March Madness, For Real This Time (3rd Annual)

See the post above this one for the exciting conclusion to this prestigious prognostication proceeding.

DAY THREE –

North Dakota beats a tired Denver team to lock up the third Frozen Four spot.  That finishes off quite a few brackets and eliminates Spookymilk from title contention.  We’re down to 3 with a a chance to win it outright (Rhu_Ru, Buffalo, Mom) and Freealonzo,  who can still tie for the top spot if things break right.

By the way – this means I went 0 for 8 in the basketball final four and the hockey frozen four.  Please observe the ‘horrible prognostication’ tag.

Notre Dame wins over New Hampshire to complete the field for the Frozen Four (beginning 4/7).  Buffalo and Freealonzo are thus eliminated from contention.

Congrats to Andrew and Rhubarb_Runner who each correctly called 3 of 4 Frozen Four teams.

Standings – (Bracket graphics updated through Day 3):

• Rhu_Ru (12 points | 28 possible)
• Andrew (11 points | 15 possible)
• Freealonzo (10 points | 22 possible)
• Mom (10 points | 14 possible)
• AZSioux (8 points | 24 possible)
• Buffalo (8 points | 12 possible)
• Spookymilk (8 points)
• Beau (5 points)
• DK (5 points)
• Me (4 points)
• AMR (2 points)

Scenarios:

• If the Championship game is Notre Dame v. Michigan, Mom wins.
• All other scenarios result in Rhubarb_Runner winning the pool.

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DAY TWO –

In a game that almost everyone picked for UND, they were comfortably ahead 5-0 after the second.  They sail through pretty easily.

There goes another of my Frozen Four teams.  Miami loses 3-1 to New Hampshire.

If Western Michigan beats Denver, my Frozen Four is all eliminated in the first round (they’re in [edit: double] overtime).

Denver wins in double OT.  I still have a chance to get a Frozen Four team right! (no one else seems very excited about this).

Notre Dame gets kind of a fluky goal in overtime (4 of 8 first round games went to OT) to send them onward.

Your first Frozen Four team is Minnesota-Duluth defeating Yale.

The second Frozen Four team is Michigan holding off Colorado College.

Standings – (bracket graphics updated through Day 2):

• Mom (8 points | 28 possible)
• Rhu_Ru (8 points | 28 possible)
• Freealonzo (8 points | 22 possible)
• Spookymilk (8 points |  16 possible)
• Andrew (7 points | 15 possible)
• Buffalo (6 points | 26 possible)
• AZSioux (6 points | 24 possible)
• Beau (5 points | 7 possible)
• Me (4 points | 6 possible)
• DK (3 points | 5 possible)
• AMR (2 points | 2 possible)

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DAY ONE –

UM-Duluth wins the first game (and I lose my first Frozen Four team).  And we’re off.

Nebraska-Omaha loses to Michigan on a ridiculous replay review in overtime. (Will I get any games right?  Stay tuned!)

My picks finally get off the schneid with Yale’s OT winner.

Finishing with a bang, BC loses to Colorado College (only RPI got fewer picks than CC in our little pool). Beau, Andrew, and DK had BC to win it all.

Standings after Day 1 – (click on the name to see that person’s bracket):

• Spookymilk (3 points)
• Freealonzo (3 points + 1 Frozen Four team eliminated)
• AZSioux (2 points)
• Mom (2 points + 1 Frozen Four  team eliminated)
• Rhu_Ru (2 points + 1 Frozen Four team eliminated)
• AMR (2 points + 1 Frozen Four team eliminated)
• Buffalo (2 points + 2 Frozen Four teams eliminated)
• Andrew (2 points + Champion eliminated)
• Beau (2 points + Champion eliminated)
• Me (1 point + 2 Frozen Four teams eliminated)
• DK (1 point + Champion and Frozen Four team eliminated).

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The NCAA hockey tournament starts Friday afternoon, so hurry and download the NCAA hockey Frozen Four brackets (available below). Fill them out and confuse your friends when you complain about Merrimack busting your bracket.

I’ll take all comers in the third annual Daneeka’s Ghost Hockey Madness Sweepstakes. Winner gets … I don’t know … my undying admiration.

Last year’s winner: Freealonzo (Who only won because the Badgers are worthless.)

Will anyone unseat freealonzo’s deathgrip on the title this year? I hope so, because I’m awful tired of admiring him.

I’ll update my picks and keep standings and all that on this post, so put your picks in the comments (or email them to daneekasghost [at] gmail.com) and check back to see how things go.