Hockey Blogger Invitational heading for the playoffs

by Dirk Hoag on Mar 9, 2009 4:47 PM EDT in Fantasy Hockey

Sure, the Stanley Cup playoffs are still several weeks away, but in Fantasy Hockey, crunch time is now. This is my second year participating in James Mirtle's Hockey Blogger Invitational, and it looks like I won't repeat my Presidents Trophy performance of last year, as Kent of Matchsticks and Gasoline is running away with the title this time around. The Fab Forecheckers are on pace for a solid 2nd place finish, however, assuming we don't flame out this week against Spector.

Our playoffs begin March 16, with the top six teams participating, and the top two seeds getting a bye in the first round. It'll be a tight race down to the end, as you can see spots 5-7 are within a whisker, and one team will get left out. Last season, a late injury to Rick DiPietro ruined my playoff fortunes; can my boys hold on this year? My current squad is listed below.

Rank	Team	W-L-T	Pct	Pts	Last Week	Waiver	Moves
1	Tha Gnomes	172-85-29	.652	373	8-4-1	12	29
2	The Fab Forecheckers	152-97-37	.596	341	9-3-1	15	9
3	The Alcoholic Army	153-105-28	.584	334	10-2-1	8	20
4	Mirtle's Merry Men	147-105-34	.573	328	12-1-0	14	38
5	Sharkspage	143-113-30	.552	316	10-3-0	6	60
6	Matt of the Battle	141-112-33	.551	315	10-2-1	18	8
7	The Petes	139-110-37	.551	315	10-3-0	2	9
8	Sleek's Battlebots	135-118-33	.530	303	3-9-1	11	25
9	Islanders Army	137-121-28	.528	302	2-10-1	3	2
10	Spector's Spudheads	123-124-39	.498	285	3-10-0	16	32
11	Covered in Chris	120-132-34	.479	274	5-5-3	5	18
12	JapersRink All-Bums	122-139-25	.470	269	2-10-1	7	34
13	Denomme's Danglers	113-136-37	.460	263	4-8-1	17	36
14	Sasquatch Watchers	106-148-32	.427	244	6-4-3	13	23
15	Kings of Men	100-154-32	.406	232	4-6-3	4	29
16	Pension Plan Puppets	97-158-31	.393	225	3-10-0	1	1
17	Mighty Mallards	96-159-31	.390	223	5-5-3	10	4
18	Puck Daddy	89-169-28	.360	206	1-12-0	9	9

The Fab Forecheckers

Center: Mychal Nylander, Eric Belanger, Tomas Plekanec, Doug Weight (IR).

Left Wing: Alex Ovechkin, Andrew Brunette, Richard Zednik

Right Wing: J.P. Dumont, Alexei Kovalev, Jamie Langenbrunner, Brian Gionta, Owen Nolan, Jordin Tootoo

Defense: Bryan McCabe, Rob Blake, Sami Salo, Dennis Seidenberg, Jaroslav Spacek.

Goal: Tomas Vokoun, Craig Anderson, Dan Ellis

Keep in mind this is an 18 team league that drafted 20 rounds, so everybody's got some holes in their lineup!

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Lest you forget...

Your other, far less prestigious league… :-)

Rank	Team			W-L-T		Who?
1	Tallahassee Warthogs	131-72-39	
2	@PredFans		129-76-37	Paul Nicholson (Geek Thoughts)
3	The Felder Flu		112-92-38	Brandon Felder (hockeybuzz)
4	Nolensville Knights	110-97-35	Forechecker (ontheforecheck.com)
5	@stackiii		110-98-34	
6	Old School Blues	111-101-30	
7	Ice Holes		105-97-40	Paul McCann (hockeybuzz/Preds annoucner)
8	Pond Hockey Rulez	105-97-40	
9	303 4 Life		99-101-42	
10	ConsolationConqueror	101-113-28	
11	Puckhounds		96-115-31	
12	RebelMandos		85-119-38	
13	Becker's Wreckers	78-128-36	
14	The Knack		70-136-36

Blog- http://paulnich.blogspot.com
Hockey Pics- http://flickr.com/photos/paulnich/collections/72157600076075216/
Hockey Vids- http://vimeo.com/pwnicholson/videos/tag:nhl

by pwnicholson on Mar 9, 2009 5:36 PM EDT reply actions

Yes...

I’m not faring quite as well there; I really need to set a reminder to check my lineups Sunday night in that one, rather than Monday morning when it’s too late!

More fun than a stick to the face!
On the Forecheck is SB Nation's blog covering the Nashville Predators.

by Dirk Hoag on Mar 9, 2009 6:57 PM EDT up reply actions

yeah...gonna fix that

i have to do the same thing.
Next year i’m gonna tighten it up.

Gonna try to recruit all the Nashville area hockey bloggers (there are at least 11 now that i know of) into a league, and set it to daily roster changes like most leagues do. Should make for a more interesting and competitive experience than a 14-team league half-full of random people that lost interest 5 weeks into the season.

Blog- http://paulnich.blogspot.com
Hockey Pics- http://flickr.com/photos/paulnich/collections/72157600076075216/
Hockey Vids- http://vimeo.com/pwnicholson/videos/tag:nhl

by pwnicholson on Mar 10, 2009 1:41 AM EDT up reply actions

Good to hear

And just because lineups can change daily doesn’t mean you have to check them every day. I go in on Monday and set mine for the week ahead all in one go. The nice thing is that if I miss it and have to do it on Tuesday, the damage is minimal.

More fun than a stick to the face!
On the Forecheck is SB Nation's blog covering the Nashville Predators.

by Dirk Hoag on Mar 10, 2009 9:18 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah it’s been a good run for me this year. The funny part is I don’t have anyone in the top 15 in scoring in the league. It’s all about depth (and picking up Steve Mason) for me.

by Kent Wilson on Mar 9, 2009 8:30 PM EDT reply actions

I’m just glad it’s another stat-head leading the way. We can’t have some seat-of-the-pants troglodyte kicking our butts, it’d be bad for business!

More fun than a stick to the face!
On the Forecheck is SB Nation's blog covering the Nashville Predators.

by Dirk Hoag on Mar 10, 2009 9:19 AM EDT up reply actions

Is that where I come in?

by James Mirtle on Mar 10, 2009 1:56 PM EDT up reply actions

Nah...

I’d say you, Sleek, Matt & J.P. qualify as part of the slide-rule club…

More fun than a stick to the face!
On the Forecheck is SB Nation's blog covering the Nashville Predators.

by Dirk Hoag on Mar 10, 2009 2:39 PM EDT up reply actions

Well...

I’m all red-faced now for being in last place and having abandoned my team two months ago. But that’s what happens when your goaltending gets injured and Briere bruises his labia …

by Wyshynski on Mar 10, 2009 2:37 PM EDT reply actions

It’s funny that I’m considered a stat head in blogdom. Math was my worst subject in school and I typically dreaded the stats classes I had to take in post secondary.

by Kent Wilson on Mar 10, 2009 3:04 PM EDT reply actions

I’m guessing that’s because of a profound lack of hockey-based story problems in your classes…

“If Dan Cloutier’s 5-hole is 32 inches wide, and closing at 2 inches per second, how wide of a gap will Larry Murphy have to shoot at if he crosses center ice with the puck at his top speed of 8 mph?”

More fun than a stick to the face!
On the Forecheck is SB Nation's blog covering the Nashville Predators.

by Dirk Hoag on Mar 10, 2009 3:40 PM EDT up reply actions