Who is the best multi-category stud in fantasy hockey?

Welcome back to my first Cage Match tournament, where we're now down to the final four in our quest to crown the NHL's best multi-cat player (i.e., Hits, Blocked Shots, PIMs, and Shots). Once again I'll list the latest results and give my postmortem analysis below, plus set up our next battles.

As with the past weeks, actual voting will take place within the Black Aces area of the Forums, and once again for each match I've included a link to vote – just click on "VOTE HERE" to be taken to the voting area for that particular match. Round three voting closes at 11:59PM on Sunday December 29th to give me time to tally the results before next week's column.

The pairings for this week were decided by the vote totals from last week, where the highest vote getter in last week's matches will now battle the lowest vote getter, with the other match pitting the remaining two players face to face. It seemed like the fairest way to go (plus, no one objected in the comments last week when I mentioned it).

After the brackets I've included yet another bonus "real life" Cage Match, where instead of comparing two hockey players I'll tackle a different side-by-side debate. This week it's back to food, to decide which is better – breakfast for dinner or dinner for breakfast.

Bracket #1 – The Young Guns (all 25 years old or younger)

#3 P.K. Subban (28 Votes) DEFEATED #1 Evander Kane (19 Votes)

There it is – a #1 seed has finally fallen (and he's not the one). I pointed out last week that although Subban's pure numbers in these categories are no longer jaw dropping, he seems to be advancing due to his all-around appeal and his dynamic and game changing style of play. As for Kane, we're left wondering how well he could've done if this tournament had been run two years ago, back when he was first really turning heads, and before injuries and questions about his attitude entered the equation.

Bracket #2 – The Old Guard (all at least 30 years old)

#2 Zdeno Chara (27 Votes) DEFEATED #1 Steve Ott (10 Votes)

The fact that Chara pulled off an upset here isn't too shocking, but to have trounced Ott by this wide of a margin is kind of a head scratcher. But I guess what it boiled down to was that however great Ott is in these categories and overall, in the end folks thought Chara was better by enough of a margin to garner their vote.

Bracket #3 – Best of the Rest Part A (Defensemen ages 26-29)

#1 Dustin Byfuglien (29 Votes) DEFEATED #2 Shea Weber (11 Votes)

Weber had a nice run, but even going in there was little doubt it would stop here. Folks clearly realize that Byfuglien's prowess in these categories is matched perhaps only by his ability to bankrupt a buffet. As for Weber, I'm guessing he might be the best of the 32 players who've been eliminated so far, and there's no shame in that at all.

Bracket #4 – Best of the Rest Part B (Forwards ages 26-29)

#1 David Backes (33 Votes) DEFEATED #2 Ryan Callahan (6 Votes)

Let's pause for second to review who Backes defeated to get here – Ryan Reaves, Brandon Dubinsky, and now Ryan Callahan (who himself beat Dustin Brown). Beyond that, if you added together all the votes his three challengers received against him it still wouldn't be more than Backes had in any single round! It's clear that folks are well aware of just how great Backes is in these categories, even if he does it without the flash of Subban or the size of Chara or Byfuglien. Could he actually win it all?

Match-ups for this round

Here now are the final four match-ups, which – as noted above – were decided by pairing the highest vote getter against the lowest, and then the remaining two players against each other. Pretty amazing that only six votes separated the highest vote getter (Backes – 33 votes) from the lowest (Chara – 27), with Byfuglien (29 votes) and Subban (28) finishing right in the middle.

Match #1 = – David Backes v. Zdeno Chara – VOTE HERE

Match #2 = – Dustin Byfuglien v. P.K. Subban – VOTE HERE

Recent Cage Matches

Bonus Real Life Cage Match

For this week, I'll cover a debate I've actually had with people in the past – which is the best overall experience, having breakfast food for dinner or dinner food for breakfast?

Of course, there are three ways to have any meal – buy ingredients and make it yourself, go somewhere to eat or take out, or put something together from what you already have around the house. If you go somewhere, good luck finding a place that offers dinner for breakfast (not counting things like steak and eggs), other than maybe an airport or a Las Vegas buffet. But in most cities and towns there are usually at least a couple of places where you can order breakfast food all day long, making breakfast for dinner the more accessible (and usually also more affordable) option.

Speaking of cost, one of the big benefits of breakfast for dinner used to be that it was much less expensive to prepare at home. But these days, especially with single serving frozen meals, you can often get an actual dinner for around the same price as breakfast fare would cost, if not less. But if you're going to make dinner food from scratch, then you're still likely to spend more money to buy things like meat, starch, and vegetables, than you would for breakfast staples like eggs, bread, milk, bacon, sausage, and cheese.

Also, breakfast for dinner usually can be prepared with foods you're likely to already have lying around the house – no need to make a special trip to the store for ingredients. The same generally isn't true when cooking dinner food. That being said, chances are that if you're looking to eat dinner for breakfast then you'd probably be fine with yesterday's pizza, a microwave meal, or leftovers that were stashed in the refrigerator or freezer, which are just as easy – if not easier – to prepare than breakfasts foods.

One possible drawback to dinner for breakfast is that aside from leftover pizza you pretty much need either an oven or microwave to prepare or heat up the dinner food, while at least in some cases (like cereal) you can prepare breakfast for dinner without requiring anything to cook or warm the food. But one nice thing about dinner for breakfast is that if you make more than you need then you can have the rest for lunch or dinner on the same day, or even the next day. But it's less common to have leftovers when you do breakfast for dinner, and even if you do then the idea of eating reheated pancakes, waffles or eggs the next day doesn't sound very appetizing.

Aside from all the logistics, there's also the enjoyment factor. When you've had a rough night, dinner for breakfast can be just the cure. And while breakfast for dinner is a nice treat that nearly everyone enjoys from time to time, there often isn't that "hit the spot" factor as there is with dinner for breakfast.

In the end, this is a tough one to decide, and for most people their subjective preference will be the deciding factor. But based on objective factors alone, the slight edge goes to breakfast for dinner. Bon appetite everyone!