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WCHA Pick 'Em 2019-2020

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  • Re: WCHA Pick 'Em 2019-2020

    I'm excited to see who progresses on. it's harder than it looks.
    MTU: Three time NCAA champions.

    It never get's easier, you just go faster. -Greg Lemond

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    • Re: WCHA Pick 'Em 2019-2020

      Let’s take a look at the brackets starting with Mankato (but first, the links):

      Rounds 1 and 2
      View response summaries

      Mbenecke (1) – Bye: While it took 3 seasons for the 2018 ROY to capture his first MacNaughton Cup, (finishing runner-up last year), mbenecke did it with a performance that was utterly dominating. Mbenecke never fell lower than 3rd in the weekly rankings and held the top spot for 11 of 21 weeks. He did it with the highest bonus total of all players while posting a top-10 pick percentage of .681. Vegas has him at 3-2 to repeat.

      Play-In Game - beaverhockeyfan fell 1 point short of escaping the play-in game which has to be a disappointment following last year’s strong top-10 finish. The season was a mixed bag with 7 top-ten weekly finishes (including a week 6 win) coupled with middling results the rest of the way. Pick percentage is a respectable .659 but an improvement on the 10 bonus points is a must to beat mikeeddy19 who struggled early on but is one of the hottest players down the stretch with 4 top-10 finishes the last 5 weeks of the season (including a week 19 win). MSUMaverickFan has the numbers to be outside the play-in game (.651 pick percentage, 27 bonus points) but missing a couple of weeks, including week 20, did some serious fate-sealing. Consider this contestant the sleeper in this play-in. BGSURICK, who could never seem to turn on the jets, rounds out the Mankato play-in field. Climbing to no better than 24th place in week 3, our 36th seed and last contestant to make the field comes in with a pick percentage just under .600 and only 7 bonus points. Winner gets mbenecke. Go get ‘em!

      Drumstix (9) vs. Miss Thundercat (16) – A couple of rookies go head-to-head (though Miss Thundercat is a red shirt from last year). Drumstix has to feel good about the 9th place finish though the 18 bonus points leave some room for improvement. A solid last two weeks of the regular season puts the momentum on this side of the matchup though Miss Thundercat has demonstrated that she still has all nine lives available. Three weekly wins plus two second place weekly finishes show what’s possible and though the first half of the season was solid, the last month and the 8 total bonus points left a little to be desired. Is this an aberration or a trend? Gotta play the game to find out.

      MavHockey14 (8) vs. geezer (17) – The most intriguing first round matchup in this bracket pits MavHockey14’s rock star .701 pick percentage against geezer’s killer 39 bonus points. One player’s strength is another’s weakness so let’s dig a little deeper into the numbers:

      Code:
                             MavHockey14   Geezer
      Weekly Wins             2             1
      Top 10 Weekly Finishes  9            10
      Weeks in the Top 10     13            7
      Conclusion: this one could go either way

      Comment


      • Re: WCHA Pick 'Em 2019-2020

        Originally posted by TalonsUpPuckDown View Post
        Let’s take a look at the brackets starting with Mankato (but first, the links):

        Rounds 1 and 2
        View response summaries

        Mbenecke (1) – Bye: While it took 3 seasons for the 2018 ROY to capture his first MacNaughton Cup, (finishing runner-up last year), mbenecke did it with a performance that was utterly dominating. Mbenecke never fell lower than 3rd in the weekly rankings and held the top spot for 11 of 21 weeks. He did it with the highest bonus total of all players while posting a top-10 pick percentage of .681. Vegas has him at 3-2 to repeat.

        Play-In Game - beaverhockeyfan fell 1 point short of escaping the play-in game which has to be a disappointment following last year’s strong top-10 finish. The season was a mixed bag with 7 top-ten weekly finishes (including a week 6 win) coupled with middling results the rest of the way. Pick percentage is a respectable .659 but an improvement on the 10 bonus points is a must to beat mikeeddy19 who struggled early on but is one of the hottest players down the stretch with 4 top-10 finishes the last 5 weeks of the season (including a week 19 win). MSUMaverickFan has the numbers to be outside the play-in game (.651 pick percentage, 27 bonus points) but missing a couple of weeks, including week 20, did some serious fate-sealing. Consider this contestant the sleeper in this play-in. BGSURICK, who could never seem to turn on the jets, rounds out the Mankato play-in field. Climbing to no better than 24th place in week 3, our 36th seed and last contestant to make the field comes in with a pick percentage just under .600 and only 7 bonus points. Winner gets mbenecke. Go get ‘em!

        Drumstix (9) vs. Miss Thundercat (16) – A couple of rookies go head-to-head (though Miss Thundercat is a red shirt from last year). Drumstix has to feel good about the 9th place finish though the 18 bonus points leave some room for improvement. A solid last two weeks of the regular season puts the momentum on this side of the matchup though Miss Thundercat has demonstrated that she still has all nine lives available. Three weekly wins plus two second place weekly finishes show what’s possible and though the first half of the season was solid, the last month and the 8 total bonus points left a little to be desired. Is this an aberration or a trend? Gotta play the game to find out.

        MavHockey14 (8) vs. geezer (17) – The most intriguing first round matchup in this bracket pits MavHockey14’s rock star .701 pick percentage against geezer’s killer 39 bonus points. One player’s strength is another’s weakness so let’s dig a little deeper into the numbers:

        Code:
                               MavHockey14   Geezer
        Weekly Wins             2             1
        Top 10 Weekly Finishes  9            10
        Weeks in the Top 10     13            7
        Conclusion: this one could go either way
        Ugh.... Thanks for the pick me up! LOL!
        Millsy

        NCAA TOURNAMENT 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010!
        FROZEN FOUR 2009!


        "Like" The BeaverPond's Facebook Page

        BEMIDJI STATE BEAVERS!
        NAIA National Champs: 1968, '69, '70, '71, '73, '79, '80
        NCAA D-III National Champs: 1986
        NCAA D-II National Champs: 1984, '93, '94, '95, '97
        NCAA D-I National Champs: 20??
        Perfect 31-0 in 1983-84
        Holders of an NCAA Mens Record 43 straight wins (Nov. 8, 1983-Jan. 1, 1985)

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        • Re: WCHA Pick 'Em 2019-2020

          Up next is the Bemidji bracket (but first, the links):

          Rounds 1 and 2
          View response summaries

          MTUHuskyGold (2) – Bye: Once past week 3, MTUHuskyGold spent the next 18 weeks no lower than 4th in the weekly standings which is an incredible achievement and an amazing turnaround from last year’s 25th place regular season finish. Two weekly wins and 10 weekly top-10 finishes along with a .684 pick percentage and a whopping 44 bonus points sounds fantastic, but having the lead through week 17 and not being able to close the deal has to sting a bit. Is redemption waiting in the wings? Stay tuned…

          Play-In Game - How does the Mason Cup winner end up in a play-in game? By spotting the field 26 games. Scrum Bucket would have also challenged for the MacNaughton with entries for all 213 games. Going up against a player with a league leading .704 pick percentage and 37 bonus points has to be daunting, but klbaum1077 is no stranger to these situations. This three-year contest veteran posted a .628 pick percent and 20 bonus points and a week 1 win. manurespreader missed three weeks of picks last year and missed out on the playoffs. Not this year. Picking in all 213 games with a .620 pick percentage and 19 bonus points lead to this year’s breakthrough. On the other hand, while <3_Blizzard’s .622 pick percentage is slightly higher than historical norms, this year’s 15 bonus points is well below average. That leaves plenty of upside so don’t be surprised to see <3_Blizzard storming to an upset!

          TalonsUpPuckDown (10) vs. Icd80 (15) – About all you can say (well, about all I’m gonna say) is that TUPD made it into the top ten while picking first each week (because he has to ensure all the links work – it’s called unit testing for those not in IT). The other side of the ledger sees Icd80 posting a vastly improved .662 pick percentage over the previous year but only 17 bonus points. Will this be enough of a historical performance to predict a win? Yeah, probably...

          Wi.HuskiesFan (7) vs. sonofcrossjcek (18) – By far the most intriguing matchup of the entire first round sees the 2018 Jeff Sauer trophy winner Wi.HuskiesFan taking on the 2020 ROY sonfocrossjcek. I’m already counting down the days. Wi.HuskiesFan had a killer 2017-18 year but stumbled a bit last year only to come back with a vengeance this year. The secret? It’s the bonus. He’s unbeatable when his bonus picking is strong but when it isn’t…well…yeah... This year he posted 48 bonus points so watch out. But wait…his opponent, sonofcrossjcek rode a pick percentage of nearly .700 to the 18th seed while missing the first weeks’ picks. Had there not been confusion in the final week over the picks submitted we might be seeing this year’s Mason Cup winner taking on a prior Jeff Sauer winner. Just sit back, pop open a cold one, and enjoy this matchup.

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          • Re: WCHA Pick 'Em 2019-2020

            Originally posted by TalonsUpPuckDown View Post
            Up next is the Bemidji bracket (but first, the links):

            Rounds 1 and 2
            View response summaries

            MTUHuskyGold (2) – Bye: Once past week 3, MTUHuskyGold spent the next 18 weeks no lower than 4th in the weekly standings which is an incredible achievement and an amazing turnaround from last year’s 25th place regular season finish. Two weekly wins and 10 weekly top-10 finishes along with a .684 pick percentage and a whopping 44 bonus points sounds fantastic, but having the lead through week 17 and not being able to close the deal has to sting a bit. Is redemption waiting in the wings? Stay tuned…

            Play-In Game - How does the Mason Cup winner end up in a play-in game? By spotting the field 26 games. Scrum Bucket would have also challenged for the MacNaughton with entries for all 213 games. Going up against a player with a league leading .704 pick percentage and 37 bonus points has to be daunting, but klbaum1077 is no stranger to these situations. This three-year contest veteran posted a .628 pick percent and 20 bonus points and a week 1 win. manurespreader missed three weeks of picks last year and missed out on the playoffs. Not this year. Picking in all 213 games with a .620 pick percentage and 19 bonus points lead to this year’s breakthrough. On the other hand, while <3_Blizzard’s .622 pick percentage is slightly higher than historical norms, this year’s 15 bonus points is well below average. That leaves plenty of upside so don’t be surprised to see <3_Blizzard storming to an upset!

            TalonsUpPuckDown (10) vs. Icd80 (15) – About all you can say (well, about all I’m gonna say) is that TUPD made it into the top ten while picking first each week (because he has to ensure all the links work – it’s called unit testing for those not in IT). The other side of the ledger sees Icd80 posting a vastly improved .662 pick percentage over the previous year but only 17 bonus points. Will this be enough of a historical performance to predict a win? Yeah, probably...

            Wi.HuskiesFan (7) vs. sonofcrossjcek (18) – By far the most intriguing matchup of the entire first round sees the 2018 Jeff Sauer trophy winner Wi.HuskiesFan taking on the 2020 ROY sonfocrossjcek. I’m already counting down the days. Wi.HuskiesFan had a killer 2017-18 year but stumbled a bit last year only to come back with a vengeance this year. The secret? It’s the bonus. He’s unbeatable when his bonus picking is strong but when it isn’t…well…yeah... This year he posted 48 bonus points so watch out. But wait…his opponent, sonofcrossjcek rode a pick percentage of nearly .700 to the 18th seed while missing the first weeks’ picks. Had there not been confusion in the final week over the picks submitted we might be seeing this year’s Mason Cup winner taking on a prior Jeff Sauer winner. Just sit back, pop open a cold one, and enjoy this matchup.
            i suck at bonus points

            Comment


            • Re: WCHA Pick 'Em 2019-2020

              Week 18 did sting with Mbenecke having a near perfect week to steal my short perch at the top. However, I did claw back some and was a Bemidji St win last Saturday away from taking the regular season. Feel like I'm in the "bracket of death" with the quality of the play-in opponents. Round 2 will not be easy for me! Pick 'Em has been great fun and your previews so far are great. Thanks.

              Comment


              • So do bye seeds submit picks this week? I dont quite understand how this is all working.

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                • Originally posted by Stauber1 View Post
                  So do bye seeds submit picks this week? I dont quite understand how this is all working.
                  Absolutely. Pick all the games and bonuses. Since you have a first round bye I will only use your second round picks which will be used against the person coming out of the play-in game. So basically your first round picks are throwaway.

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by klbaum1077 View Post
                    i suck at bonus points
                    1000% agree.
                    AF 99

                    M-A-V-E-R-I-C-K-S, MAVERICKS, MAVERICKS, GOOOOO STATE!

                    Comment


                    • Re: WCHA Pick 'Em 2019-2020

                      On to the Marquette bracket (but first, the links):

                      Rounds 1 and 2
                      View response summaries

                      Stauber1 (3) – Bye: While it took this rookie a couple of weeks to lift off, once airborne Stauber1 never looked back. Eight top-10 finishes (and a week 7 win) lead to the highest pick percentage of the contestants with first round byes (.693) – and the 30 bonus points sure helped seal the deal.

                      Play-In Game - While GIWAN’s pick percentage and bonus were only slightly off of last year’s pace (.670 vs. .683 / 30 vs. 38) and the 8 top-10 weekly finishes (and a week 1 win) certainly turned some heads, missing week 8 was the difference between last year’s 5th place finish and this year’s play-in game. Another rookie making their playoff debut, NHBEAVERFAN’s 3 weekly wins was not enough to overcome some challenges in the bonus picking (8 points). When it comes to consistency, no one tops 3-year veteran John J. MacInnes whose three year totals/points percentage are 415/.626, 415/.637, and 416/.631. In preceding years this would be enough to place in the top 15. But due to the increase in professionals flocking to this year’s WCHA Pick ‘Em contest, these numbers are only good enough to land in the third play-in match. Rounding out the group is another 3-year veteran, kckrieg84 who had 5 top-10 finishes (and a week 5 win). 24 bonus points when coupled with a pick percentage of .617, wasn’t enough to overcome a missed week 14.

                      walktheline (11) vs. gochiefs (14) – Each week I can count on Johnny Cash tunes being securely planted in my brain thanks to rookie walktheline. Nine top-10 finishes (and a week 3 win) led to a fast start but some stumbles occurred during the middle part of the season. However, momentum is swinging this way over the past 5 weeks. gochiefs was unable to duplicate last year’s second place finish. While the bonus points were the same (28 each year), this year’s .646 pick percentage (vs. .689) was the difference.

                      Soulbeaver (6) vs. GoNanooks (19) – A pair of 3-year veterans find themselves head-to-head in this first round matchup. After a down year last year, Soulbeaver returned to peak form with a .657 pick percentage, a stellar 47 bonus points, and 8 top-10 finishes (and a week 17 win) while staying in the top 6 for the final 18 weeks of the season. While the pick percentage dropped a tad from last year (.632 vs. .659, GoNanooks’ bonus made up the difference (33 vs. 23). Add in the two top-5 weekly finishes in the last 5 weeks of the season and you have yourself THE marquee matchup in this bracket.

                      Comment


                      • Re: WCHA Pick 'Em 2019-2020

                        We’ll close with the Fairbanks bracket (but first, the links):

                        Rounds 1 and 2
                        View response summaries

                        puckdude40 (3) – Bye: This has been a breakout year for puckdude40. 43 bonus points and a .670 pick percentage is huge jump in performance for this 3-year veteran. A strong finish the last week saw him jump from 6th into the 4th seed. But it wasn’t just a strong showing in week 21 as he maintained a top-7 standing through the last 16 weeks of the season. Two weekly wins (weeks 3 and 9) show the talent depth at play here.

                        Play-In Game - hawerchuck started out slowly but with a week 9 win appeared to shift into high gear through the middle part of the season. However there was some regression to the mean during the critical final weeks which resulted in falling one point short of escaping the play-in game. A .643 pick percentage and 22 bonus points is right at the field average. Despite a solid week 12 win, Critical Thinker posted weekly results in the 15-20 range. A .621 pick percentage and 14 bonus points makes for plenty of upside. As the 2018 Jeff Sauer runner up, you would expect crossjcek to be a force in this contest. However, missing out on the week 1 bonanza of available points dug a hole that was challenging to climb out of. A .638 pick percentage and 23 bonus points would have been vastly improved upon had sonofcrossjcek shared his homework. Our final play-in competitor is 3-year veteran Hockey John who, as first alternate in last year’s playoffs, pulled off two stunning upsets before falling to fellow Falcon mbenecke in the quarterfinals. Don’t let a .588 pick percentage and 25 bonus points fool you…when it’s game time, Hockey John shows up. This is Vegas’ sleeper pick.

                        SweeneyHawksHockey (12) vs. Bronco Hockey Fan (13) – Two former champions, the 2018 MacNaughton and Jeff Sauer winner and the 2019 MacNaughton, Mason, and Jeff Sauer winner find themselves head-to-head in a matchup for the ages. How’d we get here? First, this has to be considered a down year for SweeneyHawksHockey. Even though his bonus picking is very consistent year-to-year (24, 24, 25), his pick percentage is down (.684, .684, .659). Couple this with the increase in pro’s signing up for the contest year and you have what amounts to a rather pedestrian performance for this all-star of the USCHO pick ‘em boards. Bronco Hockey Fan started out red hot and looked on pace to repeat last year’s sweep of the hardware after wins in weeks 1 and 2. Unfortunately he couldn’t keep the mojo going ending up with a solid.678 pick percentage but only 10 bonus points.

                        Hatch_man (5) vs. potternmu (20)Hatch_man stayed solidly locked into the 5th place spot for the last 4 weeks of the season based on 24 bonus points and a rock solid .695 pick percentage (fourth best in the Mason Cup race). A week 1 win and 10 top-10 finishes helps in this improvement over last year’s 31st place finish. The other side of the coin sees 3-year veteran potternum struggling to keep pace with last year’s 7th place finish posting a .659 vs. .662 pick percentage and 13 vs 18 bonus points and barely escaping the play-in game. Uncharacteristically there were no weekly wins and only 7 top-10 finishes. The performance of these players the past two seasons are mirror images of each other.

                        First Alternate – There is only one reason Laker Dude finds himself as an alternate…missing 5 weeks is impossible to overcome. Despite this, he posted a pick percentage of .683 and 24 bonus points which is easily a top quartile performance.

                        Second Alternate – Though one might think footballguy51 has his sports confused, missing the first and second round points bonanza is also nearly impossible to overcome. However, a late charge nearly saw him sneak into the playoff field.

                        That's it, everyone. Good luck and game on!

                        Comment


                        • Re: WCHA Pick 'Em 2019-2020

                          As the playoffs stand right now there are 35 of 37 contestants with picks in. It's possible for one if not both of the alternates to find themselves in this thing so get those picks in.

                          Timestamp Screen Name
                          3/1/2020 8:04:48 TalonsUpPuckDown
                          3/1/2020 9:58:32 BGSURICK
                          3/1/2020 10:06:01 Hawerchuk
                          3/1/2020 11:50:47 Kckrieg84
                          3/1/2020 12:41:54 mbenecke
                          3/1/2020 12:45:16 geezer
                          3/1/2020 13:03:26 Klbaum1077
                          3/1/2020 15:18:15 Bronco Hockey Fan
                          3/1/2020 15:18:37 potternmu
                          3/1/2020 15:43:49 Mikeeddy19
                          3/1/2020 17:06:42 Scrum Bucket
                          3/1/2020 17:46:06 Footballguy51
                          3/1/2020 18:28:12 walktheline
                          3/1/2020 19:51:17 Hatch_man
                          3/1/2020 22:44:48 John J MacInnes
                          3/2/2020 7:29:09 MSUMaverickFan
                          3/2/2020 9:32:08 NHBEAVERFAN
                          3/2/2020 9:59:12 puckdude40
                          3/2/2020 11:11:23 <3_Blizzard
                          3/2/2020 14:12:36 drumstix
                          3/2/2020 22:28:18 Hockey John
                          3/3/2020 11:08:34 Manurespreader
                          3/3/2020 11:36:50 Critical Thinker
                          3/3/2020 14:31:32 gochiefs
                          3/3/2020 14:47:21 beaverhockeyfan
                          3/4/2020 10:47:51 icd80
                          3/4/2020 17:10:27 SweeneyHawksHockey
                          3/4/2020 17:11:00 crossjcek
                          3/4/2020 17:16:21 sonofcrossjcek
                          3/4/2020 17:38:00 MTUHuskyGold
                          3/4/2020 22:44:51 Wi.HushiesFan
                          3/5/2020 2:08:37 MavHockey14
                          3/5/2020 12:13:24 Stauber1
                          3/5/2020 19:42:12 soulbeaver
                          3/6/2020 11:40:29 GoNanooks

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                          • Re: WCHA Pick 'Em 2019-2020

                            I see I hit the wrong key when typing my screen name i guess ...HuskiesFan not HushiesFan
                            MTU Huskies 3 time NCAA Champions... and going for more.
                            2017-18 WCHA playoff Pick'em Champion!

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                            • Originally posted by Wi.Huskies Fan View Post
                              I see I hit the wrong key when typing my screen name i guess ...HuskiesFan not HushiesFan
                              I knew it was you ;-)

                              Comment


                              • Re: WCHA Pick 'Em 2019-2020

                                First round of the playoffs is complete. All of the higher seeded players lost with the exception of Drumstix, Scrum Bucket, and hawerchuck who out-tied the other three players 10-10-10-10 in the Fairbanks play-in game. Highest scoring player in the first round was Icd80 with 16 who along with Drumstix, John J. MacInnes, and Bronco Hockey Fan correctly picked the winners of all 4 games. TUPD led the way with 4 of 5 bonus points, however, Icd80 also had 4 bonus points which was more than enough to tip the match in their favor.

                                Once again an alternate was needed as footballguy51 was called in as a replacement against Drumstix who prevailed 12-9. in other matchups, Bronco Hockey Fan outlasted SweeneyHawksHockey 14-12, sonofcrossjcek put the hammer down on Wi.HuskiesFan 12-8 and GoNanooks took out Soulbeaver 11-7. potternmu took a hatchet to Hatch_man 12-9, geezer bested MavHockey14, and gochiefs left walktheline singing the Folsom Prison Blues 11-9. And as a former men's league defenseman I'm more than familiar with the hockey reference but every time I see that screen name I can't keep Johnny Cash tunes out of my head. Lastly, mikeeddy19 outtied MSUMaverickFan and John J. MacInnes outlasted kckrieg84

                                The Sweet 16 is set, second round starts tonight, everybody's picks are in.

                                WCHA Pick Em Playoff Bracket

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