Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League commissioner Mario Cecchini announced a change to their playoff format that will take effect next season, following the Members’ Meeting at the QMJHL Draft on Friday morning.
The first round will continue as it stands, but rather than waiting for after the end of the second round to determine matchups by overall standings, they will now do so following the first round.
Meaning that while the first round will still feature intra-association games between teams matched up in the East and West Conferences, the second round will no longer be played within the respective associations and will instead be league-wide, determined by overall standings.
Prior to the change, both the first and second rounds were played intra-association, with the semi-finals then doing away with conferences and instead ranking teams one through four based on regular-season standings.
Cecchini also stated they would abandon the four divisions (Maritime, West, East and Central) and rank the teams based on league-wide measures, along with the East and West Conferences.
