Greeting hockey fans! Whether you’ve officially entered the 2010-11 Manitoban Hockey Pool or just interested in keeping up with the goings on of the NHL regular season, the Manitoban has you covered. Look for weekly updates in print or online at themanitoban.com to keep abreast of key injuries, major storylines and interesting stats. Also, check online for the full list of hockey pool team standings.
Early starters
Nathan Horton, Alexander Ovechkin and Brad Richards all preformed strong out of the gate this season. Horton tallied three goals and one assist in two games for Boston while Ovechkin potted two goals and two assists in two games for Washington. Richards rounds out the pack with one goal and three helpers in two games for Dallas.
Much-anticipated rookies Jordan Eberle, Tyler Seguin and Derek Stepan all made an early impact to start their NHL careers last week. Eberle and Seguin both scored highlight reel breakaway goals while Stepan secured a hat-trick in his very first NHL game.
Cam Ward looks to be building on his impressive preseason with wins in both games against Minnesota, posting a .944 save percentage in the process. Jimmy Howard is also providing early returns for hockey pool fans, posting a shutout in Detroit’s first game of the season.
Key injuries
As of this week, Colorado coach Joe Sacco has said there is no update to the condition of injured winger Peter Mueller. Mueller suffered his second concussion in under six months during the preseason and is expected to be out indefinitely.
Columbus tough guy Jared Boll is currently on the shelf with lower back problems and is reportedly questionable for the Blue Jackets’ Friday game against Chicago.
There’s no way to sugar coat it, things aren’t looking good for Islanders fans this season. Having already lost Mark Streit and Kyle Okposo for significant time, fans were forced to watch franchise player John Tavares leave New York’s season opener with a mild concussion. Islanders brass don’t expect Tavares to have suffered any long term damage from the injury. His current status is game-to-game but recovering from concussions is never an exact science.
Washington goaltender Semyon Varlamov has been on the injured reserve list since the start of the season but should be ready to make his return as early as next week for the Caps.
Player storylines
Joe Thornton was recently named team captain in San Jose and all indications point to the new captain signing a contract extension that would keep him in California for the next few years. If the change in title has done anything to inspire Thornton’s play in this first week San Jose fans should be excited as Big Joe has two goals in two games so far this season — unusual for a celebrated passer.
Hockey pool players who picked up Pavel Datsyuk got a pleasant surprise last week as the four-time Lady Byng trophy winner got a goal, an assist and five minutes for fighting, earning him the first Gordie Howe hat-trick of his surprisingly well-behaved career.
Manitoban hockey pool standings
1 Hal’s Johnsons 48.5
2 Team Win 46
3 Pierre’s Picks 45.5
4 pirates 44
5 Honey Nut Chelios 43.5
6 Red Dragons 7th UC 40
7 Bourkes Boys 38
8 ped posse killer 37.5
9 Garrett’s Goons 37
10 Nothing but Net 37
11 ButtKickers 36.5
12 Team T-Bone 35.5
13 Zanes 35.5
14 Bie the Die 35
15 Ice-Ice Baby 35
16 Team KelJan 35
17 The Arse-Kickers! 35
18 canucks986 34.5
19 Cleveland Steamers 34.5
20 MDB Crusaders 34.5
21 Monroeville Zombies 34.5
22 Team Coolguy1991 34.5
23 FTW 34
24 thewinningbunch 34
25 el jefe 33.5
26 Semi-Pro 33.5
27 Charleswood Flyers 32.5
28 go_philly 32.5
29 Transcona Grinders 32.5
30 Courtney’s Super Amazing Hockey Team 32
31 HUGE H.C. 32
32 NOA 32
33 The Red’r Racers! 32
34 Big Tickets 31.5
35 Prestige Worldwide 31.5
36 The Hardy Astrom Specials 31.5
37 Hurly Burly’s 31
38 Levels 31
39 Mujala 31
40 Titan 31
41 BOMBERJETS 30.5
42 Pickles & Cheese 30.5
43 Setka 30.5
44 Team Discovery Channel 30.5
45 Coach Mousie’s Manslaves 30
46 Having a time 30
47 Titans 30
48 Washington Capitals 30
49 Team Mediocre 29.5
50 thudermucks 29.5
51 GAMESMASTER 29
52 Team 97 29
53 The Warm Guns 29
54 DiZASTA 28.5
55 El Tico 28.5
56 wish1474 28.5
57 The Dead Flag Blues 28
58 No Talent 27.5
59 ProStars 27.5
60 The Wanderer’s 27.5
61 Puckfaces 27
62 Red Light Rukus 27
63 Falcon Own 26.5
64 Manitoba Wolves 26.5
65 The Ped Posse 26.5
66 Winnipeg Coyotes 26.5
67 Winulobacter dominaticus 26.5
68 Illegal Curve 26
69 Non-Issue 26
70 Capitals 25.5
71 go getters! 25.5
72 Here’s a Little Something… 25
73 Datsyukian Destroyers 24.5
74 QuickStop 24.5
75 The Winnipeg Cormacks 24.5
76 Funkhousers 24
77 SLAPSHOT 24
78 Springfield Isotopes 24
79 The Woody’s 24
80 Your Drunk Uncles 24
81 Brent’s Fabulous Team 23.5
82 Jets 23.5
83 No Tooth Smile 23.5
84 Hugz Not Drugz 23
85 Prairie Rays 23
86 The Losers 23
87 CBLOZERO 22.5
88 Fannystelle Catchitbigtimers 22.5
89 Purple Cobras 22.5
90 Red Army 22.5
91 Sticks + Balls 22.5
92 The Large Farvas 22.5
93 GolfLeafsGolf 22
94 mydallasstars 22
95 Team LAN 22
96 wapikopa 21.5
97 DC-SuperFan-69 21
98 S. Van Hellemond 21
99 The Dirt Devils 21
100 The Springfield Ice-O-Topes 21
101 WABAAM 20.5
102 Team second place 19.5
103 Bourque Chops 19
104 Gryphs 18
105 pencil sticks 18
106 The Mittens Crew 18
107 Flint Tropics 17.5
108 Jiminy Cricket’s AllStars 16.5
109 The Ice Kings 16.5
110 Rogocki 16
111 You Can Have the Umbrella 16
112 Smokin’ Ducks 15.5
113 The second cuming 15.5
114 Canucks 4 the Cup! 14.5
115 The rich interior lives of athletes 14.5
116 Pond Boys 14
