NHLToSL Format & Standings

Playoff Bracket

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Final

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The time has arrived to launch our next major logo tournament here at Icethetics. By a vote of the readers, it has been determined that NHLToSL will be our next theme.

You can read that S in the acronym as secondary or shoulder logos. Since the term "secondary logo" can be a little hard to nail down exactly, a more appropriate description might be "shoulder logos." The logos employed in this tournament are all those found on the shoulders of the home, road and alternate NHL jerseys.

Only 20 teams actually wear a shoulder patch on at least one of their sweaters. Each of these teams will present its best secondary logo in this new tournament, for you to vote on. Below are the two groups the teams have been randomly divided into as well as the details of the tournament's format.

Standings

Final Standings

Group A

	Rk	Team	Wk1	Wk2	Wk3	Wk4	Pts.
	1	San Jose Sharks	59	56	69	73	257
	2	Los Angeles Kings	67	68	64	55	254
	3	Colorado Avalanche	41	54	70	68	233
	4	Columbus Blue Jackets	63	46	46	68	223
	5	St. Louis Blues	68	44	54	45	211
	6	Atlanta Thrashers	47	63	30	56	196
	7	Dallas Stars	37	32	62	44	175
	8	Florida Panthers	53	52	31	32	168
	9	Tampa Bay Lightning	32	48	36	27	143
	10	New York Islanders	33	37	38	32	140

Group B

	Rk	Team	Wk1	Wk2	Wk3	Wk4	Pts.
	1	Washington Capitals	69	74	63	81	287
	2	Vancouver Canucks	68	67	65	62	262
	3	Chicago Blackhawks	65	69	72	38	244
	4	Boston Bruins	68	53	47	57	225
	5	Phoenix Coyotes	52	33	53	56	194
	6	Buffalo Sabres	35	47	37	61	180
	7	Ottawa Senators	31	63	28	44	166
	8	Nashville Predators	32	31	58	39	160
	9	Carolina Hurricanes	48	26	35	43	152
	10	Minnesota Wild	32	37	42	19	130

Tie-breakers: To break a tie in the standings, the edge will go to: 1. Head-to-head winner, 2. Best high score, 3. Best low score.

Notes: Standings updated every Monday after all polls close. Tables are sortable by header. Top 4 from each group advance to playoffs.

Format

Eligible Logos 45; The logos featured as patches worn on the shoulders of any NHL home, road or alternate jersey will be considered in this tournament. Only full-time logos in use during the 2009-10 season are eligible. Limited use logos (such as those with anniversary or commemorative themes) will not be included. Since some logos are featured on multiple jerseys, all color options will be included during the preliminary rounds of competition. I recognize that once again this tournament will include some primary logos and that's bound to be controversial, but that's the way it is.

The Basics Although 45 logos will be in play at the start of the tournament, only 20 teams are involved. No team will be allowed to advance more than one logo past the two preliminary voting rounds.

Preliminary Rounds Since some teams have as many as three secondary logo options, two preliminary rounds of voting will eliminate all but one from each team. The first will determine color options. Several teams use the same logo on two different background colors. The second round will pit a team's winning home/road shoulder logo against its alternate jersey counterpart. If any of these rules are confusing, don't worry about them. Just vote when the polls go up.

The Round-Robin By Round 3, each of the 20 teams involved in this tournament will have all but one logo eliminated. Each remaining logo will now face four opponents within its own group, amassing points awarded by percentage of vote won. Four was selected as it fits conveniently between the too-long 5-week NHLToL and the too-short 3-week Third Jersey Crest mini-tournament. Hopefully this will be the happy medium we've been looking for. Each poll will be open for one week, giving us four weeks of round-robin voting.

Quarterfinals Just like the two previous logo tournaments, the Top 4 logos from each group will advance to the first round of playoffs. Group A's #1 seed will play Group B's #4 seed, Group A #2 faces Group B #3 and so on. The logo with more votes in each poll wins and advances to the next round.

Semifinals The winners of the Quarterfinal polls advance to the Semifinals. The logos with more votes in their respective polls win and advance.

Championship Final The winners of the Semifinal polls advance to the Championship Final. The logo with more votes at the end of the poll wins the tournament and universal bragging rights.