Preparations are complete for the 4th annual NC$$ Tournament pool.  The spreadsheets have been checked, the rules have been updated and all that's missing are the matchups.  There will be four contests this year (ain't automation grand?)

As in the past years, contest 1 will be a simple pick the winners contest.

Contest two will add additional points for those who pick the goal differential for each game (i.e. the difference between the winner's goals and the loser's).

Contest 3 takes the madness a bit further in that it awards extra points to whoever picks the number of goals scored by the winner and the number of goals scored by the loser.

Contest 4 is a variation on contest 3 in that you score points
for being closest to the winner's number of goals and the losers number of goals and you gert these points even if you don't correctly choose the winner of the game. (Not sure whether this is worth it but I thought I'd give it a try. It uses the same data as contest 3 anyway, it manipulates the data a bit differently).

Confused?  Hopefully the official contest rules will clarify things. They will be sent to the list along with the entry form on Sunday night after the tournament field is selected.

One difference this year however. In past years, I've accepted entries until noon on the Friday of the first round games.
During that time, I reviewed all the entries and when an incomplete entry was found, I replied to the sender and allowed them to send in a correction.  This year I can't do that.
I will be out of town (out of country actually) starting Wednesday, March 21. I hope to be able to review all entries received by late evening on Tuesday the 20th. Anything received
past that time will not be reviewed until my return which will be the following week after the tournament has completed the
preliminary rounds.

Please check your entries.  Fill in winners and scores for all games (if you don't, I use the score of 0-0). Be sure to fill in both tiebreakers (number of OT games and total goals). If you leave out the tiebreakers, I use 0 OT games and 0 total goals.

Once again, the rules and entry forms will be out Sunday night.