Jeff Carter came alive in round 3 to lift new poolies into contention.

Round 3 Analysis
Chicago's elimination - the last remaining "titan" in the pool, if you could call them that - leaves us with less than 10% of the pool's picks remaining for the final round, the fourth lowest in the pool's history. The worst was just three years ago in 2012 when Pittsburgh's loss left only 5.5% remaining. Nevertheless we have corporate NHL's dream scenario, a coast to coast metropolitain battle between New York and Los Angeles.

We have the second highest rate of wiped out entries (66%), but only one person with a full dance card of six: Chris McCluskey, who also happens to headline the Who's Hot list (below). If he hadn't picked Detroit to win he might have had a shot to come from far behind.

The Chicago-LA semifinal was one for the ages - fantastic hockey on both sides from the leagues two most exciting teams. Enjoy the final round, which we hope will also be solid, memorable hockey.

6-year-old likely to learn lesson about high hopes
Samuel Wexler has had the distinguished honour of holding first place for most of the second and third rounds, by as much as six points at one time. The six-year-old who did make his own picks still has his heart set on Super Mario 3D World for his Wii U (not to mention an RESP contribution). And had Chicago scored the overtime goal in game 7, it would have effectively been his. But with only two LA players to his pursuers' three, it looks like Sam will end up in that dreaded 4th or 5th spot, likely one point out of the money. So what would have been a lesson about proper money management, will likely instead be a lesson about what happens when you get your hopes too high and they come crashing down. It's tough to be a kid.

The contenders
There are few real contenders this year now that all the top teams are out, and only one team (L.A.) has a meaningful presence. Among five entries, four of them are likely to make it (with a tie for third) leaving us with only one or two stories to watch.

Normally we chart out who the contenders are in the scenarios of the East or West champion winning the Cup, given the 10-point Cup bonus. This year since no Rangers pickers are contenders and no Rangers players factor into the race, list is much simpler.

Samuel Wexler holds the top spot by only a point going into the final round, and has Gaborik. Stephen Craig and Joan Coveny are tied one point back, and together can pass Sam if Carter and Doughty get more points than Gaborik. Frank Pileggi (and Scott Lee if LA wins) is (are) an additional two points back and have Gaborik so they need three points from Doughty to catch Sam. They need Gaborik to get two points more than Carter to catch Stephen and Joan.

The wildcard: if Quick gets a shutout (or gets two points/wins more than Gaborik) and LA wins the Cup, Jessica Thompson will be suddenly in the mix.

All contenders have Kopitar making him irrelevant, and the only Ranger even close to influencing anything is McDonagh, who would need a mess of points to allow Craig Endicott into the picture. Only miraculous numbers for Lundqvist, Richards, and Nash could get Chris McKluskey into the running.

Los Angeles win				NY Rangers win
Samuel Wexler	135	Kopitar,Gaborik		Samuel Wexler	135	Kopitar,Gaborik
Stephen Craig	134	Kopitar,Carter,Doughty		Stephen Craig	134	Kopitar,Carter,Doughty
Joan Coveny	134	Kopitar,Carter,Doughty		Joan Coveny	134	Kopitar,Carter,Doughty
Frank Pileggi	132	Kopitar,Gaborik,Doughty		Frank Pileggi	132	Kopitar,Gaborik,Doughty
Scott Lee	122 (+10)	Kopitar,Gaborik,Doughty		Craig Endicott	129	Kopitar,McDonagh
Jessica Thompson	120 (+10)	Kopitar,Doughty,Quick		Chris McCluskey	110	Kopitar,Carter,Doughty,Lundqvist,Richards,Nash
Craig Endicott	129	Kopitar,McDonagh
Chris McCluskey	110	Kopitar,Carter,Doughty,Lundqvist,Richards,Nash

Goaltending battle a dud
It was supposed to be Tuukka Rask vs everyone else, but then Boston was out and everyone else caught up. Now, with the goalie battle coming down to the wire between Jonathan Quick and Henrik Lundqvist, it is only Quick who can have an impact on the results, and only for one person. This year unlike most others, the goaltending battle was not important to the outcome.

Opportunity seized
Three relatively obscure picks with impressive credentials have been part of the story of this year's pool. Jeff Carter (11 picks, 22 pts) had an incredible run in round 3 to pass Marian Gaborik (9 picks, 19 pts) on the scoring list, with both bringing some entries into pool contention. Both were inspired picks that have had a major influence on the pool leaderboard. Meanwhile Nolan Sarner gets kudos for being the only one to pick "Mr. Game Seven" Justin Williams (18 pts) - a consistently underappreciated pick despite his now-record career point total in game sevens.

Mitch's prediction
A great start to my picks in the first two rounds came to a sudden end in round 3. I went 0-2 putting me back down to 9-5. I can still go 10-5 if LA wins, since I am picking LA even though my son's slight chance of a podium finish likely requires a New York victory. I really do want to be cheering for the Kings though... they're the best in the game in my opinion and the most fun to watch (followed by Chicago). So anyway... I'm predicting an LA win and no Super Mario 3D World for my son.

Who's Hot and Who's Not:

Hot	Pos. Gain (R2,R3)		Hot	Rd3 Pts.
Chris McCluskey	111 (138,27)		Joan Coveny	40
Brendan Hoey	91 (143,52)		Chris McCluskey	40
Marie Loop	90 (122,32)		Craig Endicott	38
Graham Haines	79 (99,20)		Graham Haines	38
Tim Sowden	75 (98,23)		Frank Pileggi	37
Matteo de Brienne	74 (170,96)		Stephen Craig	37
Not	Pos. Loss (R2,R3)		Not	Rd3 Pts.
Ryan Slack	74 (26,100)		42 People with:	0
Andrew Robichaud	65 (39,104)
Tyler Robinson	62 (46,108)
Aron Slipacoff	62 (46,108)
Kristoff Porebski	61 (26,87)

Team and Player Stats:

Top Players
Forwards Team Pts Picks Anze Kopitar LOS 24 45 Jeff Carter LOS 22 11 Patrick Kane CHI 20 63 Marian Gaborik LOS 19 9 Justin Williams LOS 18 1 Marian Hossa CHI 14 35 Jonathan Toews CHI 17 44 Brandon Saad CHI 16 0 Ryan Getzlaf ANA 15 90 Zach Parise MIN 14 1 Marian Hossa CHI 14 9 Evgeni Malkin PIT 14 54	Defense Team Pts Picks Drew Doughty LOS 16 37 Brent Seabrook CHI 15 2 PK Subban MON 14 22 Ryan McDonagh NYR 13 8 Jake Muzzin LOS 11 0 Duncan Keith CHI 11 102 Goalies Team Pts Picks Henrik Lundqvist NYR 18 6 Tuukka Rask BOS 18 122 Marc-Andre Fleury PIT 17 10 Jonathan Quick LOS 17 16
Teams
IN Picks Cups Los Angeles 116 12 NY Rangers 43 4	OUT Picks Cups Chicago 294 17 Montreal 68 8

Projected Round 4 Standings

Here are the projected scores and rankings for after round 4, not including the Cup winner bonus. The projection assumes (wrongly, of course) that the players you have alive will produce in round 4 at the same average rate as in the first three rounds. Of course, if you have no players left, you will definitely have the same score as you have now!

(R1)	(R2)	(R3)	Proj. Rank	Name	Score	Alive	Cup	Rd4 Projection
8	10	2	1	Stephen Craig	134	3	BOS	154
20	14	2	1	Joan Coveny	134	3	BOS	154
50	13	4	3	Frank Pileggi	132	3	CHI	151
3	1	1	4	Samuel Wexler	135	2	CHI	149
100	138	27	5	Chris McCluskey	110	6	DET	143
100	23	5	6	Craig Endicott	129	2	BOS	141
15	2	7	6	Scott Lee	122	3	LAK	141
20	46	12	8	Jessica Thompson	120	3	LAK	139
1	2	6	9	Brandon Kubis	125	2	ANA	138
15	39	16	10	Diego DeMarco	117	3	BOS	136
37	31	7	11	Ryan Thompson	122	2	BOS	135
8	8	9	12	David Valenti	121	2	BOS	134
37	31	14	12	Julian Vardy	119	2	BOS	134
147	17	23	12	David Loop	114	3	LAK	134
8	21	12	15	Dave Poitras	120	2	BOS	132
85	74	23	16	Nolan Sarner	114	3	LAK	131
8	10	15	17	Thomas Cheyne Matheson	118	2	BOS	130
72	39	16	17	Jay Dart	117	2	CHI	130
28	2	9	19	Bill Garrity	121	1	PIT	129
20	7	9	19	Paul Martin	121	1	MTL	129
5	14	27	19	Aaron Allard	110	3	BOS	129
5	2	22	22	Judah Gould	115	2	ANA	128
85	99	20	22	Graham Haines	116	3	BOS	128
100	82	27	24	Ryan McLennan	110	3	LAK	126
37	105	32	25	Emma and Andrew Fielding	109	2	DET	124
8	31	46	25	Laura Tackaberry	105	3	LAK	124
20	17	16	27	Allan Boynton	117	1	BOS	122
61	98	23	27	Tim Sowden	114	2	BOS	122
3	31	27	27	James Yanyk	110	2	BOS	122
135	79	54	27	Steve Sealy	102	3	LAK	122
157	143	52	27	Brendan Hoey	103	4	NYR	122
37	39	20	32	Jessica Pigeon	116	1	BOS	121
135	74	35	32	Stephen Kennedy	108	2	MTL	121
157	122	32	32	Marie Loop	109	3	BOS	121
8	14	40	35	Peter Hogg	106	2	BOS	119
33	82	68	35	Ava McAdam-Beder	100	3	LAK	119
17	12	36	37	David Stemmler	107	2	BOS	118
61	23	16	38	Peter Seemann	117	0	MTL	117
168	105	47	38	Reuben-Apollo Jackaman-Slipacoff	104	3	ANA	117
37	46	26	40	Mohan Krishnamoorthy	111	1	BOS	116
85	82	78	40	David Schamma	97	3	STL	116
33	93	82	42	Mike Newbauer	96	3	STL	115
50	68	40	43	Lindsey Baldwin	106	1	BOS	114
210	122	72	44	Paula Santin	99	3	MTL	113
2	46	72	45	Mitch Wexler	99	2	BOS	112
85	31	27	46	Patrick Gill	110	0	BOS	110
20	31	32	47	Angela Yanyk	109	0	BOS	109
20	26	36	48	Max Porebski	107	0	ANA	107
85	31	36	48	Mouli Ramani	107	0	MTL	107
20	26	36	48	Tommy Juranka	107	0	BOS	107
50	57	40	51	Todd Nemisz	106	0	BOS	106
37	17	40	51	Alexander Bondarenko	106	0	BOS	106
37	57	40	51	Dennis Clayton	106	0	BOS	106
5	17	40	51	Don Colangelo	106	0	BOS	106
110	156	87	51	Stephanie Robichaud	95	2	CHI	106
192	143	94	51	Becke Gainforth	92	3	NYR	106
17	6	47	57	Karen Savoie	104	0	BOS	104
85	46	47	57	Brad Nemisz	104	0	BOS	104
147	46	47	57	Evan Hoey	104	0	PIT	104
33	46	47	57	Terry Hoey	104	0	BOS	104
157	132	119	57	Donna Thompson	84	3	LAK	104
61	26	52	62	Luke McEachnie	103	0	BOS	103
85	62	54	63	Edward Levens	102	0	BOS	102
72	62	54	63	Harper Christie-Allard	102	0	CHI	102
61	99	54	63	Les Endes	102	0	CHI	102
147	82	54	63	Ryan Dempsey	102	0	BOS	102
50	39	54	63	Russell Reed	102	0	BOS	102
121	161	108	63	S Ripsman	87	3	BOS	102
8	9	60	69	Scott Poitras	101	0	BOS	101
173	62	60	69	Michael Sheahan	101	0	MTL	101
110	68	60	69	Jordan Ford	101	0	BOS	101
72	46	60	69	Pette Chappell	101	0	BOS	101
61	39	60	69	Ryan Chirnomas	101	0	ANA	101
72	82	60	69	Ruth Beder	101	0	CHI	101
135	46	60	69	Shane Kozlowich	101	0	PIT	101
50	82	60	69	Vince Pileggi	101	0	PIT	101
28	39	90	69	Adam Bloedow	93	1	BOS	101
85	99	68	78	Mike Melanson	100	0	CHI	100
197	114	68	78	Peta Allard	100	0	CHI	100
50	93	68	78	Pasqi Porco	100	0	BOS	100
110	116	87	78	Randy Stewart	95	1	BOS	100
50	99	102	78	Blair Miller	89	2	BOS	100
72	62	72	83	Siyeon Lee	99	0	BOS	99
28	23	75	84	Scott Anson	98	0	BOS	98
72	21	75	84	Sharon Boitson	98	0	MTL	98
110	99	75	84	Shane Davey	98	0	BOS	98
100	109	90	84	Brad MacDonald	93	1	BOS	98
85	170	96	84	Matteo de Brienne	91	1	CHI	98
17	46	78	89	Scot Cowger	97	0	PIT	97
147	57	78	89	Fred Slade	97	0	MTL	97
110	82	78	89	Amy van Steendelaar	97	0	BOS	97
168	178	143	89	Paul Groba	78	3	LAK	97
28	109	82	93	John Thompson	96	0	BOS	96
37	31	82	93	Larry Coole	96	0	BOS	96
110	79	82	93	Colin McSweeney	96	0	BOS	96
121	57	82	93	Elena Noble	96	0	BOS	96
61	26	87	97	Kristoff Porebski	95	0	ANA	95
121	185	156	98	David Hart	75	3	LAK	94
110	122	90	99	Max-Zeb Jackaman-Slipacoff	93	0	CHI	93
37	93	90	99	Matthew Warner	93	0	BOS	93
147	183	138	99	Sean Sargent	80	3	NYR	93
147	128	94	102	Dave Michael	92	0	SJS	92
173	116	96	103	Kyle Hogg	91	0	BOS	91
110	68	96	103	Mark Brewster	91	0	BOS	91
85	68	96	103	Neil Poitras	91	0	BOS	91
61	188	147	103	Todd Beaman	77	3	NYR	91
85	26	100	107	Ryan Slack	90	0	BOS	90
168	138	100	107	Andrew Hart	90	0	CHI	90
184	161	102	109	Trish Robichaud	89	0	CHI	89
85	39	104	110	Andrew Robichaud	88	0	BOS	88
121	116	104	110	Sophie Wexler	88	0	BOS	88
72	128	104	110	Martha Gill	88	0	CHI	88
72	82	104	110	Krista Bensette	88	0	BOS	88
72	46	108	114	Aron Slipacoff	87	0	BOS	87
72	46	108	114	Tyler Robinson	87	0	PIT	87
20	68	108	114	Sal Scarfone	87	0	ANA	87
179	128	119	114	Ken Wilcox	84	1	BOS	87
157	188	156	114	Silvio Memme	75	3	BOS	87
135	57	112	119	Kristie Baran	86	0	PIT	86
135	143	112	119	Vincent Galante	86	0	SJS	86
85	116	134	119	Brad Moulton	81	1	PIT	86
173	193	159	119	Andrea De Petrillo	74	3	SJS	86
61	62	114	123	Eric Flint	85	0	ANA	85
100	62	114	123	Barrett Boitson	85	0	BOS	85
157	116	114	123	Connor Brewster	85	0	ANA	85
135	149	114	123	Aaron Pretto	85	0	BOS	85
121	149	114	123	Dave Spedding	85	0	BOS	85
203	207	161	123	Mike van Steendelaar	73	3	LAK	85
33	82	119	129	Jason Feltz	84	0	BOS	84
147	109	119	129	Brad Hotson	84	0	BOS	84
28	68	119	129	Cooper Levens	84	0	BOS	84
37	114	138	129	David Lester	80	1	BOS	84
147	149	142	129	John Orsini	79	1	SJS	84
192	173	151	129	Ted Kennedy	76	2	ANA	84
168	173	124	135	Duncan Campbell	83	0	CHI	83
37	74	124	135	Pierre Allard	83	0	BOS	83
37	74	124	135	Della Santin	83	0	BOS	83
85	74	124	135	Mathew Seemann	83	0	BOS	83
37	93	124	135	Andrew Rudy	83	0	ANA	83
173	132	143	135	Tim Smith	78	1	PIT	83
157	166	129	141	Mike Siegler	82	0	CHI	82
179	143	129	141	Sanjay Talwar	82	0	ANA	82
72	143	129	141	Shane Firth	82	0	BOS	82
135	166	129	141	Carl Pledger	82	0	BOS	82
61	79	129	141	Nick Mechar	82	0	BOS	82
121	82	134	146	Molly McNulty	81	0	BOS	81
50	82	134	146	Harris Beder	81	0	ANA	81
100	132	134	146	Roger Rooney	81	0	BOS	81
179	138	147	146	Richard Gretzinger	77	1	SJS	81
121	122	138	150	Colin Sutherland	80	0	BOS	80
50	93	138	150	Ruth Haaima	80	0	BOS	80
110	132	151	150	Christopher Mossey	76	1	BOS	80
157	99	143	153	Scott Munnoch	78	0	ANA	78
61	149	143	153	Shawn Robichaud	78	0	BOS	78
121	105	147	155	Joy Smith	77	0	PIT	77
50	105	147	155	Alvin Gainforth	77	0	BOS	77
121	109	151	157	Vince DiNucci	76	0	SJS	76
100	109	151	157	Lanny Cardow	76	0	BOS	76
121	161	151	157	Thomas Jarman	76	0	SJS	76
121	173	168	157	Dustin Hall	70	2	BOS	76
173	132	156	161	Doug Graham	75	0	ANA	75
121	116	159	162	Jake Poitras	74	0	BOS	74
157	138	161	163	Ian Winsor	73	0	PIT	73
61	122	161	163	Brett Kirkpatrick	73	0	BOS	73
121	122	161	163	Tim O'Gorman	73	0	ANA	73
135	128	165	166	Chris Smith	72	0	BOS	72
100	132	166	167	David Minuk	71	0	BOS	71
50	149	166	167	Ira-Clarke Jackaman-Slipacoff	71	0	SJS	71
179	185	182	167	Brenden Kennedy	66	1	STL	71
135	138	168	170	Janine Pileggi	70	0	BOS	70
135	173	168	170	Frank DiGirolomo	70	0	SJS	70
135	156	168	170	Ron Wener	70	0	PIT	70
85	143	172	173	Keith Chappell	69	0	COL	69
157	161	172	173	Rob Phillips	69	0	BOS	69
135	161	172	173	Mark Norman	69	0	BOS	69
187	170	178	173	Kovi Smolack	67	1	BOS	69
168	199	184	173	Douglas Wilkinson	65	1	BOS	69
206	199	175	178	Pascal de Brienne	68	0	BOS	68
72	149	175	178	George Smith	68	0	BOS	68
100	149	175	178	Jordan Reznick	68	0	SJS	68
197	156	178	181	Jack Brownlee	67	0	ANA	67
100	156	178	181	Andy Hotson	67	0	BOS	67
147	156	178	181	Fraser Macdonald	67	0	BOS	67
110	170	182	184	Jeff Snow	66	0	SJS	66
197	166	184	185	Kevin Pinto	65	0	ANA	65
147	173	184	185	Ron Ego	65	0	PHI	65
157	166	184	185	Mike De Petrillo	65	0	BOS	65
208	202	188	188	Aaron Beder	64	0	SJS	64
110	193	188	188	Hanna-Marea Kennedy	64	0	DET	64
187	208	190	190	Sohee Kim	62	0	CHI	62
121	178	190	190	Colin Laird	62	0	COL	62
184	178	190	190	Paul Smits	62	0	BOS	62
197	181	193	193	Gabe Pretto	61	0	ANA	61
179	201	193	193	Dave Quist	61	0	BOS	61
72	181	193	193	Zack O'Gorman	61	0	SJS	61
187	193	196	196	Samara McAdam	60	0	SJS	60
173	183	196	196	Sam Fielding	60	0	PHI	60
212	211	198	198	Eli Hammerman	59	0	PHI	59
197	185	198	198	Brandon Poitras	59	0	BOS	59
157	188	200	200	Mel McNulty	58	0	SJS	58
197	188	200	200	Shannon Brewster	58	0	STL	58
192	188	200	200	Andrew Ryan	58	0	SJS	58
192	202	203	203	Kevin Boomer	57	0	SJS	57
192	196	204	204	Joel Borgida	56	0	COL	56
206	196	204	204	Avery Spedding	56	0	STL	56
184	196	204	204	Matthew Taylor	56	0	STL	56
213	209	207	207	Norrin Ripsman	54	0	STL	54
208	202	208	208	Laura Speciale	53	0	STL	53
187	205	209	209	Lee Beech	50	0	BOS	50
187	205	209	209	Stacy Martin	50	0	COL	50
211	210	209	209	Colin Kennedy	50	0	SJS	50
203	212	212	212	Stefano Pileggi	42	0	SJS	42
203	213	213	213	Desmond Desrosier	33	0	SJS	33
214	214	214	214	Steve Feltz	29	0	STL	29