"For the year 2003, the playoffs will be limited to twelve teams. The winners of each conference will get an automatic bid, with the other six teams being determined by seeding. Seeding will be determined by a point system in conjunction with a power rating.
For the point system, a team will earn two points for a victory against an opponent that finishes above .500 in league play, one point for a victory against an opponent at or below .500, minus one point for a loss to a team with a record under .500, and no points for all other losses. These points will be accrued only in league contests. The total points earned will then be divided by the number of games played, resulting in an average point figure. Rankings will be based on that figure. For the power rating, the Lax Power computer rankings will be used.
To figure out the seedings, the ranking numbers in the two systems will be averaged. (The top team in each would get a one, the second two, etc. So if a team was second in the point system, and fifth in the Lax Power ratings, they would have a 3.5 ranking.) A team's ranking average will determine their seed. Notice that conference champs are not guaranteed a high seed.
1. If there is a tie for the seeding for the play-offs, the first tie breaker will be head-to-head meetings: either victories or goal differential; the second tie breaker will be the record against the highest ranked (by points) common opponent including goal differential; the third tie breaker will be the next highest ranked opponent; and finally there would be a coin toss by the commissioner or his appointed representative. The goal differential will be limited to a maximum of a five-goal differential for any one game.
2. All league games will be counted, including any conference tournament games, but not including any conference tournament consolation games. "