How do the playoffs work in the ECHL?

Growlers

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Dec 9, 2017
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We are new to the ECHL in Newfoundland. Just wondering how the playoffs work? Is it the top X amount of teams in the conference or is it done by top teams in the division?
 

GrGriffins

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Jan 30, 2017
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We are new to the ECHL in Newfoundland. Just wondering how the playoffs work? Is it the top X amount of teams in the conference or is it done by top teams in the division?

QUALIFICATION RULES

The first two rounds of the Kelly Cup Playoffs will be played entirely within the division, with the division winner playing the fourth-place finisher and the second-place team meeting the third-place team in the Division Semifinals. The winners of each series will meet in the Division Finals, leading to the Conference Finals and Kelly Cup Finals.
 
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royals119

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Just to add some further background, that is the system they have used for the last few years, but it isn't always that way. If the divisions become too unbalanced they will come up with some method to account for that. At one time there was a setup with 7 teams in one division and only four in another, and if I'm not mistaken we once had one conference with two divisions and the other conference had three divisions.

Some years they have used first round byes for some division winners, extra "play-in" rounds with a one game or three game series to determine the final qualifier in a division or conference, and also uneven series between conferences. For example the west played all seven game series while the east played five game series until the final round at one time because there were more teams in the east than the west, so we had an extra round of playoffs. They have also had full conference seeding sometimes, and even a "cross-over" option, where if one division had teams finish with better records than the other, the fifth place team of the one division would become the fourth seed of the other division.

There is also sometimes issues with travel and arena availability which can result in weird schedules, such as the lower seed getting more home games, or things like three game in one city, then four in the other instead of the usual 2-2-2-1 or 2-2-1-1-1. I think there was even a 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 series once, where they switched cities after every game. There have even been playoff series where one team hosted all the games, or games were played at rec rinks or neutral sites.
 

crimsonace

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Just to add some further background, that is the system they have used for the last few years, but it isn't always that way. If the divisions become too unbalanced they will come up with some method to account for that. At one time there was a setup with 7 teams in one division and only four in another, and if I'm not mistaken we once had one conference with two divisions and the other conference had three divisions.

You are correct - prior to 2014, the Western (old WCHL footprint) and Eastern (old ECHL/UHL footprint) conferences were very unbalanced and had significantly unbalanced schedules and playoff qualification systems. It was almost like two separate leagues.

After the CHL teams were absorbed in 2014, they fit into a second Western Conference division, with the former western teams in their own and the playoffs were divisionally based. The league went to 3 divisions in each conference for a year or two with the old NHL format of seeds 1-3 being the division winners and 4-8 being the next best records in each conference. For the last couple of years, it's stabilized at the 1980-1993 NHL format of top four in each division make the playoffs, first two rounds are in the division. The league has tried to balance the number of teams in each division. It reduces travel costs while also allowing for a somewhat fair playoff, especially given 3/4 of each team's schedule is divisional play.
 

JMCx4

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Sep 3, 2017
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... There is also sometimes issues with travel and arena availability which can result in weird schedules, such as the lower seed getting more home games, or things like three game in one city, then four in the other instead of the usual 2-2-2-1 or 2-2-1-1-1. I think there was even a 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 series once, where they switched cities after every game. There have even been playoff series where one team hosted all the games, or games were played at rec rinks or neutral sites.
Those possibilities should be of particular interest - and trepidation - to Growlers fans. Not many playoff seasons go by where there are zero deviations from the traditional splits of home & away games, especially early in the post-season where the teams have to put arenas on short notice for game dates after playoff seeding determinations on the last day of the regular season.
 

210

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Last season's North Division final was 4-3, with the first four at #1 Adirondack and the last three scheduled for #2 Manchester. Thunder won in six games. The first round between Adirondack and #4 Worcester started in Glens Falls and was 1-2-2-1-1. The season before #4 Manchester and #1 Adirondack played a 2-5 series with the first two at SNHU Arena. The Eastern Conference Final that year was between South Carolina and Manchester, and was 3-4 with the final four in New Hampshire. South Carolina won in game seven.
 

royals119

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Those possibilities should be of particular interest - and trepidation - to Growlers fans. Not many playoff seasons go by where there are zero deviations from the traditional splits of home & away games, especially early in the post-season where the teams have to put arenas on short notice for game dates after playoff seeding determinations on the last day of the regular season.
Yes, I imagine nobody wants to make two trips to Newfoundland in 12 days for first round series they are probably losing money on. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see a 2-3-2 if they are the lower seed or a 3-4 or 2-4-1 if they are the higher seed. The visiting team will definitely want to go up there just once.
 

crimsonace

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Last season's North Division final was 4-3, with the first four at #1 Adirondack and the last three scheduled for #2 Manchester. Thunder won in six games. The first round between Adirondack and #4 Worcester started in Glens Falls and was 1-2-2-1-1. The season before #4 Manchester and #1 Adirondack played a 2-5 series with the first two at SNHU Arena. The Eastern Conference Final that year was between South Carolina and Manchester, and was 3-4 with the final four in New Hampshire. South Carolina won in game seven.

Building availability tends to create some weird playoff series and has in almost every league. Because most of these buildings are busy and the team doesn't have the ability to book in advance, dates can be a bit hard to find.

In Indy, we had an IHL playoff series that was 2-3-1-1 in 1990, home best-of-7s with Fort Wayne and Peoria, playoff games played at alternate locations (Carmel Ice Skadium was the site of old CHL's final game in 1984, Market Square Arena in 1985, Pan Am Plaza in 2011) in addition to time shifts due to building availability at the Fairgrounds Coliseum. Even the Pacers played playoff games at college and high school gyms in their 1960s ABA days because of building conflicts.
 

Hurricane Ron

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Jul 23, 2015
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Building availability tends to create some weird playoff series and has in almost every league. Because most of these buildings are busy and the team doesn't have the ability to book in advance, dates can be a bit hard to find.

In Indy, we had an IHL playoff series that was 2-3-1-1 in 1990, home best-of-7s with Fort Wayne and Peoria, playoff games played at alternate locations (Carmel Ice Skadium was the site of old CHL's final game in 1984, Market Square Arena in 1985, Pan Am Plaza in 2011) in addition to time shifts due to building availability at the Fairgrounds Coliseum. Even the Pacers played playoff games at college and high school gyms in their 1960s ABA days because of building conflicts.

Curious if you were present for the final game in the old CHL's history between the Oilers and Checkers in 1984? What were the circumstances that moved the game out of the Fairgrounds Coliseum?
 
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crimsonace

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Curious if you were present for the final game in the old CHL's history between the Oilers and Checkers in 1984? What were the circumstances that moved the game out of the Fairgrounds Coliseum?

I went to Game 3 of that series but wasn't at the last game. I was 8 years old and it was a school night ;).

The entire series was played in Indianapolis because the Tulsa Oilers had been locked out of their building. They finished the season as a traveling team based in Denver. There was a schedule conflict at the Coliseum with a trade show that had the Coliseum booked. That's caused playoff scheduling problems for decades - including problems for the ABA Pacers when they played there.
 
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Hurricane Ron

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I went to Game 3 of that series but wasn't at the last game. I was 8 years old and it was a school night ;).

The entire series was played in Indianapolis because the Tulsa Oilers had been locked out of their building. They finished the season as a traveling team based in Denver. There was a schedule conflict at the Coliseum with a trade show that had the Coliseum booked. That's caused playoff scheduling problems for decades - including problems for the ABA Pacers when they played there.

I appreciate the info. I'm well aware of the situation with the Oilers that year, as I was in college at the time.

I didn't intend to highjack the subject line for this post. Your comments regarding issues with buildings, and specifically the issues in Indy just lead me down that road.

Here's hoping there are minimal disruptions for the 2019 ECHL playoffs, when it comes to building availability.
 

crimsonace

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Indianapolis, IN
I appreciate the info. I'm well aware of the situation with the Oilers that year, as I was in college at the time.

I didn't intend to highjack the subject line for this post. Your comments regarding issues with buildings, and specifically the issues in Indy just lead me down that road.

Here's hoping there are minimal disruptions for the 2019 ECHL playoffs, when it comes to building availability.

No problem - didn't see it as a threadjack at all. It's germane to the reality that building availability issues sometimes cause some really interesting splits in playoff series.
 
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PCSPounder

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Apr 12, 2012
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Now if I may answer the question as it should have been asked...

You qualify for the playoffs, hope that the AHL team with which you have an agreement doesn't call up your best players for Calder Cup games, hope that you can get lucky with the player or two you got on short notice from Major Junior, and just wait for the attrition to happen.

(Yes, I sound very jaded when I saw Idaho win two Kelly Cups in amongst all this. Not that I'm prone to leaving a glass half full anyway.)
 

royals119

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Now if I may answer the question as it should have been asked...

You qualify for the playoffs, hope that the AHL team with which you have an agreement doesn't call up your best players for Calder Cup games, hope that you can get lucky with the player or two you got on short notice from Major Junior, and just wait for the attrition to happen.

(Yes, I sound very jaded when I saw Idaho win two Kelly Cups in amongst all this. Not that I'm prone to leaving a glass half full anyway.)
Yeah, it is often the team whose AHL affiliate doesn't qualify for the playoffs that does well. Getting all your best players back at the end of the season, plus maybe one or two extra contracted players that the organization wants to have get some extra games or playoff experience can make all the difference - and as always, a reliable goaltender can carry a team, so if you are signing college guys to play in goal at the last minute in the playoffs you are usually in trouble.
 
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Hurricane Ron

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Jul 23, 2015
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Tulsa
Yeah, it is often the team whose AHL affiliate doesn't qualify for the playoffs that does well. Getting all your best players back at the end of the season, plus maybe one or two extra contracted players that the organization wants to have get some extra games or playoff experience can make all the difference - and as always, a reliable goaltender can carry a team, so if you are signing college guys to play in goal at the last minute in the playoffs you are usually in trouble.

And then there is the frustration, as happened with the Tulsa Oilers during the 2015/16 season, when they were fighting for a playoff spot during the last few weeks of the season, and the Winnipeg Jets opted to leave prospects that had played in Tulsa, in Manitoba, for a Moose team that was going nowhere.
 

Fergy22

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Nov 9, 2003
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Last season's North Division final was 4-3, with the first four at #1 Adirondack and the last three scheduled for #2 Manchester. Thunder won in six games. The first round between Adirondack and #4 Worcester started in Glens Falls and was 1-2-2-1-1. The season before #4 Manchester and #1 Adirondack played a 2-5 series with the first two at SNHU Arena. The Eastern Conference Final that year was between South Carolina and Manchester, and was 3-4 with the final four in New Hampshire. South Carolina won in game seven.

Last years finals were 2-3-1-1 with the series starting in the lower city's (colorado) home rink with 4 of the last 5 played in Florida's home rink.
 
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