PLAYOFF [format]

[greeny]

Why cant the present system be changed ?. Instead of all these daft challenge cup games at start of season why not focus on a longer playoff system at end of season, surely that seems the more obvious way to do things

[Shaun]

The problem is that ALL the clubs get to play in the Challenge Cup but only the top 8 in the Play Off, add to that limited Ice Time and fan base disposable income a longer play off may not be viable.
Personally I think it works as it stands for the play offs.


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[Nathan]

Yeah.

Leave it as it is.

Tweak the farcical CC format for sure but the play offs work as they are.

[DimTim]

Cannot see playoff format changing. If you are looking at best of 7 for example Steelers v Storm. 2 at Arena then 2 in Shelter, Steelers would have had to book the Arena ice for game 5 &7. If either team swept the series then Arena have no time to fill those slots & Steelers would no doubt be charged without income.
Challenge cup should be an Autumn Cup. Don’t play any league matches until group stages have been completed. Some group matches are not played until November! Get them played September - 4 weekends allows for 8 matches.
Plenty of time to get knockout rounds completed & Cup Final late November/ early December.

[DiscoRay]

Why cant the present system be changed ?

While there's always nice sound-bytes and window dressing from the league as to why not, ultimately it's as simple as £££££s. The PO Weekend is the EIHL's only major money earner, so any changes ever made would see that weekend remain.

Agree on cutting back the Cup, even if it just removes the QF stage and goes back to 2 groups.

I think you have two realistic ways to modify the Play-Offs while still keeping the Finals weekend:

Option 1 - 3 game series for the QF, okay it's not 7, but it's a start and it at least departs from the 2-leg format.

Option 2 - Round-robin format, can go back to the ISL days of two groups of four with the top two of each making the finals weekend. Brings back a multi game format without the risk of booking venue dates that might not be needed, and everyone's play-offs is guaranteed to last longer than 2 games.

I'm personally at the stage things are so stale, I'm up for any sort of break from the same-old same-old.

[greeny]

Why cant the present system be changed ?

While there's always nice sound-bytes and window dressing from the league as to why not, ultimately it's as simple as £££££s. The PO Weekend is the EIHL's only major money earner, so any changes ever made would see that weekend remain.

Agree on cutting back the Cup, even if it just removes the QF stage and goes back to 2 groups.

I think you have two realistic ways to modify the Play-Offs while still keeping the Finals weekend:

Option 1 - 3 game series for the QF, okay it's not 7, but it's a start and it at least departs from the 2-leg format.

Option 2 - Round-robin format, can go back to the ISL days of two groups of four with the top two of each making the finals weekend. Brings back a multi game format without the risk of booking venue dates that might not be needed, and everyone's play-offs is guaranteed to last longer than 2 games.

I'm personally at the stage things are so stale, I'm up for any sort of break from the same-old same-old.

Yes playoff w/end is fine, it was more the games to get you there I was thinking of, maybe shorter league season , longer playoffs somehow. But the more you go into it the more complicated it gets i suppose, like has been said, ice time etc, etc. Just a thought to see what peoples ideas were