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The Chicago Blackhawks have won their first Cup since 1961, after a dramatic, momentum-shifting six game series. Their top players made the difference in the games and in the pool, where the top entries were fully stocked with Hawks players, while the cupboard was bare early in the East. Please see the final pool analysis for the dream team, key to the pool, and final thoughts. Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone for playing in Lord Stanley's Pool! See you in ten months when we start it all over again.
Congratulations to Sean Hammond for winning Lord Stanley's Pool 2010! Chicago's Stanley Cup win lifted Sean ($1182) to a five point margin over Aaron Allard, who had been first place since the second round. Aaron did manage a late round rebound to preserve second place ($591) despite not picking the Hawks to win, while Mike van Steendelaar used the Cup bonus along with his Philly pick to claim the $197 third prize. On the outside looking in were Blair Miller, fishing three points back and Ruth Beder, five points out in fifth. Congratulations to all of the top finishers. Kane gets Cup winner in OT 6/10/2010 12:41:00 AM Patrick Kane delivered the Cup to Chicago with the overtime winner, giving the Hawks their first championship since 1961 and bringing Jeremy Roenick to tears up in the NBC booth. Kane's three points also had a final impact on the standings, solidifying second place for Aaron Allard despite earlier pushes from other contenders. Another wild one 6/7/2010 9:55:00 AM The Cup finals went back to the Madhouse on Sunday and had another wild game. Seemingly in response to criticism that he was being nullified by Chris Pronger, Dustin Byfuglien proceeded to get two goals, four points while Pronger was a minus-5 on the night. Also in the minus category was Claude Giroux, whose -4 with no points (along with Patrick Kane's two points) solidified Sean Hammond's claim for first on a Chicago victory. Mike van Steendelaar essentially needs a Niemi shutout if he wants a chance to win. Meanwhile Aaron Allard has sewn up a money spot no matter who wins, first with Philly or third with Chicago. Out of the blue, Briere 6/4/2010 11:46:00 PM Daniel Briere's strong series - and strong playoffs before that - has been going nearly unnoticed, thanks to the stories of Richards, Pronger, and Giroux. But look who's leading the Flyers in scoring, only two points out of the league lead? It's Briere. Nobody took him, of course, yet he'll certainly be on the pool Dream Team. Flyers withstand comeback, even series 6/4/2010 11:43:00 PM Chicago's third-period comeback attempt fell short as Philadelphia hung on to tie the series at two games each. The series is now half over and options are getting more limited for the final standings changes. Aaron Allard's pretty much locked up the win if the Flyers hoist the Cup while Sean Hammond is still the odds on favourite in Chicago is victorious. Giroux makes things interesting 6/3/2010 8:40:00 AM Claude Giroux's three-point night, including the overtime game winning goal, helped the Flyers back into the series and Mike van Steendelaar to within four points of Sean Hammond in a Chicago win and two points of third in a Philadelphia win. Meanwhile Ruth Beder has finally reached third place as Mike Melanson's chances are all but done. Kevin Boomer, who finished the first round in 130th, has moved in to the top ten. Niemi's wins making an impact 5/31/2010 11:25:00 PM He didn't get the shutout, but Antti Niemi is still making a subtle difference in the pool outcome with his wins in the finals. Mike van Steendelaar has moved up into a tie for second with Aaron Allard in the would-be standings if Chicago wins, while Blair Miller is a point behind in fourth. Other than the goalie, the only other player providing points is Marian Hossa, who has three points in two games for Kevin Boomer, Alusha Morris, Russell Bobbie and others. |
The talk was all about the goaltending and each team's top forward line, but all that appeared to fall apart in game one of the finals. With 11 goals in the game the goaltending was not a factor, and yet despite so much offense neither top line got any points. Marian Hossa had his best game with two points and Danny Briere had four. Duncan Keith collected an assist to give Sean Hammond sole possession of second place and move Ruth Beder within a point of third. Final round begins 5/28/2010 2:01:00 PM A knock-em-down, drag-em-out final series begins with two teams trying to snap decades-long Cup droughts. Will it be Philly's first since '75 or Chicago's first since '61? Read up on the pool contenders and other tidbits in the Round 3 analysis. Cinderella misses the ball, sends step-sister 5/24/2010 10:27:00 PM Montreal's Cinderella story ended with her missing the ball and sending one of her mean, ugly step-sisters instead. Philadelphia finished off the Habs in bruising fashion with Mike Richards leading the way as usual. This is the same Mike Richards who nobody took in the pool, but is now second in playoff scoring. Chicago-Philadelphia starts Saturday. Last hope fades for pool sharks 5/23/2010 9:45:00 PM San Jose's four-game elimination has put out the last hopes for a few contenders who had made a long trek up the standings, to finish just shy of the money line. Ruth Beder needed more production out of her two Sharks to break into the top three, getting to just two points back, but is now locked in fourth. Karen Savoie is similarly locked in fifth. Georgia Strachan made an improbable journey from 79th to 13th and along with Blair Miller lost three Sharks today. But Miller now has the chance, with a Chicago Cup win, to jump into the money. The biggest benefactor of today's events is probably Sean Hammond who, while quietly sitting in 3rd place (and now tied for 2nd) since last round, is almost assured of the big prize if the Hawks win the final. One and done 5/22/2010 10:46:00 PM If you can't score you can't win, and so the Montreal Canadiens are a loss away from the end of their Cinderella story. Philadelphia joins Chicago in being a win away from the Cup final. Mike van Steendelaar collected points for Claude Giroux's two goals to move up to eighth place while Aaron Allard continues to lead the pool. Comments, questions, suggestions? E-mail Mitch.
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