The Bucks will play the winner of Kalamazoo-Chicago.

Here is the Central Conference Schedule:

Tuesday July 22nd - Kalamazoo at Chicago 4:00 PM
Tuesday July 22nd - Colorado at Thunder Bay 7:30 PM
Wednesday July 23rd Toronto at Cleveland - TBA

Saturday July 26th:

Toronto/Cleveland winner vs. Colorado/Thunder Bay winner at 5:00 PM at Ultimate

Kalamazoo/Chicago winner vs. Michigan Bucks 7:30 PM at Ultimate.

Sunday July 27th:

Semifinal winners play in Conference Championship game 7:00 PM at Ultimate.

Scratch that. I'm told the Bucks will play the lowest seeded team that advances to the Semifinals. Kalamazoo, Toronto and Colorado are the lowest seeds.

Here is the Playoff bracket with seedings on the right hand side. It is a PDF: http://www.uslsoccer.com/docs/postseason/PDL/PDL-Bracket.pdf

"Tuesday July 22nd - Colorado at Thunder Bay 7:30 PM"

Isn't that a freakishly long trip? I thought that it would have easier for both teams just to go to Pontiac, and play their first round there, making it a five-team conference playoff.

And to even clarify the semi-final pairings more, The Bucks will play the lowest seed that isn't from their division, if you follow the rules page : "Central Conference Playoffs: .... The number one seed will play the lowest seeded non-divisional opponent in the conference tournament semifinals."

The seeding from the PDF, but I'm not a big fan of "seeding" the PDL playoffs overall, since there is no inter-conference games, and the teams are so closely-bunched in points, one tie/loss can make a big difference in your seeding:

PDL Overall Playoff Seeding
1 Michigan Bucks
2 Thunder Bay Chill
9 Cleveland Internationals
13 Chicago Fire
17 Colorado Rapids U-23
18 Toronto Lynx
19 Kalamazoo Outrage

So it looks like if Thunder Bay wins, the Bucks play K'zoo-Chi. If Colorado and K'zoo win, the Bucks play K'zoo. If Colorado and Chi win, the Bucks play Col.

USL press release: PDL, W-League playoff schedules set

Way to go you Herd.

You've done a lot this year to support your club.

Enjoy your playoff, I'll be following your exploits.

The Bucks will play Kalamazoo this Saturday, by virtue of a 2-0 Outrage win over the Fire this afternoon in Chicago.

Kickoff is at 7:30.

Hooray! Tiny Tom and frat boys again...

Colorado Rapids U-23 at Thunder Bay Chill 1:3

CHILL PADDLE WAY THROUGH RAPIDS
BY Leith Dunick
Thunder Bay Source
CHILL TO PLAY CLEVELAND/TORONTO WINNER SATURDAY NIGHT

http://www.thunderbaychill.com

THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO JULY 23, 2008 -- Before the playoffs began, Gustavo Oliveira sat down with Thunder Bay Chill coach Tony Colistro and promised he'd come through in the crunch, despite missing a good chunk of the regular season. On Tuesday Oliveira showed he's a man who keeps his word. The Brazilian midfielder scored twice, including a brilliant first half solo effort that saw him dart and dodge his way through the entire Colorado Rapids squad as the Chill advanced to the second round of the Premier Development League playoffs in Pontiac, Mich. with a 3-1 home-field win at Chapples Park.... "It's four more (wins). Last year we went to Detroit and we lost, so we have bad memories. But it's going to be different this year for sure," Oliveira said following the game, that at time resembled a mixture of trench warfare, ultimate fighting and bickering siblings stuck in the back of their parents car on an extended road trip. Forward Brandon Swartzendruber, who narrowly missed the PDL scoring title and scored the Chill's third goal to put the game all but out of reach, said the only reason he returned to the team for a second season was to win a championship. While there's still several obstacles in the way -- most immediately Michigan, Kalamazoo and the winner between Toronto and Cleveland -- Swartzendruber said a title-run has to start somewhere, and better to make mistakes now than against even tougher competition. "It was good to get this win," Swartzendruber said. "We want to go 5-0. It's like a new season here. Five games and we're champs. We're 1-0 now. It's going to be tough. Today, I think we might have thought it was going to be even easier than it was. And playoff games are never like that, so I think we learned a little lesson."

Ok so good question was raised...when are we doing the Tailgate?? Before the first game, or before the Bucks game at 7:30? I'm not sure did we want to make the entire first game?

Just schedule wise, the first game will end at 7PM and there will be about 20 minutes of warmups for the Bucks-Outrage game, with it set to kickoff right at 7:30.

I don't know what you guys want to do, but really all I was is you all to be loud right after the Anthem and throughout the match.

This is the playoffs now! 9 Home games plus an exhibition to practice, its time to show off...

http://www.lynxsoccer.com/releases/GR2008/GR-July23L.htm

TORONTO LYNX GAME REPORT
Lynx Eliminated in Cleveland
Fall 2-1 to Internationals in PDL Playoffs

(I love a game report, written by the team, which doesn't even give the opponent's goal scorers.)

Scratch that, the teams will warm up on other USA fields before kickoff at 7:30, the first game will begin at 5:30.

I was thinking like 4:30 or so and we can hang out and drink some. Grill some food up meet some new people and get them roped in. The kind of wander in at half time or later and watch the second half of the game and chant my butt off!!

Sounds like a plan to me. I'll bring some chips or something for sure.

I'm gonna try to make it out on Saturday. Should be a great event. Hopefully we'll have some packed stands.

Sounds good to me. I will be bringing some pop. See you around 4:30 on Saturday!

Come join us in the parking lot for food and inside for some chanting! Lets go BUCKS!

Quick aside: We talked about doing an end-of-year bash for the Herd, a beach day of sorts. I'm going to say either August 10 or 17, or over Labor Day weekend. Think about it, and perhaps we'll chat a little about it during the tailgate tomorrow. See everyone out there tomorrow night!