We have a champion

Poolies from Manitoba, Ontario, Alberta, New Brunswick and British Columbia have all been named champions of the Sons of Manitoba over the years. Now for the first time we can add Newfoundland to that last as Brad Bouzane captured the team side of the pool capping a strong performance by not only predicting the Detroit Red Wings would win the Stanley Cup, but also calling the number of games correctly. In rare moment of synchronicity, Daniel Cleary of Riverhead Harbour Grace became the first player from the Rock to win the Stanley Cup.

The Wings won the Cup on Wednesday night, defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2, to take the series in six games. After a slow start, the series culminated with a pair of exciting games, on Monday when the Penguins stayed alive in a triple-overtime thriller and then Wednesday night's game, which went right down to the wire. Here are my thoughts on the series for Canwest News Service.

The team side standings will be updated on Thursday:

1) Brad Bouzane 60 Your win may not make headlines like Cleary's, but it's just as impressive in my books
T2) Ron Strate 57 Top finish amongst the former champions
T2) Lloyd Mack 57 Kudos for also calling Wings over Pens in six
4) Sean Hutchinson 50 Tops amongst former 4th Stormont residents
5) Mary Kay Hosfield 59 Tops amongst members of my family
6) Peter James 46 I'm very satisfied with this finish
7) Terry James 45 Your long pool drought continues
8) Julianna Nowaczek 44 Hope Games Night went well
9) Justin Lee 29 Congrats on the thesis progress
10) Rob Shaw 38 Tops amongst cop reporters
T11) Mike James 37 Tops amongst teenagers
T11) Jordan Stein 37 Tops amongst Vancouver residents
13) Jason Anthony 34 Maybe one day Nova Scotia will be added to the list of places champions are from
14) Adam Fulton 33 Tops amongst wine connoisseurs
T15) Dave Washburn 32 I'd better win those gift certificates
T15) Kim Landon 32 Tops amongst people who tried to bribe me
T15) Cliff Hosfield 32 Third among rookies
T18) Liam Lynch 30 Third among former RLS staff
T18) Mary James 30 Tied for fourth among people with the last name James
T18) Arthur Casement 30 Closer to the basement than last update
T18) Natalie James 30 Tops amongst New Zealand entrants
T22) Jack James 28 Those Jokinen rumours won't go away
T22) Mark Brennae 28 Too few fights in the final for my liking
T22) Ryan Plesko 28 On the bright side, the final is over in time for everyone to watch the NBA Finals
25) Jenn Hosfield 27 Sid the Kid failed you
26) Richard Warnica 26 Sadly, no NFL tickets were purchased
27) Janet Chapman 25 Good news, Kyle Quincey exists, he was interviewed after the Cup was handed out
T28) Barry Horeczy 24 The 10,000 metre results eventually arrived. Thank goodness.
T28) Don McGowan 24 Any Euro 2008 predictions?
T30) Dale Oviatt 23 I don't know anything about the
T30) James Peters 23 Would love to have you back on board next year
32) Jeff Sandelli 22 How's the soccer season going?
T33) Scott McCleery 21 At this point in the standings, not much has changed the past few updates
T33) Colleen Racine 21 Except for the always intense battle of the Colleens
T35) Neil MacKinnon 20 Lecavalier to Montreal? Eklund says maybe.
T35) Debb Coghlin 20 There's always next year, right?
37) Colleen Turnbull 19 Sadly that's the refrain for everyone in this group
T38) David Forbes 18 There is little to salvage from this finish
T38) Steve McKinley 18 Our task: Get Bonnell in the pool next year
40) James Gordon 16 Tortorella would be entertaining, but not a good fit in Ottawa
41) Ali Hewitt 15 Alas, there is no Piss and Moan award in the hockey pool
42) Chris Chapman 13 I'd be willing to bet you'll be back in the top 10 next year
43) Stacey Tomlinson 12 You, I'm not so sure about ;)

The difference makers

The third round is underway with Detroit and Pittsburgh winning their respective opening games. With most of the leaders having the same combination of Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Lidstrom-Rafalski-Malkin-Crosby-Gonchar-Fleury there isn't a lot of change in the leaderboard. However some poolies have mixed in an Osgood, or a Richards or even a Holmstrom and Sykora. At this time of year, it's those players can be the difference makers.

For the record, I went out on a limb and took Dan Cleary to be that type of breakthrough player this year. As my standing no doubt shows, it hasn't worked out. My first indication that it was a foolish decision should have been when the one poolie who shares a hometown with Mr. Cleary, our fearless leader Brad Bouzane, did not take his fellow Newfoundlander. Of course, had I rolled the dice on this Johan Franzan character, I'd be a genius.

But enough about me, here are the standings:

1) Brad Bouzane 173 Should I start inscribing your name on the Sons of Manitoba silverware?
2) Sean Hutchinson 170 Keeping pace, but not gaining ground
3) Justin Lee 168 Much like the two poolies in front of you, you got 10 points over two days
4) Jason Anthony 167 Did everyone get 10 points?
5) Cliff Hosfield 166 Bucking the trend, Osgood gives you an 11th point
6) Terry James 165 You're making a run for it
T7) James Peters 162 Back to the 10-point brigade
T7) Mary Kay Hosfield 162 Another Hosfield with an 11-point gain
T9) Mike James 160 Timonen injury hurts your pool team and your real team
T9) Rob Shaw 160 Welcome to the 10-point club
11) Arthur Casement 158 The 10 points moves you up a few spots, but no gain on the leaders
12) Lloyd Mack 157 Two points from Richards allows you to break through the 10-point glass ceiling
13) Jordan Stein 156 Sykora's point also allows you to get one more point than average
T14) Dale Oviatt 155 I humbly accept the hard hat
T14) Richard Warnica 155 Breaking news: You will not catch Bouzane
16) Mark Brennae 153 How low will you go?
17) Steve McKinley 152 Quenneville to coach the Leafs?
18) Kim Landon 149 Hope you had a safe drive
19) Ryan Plesko 148 This is when you begin to feel the lack of a Crosby
T20) Liam Lynch 147 Unable to crack the top 50 per cent
T20) Jennifer Hosfield 147 Another 10-pointer
T22) Dave Washburn 145 You won't be able to Bingo your way up these standings
T22) Colleen Turnbull 145 Your moving up, little by little
T24) David Forbes 144 Sushi, eh
T24) Ron Strate 144 Strate and Forbes, teamed up once again
26) Jack James 143 Jokinen rumours heating up again
27) Julianna Nowaczek 142 Congratulations on the win
28) Adam Fulton 132 You're still at the top of my alphabetical-by-first-name list
T29) Don McGowan 130 Your one remaining player got one point
T29) Neil MacKinnon 130 Will the Habs go after Hossa this summer?
T29) Barry Horeczy 130 Hope you enjoyed the flowers
32) Colleen Racine 126 May still crack the top 30
33) James Gordon 125 Qunneville to coach Sens?
34) Scott McCleery 124 You won't finish any lower than this
35) Chris Chapman 117 FROZEN!
36) Jeff Sandelli 107 FROZEN!
T37) Debb Coghlin 106 Your one player also got you one point
T37) Peter James 106 Finally, I'm out of 38th place
39) Janet Chapman 94 See you tonight