Details on the DobberHockey Tiered Invitational: 10-year anniversary

by Brandon Nihmey

Welcome to the DobberHockey Tiered Invitational! Do you want to compete against your fellow Dobber readers for a chance to become ultimate champion? Furthermore, as it’s the 10^th edition of this competition, all league winners in the 2016/17 season will receive a bonus prize!

What it’s all about

This is a tiered competition consisting of annual one-year rotisserie leagues, which are held on Yahoo, and run and participated by members of DobberHockey. Previously managed by Dobber himself, this competition began in 2007 so next season will be the 10-year anniversary!

League settings

For those who participated in the Pro and Entry divisions in 2015/16, the league settings won’t be changed. This is expected to remain the same for all divisions going forward unless there is a competition-wide desire for change.

Entry fee: None

League size: 12-14 teams (exceptions allowed to help with balance)

League type: Rotisserie, One-year

Roster: 4 Centres, 4 Left Wing, 4 Right Wing, 6 Defence, 2 Goalies, 5 Bench, 2IR, 1IR+

Skater Categories (6): Goals, Assists, Plus/Minus, Powerplay Points, Shots on Goal, Hits

Goalie Categories (3): Wins, Goals Against Average, Saves

Draft: Live standard (snake)

Lineups: Daily

Waivers: Weekly (FAAB w/ Continual rolling list tiebreak)

Games played: Maximum of 82 games per positional slot

Moves / trades: No maximum

Part of a community

Each league has its own thread in the ‘Your League Chat’ section in these forums, which usually includes draft results/analysis, standings updates, trades, other discussions and just general chat. Feel free to have a look around here!

What about that prize?

Because it’s the 10-year anniversary of the competition, we’ve arranged for the winners of each league in 2016/17 to receive a copy of Dobber’s 2017/18 Fantasy Hockey Guide! It’s an added bonus for being successful in this special year so here’s another reason to join the competition this season! The current edition is available for purchase, so if you want to know more about it, check it out here.

How do I join?

There is more information on the structure of the competition below, including the number of divisions and leagues, promotion and relegation rules and future plans. However, if you already have all the information you need and are interested in joining the competition, here’s how you’ll be able to do it:

New Managers

Around the end of August (or thereabouts) I will be creating a forum thread for new manager submissions. There will be two* leagues open to begin, each with a specific live draft date. All you have to do is join the league that is most suitable that has available places. That’s it! Please keep an eye out on the forums for information.

*Depending on interest, there is space for up to four leagues. A decision will be made to increase the number if the first two are filling quickly and there is further interest.

Managers from 2015/16

A few successful managers from each Entry league in 2015/16 will be promoted to the Pro division this season (see below for details).

Entry Division

Those who had provided their Dobber user name will have the opportunity to re-join the Entry division before public recruitment begins. I will contact you via private message for you to select the most suitable league based on the live draft dates provided.

The remaining managers will go through public recruitment (see ‘New Managers’ above).

Pro Division

This division includes all of last season’s Pro managers, promoted Entry managers and former Expert managers.

There will be two leagues in 2016/17. Managers have been assigned a league primarily based on last year’s standings for balance. I will be sending out invites via private message once the leagues are created where league managers can discuss suitable draft dates.

Structure of the competition

Recent participants may notice a difference in the structure from last season. The competition had to undergo some changes in the offseason that resulted in this new format. You can find out more details about this and the new structure further below. This is the current, and planned future structure of the competition:

2016/17

From 2017/18

Entry

Minimum two; up to four leagues (Smythe, Norris, Patrick, Adams)
Previous season’s Entry managers not promoted to the Pro division
Those new or returning to the competition

Minimum two; up to four leagues (Smythe, Norris, Patrick, Adams)
Previous season’s Entry managers not promoted to the Pro division
Relegated Pro managers
Those new or returning to the competition

Pro

Two leagues (Campbell, Wales)
All Pro managers from previous season
Promoted Entry managers
Select writers/previous Expert managers

Two leagues (Campbell, Wales)
Previous season’s Pro managers not promoted to Expert league
Promoted Entry managers
Select writers/previous Expert managers (if required)

📢 advertisement:

Expert

No league for 2016/17 season

One league (Stanley)
Previous season’s Expert managers not relegated to Pro division (from 2018/19)
Promoted Pro managers

Entry managers – future turnover

If we achieve a full capacity of participation in the Entry division (four leagues), then in order to continue welcoming new managers into the competition, there may be a requirement to have some turnover on a year-by-year basis. This could mean managers finishing below a specified position in the standings will be replaced by new recruits the following season. However, those replaced managers will be eligible to return after a year’s hiatus, depending on current numbers and demand for places.

An important reason for doing this is to ensure that managers joining competition will try to be as active as possible for the whole season and not give up early if not in contention. The battle for relegation/replacement could be just as exciting as the battle for promotion.

I’m mentioning this as it’s important to be transparent when there are changes. Of course, in the future this can all be re-evaluated but let’s see how it goes in the meantime.

Promotion, relegation and the future

The plan is to maintain this structure depending on continued interest from existing and new managers. The number of managers to be promoted and relegated each year in each division may change annually as it could depend on the league size, the number of returnees and joint positional placements. However, the one definite rule is for those who win their league – they are promoted up to the next division the following season. While it may be adjusted, this is the initial plan for promotion and relegation in each division:

Entry

Promotion

Winner of each league is automatically promoted to Pro division
Other successful managers in each league may also be promoted*

Relegation / replacement**

If two leagues, no managers will be replaced for new recruits
If three leagues, bottom two in each league replaced for new recruits
If four leagues, bottom four in each league replaced for new recruits

*Depends on number and size of leagues, and turnover in Pro division

**Turnover amongst existing managers may affect replacement numbers

Pro

Promotion

For 2016/17 results, top five* (including ties) in each league are promoted to the new Expert league in 2017/18.
From 2017/18 results, top two finishers in each league are promoted to Expert league.

Relegation

Bottom two** in each league will be relegated to Entry division.

*Could be reduced if ties result in more than 14 teams in total. Furthermore, 2015/16 Pro and Expert winners will receive an automatic invite to 2017/18 Expert league.

**Will depend on number of Entry leagues.

Expert

Relegation (From 2017/18)

Bottom four will be relegated to Pro division

Recent Changes

Some of you may be wondering what happened to the existing Expert league?

Up until last season, it has been split into three tiers (Entry, Pro and Expert), which gave managers the opportunity to be promoted to the division above, with the ultimate goal of reaching the Expert league to compete against the writers.

However, through feedback from Expert league managers and additional discussions with league commissioners, it was agreed that it will no longer be a part of this competition. This decision has resulted from a combination of a lack of future leadership and commitment in its current structure. It may continue as a stand-alone league if someone comes forward to take it over and enough writers return, but it will not re-join this competition.

Looking ahead, this is an opportunity to strengthen this competition by having more integration, which will allow more non-writers to reach the pinnacle of the competition.

2015/16 Winners

Finally, I want to give a mention to last year’s winners. Well done!

Entry Smythe – yipper005

Entry Norris – MCMackerel

Pro Campbell – jcairns

Expert – temek

And finally…

Good luck to all and enjoy the 2016/17 season!

Brandon is horrorfan on the forums.

4 Comments

Russ 2016-08-17 at 20:31Log in to Reply

Wow Brandon, well done! I like what you’ve do with the place!
Brandon 2016-08-18 at 08:31Log in to Reply

So excited! Gret layout of information, thank you
sirtravis 2016-08-24 at 11:08Log in to Reply

Has this thread been put up yet?
- horrorfan 2016-08-30 at 03:49Log in to Reply
  
  Just saw this now, apologies. Yes, the thread with more information and the one for recruitment are both open. Please go to the ‘Free Dobber Sports Challenges’ section of the forum to see them stickied at the top. Otherwise, if you see any of my posts (horrorfan), the threads are linked in my signature.

UPCOMING GAMES

Dec 27 - 19:12	DET	vs	TOR
Dec 27 - 19:12	BUF	vs	CHI
Dec 27 - 19:12	CBJ	vs	BOS
Dec 27 - 19:12	N.J	vs	CAR
Dec 27 - 20:12	DAL	vs	MIN
Dec 27 - 20:12	STL	vs	NSH
Dec 27 - 21:12	UTA	vs	COL
Dec 27 - 22:12	S.J	vs	VGK