Tournament Rules

Tournament Rules (2024-11-18)

General Conduct

1. KMHA and HEO Minor apply. The referee’s decision in all matters concerning the application of the rules of the games, and the decision of the Tournament Committee regarding all aspects of the conduct of the tournament, shall be final.
2. ZERO Tolerance: Taunting or berating of any players, officials, staff or tournament volunteers will NOT be tolerated under any circumstances by parents, players, team officials or other spectators. The KMHA Tournament reserves the right to eject any person whom it deems to be acting in an improper manner and we accept no liability in connection with ejections.
3. Injured or suspended players are not permitted on the bench.

 Registration

1. Application teams must be participants in Hockey Canada or USA Hockey member association; no all-star or select teams will be accepted. If an all-star or select team is found to be playing in the tournament, all games will be forfeited as well as tournament registration fees.
2. Final acceptance into KMHA House League Tournament is decided by the Tournament Committee.
3. This is a Non-Contact tournament.
4. The team manager or coach must check in with the registration desk 45 minutes prior to each game.
5. Upon check in, teams will provide and affix their team roster labels to the game sheet.
6. The tournament committee may require a team to start up to 20 minutes prior to their scheduled start time.
7. All players must participate in at least one round-robin game to play in the semi-finals or finals. If a team is unable to substantiate its line-up to the satisfaction of the tournament committee, the team will be disqualified from the tournament and no refund shall be given.
8. Each team must supply a qualified Trainer (minimum level 1) for each game.
9. Teams must bring with them their official branch issued roster or player cards, along with proof of age and identity for all players.
10. It is the responsibility of a team official to collect a copy of the tournament game sheet and to ensure that game point allocations are correct for that game. It is the responsibility of the team to ensure that all applicable suspensions are served.
11. There will be no refunds of registration fees.

 Equipment

1. Each player must be fully equipped in compliance with HEO rules including throat/neck guard. Chinstraps must be fastened to helmet.** Please Note, as of February 2014, mouth guards are no longer a required piece of equipment in our district**
2. The Home team shall wear white and the Visitor shall wear a dark colour. When it is determined that there is insufficient colour contrast between the colour of the sweaters, the Home team will be asked to change sweaters (where possible).

 Game Duration

• There will be a two-minute warmup before each game; the clock will start once the referees are on the ice.
• Each round robin game will consist of two – 10 minute stopped time periods and one period running time with the remaining time left until curfew (50 mins).
• During the round robin, games will end: i) within the allotted time of 50 minutes or ii) by the curfew time identified on the game sheet
• During playoffs, teams will be allowed to complete all 3 periods which will consist of two 10 minute and one 12 minute stopped time periods.

• A mercy rule will apply if there is a seven (7) goal spread in the first or second period, and a five (5) goal spread at any time in the third period, in which case the clock will revert to running time for the remainder of the game. 
• In the event that the mercy rule is triggered in the second period during the preliminary rounds, the time for the 3rd period will be the shortest duration of either:
  • 1) capped at 20 minutes (running time) or;
  • 2) reflect the time remaining until curfew (running time)
• Teams will not be allowed any time outs during the round robin play.
• Teams will be allowed one (1) 30 second timeout in Final Championship game only.

 Overtime

1. There will be no overtime in round robin games
2. For Semi-Final and Final Games, ties will be settled with a single five minute stop-time sudden death period. Each team will be reduced by one skater resulting in 4-on-4 play. Penalties are carried over into overtime (although a team can have no fewer than 3 skaters on at any time).
3. There will be no change of ends, and no break, between the end of the regular time and the start of overtime.
4. If the score is still tied after the overtime period, the tie will be broken by a shootout. Before the start of overtime, each coach must submit the names of the 3 players to participate in the shootout. All team members must have taken a shot before any player can shoot again. The shootout is the best of three, with the fourth and subsequent shots sudden death after each team has had an equal number of shots on net.

 Tournament Standings

The round-robin standings will be determined by the following criteria:

1. Win = 2 points;  Tie = 1 point;  Loss = 0 points
2. If at the end of the round-robin play, there is a tie in the standings, the winning teams will be identified according to the following criteria/steps and in the following order:

1. the ‘head to head’ results involving the teams tied; if there are more than two (2) teams tied in the standings then go to criteria 2
2. the team with the ‘most wins’ in the round robin plays
3. the ‘highest ratio of goals for, divided by goals for plus goals against (GF/(GF+GA)’
4. the team with the ‘lowest number of penalty minutes’
5. the team with the ‘lowest number of goals against’
6. the team with the ‘most goals for’
7. Coin Toss

 NOTE: in the event that three or more teams are tied, there will be no reverting back to a previous tiebreaking step as each seed is determined

 Protests

1. No appeals will be entertained and the decision of the referee is final.
2. Should an issue fall outside the parameters of these rules; any decision can only be adjudicated by a member of the KMHA Tournament Committee. Their decision will be final.