This is somewhat late, since A) I've been busy, and B) I wasn't sure there would be much interest. A and B are still true, but what the hey... Announcing this year's Pick the Post-season Tournaments contest! Try out your prognosticating skills by predicting the game results and champions of each of the five Division I conference tournaments! There will be a contest winner for each of the five tournaments, plus one overall Prognosticating God. The first playoff games are on Thursday, March 11 at 7:00 PM EST, so the deadline for this contest will be Thursday, March 11, 6:00 PM EST. (Again, sorry for the short notice) To the best of my knowledge, the tournament formats are as follows: ECAC: Ten teams meet in the first round, with the top five seeds hosting a first-to- three-points series. Ties after regulation in the first two games of the series are resolved with a five-minute sudden-death overtime, and the game result remains a tie if no one scores. The third game, if necessary, is played "to conclusion" with as many 20-minute OTs as necessary. It is thus possible for a team to advance by winning one game and tying the other. The five winners advance and are reseeded. The lowest and second-lowest seeds meet in a Finals Qualifier (5 vs 4 play-in game). The winner of that game advances to the semifinals and plays the highest remaining seed. The other two seeds meet in the other semifinal. The semifinal losers meet in the consolation game. The semifinal winners meet in the championship game. Hockey East and CCHA: Eight teams meet in the quarterfinals, with the top four seeds hosting a best- of-three series. All games are played "to conclusion". The four winners advance and are reseeded. The highest and lowest seed meet in one semifinal, while the other two seeds meet in the other semifinal. The semifinal winners meet in the championship game. There is no consolation game. WCHA: Ten teams meet in the first round, with the top five seeds hosting a best-of- three series. All games are played "to conclusion". The five winners advance and are reseeded. The lowest and second-lowest seeds meet in a Finals Qualifier (5 vs 4 play-in game). The winner of that game advances to the semifinals and plays the highest remaining seed. The other two seeds meet in the other semifinal. The semifinal losers meet in the consolation game. The semifinal winners meet in the championship game. MAAC: Eight teams meet in the quarterfinals, with the top four seeds hosting a single game. The four winners advance. There is no re-seeding. The winner of the #1-#8 quarterfinal meets the winner of #4-#5 in one semifinal. The winner of the #2-#7 quarterfinal meets the winner of #3-#6 in the other semifinal. The semifinal winners meet in the championship game. There is no consolation game. Scoring: Each correct quarterfinal/first-round winner is worth 3 points. Giving the correct number of games in the series is worth an additional point. Sorry, but if you get the winner wrong, you get zippo, even if you get the number of games right. Since the MAAC quarterfinals are all single games, there's no bonus points there. Correct play-in game winners are worth 4 points. (ECAC and WCHA only) Correct semifinal game winners are worth 8 points. Correct consolation game winners are worth 4 points. (ECAC and WCHA only) Correct championship game winners are worth 16 points. So the maximum total points for each league would be: ECAC 60 Hockey East 48 CCHA 48 WCHA 60 MAAC 44 There will also be two tiebreakers for each conference. The first will be the predicted final score of the championship game, with the closest score winning. For example, if you predict 5-2 and the actual score is 4-2, you're one off; if the actual score is 4-3, you're two off. The second tiebreaker will be the total number of goals scored in the tournament. If there is a tie for the overall winner, the tiebreaker will be who performed best in the greater number of individual tournaments. An official entry form will follow as soon as I post this. Questions, comments, and entries can be sent to [log in to unmask] . Thanks and good luck! -- Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are strictly those of: Bill Fenwick Cornell '86 and '95 DJF 5/27/94 LET'S GO RED!! JCF 12/2/97 "Now they have these teenage girls in the mall that spray you with perfume as you walk by, and then they tell you what it is, like... *spray* 'Obsession!' Shut up. You are seventeen, I am thirty-five. You do not know what obsession is. It doesn't come in a bottle! Come here, little baby-sitter precious, let me tell you about obsession. Obsession is waiting in the bushes outside a married man's house at midnight with a machete in one hand and a jar of Vicks Vapo-Rub in the other. Now you tell your daddy that. And -- and tell him to call me." -- Brett Butler HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.