The ECAC Tiebreakers

© 2008-2019, Joe Schlobotnik (archives)

URL for this frameset: http://elynah.com/tbrw/tbrw.cgi?2019/ecac.tiebreakers.shtml

One of the things that makes the ECAC playoff race so much fun is the intricacies of the tiebreaker system. The league publishes a summary of the tiebreakers on its website, but they don't spell out the fine print (in particular how to handle the dreadedawesome infinite loop). So here is a full explanation of the tiebreaking procedure, as it was last communicated to the public.

Basic Tiebreakers

These are applied when two teams finish the season with the same number of points (2*wins + ties) in conference games (non-conference and tournament games against other ECAC teams don't count). They are also the basis for breaking ties among three or more teams (see below)

1. Head-to-head record
2. Total wins
3. Record (points per game) vs top 4
4. Record (points per game) vs top 8
5. Head-to-head goals
6. Net goals vs top 4
7. Net goals vs top 8
8. Coin flip

Note that the second tiebreaker. "total wins", was added in 2007-2008, and that everywhere else, "record" is in terms of points without distinguishing between two ties and a win + a loss.

Complications

• For multiple team ties, as soon as you reach a stage where the tie is broken, you take the top team (or teams if they're still tied at the top) off and then start over on the rest of the teams.
• If you need to use top 4 anything on a tie that spans 4th and 5th place, you consider only records against teams above the tie. (Of course, it doesn't matter whether you include teams in the tie or not, since you have to be tied in head-to-head record (or goal differential as appropriate) to even get to the top 4 tiebreaker. The same goes for ties involving 8th and 9th place which come down to a top eight tiebreaker.
• Break the ties needed to determine the top 4 and top 8 first, before trying to break any other ties. (Duh.)
• If the dreaded infinite loop arises (tie spanning 4th and 5th place requires top 8 and tie spanning 8th and 9th place requires top 4), apply the following tiebreakers in the following order until something shakes loose, then start over from head-to-head:
  1. break the 8th place tie using record vs the top teams, up to and including all the teams tied for 4th place
  2. break the 4th place tie using record vs the top teams, up to and including all the teams tied for 8th place
  3. break the 8th place tie using record vs the top teams, up to and including all the teams tied for 8th place
  4. break the 4th place tie using head-to-head goal differential
  5. break the 8th place tie using head-to-head goal differential
  6. break the 4th place tie using goal differential vs the top teams, up to and including all the teams tied for 4th place
  7. break the 8th place tie using goal differential vs the top teams, up to and including all the teams tied for 4th place
  8. break the 4th place tie using goal differential vs the top teams, up to and including all the teams tied for 8th place
  9. break the 8th place tie using goal differential vs the top teams, up to and including all the teams tied for 8th place

See Also

• ECAC and Ivy League Standings