Once each conference's qualifiers were selected, they were seeded 1–5, with the fourth and fifth seeds playing a best-of-three series, with the victor advancing to play the first seed in a best-of-seven semifinal, while the second and third seeds played the other semifinal.
Following the determination of each conference's top contenders, they were assigned rankings 1–5. The fourth and fifth ranked teams engaged in a best-of-three series, with the victor advancing to play the first seeded team in a best-of-seven semifinal match, while the second and third seeded teams played the other semifinal.