Last year my girlfriend and I picked one team each heading into the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs. My team was Boston, her team was Vancouver. The stakes: A 2-4 of our beer of choice. There’s hockey, beer, and pride involved, and I shan’t be defeated!

I got my girlfriend this for her birthday. Does that make me the best boyfriend ever? No, because the Leafs plummeted out of the playoff race immediately after.

It was an all-out chirp fest. The Bruins lost their first two games, while Vancouver came within one goal of completely choking on a three-game lead. In the end, both of our teams pulled off Game 7 OT victories, triumphed over rounds two and three, and we came head to head in the Final.

Ultimately, as was written in the stars, the Boston Bruins won 4-0 in  Game 7, but more importantly, I won beer and the right to chirp my girlfriend mercilessly.

This year, the battle is renewed.

The rules are a little different. We each got to pick one team from the Western Conference, and from the Eastern Conference. Both of us wanted the Penguins, so it was only fair. That said, I totally got the Penguins with the first pick. Why? I’m a crappy boyfriend. Not sorry. She snagged the Boston Bruins with her eastern pick, and picked Nashville to come out of the west, who I actually wanted, so I picked Vancouver instead.

Here is a review of our picks.