Well, I must say that last weeks loss to Ray by such a huge amount really hurt ... not only from a psychological perspective, but also from a playoff perspective. It means I will have to win and Ray will have to lose, or I will be facing the Arthur Tigers in the first round of the playoffs. This is not something I had been hoping for, as they are always a strong team to play against.
I notice that Joel's team is really starting to heat up, in part because his young Oilers have been delivering more of late (with the exception of Gilbert of course). Hall managed his first hat trick last week, and Eberle has been playing well. It's amazing what happens when you get Hemsky and Horcoff back in the line-up. I notice that Hemsky is on a recent tear. I had him for almost two years and he pretty much did nothing but sit on my bench injured, and then as soon as I trade him he goes on a tear. Nice.
Hard loss for Brandon with a Kiprusoff shutout at the eleventh hour, especially considering he owned him earlier in the season. Nothing worse than getting beaten by one of your old players methinks. LOL. It will be an interesting race between Brandon and Jarrett to see who claims the last playoff birth. Jarrett has the tiebreaker I believe, so Brandon has to win and Jarrett has to lose if the Soo Storm hope to claim a playoff birth, only one year after going 18-2 in the regular season. Remarkable.
I see on defense it was a battle of the young studs. Pietrangelo managed to claim top defenseman with an amazing 34.6 week, whereas Fowler crumbled under the onslaught of the Blues and posted Tom Gilbert like numbers at -6.4.
Good old Olli Jokinen finally seems to have found his place on the Flames, as he has been tearing it up of late. One of the reasons for a late-season surge by the Flames. Can they keep it up? Whatever the case, I'm sure Richard is a very happy camper at the moment.
And finally, I am looking forward to seeing how the race for top spot ends up. Jay is facing Joel's hot squad, so anything can happen. If Jay loses and John wins, the regular season title goes to the Juggernauts as they have the tiebreaker. Good luck to both of our top dogs as they duke it out!
