Wockey Pool 2017 Day Three - Fargo: It's Where the Magic Happens

The first weekend of Wockey 2017 is all wrapped up, and what a weekend it was!  Despite three top seeds making it out of their regionals, lots of brackets were busted with Notre Dame advancing to the Frozen Four, Air Force downing Western Michigan, and neither Boston University nor North Dakota getting out of Fargo.  Incredibly, out of 413 brackets, none picked Michigan Tech, Providence, or Cornell to win it all, and only one bracket had Ohio State taking the trophy.  Usually a team like that would pop out of nowhere to mess up even more brackets, but for the second year in a row, the favorites mostly held true.

 

I must tell you -- I started this pool 11 years ago not only as a forum from which I could share some of the world’s most distinguished performance art, but to help shine a light on what I believe is the greatest tournament in sports -- the NCAA Hockey tournament.  Being in Fargo this weekend couldn’t have justified my opinion any more.  

 

In the first game in front of a sold out, raucous crowd of North Dakota fans, we had a game that saw a game-winning goal get called back, double overtime, 56 saves by BUs 18-year-old goalie, and -- just for fun -- shattered glass.

 

In the second game of the night, we once again had an outstanding performance by a freshman goalie as UMD’s Hunter Miska made 40 saves -- some of the jaw-dropping nature.  And after it looked like UMD had the game in hand, Ohio State came back to tie things up before the Bulldogs eventually won it in thrilling fashion in overtime

 

To cap the weekend off, we had another overtime, some more incredible saves by Miska, and a brief visit to the resting place of one of America’s foremost inventors before UMD advanced to the Frozen Four in Chicago.  It was exhausting yet exhilarating, and while Wockey never fails to be exciting, this particular weekend in Fargo was one of the best college hockey has ever seen.

 

As for Wockey, all the twists and turns of the scoreboard kept things lively on our leaderboard as well.  Through ten games, we still had three perfect brackets before all three went down with Notre Dame defeating Mass.-Lowell in the Northeast Regional.  As it stands, Thomas Nikula sits alone atop our leaderboard with 41 points.  His only blemish thus far was picking Western Michigan to beat Air Force, and his is one of only four out of 413 brackets to correctly predict all of the Frozen Four teams.  Things are looking particularly good for Fuzzy, as Thomas is known, in that he stands to win money in five of the potential eight Frozen Four scenarios.  More on that in a bit…

 

Looking way down to the bottom of the standings, I first must apologize to Bryan Otremba.  In my multiple-overtime-addled brain in Fargo, I somehow deduced he was stuck at six points and in the running for Wockey Puckhead.  In reality, he had picked Denver to win the Midwest Regional, and when the Pioneers did so, he jumped to 11 points bringing his bracket up to incredibly disappointing rather than spectacularly disappointing.  Bryan, I apologize profusely for my error, and promise not to let it happen again...at least for the next week or so.  

 

So now to the actual race for Puckhead.

 

Three years ago, Jason Kuss used his incredible money-making mind to figure out that if you just submit enough brackets, you stand a solid chance at making your money back.  His strategy worked; he became Wockey Champion and his college hockey prowess was celebrated throughout the land.  Of course, what Jason had perhaps not considered was that if you put enough brackets in to become champion, that also gives you equal chance to become Puckhead.  And this year, by the sheer incompetence of the worst of his 11 brackets submitted, the Puckhead is primed to become he.

 

In fact, the only thing that stands in his way is a Wockeyite who may be begging karma for a second chance right now.  Chris Walker also submitted multiple brackets -- seven to be exact -- however he used his to take potshots at the advancing age of the Wockey Commissioner.  And while the failing bracket in particular doesn’t directly poke fun at my encroaching forties, the signal from the Wockey Gods is nevertheless clear --  don’t mess with the Commish.

 

So how will we determine the race for the Pcukhead?  Both brackets are stuck at six points, meaning we have to go to the first tiebreaker --  total goals scored in the Frozen Four.  Kuss guessed ten while Chris went with 16.  If the total goals scored between the three games in Chicago equal 13 , we’ll go to the second tiebreaker -- total tournament goals scored.  We’ve never had to go that far for the Puckhead.  However, if 12 or fewer goals are scored in Chicago, Chris is your Puckhead.  If it’s 14 or more, the title goes to Kuss.  Here’s where I mention Chris will be with me in Chicago celebrating my 40th.  At this point, I’m looking forward to him sweating out the Puckhead battle more than anything else!

 

But now to the potential winning scenarios.  Remember that we pay out the top eight spots with 50% of the pot going to the Champion along with our grand prize.  So without further ado...

 

If Denver beats UMD -- Ron Goodman, father of last year’s Puckhead Chris, becomes Wockey Champion.  Matt Wagner would finish in second.  Thomas Nikula ends up in third.  A tiebreaker would determine fourth through eighth spots between Michael Henke, Erich Manwarren, Eddie Davidson, Dan Kingsley, Phil Rooney, Jon Libbey, Peter Eugene Simon, and another of Thomas Nikula’s brackets.

 

If Denver beats Harvard -- This is the only scenario in which Thomas Nikula actually becomes Wockey Champion, and it also represents the highest possible point total remaining as Thomas would finish with 65 of a possible 68 points.  Coming in second would be Tyler Buckentine.  A three-way tie between Sean Steichen, Matthew David Dymus, and Erik Pederson would determine third through fifth places.  Sixth would come down to a draw between Ron Goodman and Michael John McGuire.  Eighth place would require a tiebreaker between David McDonnell and Maddison Zikmund.

 

If Notre Dame beats UMD -- For the second time in three years, youngster Grady Mathiasen would become Wockey Champion.  Stella Frye would come in second.  Ron Goodman and Jason Sturm would go to a tiebreaker for third place.  Jason Kuss would finish alone in fifth.  Sixth through eighth places would come down to a tiebreaker between Matt Wagner, Ben Hammond, Sinead Carolan, Kyle Meglen, Jody Norstedt, and Peter Markham.

 

If Notre Dame beats Harvard -- The only scenario in which we have a tie for first.  However, since Stella picked Notre Dame to win, the former co-Puckhead would take the tie from Thomas Nikula to become Wockey Champ.  Mike Varian would finish third.  Jason Kuss would come in fourth.  A tie for the last four spots would come down to five people -- Grady Mathiasen, Tyler Buckentine, Jeremy Meyer, Lindsay Premo, and Thomas Nikula’s second bracket.

 

If Minnesota-Duluth beats Denver -- In the dream scenario for your NCHC-loving commish, Jason Sturm takes the title.  Tied for second through fourth would be Ben Hammond, Sinead Carolan, and Kyle Meglen.  Peter Eugene Simon would be alone in fifth.  A massive tiebreaker between Matias Meister, Patrick Norman, Danny Swendra, Robin Cook, Lauren Floistad, Thomas Nikula, Mike Stuedemann, Jamie Prochnow, and Tim Dufour would determine sixth through eighth places.

 

If Minnesota-Duluth beats Notre Dame -- This is the second scenario in which Grady would become the second repeat Wockey Champion (after Kevin Jewett).  Jason Sturm would finish second while a tiebreaker between Ben Hammond, Sinead Carolan, Kyle Meglen, and Peter Markham would determine third through sixth places.  Peter Eugene Simon would finish seventh and Kent Larson would end up eighth.

 

If Harvard beats Denver -- Jeremy Meyer -- who may be an original 16 Wockey member -- would be your Wockey Champion for the first time.  Patrick Griswold would finish second.  Needing a tiebreaker to determine third through sixth places would be Jason Ernst, Joe Frye, Dustin Wasserman, and Nolan Conley.  Mike Varian would end up seventh and Thomas Nikula, Nick Sapienza, and Derek Martinson would need a tiebreaker to figure out eighth place between them.

 

If Harvard beats Notre Dame -- Our last scenario would see Wockey Webmaster Mike Varian rewarded for his effort with the title of Wockey Champion.  Jeremy Meyer and Lindsay Premo would use the tiebreaker to determines second and third places.  Patrick Griswold would come in in fourth.  And a tiebreaker would flesh out the final four spots between Jason Ernst, Joe Frye, Dustin Wasserman, and Nolan Conley.

 

There you have it!  If you didn’t see your name above, thanks for the donation, suckers!  (Note:  You did not see my name above...again <sigh>).  If you’re still in the running for prize money, good luck!

 

The final weekend will be as exciting a Frozen Four as I can remember.  We’ve got two different scenarios in which we could have our first-ever dual Wockey Champion and Puckhead (Kuss and former Puckhead Stella Frye).  We could have our third family Champion-Puckhead combo (Walker, Mathiasen, and now Goodman).  We could have our first sibling Puckhead duo (Zach and Chris Walker).  And we could have Grady Mathiasen become our second two-time Wockey Champion...all before the tender age of nine!

 

And on top of things...I’M GOING TO CHICAGO!!!  It’s going to be one hell of a trip.  Updates will be more likely via our Facebook and Twitter pages as well as a potential Wockey video update as I don’t anticipate spending the time it takes to write one of these beastly blog posts while I’m vacationing in Chicago.  But a full recap will come at the end.  I can’t wait for the Frozen Four in two short weeks!

 

Until then, I am…

 

Your Plumped Up, Primped Up, Pumped Up Wockey Commish,

 

Alex

 

P.S.  It’s no chicken yodeling, but this.