Hockey tournaments often decide the league champion. There are multiple ways a hockey tournament can operate. For example the NHL's Stanley Cup playoff tournament, which consists of four best-of-seven rounds, is quite different from the Canadian Hockey League's Memorial Cup tournament, which only has four teams. Some tournaments also use ranking systems to determine opponents.
Stanley Cup Playoffs
The National Hockey League has 30 teams that are divided equally into two conferences. Each spring the top eight teams in each conference qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs. Each team plays a best-of-seven series. Losing your series means the end of your season. The opponent you play is determined by how you finished. For example, the first-place team plays the eighth-place team and the seventh-place team plays the second-place team.
The first round of the playoffs is called the conference quarter-final. The higher-seeded team has home-ice advantage in the series. That means that the higher-seeded team plays the first two games at home and gets four home games to their opponent's three if the series reaches the maximum seven games. In the second round, the highest-seeded team plays the lowest remaining seed in its conference.
The second round is called the conference semi-final. You play the last remaining team in your conference in the conference final. After you've won this series, your team reaches the Stanley Cup final. You play the winner of the opposite conference. The winner of the Stanley Cup final becomes the Stanley Cup champion.
Memorial Cup Tournament
The Canadian Hockey League is the pinnacle junior hockey league in North America. The OHL, WHL and QMJHL are the three leagues within the CHL. Each league operates its playoff system in the same fashion as the NHL playoffs. You must win four best-of-seven rounds to win your respective league. Winning your league earns your team a spot in the Memorial Cup. The fourth spot in the tournament is filled by the team who plays in the tournament's host city.
The four teams each play three games, one against each of the other teams. The team with the poorest record after this portion of the tournament is automatically eliminated. The team with the best record earns an automatic spot in the final. The other two teams play one game to determine who reaches the final. The winner of the final game is Canada's top junior hockey team and Memorial Cup champion.
NCAA Hockey Tournament
The NCAA hockey tournament is designed much like the NCAA basketball tournament but only uses 16 teams compared to 64 in basketball. An NCAA tournament committee selects the 16 teams to participate in the tournament. The champion from each of the six major NCAA hockey conferences is chosen for tournament participation. The other ten teams are selected based on difficulty of schedule and win-loss record. Each team is then assigned a ranking to determine its opponent in the first round. A bracket is used to determine second round and "Frozen Four" match-ups.
Fun Facts
In the "Original Six" era, an NHL time period from 1942 to 1967 when the league had only six teams, four teams qualified for the playoffs. The top seed would play the lowest seed in a best-of-seven series. The second and third seeds would also play a best of seven. The winners would automatically qualify for the Stanley Cup final. Stronger teams could exert their dominance in this era, as only eight wins were required to win the Stanley Cup. The Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup ten times in this era including five consecutive championships from the 1955-1956 to 1959-1960 seasons. Other teams were not as fortunate. The New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins won only one Stanley Cup title among the three of them.
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