Ever since the Kontinental Hockey League began in 2008, the overall champions and winners of the Gagarin Cup have been determined by an end-of-season play-off tournament. In the current format, eight teams from each of the Eastern Conference and Western Conference advance to the competition; 14 matches later and the two teams left standing go
This is one of a series called Hockey 101, addressing the basics of hockey positioning and systems appropriate for a beginner to intermediate player and their team. Offensive Zone Structure Until the 1970s, most hockey was played with more structured positions for the length of the ice. The Soviet team taught us that this wasn’t