Schlitz Cup 2018
by Sam N

Welcome to the inaugural Schlitz Cup, also mentioned herein as “The Schlitz”. 

Why does anyone want the Schlitz, and why are we starting it now?!

The idea of the Schlitz Cup started roughly 3 years ago when BTSH Super Teams became palpable and started cropping up in nearly every division, resulting in many teams to stop adopting “new-to-hockey” players as part of their roster.  During this transition, several teams have continued to slot beginner hockey players and/or not care about winning as a definitional trait of their team. By sticking with the BTSH mantra of hipster hockey, and not really coming close to ever holding the PBR Cup, This Cup’s for You!

For those who do not know what the PBR Cup is, it’s a mini Stanley Cup inspired trophy made out of PBR beer cans and likely a kitchen mixing bowl that only a few teams ever win.  The Schlitz Cup has a little bit more intrigue, partly because you get a keg of beer to drink.

Fun fact about Schlitz: Schlitz beer is a subsidiary of PBR.

Schlitz Cup Rules:

1) Winning team gets a keg of Schlitz beer for a team party.  The team who loses in the Schlitz Cup is invited to the party as well.  (The keg is being paid for out of the ref manager’s salary, so to all teams who are thinking that they may win the PBR Cup and should also receive a keg – fuck off.)

2) Trophy starts off as a trophy like normal and will be quite Schlitzy.  Every year the winning team gets to add something to it. So, after a few years, we’ll have a very cool trophy reflecting who’s won it.

3) Teams with 4 or more written infractions are not eligible to play in the Schlitz Cup Playoffs.

4) Any team that refuses to play in the Schlitz Cup playoff because they think it is dumb and for losers is not eligible to play in the Schlitz Cup tournament the following year.

5) Only division 3 and 4 teams qualify to play in The Schlitz.

6.a) For 2018, the bracket system is a round robin of the lowest-ranking first 4 teams to be eliminated in the playoffs.  This will likely occur in the play-in rounds prior to the round of 16. However, in some years, there may be too many D1 and D2 teams in the play-ins rounds for this to easily shake out into the lowest ranked 4 teams from D3 and D4.  In this case, the team(s) to lose with the lowest league ranking from the season (and in D3 and D4) in the round of 16 will drop into The Schlitz. This may result in a double game day at one point for such teams, but is necessary for the round robin. These specifics will be worked out with the playoff scheduler.

6.b) Teams will play each other as follows:
Week 1 (during round of 16 PBR Cup playoffs): Team A vs. D; Team B vs. C
Week 2 (during round of 8): Team A vs. C; Team B vs. D
Week 3 (before Final Four games in the day): Team A vs. B; Team C vs. D

6.c) The two teams with the highest ranking play for The Schlitz in between the Final Four games and PBR Cup.  Those two teams are determined the same way via the BTSH regular season:
a. head-to-head wins between teams tied for points (points = 2 points/Win; 1 point/OTL)
b. by total wins during The Schlitz Playoffs
c. by greatest goal differential
d. by coin toss, in which case the team that is alphabetically first gets to call which side of the coin is in their favor
e. sword fight