Happy Anniversary, American Hockey Fan!

Yes, it's true, people.

American Hockey Fan is one year old today.

There wasn't really a proper post until April 17th, but it was a year ago today that I kicked it off, so it seems that now would be an appropriate time to announce the unveiling of the new and improved:

American Hockey Fan Expert Stanley Cup Predictions (first round edition)

I have been on record before that making playoff predictions is for chumps, since they are almost always wrong, and when they are right, it's usually for the wrong reasons.

Face it, was anyone picking that Carolina would be playing Edmonton in the finals last year?

As such, I have decided that rather than having all of the folks here at AHF (myself, Ben, Jen and Jack) give their actual predictions, I would flip a coin for each matchup, tell them what their predictions are and if they don't like them, tough shit.

As knowledgeable hockey people and funny folks, they have to justify how these picks that they have been assigned will actually come to pass.

So here are the predictions for each person here at the blog- their reasons for their picks will be coming in over the next couple of days provided they decide to, well- you know, do it.

I assure you, all of these picks were decided by coin flip, and they all were determined entirely randomly.

Let's see how we do!

The Randomly selected predictions for Ben (New Jersey Devils Fan) Are:

East:

-Sabres over Islanders
-Lightning over Devils
-Thrashers over Rangers
-Penguins over Senators.

West:

Calgary over Red Wings
Ducks over Wild
Sharks over Predators
Canucks over Stars

The Randomly selected predictions for Jen (Recent Hockey Convert, Buffalo Sabres Fan) Are:

East:

-Isles over Sabres
-Lightning over Devils
-Rangers over Thrashers
-Penguins over Senators

West:
-Red Wings over Flames
-Ducks over Wild
-Sharks over Predators
-Stars over Canucks

The Randomly selected predictions for Jack (Buffalo Sabres Fan) Are:

-Isles over Sabres
-Lightning over Devils
-Thrashers over Rangers
-Senators over Penguins

West:

-Flames over Red Wings
-Wild over Ducks
-Predators over Sharks
-Canucks over Stars

And, the randomly selected predictions for me (Ritch, Bruins Fan) Are:

East:

-Isles over Sabres
-Devils over Lightning
-Rangers over Thrashers
-Senators over Penguins

West:

-Calgary over Red Wings
-Ducks over Wild
-Sharks over Predators
-Canucks over Stars

Once again, each and every one of these picks is entirely random, and the writers will be forced to justify how in God's name it could actually happen.

Stay tuned, and once again, Happy Birthday to AHF!