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*puolivalmiste* · 01-14-2025, 05:52 PM

One day I started wondering if the league expands whether or not we also need to add more games to the schedule which further would impact career and season stats once again and for those reasons I do think we should at least aim to keep it at 66 as long as we could. So this article is an exploration of potential future and options the league will have regarding the game schedule because posting a sheet or picture of it just doesn’t get paid well enough.

We are already quite past the levels of activity checks we used to have when last teams were added to SHL and it things have stayed relatively stable for a while now. Currently on 20 team league each team has 4 other teams in their division, 5 more in same conference and 10 on the another conference.

Each team should play 2 games against inter conference teams, one at home one away. This gets us to total of 20 games. Then we add 4 games against teams in other division of your own conference, meaning another 20 games. Leaving 26 games for developing division rivalries so, 6 games versus each with 2 additional on top.

But our story begins with recruitment drive at beginning of the S81, which blows past all of our expectations and HO calls for 2 teams to be added to the league.

SALT LAKE CITY YETIS will be added to CENTRAL DIVISION
[Image: CQf84XN.png]

While PITTSBURGH DODOS will join the ATLANTIC DIVISION
[Image: U2T4HWV.png]

Great.

So if we want to keep roughly same 6/4/2 split the question raises how that would fit into the 66 games? And I can tell you it doesn’t. For teams playing in 6 team divisions that would mean 72 game schedule and for teams in 5 team divisions it would require 70 games. But ofcourse for this to work everyone would be playing 72 games, so 6 more than we currently have.

But we don’t have to hold onto the old split and can start looking for new alternatives instead, and the aim is to have everyone playing each other at least twice and to have difference between how often teams play division, conference and interconference teams so those things actually matter.

So that said, for 22 teams we have at least 2 “decent” options.

First one would be ~6/3/2 and second one would be ~5/4/2

Notice those ~? They mean that it isn’t perfect fit and for the division with more teams they would actually play 1 less game versus one of their opponents while playing the full amount versus the rest.

So for example under ~5/4/2 Pittsburgh could be playing 5 games versus 4 of their divisional opponents, say Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Manhattan, Philadelphia but only 4 games against the last one, in this example Baltimore, so if we want to make sure there is difference between division and conference this might be taking it too far.

On the other hand ~6/3/2 introduces uneven numbers to mix (though there has been those spare games so it hasn’t always been even so far either), the teams gets more games at home vs certain opponents. It too has one matchup in the 6 team division that has 5 games instead of 6.

For teams in 5 team divisions the exact 6/3/2 would end up at 64 games leaving two spare divisional games and 5/4/2 would be on spot at 66 games. So merits to both but I think I would lean towards 6/3/2. But do we have a winner here?

Not sure really as the story doesn’t end here. As we will see, the number of people joining, and general awkwardness of 22 teams allow HO to pull the trigger for another 2 teams to be added at same time.

So let me introduce you to the OSHAWA RED WINGS which fill fit nicely into NORTH EAST DIVISION
[Image: xE4njr1.png]

and PORTLAND ADMIRALS are back to join the PACIFIC DIVISON.
[Image: dNmAObv.png]

What a mess that 22 team league would have been.

For those curious 6/4/2 split would result in an 78 game schedule, so I think that is a no go but close enough to 82 to get it up there if we really want to.

But I think the fun can be found at 66 games. And quite easily as most natural split would be ~5/3/2 which results in 66 game schedule if we have just one of the divisional matchups being 4 instead of 5 games. You can also market it as 4/3/2 with four spares if that makes you happier.

Alternatively (not sure how they playoffs would like it) league could switch to 6 divisions of 4 teams. Arguably most logical option in this scenario would be the 6/3/2 split as it happens to be exactly 66 games, no spares needed and we can’t get the conference games to nice even number without adding games so might as well go hard on the divisional side.

And that would be great place to end it all, but we know that this wont be the end.

In the year or two someone comes up with the idea of an expansion so it is better for us to check now if our schedule is future proof or not.

Introduce MEMPHIS BLUES to CENTRAL DIVISION
[Image: mf6QoV0.png]

and OHIO ROCK to NORTH EAST DIVISION.
[Image: Xo2DtoQ.png]

With that we are back to our favorites, uneven divisions.

Under current setup we would be looking at 86 game schedule for 7 team division so even if we move to 82, we would already need to change the split at 26 teams or further keep increasing the number of games. Who will be the first player to have 200 point season?

So that out of the way, we would only have few options and they would start breaking the rules of making sure there is difference between division, conference and inter conference.

Lets start by exploring 4/3/2 split for 26 teams. Perfect 4/3/2 would get us to 68 games for 7 team division and 67 games for 6 team division. This would mean that adding two games to the schedule could be the optimal move, or we accept the fact that teams will be playing only 4 of their divisional rivals 4 times and rest (either 1 or 2) will be faced only 3 times.
Alternative to that is to increase value of divisional games and treat all other teams the same. 4/2/2 split ends up being 62 games for 7 team divisions and 60 games for 6 team divisions which would lead them playing their divisional rivals mostly up to 5 or even 6 times in case of 6 team division.

I think I would at this point still lean to imperfect 4/3/2, specially if it had been used for 24 team league for a while.

But that is not all, because it never is.

As next it is time for some realignments.
RHODE ISLAND THUNDER
[Image: nUez6ul.png]

and WASHINGTON LIBERTY ,
[Image: pJcszI6.png]

will be both added to ATLANTIC DIVISION, which gets Tampa Bay kicked to Central and Salt Lake City can finally make their way to Pacific.

With that we are back to even divisions, 7 teams in 4 divisions for total of 28 teams, oh how the league has grown.

But I get it the games must be impossible to figure out at this point. Current split would get us to 92 games, which sounds like bit too much. But somehow 4/2/2 which was proposed already for 26 team league works out perfectly here and gets us to 66 games. The 4/3/2 split that would have been used for a while would offer an alternative to increase games but not all the way to 82(+) as it would only require 73 games. Still significant increase.

If we get rid of two games minimum versus each team then the 5/3/1 split leaves teams with one divisional spare. Which is ofcourse not what we were set out to look for but at this point the other options aren't that great either so I'm not complaining. At least we are playing each team each season.

But how we go about adding IGALUT ICE
[Image: Cs6t9mq.png]

and BARRIE STEELHEADS if we are already struggling to make it all fit?
[Image: CwjASqM.png]

At 30 teams we are back at uneven teams, and like with the 24 teams here too we have an opportunity to try out if 6 divisions, just containing 5 teams this time around. Original split could finally get us to 100 games but I'm not even sure if FHM allows that many.

If we have divisions with 7 and 8 teams then the 4/3/1 split and 3/2/2 splits both work out relatively well with 1 to three spare games depending on the split and number of teams in the division.

For 6 division system the split could be 4/2/2 to perfectly land on 66 games or 5/3/1 would be at 65 games so one spare for divisional play. Both solid options if you ask me.

This was mostly done for fun to see how far the 66 games could reasonably take the league. I couldn't be bothered to take it all the way to the 34 teams which is ofcourse the point where playing every team (expect themselves) twice gets us to 66 games, but even before that I feel like we need to explore options that I tried to avoid initially, be it dropping inter division games to 1 or increasing number of games, even if just slightly. Not that it likely will be up to me anyway.

[Image: bCjKGdQ.png]

(The logos are not made by me, which should be pretty damn clear looking at few of them, just wanted to add some color to the piece)

~1570 words

***KaleSalad*** · 01-14-2025, 06:00 PM

nice article and the logo and teams actually add a nice touch to it! great work.

***RAmenAmen*** · 01-14-2025, 06:01 PM

I'm starting to see the "E" word thrown around in a lot more places these days...

Really great data! Scheduling is something I never thought much about in relation to league size. Keeping a 66 game season if at all possible is definitely something I'd like to see.

*Grum* · 01-14-2025, 06:17 PM

please get me on the Dodo team

retuperkele · 01-14-2025, 06:28 PM

Hey thats figgys expansion team

hhh81 · 01-14-2025, 07:26 PM

Our attorneys will be in touch for violating the trademark of the Baltimore Platoon with your so called Washington Liberty. You threaten our bottom line and our brand equity.

LordBirdman · 01-14-2025, 08:31 PM

After being away for a while and returning, individual scoring seems to be off the charts up. I think comparability with past seasons is already lost, for what it’s worth.

***WannabeFinn*** · 01-14-2025, 08:43 PM

01-14-2025, 08:31 PMLordBirdman Wrote: After being away for a while and returning, individual scoring seems to be off the charts up. I think comparability with past seasons is already lost, for what it’s worth.

Yeah. You’d have to consider the league in its respective eras. Not just the various engines but also the amount of games played and teams in the league overall. Comparison across eras is futile.

trella · 01-14-2025, 08:56 PM

RHODE ISLAND TEAM

BEST MEDIA OF ALL TIME

@Pythonic

Thanks to @karey and @JSS for the sigs!

Former USA Fed Head, Carolina Kraken Co-GM, Tampa Bay Barracuda GM

***Wally*** · 01-14-2025, 10:40 PM

Portland Admirals. God yes.

***HabsFanFromOntario*** · 01-15-2025, 01:52 AM

01-14-2025, 07:26 PMhhh81 Wrote: Our attorneys will be in touch for violating the trademark of the Baltimore Platoon with your so called Washington Liberty. You threaten our bottom line and our brand equity.

Similarly the Blizzard will be suing over the Yeti logo.

***Vandy*** · 01-15-2025, 11:10 PM

Salt Lake City Yeti's slaps

***Pythonic*** · 01-16-2025, 04:11 PM

01-14-2025, 08:56 PMtrella Wrote: RHODE ISLAND TEAM

BEST MEDIA OF ALL TIME

@Pythonic

YEAHHH RHODE ISLAND MENTIONED

Popol · 01-16-2025, 07:27 PM

Great work on these designs. I love the Liberty one, nice colors

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