Thanks to all who E-mailed me with their observations on the various conference
tournaments (I got responses from the usual band of college hockey lunatics :-)
plus a few new ones). My problem will now be setting up a point system which
will essentially make the four tournaments of equal weight. Reseeding makes
it tougher to get it completely right, so that should "separate the men from
the boys" (no offense intended to any females present). A question comes up
though: In college basketball tournaments, reseeding is the exception rather
than the rule. In hockey, it's the rule rather than the exception. Anybody
ever figure out why?
Anyway, what I have planned for the Inaugural Hockey-L Conference Tournament
Contest will be similar to what we had for the NC$$ Tournament last year.
Higher point values will be given for later round games (I haven't decided
exactly how I will assign the points yet, as in what level gets what point
value). Entrants will be required to pick all FOUR tournaments from start to
finish, and each tournament will have its own tiebreaker. There will also be
a tiebreaker for the two regions of the country and an overall tiebreaker. We
(as in the royal form of "we") will declare a prognosticating champion for
each of the four conferences, for the two regions of the country (East and
West, for those of you in Rio Linda), and an overall champion. (These won't
necessarily be the same person. The leader of the Regular Season Contest at
the Thanksgiving break, the ever-dangerous Bob Constantine, didn't have the
lowest total in any of the four conferences.)
So, from all of the mail, both public and private, here's how the tournaments
are set up (I think they'll be one difference from what Glen posted here
earlier):
Hockey East- First round- #9 at #8 (one game)
Quarterfinals- 8/9 winner vs. #1
#7 vs. #2
#6 vs. #3
#5 vs. #4
(these are all single games at the higher seed)
Semifinals- Four winners are reseeded
Highest seed vs. lowest seed
Second seed vs. third seed
Finals- Consolation and championship
(Semifinals and finals are held in Boston)
ECAC- Top 10 teams in conference make playoffs
First round- #10 at #7
#9 at #8 (one game each)
Quarterfinals- Lowest seed remaining vs. #1
Next-lowest seed remaining vs. #2
#6 vs. #3
#5 vs. #4
(these are best-of-three game sets at the higher seed)
Semifinals- Four winners are reseeded
Highest seed vs. lowest seed
Second seed vs. third seed
Finals- Consolation and Championship
(Semifinals and finals are held in Lake Placid)
CCHA- First round- Alaska-Fairbanks at #10 (one game)
Second round- If #10 wins, #10 vs. #1
#9 vs. #2
#8 vs. #3
#7 vs. #4
#6 vs. #5
(these are best-of-three game sets at the higher seed)
If UAF wins, then first four seeds have a right-of-refusal
and would play the lowest seed remaining instead of UAF
Quarterfinals- Five winners are reseeded (would assume that UAF would be
the #5 seed if they advance this far)
#5 at #4 (one game)
Semifinals- 5/4 winner vs. #1
#3 vs. #2
Finals- Championship (CCHA has no consolation game)
(Semifinals and final are held in Detroit)
WCHA- First round- #10 vs. #1
#9 vs. #2
#8 vs. #3
#7 vs. #4
#6 vs. #5
(these are best-of-three game sets at the higher seed)
Quarterfinals- Five winners are reseeded
#5 vs. #4 (one game)
Semifinals- 5/4 winner vs. #1
#3 vs. #2
Finals- Consolation and Championship
(Quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals are held in St. Paul)
_______________________________________________________________________________
As I mentioned before, the Pre-Yule update to the Hockey-L Regular Season Pre-
diction Contest will be posted either the 19th or 20th of December. From what
I have so far, I will use the following tiebreaker scenario to assign the
various teams their standings:
1) Teams with same number of points- Team playing fewer games gets higher place
2) Teams with same number of points and playing same number of games- Team with
more wins gets higher place
3) Teams with identical records- a. Head-to-head
b. Better record in common games within conf.
c. Goal differential in common games in conf.
(I'm stopping there because there are only two ties that reach #3 above, and
both can be decided using Item "b".) For the update scheduled for February 1,
I will use the conference tiebreaker that Glen listed, since by that time,
everything will be a common game.
Any corrections to the above tournament listing which anyone knows of, please
post them.
G. M. Finniss
Michigan State University 8-2-1, 12-4-1
WVU '87, UTenn '92, MSU who the hell knows when?
To paraphrase the sentiments that the Yoda of Yost posted a few weeks ago, "You
mean if the playoffs were held today, we'd play Lake Superior?" Geez, we got
to get out of 3rd!
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