The 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs are set to begin only a few short days from now, and what  better way to celebrate than with the 2010 DobberHockey Playoff Challenge! The fine folks over at PickUpHockey are hosting the pool this spring, and it is completely free to enter! Playoff pools require quite a bit of luck (or intuition, whatever you may call it) to win compared to regular season pools, thanks to the fact that the success of the players you pick is heavily dependent on how long their teams stick around.

Don’t forget to pick up the 2010 DobberHockey Interactive Playoff Draft List! You check off the boxes of the teams you feel will come out of the first rounds and who will meet in the Final. Click “GO” and this MS Excel spreadsheet will auto-sort for you, ready to print, your draft list. Includes updated injury news, playoff studs and duds, as well as Dobber’s own draft list for you to refer to. This is all you’ll need to win your playoff pool!

To register:

Click this link, which will take you to the 2010 DobberHockey Playoff Challenge page over at PickUpHockey. Proceed to click SIGN UP NOW.  Enter your name, a log-in name, and then a password and your email address.

Read the terms and conditions (I know the temptation to skip over them will be huge, but it will only take a minute or two), which help to explain more about the rules and scoring system we are using, and then proceed to make your selections.

You are allowed to register three teams per email address, so once you have entered all of your picks for one team, log out and proceed to sign up again with the same email address up to three times. You can enter one or two teams if you want, the choice is entirely yours.

How it works:

Sign up to select your team

Choose 1 player in each of our 31 groups in the pick list

You can change you picks up until April 13, 2010 – after that they are locked in.

Log in to the pool every day to see the stats and standings.

The individual who has selected the team with the most points at the end of the regular season wins!

The Rules:

Forwards: One per Goal; One per Assist; One bonus per OT Goal

Defensemen: One per Goal; One per Assist; One bonus per OT Goal

Goalies: One per Goal; One per Assist; One per Win; Two per Shut Out; 0.5 per OT Loss; Bonus 0.5 per OT Win

And now onto the good stuff!

Prizes:

1^st Place: the winner of the 2010 DobberHockey NHL Playoff Challenge will receive an Easton Stealth S17 stick ($300 value) from Easton Hockey. The stick has a custom design and is signed by the band "Atreyu."

Here is some more information about the S17 stick, including a favourable review from Dany Heatley.

2^nd Place: the runner-up will receive a fully customizable NHL hockey jersey ($225 value), courtesy of Cool Hockey. The team/player is your choice!

3^rd Place: the entrant who ends up in third will receive one copy of DobberHockey's Ultimate Fantasy Pack ($50 value). The Ultimate Fantasy Pack contains:

Dobber’s Fantasy Prospect Report 2010 (value $13.95
Dobber’s Fantasy Guide 10-11 (value $9.99)
Dobber’s Preseason Draft List 10-11 (value $8.99)
Dobber’s Midseason Guide 2010/11 (value $8.99)
Dobber’s Interactive Playoff Draft List 2011 (value $8.99)

Don’t hesitate to contact [email protected] with any questions, concerns, or general inquries!