Rolling Rock (Unofficially) Presents: The 2017 Bench Life Stanley Cup Prediction Battle
The Bench Life team are taking the gloves off for a winner-take-all prediction battle to prove once and for all (at least for now) who is most in tune with playoff hockey. Winner of the challenge gets a case of ice cold Rolling Rock beer paid for by the losers. Whoever finishes dead last will get punished in some sort of humiliating way, so stay tuned for whatever that ends up being. I had envisioned some sort of tie Goldberg to the net situation but that could potentially be too harmful. This is a classic TBD situation.
Without further ado, here are the categories for the challenge with each of our various picks.
Stanley Cup Champ (5 points for team, 3 points for amount of games, 10 points if both are right)
Thomas: Pittsburgh in 6
Cameron: Nashville in 6
Brendan: Pittsburgh in 7
Conn Smythe Winner (10 points)
Thomas: Kessel
Cameron: Rinne
Brendan: Crosby
Select 3 Forwards and 2 Defensemen. You get points for where they finish series in top 10 scorers (1st=10 pts, 10th=1 pt, >10th= 0)
Thomas: Malkin, Forsberg, Kessel, Ellis, Schultz
Brendan: Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Josi, Ellis
Cameron: Malkin, Forsberg, Arvidsson, Subban, Schultz
1st Player to be Handed the Cup after the captain (5 points)
Thomas: Nashville–Johansen Pittsburgh–Hainsey
Brendan: Nashville–Neal Pittsburgh–Hainsey
Cameron: Nashville– Subban Pittsburgh– Cullen
For Every OT Tweet a PIT and NSH player for who will score the OT Goal. 10 points per correct pick.
Over Unders (2 pts for every pick)
PK Subban Points Set at 4.5
Thomas: Under
Brendan: Over
Cameron: Over
MA Fleury Starts Set at 0.5
Thomas: Under
Brendan: Under
Cameron: Over
Total Overtime Games Set at 1.5
Thomas: Over
Brendan: Over
Cameron: Over
Total Shutouts in Series Set at 0.5
Thomas: Over
Brendan: Under
Cameron: Over
Total Goals in Series Set at 24.5
Thomas: Under
Brendan: Over
Cameron: Over
The winner will be decided by whoever accumulates the most points at the commencement of the Finals. We promise that we made our picks well before puck drop of Game 1. This is all above board. Keep an eye out for the challenge’s results. It’s sure to be an electric finish.
Bench Life Sports 
A whole case of Rolling Rock and bragging rights for an entire year! The stakes are indeed high!
If you promise that picks were made before the drop of the puck for Game 1, then I believe you!
Great stuff, guys. Keep it coming!
Mike
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