Well, the first two rounds of play are complete and so are the
results of the HOCKEY-L pool so far.  Remember that I awarded 1 point
for each correct pick in the first round and 2 for second round
picks.
 
You'll recall in my post of the preliminary results that Maine was a
unanimous choice to get to the Phinal Phour, so their upset loss
prevented anyone from being perfect in the pool so far.  However,
Mike Townsend, Sports Information Director of Bowdoin College in
Maine, wasn't far off the mark as he earned 9 of the 12 possible
points so far.  He was the only person to correctly pick the other
three Albany berths.  Besides Maine, his only other incorrect choice
was BU over MSU.  Congratulations, Mike !!! (Mike doesn't have an
e-mail address but you can get to him care of Craig Cheslog, see
below)
 
By the way, I'd just like to take this time to remind all the
Westerners out there that of the eleven responses from the west,
everyone picked Maine to go the the final four, most of them picked
Maine to go the finals, and about half of them picked Maine to win.
(Just thought us Easterners could use some good news).
 
Three people are close behind Mike with 8 points each.  They are:
 
Bowdoin's       Craig Cheslog   ([log in to unmask])
Mich. Tech.'s   "The Flame"     ([log in to unmask])
GTE's           Mike Hatz       ([log in to unmask])
 
Congratulations to these three as they were the only one's to pick
all the first round winners.  There are 9 people grouped up with 7
points each.  There are 7 people who cannot possibly earn any more
points, and 13 more who can hope to get at most 3 more points with
one correct semifinal pick.  Maine's upset loss really threw a wrench
in the hopes for alot of you.  Wish this was for money, Mike T.???
 
I'll bet Mike T. does wish it was for money because here's another
interesting point:  There are only three people who can possibly
catch him !!!  Only "The Flame", Mike Hatz, and Mead Data Central's
Paul Marchant ([log in to unmask]), who currently has 7 points, can
hope to rob Mike.  Paul and Mike T. each have a shot of getting all
of the 11 remaining points, while Mike H. and "The Flame" can only
get 8 of them.  HOCKEY-L pollster Bill Fenwick of Cornell
([log in to unmask]), who has 7 points, and Mich.
State's Glen Keeney ([log in to unmask]) (6 pts.) can both get
all of the 11 points left.  However, their remaining picks are
identical to Mike Townsend's so they don't have any chance of
catching him.  Sorry, guys !!!!
 
One of the people who has seven points but is out of the running is
Maine's JSH Forsyth ([log in to unmask]).  JSH included
predictions on the score of every game even though this was only
required for the final.  He picked NMU over Clarkson 6-2, missing on
the score but hitting the margin dead on.  In the quarterfinals, he
picked Wisconsin over SLU 4-2 and Michigan over NMU 7-5, missing by a
single goal in each case.  Most impressively, he picked Lake Superior
to beat Alaska-Anchorage by a score of, you guessed it, 7-3 !!!
Good call, JSH.  We ought to pair JSH up with Mike T. and really get
some good picks.
 
Lastly, remember I included on Thursday a bracket which contained the
composite pool picks.  As a group, you guys are awful !!!  The
composite picks have earned only 5 points so far, and can only hope
to get 3 more.  I'm surprised noone noticed this (I just noticed it
myself), but the composite picks were identical to the picks you'd
have if you chose the higher RPICH-ranked team to win every game.
This means the NC$$ is just as dumb as the rest of us.  (And we
always thought we were smarter).
 
However, just for fun, I also filled in a set of brackets with the
teams that Keith Instone's TCHCR would predict, and, low and behold,
not even Mike Townsend can stand up here because TCHCR has 10 of the
12 possible points and is poised to earn another 11 !!!  Even though
TCHCR was the only rankings not to put Maine #1, not even TCHCR
predicted them losing to Michigan State.  However, they were #4 and
#5 in the last TCHCR, with Maine leading Michigan State 77.85 to
77.12.  Two VERY close ratings and, what do you know, a 1-point game
between them.  Coincidence ???  I think not.  Keith didn't submit his
own picks, but he gets an honorable mention here anyway.
 
 
Final Score from Providence:
Wisconsin 5, Chris Wells 2
 
Tim
[log in to unmask]