We’re back, and for the first time in many years, there are more than just bragging rights on the line!
Well, it took until Friday morning to finally get it posted, but never fear, the 11th Annual Canes Country Pick ‘Em Challenge is back and better than ever.
Yes, that’s right, you heard me: better than ever. Why, you ask? Well, for the first time in many, many years, we actually have real, honest-to-God prizes on offer. Yes, you read that correctly: our Fearless Leader has raided the vault and has found nine — NINE!! — prizes that you can win!
Instead of assigning prizes to specific places, you get to choose. First place gets their selection of two trinkets from anything in Bob’s collection. Second place gets to choose two from the remaining seven, and third gets to pick two from the five that are left. CC staff is ineligible, which means that you could win prizes even if you finish lower than third!
Here’s what you can win:
If you’re new here or this is your first time participating, the Pick ‘Em is a yearly Canes Country tradition that stretches back to the 2013 postseason. Prior to every round, we’ll post an article similar to this one, and you make your picks for that round in the comments. I track them all in a spreadsheet and update the scores after each round. The top score at the end of the Stanley Cup Final wins the contest.
Here are the rules:
- Make a selection for each first round series in the comments of this post: who wins, and in how many games.
- In the first round, you’ll get one point for each winning team you correctly pick. The points double for each successive round, so two for the second, four for the conference final, and eight for the Cup final.
- If you pick both the correct team and the correct series length, you’ll also get five bonus points. The five bonus points will stay constant throughout the contest; the points for picking the winners will increase in each round.
- You get zero points if you don’t pick the correct team to win, even if you get the series length correct. There are no overtime loss points to be had here. You gotta earn it.
- The maximum score, if you get every single winner correct and nail the length of each of those series, is 107 points. You will not get 107 points. If you get even half of that, you have a good chance of winning the contest.
- Due to the short turnaround between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs, we will have a staggered entry deadline for the first round:
- The comments will close at the start of Sunday’s games, which begin with Lightning/Panthers on Sunday, April 21 at 12:30 p.m.
- However, picks for the two series that begin on Saturday will close at puck drop of Game 1 of those series, meaning that picks for the Canes/Islanders series will close Saturday, April 20 at 5:00 p.m., and picks for the Leafs/Bruins series will close Saturday at 8:00 p.m. Any picks for those series not in by the times listed will not be counted.
- Entries must be posted in this comment thread; we will not include any entries in the comments on any other article.
Please post your picks in the following order (it makes it way easier to enter into the spreadsheet if they’re all in the same order):
Metro
(1) New York Rangers vs. (WC2) Washington Capitals
(2) Carolina Hurricanes vs. (3) New York Islanders
Atlantic
(1) Florida Panthers vs. (WC1) Tampa Bay Lightning
(2) Boston Bruins vs. (3) Toronto Maple Leafs
Central
(1) Dallas Stars vs. (WC2) Vegas Golden Knights
(2) Winnipeg Jets vs. (3) Colorado Avalanche
Pacific
(1) Vancouver Canucks vs. (WC1) Nashville Predators
(2) Edmonton Oilers vs. (3) Los Angeles Kings
If you have any questions about the contest, post them below or email us. The CC staff picks will be posted as soon as we get them all in.
Good luck!