Next up
Virtual game. Two teams from the same conference who each played the other conference on qualification night, paired by last season's points (1 vs 6, 2 vs 5, 3 vs 4). Each plays its own game. Whoever scores more moves on. Tied? Compare goal by goal: whoever scored their first goal earlier in the game wins, then their second, and so on. Still tied? The higher seed.
The bracket
What is this?
A knockout tournament that runs inside a league's normal season. No extra games, no break in the calendar: every tournament game is a regular-season game that was already on the schedule.
Every team is a candle. Lose a tournament game and yours goes out. The last one burning gets its name engraved on the Gauntlet. Results come in on their own as games finish, and past seasons can be replayed.
The rules
- Qualification night
- One night early in the season when all 32 teams play. Anyone facing the other conference that night gets a virtual game against a team from their own.
- Later rounds
- East plays East, West plays West. Once a round ends, the next one takes the earliest games that get every remaining team through it.
- The final
- The East and West champions' next meeting. If they don't play again, both are champions.
- If the schedule runs dry
- A conference with no games left for its next round stops there, and every team still alive in it is a champion.