The first month has passed in the fantasy hockey season. Like where you are in the standings? Probably you don’t but hey it is early. I am currently sitting in the middle of the pack in my league after a couple of bad weeks. That will happen when your triumvirate of goalies goes MIA for about 10 days. I will freely admit I am in a tougher league than I expected. The competition is very deep and the competitors take their fantasy hockey fairly seriously. That is what makes it such a challenge.
What do I have to ride on? Simple….my goaltending! It will either break me or make me in this league. Right now I sit 3 over .500. I seem to always start kind of slow and then make a push after the all star break. I am not expecting it to be an easy ride this time around as the talent is quite evenly spread in this league and well every GM is looking to defeat me. It is like being the man with the golden gun and everyone wants it. Now that does make it fun and exciting. Who, after all, doesn’t want to be the marked man?
This week I play Money….5th in The Stevens League right now. Quite a stacked team if you ask me with goaltending that can be downright evil. Ward and Kipper are a pretty dynamic duo. Honestly, the offense trumps mine easily….so I may need to try and concede a category or two and just go full out in +/-, SOG, etc. Sometimes these strategies work and sometimes they don’t but no one lives well in a league by not trying…so try I must.
The 3-4 matchup in the league is probably the matchup I am most interested in. Both GM’s have nice, solid teams that should be in it for the long haul. Bbbarasso has nice offensive depth while DENIZEN has bulked up in some of the road less travelled categories like Pims, SOG, etc…but his consistency is what is scary this week. I am thinking DENIZEN takes this one 5-4….but expect the numbers to be very close….this will go down probably to the last game or two on Sunday evening.
There are still quite a few surprises left on the waiver wire…and one player in particular that may make a few splashes if the rumors are true is Mike Smith, goalie from the Dallas Stars. There were a number of Pittsburgh scouts at the last Dallas game which makes you wonder if the Pens are trying to swing some sort of deal. Always makes things interesting when there’s a goalie controversy especially a big one in Pittsburgh. Stay tuned…the plot will thicken I am sure.
Well next week we will take an in depth look at the LSHL. The league is quite intricate as you will come to see but looks very interesting with how all the transactions, leaderboard, and prospects play out. It looks like a lot of fun. Till then….enjoy the fantasy hockey!
