Waxaholic Playoff Contest winners announced.

So before I totally disappear into the World Cup abyss (it's too late, save yourselves) I had to find time to announce the winner of the 2nd annual Waxaholic Playoff Contest.

To no one's surprise, in a year won by the Blackhawks, a Blackhawk fan won.

Congrats Sal.

LMK which of the prizes you wanted, and shoot me your address again.

Final standings...


Sal - 114 pts
Roy - 112 pts
dayf - 105 pts
Play at the Plate - 97 pts
Justin G - 86 pts
DFG - 85 pts
Dan - 75 pts
Jeremy - 72 pts
cynicalbudha - 72 pts
shane diaz - 71 pts
1st and Goal - 69 pts
gcrl - 65 pts
Night Owl - 65 pts
madding 65 pts
BA Benny - 58 pts
roofgod - 55 pts
dr Steven Ibottson - 55 pts
dwfbuck2 - 53 pts
Wax Wombat - 50 pts

Super Waxaholic Playoff Contest Update....

The semi finals are done. Onto the Stanley Cup Finals! Congrats to Chicago and Philadelphia.

Here's an update on the Playoff Contest Standings. All results are unofficial until the final bribe has been counted.

Sal - 104 pts
Roy - 102 pts
Play at the Plate - 95 pts
dayf - 90 pts
Justin G - 86 pts
DFG - 85 pts
Dan - 75 pts
Jeremy - 72 pts
cynicalbudha - 72 pts
shane diaz - 69 pts
1st and Goal - 67 pts
madding - 65 pts
gcrl - 63 pts
Night Owl - 63 pts
BA Benny - 56 pts
roofgod - 55 pts
dr Steven Ibottson - 55 pts
dwfbuck2 - 53 pts
Wax Wombat - 50 pts

Good luck in the Finals! Some of you are going to need it.

Playoff Contest - Round 2

Okay, so Round One of the NHL Playoffs are over, and so is Round One of the Great Waxaholic Playoff Contest II
So it's on to the second round for all of the participants. Round 2 is simple. Pick the winners of the playoff series all the way through to the Stanley Cup Finals and the amount of games each series will go. Easy peasy.
The matchups are

a) San Jose (1) vs Detroit (5)
b) Chicago (2) vs Vancouver (3)
c) the winner of (a) vs the winner of (b)

d) Pittsburgh (4) vs Montreal (8)
e) Boston (6) vs Philadelphia (7)
f) the winner of (d) vs the winner of (e)

g) the winner of (c) vs the winner of (f)

as a tie breaker, pick the Conn Smythe Trophy winner (MVP of the playoffs)

The prizes? Well, since last year's prize was so popular, I will award another one. A 1977/78 complete set of inserts. These were randomly inserted into packs back in '77. No need to bust wax... I've completed the set for you. 22 shiny inserts from 33 years ago.

Just in case no one is interested in vintage hockey cards (I doubt it) I have some small baseball and basketball sets to offer.

So if you entered the contest in Round One, make sure to get in on Round 2. It's your only chance to win.

I may have a round one standings update tomorrow if I have time.

It's playoff time! And that means one thing... a CONTEST!

It's the absolute best time of the year, playoff hockey time. Hockey has the most exciting playoffs of any sport. My adrenaline may not calm down until June. And to celebrate, and because of the immense success of last years contest, Waxaholic is going to hold it's 2nd Annual Hockey Playoff Contest! And just like last year, you don't have to know anything about, or follow, hockey. Just be a lucky guesser. If I remember right, the winner last year did not watch hockey and gave the prize away to a friend. So if you think you can't enter, you're wrong.
All I ask is that you either click the "follow" button over on the right hand side, or send me an email, or both.... just so I have a way to contact you. Either one, your choice. Even you readers that don't have your own blog and don't say anything in the comments... you can enter too.

This year will be divided into two parts. You must enter both parts to be eligible for the prize. The first part is now, and you have until Wednesday evening to enter.
Enter by leaving a comment on this post. What do you have to say in the comment? I'm glad you asked.

Simply pick the winning teams from the first round matchups of the 2010 NHL playoffs, and predict (that means guess) how many games the series will go. All NHL playoff series are the best of seven games.

In the Prince of Wales Conference (East) we have

#1 Washington Capitals vs #8 Montreal Canadiens
#2 New Jersey Devils vs #7 Philadelphia Flyers
#3 Buffalo Sabres vs #6 Boston Bruins
#4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs #5 Ottawa Senators

In the Clarence Campbell Conference (West) we have

#1 San Jose Sharks vs #8 Colorado Avalanche
#2 Chicago Blackhawks vs #7 Nashville Predators
#3 Vancouver Canucks vs #6 Los Angeles Kings
#4 Phoenix Coyotes vs #5 Detroit Red Wings


So there you have it, pick one team from each matchup, pick a number between 4 and 7 for each, and Bob's your uncle.

Good Luck, part two will be up near the end of the first round (10 days or so) and I'll have my review and predictions up on Thursday.

The Great Waxaholic Playoff Hockey Winner Announced!

The Grand prize winner is..... Madding! Congratulations Madding. Please email me your address and your prize will be sent out.

A special thanks to all who participated... I hope for those of you who didn't follow hockey before, that maybe you took a peek at a game or two because of this contest. It was a great playoff year.

Congrats to the Penguins! The similarities between 1983 and '84, and 2008/2009 are a little spooky. Could the Penguins be set to go on a Oiler-esque type run the way Edmonton did after finally dethroning the Islanders? Time will tell.

Final standings...

madding - 34 points
thehamiltonian - 30 pts
Greg - 25 pts
Zman - 23 pts
kevincrumbs - 23 pts
dayf - 22 pts
Matt R - 21 pts
Shane Diaz - 19 pts
tunguska - 18 pts
roofgod - 18 pts
theghostofcorysnyder - 15 pts
nightowl - 12 pts


if Detroit had won Game 7, Greg would've been champ, with dayf in 2nd. What could've been, eh?

almost time...

Game 7 tonight. 8pm est. Pittsburgh @ Detroit.

Contest winner announced soon after....

the latest update...

Round three of the NHL playoffs ended tonight, (otherwise known as the semi finals) as Detroit eliminated Chicago in overtime of Game 5.
Pittsburgh awaits Detroit in the Final after sweeping Carolina.

Round three results:

Madding - 12 pts
Greg - 10 pts
The Ghost of Cory Snyder - 7 pts
theHamiltonian - 6 pts
Zman - 5 pts
Night Owl - 5 pts
ShaneDiaz - 5 pts
Dayf - 5 pts
Tunguska - 5 pts
Roofgod - 5 pts
Matt R - 5 pts
kevincrumbs - 5 pts

added to the previous round scores, we have an unofficial standings of:

Madding - 29 pts
theHamiltonian - 25 pts
Greg - 25 pts
Dayf - 22 pts
Zman - 22 pts
Matt R - 20 pts
ShaneDiaz - 18 pts
Kevincrumbs - 17 pts
Tunguska - 16 pts
Roofgod - 16 pts
theghostofcorysnyder - 15 pts
Night owl - 11 pts

awesome! Madding shoots into the lead! A reminder.... all point totals are unofficial. (pending whomever sends me the best cards in the mail before the end of the contest...;>)

Contest Update

Alright, so round two is complete! The semi-finals start on Sunday.

Carolina Hurricanes @ Pittsburgh Penguins

Chicago Black Hawks @ Detroit Red Wings


How did you do in round two? Did your teams make it through?


as an aside, I can't begin to put into words how utterly horrible the officiating has been. Especially in round two. I'm almost glad my team was eliminated in the first round as I do not think I could handle the stress of such seemingly biased refereeing. It's crept into every series, although I do not know their names, so I'm not sure if it's the smae guys or everybody.
If I was Detroit right now, I would be extremely upset. It wasn't Anaheim that lost 4-3 last night. The score should've been 3-0 Detroit. The refs had 4 goals last night. But unless you saw it, you have no idea of what I'm talking about.

Bring on the semi-finals!

7! 7! 7!

That's right! Round two has brought us not one, not two, but three Game 7's!

First up tonight is Pittsburgh @ Washington.

I highly recommend this one to people, even if they don't normally watch hockey.

Winner of this one goes on to play the winner of the Boston/Carolina series.

Who gets the Series winning goal tonight?

and then there were 7....

the Chicago Black Hawks knocked out the Vancouver Canucks tonight in Game 6, 7-5. That's the last Canadian team that remained in the playoffs. All I know now is that a bunch of foreigners are going to win the Stanley Cup.

Chicago vs
Detroit/Anaheim

Carolina/Boston vs
Washington/Pittsburgh

Washington staved off elimination by defeating Pittsburgh 5-4 in overtime. Looking forward to an awesome Game 7 there...

Game 6 Tuesday night for both Carolina/Boston and Detroit/Anaheim

Who will join Chicago in the next round?

Contest Update...

it's time to update the playoff contest here on Waxaholic.(gratuitous sponser shot)
If you picked any 2nd round sweeps, or early exits, you may not be doing so well. If you chose long, close series', you may be doing better than you thought you would.

Each series is in a 3 games to 2 status.

Carolina over Boston 3-2
Pittsburgh over Washington 3-2
Chicago over Vancouver 3-2
Detroit over Anaheim 3-2

The two main stories in this years' playoff are;
Alex Ovechkin... can he carry the team on to the 3rd round?
And the horrible, unfortunate, officiating. What can be best described as an embarrassment to the NHL, officials are deciding the outcomes of games, not teams.
Carolina had a goal disallowed, that then went to replay, where multiple angles clearly showed the puck across the goal line. The result? No goal. (it should be noted that all video replay in the NHL is done by head office in Toronto, not the referee at the game.)
Detroit had a goal allowed even though they had a player in the crease interfering with Duck's goalie Jonas Hiller. (Detroit still would have won, but you never know)
And the latest, two horrible calls in overtime, both in Pittsburgh's favour, allowed the Pens to score and take Game 5 in overtime.

I hope you're enjoying some of this great playoff hockey wherever you are. I just wish my team was still in it.

Game 6 for Chicago/Vancouver and Washington/Pittsburgh is tonight.

Finally! A use for all those Nationals caps...

and a Contest Update. All in one handy post.

Tonight was Washington vs Pittsburgh, Ovechkin vs Crosby, the future of the NHL. And they did not disappoint.



If you managed to hang in for the entire video, you saw about 200 hats thrown onto the ice. Mostly Nationals caps. No one wants those anyways.
Ovechkin - 3 goals, a hat trick. Crosby - 3 goals, a hat trick (no caps thrown for him though)

Washington up, 2 games - 0.
Boston/Carolina 1-1
Vancouver/Chicago 1-1
Detroit/Anaheim 1-1

Looks like the beginnings of an amazing 2nd round.

Not to late to enter....

you still have time to enter the Great Playoff Hockey Challenge, or something like that.

make your guessses here.

Good luck.

Get your guesses in...

Go here to see the prize....

Rules are simple... pick the winners, pick the amount of games needed, and guess the answer to the tie breaking bonus question.

(6)Carolina Hurricanes @ (1) Boston Bruins

(8) Anaheim Ducks @ (2) Detroit Red Wings

(4) Pittsburgh Penguins @ (2) Washington Capitals

(4) Chicago Black Hawks @ (3) Vancouver Canucks

each series is a best of 7 games....

Bonus Tie Breaking question: Who will be the Conn Smythe Trophy Winner? (playoff MVP)

Good Luck!

EDIT: guess all the way through to the finals.... winner of Carolina/Boston vs Pittsburgh/Washington and winner of Anaheim/Detroit vs Chicago/Vancouver, then the Finals

cutoff is Friday 5pm MST

Wow!

That was some playoff hockey! Two amazing Game 7's... and the Braves beating the Cardinals. Before I get to the hockey... an interesting note to the Braves/Cardinals series.

Pujols is 1 for 8 with 3 strikeouts. The Cardinals have "intentionally" walked Chipper 5 times. Including 4 tonight. There is no way that LaRussa is letting his guys pitch to last years Batting Champion, while Bobby is letting his young staff go after what is considered the best hitter in all of baseball. Interesting chess match.

Now the good stuff. If you don't like what you saw in tonight's Game 7's, you're not a sports fan. Wow! Great action and intensity. And some of the greatest goaltending you'll ever see. Amazing.
How Carolina came back against New Jersey I'll never know. I watched it, and I still don't know. Two goals in the last 1:20 of the game to win 4-3. Unbelievable. Cam Ward deserves a medal for his heroics in the Hurricanes' net.....

Speaking of heroics... the only reason there was a Game 7, or a Game 5 for that matter, is Henrik Lundqvist. Unbelievable. The Rangers were no match for the powerful Caps, but Henrik stole, took, absconded, with 3 games.

Wow. This is the reason that playoff hockey is the best sports has to offer, better than the Superbowl, far better than the World Series....

Contest Prize announced

Time for another contest. We haven't had one in awhile. As you all know, it's playoff time! And what better way to celebrate than with a contest.
The first round ends tonight. Starting with round 2, pick the winners of the remaining series all the way through to the Stanley Cup Finals!
(relax, don't start thinking yet, I'll have the bracket up late tonight or tomorrow)
They'll also be a couple of tie-breaker questions.

What will you win? I'm glad you asked. The winner will receive a complete set of 1977/78 OPC Hockey Glossy Inserts.

These were randonly inserted into packs over 30 years ago. But don't worry, I've completed the set for you.

Questions?

EDIT: the contest is live! Go HERE and make your guesses...

it's a good thing...

THIS is the only reason I could even make an appearance today after THIS.


thank god for playoff hockey....

Playoff wager...

It's that special time of year. Spring. The time when a young man's thoughts turn to.... playoff hockey. Yeahhh baby!
No sport has a more intense, passionate playoffs than hockey. And nothing annoys a good Canadian lad more than some Yank thinking he knows more about his national sport than he does. (okay, our national sport is lacrosse, but I'm on a rant here...)

Shane, from Shoebox Legends, has thrown down the gauntlet. Crossed the line. Killed the rabbit. He let the Germans bomb Pearl Harbour.

Yes. That's right. He said the Boston Bruins would defeat the Montreal Canadiens in this years playoffs.
I know. What a buffoon. Anyways, I could not let him get away with it. I picked up the gauntlet, erased the line, performed CPR on the rabbit, and defeated the Germans, just like we did at Normandy and Vimy Ridge!

Take a look Shane... there it is...
Enjoy it. That's as close as you're going to get to it. You may as well send my new Topps Archives Montreal Forum Seat Relic my way now. Avoid the inevitable embarassment.

p.s. No rabbits were actually harmed in the making of this post...