NA3HL announces 2017 playoff format and Silver Cup Championship

February 14, 2017

The North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) has announced its schedule and format for the 2017 NA3HL Playoffs and Silver Cup Championship. The Silver Cup crowns the National playoff champion from the NA3HL. 

 

The event will be held in cooperation with the 2017 NAHL Future Prospects Combine. Entering its fourth year in 2017, the Combine will accept applications from all players with birth years from 2001-04. The players will be introduced to and provided with a weekend that involves the 'NAHL Experience,' which will consist of competitive hockey, education of the future levels of hockey, academic preparation for NCAA hockey and exposure to professional, college and junior scouts. To sign up for the combine during the Silver Cup Championship in Romeoville, Illinois, please register here.

 

 

Frontier Division Play-In Series: The Club seeded third in the Frontier Division will compete in a best-of-three series with the sixth seeded Club in the Frontier Division. The Club seeded fourth the Frontier Division will compete in a best-of- three-series against the Club seeded fifth in the Frontier Division. The Clubs seeded one and two in the Frontier Division shall receive a bye into the division semi-finals. The Frontier Division Play in Series may begin no earlier than Thursday, March 9, 2017 and must conclude no later than Sunday, March 12, 2017. The higher seed shall have the right to host games one and three. The low seed shall have the right to host game two. The first Club to win two games in a play in series will be declared the winner of the series and advance to the Frontier Division semifinals.

 

Division Semi-Finals: The clubs are seeded within their own division based upon their finish in the NA3HL regular-season standings. The top four clubs from each division qualify for the playoffs. The Club seeded first in each division will compete in a best-of-three series with the fourth seeded Club in the same division. The Club seeded second in each division will compete in a best-of-three-series against the Club seeded third in the same division. The #1 and #2 seeds will have home ice advantage in the first round. The higher seed shall have the right to host games one and three. The lower seed shall have the right to host game two. Teams may agree to an alternate arrangement upon mutual agreement. The Division semifinal playoffs may begin no earlier than Thursday, March 16, 2017 and must conclude no later than Sunday, March 19, 2017. The first club to win two games in a division semifinal series will be declared the winner of the series and advance to the next round of playoff competition.

 

Division Finals: The two Clubs in each division that won a division semifinal series shall compete in a best-of-three series against each other in the division finals. The higher seed shall have the right to host games one and three. The lower seed shall have the right to host game two. Teams may agree to an alternate arrangement upon mutual agreement. The division finals may begin no earlier than Thursday, March 23, 2017 and conclude no later than Sunday, March 26, 2017. The first Club to win two games in a division final series will be declared the winner of the series and advance to the Silver Cup Championship Tournament.

 

Silver Cup Championship Tournament: The eight divisional playoff champions will advance to the NA3HL Silver Cup Championship Tournament, where they will play a three- game round-robin format followed by a semi-final and a championship game at Canlan Ice Sports in Romeoville, Illinois, from March 29-April 2. The eight divisional playoff winners will be seeded 1-8 based on their regular season point totals. A round-robin format with two pools will be implemented, with the top two teams in each pool advancing to the Semi-Finals, where they will then cross over to play the other top two teams from the other pool. The winners of the Semi-Finals will advance to the Silver Cup Championship Game. In the event of a tie after round-robin play, a tiebreaking procedure adopted in the rules and regulations shall be used to break the tie.

 

Pool A: #1, #4, #5, #8

Pool B: #2, #3, #6, #7

 

Wednesday, March 29: 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, 4 vs. 5

Thursday, March 30: 1 vs. 5, 2 vs. 6, 3 vs. 7, 4 vs. 8

Friday, March 31: 1 vs. 4, 2 vs. 3, 5 vs. 8, 6 vs. 7

Saturday, April 1: Pool A 1st place vs. Pool B 2nd place, Pool B 1st place vs. Pool A 2nd place

Sunday, April 2: Championship Game