Game, set, and match. The hockey season is over, Detroit won it all, and the tears of Pittsburgh fans will fall eternally. Personally, I was mortified that Pittsburgh reached the Stanley Cup finals, if only for one reason...

Credibility saved! But only barely. Anyhow, every year, around the beginning of the season, I post an annual blog detailing my predictions over the course of the year.

This blog here? This is the blog where I see just how wrong those earlier predictions were.

So lets get at it. Starting with the WESTERN CONFERENCE, as per usual.

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Those were my predictions back in the distant 2007 era. Creepy, isn't it? Lets match it with what really happened, below.

*1) Detroit (Central Division)
*2) San Jose (Pacific Division)
*3) Minnesota (Northwest Division)
4) Anaheim (Pacific Division)
5) Dallas (Pacific Division)
6) Colorado (Northwest Division)
7) Calgary (Northwest Division)
8 ) Nashville (Central Division)
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9) Edmonton (Northwest Division)
10) Chicago (Central Division)
11) Vancouver (Northwest Division)
12) Phoenix (Pacific Division)
13) Columbus (Central Division)
14) St. Louis (Central Division)
15) LA Kings (Pacific Division)

RESULTS: 4/15

Amazingly (and I stress the amazing), I managed to correctly predict the first four seeds of the Western Conference. However, after that I was wrong, wrong, wrong! I can't believe how wrong I was! For starters, I under-estimated Dallas, as I often like to do. What can I say, I hate the Stars more than I can ever comprehend. Colorado was almost a sure-bet to land the not-so-coveted nine seed, until Peter Forsberg signed at the trade deadline and the team went on an incredible run. Jose Theodore looked shockingly consistent as well, and one could argue he led the team to the playoffs on a contract year. Vancouver crashed and burned, amidst a plethora of injuries to their defensive corps, and a less-than-stellar offensive game. As always, I over-estimate the roster of St. Louis... I personally believe their team is solid, albeit inexperienced. I guarantee they'll do much better next season.

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How about that Eastern Conference? Easterners are silly. Anyway, lets start this whole mess of text over again, starting with what I predicted...

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.....and of course, this is what really happened.

*1) Montreal (Northeast Division)
*2) Pittsburgh (Atlantic Division)
*3) Washington (Southeast Division)
4) New Jersey (Atlantic Division)
5) NY Rangers (Atlantic Division)
6) Philadelphia (Atlantic Division)
7) Ottawa (Northeast Division)
8 ) Boston (Northeast Division)
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9) Carolina (Southeast Division)
10) Buffalo (Northeast Division)
11) Florida (Southeast Division)
12) Toronto (Northeast Division)
13) NY Islanders(Atlantic Division)
14) Atlanta (Southeast Division)
15) Tampa Bay (Southeast Division)

RESULTS: 0/15

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Did it really happen?...

Really?

Ok, so I put up a donut in the East. Big deal. The parody in the Eastern conference is absolutely ridiculous anyway. We went from Buffalo being the undisputed champs of the East and Ottawa being perpetually strong and this season, both teams lost their mojo. For Ottawa it was nearly catastrophic, as they won something like 14 of their first 15 games. Washington came on strong, thanks to a miraculous season by Alex Ovechkin. New Jersey and the Rangers were predictable, but if you honestly believed Philadelphia would rebound into a playoff team after being bottom-dwellers last season would be ridiculous. And Boston as playoff contenders again, who knew?

So, carry the one, add 12 and solve for x, I find my total result for this past season. I scored 4/30. That's pretty lousy. I make Tim Panaccio look good. Damn you, Panaccio! It seems I've made no improvements over last year. Bummer.

See ya next season, corn bakers.

And also, I have one request. The past few days have seen me take over the reigns as leader of the All Things Hockey Union. I'm thrilled over the decision, since unlike videogames, I can talk about hockey all the time. Hockey has pretty much taken over all every area of my life, minus the occasional videogame related rant or whatever. If you have the slightest interest in hockey, I implore you to check out the union. I'm using it as a testing ground to check out my ever-improving skills as a writer, so stay tuned.