So with the league recently announcing the all-star game being in the format of a North vs South format with the league split into two conferences it has got me wondering, mainly for fun, how the league would look if it adopted the conference format formally. What would the standings look like, who would be the 5th place team in each conference to miss the playoffs and who is the strongest conference? You know a weighted league schedule — playing teams in your own conference more than those in the others — wouldn’t be such a bad thing and when you see the conferences, as a Giants fan, you wouldn’t be to upset at seeing the 4 other teams that make up their conference.

Below is a look at the two conferences with the number of points each team has in the official league table at the time of submitting this blog. In brackets is the teams actual standings in the 10 team league.

Northern Conference:
1. (1) Sheffield – 47 pts
2. (4) Belfast – 39 pts
3. (5) Manchester – 38 pts
4. (7) Newcastle – 27 pts
5. (8) Edinburgh – 21 pts

Southern Conference:
1. (2) Coventry – 42 pts
2. (3) Nottingham – 42 pts
3. (6) Cardiff – 33 pts
4. (9) Basingstoke – 18 pts
5. (10) Hull – 16 pts

So Edinburgh and Hull would be outside the playoff positions right now and for Edinburgh it would be looking rough, whereas right now in the proper league they are in 8th and on pace to make the post-season, so you can rule them out of signing up to this format anytime soon!

As a Giants fan though playing a few extra games against Sheffield, Manchester, Newcastle and Edinburgh wouldn’t be such a bad thing. All four teams have provided a bit of a rivalry over the last year or two.

So which division is, as of right now, the strongest? It definitely looks quite tight but when you add up the points totals for each team, the Northern Conference has 172 pts while the Southern Conference has 151 pts. The suggestion therefore points to the Northern conference being a stronger one right now, but I would imagine though a season you would see some interesting takes on the standings and some more intense rivalries through the league.

Unfortunately with Sheffield and Nottingham being in different conferences, this thing would not fly if it cut into the current amount of games these two teams play against one another.

It’s an interesting thought though.

On the subject: Conference Hockey | ALL SUBJECTS |

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