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Playoff format idea - For discussion

sbpointer

sbpointer

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Sep 15, 2014
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I'm gonna get some flame for this thought I'm sure but it seems in recent history the Eastern Conference has been weaker overall then the West.
Save the East has won the J. Ross Robertson Cup three of the last four seasons argument because in all of those years except maybe the Petes last year the East team had a much easier ride to the Finals then their opponent.
So with the semi balanced schedule there is now why not set the playoffs using the overall seeding 1 v 16, 2 v 15 ( you get the point )
I wonder if this would be a better path to the two best teams in the final.
Thoughts??
 
There is no doubt that seeding 1 through 16 would make it more likely that the better teams make it through. Just like having a balanced regular season would have the cream rise to the top.

However, the almighty $ reigns supreme. The league prefers teams to play more when they are geographically close to each other. Help build rivalries, helps sell tickets. And playing in your region through the first few rounds of the playoffs does the same thing. I don't think you will see a change as this was by design from the start.
 
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Some series would probably need to move to a 2-3-2 format because of the travel...a Saginaw/Ottawa series could never be 2-2-1-1-1, it's just too much.

I don't think it's necessarily that the East has had an easier run to the finals...if you look at last year, the East played 41 games before the final and the West only played 36. Once Windsor got knocked out, it was a 2-team race and most of the 2nd round was blowouts. I think it depends year to year but a good team is going to make the finals even keeping it in the conference.
 
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sbpointer said:
I'm gonna get some flame for this thought I'm sure but it seems in recent history the Eastern Conference has been weaker overall then the West.
Save the East has won the J. Ross Robertson Cup three of the last four seasons argument because in all of those years except maybe the Petes last year the East team had a much easier ride to the Finals then their opponent.
So with the semi balanced schedule there is now why not set the playoffs using the overall seeding 1 v 16, 2 v 15 ( you get the point )
I wonder if this would be a better path to the two best teams in the final.
Thoughts??
Click to expand...

The issue is the league has directed their schedule to be more interconference to reduce travel. If the primary reason was because of reducing expenses then I’d be fine with the 1-16 format but that isn’t the primary reason. They want to reduce the travel because of school commitments as it is a student athlete based league. The travel associated to long road trips over short periods isn’t’ ideal for students. Additionally, it can create a significant imbalance as the playoffs progress.

If Saginaw were to finish first and Peterborough were to finish last, would Saginaw rather play the Petes in round one or Sarnia? I think the teams would rather play closer in round one. Round two tends to be the issue more than round one. but then in round 3, things go back to being closer again in the standings.

I don’t think it matters too much fromt he perspective of who wins the championship. It may matter to 2 or 3 teams determining how far they go inthe playoffs but if it doesnt’ seriously affect the outcome of the champion, what does it matter?
 
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If you want to make sure that the best teams make it to the final, it could be as easy as re-ranking and potentially crossing over at the semi-final stage.

Doing that should ensure that it isn't a case of the top two teams being from one conference and meeting each other in a semi-final instead of a final.

Of course, with an unbalanced schedule, it's potentially problematic to use regular season points as the sole marker of ranking -- most seasons it would be valid, but it could also skew from year to year, if one conference was well balanced with parity among the teams and the other conference potentially bulking up their point totals on bottom feeders.

End result is that there is no perfect way to ensure that the top teams meet in the finals, so keep it as is, and know that the best team should end up winning, and that's the only thing that ultimately matters.
 
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Love the idea of seeding based strictly on regular season points. Get it down to eight teams and I'm in. The only 5-8 seed to win a round since 2015-16 is Kitchener. No 5-8 seed has made the conference finals since 2006-07. Plus, as an added bonus, the Petes would have been left out last year and that is hilarious and quite frankly what they deserved after that shambling regular season. (Seriously, the Petes were like a bad boyfriend who finally smartens up when his girlfriend threatens to leave. But hey, they had a happy marriage in the end!)

There are so many better things we could do with those first two weeks of the playoffs--more regular season rivalry games, fewer 3-in-3's and weekday games, expanded Memorial Cup (if you could get the Q and W to sign on).

Obviously this plan will never go anywhere but a guy can dream.
 
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sbpointer said:
This is a great point.
I guess the one downfall I didn't consider and this also hinders is from a league marketing standpoint if you re-seed or choose my 1-16 format you lose those conference championships.
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1v4 gets the trophy from the 1's historical conference. It's just naming in the end really. Half the time the teams don't want to touch it anyway. You could still have MVP of each conference based on where the team plays regular season, no big deal if one of them doesn't make the championship. It's only confusing to an outsider, and not a big deal to me as someone who follows.

Wouldn't it be great bragging rights if the Gennies say as a 4 seed beat top team in the O from the west and get to hang a Wayne Gretzky banner? Knowing the back story makes it mean even more.
 
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First round seed by conference. You get your rivals and limited travel, although you could see a Soo/Erie first round. Once you get your elite 8 then you seed by league. Eliminates 2 top teams playing in round 2 or so the theory goes. Travel really not and issue if you jump to a 2-3-2 format. Carry on.
 
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ohloutsider said:
First round seed by conference. You get your rivals and limited travel, although you could see a Soo/Erie first round. Once you get your elite 8 then you seed by league. Eliminates 2 top teams playing in round 2 or so the theory goes. Travel really not and issue if you jump to a 2-3-2 format. Carry on.
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Ive been saying that since day 1!.....
 
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