PASCOE WINS THE POOL! - AND DETROIT ALSO HAS A PRETTY GOOD NIGHT

You have to admit it was spectacular from beginning to end! From DMc's explosion out of the gate to the nose to nose mid-series race by the leaders to Will Pascoe's inexorable inch to the lead. And there was some pretty good hockey going on as well.

At any rate, the physically grueling, emotionally draining "Second Annual Infamous Writer's Hockey Pool" has reached it's climax, with Will Pascoe taking the crown. (That's him in front of the Cup with his hat on backwards).

Scotty William finished 5 points back in second (Bottom Right corner in the toque) and John Callaghan (Just above Scotty without a hat) claims the bronze.

As soon as Will and the other winners pass on their mailing addresses to seraphic@sympatico.ca I'll pass them along to the other players and the process of shipping them the prizes you've chosen will begin.

For anyone who hasn't already checked the Online Pools site, the final standings are:

1 Will Pascoe 196
2 Scotty William 191
3 John Callaghan 184
4 Jeff Martel 181
5 Laurie Nyveen 176
6 Wil Zmak 170
7 Denis McGrath 165
7 Brian Stockton 165
9 Peter Allen Rowley 163
10 Will Dixon 162
11 Michael Foster 157
12 Mark Askwith 155
13 Juniper 153
14 Mark Farrell 141
15 Larry Raskin 136
16 Robert de Lint 121
17 Jim Henshaw 81


In the "Hockey Props" Division, the results were as follows:

1. Series went "six" games.

2.Total goals scored was "20-30".

3. Opening Night Octopus count - "one" - after Gary Bettman protected fellow bottom feeders and threatened sanctions against the Red Wings if he saw more than symbolic Cephelopod tossing.

4. Don Cherry's Game 4 prediction was "incorrect". That was a little iffy, because all he said was "if Pittsburgh scores first they'll win" (which they did but didn't) and then followed up later with "But if Detroit scores first, they'll win" (which they didn't but did) -- so I'm marking Don as pretty much incorrect.

5. Top Points Scorer in the final series "other" - Marion Hossa of Pittsburgh with 7 points. Both Zetterberg of Detroit and Crosby of Pittsburgh were one behind him with 6 points apiece.

6. Winning Goalie Chris Osgood was the "Seventh" player to hoist the Cup. Imagine my panic, counting the lifting when CBC decided it was bored with the process and cut away for an interview. Luckily, a more traditional minded floor director intervened.

And the winner of the "Props" -- Laurie Nyveen.

Anyway, Congratulations to all the winners. I hope the rest of you had fun and with some adjustments to add to the excitement, we'll be back to do it all again next year. If anybody has ideas for making it better, just send them along to the address above.

I have a feeling next year could be a watershed one for the NHL. Game 5 on Monday night was so highly rated on NBC, it won the primetime title for them for the first time this season. The next time you see Jeff Zucker, he'll be wearing skates with his teeth blacked out. I'm sure wearing a Helmet is already required around NBC.

Even though he'll probably play with a visor, Jeff's desire for something to fire up his network could see hockey back on a major US net, which can only help some of the struggling US teams -- and maybe bring a few more players into the pool.

See you next year.