The regular season is over, the teams are decided on, and the players have earned all their points. Now it is time to prepare for the 2012 Nucks Misconduct Playoff Fantasy Competitions!

(This thread is solely for the brackets competition. If you're looking for the players competition, go here.)

This competition is very simple to sign up for. All you have to do is post your picks in the comments. Here is the best format (please don't try to mess with it too much, that would confuse me):

Conference Quarterfinals:

"West1" (team name) in (# of games it takes to win the series) (example: Canucks in 6)

"West2" in #

......

"East4" in #

Conference Semifinals:

"WestA" in #

"WestB" in #

"EastA" in #

"EastB" in #

Conference Finals:

"WestChamps" in #

"EastChamps" in #

Stanley Cup Finals:

"Champions" in #

In the prep thread, the votes came out in high favour of rescaling for the points scheme. Here's how it will be for this year:

• 2 points for calling the winner of a 1st round matchup, plus 1 extra point for calling the number of games. (example: the Canucks winning the matchup in 6 games will result in 3 points if you called "Canucks in 6", 2 points for "Canucks in 7", and 0 for saying the Canucks are eliminated.)
• 3 points for calling the winner of a 2nd round matchup, plus 1 extra point for calling the number of games.
• 4 points for calling the winner of a 3rd round matchup, plus 2 extra points for calling the number of games.
• 5 points for calling the winner of the Stanley Cup Final, plus 3 extra points for calling the number of games.

With the NHL's unique seeding pattern for division winners getting higher seeds, there are a few 2nd-round scenarios to clear up. Consider the 2nd-round predictions of "St Louis in 6" and "Phoenix in 5".

• Should the matchups be different than what you originally predicted, you will still only get points if one or both of those two teams wins their matchup. There will be no points awarded for a matchup where you didn't have a prediction for either club winning.
  
• Should St Louis and Phoenix end up playing each other in the 2nd round, then the prediction for the winning team will hold precedence. For example, if St Louis won that series in 5 games, the "St Louis in 6" prediction will be used for points.
  

Starting right now, you have until the scheduled start time for the very first NHL playoff game to place your predictions. No changes will be allowed during the playoffs. I will post leaderboards after each round. Good luck.