CCHA Pick ‘Em 2023-24: Augie's In!

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

I doff my helmet to soulbeaver and our very own mbenecke who, with 12 out of a possible 26 points, are our week 16 co-winners. Congrats, though we, as a group, did not set the world on fire here. Only five contestants broke into double digits this week so we might as well give the rest of them some ink. SectionP, Footballguy51, and beaverhockeyfan join our leaders in the double digits club this week. Folks, this club should not be this exclusive.

Friday was undoubtedly the worst exhibition of picking in the history of this contest. How bad was Friday? There were 25 contestant entries this week. Thirteen (13!) went 100% on the anti-picks going 0-for-3. Additionally, only 3 contestants correctly picked the Lakers, 4 picked the Wildcats, and 4 picked the ‘Dawgs. Lastly, not a single contestant picked more than one game correctly. LOLZ!

I want to have a centre ice stick tap for Lakerchum who pulled off the amazing feat of going 100% on the anti-picks for the weekend. If they were to flip that bit (in computer speak), they would have been the weekly winner. So, congrats?

Moving on to the bonus we find additional lessons in futility. The Bulldogs and Vikings fired a total of 142 shots at each other’s goaltenders. iwearpurple posted 128, but that’s as close as anyone got with zero bonus points awarded this week. Subsequently, there’s no movement in the Race for the Sauer with MTUHuskyGold maintaining their 5-point lead.

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Contestant      Bonus
MTUHuskyGold    33
puckdude40      28
Lakerchum       27
Footballguy51   27

With 5 weeks remaining in the season SweeneyHawksHockey’s whopping 9 points was enough to extend his lead over Hockey John and GoNanooks. But wait, there’s more! MTUHuskyGold and SectionP have now leapfrogged their way into second and third place! And speaking of leapfrogging, SectionP has leapfrogged their way into the lead in the Battle for the Beagan with a one point lead over SweeneyHawksHockey and two points over Hockey John.

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Contestant           Points %   Games
SectionP             .628       144
SweeneyHawksHockey   .626       144
Hockey John          .623       144
Soulbeaver           .618       144
GoNanooks            .618       144

We’re trying out a new bonus question this week, hopefully it’s self-evident.

Week 17 picks
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[TalonsUpPuckDown]

So yeah, the week 17 winner is...drumroll please...Footballguy51 with a total of 23 points. Congratulations! Now...I don't want to hear any more whining out of you the rest of the season. What about other top performances this week? Homer play came through for our very own Critical Thinker who was the only contestant to pick BGs sweep of the Bulldogs and potternmu who was the only contestant to pick Northern's sweep of the Huskies. How 'bout Icd80 who was the only contestant to go 4-for-4 on Friday then follow it up with an 0-for-4 on Saturday. Speaking of Saturday, six other contestants also went 0-fer to close out the weekend.

There's a change atop the leaderboard with our very own Hockey John taking over first place from Miami Stater SweeneyHawksHockey by one point. MTUHuskyGold remains tied for second with GoNanooks lurking only 5 points back.

With his performance this week, Hockey John has also vaulted himself into the lead in the Battle for the Beagan! SweeneyHawksHockey is now two points back while SectionP is 4 points back. Here are the current standings:

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Contestant          Points %     Games
Hockey John          .624         152
SweeneyHawksHockey   .619         152
SectionP             .615         152
Soulbeaver           .612         152
GoNanooks            .605         152

Moving on to this week's bonus, there were 16 special teams goals scored on the weekend and 7,990 fans who went through the turnstiles for the Tech/Northern rivalry series (< 8,050). Add it up and what do you get? MTUHuskyGold! That's right, our current leader in the Race for the Sauer walked away with all 10 bonus points this weekend and now has a death grip on the hardware. Eight points back in second place is Footballguy51 but it'll take a 4th quarter comeback to make up the difference given there are only 43 bonus points left in the season. Here's the results for the week and the rest of the contenders:

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Contestant        Special Teams  Attendance  Total
MTUHuskyGold             5           5        10
GoNanooks                4           5         9
Footballguy51            3           5         8
giwan                    3           5         8
Icd80                    3           5         8
Soulbeaver               2           5         7
Hockey John              1           5         6
Bronco Hockey Fan        5           0         5
puckdude40               5           0         5
Manurespreader           0           5         5
PokeCheck                0           5         5
iwearpurple              4           0         4
potternmu                4           0         4
SweeneyHawksHockey       4           0         4
Critical Thinker         3           0         3
John J. MacInnes         2           0         2
mikeeddy19               1           0         1
Tommiealum93             1           0         1

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Contestant	Bonus
MTUHuskyGold     43
Footballguy51    35
puckdude40       33
giwan            30
Lakerchum        27

Since the field tanked the last Augie SOG bonus question, we'll rerun it for their series with the Tommies. THERE ARE ONLY FOUR WEEKS LEFT IN THE REGULAR SEASON! It looks like we'll have 7 first round byes for the playoffs, I'll do a mid-week bump with the projections.

Week 18 picks
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[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Looks like the top 7 will earn a first round by this year. Here are your chances:

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Contestant           Finishing Top 7
SweeneyHawksHockey        84%
MTUHuskyGold              82%
Hockey John               69%
GoNanooks                 62%
Soulbeaver                62%
puckdude40                61%
SectionP                  55%
Critical Thinker          32%
Footballguy51             30%
iwearpurple               24%
giwan                     16%
mbenecke                  15%
mikeeddy19                11%
AgentClass               <10%
beaverhockeyfan          <10%
Bronco Hockey Fan        <10%
Icd80                    <10%
John J. MacInnes         <10%
Lakerchum                <10%
Manurespreader           <10%
PokeCheck                <10%
potternmu                <10%
Puck Master              <10%
TalonsUpPuckDown         <10%
Tommiealum93             <10%

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Major stick taps to our week 18 winner, beaverhockeyfan who bested all comers with 18 points on the weekend. Well played! Also, let's give a shoutout to Mikeeddy19 who was the only contestant to pick Augustana to win on Friday. The rest of the field? On Friday, 2 contestants were perfect on the anti-picks (zero correct) while 13(!!) were successful on only 1 of 4 opportunities. On Saturday, one contestant went anti-picking while 8 got only one right.

While it was a tough week for quite a few contestants, our current leader, Hockey Johh, has opened up a 5-point lead in the MacNaughton race over MTUHuskyGold and 7 points over SweeneyHawksHockey who has uncharacteristically faded a bit over the past couple of weeks. Hockey John's performance also translates into a 5 game lead in the Battle for the Beagan. While it's still early to call this one, with only 3 weeks left in the season (3 weeks??) SweeneyHawksHockey and Soulbeaver will need to step it up right quick.

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Contestant          Points %    Games
Hockey John           .629       160
SweeneyHawksHockey    .607       160
Soulbeaver            .604       160
GoNanooks             .596       160

Moving on to the bonus, which was a replay from a couple of weeks back, there were 131 SOGs in the Augustana/St. Thomas series over the weekend. Congrats to John J. MacInnes who led the way with 8 points. Seven contestants redeemed the rest of the field by picking up at least one bonus point. Well done, team. And with this performance the Race for the Sauer tightens up a bit with puckdude40 now 5 points behind our leader MTUHuskyGold. Here are the weekly bonus figures followed by the Sauer Standings:

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Contestant         Bonus
John J. MacInnes     8
puckdude40           5
PokeCheck            4
beaverhockeyfan      3
SweeneyHawksHockey   2
iwearpurple          1
potternmu            1

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Contestant    Bonus
MTUHuskyGold    43
puckdude40      38
Footballguy51   35
giwan           30

As mentioned, there are only 3 weeks left in the regular season. The final yearly Team/Bonus goal will be added to everyone's totals in week 20. If you're gonna make a move, now's the time.

Week 19 picks
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[TalonsUpPuckDown]

A question on USCHO arose as to whether or not shootout goals count as part of the total goal count for this week's bonus calculation. Answer: no. Only goals scored through the 65th minute count.

Reminder: there is a Thursday game this week so get those picks in.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Tons to cover this week so I'll post the links first...that way you don't have to scroll through this stuff if it isn't of interest.

Week 20 picks
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Congratulations to Lakerchum who, with 22 points, is our sole winner this week! Well done! Stick taps to Bronco Hockey Fan, giwan, Hockey John, and Lakerchum who went 4-for-4 on Friday's picks while Bronco Hockey Fan, mbenecke, and Soulbeaver were perfect on Saturday. Wait...did Bronco Hockey Fan get 'em all right this week? Sure did...congrats!! Nine contestants were perfect on the Saturday anti-picks.

Turning our attention the the MacNaughton, Hockey John has extended his lead to a whopping 11 points over SweeneyHawksHockey. While anything can happen, Hockey John now has a 64% of bringing home the hardware. Statistically, only 6 contestants have a shot at the cup:

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Contestant         Win it All
Hockey John            64%
SweeneyHawksHockey     16%
MTUHuskyGold            5%
GoNanooks               3%
puckdude40              2%
SectionP                1%

Moving on to the Battle for the Beagan, Hockey John now has a stranglehold on that trophy as well with a .636 pick percentage. Soulbeaver is now 3 full games back.

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Contestant         Points %
Hockey John         .636
Soulbeaver          .616
SweeneyHawksHockey  .612

"How'd we do on the bonus this week, TUPD?" Pretty good, I'd say. There were 26 goals scored on the weekend (not including BG's shootout win at St. Thomas). Congrats to Icd80 and Lakerchum who lead the way with 9 points each. Here's how the bonus paid out:

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Contestant          Bonus
Icd80                 9
Lakerchum             9
John J. MacInnes      7
TalonsUpPuckDown      7
Hockey John           6
Tommiealum93          6
mikeeddy19            5
potternmu             5
SectionP              5
Critical Thinker      4
iwearpurple           3
puckdude40            3
SweeneyHawksHockey    3
giwan                 2
GoNanooks             1
mbenecke              1
MTUHuskyGold          1

We're coming down to the wire with playoff fever sweeping through the field. I've posted the first CCHA Playoff Bracketology for your viewing pleasure under the standings. Are you trying to sneak into the top 7 and grab one of those coveted first round byes? Don't like who you're matched up against? Well get those picks in and pick better! Here's your odds of a first round bye:

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Contestant            Top 7
Hockey John            91%
MTUHuskyGold           89%
SweeneyHawksHockey     89%
puckdude40             83%
Soulbeaver             83%
GoNanooks              68%
SectionP               68%
iwearpurple            20%
mbenecke               11%
Footballguy51          10%
Everybody Else        <10%

Footballguy51, you sorta fell off the pace the past couple of weeks but two strong weeks gets you back in the hunt.

Reminder that the final yearly bonus goal will be added to everyone's score next week.

Week 20 picks
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[footballguy51]

Footballguy51, you sorta fell off the pace the past couple of weeks but two strong weeks gets you back in the hunt.

You aren't kidding. That's what I get for being a pessimist about BGSU.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

This week's results may take a bit of screen real estate so here are the links if you want to skip the details:

Week 21 picks
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Congratulations to our week 20 winner, beaverhockeyfan who led the way this week with 31 out of a possible 40 points. Wowza! Other weekly performances worth noting include a special shoutout to everyone in the field for missing the Laker upset of the Mavs on Friday. Yep, we all blew that one. Stick taps to Agent Class who was the only contestant to correctly pick Anchorage to beat Augustana. Stick taps to beaverhockeyfan and puckdude40 who correctly picked all 5 games on Saturday.

Moving on to the bonus, three games ended within 1 goal at regulation, one game ended with a shutout at regulation, two games were tied at regulation and went into OT, and one game was decided by a shootout. Additionally, Michigan Tech added their name to the Team Goals bonus with 7 goals on Friday. Add it all up and you get iwearpurple who walked away with 12 out of 13 bonus points this weekend! It's a long list this week, the bonus details are towards the bottom.

Turning our attention to the Race for the Sauer, puckdude40 has made up serious ground these past two weeks and has taken the lead by one bonus point over MTUHuskyGold with Footballguy51 lurking just 7 points back. There are 10 bonus points up for grabs this week, anything can happen.

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Contestant    Bonus
puckdude40      50
MTUHuskyGold    49
Footballguy51   43
Lakerchum       41
Icd80           41

Lastly, Hockey John stays in first in the Battle for the Beagan but soulbeaver and SweeneyHawksHockey have crept to within striking distance. The lead is down to 4 points and this one won't be decided until all the votes are counted.

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Contestant          Points %   Games
Hockey John           .625      176
Soulbeaver            .617      176
SweeneyHawksHockey    .607      176

It looks like the top 7 byes are basically set with only iwearpurple having a realistic shot at stealing one of those coveted spots (a playoff bye % has been added to the leaderboard). The rest of us need to saddle up and get ready for some mano-a-mano playoff action. You'll find the latest Bracketology analysis below.

This is it. Week 21. Do or die. Gut check time. Make it happen. Leave it all on the field. Pick your metaphor, but get those picks in.

Week 21 picks
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                  1-Goal  Shutout   Tied  Tied at  Team    Game
Contestant        at Reg   at Reg  at Reg  OT/SO   Goals   Goals   Total
iwearpurple          2       2       2       2       3       1       12
beaverhockeyfan      2       1       2       2       3       1       11
Soulbeaver           2       2       1       1       3       2       11
SectionP             2       1       1       2       3       1       10
TalonsUpPuckDown     1       2       2       1       3       1       10
Icd80                2       1       2       2       0       2        9
puckdude40           1       2       2       2       0       2        9
Footballguy51        1       1       1       1       3       1        8
GoNanooks            2       2       1       2       0       1        8
Hockey John          2       2       1       1       0       2        8
John J. MacInnes     1       2       2       2       0       1        8
Puck Master          0       1       1       1       3       2        8
SweeneyHawksHockey   2       1       1       1       3       0        8
Tommiealum93         0       1       2       2       3       0        8
AgentClass           1       2       2       2       0       0        7 
Critical Thinker     2       1       1       1       0       2        7
giwan                2       2       1       1       0       1        7
Manurespreader       0       2       1       2       0       2        7
mikeeddy19           2       2       2       1       0       0        7
PokeCheck            2       1       2       1       0       1        7
potternmu            1       2       2       2       0       0        7
mbenecke             0       1       1       1       3       0        6
Bronco Hockey Fan    2       1       1       1       0       0        5
MTUHuskyGold         1       1       1       1       0       1        5
Lakerchum                                            3       2        5
BGHockeyFan94                                        3       1        4
BGPuckster                                           3       1        4
aparch                                               3       0        3
BGSURICK                                             3       0        3
Deejpuck                                             3       0        3
Atanarjuat                                           0       1        1
Lost_Husky                                           0       1        1
Southsidejimny                                       0       1        1

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

I screwed up the submission form this week, I have the Laker/Ferris game listed both nights. I'll drop the second game from the picks but will double count Friday's game for the purposes of the bonus calculation.

Having Augustana as the 9th member has made this year's pick 'em endeavor a lot more difficult to navigate. Apologies.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Well, the regular season is over. Our final congratulations go out to Bronco Hockey Fan who lead the way with a whopping 24 points this final week. Very well done, sir! Stick taps to SectionP who was the only contestant to correctly pick the Alaska/Augustana tie on Friday night. Let me give a shout out to Bronco Hockey Fan and Footballguy51 who went 4-for-4 on Saturday's picks.

There were nine (9) goals scored by the away teams this weekend including the double counting of the Laker/Ferris game and 29 goals scored by the home teams. Interestingly enough, in the 3 league games on Saturday, the away teams scored exactly zero goals. Of the 9 games played this weekend, there were 6 shutouts. Good gawd. Not surprisingly, zero contestants picked up Away bonus points. Congratulations to AgentClass and TUPD who led the way with 4 bonus points. Here's the payout:

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Contestant         Away   Home  Total
AgentClass           0      4     4
TalonsUpPuckDown     0      4     4
Bronco Hockey Fan    0      3     3
MTUHuskyGold         0      3     3
puckdude40           0      3     3
SweeneyHawksHockey   0      3     3
Puck Master          0      2     2
Footballguy51        0      1     1
GoNanooks            0      1     1

Now, on to the hardware.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR VERY OWN Hockey John WHO IS THE WINNER OF THE MACNAUGHTON CUP FOR 2023-24! Hockey John came in hot down the stretch to pass 3 contestants in week 17 and never looked back. SweeneyHawksHockey made a run at this last week but came up 3 points short.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR VERY OWN Hockey John WHO IS THE WINNER OF THE BILL BEAGAN TROPHY FOR 2023-24! With Soulbeaver picking up the same 12 points as Hockey John the standings from last week didn't change.

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Contestant         Points %   Games
Hockey John         .619       184
Soulbeaver          .611       184
SweeneyHawksHockey  .607       184

CONGRATULATIONS TO puckdude40 WHO IS THE WINNER OF THE JEFF SAUER TROPHY FOR 2023-24! As with the Battle for the Beagan, second place finisher MTUHuskyGold ended up with the same number of bonus points this week as puckdude40.

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Contestant     Bonus
puckdude40       53
MTUHuskyGold     52
Footballguy51    44

Now, on to the playoffs.

The field is set. The top 7 finishers receive first round byes (fill out all entries on the forms, I'll ignore the first day for you). There was one adjustment; LakerChum has been seeded in the last spot as they've missed the previous 2 weeks (and 3 out of the last 4) bumping Puck Master and PokeCheck up one spot each.

Since we are now mano-a-mano for the playoffs, access to the details will be restricted until all contestants have submitted picks. No cheating off your neighbor. Playoffs – Rounds 1 and 2

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

I do a write up on the field as we head into the playoffs and post it on USCHO. Thought I'd paste it here for your reading pleasure.


Let’s get in-depth on these matchups and see what’s what. First up is the Bemidji bracket.

(1) Hockey John vs. Bye – Our 2023-24 MacNaughton Cup champion started out slow but a killer week 6 saw Hockey John move from 16th to 7th and from week 10 onward he was never outside of the top 5. Finishing 8th in the bonus with 37 points coupled with a Bill Began Trophy winning pick percentage of .619 makes him a favorite to reach the final four.

(16) Critical Thinker vs. (17) mikeeddy19 – This matchup represents the statistical middle of the field and you have to dig deep to find any differences between the two contestants. Critical Thinker posted a .549 pick percentage and 28 bonus points while mikeeddy19 went .550 and 30. Both contestants finished with 309 total points. The difference? Critical Thinker came away with 2 weekly wins which may be just enough to tip the scales in his favor. Who do you like? Winner gets Hockey John.

(9) iwearpurple vs. (26) PokeCheck – The gap between these two contestants can best be summed up by the number of games with iwearpurple’s 184 games picked against PokeCheck’s 110. Had PokeCheck not missed consecutive weeks at the start of the season the .513 pick percentage and 17 bonus points would have been good enough for a middle-of-the-field 19th seed. Even so, iwearpurple’s weekly win and 9 top-10 weekly finishes coupled with a .557 pick percentage and 33 bonus points will be a challenge to overcome.

(8) beaverhockeyfan vs. (23) lakerchum – The staff at Pick ‘Em HQ isn’t sure what to make of this matchup. Sure, beaverhockeyfan was unable to pull off the Jeff Sauer 3-peat, but still posted 30 bonus points along with a .564 pick percentage. It was a bit of an off year as they spent the majority of the season hovering between positions 15 and 23 before going on a run at the end to finish 8th in the standings. The major question is whether lakerchum will submit picks as they’ve only entered one time out of the final four weeks. If they show up, a respectable .541 pick percentage with a whopping 41(!) bonus points makes this match a lot closer than it looks on paper.


Next, the Mendota Hts. bracket.

(2) SweeneyHawksHockey vs. Bye – SweeneyHawksHockey never met a pick ‘em contest he wouldn’t enter and he parlayed this wealth of experience into yet another top 10 finish. From week 7 on, our MacNaughton Cup and Bill Beagan Trophy runner up was ranked in the top 5 and was the league leader for 6 consecutive weeks. With a pick percentage of .607 and 40 bonus points, there are clearly no weaknesses in his game.

(15) TalonsUpPuckDown vs. (18) giwan – “That dude stunk it up” doesn’t quite describe the lackluster performance of our #15 contestant. A middling .563 coupled with a measly 22 bonus points (through the first 18 weeks this dude stunk it up by posting only one (1) bonus point!) makes for a challenging matchup against giwan whose .570 pick percentage and 30 bonus points are clearly strong enough for an upset here. However, had he not missed those two weeks he’d be in the top 10 so would it really be an upset? Draft Kinds doesn’t think so. The smart money is on giwan.

(10) Footballguy51 vs. (24) Puck Master – While not necessarily his first sport, Footballguy51 killed it with the bonus this year finishing third in the Race for the Sauer. While strong in the bonus, his .529 pick percentage may be cause for concern though his 2 weekly wins show some depth to the talent on display this season. On the other side we have Puck Master who struggled to get consistent mojo going. Starting out hot during the first 4 weeks but fading a bit towards the middle of the season, their 14 bonus points are a bit concerning. However, a strong .568 pick percentage matches each contestant’s strengths against their opponent’s weaknesses. Draft Kings has this as a 50-50 coin flip.

(7) GoNanooks vs. Bye – The field’s most consistent player was in the top 10 for 19 out of 21 weeks with 16 of those weeks in the top 5! Maybe GoNanooks took their foot off the gas a tad down the stretch, but don't be fooled as 4 weekly wins coupled with 36 bonus points and a .579 pick percentage make this contestant one to be feared.


On to the Mankato bracket.

(3) puckdude40 vs. Bye – In one of the most remarkable feats in Pick ‘Em history, at no time through the course of the entire season was puckdude40 lower then 7th place in the standings and was our leader for 5 of the first 7 weeks. WOW. Not only that, clear off some space on your trophy shelf because our #3 seed picked up this year’s Jeff Sauer Trophy with 53 bonus points. Then add in a .574 pick percentage. Consistency, strength in picking, strength in the bonus -- yeah, fuggeddaboudit.

(14) Bronco Hockey Fan vs. (19) potternmu – If there were two contestants who were flummoxed by the CCHA this year it has to be Bronco Hockey Fan and potternmu. Each has historically been a top 10 contestant with Bronco Hockey Fan bringing home the hardware in the old WCHA Pick ‘Em. Interestingly, the best ranking each contestant attained happened to occur in the final week of the season so one could say each is peaking at the right time, especially with BHF’s week 21 win. Looking at the numbers, each contestant picked up 30 bonus points while BHF’s .563 pick percentage outpaces potternmu’s .516. And who awaits the winner of this match? puckdude40.

(11) icd80 vs. (22) John J. MacInnes – Two more historically strong contestants who seemed to struggle this year, icd80’s season looked like a sine wave starting out slow, then catching fire, then cooling off, then catching fire as the season wound down. While neither contestant posted a weekly win, icd80 did have ten top 10 weekly finishes 41(!) bonus points, and a .551 pick percentage. The good news for John J. MacInnes is that he posted three top 10 finishes as the season wound down so maybe the kinks have been worked out as there is room for improvement on a .512 pick percentage and 29 bonus points.

(6) SectionP vs. Bye – After stumbling out of the gate in week 1, SectionP spent the rest of the season ranked in the top 10, leading in three of the weeks, and posting two weekly wins. 30 bonus points and a .590 pick percentage represent upper quartile performance with little in the way of weakness. Draft Kings is drooling over the potential #3 vs. #6 matchup in the quarterfinals. However, given the rock solid history of the other contestants, this bracket has the greatest chance for upsets. Stay tuned!


Last but not least, the Houghton bracket.

(4) MTUHuskyGold vs. Bye – Our fourth seed missed out on the Jeff Sauer trophy by one lousy bonus point which has to sting, but don’t let that take away from an otherwise seller performance this season. MTUHuskyGold had a .572 pick percentage to go along with those 52 bonus points. Add the fact they were never out of the top 5 from week 6 onward, a weekly win, and the opportunity to play at home in Houghton makes a deep run in this tournament likely.

(13) Tommiealum vs. (20) manurespreader – The stats on these two contestants are nearly identical. Tommiealum posted .555/27 with two weekly wins, while manurespreader went .529/25 with 5 top-10 weekly finishes. These contestants spent 16(!) weeks within 7 positions of each other so it’s only fitting they fill the #13/#20 matchup. A true Pick ‘Em pick ‘em.

(12) mbenecke vs. (21) AgentClass – Each contestant struggled with the bonus this year. Last year’s Bill Beagan Trophey winner, mbenecke, had only 17 bonus points but a respectable .574 pick percentage and bounced between 8th place and 12th place for ¾ of the season. Last year’s champion, Agent Class has to be disappointed with a 21st place finish posting .531/22 with no weekly wins and only 3 top10 finishes. The thing is, never count out a champion. This match will go down to the wire and it’s anyone’s game.

(5) Soulbeaver vs. Bye – Our #5 seed, Soulbeaver finished second in the Battle for the Beagan with a .611 pick percentage to go along with 25 bonus points. While those bonus points had to be a disappointment, coupling them with one weekly win and 9 top-10 finishes were more than enough to lock up a coveted first round bye.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

The first round of the playoffs is in the books. First off, congratulations to Hockey John, SweeneyHawksHockey, puckdude40, MTUHuskyGold, Soulbeaver, SectionP, and GoNanooks who all advanced to the second round on a bye.

Looking at the Bemidji bracket, Critical Thinker advances to face Hockey John after handling mikeeddy19 14-8. PokeCheck pulled off the upset over iwearpurple 12-10 and now faces beaverhockeyfan who came away with a 12-10 win over Lakerchum.

The Mendota Hts. bracket saw upsets galore with giwan taking down TUPD and Puck Master besting Footballbuy51 by identical 12-10 scores.

There were no upsets in the Mankato bracket as Bronco Hockey Fan squeeked by beaverhockeyfan 11-10 and the highest point getter (gr.) on the night, Icd80 beat the coach John J. MacInnes 16-9.

Finally, in the Houghton bracket, manurespreader pulled off the upset besting Tommiealum 13-8 while mbenecke tied his way into the second round 9-9 over AgentClass.

The second round takes place Saturday. Good luck to the Sweet 16 contestants!

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Here are the second round results. For those who have made it to the Elite 8, the form will be available after the conclusion of Sunday’s Lakers/Tommies match.

What a second round! First off, congrats to our two Cinderella stories PokeCheck and Puck Master who, as the last two contestants in the tournament, pulled off upsets to advance to the quarterfinals. Also, stick taps to SweeneyHawksHockey for posting the highest point total (15) in the second round.

Critical Thinker posted the second highest point total in the round to upset top seed Hockey John 14-9 and will now face the number 26 seed PokeCheck who overcame all odds to be the 8 seed beaverhockeyfan by the impressive score of 12-6. Talk about leaving it all on the field! Is there anything left for the quarterfinals?

giwan posted 13 points, good enough for the third highest point total this round but ran into the SweeneyHawksHockey 14-point buzzsaw. In poker, they call this a cooler. SweeneyHawksHockey advances to the semifinals to face 24th seed Puck Master who won 9-0 over GoNanooks who mysteriously didn’t submit any picks. We’ll see if the Cinderella stories have more chapters to be written!

In the Mankato bracket, Bronco Hockey Fan edged out top seed puckdude40 12-11 in the closest match this round. SectionP will move on to the semis after dispatching Icd80 by a score of 13-9.

Top seed MTUHuskyGold outlasted manurespreader in the lowest scoring match this round. Win and advance is the name of the game, doesn’t matter how pretty it looks. Twelve seed mbenecke took care of 5 seed soulbeaver 12-6 to reach the semifinals for the 3rd time in 3 years.

The stage is set, the band starts playing, suddenly your heart is pounding, wishing secretly you were in the quarterfinals. Here’s how the matches stack up:

Bemidji Regional: (16) Critical Thinker vs. (26) PokeCheck
Mendota Hts. Regional: (2) SweeneyHawksHockey vs. (24) Puck Master
Mankato Regional: (14) Bronco Hockey Fan vs. (6) SectionP
Houghton Regional: (4) MTUHuskyGold vs. (12) mbenecke

Bemidji winner faces Hougton winner in the semifinals
Mendota Hts. winner faces Mankato winner in the semifinals

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Quarterfinal and semifinal picks are ready to go. We got two chances to win this thing, good luck mbenecke and Critical Thinker.

Playoffs – Quarterfinal and Semifinal Rounds

Here's how our little annual one-off AZZ playoff contest is shaping up. Be sure to fill out a form this week even if you've busted out.

Code: Select all

AZZ Contestant    Playoff Points
Critical Thinker       28
TUPD                   23
mbenecke               21
Footballguy51          19
Hockey John            18

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Picks are in

Code: Select all

                                Quarterfinals               Semifinals
                         -------------------------   ------------------------
Rank Contestant          Winner   Away  Home S/O     Winner   Away  Home  OT
(16) Critical Thinker     MNSU     4     3    0        BSU     2     3     0
(26) PokeCheck             MTU     2     3    0        BSU     2     5     0

 (2) SweeneyHawksHockey    MTU     2     4    0        BSU     1     4     0
(24) Puck Master          MNSU     3     2    0       LSSU     4     3     1

 (6) SectionP              MTU     1     2    0       LSSU     4     2     1
(14) Bronco Hockey Fan     MTU     2     4    0        BSU     3     4     0

 (4) MTUHuskyGold          MTU     2     3    0        BSU     2     4     0
(12) mbenecke              MTU     2     4    0        BSU     1     3     0

TUPD                      MNSU     4     2    0        BSU     1     4     0
Hockey John               MNSU     3     2    0        BSU     1     5     0
Footballguy51              MTU     2     4    0        BSU     0     4     0

mbenecke, your match is solely dependent on the number of home team goals -- you need 2 or 3 to advance. Any other outcome on home team goals is bad news. Nothing else matters. Critical Thinker, you have lots of combinations...go Mavs!

The rest of us, good luck!