Bracket #3 – Lucky Lines

Patric Hornqvist – 25 Votes (ADVANCED TO SEMI-FINALS)

Tyler Bozak – 11 Votes

Hornqvist's vote total dropped from round one to round two despite there being six fewer choices to vote for, with Bozak giving him a decent run for the money early on, until Hornqvist pulled away. It's reminiscent of Kris Letang from the Fantasy Hockey's Most Frustrating Player to Own tournament; and as I noted above, Letang was upset in the semi-finals after being widely considered the clear favorite from the outset.

Once again I voted for Bozak, mostly because we can actually point to past and present results to show just how fortunate he is now. After all, despite playing with Kessel for two plus seasons, Bozak wasn't even a reliable 50 point player. Then James van Riemsdyk enters the mix, and suddenly Bozak is a 65-70 point producer. If that's not the ultimate definition of being fortunate, I'm not sure what is, since Bozak's production looks to be a direct by-product of more talented linemates.

And while there's no doubt Hornqvist should be grateful for his role as James Neal 2.0 in Pittsburgh, where he's assured to be on a line with Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin (both on the PP!), what led me not to vote for him was the lack of data to show it will pay end up paying dividends. Sure, early returns have been great; but who's to say he can continue this pace? After all, the road is littered with players who occupied that same spot, only to see the experiment end as a failure. Granted, Hornqvist is in his prime, whereas the likes of Ruslan Fedotenko, Miroslav Satan, Petr Sykora, and John Leclair were all on the tail ends of their careers when they had a stint with Crosby and/or Malkin; but only being able to point to a quarter of a season's worth of actual results held me back from choosing Hornqvist.

All this having been said, I think Hornqvist is a more defendable bracket winner than Fleury, particularly since Hornqvist came to Pittsburgh after having toiled in the former offensive wasteland of Nashville. But will Hornqvist be able to dodge an upset at the hands of Iginla, who himself was briefly a Penguin? We'll soon find out.

Bracket #4 – Miscellaneous

Johnny Boychuk – 19 Votes (ADVANCED TO SEMI-FINALS)

Tyler Johnson – 17 Votes

This was the epic battle of round two, with a handful of lead changes before Boychuk edged Johnson in the end. I actually voted for Johnson, although it was almost a coin flip decision. After all, in Boychuk we have a player who not only was given the chance of a lifetime to strut his stuff, but to do so right before he's set to be a UFA and on a team that has been a laughingstock for basically a decade but which this year finally saw all its pieces come together.

And in the other corner there was Johnson, an undersized and undrafted forward who, despite AHL success, seemed poised to be another fringe player who'd get lost in the shuffle. Then a fluky Steven Stamkos injury allowed Johnson to step into a regular role, which he parlayed into 50 points and a new contract, and, from there, the second line center role and nearly point per game numbers for 2014-15 thus far. The reason I gave Johnson the edge was he might've never even had an NHL career were it not for this injury occurring when it did and to whom it did, whereas Boychuk still was set to earn a $4M+ per season UFA deal this summer, so what we're seeing amounts to icing on the cake for Boychuk.

The Boychuk vs. Fleury semi-final should be interesting, as a goalie against a defenseman is much farther from an apples to apples comparison than a forward against a defenseman. I suspect it will either be a close battle, or one of them will run away with the win – that is, I'm guessing the margin of victory will be fewer than four votes or more than ten.

Voting Links and Deadline

CLICK HERE to vote in the Patric Hornqvist vs. Jarome Iginla semi-final

CLICK HERE to vote in the Marc-Andre Fleury vs. Johnny Boychuk

Semi-final voting will close on Sunday December 21st, so be sure to vote for all brackets by then! See you next week for Round four – the FINAL!