All 11 CCHA teams will play in the 2011 league playoffs, and the top five will receive a first-round bye.
The CCHA Council, made up of member school administrators and faculty athletic representatives, approved a change to the postseason format for next season, when the league is down to 11 teams after Nebraska-Omaha moved to the WCHA.
The top five teams in the standings receive first-round byes. The first round will consist of best-of-three series matching No. 6 vs. No. 11, No. 7 vs. No. 10 and No. 8 vs. No. 9.
The winners of those three series will be reseeded and will be matched against the top three seeds for best-of-three second-round series. The No. 4 seed will play the No. 5 seed in a second-round series.
All of the first- and second-round series will be played at the higher seed’s arena.
The four winners of the second-round series advance to the CCHA Championship, March 18-19 at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena.
