The StatMan  

On our last show (Sun., 4/19), we had planned to do a recap on the final round of our house fantasy hockey league, the Puck & Stick Association.  But, we ran out of time before we could talk about it.

These are the final recaps in each Final.

The Goodman Cup Final, which is our Championship Game, went to the Long Island Sounds, which is owned by George Stathopulos.  The Sounds defeated the New England Slam Chowdah, which is owned by Jon Strauss.  The Newman Cup Final, which determines third place, was captured by the Stompin' Toms of Saint John, owned by Tim Bresnahan, and the Yukon Sunbathers fell to Saint John.  Yukon is owned by Eric Brown.  In the Loser's Bracket Playoffs, the Final is called the Hofmann Cup Final, where the Rochester Americans, owned by Greg Jorgensen, defeated the Pittsburgh Pumpkins, owned by Sarah Jorgensen.

***

GOODMAN CUP FINAL

Congratulations to the Long Island Sounds, who are kings of the Puck & Stick Association for the second time in the closest Final in League history. Long Island held off a furious charge from the New England Slam Chowdah, which was also looking for its second title, in a game that was in doubt until the final whistle. The final margin was 7.7 points, as Long Island prevailed, 371.1 to 363.4.

Long Island jumped out to an early lead after the first week of the aggregate-score match, 136.3-98.3, and increased its lead by one point in Week 2, 135.9-134.9. But, New England had a great last stand, hanging 130.2 points compared to 98.9 for Long Island. But, the goodwill the Sounds built up over the first fortnight was enough to carry the lackluster third act.

Long Island won the 3rd challenge for the Goodman Cup in 2001, defeating Wall Street in the closest Final in history at that time, which was 10.9 points. New England (then Massachusetts) also defeated Wall Street for the Cup the previous season, in 2000, in a lopsided Final. New England is now 1-2 in Finals all-time while Long Island has won Cups both times the Sounds have reached the Goodman Cup Final.

#3 Long Island 371.1, #1 New England 363.4
WEEK-BY-WEEK
Week 1: LI 136.3, NE 98.3
Week 2: LI 135.9, NE 134.9
Week 3: NE 130.2, LI 98.9

TOP PERFORMERS
LONG ISLAND
PF Corey Perry - 9-5-14 (64 points)
D Mike Green - 3-6-9 (40)
F Jonathan Toews - 5-4-9 (37)
NEW ENGLAND
PF Ryan Getzlaf - 4-13-17, 22 PIM (63.5 points)
G Niklas Backstrom - 6-3, 2 ShO, 1.89 GAA, .941 SPCT (63.4)
G Tim Thomas - 6-0, 1 ShO, 1.82 GAA, .951 SPCT (56)

***

NEWMAN CUP FINAL

Saint John sped off to a strong start and closed strong to pull away at the end in an upset. The fourth ranked Stompin' Toms defeated #2 Yukon, 455.5 to 359.5. Saint John scored more any other team in the Final Round and more than Goodman Cup Champion Long Island in both rounds, but did not have the good fortune of playing the Sounds in the playoffs. Yukon was the defending Goodman Cup Champion and won its division, but finished fourth among the four playoff teams.

After two weeks, Saint John and Yukon were separated by less than 10 points, but Saint John blitzed Yukon, 170.3-84.7 in the final week to provide a healthy 96-point margin of victory, which was, by far, the largest in the history of the Newman Cup Final. The previous record was in 2007, when Long Island defeated Rochester by 34.4 points.

The win was the second Newman Cup for Saint John, which won the Newman nine years ago with a 0.9-point win over Long Island. To this day, the 0.9-point margin is the closest of any postseason series in PSA history. The Newman Cup Final was the first appearance for Yukon. Saint John's Newman Cup victory increases the Stompin' Toms all-time Goodman Cup Playoffs record to 2-6 while Yukon's loss evened the Sunbathers all-time playoff mark to 4-4.

#4 Saint John 455.5, #2 Yukon 359.5
WEEK-TO-WEEK
Week 1: SJN 167.9, YKN 120.1
Week 2: YKN 154.7, SJN 117.3
Week 3: SJN 170.3, YKN 84.7

TOP PERFORMERS
SAINT JOHN
D Scott Niedermayer - 3-10-13 (67 points)
G Chris Mason - 8-1-1, 2 ShO, 2.09 GAA, .921 SPCT (61.4)
F Martin Havlat - 7-9-16 (53.5)
YUKON
G Roberto Luongo - 6-3, 3 ShO, 2.07 GAA, .930 SPCT (64 points)
F Henrik Sedin - 7-9-16, +11 (60.5)
F Daniel Sedin - 5-9-14 (50.5)

***

Sports With The StatMan - No. 3 - NHL: Playoff Talk (featuring Bruins-Canadiens, Devils-Hurricanes, Capitals-Rangers), Fantasy Baseball: FTL Central Division Preview, Week 2 Recap, Fantasy Hockey: Goodman Cup Playoffs Recap, Season Review, MLB: Around The League

On my semi-regular blog (http://gstatman.blogspot.com), I wrote this entry on my picks for the Conference Quarterfinals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  For my picks for the rest of the playoffs, tune in on Sunday, April 19th, for Sports With The StatMan (#3):

 

EASTERN CONFERENCE:
#1 Boston vs. #8 Montreal >>> BRUINS in SIX
Boston is very deep at forward and they are hungry, especially against its biggest rival in Montreal. The Habs have always dominated in their playoff history against the Bruins, so even though Boston has the better team, one team almost never dominates the other.

#2 Washington vs. #7 N.Y. Rangers >>> CAPITALS in SEVEN
The best pure goal-scorer in the world, Alexander Ovechkin, will be the best player on the ice just about every game. Meanwhile, the best player on the Rangers, goalie Henrik Lundqvist, has to be better than Ovechkin just about every game. This will come down to Washington's PP against the Rangers PK.

#3 New Jersey vs. #6 Carolina >>> HURRICANES in SEVEN
Carolina has had the Devils number in the last few seasons, but the Devils have had so much playoff success over the years with Martin Brodeur in net, how can you count the Devils out? The Hurricanes are on the better run and Carolina has done this in a 3-6 matchup before against New Jersey.

#4 Pittsburgh vs. #5 Philadelphia >>> PENGUINS in FIVE
Philadelphia had more 25-goal scorers than anyone (six, Carter, Gagne, Richards, Hartnell, Knuble, and Lupul), but they have had a rough go of it in the last month-and-a-half, going 11-10-1 to close the season. Pittsburgh made the best deadline deal for former Islanders captain Bill Guerin and has playoff-proven firepower in Crosby and Malkin.

WESTERN CONFERENCE:
#1 San Jose vs. #8 Anaheim >>> SHARKS in SEVEN
The Sharks have been the class of the league for most of the season. Their defense has been the story with Dan Boyle joining an already-impressive crew on the blueline this season. Evgeni Nabokov is an Ironman between the pipes. Anaheim has the playoff pedigree, and they still have Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer, but the wild card is the Ducks netminding.

#2 Detroit vs. #7 Columbus >>> RED WINGS in FIVE
The Red Wings are the defending champions and they got better in the offseason when Marian Hossa signed with the winners after losing to them as a Penguin in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Wings eat rookies for breakfast. Enter Columbus. The franchise is a playoff rookie and their star goaltender, Steve Mason, is also a rookie.

#3 Vancouver vs. #6 St. Louis >>> CANUCKS in FIVE
Roberto Luongo is becoming a top playoff performer and could be the hot goalie that carries a team deep into the postseason. St. Louis tries to be the unstoppable force to Luongo's immovable object. The Blues had the best second-half record in the league, but a hot goalie can stop a surging team, especially a young team that was not expected to make the playoffs.

#4 Chicago vs. #5 Calgary >>> FLAMES in SIX
Will the Blackhawks be a team too young to be scared or were they just happy to break their six-year playoff drought? They have young leadership in Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Kris Versteeg, but the goaltending is much better in Calgary. The Flames have the second-best deadline deal in acquiring Olli Jokinen from the Coyotes. Their leadership is older and playoff tested (Jarome Iginla, Dion Phaneuf, Miikka Kiprusoff).

Sports With The StatMan - No. 2 - NHL: Playoff Preview (Bruins, Devils), Fantasy Baseball: FTL Draft Recap/Season Preview, Fantasy Hockey: PSA Final Round Recap, Season Review, MLB: Red Sox Preview, Week 1 (Mets, Red Sox)

This is an entry from my semi-regular blog on BlogSpot (http://gstatman.blogspot.com) about the first episode of our show last weekend:

***

A lot of time has passed between my college years and now. It is only 11 years, but it seems much longer. In that time, I have worked in my chosen profession and done pretty well at it, but I have always yearned to get back into my true passion in college: radio.

I was a Sports Director at Lehigh University's campus radio station (WLVR) back in 1997-98 and put in over 2 years at the station, broadcasting games, manning the board for a weekly 2-hour oldies and 80's music show, and in '97-'98, hosting a 30-to-60 minute Sports Reporters-like round-table show with the WLVR sports broadcasters. After finishing college and actually using my major (yes, doing this actually is a novelty -- a Computer Science degree yielding a job in computers!), my radio days appeared farther and farther behind me in my rear-view mirror.

This was a memory best left to be a memory, lest I be one of those hangers-on to college. What if I tried on a professional level and failed? What if I realized this was not for me after all? After a few times visiting the old school and saying hello in the radio booth at a couple of football games, the time had passed and I was on to different -- if not, better -- things. But, I always wondered...until now.

I will admit, the thought of the concept of talking on the phone or through my computer does not strike me as terrestrial radio at its best, and it is not. Think terrestrial radio with unlimited channels, shows, and time slots. If you do, you have BlogTalkRadio.com. My cousin, Wills, told me about it in February, and I immediately registered. The only question was: how can I get started?

I figured out it was as easy as scheduling a show and calling into a conference line with a phone. That's it. You can talk through your computer and it would probably enhance the quality, but before I sink some dough into getting a podcasting microphone or invest in any other equipment or VoIP service, I wanted to get ahead of this and, ahem, start the show.

I wanted to start fresh with the start of the baseball season (you know, hope springs eternal, renewal of spring, every team is 0-0, blah, blah, blah). So, I wanted to launch my show the night before Opening Day, Sunday, April 5th. Up until a few days before last night, I was still unsure whether I would do it. The old jitters started coming back. The old questions started to re-appear.

But, although I may try to make it sound professional, it is a little fireside chat with few people, if anyone. I am not on anyone's payroll and it was free to do this. And, there is only one way to find out if I still have what I think it might take to do this someday.

I scheduled the show at 6pm for an hour. My one guest, Heather Yunger, may not be joining me, so I was thinking of cutting the show to 30 minutes. Nope, let's go for it. I decided to try to fill it myself. Half of me wanted to run out to a dump to see if I could find the old Merv Griffin set and dress up like Kramer. Really.

At 6pm, I was on the air and even the on-air feelings came back. This has to be real, right? It isn't the glorified "imaginary tea party" my guest (who ended up accidentally standing me up) termed it to be. Well, it is an imaginary tea party and my imaginary friends had a good time! I had a hard time stopping at 60 minutes, but I did. I wanted to talk baseball, hockey, fantasy baseball, and fantasy hockey, and I only had time for MLB and NHL talk. I did not even have time for predictions. But, since no one was probably listening, there's always next week.

A difference between WLVR and BlogTalkRadio is that all episodes are archived in MP3 format, so you are immortalized forever. Any mistake can be replayed a hundred times. As a perfectionist, I have already done that, 18 hours after the show. At WLVR, once you made the mistake, it was out there and gone, just like that. That is, except for the occasional comment that sticks in your colleagues' heads, like trying to take time out for a 2-minute warning in college football (oh, yeah, there is no 2-minute warning in college football). Sometimes, learning the hard way is the best way.

I am already looking forward to my next episode next weekend. In time, I hope those imaginary friends make some room for some new friends...and enjoy the tea.

Let me know what you think of my first show in Comments.

Sports With The StatMan - No. 1 - MLB: Season Preview (Mets, Red Sox), NHL: Week 27 (Playoff Positioning - Boston, New Jersey), Fantasy Baseball: FTL Draft/Season Preview, Fantasy Hockey: Final week of Final Round