The rules of hockey competitions have some features that have formed in the homeland of the popular game. What is the playoffs in hockey, do not explain to the residents of Canada and the United States, everyone knows there. And with the establishment of the Continental Hockey League by this sports organization, the main organizational principles of the NHL were taken into account - as a proven experience in many years of conducting large tournament competitions.
How is the hockey tournament in the KHL
In order to answer the question “What is the playoffs in hockey?”, You need to understand the system by which competitions for the KHL championship are held every year. The annual Continental Hockey League Championship draw consists of two parts. The game calendar is compiled in such a way that all teams in the league have the opportunity to meet each other on their field and on the opponent’s field. This is the first part of the championship - the regular championship of the hockey league. In the first years after the creation of the hockey organization, all the teams had the opportunity to sort things out among themselves. Then their number increased, and the Continental Hockey League had to be divided into two conferences - Western and Eastern. Based on the results of the regular season, a standings are drawn up. And then the answer to the question of what is the playoffs in hockey becomes relevant. Speaking very briefly, this is the second, final part of the KHL championship.
From the rules of the game in hockey - playoff games
Let us consider more closely the features of the regulations of the second part of the hockey championship. Only those teams that took the first sixteen places in the standings, eight in each of the two conferences, enter the playoffs. These teams are divided into pairs and continue to sort things out among themselves. Games are held separately in the western and eastern conferences. The first place team is in eighth place in the table, the second in seventh place, the third in sixth and fourth in fifth. This is the first stage - the quarter finals.
Teams meet each other to achieve four victories of one of them. In the next stage, the semi-finals, only the winners go out. There are only four of them left. This principle is the answer to the question "What is the playoffs in hockey?". This is followed by the finals of conferences and the super final, a series of games between the strongest teams of the West and East. There will be only one winner.
Playoff Features
In order to achieve a clean result in a playoff game, such an element of hockey as shootouts is excluded. In the regular part of the championship, they are thrown at the opponent's goal to overcome a draw, when they fail to find out the relationship in the main and extra time of the match. And in the playoffs, the game continues until the winning goal of one of the teams, no matter how many additional periods, the so-called “overtime”, is required for this. Often the game takes a lingering character and lasts a very long time. This is due to the fact that everyone is afraid to make a mistake and give the enemy a chance.
Is such a principle justified?
During the playoff matches, attention to hockey rises sharply. The result begins to interest everyone, even people who are indifferent to big sport. Both the news releases and the pages of newspapers are beginning to be full of headlines: "Big hockey, KHL, playoffs ...". But they played hockey in Soviet times for decades, and somehow managed to do without the American word "playoffs". Some now doubt whether it was necessary to adopt this principle of the game from the NHL. But relegation games, or playoffs, give hockey special dynamism, sharpness and entertainment. And only therefore the answer to the question of the appropriateness of such competitions can be given unambiguously positive.