A Fritz Without Fault!
Posted 4/15/14
Eric Fritz reacts to Union's victory over Minnesota securing the
first perfect bracket in Wockey history.
Over the years, perfection has played itself out in many forms. Don Larsen in Game 7 of the 1956 World Series. Mary Lou Retton in the 1984 Olympics. This guy. None of these accomplishments have been remotely as impressive as the one we just witnessed in Wockey, the one achieved by the now immortal Eric Fritz.
Fifteen games. Fifteen correct guesses. Literally a one in 32,000 chance. Even with a Wockey record 303 brackets this year, that kind of predicting is almost inconceivable, something the likes of which we may not see for another fifty years when incidentally I'll still be running the pool because at age 87 my only other contributions will be my turtle freezing abilities. Maybe it's because Eric had his first child this year. Maybe it's because he works for Kellogg's. Whatever the reason, Fritz's picks weren't just good this year...they were, well, you know.
The Wockey world was treated to this incredible feat Saturday night when tiny Union College, the Division 3 school without a single player on scholarship, with only one NHL draft pick on the roster, walked over the more talented, more highly touted Minnesota Gophers 7-4 for the Dutchmen's first national championship. It was a spectacular game and a great cap to the end of another fantastic NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament.
Of course, as exceptional as Fritz's bracket was, it overshadowed some other notable performances from the 2014 pool.
-Danny Swendra in any other year would have been the story of the tournament. Danny picked the Frozen Four, the National Finalists, and the NCAA Champion correctly. His only blemish was a first round miss costing him three points which left him in second place.
-Chris Trudeau was achingly close to achieving the perfect double--having his beloved Gophers win the NCAA title and earning the crown of Wockey Champion. Instead, Minnesota finished second and Chris finished seventh, the highest-placing finisher who didn't pick Union to win, but only good enough for seventh--two spots out of the money.
-Maggie Frye, the wife and mother of former Puckheads Joe and Stella Frye, always seems to be in one of the money-winning scenarios, but until now had never cashed in. Her pick of Union as national champion earned her fifth place overall, impressive considering 30 brackets had the Dutchmen taking the national title.
-Dan Glumac, despite picking Union as the winner, had the lowest score of all 30 Wockeyites to correctly pick the NCAA Champion. Dan had only two other
correct selections which left him tied for 171st place.
-Between 2013 Wockey Champion Jason Kuss, Chris Goodman, Ron Goodman, and Erik Pederson 37 brackets (worth $370 of pot money) were submitted. Not one of them won any money. Between our top five finishers, nine brackets were submitted including just two by Fritz.
-I finished 252nd, once again not even coming remotely close to the money spots. I'm beginning to think I might be better off spending my time on this.
Jeff Stark is consoled by what he believes to be a
magic rhino after learning he is the 2014 Wockey Puckhead.
And of course, our Wockey Puckhead wasn't crowned until the final game as well. Coming in, two Wockeyites, Chris Walker and Jeff Stark, were tied with just three points apiece after using all four of their cumulative brain cells to correctly pick only one game apiece. The tiebreaker being goals scored in the Frozen Four, Jeff needed two or fewer goals to be scored to avoid the dreaded Puckhead status. And despite being subsequently identified as the dumbest person in the tournament, even Jeff would realize that eleven goals scored in the title game meant that he had earned the ignominious title of 2014 Wockey Puckhead!
Jeff, who runs Amsoil Arena, home of the UMD Bulldogs, becomes the third Puckhead with ties to Duluth. Using his connections, plans are in the works to set up a spot in the rink adjacent to that which honors UMD's NCAA-record five Hobey Baker winners, given to the best player in college hockey, for a shrine to Duluth's Puckheads including Stark, former Duluth sportscaster Joe Dufek, and UMD alum Chris Smith.
Incredibly, Stark also had another bracket with just two correct picks...and another one that finished ninth overall. For his irredeemably asinine efforts, Stark will receive this lovely puzzle which will serve as a constant reminder of his inability to perform the simple task of correctly selecting hockey games...provided he can perform the simple task of putting together said uncomplicated puzzle.
As for the victor's prizes, they are as follows:
Wockey Champion - Eric Fritz: $1435.42 + this suh-weet travel cooler!
Runner-Up - Danny Swendra: $574.17
3rd Place - Jeff Rothmund: $430.63
4th Place - Erik Freeman: $287.08
5th Place - Maggie Frye: $143.53
And with that, Wockey Pool 2014, the eighth installment of the most bizarre contest this side of an English Gurning Competition, is officially complete. And there's no doubt that even the most sour-faced Englishman couldn't help but smile at the incredible feat Eric Fritz pulled off this year.
For the eighth year in a row, this pool has gotten bigger, better, and bigger than ever before. Not to mention better. While I'd like to take all of the credit for that, I do. But at the same time, I realize that without you, there's no way we'd have grown to where we are. You make this competition so much fun, such a thrill to put on each year. Thank you.
I'm still frankly shocked that we improved upon last year's number of entries by 100. I'm befuddled that we've got WockeyPool.com to look and run as smoothly as it does (thank you Mike Varian)! I am going to enjoy the calm after the storm that has been Wockey Pool 2014, but can't wait to make Wockey Pool 2015 even more impressive--and to grow the field even larger! Congrats again to our winners! Good luck next year to everyone else. And for one last time in 2014....this.
Your Loveable, Lickable, Lackadaisical Wockey Commish,
Alex
P.S. While I can't promise that it will be as strange and uncomfortable as Wockey Pool 2014, Wockeyite Chris Bellm is carrying the hockey pool madness over to the NHL Playoffs. Check it out!
$5 NHL Playoff pool is setup. 80% of money to 1st, 20% to 2nd. Invite anyone you want. APA33 is the league name and password is rams. nhl.com runs it and they have the point system in place, we will have to use paypal for payments. $5 each, paypal [email protected] for payments and send as a friend payment so there is no fees. Get anyone you want to join. Winner of the overall on nhl.com (not just this league but from thousands of people) win $15,000. and other prizes.2014 Bracket Challenge
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2014 Bracket Challenge
Predict the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a chance to win great prizes. |
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