero, Weight, Ryder, Fisher, Zubrus, Sullivan, Hemsky.

With Briere gone, look for Roy to net 70-80 pts.


Category Seven: J. Staal, Schaefer, Samsonov, Doan, Prospal, Guerin, Strum, Tucker, Satan, Bouchard, Stumpel, Gattlaf.

Almost nabbed Prospal, but Staals' second half last year made me believe we have only begun to see this young studs potential!


Category Eight: Lang, Morrison, P. Sykora, Crosby (goals), Arnott, Knuble, Holstrom, Boyes, Smolinski, Avery, V. Kozlov, Kassel.

The Hat Trick bonus that Crosby is able to bring to the table ought to help me balance the fact that I picked Marty in the first category.
I think "Sid The Kid" can garner 150 pts.


Category Nine: Phaneuf, Souray, Boyle, Zubov, Pronger, Whitney, Gonchar, McCabe, Rafalski, Lindstrom, Visnovsky, Kaberle.

Gonchar is the cog of Pittsburgh's high powered offense.

Category Ten: Redden, Chara, Lies, Jovanowski, Pitanen, Bergeron, Poti, Campbell, Markov, Bouwmeester, Bouchar, Scheider.

Bouchar has developed a scoring touch, my sleeper of this years Pool.

Category Eleven: Nabokov, Turco, Lundquist,Fluery, Hasek, Miller, Kiprusoff, Luongo, Giguere, Emery, Dipietro, Lehtonen, Raycroft.

Luongo is a no brainer IMO.

Category Twelve: Huet, Holmquist, Kolzig, Fernandez, Legace, Mason, Biron, Toskala, Khabibuilin, Vokoun, Backstrom, Roloson, Ward.

Defering to http://dobberhockey.com/ again, they Backstrom him as an elite goaltender this season.

There you have it !
Feel free to offer up any opinions, or teams yourself !
Dobber