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Choosing a Winning Hockey Pool

Picking a winning hockey pool involves moreice time each night and is also going to be a
than simply going online and downloading lastmajor  factor  on  the  power  play.
year's scoring statistics and starting from
the top down. Anybody can do that! To be aIn some hockey pools, it's also customary to
successful hockey prognosticator, you must bepick at least one goaltender for the year.
able to find players who will exceed theirDepending on how points are allocated,
point totals from last year and not simply gogoaltenders can be big point producers in any
with last year's Art Ross Trophy winner withhockey pool. The best advice is to pick a
your  first  pick.goaltender that is an established number 1
that will play 65 to 75 games and has a good
This theory holds true if you picked Tampadefence in front of him that can earn him a
Bay's Martin St. Louis to repeat hisfew shutouts. Be careful in picking a good
2003-2004 season when he tallied 94 points.goaltender that plays for a bad team - i.e.
Last season, I'm willing to wager that St.Nikolai Khabibulin on Chicago or Olaf Kolzig
Louis was a hot commodity and probably pickedin Washington. Remember, no goalie is capable
in everybody's hockey pool in the first orof winning a game alone, so make sure he has
second round because he had one good season.a  solid  a  solid  team  in  front  of  him.
Can't find St. Louis on last year's scoring
list? Well, that's because he didn't make itIt also pays do some homework and find out if
into last year's Top 50 scorers - in fact St.any players are injured before the season
Louis finished tied for 76th overall instarts or if they are involved in contract
scoring with Maple Leafs "super sniper" Darcydisputes. Having players missing from your
Tucker  with  a  grand  total  of  61 points.line in the early months will set you back
early in the season and you may never get a
Another strategy to remember in picking achance to catch up. Similarly, if want to
winning hockey pool is selecting players whopick injury prone players, make sure your
have a history of consistency. When I thinkhockey pool rules include a re-draft halfway
of consistency, I think of players like Joethrough the season where you can drop players
Sakic, Brad Richards, Mats Sundin, and Danielwho are injured or underperforming. You may
Alfredsson. These players are also consistentalso want to check in to find out what
"point-per-game" players which is crucial inplayers are in the final years of their
picking a successful hockey pool. Even thoughcontract and may be looking for that big
some of these players won't compete for thisraise the following year. Players who are due
year's Art Ross trophy, they have a historyto become unrestricted free agents at the end
of finishing in the top 25 players inof the season are usually the best examples
scoring. These types of players are guys youof  this  philosophy.
know who are going to show up every night to
play and you will thank yourself every nightKeep in mind too; a player may have missed
when  you  look  at  the  box  scores.some games the previous season, thus his
stats might not be at the very top of the
In most hockey pools, it is usually requiredlist. An excellent example of this strategy
to take at least a couple of defensemen butis Bruins centre Marc Savard. Two seasons
knowing what round to start pickingago, Savard tallied 52 points in only 45
defensemen is another strategy. Last season,games and therefore didn't register in the
the top scoring defenseman in the NHL wastop 25 in scoring. Last season, Savard played
Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom who finished within all 82 games and rung up 97 points with
80 points - good enough for 25th in overallthe  Atlanta  Thrashers.
points. The next highest defenseman was
Dallas' Sergei Zubov who had 71 points andSo on draft day, print out a copy of the top
finished 48th overall in scoring. The bottom250-300 players from the previous season and
line here is only 2 D-Men finished in the topgo through every player thoroughly and ask
50 so don't waste your time worrying aboutyourself, can this player improve on his
selecting a defenseman in the first fewstats from last year? Could this player do
rounds of your hockey pool. If you think abetter now that he's playing on a different
forward is still out there that couldteam  with  different  linemates?
conceivably score more points then the
defenseman you want to pick, take the forwardFollow this advice closely and with a little
- it will probably pay off in the long run.luck, you may find yourself taking home the
However, when it does come time to startbig  prize when April rolls around next year!
picking defensemen, the number one rule is
pick a player who is going to see a ton ofHockeyDraft.



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