Roos Lets Loose

 
Despite never having laced up a pair of skates (except for those of his two young sons) and growing up in Red Sox crazed Massachusetts, Rick Roos has been a huge hockey fan nearly all of his life.  Inspired by often wearing a Canadiens jersey to the old Boston Garden (it’s a long story…) and living to tell about it, Rick started to join fantasy hockey leagues back in the 90s, where he found himself waiting eagerly by a fax machine for weekly stats updates.  He has since been in – and won – leagues featuring elite fantasy hockey writers. In real life, Rick is an attorney, which made him the perfect choice to write his previous “Holding Court” column on DobberHockey, where he debated both sides of a fantasy hockey issue and rendered a verdict for readers to debate. Later, for several years, he did similar for the popular “Cage Match” series. Today, Roos is freewheeling through a variety of monthly pieces: Forum Buzz takes a look at some hot topics our readers are discussing in the forum; Mailbag allows readers to write in to Roos with fantasy hockey questions; Goldipucks and the Three Skaters takes a look at three players (in the spirit of the old Cage Match, except Roos determines who is too hot, too cold…and ju-u-ust right); The Tournament is where Roos polls the readers and the forum community on a certain topic, just the way Tourneys ran in the old Cage Match, until a winning player in that topic is declared.
 
  

Fantasy Hockey Frustrations

By |2015-07-24T09:00:57-04:00February 12th, 2013|Roos Lets Loose|

 

Dan Cleary USA Today

 

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…


Cage Match Tournament – Sweet 16 Part 2

By |2015-07-24T09:01:09-04:00March 19th, 2012|Roos Lets Loose|

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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.

 

Cage Match Tournament – Sweet 16

By |2015-07-24T09:01:30-04:00March 14th, 2012|Roos Lets Loose|

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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.

 

Cage Match – the Tournament!

By |2015-07-24T09:03:34-04:00February 15th, 2012|Roos Lets Loose|

Cage Match

 

The most daunting question in the world of fantasy hockey is: who is the best player in fantasy hockey?

 

This would have made for a great Cage Match except there is no consensus top two to pit against each other. I am not sure there is even a consensus top four. The field is wide open. The league is booming with young talent and the combination of injuries and parity has the effect of evening out the playing field. To single out just two players would be silly so to do it up right would call for a Royal Rumble of a Cage Match. That would simply be madness. There is only one solution: harness the madness.

 

With that in mind I am proud to introduce to you the inaugural Cage Match Tournament!

 

PA Parenteau vs. Matt Moulson

By |2015-07-24T09:03:56-04:00February 8th, 2012|Roos Lets Loose|

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PA Parenteau vs. Matt Moulson - Draft position is one of the greatest deceivers in fantasy sports. It is a nice guideline (particularly in and around draft time) but the farther away you get from the NHL draft the less that draft position means. That is because the draft provides only a snap shot in time of the perceived value of all the drafted players. You think it matters any more that Datsyuk was a sixth round pick? That Zetterberg was a seventh? It most certainly does not.

 

Jarome Iginla vs. Martin St. Louis

By |2015-07-24T09:04:09-04:00February 1st, 2012|Roos Lets Loose|

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Cage Match - Iginla vs. St. Louis: Now that the All-Star Break has passed it is time to gear for your championship run. Whether you are playing head-to-head or rotisserie identifying the most productive players over the final 30 or so games is crucial. This means it is time to start loading up on proven options. Sure there are other strategies out there but like that classic TLC song says, “Don’t go chasing waterfalls, just stick to the rivers and the lakes that you’re used to.”

 

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