Quote:

Why have the first round in AAA? Only three games of 16 were decided by 2 goals or less! Some absolute routs!

UPPER
9-0, 8-0, 7-0, 4-0, 3-0, 4-2, 3-1, n/a (Greer @ Flora)

LOWER
13-0, 13-0, 11-0, 11-0, 11-1, 9-0, 9-0, 2-0

Anyone know why this is done? Why not just eliminate the #4 seed and have it where the #1 seed from each region gets a bye and play the #2/#3 winner in the next round?


It's not just the #1 v #4 that are one-sided. The #2 v #3 games had an average margin of over 7 goals. Three of those were won by the #3 seed by an average of over 5 goals. Also, two #1 seeds lost, one by 10 goals. So eliminating the #4 seed won't work.