Armchair Pools Blog

We have become more active on our Facebook page. I find it's easier to post things there than on my blog, so you may find things there that don't appear on the blog. You can visit our page here.

Feel free to post any questions or comments on our wall.

Also - we have a Facebook plugin that allows you to view your pools and trash talk right from your Facebook account. You can get it here and check out a sample below.

Do your regular season pool standings depress you?

Are you so far behind that your pool is no longer fun?

Challenge a few buddies to a mini-pool and put some excitement into the second half of the season.

What's a mini-pool?

A mini-pool is a hockey pool that you run with a few buddies in order to track some challenges made over a few beers. It has all the same features as a regular pool (trash talk, nightly updates, etc) but it's just smaller. And only $5.

For example. Say your "Canuck-hater" buddy thinks Vancouver will collapse down the stretch? Tell him to put his money where his mouth is and create a mini-pool. He can pick any 4 players from his beloved Red Wings and you can take any 4 from the Canucks? Whoever gets the most points from now until the end of the season is the winner.

Or, if you're from the east coast, you could challenge your buddy in Calgary to a "who stinks up the second half the least" pool. You get Grabovski, Kessel and the Leafs' second-half points. He gets Iginla, Tanguay and the Flames' second-half points.

Because you can track any NHL statistic at Armchair Pools and player's points can be effective dated, the possibilities for a mini-pool are endless. The only restrictions on a mini-pool is that you cannot have more than 20 players total in your pool. So 5 poolies with 4 players, 10 poolies with 2 players, etc ...

How do I create a mini-pool?

If you're new to Armchair Hockey Pools, you can get started here. Otherwise login to your Armchair account and create a new pool from your myPools page.

Make sure to type 'mini' in the coupon code box when creating a pool so that you are only charged $5 . Like all pools at our site, there is a free trial period. Mini-pools have a one week free trial.

And if you get stuck, just send an email to support@armchairpools.com. We will help you get your pool going quickly.

You've probably seen the highlight reel shootout goal by Oiler rookie Linus Omark. Spin-o-tama, fake, then five-hole to beat Tampa goalie, Dan Ellis. But have you heard about the reaction from the Tampa players and Dan Ellis?

"It's embarrassing for him," Ellis said. "You come into a league, a respectful league like this, and you try a little move like that. It's not a very classy thing. That's just the kind of person he is."

Wait a second Dan. He did more than "try" his little move on you. He scored. Which (correct me if I am wrong) is the goal of the player on the shootout. What am I missing?

Alex and Norm weigh in below ...

Check out The Sherpa for injury news and updates

With the highly anticipated return of Dany Heatley to Ottawa tonight, we turn you over to Alex and Norm for their predictions of fan reaction.

Chris Pronger costs his team an overtime win by "pulling an Avery" while screening Calgary goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff. Check out the video here. And if you're so inclined - Pronger's reaction post game.

Alex and Norm weigh in with their thoughts below:

The first episode of the Alex and Norm Alex and Norm debate their hockey pool sites. A challenge is made, but can Norm follow through?



Check out other episodes in this series as they are released on our YouTube channel

If you live in the Toronto area, check out this contest at The Hockey Card Show.

When you link your poolies to your pool, they get sent an email with all the information they need to log into Armchair Pools. Unfortunately, some email services like to gobble up these messages and stuff them into spam folders. There's a few ways around this.

1. Tell your buddy to look in his junk mail or spam folder. A lot of times the email will just be sitting there ready to be opened.

2. If your buddy still can't find the email, send him another one. Paste his invitation link into an email from your own personal account so that it doesn't get treated like spam. You can find his invitation link by clicking the little screen icon on the row with his name.
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3. Don't even bother with email accounts. Get your pool admin to setup your public pool page that anyone can bookmark and navigate to. More info on that here.

Are you tired of having to login to your hockey pool every morning? No problem. If you have a pool at Armchair Hockey Pools, you don't have to.

Just click the 'Stay Signed In' box next to the login box the next time you sign in. Once you've done this, you will remain logged into the site until you specifically hit the logout button.

This means, each time you go to www.armchairpools.com, you will be taken directly to the myPools page where you can pick a pool to view. If you want to be even more efficient, just bookmark your pool's standings page so you can return directly to your pool every time.