Any good competition has to have a set of rules and regulations to guide it. Even the NHL Tournament of Logos, if you can believe that. So before the tournament begins, get familiar with how it works right here.

Team Posts
Each team in the tournament will have its own page with information related to it. You can access a Team Post by clicking on the team's name in the sidebar standings. On each page, you will find a large-sized logo for the team, the team's tournament schedule, logos used by the team (both current and past), and links to news posts related to that team. In addition, several teams have plans to change/update their logos. If the date has been announced, it will be posted on their page. One more not, regarding the schedules. Don't expect to see the scores updated on each post as that would take me forever to update every day. You can use the Team Posts to follow along with your favorites and find out what days they have matches.

Tournament Play
There are 30 teams in the NHL — 15 in each conference. To limit the number of matches that would have to take place during the tournament, every team will only face the 14 other teams in their own conference once each. That's 14 matchups for each team — 210 total for the league. (And you have to admit, even that's a big number.) The regular season wil take place over the course of 60 days and each day, 3 or 4 matches will be played.

Three points will be awarded in each match so they will all have a final score of either 3-0 or 2-1 with a definite winner and loser. A team can earn a maximum of 42 points during the tournament (assuming it wins every match 3-0). (Note: Bonus points will be awarded at the end of the tournament, prior to the Championship Tournament.) Matches will be judged (by me) on three facets: 1) The Aesthetics, 2) The Nickname, and 3) The Analysis. This is where things start to fall apart. (As in, I'm the one judging. So much for rules, right.) If you want to know how each point is awarded, here is a rough breakdown.

The Aesthetics
This is where I just stare down both logos, side-by-side. Whichever one I think is more appealing to the eye wins the point. I'll also make comments on the logos and how they compare. Uniforms may come in to play here from time to time.

The Nickname
This one is usually pretty farcical. For example, the Rangers/Thrashers matchup may go something like this: "If the Thrasher is living in a national park, the park Ranger is protecting it and therefore has the upper hand." And then I would give the Rangers the point. Expect to see some pretty ridiculous explanations in this category.

The Analysis
This category will have a slightly more serious tone than the last two, where I really take a look at the team's name and logo and how it meshes with the club/organization and home city/location. The team that does a better job meshing and such gets the point.

Don't be surprised to see these change from game to game for the same team. A lot of this will probably depend on my general mood the day I write it. So we'll see what happens. At the very least, this tournament should serve as an amusing way to keep us hockey fans occupied during the offseason.

Bonus Points
At the conclusion of regular tournament play, and just prior to the beginning of the Championship Tournament. Bonus points will be awarded based on a series of questions. They won't be completely arbitrary, but I challenge anyone to find a real rhyme or reason to them. It'll just be a little something to stir the pot at the end of the tournament. The bonus points will be included in the final point totals which will determine the teams that will play in the Championship Tournament. The bonus point guidelines will not be announced until after the tournament, so don't ask what they are.

Championship Tournament
After regular tournament play has concluded, we'll need to decide on a Logo Champion. Only 14 of the 30 teams (7 from each conference) will advance to the Championship Tournament (or the playoffs). The top 2 seeded teams in each division will automatically advance. The 7th team in each conference, the "wild card," will be the team with the most points (or best record) of the 9 remaining teams.

Then, each team will play all 7 teams from the opposite conference (since they've already played all the teams within their own conference). Standings will be kept just like in the regular season portion of the tournament. The team with the most points (or best record) will be declared the Logo Champion be awarded the Stanley Cup Logo.

Tiebreaker
The easiest and most obvious tiebreaker is head-to-head. Since each team plays the others only once, if two teams are tied, the team that won during their regular season matchup gets the edge.

If there's anything I didn't cover here that you're still curious about, check the FAQs. There is a ton more information there. (Basically, I didn't want to cram everything into one post.) If you have questions about anything I didn't address, feel free to leave a comment here or on the FAQs and I'll do my best to get back with you.