Mudbugs Hockey Blog

Just when I was getting used to the idea of two conferences instead of 4 divisions, the amazingly gifted hammerheads from the league decide on leaving 2 out of 18 teams out of the playoffs.

The press release from the league says:

• A total of sixteen (16) of eighteen (18) teams will qualify for the post-season, consisting of eight (8) clubs from each conference. 

Are you kidding me, 8 of the 9 teams qualify? Just when I thought the Conference setup was going to make it competitive, they throw this mess in our face. Why don’t we just start the playoffs now?  Heck, all you have to do is eliminate a total of 2 teams and the other 16 teams can prepare for the post-season.

All that’s left to play for among the qualifiers is home ice advantage, and it has been proven over and over again that home ice advantage in the playoffs means squat to the outcome of a series. It is more about the revenue obtained from more home games in a series business wise. And that is if the fans fill the seats.  It goes on to say.

• Both conference winners will be seeded 1st in their conference heading into the playoffs based on point totals. Ya think!
• The next seven (7) highest teams in each conference’s regular season standings based on point totals will be seeded 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th in each conference and will also qualify for post-season play. Again Ya think!!
• The playoffs will consist of four (4) rounds. (Conference Quarterfinals – Best-of-5, Conference Semifinals – Best-of-5, Conference Finals – Best-of-7, CHL Championship Finals – Best-of-7).

In other words an 8-4-2-1 setup in each conference. That at least makes sense once you have gotten past the fact that 2 lonely teams in the league will be left behind. Where is the fight and the competition to make it to that top group? I don’t know about you but that is something that many fans may be unable to get past. I know I may not.

• The brackets for the post-season will remain constant with no re-seeding taking place during the competition. 

In English, the 8-4-2-1 in each conference will not be altered. The last part of the statement means, and I hope I have this correct. The 1-8 final regular season seeding or position in the standings, shall keep their status throughout the playoffs.  In other words, if you are the 8th seed and knock off the #1 seed, you don’t move to the #1 seed.

It’s confusing because they leave out the fact that, for instance, the top 4 seeded teams could very well get eliminated by the bottom 4 teams. Thus in a sense creating a new top 4 teams even though they are technically #’s 4-8.

It also means where you land in the standings and have been placed from 1-8 that nothing can change that, unless it is necessary to have a tie-breaker. That’s where the following comes into play.

• Should two (2) or more teams be tied in points for any seeding issue throughout the
  playoffs, the following tiebreakers will be used: Most wins, then head-to-head
  record, then goals for and against differential.

Now this is where it refers back to the final season standings. It will be interesting to see if this situation is needed with this many teams in each conference jockeying for position. I believe they will need to break a few ties. How far into it comes down to something as simple as one more goal scored, or perhaps one more save.

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