With one last round of regular season games to be played, most of the teams have yet to settle on their final seed. Only Red at #1 know where they will finish the regular season and when they will play in the playoff round of three. Neon and Orange can finish anywhere from #2 to #4, Black from #2 to #5, Yellow from #4 to #6, and Gold will finish #5 or #6. Purple is virtually guaranteed the #10 seed, I will detail the remote chance at #9 below, where Silver, Green and Teal will need the final week to determine who is in the #7, #8, and #9 seed, where Teal would be the team that could drop to #10.
Reminder, all teams will skate in a three game playoff round, matchups determined by seed, where four teams will advance to a semi-final, while the other six play one last time outside of the playoffs. This means all teams should plan for four more games, with the possibility for a fifth.
Regular season seeding is determined by:
1) Points
2) Wins
3) Head to head
4) Point differential
Yellow and Orange open the final night of the regular season with a late 6:30 start. Orange secures a #2 seed with a win and less than a win for Neon, or can attain #2 seed with a tie, with a Neon loss and less than a win for Black. Orange falls to #4 with a loss and a Black win. All other scenarios have Orange in the #3 seed. Yellow can finish as high as #4 with a win and less than a win for Black. A Yellow loss and a Gold win have Yellow finishing in the #6 seed. All other scenarios have Yellow in the #5 seed.
Action continues at 7:30 with a Gold versus Silver rematch. If Yellow lost in the early game, a Gold win has them finishing in the #5 seed. All other scenarios have Gold finishing in the #6 seed. Silver secures the #7 seed with a win and less than a win from Green, or a tie in their game with a loss by Green and less than a win by Teal. Silver falls all the way to #9 with a loss and better than a loss by Teal. All other scenarios have Silver finishing at #8.
After these first two games, we will know whether Yellow or Gold finish in the #6 seed, which will face the #1 (Red), #5, and #9 seeds.
The two teams sitting atop the standing heading into the last week, Red and Neon, will face off at 8:30. Neon can fall all the way to #4 with a loss and a Black win, as well as Orange better than a loss. Neon can finish at #3 with a loss and only one of those Black / Orange scenarios, or a Neon tie and an Orange win. All other scenarios have Neon in the #2 seed. All scenarios have Red in the #1 seed, with only their goose egg in the loss column at stake on this final night.
As the #1 seed, Red will face the #6, #7, and #10 seeds.
The two teams sitting at the bottom of the standings heading into the last week, Purple and Teal, will face off at 9:30. A Purple victory would have them tied with Teal for points, wins, and head to head, needing point differential to pass them via tie breaker. Given Purple is 16 goals worse than Teal on goal differential heading into the final game, it would take better than that to lock in the #9 seed. All other scenarios have Purple finishing in the #10 seed. Teal also owns tie breakers with Silver and Green, and can move into the #7 seed by getting 1 more point than both this final week, or the #8 seed by getting 1 more than either of them. Already detailed the scenario where they fall to #10, and all other scenarios have them finishing in #9.
Whether it is Teal or Purple that finish in the #10 seed, they will face #1 (Red), #4 and #5 seeds in the coming weeks.
The regular season will come to a close with a 10:30 rematch between Black and Green. Black can climb as high as #2 with a win, a Neon loss, and less than a win by Orange. They can get to the #3 seed with a win and only one of those Neon/Orange scenarios. They will fall to #5 with a tie and a Yellow win, or a loss and better than a loss by Yellow. All other scenarios and they will finish in the #4 seed. Green will finish with the #7 seed with a win, or a tie with less than a win by both Silver and Teal, or a loss with a Silver and Teal loss. They will finish in #8 if Silver or Teal get one more point, or #9 if they both do.
Whether it is Neon, Orange or Black in the #2 seed, they will face the #5, #8 and #9 seeds. Those same teams could end up in the #3 seed, where they will face the #4, #8, and #9 seeds. One of those teams will fall further, and compete with Yellow for the #4 seed, which will face the #3, #7, and #10 seeds. Finally, whether it is Black, Yellow, or Gold in the #5 seed, they will face the #2, #6, and #10 seeds.
Green, Silver, and Teal are competing for the #7 seed, to face #1 (Red), #4, and #8 seeds. They are also competing for the #8 seed, to face #2, #3, and #7 seeds. Finally, any of those three teams, along with Purple, could end up in the #9 seed, where they will face the #2, #3, and #6 seeds.
Look for updates next week about the Playoffs and matchups. While the lower seeds certainly have a tougher schedule to make it to the semi-finals, all teams will begin the Playoffs needing only three wins to ensure their semi-final berth. Good luck!
