Tournament format guide
Two pools + crossover playoff
Two balanced pools play round robins before crossover semifinals and placement finals.
When this format works well
Use pools when a full event-wide round robin would require too much ice. Pool play preserves several guaranteed games while crossover rounds create a clear championship path.
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.