Well that turned into a fun night. First part was our draft, second part a whole bunch of people I used to work with 20 years ago showed up and we stayed around drinking until they tossed us out. My head hurts.
Oh yeah, long post, so if you're not a hockey nut, move along.
Our group got together, discussed rules, how we'll handle playoff games, payment and all that fun stuff. Then we drafted. Draft order was set first and there were nine names in the hat for seven guys. Each person had a name for each share they'd bought (share = 5 games) so I had my name in twice, as did another guy. I had my name pulled 2nd and 8th, so pretty nice places for a snake draft really. The only problem though is that I really wanted the home opener and so did everyone else. I had an agreement with the other guy that had two shares that we'd take each other to the home opener but he didn't get his name pulled either.
The guy who did get his name drawn first did an amazing thing though. After the draft order was determined, we started drafting. First game to go - home opener with the Habs, so no surprise. Then it's my turn to pick. I can't really take the other Montreal game because we're planning on being in Hawaii during the time they visit again, so I'm kind of bummed. But the guy that picked first says to me that he'll trade me his Montreal game if I take the other Montreal game
He knew I really wanted to go and gave up the first regular season game of the new era so I could go! Holy crap! Needless to say, I'm pretty stinkin' pleased.
The first round of drafting went like this, in order:
1. Montreal October 9
2. Montreal December 22
3. Boston February 17
4. Toronto February 7
5. Boston December 6
6. Pittsburgh December 23
7. Pittsburgh October 17
8. Toronto December 31
9. Tampa Bay April 7
So I got Montreal, Toronto in the first round. I was really hoping to get a Pens game with my second pick, but both went bang-bang right before my second pick of the first round
I hate Toronto with a passion but I figured that it was another marquee game and maybe I could trade it, but so far no luck.
I have ten games in my package and I agreed to take the guy I had the pact with to the home opener, as we had discussed prior. In return he's taking me to the Bruins game he drafted first. So I'm attending 11 games in total and here's my list:
1. September 20: Columbus Blue Jackets - preseason home opener
2. October 9: Montreal Canadiens - regular season home opener
3. November 29: Ottawa Senators - my second last pick
4. December 1: Phoenix Coyotes
5. December 31: Toronto Maple Leafs
6. January 12: San Jose Sharks
7. February 14: New York Islanders - taking the wife to this game
8. February 17: Boston Bruins
9. March 1: Florida Panthers - my last pick, it was this game or the Nashville preseason game
10. March 16: Washington Capitals - will take my daughter to this game
11. March 18: Carolina Hurricanes - my third last pick and for that late I was pretty happy
So all things considered I'd say I did pretty well. I had ranked all my games in order of wanting to attend and I managed to get six out of my top nine choices so not bad at all. No duplicate teams either. Plus I get both the preseason and regular season home openers, three original six teams, a very good team in the Sharks, plus Ovechkin with the Caps.
Sadly we don't see Vancouver, Chicago or Detroit this year and with realignment we may not see the Wings much at all if they move to a different conference. I purposely tried to stay away from teams in the West (San Jose and Phoenix being the exceptions) and did pretty well.
Wanted the Phoenix game for historical reasons. Bryzgalov won't be there to make fun of, but given Hulsizer has walked away from the Coyotes as of today, it may be the only time to actually see the Phoenix franchise as they may be in another city by next season.
