jsho
Registered User
MOSCOW, January 22 (R-Sport) - Hockey teams that miss out on the playoffs this season will compete for the newly created Cup of Hope, the KHL said Tuesday.
The competition will last through March and involve six teams from the Western Conference and four from the East, the KHL said.
"To retain the interest of the fans in their hockey and maintain the sporting form of the players, including candidates for the Russian national teams, the League has decided to institute the Cup of Hope," a website statement said.
The 10-team event will see the clubs seeded in accordance with their finishing position in the regular season. Eastern Conference teams are entered at the quarterfinal stage, while the Western teams require an extra round to shed two participants.
The KHL will fund the tournament and name an MVP, top goaltender, defenseman and forward, just like the top-tier Gagarin Cup.
The final series ends March 20.
Two teams are already guaranteed entry, with the Eastern Conference's two bottom team's Amur Khabarovsk and Avotmobilist unable to qualify for the playoffs with six games of the regular season remaining.
In the West, Spartak Moscow, Dinamo Riga and Vityaz Chekhov look all but assured of falling short of the playoffs, though they still have a mathematical chance of qualification.
Seems a like a bit of a ridiculous concept to me....