The qualification and with the top four teams from each conference at the end of the regular season.[2] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only 14 of the 26 member teams participated in the season, the playoff field was cut from 16 teams to eight, and there were no divisions. As the start of the season was delayed and extended to later in the year than normal, each playoff series is a best-of-five tournament, down from the previous 2019 playoffs and planned 2020 playoffs that consisted of best-of-seven series.
Due to the postseason being pushed later into the year than typical, both the South Carolina Stingrays and Wichita Thunder were forced to play home games out of their practice rinks over scheduling conflicts with their normal home arenas.[3][4]
Playoff seeds
After the regular season, eight teams qualify for the playoffs. The Wichita Thunder were the first team to qualify during the regular season on May 16.[5] Due to the imbalanced scheduling during the pandemic, teams were seeded by points percentage.[6]
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes
Goaltending
This is a combined table of the top five goaltenders based on goals against average and the top five goaltenders based on save percentage, with at least 240 minutes played as of June 30. The table is sorted by GAA, and the criteria for inclusion are bolded.[10]
GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OTL = Overtime Losses; SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; SV% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts; TOI = Time on ice (in minutes)