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It’s hard to believe
that a year has passed since the inception of “Chicks in the Pool.” It
was, to say the least, an interesting year with many lessons learned –
first and foremost, it’s tough to be funny on a deadline. Hopefully
this year, "Chicks" will be a more regular monthly column instead of
four columns all at once and then nothing for the rest of the season.
To that end, year two
kicks off with a recap of the good, the bad and the ugly
of the past season.
The Good:
(For us anyway)
Puckjunkie.com not only survived the dot-com meltdown, but emerged
from it more focused and energized than ever – who says you need $10
million in venture capital to get a new dot-com off the ground.
Now back to hockey:
The re-emergence of Mario Lemieux and a chance for younger hockey fans
to get a peak at a truly great player. It maybe only echoes of his
past talent, but they were still loud and clear on many nights last
season.
The rise of Patrick
Lalime to number one goalie status in
Ottawa
– and no, I’m not just saying that because I drafted him for $1 (and
everyone laughed at me) and I now have him for at least two more years
at $1.
A
Stanley
Cup final that was worth watching even in June when the sun came out
and the days got longer. This one had all the ingredients you need for
a great final – two teams that don’t like each other, grudges to
settle and great goal scoring. Plus I picked a NJ/COL final in our
playoff pool and thereby secured a nice payout at the end of June.
The Bad:
The continuing
failure of the Buffalo Sabres to come to terms with Mike Peca leaving
fantasy owners with “what might have been” nightmares and now, the
prospect of Peca playing in that black hole for talent – Long Island.
John LeClair’s
oh-so-fragile back and resulting disappointing performance last year:
Let’s hope that this year his injury woes are behind him – but I
wouldn’t bet a high draft pick on that.
The sub-par performances of any number of
starting goalies: Canucks, Bruins, and Rangers goalies were signed and
then dropped by fantasy teams more times than fantasy football flop
Ryan Leaf in a good week.
The Ugly:
The continuing
impasse between Eric Lindros and Philadelphia GM Bobby Clarke – a
battle of wits between two unarmed opponents that kept Lindros owners
in every pool on the edge of their seats whenever the Big E’s name was
mentioned in trade talks. In the end all for naught…ah well, there’s
always this season (just don’t mention ‘concussion’ to the Rangers).
The ongoing temper
tantrums of Jaromir Jagr: evidently money, fame and applause are not
enough for some guys.
Watch out Washington, any guy who walks off the ice to "fix
his stick" when he disagrees with the coach can't be good for team
morale. For Pittsburgh, good riddance.
And finally: yours
truly slowly and surely working her way up the standings in her office
pool only to select Theo Fleury in the mid-season redraft, one week
before he entered rehab and was gone for the remainder of the season.
What followed? A slow steady decline into the cellar. |
Want more "Chicks"? See 2001/02 