All the teams in the division will be divided into four or more groups and shall play a preliminary phase of round-robin games.The top two teams from each group will advance to the post-season playoffs.The points and goals scored in the preliminary phase will not be carried forward to the next round, The team standing first and second after the completion of the round-robin playoff league shall be declared the winner and runner-up and will be promoted to the Elite Division (Season 2011-12)....
For the 1996 playoffs, they became the first team to wear black socks with the black shoes, similar to the University of Michigan and the Fab Five which started the trend in college earlier in the decade.Since, many teams have this look in both the regular season and playoffs.It was noted when the Bulls made their first playoff appearance during the 2004-05 season after a six-year hiatus, they continued the tradition and wore black shoes....
Following their Super Bowl loss, they returned to the playoffs in 1986, but lost in the first round.The team would not make the playoffs again for eight more years....
Lemieux paid dividends right away, scoring on the first shot of his first shift in his first NHL game.However, the team spent four more years out of the playoffs after his arrival.In the late 1980s, the Penguins finally gave Lemieux a strong supporting cast, trading for superstar defenseman Paul Coffey from the Edmonton Oilers (after the Oilers' 1987 Stanley Cup win) and bringing in young talent such as scorers Kevin Stevens, Rob Brown and John Cullen from the minors....
The Pirates' third season saw the team post a 19-17-8 record and earn a playoff spot.This playoff series would be based on a two game total goal series format....
Although they defeated the Rochester Royals in the first round of the playoffs, they were defeated by the Fort Wayne Pistons in the semifinals.Although they had losing records the next two seasons, they made the playoffs each year.Mikan came back for the last half of the 1955-56 season, but struggled and retired for good after the season....
In 1939-40 NHL season, the Rangers finished the regular season in second place behind the Boston Bruins.The two teams would meet in the first round of the playoffs.The Bruins gained a two-games-to-one series lead from New York, but the Rangers recovered to win three straight games, defeating the first-place Bruins four games to two....
He ordered the roof at Minute Maid Park to be opened for games three and four of the 2005 World Series, pre-empting the authority held by the Astros.The roof was closed for all prior playoff games and similar weather conditions.For Hurricane Ike in 2008, Selig mandated that the Astros play two home games against the Chicago Cubs in his hometown of Milwaukee despite proximity to the visiting Cubs; the home ballparks for the Texas Rangers and Atlanta Braves were both available to host the games....
On November 17, 2011, MLB announced that it would be adding two wild card teams to the postseason.The two wild card teams in each league face each other in a one-game playoff.The winner of this game advances to meet the top seed in the Division Series....
Despite the off-ice problems, Ottawa had an outstanding season, placing first overall in the NHL to win the President's Trophy.In the playoffs they came within one game of making it into the finals.Prior to the 2003-04 season, pharmaceutical billionaire Eugene Melnyk would purchase the club to bring financial stability....
Baltimore, Detroit and San Francisco were tied for the lead several times, and had identical 7-4 records at the end of the penultimate week.When two teams tied for first place, they would meet in a one-game playoff....
Cincinnati was also a surprise team because, like the 49ers, they also had recorded a 6-10 record during the previous season.And prior to this year, they had never won a playoff game in their entire history.Bengals quarterback Ken Anderson was the top rated passer in the league and won both the NFL Most Valuable Player Award and the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award....
In U.S. college basketball, Ivy League rules call for a one-game playoff if two teams are tied for the conference title in both men's and women's basketball, with the winner claiming the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.If more than two teams are tied, a series of one-game playoffs is held.In men's basketball, eight seasons have ended in such a playoff, with the most recent being the 2010-11 season in which Harvard and Princeton finished tied....
The Canucks made their first significant playoff impact in the post-season of 1982.In their previous five playoff appearances, the team had failed to win a single series.Though the Canucks finished three games under a .500 win percentage in the 1981-82 regular season, they began gaining momentum by finishing the campaign on a nine-game unbeaten streak....
A revised playoff system was utilized beginning with the 2012 season, which added a second wild card team for each league.The two wild card teams in each league play a one game playoff to advance.The winner of this game automatically faces the number 1 seed in the league in the Division Series, regardless of whether or not they are in the same division....
However, this was one of the few bright spots of the Pacers' first 13 years in the NBA.During this time, they had only three non-losing seasons and only two playoff appearances.A lack of continuity became the norm for most of the next decade, as they traded away Knight and Buse before the 1977-78 season even started....
Each team would play 18 games against divisional opponents, and 12 games against league opponents in the other division.A best-of-five post-season playoff series between league division winners was also introduced.The Kansas City Royals had early success, fielding competitive teams in the 1970s and 1980s and winning the 1985 World Series....
