Tournament format guide
Round robin + championship
Round robin standings seed a first-versus-second championship game.
When this format works well
Use this when every team should get broad, comparable opposition before final placement is decided. It is easy to understand, but game totals rise quickly as teams are added.
How scheduling is handled
The optimizer schedules every division against the shared ice pool, keeps dependent playoff games after their prerequisites, and compares rest, daily balance, stage progression, schedule efficiency, and start-time fairness.