2015–16 C3 Playoff Preview

April 4, 2016

Normally, the Spiders would be looking at upcoming round-robin opponents now that the calendar has turned to April. Instead, the Spiders have been on the outside looking in from the golf course. The AHA Winter playoffs begin tonight, so here’s how the matchups ended up. Duly noted, the three C3 South teams that clinched (as non-wildcard) have the equal or better overall records than EVERY other team in C3, with both the first-place Royals (30 points) and second-place Arctic Wolves (29 points) representing the top two records in all of C3. As the saying goes, the Spiders always manage to find their way into the toughest division.

Seeding for C3 Tier:

• Pool A:
  • East #1 (Fighting Ice Fish)
  • South #2 (Arctic Wolves)
  • West #3 (Northern Gators)
  • Wildcard #1 (Ak Bars)
• Pool B:
  • South #1 (Royals)
  • West #2 (Diablos)
  • East #3 (Hooligans)
  • Wildcard #2 (Blade Runners)
• Pool C:
  • West #1 (Gold Rush)
  • East #2 (Mosquitos)
  • South #3 (Les Etoiles du Nord)
  • D1 Anchors Blue

Final regular season C3 standings:

Regular season tiebreakers:

In the event of a tie in the regular season standings, the following criteria are used to determine post-season seeding:

1. Total points in the regular season.
2. Number of wins in the regular season.
3. Head-to-head record between teams in the regular season.
4. Fewest total penalty minutes in the regular season.
5. Fewest goals allowed in the regular season.
6. Most goals scored in the regular season.
7. Coin toss.

The post-season schedule matchups for the C3 tier:

Playoff rules/tiebreakers

• There will be no overtime in round-robin pool play. Pool play games will end in ties and will count in the standings.
• If at any time the score differential is six or greater in the third period, the clock will convert to running time. If at any time the score differential goes below six goals, the clock will revert back to stop time.
• In championship games, if at the end of the three periods the score is tied, the teams shall play one overtime period of five minutes, running time. If at the end of the overtime period the score is still tied, a shootout will take place. Shootout rules are as follows:
  • Three players from each team participate in the order the team captain selects. The home team will elect whether to shoot first or second.
  • Each team takes three shots in alternating fashion. The team with the most goals after those six (or fewer) shots is the winner.
  • If the score remains tied, the shootout will proceed to a “sudden death” format. No skater may participate more than once until all other skaters have participated.
• Tiebreakers for pool standings:
  1. Most points
  2. Wins
  3. Head-to-head
  4. Goal differential (six goals maximum per game)
  5. Fewest goals against
  6. Fewest minor penalties
  7. Fewest total penalty minutes
  8. Earliest goal scored
  9. Coin toss

  (Note: If three teams are tied, once a team is determined as the higher seed, the tiebreaker reverts to step 1 of the criteria between two remaining teams, if necessary.)

For more information, see the full AHA Winter Playoff info page and the full AHA Winter Playoff schedule.