The first round of the National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs kicked off on Wednesday, Apr. 10, and so far, the games have been as unpredictable as the spring weather in Clinton. The NHL runs a Bracket Challenge that many groups, including some Hamilton students, participate in with the hope of predicting the most accurate bracket and cashing out. This year, going rogue with your picks was the way to go — something I failed to do entirely.

There are a few ways to go when making your bracket picks. You can look at the statistical match-ups and pick the best team to move on. You can look at which teams have been hot heading into the playoffs and hope that they can carry their momentum into the postseason. You can pick your own team to win the whole thing, regardless of how far-fetched their odds are, and basically throw your money away.

And lastly, you can go with your gut on each and every pick, which I have found to be the most successful way to pick a winning bracket. This year, it’s safe to say that regardless of how you chose your bracket, you probably chose wrong.

The first round of the playoffs was so unpredictable that for the first time ever, the NHL let participants re-do their brackets in-between the first and second round. Yep, let’s break that down a little more.

The Tampa Bay Lightning, a statistical favorite to win the cup with 128 points and the league lead heading into the postseason, lost in four games to the wild card of the East, the Columbus Blue Jackets. It’s hard to say whether any true hockey fan saw this coming, and if you miraculously had the Blue Jackets beating the Lightning, you probably eat, sleep, and breathe CBJ.

The former Stanley Cup champions, the Washington Capitals, also caught fans off guard, losing to the Carolina Hurricanes in a seven-game first round series. Now, not to brag or anything, but this was the only prediction in my entire bracket that I made correctly. This is not because I am a Carolina fan (let’s go Isles!) but because Carolina was hot before the postseason started. Despite losing to the Caps twice in a home-and-home series before the end of the season, they won five of their last six games in dominant fashion. As an Islanders fan since birth, I was all-Carolina first round, and now I’m kicking myself and begging the hockey gods to show me some mercy.

Speaking of the Islanders — what’s not to like about them? With a new coaching staff fresh from the previous Stanley Cup-winning Capitals, the Islanders had a season for the books. I joked with my friend that the Isles have the best chance at the Cup since their Mike Bossy years and, unfortunately, that is probably all too true. It took just four games for the Islanders to move past the Pittsburgh Penguins — a team that consistently outperforms the

Isles — and on to the next round of the play-offs. Unfortunately, the Islanders are currently floundering in the second round, and they could be on the brink of elimination by the time this article goes to print. Regardless, I’ll still be a loyal fan.

And finally, for all you “just-outside-of-Boston”-ers: the Bruins haven’t done half bad either. Defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs was no easy quest though. Their series went back and forth until the final game, when the Bs responded with a resounding 5–1 win in a pivotal game 7. Look out CBJ. As an Islanders fan, I couldn’t be happier for the Bruins. Nothing makes me smile like thinking of John Tavares on a golf course while his former teammates make a run for the Cup.

There is chaos in the West too, but the teams aren’t nearly as strong as those in the East. For us on the East Coast, the Western Conference teams play at 10 PM EST, making these games a difficult watch. I’ll leave that analysis for someone else.