How'd You Do In Round Two?

I'm here to tell you that UFC ring girl Edith Labelle does not work for HBIC in any way, shape, or form. In fact, she probably wouldn't appear here if not for a quick Interwebs search for someone holding a "Round Two" sign, but I digress. Much like what we saw after the first round of the HBIC Playoff Pool, I want to highlight those entrants who performed extremely well in the second round. The four series, especially those in the Eastern Conference, threw a bunch of people for a loop, but there were some poolies who decided that statistics and favorites be damned. Those people, as we'll see below, had themselves quite a solid second round in the HBIC Playoff Pool.

San Jose vs. Detroit: There was only one entrant who called all five games correctly in this series, and even added a goal-scorer just for good measure. Konrad W. decided to be clairvoyant for this Western Conference matchup as he called all five games for an easy five points. He tossed in Johan Franzen with the winner in Game Four for an additional two points. And because he called the correct team in San Jose in the correct number of games, that's an additional five points. All said, Konrad W. picked up 12 points in this series.

Congratulations, Konrad, and well done!

Chicago vs. Vancouver: For the first time in this pool this season, we've had a repeat winner as the top-earning entrant for a series. Konrad W. did it again, dominating the Western Conference in the second round as he came up with the best predictions for the Chicago-Vancouver series. Konrad correctly called the winning team in Games Two, Four, Five, and Six for four points. He correctly called the Kris Versteeg game-winner in Game Six for an additional two points. And he called Chicago to win in six games, earning him another five points. His 11 points in this series was tops of all the entrants.

Congratulations once again, Konrad, and keep up the amazing work!

Pittsburgh vs. Montreal: A few people had the insight to believe in Montreal. If you had asked me, I wouldn't have scored very high in this series, but one person did: Mari N. Mari called the winning team in Games One, Two, Four, Five, and Seven for five points. She also correctly called the game-winner in three games: Mike Cammalleri in Game Two, Brian Gionta in Game Four, and Mike Cammalleri in Game Seven. That's another six points. And considering that she called the correct winning team in Game Seven, she correctly predicted a Montreal series win, adding another five points to his total. After all that, Mari had earned an incredible 16 points in this series!

Congratulations, Mari, and keep on believing in Les Habitants!

Boston vs. Philadelphia: This series really threw a lot of people in terms of the total points earned thanks to Boston's historical collapse. However, one person scored a total of 11 points, and that man is your current HBIC Playoff Pool leader, Ben T. He correctly predicted the winning team in Games Two, Four, Six, and Seven for four points. He picked up another two points in predicting Daniel Briere's game-winner in Game Six. And because he called the Flyers in seven games, he picked up another five points. That's 11 more points for Ben in his quest to win the pool.

Congratulations, Ben! Your lead remains intact after two rounds!

Second Round Top-Earner: We all know Ben T. was the leader after the first round simply by checking the leaderboard. That was the easy one. However, there was a lot of movement in this round by entrants, and the result was that one man ended up earning a total of 30 points in the second round. You already know his name well as he's appeared twice in this posting.

Konrad W. picked up 12 points in the San Jose-Detroit series, 11 points in the Chicago-Vancouver series, and slowed down in the Eastern Conference as he earned just four points in the Pittsburgh-Montreal series, and only three points in the Boston-Philadelphia series. However, those 23 points in the Western Conference gave him a big advantage, and it carried him to the best increase in the second round with 30 points.

Congratulations, Konrad, on a superb round!

Round Three starts today, and I'm hoping everyone has their entries in. I apologize if I didn't email you a reminder, but I have been extremely busy over this weekend, so it was pushed to the back-burner. However, email me here if you haven't got them in yet. I can't give you any points for today's games, but you still have a chance to add to your total!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!