It started in September 2003, with the regular season ending February 2004.
After the regular season, the standard of 8 teams qualified for the playoffs.
In the first round, the highest remaining seed chose which of the four lowest remaining seeds to be matched against.
In each round the higher-seeded team was awarded home ice advantage.
Each best-of-seven series followed a 1–1–1–2–1–1 format: the higher-seeded team played at home for games 2 and 4 (plus 5 and 7 if necessary), and the lower-seeded team was at home for game 1, 3 and 6 (if necessary).