March 5, 1999

Time for another boring playoff update. Maybe one of the remaining newsletters will be more entertaining. But not this one. I have clinched the Medicine Hat division title and Chris is stuck in second. The battle for the third spot became even tighter last week, as Brett and Jay lost and Rick won. Those three are now separated by ½ game with Brett in front. However, looking at the schedule, Jay may be the favorite. He has games left against Rich and Chris. Brett and Rick go against each other this week and next week it's Brett vs. Charlie and Rick vs. me. The points difference for the tiebreaker between Jay and Rick was only two, so that could make things even more interesting. However, Rick's 30 or so points in two days in the current week may swing things in his favor a little bit. Any one of those three teams could be a darkhorse in the playoffs and it is difficult to figure why they each have only seven wins.

Tony's magic number to clinch the Moose Jaw division is one. Tony and Charlie, who go against each other this week, could end up with the same record. In that case the tiebreaker would most likely go to Charlie. If it comes down to the last week, it's Tony vs. Mike and Charlie vs. Brett. Mike ended his seven game losing streak and his magic number to clinch a spot is one, as he has extended his lead to 1½ games over Rich. Bill is the first team to be eliminated.

For those of you who noticed, I was stupid enough to drop Graves last week. I was lucky enough to win back again this week against Rick and Charlie. Did you think there was ever a chance that I wouldn't win him back? Actually, Chris did the drawing after he said that he didn't want any of us to win him.

Also, in a move of interest from yesterday, Chris picked up Skudra and dropped Irbe. Brett (or anyone else), don't try to pick Irbe up because of the rule about guys dropped after our trade deadline not available for pick up. That rule, although it was discussed and agreed at the auction to carry over from last year, is not as important now as it was last year due to a couple of rule changes. The purpose of the rule was originally to prevent possible collusion so that a good player dropped could not be immediately picked up by another team. Also, with the limit of two IR positions, this rule would prevent a late season pick up of a good player by a playoff team that someone had to drop from IR because he had more than two injured players. Anyway, with the new free agent procedure regarding dropped players for this season and no limit to the number of players on IR, this rule is not really needed.

To recap, it is Saturday, April 17 at Chris' house. Starting time will be 6:30. It WILL start no later that 7:00. I think we will most likely go with an auction. The only drawback to this is the extra time, but if we start early enough, it shouldn't be a problem. If we use goalies, each team will be choosing 11 players. Each team took 10 players in the regular season auction, but we will probably not have 10 teams for the playoffs, so there will be fewer total players selected. If we use goalies, maybe we should scale the points back to one for a win and three total for a shutout so they aren't too valuable. And we should use team goalies (to lessen the impact of injuries). Actually, since we should finalize stuff like this soon, I will consider it a done deal if no one e-mails me their opposition in the next week or so. Plan to spend $110 on six forwards, four defensemen, and a team goalie. It will cost a real $40 to get in plus a few dollars for beer, etc. Card game will follow. I will let you know soon who is in the auction and if any of the above changes.

As in the past, if the playoff teams are not decided and you draft someone from a nonplayoff team, he can be replaced with anyone else not selected. If more than one player at a position has to be replaced, replacements will be made based on the amount paid for the player (higher amounts choosing first) and the order of selection (earlier picks choosing first if the same amount was paid).

Also, since we now have a trophy, the Elite Cup, or actually the Elite Man, will be presented to the playoff champion, if it has been decided by then.