With the first round of the playoffs wrapping up with last night’s game sevens one thing has become apparent, the computer invasion is upon us. With as many hours as I’ve invested in playing NHL 08, with all the times I’ve cursed it and it’s rewarding of “non hockey plays”, with all those face-offs I lost, certain the opposing player was using classic controls, I never thought it had it in it to go a perfect 8-0 in the first round. Clearly we have underrated the seriousness of just about every science fiction movie that has come out over the past 45 years. The robot invasion is upon us. Who would have thought they would start with our playoff pools. If that isn’t sacred to those ones and zeros, then what is?

My own playoff picks didn’t fare half bad either. The picks I’m most proud of are, of course, the Penguins sweep of the Senators and the Stars eliminating the Ducks. While everyone had the Penguins moving on, I went a little out on a limb and successfully called the sweep. And besides the omnipotent circuit board, I was the only one to pick the Stars. Calling it in 6 games was just gravy.

But enough of that, it’s time to see what I screwed up. Devils in 7 games? How about the Rangers taking them to town without even breaking a sweat. The Wild let me down as well. Marion Gaborik only has two settings, and he was just gliding around this series. Avalanche move on.

There is only a half second before the second round kicks off, so I once again have to sit down and put all my hockey knowledge to use, maybe flip a couple coins and play inny-minny-miny-moe and make second round selections. Look for those tomorrow.