Pos. Loss (R1,R2)
-22 (2,24)
-11 (19,30)
-11 (23,34)
Hot
Vince Galante
Wally Mikulski
B.L.T.
Not
Aron Slipacoff
Julian Vardy
Joel Cornberg
Tim Smith
R2 Pts
55
48
47
R2 Pts
0
10
21
21
It was a close call, but most of the pool's
picks survived Round Two. With Colorado and Toronto on the ropes, it appeared
that the pool would lose as many as 139 picks in the round, but in the
end only 15 picks (San Jose - 11, St.Louis - 3, Ottawa - 1) were eliminated.
As a result, the pool should continue in the pattern it's been following,
with no big mix-ups until the final round.
Of course, the critical factor will be who wins the Colorado-Detroit series.
But another key will be whether Toronto can make it to the final. Some
Toronto homers may be secretly hoping for a Leaf defeat, to weaken their
opponents...
Perfect picking George Smith survived the scare and came
away from round 2 just as he had round 1, without losing any players.
He has three each from Detroit, Colorado, and Toronto. If Toronto can
defeat Carolina, he will have a full slate of 6 in the final round as
well. That should give him the inside track to win the pool, but he's
got close competition.
Tight on top It's such a close race on top, that it's still anyone's
pool. Tim Crockford regained his top spot after a brief dip, but
is only one point ahead of Smith and Vince Galante. For Vince,
the key is Peter Forsberg, the pool's leading scorer who was taken in
only four entries. Also in the running are B.L.T., Tony Ruffolo,
and Wally Mikulski.
Veteran goalies prove their mettle After upstart goalies such as Patrick Lalime, Brent
Johnson, and Jose Theodore were the talk of round one, it is the veterans
who remain. In Roy, Hasek, and Joseph we have three of the leagues top
four playoff veterans (Martin Brodeur is the fourth).
Mitch's take on the Leafs-Sens series Toronto had the better team all year, and even with
the loss of Sundin, Yushkevich, and Renberg, I predicted Toronto in seven
because of their battle resolve, and the way that Gary Roberts can lift
his team. While the Leafs lost Lumme and Tucker during the series, Ottawa's
loss of Zdeno Chara, their top defenseman and physical presence, and Mike
Fisher, their top playoff centreman, was too much for them to overcome.
They lost their edge, got distracted by the tough talk, and the series
was over. A tremendous effort by the Leafs; they deserved to win.
Projected Round 3 Standings:
Name:
George Smith
Tim Crockford
Vince Galante
B.L.T.
Wally Mikulski
Tony Ruffolo
Steve Tivey
Richard Gretzinger
Mohan Krishnamoorthy
Brendan Browne
Peter Sadlier-Brown
Ron Wener
Crawford Dedman
Ian Winsor
Vince Brescia
Barb Ferrier
David Reilly
Mike Howard
Karen Patterson
Mitch Wexler
Sam Fielding
Christian Pitcher
Russell Reed
Keith Riddell
Dane Clatney
Andrew Ryan
Snow Princess
Altaf Champsi
Rohit Chandra
Danthrax
John Menary
Kevin Floether
Joel Cornberg
Paul Hanna
Max Slipacoff
Tim Smith
Mouli Ramani
Julian Vardy
Aron Slipacoff
