Playoff Format
At the conclusion of the regular season, the top 10 teams in the 18U and 16U Divisions each will qualify for the NAPHL Gold Division Playoffs where they will compete for the Dixon Cup (named in honor of the late NAPHL coach and founding member, Dean Dixon). The playoffs will be held February 17-20, 2017 at the Troy Sports Center in Troy, Michigan. The 15U playoffs will include all teams and be held in Fraser, Michigan.
At the conclusion of the NAPHL regular season, Clubs that have an equal amount of points shall have their final position in the NAPHL standings determined by applying the following tie breaking procedures:
- Most wins during the regular season.
- Results of head to head competition.
- Goal differential in head to head competition.
- Total goal differential during the entire season.
- Total goals scored during the entire season.
- Coin flip.
Playoff Championship Round-robin Competition
Playoff Tie-Breaker
The tie-breaking system for two teams with the same number of points in a standing will be the game between the two teams, the winner of the game taking precedence. Due to the fact that the playoff format does not allow a game to end in a tie, then the following tie breaking procedure is applicable when three or more teams are tied in points in the Round Robin Standings. Should three or more teams be tied on points, then a tie breaking formula will be applied as follows, creating a sub-group amongst the tied teams. This process will continue until only two or none of the teams remain tied. In the case of two tied teams remaining, the game between the two would then be the determining tie-breaker as the game could not end as a tie. In the case of none of the teams being tied, the criteria specified in the respective step applies.
Step 1:
Taking into consideration the games between each of the tied teams, a sub-group is created applying the points awarded in the direct games amongst the tied teams from which the teams are then ranked accordingly.
Step 2:
Should three or more teams still remain tied in points then the better goal difference in the direct games amongst the tied teams will be decisive.
Step 3:
Should three or more teams still remain tied in points and goal difference then the highest number of goals scored by these teams in their direct games will be decisive
Step 4:
Should three or more teams still remain tied in points, goal difference and goals scored then the results between each of the three teams and the closest best-ranked team outside the sub-group will be applied. In this case the tied team with the best result (1. points, 2. goal difference, 3. More goals scored) against the closest best ranked-team will take precedence
Step 5:
Should the teams still remain tied, then the results between each of the three teams and the next highest best-ranked team outside the sub-group will be applied.
Step 6:
Should the teams still remain tied after these five steps have been exercised then the teams will be ranked by their positions in the final NAPHL Regular Season Standings (seeding).
