Chilliwack – The BCHL board of governors has approved a new postseason format for the 2017 BC Ford Dealers Road to the Fred Page Cup BCHL Playoffs.
The BCHL’s need to carefully plan its playoff format is predicated on the fact the BCHL has three divisions – the Island, Mainland and Interior Divisions – yet must still arrive at two teams to compete for the title.
The following describes how each round will be structured. All series will be best-of-seven.
Island Division: The top-four teams will make the playoffs with the No. 1-seed facing the No. 4-seed and the No. 2-seed facing the No. 3-seed in Round 1. The winners will advance to the Division finals. The winner of the Division finals will advance to play the winner of the Mainland Division.
Mainland Division: The top-four teams will make the playoffs with the No. 1-seed facing the No. 4-seed and the No. 2-seed facing the No. 3-seed in Round 1. The winners will advance to the Division finals. The winner of the Division finals will advance to play the winner of the Island Division.
Interior Division: Six teams will qualify for the playoffs, including a possible crossover team* from the Mainland Division. With the teams ranked No. 1 to No. 6, the top-two seeds will get a first-round bye. The Round 1 matchups will see the No. 3-seed facing the No. 6-seed and the No. 4-seed facing the No. 5-seed. In Round 2, the No. 1-seed (having had a bye) will face the lowest-seeded team to advance. The No. 2-seed (having had a bye) will face the other team that advances.
*Should the fifth-place team in the Mainland Division have more points than the sixth-place team from the Interior, the Mainland team will cross over to the Interior and play as the No. 6-seed in Round 1.
Once the Interior determines its champion, that team will play the winner of the Island-Mainland best-of-seven in the Fred Page Cup BCHL Finals.
