Armando came up to me the other day, excited about being invited to take part in a hockey pool. Armando? In a hockey pool? I was a little concerned. And confused. He seemed excited, as if he was a hardcore hockey fan. I will give him credit…he does know a bit more about hockey than when I first met him (Yes, he did once ask me who Wayne Gretzky was!). To hang with the guys or to small chat during business meetings with clients in Canada, he’s had to learn a bit about our national pastime. And he has. But competing in a hockey pool? I was worried.
Then I had a flashback of the one time I entered a hockey pool. The guys I worked with were holding their own playoff hockey pool. They decided to let the girls join, probably to increase the prize pot. I threw in my $10 and picked my teams. I didn’t use stats or odds. I picked teams based on which team names I liked, favourite jersey colours or cities that I was fond of. Not scientific at all. So you can imagine the guys disbelief when I won the pool! So this just goes to show that all the stats and knowledge of hockey you may have means nothing in a hockey pool. But what about having a fancy algorithm?
So Armando doesn’t know the first thing about being in a hockey pool yet he was not concerned because he had an algorithm. He explained to me that he had a program that by inputting all the players and their specific stats, a complex algorithm would determine the top players for his team. And if somebody picked one of his players, his program would recalculate and find the best replacement player. Trust my husband to put a computer-geeky spin on a hockey pool! But I won a hockey pool by picking teams based on jersey colours so who am I to judge? Let’s hope my beginners luck rubs off on him!
How do you pick your teams in a hockey pool?
Good luck to all and let the hockey season begin!
Related articles
- Hockey Sister (westcoastprairiegirl.com)
- Hockey Pool Season (robertzukeng.wordpress.com)
- The Best Fantasy Hockey Apps (shnarped.com)
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