(KFGO/KNFL/USHL) The United States Hockey League begins postseason play tonight. The playoff format includes twelve teams, six from each of the Eastern and Western Conferences, beginning tonight. The USHL postseason tournament, which consists of four rounds, starts with a best-of-three first round series between the #3 and #6 seeds and #4 and #5 seeds from each of the two conferences. All three games will be played at the higher seed’s home location on three consecutive nights.
In the Western Conference, #6 seed Des Moines travels to #3 seed Lincoln. The winner of the series will face #2 Waterloo this weekend. #5 Sioux City travels to Kearney, NE to meet #4 seed Tri-City. The winner travels to Fargo this weekend to take on the top-seeded Fargo Force. If the Tri-City/Sioux City series ends on Tuesday, the second-round series in Fargo will begin on Friday night at Scheels Arena. If a third and deciding game is needed with Tri-City and Sioux City, the series in Fargo will start with Game 1 on Saturday evening.
In the Eastern Conference, #6 seed Cedar Rapids travels to Plymouth, MI to face #3 seed Team USA (Nat’l Team Development Program) starting tonight. #5 Dubuque heads to #4 seed Green Bay in the other first-round matchup. #1 seed Chicago and #2 seed Youngstown each receive a bye and host a series this weekend.
The winners of the conference semifinals matchups will them meet in a best-of-five conference final series. The format of conference final will be 2-2-1 with games 1, 2 and 5 at the higher seed. The Eastern and Western Conference Champions will meet for the Clark Cup Final, a best-of-five series played in the 2-2-1 format with the higher seed hosting games 1, 2 and 5.
