The qualification and with the top four teams from each conference at the end of the regular season.[2] Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, only 14 of the 26 member teams participated in the season, the playoff field was cut from 16 teams to eight, and there were no divisions. As the start of the season was delayed and extended to later in the year than normal, each playoff series is a best-of-five tournament, down from theprevious 2019 playoffs andplanned 2020 playoffs that consisted of best-of-seven series.
Due to the postseason being pushed later into the year than typical, both theSouth Carolina Stingrays andWichita Thunder were forced to play home games out of their practice rinks over scheduling conflicts with their normal home arenas.[3][4]
After the regular season, eight teams qualify for the playoffs. TheWichita Thunder were the first team to qualify during the regular season on May 16.[5] Due to the imbalanced scheduling during the pandemic, teams were seeded bypoints percentage.[6]
This is a combined table of the top five goaltenders based ongoals against average and the top five goaltenders based onsave percentage, with at least 240 minutes played as of June 30. The table is sorted by GAA, and the criteria for inclusion are bolded.[10]
GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OTL = Overtime Losses; SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; SV% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts; TOI = Time on ice (in minutes)
