This is the point in the Stanley Cup Finals when those playoff beards make all the players look like escapees from Boyd Crowder's "Church of the Last Chance" on "Justified".
You can no longer distinguish stars you followed all season from guys you never heard of or the homeless panhandling outside the arena -- except that it's the guys you never heard of who seem to be doing most of the scoring.
This might be the only Cup Final I've watched where the franchise players aren't deciding the outcomes of any of the games or making headlines…
That would be except for Chris Pronger, the only guy on the ice more clean shaven than Gary Bettman. But since Pronger has finally scored, maybe he doesn't have to pick up any more pucks after the game to remind himself what they look like.
Did he want out of Edmonton because of his wife or to get ahead of some shoplifting charges?
Anyway, things inside the "Infamous Writers Hockey Pool" are getting a little hairy as well, with the possibility that somebody might steal the championship in this our final week.
Where the heck did Barry Kiefl come from? How'd he get past me so fast? Will his rapid rise carry him past the two guys who have been duking it out for the lead for the last couple of weeks?
We'll know soon. This season could be over as early as Sunday and certainly before next week's report comes around.
As for the Props Division contest, it's a dogfight there as well. My thanks to the ton of new players who submitted an entry, making this the biggest field we've ever had in the sidebar competition.
Next week, we'll be announcing a lot of winners, so start packing your prizes. Meanwhile, here are the standings as of Game 3 of the final frame.
