The North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) has announced the format for the 2024 NA3HL Fraser Cup Playoffs and Championship. The Fraser Cup crowns the national playoff champion from the NA3HL.

NA3HL Divisional Playoffs

Division Semifinals (March 7-10): The top four teams in each division qualify for playoff competition. The club seeded first in each division will compete in a best-of-three series with the fourth seeded club in the same division. The club seeded second in each division will compete in a best-of-three-series against the club seeded third in the same division. The #1 and #2 seeds will have home ice advantage in the first round. The higher seed shall have the right to host games one and three. The lower seed shall have the right to host game two. An alternate arrangement may be reached upon mutual agreement between the clubs. The first club to win two games in a division semifinal series will be declared the winner of the series and advance to the next round of playoff competition.

Division Finals (March 13-17): The two clubs in each division that won a division semifinal series shall compete in a best-of-three series against each other in the division finals. The higher seed shall have the right to host games one and three. The lower seed shall have the right to host game two. An alternate arrangement may be reached upon mutual agreement between the clubs. The first club to win two games in a division final series will be declared the winner of the series and advance to the Fraser Cup Championship Tournament.

Fraser Cup Championship Tournament

The five divisional playoff champions and one wild card team will advance to the NA3HL Fraser Cup Championship Tournament, where they will play a two-game round-robin format followed by a semifinal and a championship game at the St. Peters Rec-Plex in St. Peters, MO from March 20-24. A round-robin format with two pools will be implemented, with the top two teams in each pool advancing to the semifinals, where they will then cross over to play the other top two teams from the other pool. The winners of the semifinals will advance to the Fraser Cup Final.

The wild card team will be the team losing in the divisional final round with the highest points percentage (win % in the NA3HL Standings) during the regular season compared to the other divisional final losing teams. The six teams that advance to the Fraser Cup Championship Tournament will be seeded 1-5 based on their division’s performance against other divisions at the NA3HL Showcase. The wild card team will be the 6th seed.

Pool A: (#1) West Division Winner, (#4) Central Division Winner, (#6) Wild Card Team

Pool B: (#2) Frontier Division Winner, (#3) South Division Winner, (#5) East Division Winner

Pool Play (All Times Central)

Wednesday, March 20: West vs. Central, 4pm – Frontier vs. South, 7pm

Thursday, March 21: West vs. Wild Card, 4pm – Frontier vs. East, 7pm

Friday, March 22: Central vs. Wild Card, 4pm – South vs. East, 7pm

Semifinals

Saturday, March 23: Pool A 1st place vs. Pool B 2nd place, 4pm – Pool B 1st place vs. Pool A 2nd place, 7pm

Championship

Sunday, March 24: Fraser Cup Final, 3pm

The Fraser Cup will be held in cooperation with the first of five 2024 NAHL Combine events. Entering its 11th year in 2024, the NAHL Combines introduce and provide players with a weekend that involves the ‘NAHL Experience,’ which will consist of competitive hockey, education of the future levels of hockey, academic preparation for NCAA hockey and exposure to professional, college and junior scouts.

Tie-Breaking Policy

At the conclusion of the NA3HL regular season, clubs that play an equal number of games against their opponents and that have an equal number of points shall have their final position in the NA3HL standings determined by applying the following tie breaking procedures:

A. Most wins during the regular season.

B. Head-to-head competition during the regular season.

C. Goal differential in head-to-head competition during the regular season.

D. Total goal differential during the regular season.

E. Coin flip.