Another day, another update

Another couple series wrapped up tonight. Only James Gordon was surprised to see the Buffalo Sabres roll over the New York Islanders. In fact so many of you were so confident this series would wrap up quickly that the bonus points were flying all over the place.

The Sharks/Predators series, which showed so much promise early on has ended sooner than most hockey fans would have hoped. The most interesting aspect, from a pool perspective, is how so many of you took the Sharks. In theory the Predators were the favoured team here. Nashville was atop the Western Conference most of the regular season and had more points than the Sharks. Yet most poolies, myself included, took a look at their poor playoff history and decided to go with Thornton and company.

No one was seriously hurt by the departure of either the Islanders or Predators, but in my zeal to point of the failings of Miss Hosfield's bracket last night, I neglected to finger Mr. Gordon as another making an early departure from the ranks of poolies with hope. The Islanders pick is just another nail in James' coffin, but the real death blow was the Wild's loss Thursday. They were his Western Conference champion.

With five teams eliminated from the playoff tournament, every single poolie still has their champion intact. That will come to an end as soon as the Detroit/Calgary and Vancouver/Dallas series wrap up.

Here are the latest standings, and remember to check out the link on the sidebar to get a peak at everyone's picks.

UPDATE: 12:30 p.m., Saturday. I neglected to give Ryan Plesko any of his seven Friday night points. That has now been reflected in the revised standings below.

1) Neil McKinnon 18 One of the best starts in pool history
2) Colleen Racine 17 Be sure to tell Jefford what he's missing
2) Kim Landon 17 Keep up the smack talking, it's working
2) Ryan Plesko 17 Please accept my apologies
5) Natalie James 16 Any luck finding subletters?
5) Mike Macaraeg 16 Brodeur could ruin your clean sheet
5) James Peters 16 Canucks win tonight and you get a bonus point
5) Chris Chapman 16 Damn, you're good at this pool thing
9) Arthur Casement 15 Sick of the Oiler jokes yet? I hope not?
9) Debb Coghlin 15 Bonus points make up for your Thrashers pick
9) Mike McGuire 15 On the other hand, you're still waiting for a bonus point
12) Sean Hutchinson 14 Still in striking distance
12) Colleen Turnbull 14 Nashville drops you back to the pack
14) Brenden Hope 13 How about that, 13th place and 13 points*
14) Janet Chapman 13 Hope you're not superstitious*
14) Julianna Nowaczek 13 Another Predator casualty
14) Lloyd Mack 13 Friday's column was very well put
14) Marlow Weldon 13 Brodeur was brilliant tonight, good news for you
14) Terry James 13 Thanks for the hot news tip
20) Mary James 12 Looking forward to your phone call
20) Jason Trout 12 Four out of five right, yet 19th place
20) Jack James 12 Big game this morning, are you ready?
20) Ali Hewitt 12 Another Canuck fan hoping for the series to end in six
24) Rob Shaw 10 And now we get to the also ran club
24) Peter James 10 I'm a charter member
24) Mike James 10 Nice to have some family to commiserate with
24) Mary Kay Hosfield 10 This club needs a special handshake
24) Jordan Stein 10 And I nominate you as the guy to come up with one
24) Jeff Sandelli 10 So far you are 0 for the West
30) James Gordon 9 Still stuck in single digits
30) Jason Anthony 9 You actually tripled your point output Friday night
32) Peter Field 6 Amazingly all your second round winners still intact

*these comments were based on the faulty assumption that Ryan Plesko was in 23rd place, not second place. His correct point total means 13 points gets you 14th place, which less interesting.