In this guide
Four meetings per opponent create 52 gamesSeventh place carries a choiceThe quarter-finals use a playoff pickThe win2day ICE Hockey League is a cross-border club competition with Austrian roots. The 2026/27 edition has fourteen teams from four countries after the admission of Hockey Club Milano.
Its name should not be read as a generic label for every ice hockey league. ICE has its own regular season, pre-playoffs and opponent-selection rules, which differ from a fixed knockout bracket.
Four meetings per opponent create 52 games
Each club meets the other thirteen four times during the regular season. Thirteen times four gives 52 games per club. Across the league, that makes 364 fixtures, because each game appears in two clubs’ schedules.
The table creates several thresholds. The leading six qualify directly for the quarter-finals. Seventh to tenth enter best-of-three pre-playoffs for the two remaining quarter-final places.
Seventh place carries a choice
The seventh-placed club can choose the ninth- or tenth-placed club as its pre-playoff opponent. The other two clubs form the remaining pairing. Seventh place therefore provides more than a better number beside the team name.
The two winners join the six direct qualifiers. A pre-playoff Game 3 is conditional: it is needed only if neither club has already won twice. Its presence in a provisional programme does not guarantee it will be played.
The quarter-finals use a playoff pick
The top three regular-season clubs choose their quarter-final opponents. Fourth is protected from selection and meets the remaining club. The bracket should therefore be read after that selection process rather than assumed from a simple first-versus-eighth template.
Quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final are best of seven, requiring four wins. Those are series wins, not aggregate goals across all games. For a programme description, keep the round and game number beside the team names so the current match can be read within the series.