USPHL Premier Conference Playoff Format 

2022-23 Season

 

Each team’s 30-man playoff roster must be declared by February 12, 2023

Division Playoff Formats

Mid-Atlantic, Midwest West and New England Divisions

Top 8 teams make the playoffs, Higher seed maintains home ice throughout

Round 1: Best-of-3 Series

Week ending March 6, 2023

No. 1 hosts No. 8

No. 2 hosts No. 7

No. 3 hosts No. 6

No. 4 hosts No. 5

Round 2: Best-of-3 Series

Week ending March 13, 2023

Highest remaining seed hosts Lowest remaining seed

Second-highest remaining seed hosts Third-highest remaining seed

Winners advance to the Nationals (Utica, N.Y., March 23-28, 2023)

Midwest East Division

Top 7 teams make the playoffs

Round 1: Best-of-3 Series, Week ending March 6, 2023

No. 1 seed gets a bye

Higher seed maintains home ice throughout

No. 2 hosts No. 7

No. 3 hosts No. 6

No. 4 hosts No. 5

Round 2: Best-of-3 Series

Week ending March 13, 2023

No. 1 hosts Lowest remaining seed

Second highest remaining seed hosts third highest remaining seed

Winners advance to the Nationals (Utica, N.Y., March 23-28, 2023)

 

Florida and Southeast Divisions

Top 4 teams in each Division make the playoffs

All 6 teams share in the playoff costs.

Higher seed are home team for 1st and 3rd games, Lower seed is home team for 2nd game.

Round One: Best-of-3 Series

Week ending March 13, 2023

No. 1 plays No. 4

No. 2 plays No. 3

Winners advance to the Nationals (Utica, NY). March 23-28, 2023

Florida Division - all games played at Fort Myers Skatium (Fort Myers, FL)

Southeast Division - all games played at Pineville Ice House (Pineville, NC)

Northwest and Pacific Divisions

Top 4 teams make the playoffs, higher seed maintains home ice throughout

Round 1: Best-of-3 Series

Week ending March 6, 2023

No. 1 hosts No. 4

No. 2 hosts No. 3

Round 2: Best-of-3 Series

Week ending March 13, 2023

Higher remaining seed hosts lower remaining seed

Winner advances to the Nationals (Utica, N.Y., March 23-28, 2023)

 

Great Lakes Division

Top 4 teams make the playoffs, Higher seed hosts Games 1 and 3, Lower seed hosts second game.

Round 1: Best-of-3 Series

Week ending March 13, 2023

No. 1 plays No. 4

No. 2 plays No. 3

Winners advance to the Nationals (Utica, NY). March 23-28, 2023

 

Mountain Division:

All 6 teams make the playoffs, Higher seed maintains home ice throughout

Round 1: Best-of-3 Series

Week ending March 6, 2023

No. 3 hosts No. 6

No. 4 hosts No. 5

Round 2: Best-of-3 Series

Week ending March 13, 2023

No. 1 hosts Lower remaining seed

No. 2 hosts Higher remaining seed

Winners advance to the Nationals (Utica, N.Y., March 23-28, 2023)

Round 3: Best-of-3 Series

Week ending March 19, 2023

Higher remaining seed hosts lower remaining seed. 

Winner is Division Champion

 

ALL GAMES (ALL DIVISIONS) WILL BE PLAYED 5-on-5 UNTIL A WINNER IS DETERMINED

(20-minute Sudden Death Overtime format).

 

BREAKING TIES in STANDINGS: The following shall be the order considered:

1. Most Points
2. Most points achieved Head to Head

               iii.   Most wins

1.   Goals for minus goals against
2. Lowest penalty minutes
3.   Coin Toss

In cases where teams play a different number of League games, winning percentage shall replace Most Points in the hierarchy and iv. and v. shall be averaged.

2022-2023 USPHL Premier National Championship Format

(March 23-28, 2023)

Nexus Center, Utica, NY

TOURNAMENT FORMAT:
With the addition of the Northwest Division for the 2022-2023 USPHL Premier Season, the 2023 USPHL Premier National Championships will increase from a 16 to 18 team format. The below teams will qualify for the 2023 tournament, based on the postseason qualification tournament created by their respective division (see above).

18 Nationals Participants:
*Divisions with 2 representatives will have those teams seeded as their top-seed and runner-up.
New England – (2 Teams)
Mid-Atlantic – (2 Teams)
Southeast – (2 Teams)
Florida – (2 Teams)
Great Lakes – (2 Teams)
Midwest East – (2 Teams)
Midwest West – (2 Teams)
Mountain – (2 Teams)
Pacific – (1 Team) *Division Champion
Northwest – (1 Team) *Division Champion

Seeding Round (DAYS 1 and 2):
All 18 teams will play two “Seeding Round” games to open the 2023 USPHL Premier National Championships. Those two-game matchups are derived with the following rule base in mind.

1. A team cannot play an opponent from its own division, or the two geographically closest divisions in the Seeding Round.

2. There are 9 "Division Winners" that are considered 1 seeds.  These teams CANNOT play another division winner in the Seeding Round, unless it is the winner of the Northwest.

3. There are 9 "Division Runners Up." Those teams can only play "Division Champs" also known as our 1 seeds in the Seeding Round. *(The Northwest will serve as a No. 2 seed for the Pacific in their inaugural season.)

4. Schedules were created within those guidelines, matching teams for their specific matchups, based on overall divisional success in the 2021-2022 Regular Season, Postseason and at the 2022 Nationals.

PARTICIPATING TEAMS:
#1 SEEDS #2 SEEDS
NEW ENGLAND #1 NEW ENGLAND #2

MID-ATLANTIC #1 MID-ATLANTIC #2

SOUTHEAST #1 SOUTHEAST #2

FLORIDA #1 FLORIDA #2

GREAT LAKES #1 GREAT LAKES #2

MIDWEST EAST #1 MIDWEST EAST #2

MIDWEST WEST #1 MIDWEST WEST #2

MOUNTAIN #1 MOUNTAIN #2

PACIFIC #1

##NORTHWEST #1

## = Seeded as the #2 seed for the Pacific in the Northwest Division's inaugural season.

 

SEEDING ROUND SCHEDULE:
DAY 1

Game # AWAY HOME
1 NORTHWEST #1 MID-ATLANTIC #1
2 NEW ENGLAND #2 GREAT LAKES #1
3 MIDWEST EAST #2 FLORIDA #1
4 MIDWEST WEST #2 SOUTHEAST #1
5 SOUTHEAST #2 MOUNTAIN #1
6 MOUNTAIN #2 MIDWEST WEST #1
7 FLORIDA #2 NEW ENGLAND #1
8 GREAT LAKES #2 PACIFIC #1
9 MID-ATLANTIC #2 MIDWEST EAST #1

 

DAY 2

Game # HOME AWAY

1 GREAT LAKES #2 MID-ATLANTIC #1

2 NORTHWEST #1 GREAT LAKES #1

3 NEW ENGLAND #2 FLORIDA #1

4 MOUNTAIN #2 SOUTHEAST #1

5 MIDWEST WEST #2 MOUNTAIN #1

6 MID-ATLANTIC #2 MIDWEST WEST #1

7 MIDWEST EAST #2 NEW ENGLAND #1

8 FLORIDA #2 PACIFIC #1

9 SOUTHEAST #2 MIDWEST EAST #1

*Seeding Round games cannot end in a tie. There will be a SINGLE 5-Minute 3-on-3 sudden death OT in Seeding Round games where teams change ends. At the end of the OT if the score remains tied, the teams will go into a 3-man shootout, like the regular season. If the score remains tied, the teams will convert to a sudden death shootout like regular season until a winner is determined.

Seeding Round game points will be awarded as follows: 3 points for a regulation win, 2 points for an overtime win or shootout win, and 1 point for an overtime or shootout loss and 0 points for a regulation loss.

Seeding Round Standings and Tiebreakers
In Seeding Round and subsequent play, when standings are required to determine placement, the following shall be used in order to determine the ranking:
1. Most Points
2. Most points achieved Head-to-Head assuming all tied teams played each other.
3. GF/(GF+GA)
4. Regular Season Winning Percentage
5. Most Regulation Wins in Seeding Round
6. Coin Toss

 

ROUND OF 16 (DAY 3):
Results from the Seeding Round will seed our 18 Nationals participants from 1 to 18. Seeds 17 and 18 will play one another on Day 3 in a Consolation Game. Seeds 1 through 16 will be seeded according to results and tiebreakers from the Seeding Round. At this time a single-elimination tournament will commence.

Note: Round of 16 Matchups are based solely on the results of the Seeding Round and subsequent tiebreakers as necessary. A team can be matched up against a division rival and/or a team they have already played in the Seeding Round if the results dictate that matchup.

*If tied after regulation play, Round of 16, Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Championship games will have consecutive 20-minute sudden-death overtime periods, with teams changing ends each period, until a winner is declared.

Round of 16 Game Schedule:

GAME # AWAY HOME
1. SEED 17 vs. SEED 18 *Consolation Game

2. SEED 16 SEED 1
3. SEED 9 SEED 8
4. SEED 12 SEED 5
5. SEED 13 SEED 4
6. SEED 11 SEED 6
7. SEED 14 SEED 3
8. SEED 10 SEED 7
9. SEED 15 SEED 2

*EACH ROUND RE-SEEDED FOR THE HIGHEST SEED TO PLAY THE LOWEST REMAINING SEED AND SO ON.

QUARTERFINALS (DAY 4):
GAME # AWAY HOME
1. SEED 8 SEED 1
2. SEED 7 SEED 2
3. SEED 6 SEED 3
4.  SEED 5 SEED 4

SEMI-FINALS (DAY 5):
GAME# AWAY HOME
1. SEED 4 SEED 1
2. SEED 3 SEED 2

2023 USPHL PREMIER NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME (DAY 6):
GAME # AWAY HOME
1. SEED 2 SEED 1