An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams which play competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller divisions , with the best teams competing at successively higher levels. Conferences often, but not always, include teams from a common geographic region.
90-606: The Apollo Conference is a high school athletic conference represented by 6 schools in the central portion of Illinois. It is a member of the Illinois High School Association . The conference offers championships for girls in basketball, cross country, golf, softball, tennis, track & field, and volleyball. In boys' sports, the Apollo offers championships in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, tennis, track & field, and wrestling . The conference
180-510: A round-robin tournament to determine final seeding in the First Round, while the bottom eight seeds in each conference played in a best-of-five series to determine who advanced to face one of the Round-Robin teams in the First Round, after which they were re-seeded 5th–8th. Teams then were reseeded after each round similar to the conference-based formats used from 1994 to 2013. The closure of
270-760: A season , a conference refers to a single tournament. This has since been carried over by other leagues, such as the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), which has its own conferences , the Philippine Super Liga , the Premier Volleyball League , the PBA D-League , and formerly the Philippine Basketball League . The term "conference" referring to a single tournament does not apply if there's only one tournament in
360-463: A best-of-seven series for one berth in the Stanley Cup Finals, while the third- to sixth-place teams battled in a series of best-of-three matches for the other berth (with the third-place team taking on the fourth-place team, and the fifth-place team against the sixth-place team). In 1939, the Stanley Cup Finals became a best-of-seven series, the format still used today. The 1942–43 season saw
450-530: A best-of-three semifinal. As travel expenses were high during these times, it was often the case that the NHL champions were sent west to compete. In a dispute between the leagues in 1923 about whether to send one or both western league champions east, the winner of the PCHA/WCHL series would proceed to the Stanley Cup Finals, while the loser of the series would face the NHL champion, both series being best-of-three. In 1924,
540-421: A better goaltender, a better defensive team, or other players that pose matchup problems. If the regular season champion's primary success was only outscoring others, they may be out of luck facing goaltenders that can shut them out. For the first time, during the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs , all division winners were eliminated in the first round, which also saw the first instance that a Presidents' Trophy winner
630-459: A bye to the quarterfinal, while the second- and third-place teams from each division started their playoff run from a best-of-three preliminary round. In each round of the playoffs, the teams remaining were seeded regardless of divisional or conference alignment, with the preliminary-round series being a best-of-three affair while the remainder of the series remained best-of-seven. The 1977–78 season had one minor change in its playoff format: although
720-516: A conference system. From 2011 through to 2015, the competition had one conference based in each of its three founding countries . The winner of each conference received a playoff spot, as did the three next best teams overall. With the addition of Argentina's Jaguares and Japan's Sunwolves for 2016, plus a sixth franchise for South Africa, the competition reorganised into a new four-conference system. In 2016 and 2017, Australia and New Zealand formed separate conferences within an Australasian group;
810-457: A four-division, two-conference system for the 2013–14 season . Under the postseason system from 2014 to the present (excluding the seasons that were changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic), the top three teams in each division make the playoffs , with two wild-cards in each conference (for a total of eight playoff teams from each conference). The format is division-based, similar to the 1982 system. In
900-584: A group of teams (generally eight to twelve colleges and/or universities, occasionally as high as sixteen) that regularly play against each other within a national governing body, the most significant of which is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Most of these groups (including the "Power Five" conferences that are primary partners in the College Football Playoff ) refer to themselves as conferences, although
990-484: A lesser extent their own conference; NBA and NHL teams play at least two games (one at each home arena ) against every other team in their league in a regular season, MLB teams play at least one 3-game series against every other team (as of the 2023 season ), but the NFL teams do not. In college sports , the terms "league," "conference" and (generally at lower levels) "athletic association" can be used interchangeably to refer to
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#17329204004861080-458: A new playoff system was introduced where 16 of the league's 21 teams qualified for postseason play. The four division winners qualified for the playoffs while twelve wild-card positions rounded out the sixteen teams. At the beginning of each round the teams were seeded based on their regular season point totals, with the preliminary round being a best-of-five series while all other playoff series were best-of-seven. The 1981–82 season brought forth
1170-422: A non-geographic conference system in 2019 and 2020 . The league was divided into two conferences, based on ladder position in the previous season. Not every team could play each other due to the limited number of rounds, so conferences were introduced so that teams were only measured against the teams they played. The system was controversial because it allowed some weak teams to make finals, and strong teams from
1260-721: A season, such as in the case of the college sports leagues, the Philippine Football League , and the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League . Stanley Cup playoffs The Stanley Cup playoffs ( French : Les séries éliminatoires de la Coupe Stanley ) is the annual elimination tournament to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup , and the league champion of the National Hockey League (NHL). The four-round, best-of-seven tournament
1350-514: A secondary trophy called a "shield" (Irish, Scottish/Italian, South African, Welsh), with the overall league table used to determine playoff participants. The winner of each shield, however, is assured a place in the following year's European Rugby Champions Cup regardless of its overall league position. The now defunct Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association , where teams are represented by companies instead of geographical entities, and there are multiple tournaments held sequentially in
1440-408: A stronger team would face a weaker opponent. Thus, instead of a first-place versus third-place and a second versus fourth-place match up in the first round, the first round had the first-place versus the fourth and the second versus the third-place. This practice of having stronger teams facing weaker opposition has continued to the present day. This change necessitated the need to reseed the winners of
1530-505: A total of sixteen teams (eight from each conference) qualify for the league's postseason playoffs. In the NHL , since the 2013–14 season, the top 3 in each division are guaranteed to qualify and division winners are awarded the highest seeds, meaning they will have home-ice advantage in a given round, with the two best remaining teams in each conference receiving wild card spots. In the NBA, starting with
1620-557: A tradition which has arisen because the Stanley Cup is North America's oldest professional sports trophy, dating back more than two decades before the establishment of the NHL. Originally inscribed the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup , the trophy was donated in 1892 by Lord Stanley of Preston , then– Governor General of Canada , initially as a " challenge trophy " for Canada's top-ranking amateur ice hockey club. From 1893 when
1710-464: A two-game total goals affair and the Stanley Cup Finals became a best-of-five series. The two-game total goals format was abolished in 1937, with those series being changed to best-of-three affairs. The 1930s saw the reduction of teams from ten to seven, which resulted in an end to the Canadian and American divisions. The Stanley Cup playoffs saw the first- and second-place teams play against each other in
1800-437: Is divided into an American Football Conference (AFC) and a National Football Conference (NFC). Both conferences have 16 teams, and each conference is divided into 4 divisions of 4 teams each. These conferences, for the most part, derive from the fact that they were once separate organizations: the original National Football League and the 1960s American Football League ; the two entities merged in 1970, with each league forming
1890-584: Is held after the NHL's regular season. Eight teams from each of the league's two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season points totals. The final round is commonly known as the Stanley Cup Finals , which matches the two conference champions. The NHL is the only one of the big four major leagues in Canada and the United States to refer to its playoffs by the name of its championship trophy,
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#17329204004861980-421: Is no attention paid to divisional alignment with the wild cards, it is possible for one division in a conference to have five teams in the postseason while the other has just three. In the First Round, the teams are split into two separate brackets by conference. Each bracket consists of the top three divisional qualifiers and one of the wild cards. The lower seeded wild card plays against the division winner with
2070-468: Is no longer possible. The first round is the only round where the better teams play easier opponents, as every other round is played by the winner of another series, thus leaving no opportunities to reseed. The winners of these series advance to the conference finals and the two conference finals winners move on to the Stanley Cup Finals. In the first two rounds, the higher-seeded team has home-ice advantage (regardless of point record). Thereafter, it goes to
2160-654: Is part of NCAA Division I (specifically the Football Bowl Subdivision ), but is itself also subdivided into an East and West division. In English association football, the top level of non-League football —i.e., the level below the Premier League and the three tiers that make up the English Football League (EFL)—was known as the Football Conference from the 1986–87 season through the end of
2250-563: Is the highest level of provincial competition in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the highest domestic level in Japan, and the only professional domestic level in Argentina. From the creation of Super Rugby in 1996 through 2015 , only Australia, New Zealand and South Africa participated; the competition added teams in the latter two countries in 2016 . Since the 2011 season , it has operated on
2340-565: The 1916–17 NHA season saw the league split its schedule into two halves with the top team from each half moving on to the league finals, which was a two-game total goals series . The PCHA continued to award their league title to the team that finished in first place after the regular season. The National Hockey League (NHL) was founded in November 1917 as a successor to the NHA. From the NHL's inception until 1920, both NHL and PCHA teams were eligible for
2430-505: The Canada–United States border during the 2020–21 regular season caused the NHL to temporarily abolish both conferences and realign into four different divisions, putting all Canadian teams into one of those divisions. The top four teams in each division then made the 2021 playoffs . All four rounds of the playoffs remained as best-of-seven series, and the first two rounds of the playoffs featured intra-divisional matchups similar to
2520-710: The Conn Smythe Trophy is based on the entire NHL postseason instead of just the championship game or series, unlike the playoff MVP awards presented in the other major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada (the Super Bowl MVP , the NBA Finals MVP , and the World Series MVP ), although in its history the trophy has never been given to someone that was not in the finals. Doug Gilmour and Peter Forsberg , in 1986 and 1999 , respectively, are
2610-827: The FA Cup (open to teams from all levels), the EFL Cup (open only to teams from the Premier League and the English Football League), and the FA Trophy (open only to teams in the broader definition of the National League, plus the two tiers below it). The Kontinental Hockey League has a Western Conference and an Eastern Conference . This is similar to the NHL 's conferences in North America . In rugby union , Super Rugby
2700-615: The Horizon League , Ivy League , Patriot League , Pioneer League and Summit League use the word "league" instead, and another conference calls itself the Coastal Athletic Association . The NCAA itself is divided into divisions and subdivisions based on athletic scholarship eligibility, which can lead to redundancy when these conferences also have divisions of their own. For instance, the Southeastern Conference
2790-487: The NBA playoffs . It is the reality of the sport. If your particular strength happens to be that you're really good offensively, and you come up against a hot goaltender and a team that is stout defensively, it might not matter that you were good on a nightly basis scoring goals. And that one particular opponent: you'll have to beat them four times. Despite having more American-based teams than Canadian-based ones throughout much of
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2880-454: The conference finals ; the players feel that the Stanley Cup is the true championship trophy and thus it should be the only trophy that they should be hoisting. However, there have been many exceptions to this. Nineteen of the conference champions since 1997 have touched the trophy, of which 8 teams went on to win the Stanley Cup – Scott Stevens of the Devils in 2000 and 2003; Sidney Crosby of
2970-523: The 2014–15 season. In turn, from 2004, the Conference was divided into three leagues—Conference Premier, at the fifth tier of the English football pyramid , and Conference North and Conference South, which made up the sixth tier. Starting with the 2015–16 season, the Football Conference and its component leagues were renamed. The Football Conference and Conference Premier were both renamed "National League", and
3060-498: The 2015–16 season, the playoff spots go to the eight top teams in each conference by overall record, with home-court advantage in each playoff series based solely on record. Major League Soccer (MLS) also divides itself into an Eastern and Western Conference , though it does not have divisions within them; it too allocates an equal number of teams from each conference to play for its MLS Cup Playoffs (since 2019, this has been seven teams each). The National Football League (NFL)
3150-565: The Apollo, while Newton, Paris and Robinson have moved into the LIC 2022-23 Full members Full members (non-football) Full members (8-man football) Full members (Football Coop) Other Conference Central State Eight Conference Little Illini Conference ) Cahokia Conference Athletic conference The AFL Women's competition used
3240-738: The Cup for the next four years. In 1914, the Victoria Aristocrats of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA) challenged the NHA and Cup champion Toronto Blueshirts . One year later, the NHA and the PCHA began an agreement in which their respective champions would face each other annually for the Stanley Cup, effectively ending the Cup challenge games . After years of the NHA not having an annual playoff tournament to determine its league champion,
3330-567: The Cup grew, so did the need to attract top players, and thus professional teams first became eligible to challenge for the Stanley Cup in 1906. Then in 1908, the Allan Cup was introduced as the trophy for Canada's amateurs, and the Stanley Cup became a symbol of professional hockey supremacy. In 1910, the National Hockey Association (NHA) held its inaugural season and soon emerged as the best professional hockey league in Canada, keeping
3420-542: The First Round, the top-ranked team in the conference plays against the lowest-ranked wild-card, while the other division winner plays against the higher-ranked wild-card. The second- and third-place teams in each division play each other. The first-round winners then meet in the Second Round. The third round still consists of the Western Conference and Eastern Conference finals, with those conference winners advancing to
3510-403: The NHL playoffs expanded from two to three teams (with the top team getting a bye to the two-game total goal NHL finals), but because the first-place Hamilton Tigers refused to play under this format, the second and third place teams played for the NHL championship in a two-game total goals affair. The Stanley Cup Finals series returned to a best-of-five format the same year. With the merger of
3600-473: The NHL's existence (dating back to the Original Six era when it was two Canadian clubs to four American ones, and now 7 to 25 since 2021), there have been only two times in league history where none of the Canadian teams qualified for the postseason: 1970 and 2016 . However, the 1992–93 Montreal Canadiens remain the last Canadian club to win the Stanley Cup, as of 2024. The Stanley Cup playoffs MVP award,
3690-410: The PCHA and WCHL in 1925 and the merged league's collapse in 1926, the NHL took de facto control of the Stanley Cup. While the Cup would not be formally deeded to the league until 1947, from 1926 onward the NHL playoffs and the Stanley Cup playoffs are considered synonymous. The NHL was subsequently divided into the Canadian and American divisions for the 1927–28 season. For 1927, six teams qualified for
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3780-554: The Penguins in 2009, 2016, and 2017; Alexander Ovechkin of the Capitals in 2018; and Steven Stamkos of the Lightning in 2020. In recent years, the captain of the winning team poses (usually looking solemn) with the conference trophy, and sometimes, the entire team poses as well. There are many traditions and anecdotes associated with the championship trophy , the Stanley Cup . Because
3870-513: The South African teams were joined by the Jaguares and Sunwolves in a "South African" group, with that group also being divided into two conferences. The winner of each conference continued to receive a playoff spot, with additional berths going to the next three best Australasian teams and the next best team of the South African group. For 2018, Super Rugby will revert to a 15-team format, following
3960-487: The Stanley Cup Finals, as before. Compared to other major professional sports leagues, playoff upsets are relatively common in the NHL. According to NHL broadcaster Darren Eliot , this is because the style of competition in the playoffs is different from the regular season: instead of playing different teams every night, the goal is to advance through four best-of-seven playoff series . The Presidents' Trophy winner may have to go through other playoff clubs who might have
4050-473: The Stanley Cup Finals. Special formats were used in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic . As a result of the pandemic prematurely ending the 2019–20 regular season , a 24-team, conference-based format (with 12 from each conference) was adopted for the 2020 playoffs . Seeding was based on each team's points percentage at the time the regular season was suspended on March 12. The top four teams competed in
4140-457: The Stanley Cup. The 1970–71 season , because of fan demand, brought forth the first inter-conference playoff match up outside of the Stanley Cup Finals since the pre-war expansion, which had the winner of the second-place versus fourth-place match up in one conference take on the winner of the first- versus third-place match up in the other conference for a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals. The following year had one minor change to its playoff format:
4230-473: The Stanley Cup. The NHL inherited the NHA's regular season system of dividing it into two halves, with the top team from each half moving on to the league finals. The NHL finals was a two-game total goals series in 1918 and a best-of-seven series in 1919. In 1920, the Ottawa Senators were automatically declared the league champion when the team had won both halves of the regular season. The two halves format
4320-512: The basis of the NFC and AFC respectively. The NFL allocates seven teams from each conference for the NFL playoffs ; the four division winners (guaranteed one of the top four seeds, based on winning percentage), and the three best-non division winners, also known as wild cards . Major League Baseball (MLB) does not use the word "conference." Instead, it is divided into two separate leagues which are identical to
4410-407: The best record while the other wild card plays against the other division winner, and both wild cards are de facto No. 4 seeds. The other two series match the second and third place teams from the divisions. The winners of both First Round series advance to the Second Round. The reseeding in the previous format, which ensured the top seed would play the lowest remaining seed, was discarded, as it
4500-445: The champion of the National Hockey Association (NHA) and the champion of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). After a series of league mergers and folds, including the 1917 establishment of the NHL as a successor to the NHA, the Stanley Cup became the championship trophy of the NHL prior to the 1926–27 season . The NHL has always used a playoff tournament to determine its champion. The league's playoff system has changed over
4590-514: The competition's rebranding as the United Rugby Championship. For the first season under the URC name in 2021–22, the competition reorganized into four regionally based pools, though no longer using the word "conference". Three of the pools are made up of teams from one country—Ireland, South Africa, and Wales. The fourth features the teams from Italy and Scotland. Each regional pool competes for
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#17329204004864680-731: The conferences listed above in all but name (which, although their operations have been integrated via the Commissioner of Baseball in modern times, were originally separately managed organizations with an intense rivalry). These are the American League (AL) and National League (NL), with 15 teams each. Each league is divided into the Eastern ( AL , NL ), Central ( AL , NL ), and Western ( AL , NL ) divisions, with all six divisions having 5 teams each. Each league produces six teams for postseason play , with each division winner also guaranteed one of
4770-473: The division-based formats previously used. The four division champions were reseeded based on regular season point total in the Stanley Cup Semifinals. The best-ranked division winner played against the worst-ranked division winner, while the other two division champions faced-off against each other, with the second-best division champion having home-ice advantage. The winners of these series advanced to
4860-505: The dropping of two teams from South Africa and one from Australia. The new format features three conferences—Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, each with five teams; the Sunwolves will join the Australian conference and the Jaguares will play in the South African conference. The conference winners will continue to receive playoff berths, with additional berths going to the top five teams in
4950-414: The finals (one from each conference/league) and the records of teams outside a conference/league are ignored, which can allow teams with inferior records to make the playoffs while teams in the other conference with better records do not get in. An extreme example of this has occurred three times in the NFL, when the 2010 Seattle Seahawks , 2014 Carolina Panthers , and 2020 Washington Football Team reached
5040-407: The first Cup was awarded to 1914, the champions held onto the Cup until they either lost their league title to another club, or a champion from another league issued a formal challenge and defeated the reigning Cup champion in a final game to claim their win. Professional teams then first became eligible to challenge for the Stanley Cup in 1906. Starting in 1915, the Cup was officially contested between
5130-418: The following protocols: Unlike the regular season where a contest could eventually be decided in a shootout , overtime in the playoffs is played in multiple sudden-death, 20-minute five-on-five periods until one team scores. Although a playoff game could theoretically last indefinitely, only two contests have reached six overtime periods, and neither of those went beyond six. During playoff overtime periods,
5220-638: The handshake include the 1996 playoffs when several Detroit Red Wings players protested the dirty hit by the Colorado Avalanche 's Claude Lemieux , and in the 2008 playoffs when Martin Brodeur refused to shake Sean Avery 's hand after Avery screened him in an earlier game. It is common among players to never touch or hoist the Prince of Wales Trophy ( Eastern Conference champion) or Clarence S. Campbell Bowl ( Western Conference champion) after they have won
5310-481: The ice as a good luck charm, as eight wins were required to win the Stanley Cup. The 1967 expansion saw the number of teams double from six to twelve for the 1967–68 season , and with it the creation of the Western and Eastern divisions. The playoff format remained largely the same, with four teams in each division qualifying for the playoffs, all series remaining best-of-seven, and the division champions battling for
5400-523: The league revamped its playoff structure to become conference-based rather than division-based. Eight teams in each conference qualified for the playoffs. The first-place teams in each division were seeded first and second in their respective conference playoffs; the next six best teams in each conference also qualified and were seeded third through eighth. All teams played in the conference quarterfinals: first-place versus eighth, second versus seventh, third versus sixth, and fourth versus fifth; after each round,
5490-419: The league season, the teams that top each conference table received berths in the semifinals, with the next two teams in each conference playing off for semifinal berths. After the 2020–21 season, South Africa fully aligned its club rugby structure with that of Europe. The then-existing Pro14 franchises from South Africa were replaced by the country's four Super Rugby franchises, which moved into Pro14 and led to
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#17329204004865580-663: The newly formed Central State Eight Conference . Olney and Salem joined from the North Egypt Conference , which was dissolved in 2003. Significant changes have occurred for the Apollo Conference. Founding members Newton and Robinson, as well as Olney, left for the Little Illini Conference in the 2012–13 school year. Mattoon joined the league in that same school year, departing from the Big 12 Conference . Teutopolis
5670-432: The normal 2–2–1–1–1 rotation, a series involving teams from both divisions was 2–3–2, with the higher-seeded team having the option of starting play at home or on the road (the format was used four times in 1994 , between 1995 and 1998, all higher-seeded teams opted to start play at home with the 2–2–1–1–1 format). For the 1998–99 season , the league re-organized into two conferences of three divisions apiece, resulting in
5760-461: The only break is to shovel away the loose ice shavings at the first stoppage after the period is halfway finished. The Stanley Cup was commissioned in 1892 as the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup and was named after Lord Stanley of Preston , the Governor General of Canada who donated it as an award to Canada's top-ranking amateur ice hockey club. The entire Stanley family supported the sport,
5850-591: The only players who have topped the postseason in scoring without making it to the Finals. NHL players have often grown beards when their team is in the playoffs, where they do not shave until their team is eliminated or wins the Stanley Cup. The tradition was started in the 1980s by the New York Islanders , and is often mirrored by the fans, as well. At the conclusion of a playoff series, players and coaches line up and exchange handshakes with their counterparts on
5940-477: The opposing team, and this has been described by commentators as "one of the great traditions in sports". However, there have been rare occasions that individual players have refused to participate, such as Gerry Cheevers who left the ice without shaking hands with any of the Flyers in 1978, and Billy Smith who avoided handshakes as he was particularly passionate about losses. More recent examples of players refusing
6030-507: The other conference missed out on finals. It was because of this that the conference system was removed for the 2021 season . In the United States and Canada , the National Hockey League (NHL) and National Basketball Association (NBA) are divided into Eastern ( NHL , NBA ) and Western ( NHL , NBA ) Conferences, with multiple divisions within each conference (two in each NHL conference, three in each NBA conference). In both leagues,
6120-495: The overall competition table that were not already qualified. In the same sport, Pro14, now known as the United Rugby Championship , adopted a conference system effective in 2017–18 , following the addition of the two South African teams dropped from Super Rugby. The competition split into two conferences, each featuring two teams from Ireland and Wales, plus single teams from Italy, Scotland and South Africa. Following
6210-428: The playoff format used through the 2012–13 season . The qualifiers remained sixteen, but the seeding changed. The three first-place teams in each division qualified and were seeded first through third for the playoffs; of the other teams in each conference, the top five finishers qualified for the fourth through eighth seeds. The format otherwise remained identical to that of the 1994–1998 system. The NHL realigned into
6300-548: The playoffs by winning their respective divisions despite losing records (7–9 for the Seahawks and Washington, 7–8–1 for the Panthers). These are the only teams ever to qualify for the playoffs with losing records in seasons that were not shortened by strikes (as in 1982 , which was shortened from 16 to 9 games). In addition, a team's regular season schedule is weighted towards more games against other teams within their own division and to
6390-442: The playoffs, three from each division, with the division semifinals and finals being a two-game total goals affair, and the Stanley Cup Finals becoming a best-of-five series. In 1928, the playoff format was changed so that the two teams with identical division ranking would face each other (i.e., the division winners played each other, the second place teams play each other, and likewise for the third place teams). The first place series
6480-424: The playoffs. In the playoff series format instituted in 2014, the first, second, and third place teams in each of the four divisions qualify for the playoffs automatically. Two additional teams from each conference, regardless of divisional alignment, also qualify for the playoffs by having the highest point totals out of the remaining teams in the conference. These teams are referred to as the wild cards . Since there
6570-412: The quarterfinals by matching up the highest remaining seed of one division against the lowest remaining seed from the other division in the semifinals. The 1974–75 season saw another change to the playoff system to accommodate a league that had expanded to 18 teams in two conferences and four divisions. Under this system, twelve teams qualified for the playoffs. The top team from each division would earn
6660-503: The removal of the New York Americans , leaving six remaining teams (now known as the " Original Six "). From 1943 to 1967 , all playoff match ups were best-of-seven affairs. The first and third-place teams played in one semifinal, while the second and fourth-place teams played in the other semifinal, with the semifinal winners advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals. During this time, Detroit Red Wings fans often threw an octopus onto
6750-419: The return of divisional matchups, with the top four teams from each division qualifying for the playoffs. Division champions would be determined, followed by the conference champions, who would meet in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Division Semifinals was a best-of-five affair until the 1986–87 season , when it became a best-of-seven series, while all other series remained best-of seven. For the 1993–94 season ,
6840-473: The second-place finishers from each division would qualify for the preliminary round, the four playoff spots reserved for the third-place teams were replaced by four wild-card spots—spots for the four teams with the highest regular season point total that did not finish first or second in their divisions. With the absorption of four teams from the World Hockey Association in the 1979–80 season ,
6930-408: The sons and daughters all playing and promoting the game. The first Cup was then awarded in 1893 to Montreal Hockey Club . During the period from 1893 to 1914, the champions held the Cup until they lost their league title to another club, or a champion from another league issued a formal challenge and subsequently defeated them in a special game or series. The competitive format of each Cup challenge
7020-453: The surviving teams were reseeded to play the conference semifinals, then a conference final, with the conference champions playing against each other in the Stanley Cup Finals. Home ice advantage was determined by higher seed in the first three rounds and by regular season points of the two teams in the Stanley Cup Finals. All series were best of seven, but the arrangement of home games was changed for Central and Pacific division teams. Instead of
7110-406: The team with the better regular season record (regardless of seeding); in the case of a tie, the league's standard tie-breaking procedure is applied. The team with home-ice advantage hosts games one, two, five, and seven, while the opponent hosts games three, four, and six (games five through seven are played if necessary). Any ties in the standings at the end of the regular season are broken using
7200-481: The top three seeds, even if their record is lower than the league's top wild card teams . In all five sports, the champion of one conference (or league in MLB's case) plays the champion of the other conference for the final round championship, this is guaranteed to occur because the rules for the playoffs require play to be exclusively within the conference/league in all rounds before the final round, leaving only two teams for
7290-407: The two regional leagues were renamed National League North and National League South . This does not strictly meet the definition indicated in the previous sections of this article, as each individual league mentioned in this section is a separate competition. The only times that teams from different leagues compete against one another in meaningful matches are in knockout cup competitions, such as
7380-465: The western leagues allowed six), the rules for each game in the Stanley Cup Finals alternated between those of the NHL and the western leagues. Before the WCHL competed for the Stanley Cup, the Cup championship series was a best-of-five series. Following the involvement of the WCHL, one league champion was given a bye straight to the finals (a best-of-three affair starting in 1922), while the other two competed in
7470-472: The years, from the NHL's inception in 1917, to when the NHL took over the Cup in 1926, to the current setup today. The Stanley Cup playoffs consists of four rounds of best-of-seven series . Each series is played in a 2–2–1–1–1 format, meaning the team with home-ice advantage hosts games one, two, five, and seven, while their opponent hosts games three, four, and six. Games five, six, and seven are only played if needed. Eight teams in each conference qualify for
7560-399: Was a best-of-five affair, with the winner proceeding to the best-of-three Stanley Cup Finals, while the others were a two-game total goals series. The winner of the second and third place series played each other in a best-of-three series, with the winner earning the other berth to the Stanley Cup Finals. This format had a slight modification the following year, where the semifinal series became
7650-537: Was abandoned the next year, and the top two teams faced off for the NHL championship in a two-game total goals series. At the time, the NHL champion would later face the winners of the PCHA and, from 1921, the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) in further rounds in order to determine the Stanley Cup champion. During this time, as the rules of the NHL and those of the western leagues differ (the main difference being that NHL rules allowed five skaters while
7740-471: Was accepted to join in 2017–2018. Shortly after, Salem elected to join the Cahokia Conference in 2017–18. In 2023, Lincoln will leave the conference and head back to their previous league, The Central State Eight. Geographical concerns and school enrollment has played a part in the switching between Apollo and Little Illini Conferences. Charleston is the only founding member of the conference to stay in
7830-402: Was determined by negotiation between the two clubs. Furthermore, none of the leagues that played for the Cup had a formal playoff system to decide their respective champions; whichever team finished in first place after the regular season won the league title. A playoff would only be played if teams tied for first-place in their leagues at the end of the regular season. As the prestige of winning
7920-598: Was formed in 1970 by charter members Charleston, Newton, Paris and Robinson who left from the Eastern Illinois Conference. In 1972 Decatur Lakeview and Mt. Zion joined the conference after departing the Cenois Conference. Effingham and Taylorville joined in 1981, leaving the Mid-State Conference. Lakeview closed in 1982, bringing the conference back to seven members. In 1993 Taylorville left to join
8010-473: Was invited to join the conference, but declined the invitation. The Taylorville Tornadoes rejoined the conference in 2014, while another Apollo founding school, Paris, left for the Little Illini Conference. In 2015, Corn Belt Conference member Mahomet-Seymour was accepted into the conference starting with the 2017–2018 school year. Later in the same year, Central State Eight conference member Lincoln
8100-544: Was swept 4–0 in the opening round. And although rare, another aspect is that the NHL leads the other leagues in game seven comebacks . In four instances an NHL team has been able to come back from being down 0–3 to win a seven-game series: the 1941–42 Toronto Maple Leafs , the 1974–75 New York Islanders , the 2009–10 Philadelphia Flyers , and the 2013–14 Los Angeles Kings . There has been only one such "reverse sweep" comeback in MLB postseason (the 2004 Boston Red Sox ) and none in
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