Roos Lets Loose

Welcome to Week Two of the Cage Match Rookie Tournament. Week One saw the opening round matchups in the Selanne Bracket. Why the Selanne Bracket you might ask? That’s why. There were few surprises in Week One, as all of the top seeds made it through to the next round. Here’s how they got there.

Category Killers - Part 1 (Hits and Blocked Shots)

If you read my Frustration Meter column from last week, one of the types of frustrating players I highlighted was the Category Killer, which is someone who drags your team down by doing major damage in at least one category. Sometimes it’s easy to tell when you have a category killer, like if he’s doing poorly in something major like goals, assists, or a widely reported category like plus/minus. But most leagues nowadays count one or more secondary categories, where it might be harder to actually notice the effects of a category killer.

Steve Laidlaw takes a look at the NHL's best rookies.

During the lockout I’d hatched this fantastic scheme – if the season were to be cancelled I would put together the first ever Cage Match Prospects Tournament. There were a ton of fantastic prospects tearing apart their respective leagues. Following a strong 2012 draft class as well as several of the best international prospects having waited a few years before coming to North America there was an absolute glut of talent waiting to break into the league. That tournament would have been bananas but instead we have to suffer through this shortened NHL season and one of the best rookie classes in memory. Thanks a lot, Bettman.

So in lieu of the first ever Cage Match Prospects Tournament and in celebration of this fantastic rookie class we shall instead have the first ever Cage Match Rookie Tournament. For simplicity’s sake and because of my bias towards defensemen (I really hate those fickle bastards) the field has been limited to just forwards. Now before you go and cry yourself to sleep in your Justin Schultz jersey I have to acknowledge that Schultz is my personal favourite to win the Calder this year, which is all the more reason to lock him out of the cage – that’s right, another lockout, suck it defensemen.

Rick Roos takes a look at several types of players who are frustrating to own in fantasy hockey leagues.

What’s great about fantasy sports is that even if you don’t win your league, at least you can whine to your competitors - and in the DobberHockey forums - about your misfortune.  Fantasy hockey in particular makes it pretty easy to complain, because there are so many ways your team and its players can let you down.  For example, DobberHockey readers already are well aware of all too familiar frustrations like Band-Aid boys (players who are great when they’re healthy, but always seem to get hurt) and Windex Wonders (players who are either ice cold or red hot), but there are many other ways players can become sources of frustration.

This week I thought I’d go over the different types of players who can disappoint a fantasy team; and instead of an overall “Final Verdict” like I usually have in this column, I’ll rank each category of player on a “frustration meter” that ranges from one gray hair (a little annoying sometimes, but not a big deal) to five gray hairs (a major source of constant aggravation).  One key thing to keep in mind – frustrating doesn’t always mean bad.  Even a guy who gets a four or five on the frustration meter usually can still help your team; he just might drive you crazy in the process! 

Now onto the list…

Things are heating up in the polls as we close in on deciding who the best fantasy player is - only 12 left standing...

Apparently there are a ton of fun things you can do with chalk. One thing that isn’t much fun is going chalk in a bracket tournament. In that regard you guys are total bores (at least this round anyway). After the previous round of polls yielded two upsets you guys decided to go straight chalk in the first half of the Sweet Sixteen. I am not complaining though, I just love the irony that a “fantasy” game could yield such unimaginative results.

Oh boy, what an opening round! After four weeks of voting in the Cage Match Tournament we have now pared the field down from 36 to 16. That’s right folks, we’re over halfway there. This past week was quite possibly the most exciting yet. We upped our output to keep up with you fantasy hockey fiends, releasing not one but two polls per week. Not only that but the matchups themselves got super interesting. Over the past couple of days you voted on the first round matchups of the final bracket and it was absolute fireworks.

The Cage Match Tournament keeps on rolling. To keep up with demand, we are picking up the pace and releasing two articles per week. That means the polls are closing faster but it also means speedier results. This is good news for those of you following along.

Welcome to the third week of the Cage Match Tournament! In case you missed them, here are the previous week’s editions:

Week 1 – Introducing the Bracket

Week 2 – Howe Bracket: Round One

Week 3 – Richard Bracket: Round One

Welcome to the third week of the Cage Match Tournament! In case you missed them, here are the previous week’s editions:

Week 1 – Introducing the Bracket

Week 2 – Round One: Howe Bracket

Hopefully you tuned in last week as we introduced to you the first annual Cage Match Tournament – a contest pitting players up against each other head-to-head in a points only keeper league where you the reader gets to vote and decide who wins!