Metro High School Hockey League Playoff Format 2024

Division 1 School Playoff Format:

This process will be utilized for selecting the four teams to go into the Capital Region playdowns from the 12 Division 1 (D1) MHSHL teams:

1.     At the end of the regular season, the 12 D1 teams will be ranked based upon the final standings in each separate Tier. This will give seven (7) teams ranked from highest to lowest (1 to 7) in Tier 1 and five (5) teams ranked from highest to lowest (1 to 5) in Tier 2.

2.     Teams will then be broken into three Groups of 4 teams as per the following with the team overall rankings indicated in ( ) following the team:

A.     Group

·       1st Ranked team in Tier 1 (1)

·       6th Ranked Team in Tier 1 (6)

·       7th Ranked team in Tier 1 (7)

·       5th Ranked Team in Tier 2 (12)

Total Ranking Points in A Group: (26)

B.     Group

·       2nd Ranked Team in Tier 1 (2)

·       5th Ranked Team in Tier 1 (5)

·       1st Ranked Team in Tier 2 (8)

·       4th Ranked Team in Tier 2 (11)

Total Ranking Points in B Group: (26)

C.     Group

·       3rd Ranked Team in Tier 1 (3)

·       4th Ranked Team in Tier 1 (4)

·       2nd Ranked Team in Tier 2 (9)

·       3rd Ranked Team in Tier 2 (10)

Total Ranking Points in C Group: (26)

3.     Each of the three Groups will play a round robin series of games against the other teams in their respective Group. The two teams with the two highest ranking in each Group will be designated as the home team for 2 games plus 1 away game in the round robin series and the two teams with the two lowest rankings will be designated as the home team for 1 game plus 2 away games. The MHSHL Coordinator will schedule the round robin games and will use the first available ice with consideration to trying to get each team a game in their home venue.

4.     At the completion of the round robin, the winner of A, B, and C Group will advance to the Capital Region SSNS Playdowns.

5.     The second-place team from each of the A, B, and C Groups will then play a mini-round robin series to determine the fourth team that will advance to the Capital Region SSNS Playdowns. Each team will be designated as the home team for 1 game in the mini-round robin series. The MHSHL Coordinator will schedule the mini-round robin games and will use the first available ice with consideration to trying to get each team a home game in their home venue if there is sufficient time to schedule.

6.     The final four teams, i.e., the winner from the A, B, and C Group round robin series plus the winner of the second-place teams mini-round robin series will advance to the Capital Region Playdown Tournament taking place February 13^th and 14^th at the Sackville Arena. Advancement to provincials to follow the designated format as decided by SSNS.

Division 2 School Playoff Format:

This process will be utilized for selecting the one team to go into the D2 Provincial Championship as the Capital Region representative from the 2 Division 2 (D2) MHSHL teams:

1.     The two D2 schools will play a best 3 out of 5 game series with the first team achieving 3 wins being declared the Capital Region Champion and advancing to the SSNS D2 Provincial Championship.

2.     The D2 team with the highest number of points achieved in the regular season will be designated as the home team for the first game and teams will then alternate as the designated home team for each subsequent game until a team records 3 wins. The MHSHL Coordinator will schedule the games and will use the first available ice with consideration to trying to get each team one game in their home venue.

3.     As per SSNS’s January 8th Regional Representation – Hockey Memo, the D2 team who was unsuccessful in advancing directly to Provincials via the process outlined above, can advance by winning a Qualifying Game against the team from the Northumberland region.