USPHL Premier Division Playoff Format
2021-22 Season

Each team’s 28-man playoff roster must be declared by February 10, 2022

Midwest West and New England Conferences:
Top 8 teams make the playoffs:

Higher seed maintains home ice throughout

Round 1: Best-of-3 Series: Week ending March 6, 2022

No. 1 hosts No. 8
No. 2 hosts No. 7
No. 3 hosts No. 6
No. 4 hosts No. 5
Round 2: Best-of-3 Series
Week ending March 13, 2022

Highest remaining seed hosts Lowest remaining seed
Second-highest remaining seed hosts Third-highest remaining seed
Winners advance to the Nationals (Hudson, NH). March 24-29, 2022

Midwest East Conference:

Top 7 teams make the playoffs:
Round 1:
No. 1 gets a bye
Higher seed maintains home ice throughout

Best-of-3 Series: Week ending March 6, 2022

No. 2 hosts No. 7
No. 3 hosts No. 6
No. 4 hosts No. 5
Round 2: Best-of-3 Series
Week ending March 13, 2022

No. 1 hosts Lowest remaining seed
Second highest remaining seed hosts third highest remaining seed
Winners advance to the Nationals (Hudson, NH). March 24-29, 2022
Great Lakes Conference

Top 6 teams make the playoffs:
No. 1 and No. 2 get a First Round bye
Higher seed hosts 1st and 3rd games, Lower seed hosts 2nd game.

Round 1: Best-of-3 Series, Week ending March 6, 2022

No. 4 plays No. 5
No. 3 plays No. 6
Round 2: Best-of-3 Series
Week ending March 13, 2022
No. 1 plays Lowest remaining seed
No. 2 plays third highest remaining seed
Winners advance to the Nationals (Hudson, N.H.), March 24-29, 2022

Florida and Southeast Conferences:

Top 4 teams in each conference make the playoffs:
Higher seed maintains home ice advantage throughout

Round One: Best-of-3 Series
Week ending March 13, 2022

No. 1 plays No. 4
No. 2 plays No. 3
Winners advance to the Nationals (Hudson, N.H.), March 24-29, 2022

Florida Conference: All playoff games played at AdventHealth Center Ice (Wesley Chapel, Fla. )

Southeast Conference: All games played at Xtreme Ice (Charlotte, N.C.)

Atlantic East, Atlantic West and Pacific Conferences:

Top 4 teams make the playoffs:

Higher seed maintains home ice throughout

Round 1: Best-of-3 Series
Week ending March 6, 2022

No. 1 hosts No. 4
No. 2 hosts No. 3
Round 2: Best-of-3 Series
Week ending March 13, 2022

Higher remaining seed hosts lower remaining seed
Winner advances to the Nationals (Hudson, N.H.), March 24-29, 2022

Mountain Conference

All 5 teams make the playoffs:
Higher seed maintains home ice throughout
Round 1: Best-of-3 Series
Week ending March 6, 2022
• No. 4 hosts No. 5

Round 2: Best-of-3 Series
Week ending March 13, 2022
• No. 1 hosts Winner Round 1
• No. 2 hosts No. 3

Round 3: Best-of-3 Series
Week ending March 19, 2022
• Lower remaining seed hosts higher remaining seed
• Winner advances to the Nationals (Hudson, NH). March 24-29, 2022

ALL GAMES IN ALL DIVISIONS WILL BE PLAYED 5-on-5 UNTIL A WINNER IS DETERMINED (20-minute Sudden Death Overtime format).

BREAKING TIES in STANDINGS: The following shall be the order considered:

i. Most Points ii. Most points achieved Head to Head iii. Most wins iv. Goals for minus goals against v. Lowest penalty minutes vi. Coin Toss In cases where teams play a different number of League games, winning percentage shall replace Most Points in the hierarchy and iv. and v. shall be averaged.

USPHL Premier National Championships
(March 24-29, 2022)

Round Robin (March 24-26, Cyclones Arena, Hudson, N.H.)

16-Team format with 4 round robin pools.

Pool A) Great Lakes 1, Florida 2, New England 2, Atlantic West
Pool B) Florida 1, Midwest East # 1, Midwest West 2, Atlantic East
Pool C) New England 1, Southeast 1, Midwest East 2, Mountain
Pool D) Southeast 2, Midwest West 1, Great Lakes 2, Pacific

Round Robin games cannot end in a tie. There will be a SINGLE 5-Minute 3-on-3 sudden death OT in Round Robin games where teams change ends. At the end of the OT if the score remains tied, the teams will go into a 3-man shootout, like the regular season. If the score remains tied, the teams will convert to a sudden death shootout like regular season until a winner is determined.

Round Robin game points will be awarded as follows: 3 points for a regulation win, 2 points for an overtime win or shootout win, and 1 point for overtime loss.

Standings and Tiebreakers
In round robin and subsequent play, when standings are required to determine placement, the following shall be used in order to determine the ranking:
1. Most Points
2. Most points achieved Head-to-Head assuming all tied teams played each other.
3. Most regulation wins
4. GF/(GF+GA) with the higher percentage winning the tie breaker.
5. Lowest penalty minutes
6. Coin Toss

Quarterfinals March 27, 2022 (Cyclones Arena)
A1 vs D2, Group 1
D1 vs A2, Group 1
B1 vs C2, Group 2
C1 vs B2, Group 2

Semi-finals March 28, 2022 (Merrimack College)
Group 1 Winners play in Semi-Final 1.
Group 2 Winners play in Semi-Final 2.

Championship March 29, 2022 (Merrimack College)
Winners of the semi-finals advance to the Championship

If tied after regulation play, Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Championship games will have consecutive 20-minute sudden-death overtime periods, with teams changing ends each period, until a winner is declared.