2010 NHL Playoffs - First Round Results

Regardless of whether Montreal wins tonight or not (and, believe me, I'll be watching), the winner of the first round mini-contest is already known.

UPDATE: In the end, the good guys won. Hooray!

For my part, if Washington wins I will have been 6 for 8 (choosing New Jersey and Buffalo were my errors). If Montreal wins I will be, obviously, 5 for 8. In either case, I only correctly guessed the amount of games it would take for my pick to win once (Pittsburgh over Ottawa in six).

For the mini-contest among commenters, it was incredibly close.

AJR79 and Goaltender Interference were tied at 7 out of 8 (if Washington wins) or 6 out of 8 (if Montreal wins). They were also tied in the tie-breaker, with each correctly guessing the amount of games in each series twice.

So, I had to take it to the next step. Adding up the difference between the predicted amount of games per series and the correct amount, the result is that AJR79 came out the winner with a +/- of 7, two better than Goaltender Interference's 9.

Congratulations AJR79!

Your prize, if you choose to accept it, is to write up your predictions for the second round, with a short explanation of why you are going that way. You can also write up a short paragraph or two about your thoughts on the current political situation or any political issue that interests you.

AJR79, email me that write-up (and confirm it was sent in the comments), and it will be hosted here as a blog post.

For the rest of you, get your second round predictions ready! They will need to be posted in response to my second round predictions, which I will have up on the site soon. They need to be received before the puck drops on the second round, and your prize will be the same as AJR79's.