Alliance Cup

The Alliance of Independent Nations Hockey Federation is is proud to present the inaugural Alliance Cup. All member nations are invited to compete in the competition slated for April and all nations are invited to bid for the right to host this winner-takes-all tournament. However, there will only be 20 spots available. Some teams will automatically qualify, others will have to go through a qualification round in the week prior to the tournament.

The following nations have automatically qualified as they have competed in the most recent Winter Simlympics -

- Arcacia
- Escambia
- Fornax
- Lisieux
- Lower Columbia
- Lanaya
- Tirnreich
- Tongolia

The following teams will need to qualify, by doing one of the following: host the tournament; finish in the top 8 of the AIN Winter Games men's ice hockey tournament; compete and win in the qualifying round prior to the tournament:

- Aleksania
- Ascadylea
- Atrubia
- Bagorai'
- Bob
- Ceara Islands
- Corraile
- Dardajhan Republic
- East Rockcoast
- Galliar
- Hiigara
- Holidia
- Hypertrophy
- Illu'a
- Lycanthia
- Ollingdale
- Petrova
- Roanoke Island
- Sarnia Islands
- Uthwenia

This means that 18 nations will be competing for the 12 remaining spots, meaning that each has a 2/3 chance of making it through. In the event that, after the AIN Winter Games and the host is announced, there is an odd number of teams left to qualify, one will be chosen randomly and given a Wild Card into the tournament.

The 20 qualifying national teams will be divided into 4 pools of 5 teams. Each pool will play a round robin where they will face the other members of their pool 3 times. This means each team will play 12 games in the Round Robin, 6 home and 6 away. Round robin competition will be played over 24 days.

The top 8 teams will go to the playoffs, with the quarter finals consisting of a single knockout game between:

QF1: Pool A Winner V. Pool B Runner-Up
QF2: Pool B Winner V. Pool C Runner-Up
QF3: Pool C Winner V. Pool D Runner-Up
QF4: Pool D Winner V. Pool A Runner-Up

The winners of the quarter finals will proceed to the semi finals, also consisting of a single knockout game between:

SF1: QF1 Winner V. QF3 Winner
SF2: QF2 Winner V. QF4 Winner

The winners of the semi finals will play in a single, sudden death match for the Alliance Cup. The losers will be eliminated. Only one team will emerge at the end as AIN Champions.

Proposed tournament schedule:

Friday 26 March to Sunday 28 March - Qualification
Saturday 3 April to Monday 26 April - Round Robin
Wednesday 28 April - Quarter Finals
Friday 30 April - Semi Finals
Sunday 2 May - Grand Final

*****

TEAM RANKINGS:

The teams will go into the tournament having been ranked, based on previous successes. Here is the CURRENT Top 8 standings after the Winter Simlympics:


1. Arcacia (19 points)
2. Lisieux (18 points)
3. Escambia (16 points)
4. Lanaya (11 points)
5. Tongolia (7 points)
6. Fornax (3 points)
7. Lower Columbia (2 points)
8. Tirnreich (-2 points)

Here is how the points are assigned:

The first lot of points are awarded based on where a nation finishes in the Winter Simlympics and the AIN Winter Games:

10 points for a Gold Medal
9 points for a Silver medal
8 points for a Bronze medal
7 points for finishing fourth
6 points for winning the pool
5 points for making the quarter finals
4 points for competing

There are also 3 points for hosting a Winter Simlympics, AIN Winter Games, or this tournament (note: Lisieux's points for hosting the AIN Winter Games have already been added.)

The second lot of points is determined by how well a nation did in their pool:

3 points for each win
2 points for each draw

The third lot of points is awarded based on the nations goal difference (+/-) in their pool. If a nation had a negative goal difference, points are deducted.

Finally, 1 extra point is awarded to each nation that qualifies for the tournament.

Obviously, these standings will probably change after the AIN Winter Games. However, they are important because they may determine a nations success in the tournament. You WANT to be in the top 8. The final standings going into the tournament will only be known after the qualification round.

After the qualification round, those teams that qualify will be awarded 1 point for qualifying, plus 1 point for each unanswered goal they scored. The Wild Card (if needed) earns 1 point.

*****

If you would like to bid to host the tournament, you will need to present the following once bidding opens:

- Name of host nation
- Tournament logo
- Arenas: You will need at least 5 suitable ice arenas in order to host the 240 round robin games (10 per day). The quarter finals will need at least 2 arenas. The semi finals and grand final can all be held at 1 arena. As the event will be hosted by a nation rather than just once city, the arenas can be located in multiple cities.
- Time: As the host, you will need to organise the pool draw and set the game schedule as well as post the results and keep a track of the statistics and make sure the pool ladders are updated regularly. You must also be able to exercise impartiality and not "god-mod" the results. Once the host is chosen by the admins, I will PM the winner with details on how to work out the scores for each game. You will not need to worry about the qualifying rounds, as I will do that and notify you of the winners.
- Anything else you would like to include in order to make your bid stand out.

Here is the proposed bidding schedule:

Sunday March 21 - Bidding Opens
Sunday March 28 - Bidding Closes
Tuesday March 30 - Host Announced

grrrrreat!

Please not the changes that I have made, given New Aeland's resigantion from the union.

Here's Tongolia's bronze medal match in the 1st Winter Simlympics. We finished 1st in our group too.

Scores are only calculated from the most recent Winter Simlympics.

The standings (and all points) will reset each year and be recalculated from the results of the next Winter Simlympics and AIN Winter Games.

EDIT: The winner of the tournament will automatically qualify for next year's tournament and will carry 10 points over.

ummm Dan.. Your rankings i like but...the SIIHF has official world rankings. Maybe take from that? I dont see how Arcacia is better than me when i won bronze in men's hockey... And Lisieux for that matter didnt even make the semi finals.. Makes no sense just saying

My suggestion is to make the rankings off these 3 :
- The SIIHF standings
- 1st Winter Simlympics
- 2nd Winter Simlympics

Well AIN has a rankings system ya know? Its always been up. Im reposting it as we speak. It was in archives but wouldnt move over. So im reposting the standings

--> Won the Bronze Medal
--> 4th


--> Won the Gold Medal
--> Won the Silver Medal

So that mean more points? Since Lydosia had a 4th place and a 2nd place.

So it's not 11, but 16 points... TY

I don't think women's counts blakeway...

Why? Sexist. Women are still more fun to look playing.

because this is a men's hockey competition..... and its not really more fun cuz theyre all covered up

That's true, but there's more fights! Did you watch the Women final? That was really funny, so much intense fights!

just a question.....Petrova has competed in the recent winter simlympics, as well as the first winter simlympics....do i still need to qualify or am i automatically qualified?

You did participate, but not in the hockey competition.

ahhh I see, thanks for explaining!

The points are as they are. I have already explained how they are awarded. You can do the maths yourselves if you like.

The tournament will rely ONLY on the MOST RECENT Winter Simlympics and AIN Winter Games for rankings.

These rankings apply ONLY to THIS tournament and will be reset after the tournament.

The ONLY points to be carried over to the NEXT tournament are for the WINNER.

Yes, Escambia won the bronze, but Arcacia did better in the pool. It's not just where you finish in the Games, it's how you did over the whole tournament that matters.

Um okay. Seems like a bias system

It isn't biased and I'm actually insulted at the insinuation.

After the Allaince Cup, every single team is reset to zero points. The rankings for this tournament are independent of the official AIN rankings and are based off the two tournaments immediately prior to this one.

The AIN Winter Games haven't happened yet, so the points from that have not yet been awarded. The current rankings are based ONLY from the Simlympic Winter Games and I have already explained how they were awarded. Exactly the same system will be used when calculating the points from the AIN Winter Games.

Before the Simlympic Winter Games, each and every team has zero points, with the exception of the previous Alliance Cup winner, which has 10 points carried over.

The reason is:

Not every national team is in the SIIHF - in fact, some can't sign up for it, as it is closed. Every national team has an opportunity to compete in the Simlympic Winter Games and the AIN Winter Games.

It is really a matter of simplicity. For the purpose of this tournament, only the Simlympics and AIN Games matter, and only the most recent ones. For instance, the 2010 Games will have no bearing whatsoever on the 2011 Alliance Cup.

I understand that Escambia won the bronze medal and I have already awarded points for that. Lisieux has also had its points added for being the host of this year's AIN Winter Games.

The top spots are VERY close. There is only 1 point between 1st and 2nd. The AIN Winter Games will determine the final standings going into the tournament.

The reason I use so much information when calculating the rankings, rather than relying solely on the finishing position is that there are teams which do extremely well in the pool, only to be knocked out in the playoffs. A single loss is not a good indicator of a team's real talent. This is especially important at the bottom end of the table, where there is nothing separating the last few teams as they didn't even make the playoffs, so in order to separate them, I awarded second and third lots of points to ALL teams, based on their performance before the playoffs.

As I previously stated, the rankings will more than likely change after the AIN Winter Games. This is why only 8 teams have so far been ranked. Only 8 AIN teams were in the Winter Simlympics. No information is available for the other teams. So, the AIN Winter Games will be used to fill in the blanks.

As I said, you can do the maths yourself, which is why I published a full explanation of how the points are totalled.

As this tournament is one of the contributing factors towards the AIN Hockey Standings, it must be done independently of those standings and a system based solely off the two major preceding tournaments that resets to zero after the tournament is the fairest system I could think of.

EDIT: The main reason for the Winter Simlympics and AIN Winter Games results making up the rankings for the Allaince Cup is simple: PAS. YOU have a say in how well YOUR team does by assigning them PAS points. This, to my knowledge, does not happen in SIIHF. The Alliance Cup has nothing to do with the SIIHF. It is a stand-alone tournament.

As this tournament is one of the contributing factors towards the AIN
Hockey Standings, it must be done independently of those standings and
a system based solely off the two major preceding tournaments that
resets to zero after the tournament is the fairest system I could think
of.

I don't get this part.... if it contributes to the AIN hockey rankings wouldn't you use that in your tournament?... it would be like the NCAA not using the NCAA rankings for their sports...

oh, that explain alot!

Simply question:
Is Tyler right by saying this?:

Tyler wrote:I don't think women's counts blakeway...

So, is the tournament only for Men?

Tyler - It's really easy: This is not the AINHL. It's the AINHF. The only thing the AINHF does is organise this tournament.

I don't know how many times I have to explain this.

This tournament uses the results from the MOST RECENT Winter Simlympics and AIN Winter Games to rank teams going into THIS tournament and THIS tournament ONLY.

At the end of the tournament, ALL POINTS GO TO ZERO until the NEXT Winter Simlympics and AIN Games when the points are RECALCULATED. The only points to carry over belong to the defending champion.

This tournament is completely independent of the AINHL. The AINHL uses the results of this tournament, among others, to calculate rankings on an ONGOING basis. Their ranking system has nothing to do with ours.

This tournament only uses the most recent tournaments (ie: the Winter Simlympics and AIN Winter Games) to calculate ONE OFF standings.

I really don't understand how this is too complicated for people to understand.

Blakeway - yes, the tournament is only for men's hockey.

okay im just going to drop it ... everything else really does look great!