This tournament is sanctioned by the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA). Unless otherwise stipulated in the Tournament Rules, all Canadian Hockey Association (CHA) and OMHA rules shall apply.

The tournament will consist of a Preliminary Round and a Championship Round. Unless otherwise specified, teams will play a minimum of three games each in the Preliminary Round to determine which teams will advance to the Semi Final Round. The format for the Semi Final Rounds will be based on the number of participating teams, and will be published prior to the commencement of the tournament.

A complete schedule of tournament games will be available to all participating teams prior to the start of the tournament. Teams must be prepared to start play up to 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start of their games.

All teams must present valid cards or rosters approved by their sanctioning body (OMHA, GTHL, Alliance, etc) to Tournament Officials at least one hour prior to their first Preliminary Round game. Players (including affiliated players) not registered prior to their team’s first Preliminary Round game will not be permitted to participate in the tournament. As long as a player has been registered prior to his/her team’s first Preliminary Round game, they are eligible to participate in any Preliminary Round, Semi Final Round or Championship Round games.

ll Preliminary Round and Semi-final games will consist of one 10 minute and two 12 minute "stop time" periods. Championship games will consist of two 10 minute and one 15 minute "stop time" periods.

There will be no overtime in Preliminary Round Games (games can end in a tie). If the score is tied after regulation time in the Semi Final or Championship games, the teams will play a five minute stop time "sudden victory" overtime period. During the overtime period each team will be allowed three skaters and one goaltender on the ice at any time, and any player changes must be made "on the fly" (not during a stoppage in play). Should a penalty or penalties be called resulting in a manpower advantage, the team awarded the advantage will add a skater (two skaters in the case of a two-man advantage). When penalty(ies) expires, penalized player(s) will return to ice. At the first stoppage of play, teams will revert to 3 on 3.

 7. Shoot-outs: Should two teams remain tied upon completion of the overtime period in a Semi Final or Championship game, there will be a shoot-out. The initial five shooters for each team must be identified on the game sheet prior to all games. Players participating in the shoot-out will proceed to shoot simultaneously in pairs (one from each team). The team with the most goals after all five pairs of shooters have attempted to score will be declared the winner. If the teams are still tied after the initial shoot-out round, a second round of "sudden victory" shoot-out will begin. No player who participated in the first shoot-out round will be allowed to participate again until all other skaters on his/her team have had an attempt. In the "sudden victory" shoot-out format a winner is declared as soon as one player scores and his "paired" opponent does not.

Preliminary Round standings will be based on the following points system:

Win = 2 points

Tie = 1 point

Shutout = 1 point

Loss = 0 points

Should a team default its scheduled game(s), its opponent(s) will be

awarded a 1

No time-outs are permitted during Preliminary Round or Semi Final games. Each team will be permitted one 30 second time-out during the Championship game.

"Home" and "Visitor" designations for Preliminary Round games will be pre-determined and identified on the Tournament Schedule. In the Semi Final and the Championship games, the team with the most points in the Preliminary Round will be the "Home" team. If teams are tied based on Preliminary Round points, a coin toss will determine "Home" team.

All teams are expected to have two sets of sweaters. A light-colored set for "home" games and a dark-colored set for use when they are designated as the "visitor" team.

All teams are required to use equipment as mandated by their sanctioning body eg. OMHA teams are required to wear mouth guards.

 14. Tie Breaker Procedure: If upon completion of the Preliminary Round two or more teams are tied in points, Preliminary Round final standings will be determined using the following criteria applied sequentially:

If two teams are tied and they played each other in the Preliminary Round, the team that won that game will be awarded the higher position in the standings. If three teams are tied and they played each other in the Preliminary Round (A played both B and C and B played C), a team with two wins versus the other tied teams would be awarded the higher position in the standings. (The final positions of the remaining two teams would then be determined by applying the tie breaking procedures listed below).

 

ii) Goal Average:

If a Preliminary Round tie cannot be resolved by 14 i), the Goal Average of the tied teams will be considered. A team’s Goal Average is determined by dividing its total number of "goals for" by the sum of its "goals for" plus "goals against" from the Preliminary Round. The team with the higher Goal Average will be awarded the higher position in the standings.

 

iii) First Goal:

If a Preliminary Round two-way tie cannot be resolved by 14 i) or 14 ii), the team scoring the first goal in a Preliminary Round game between the two teams will be awarded the higher position in the standings. Note: this criterion will not be used to resolve a three-way tie.

 

iv) Least Penalties:

If the application of 14 i), ii) and iii) fails to resolve a Preliminary Round tie, the team with the least penalty minutes in the Preliminary Round will be awarded the higher position in the standings.

 

v) Coin Toss:

If two or more teams are still tied after the application of 14 i), ii), iii) and iv), the Tournament Committee will decide the final standings by a coin toss.

 

A most valuable player award will be presented to a player from each team following every tournament game. The MVP will be chosen by a representative of the opposing team, or if the coaches agree, each team may select their own MVP. A Shutout award may also be presented to a team’s goalie following each tournament game.

The Tournament Committee reserves the right to

resolve any issues related to the tournament based on its interpretation of the Tournament Rules, and its determination of what is fair and appropriate under the circumstances. All decisions by the Tournament Committee are final.

Supplementary Rules- Novice A

In recognition of the imbalance of teams by group - 4 teams in one group, 3 in each of the other two groups, the standard tournament rules have been modified as outlined below. Unless specified below, all other tournament rules as posted on the WSMHA website will apply.

The tournament for the Novice A division will consist of a Preliminary Round, a Semi Final Round and a Championship Round. In the Preliminary Round, each team in Group 3 will play one game against each of the other teams in Group 3. Teams in Groups 1 & 2 will "crossover" to play each of the teams in the other three team Group.

Following completion of the Preliminary Round, the first place team in each of the groups will advance to the Semi Final Round along with the team which finishes highest in the standings among the remaining non-group winning teams ("wild card team"). The first place team in each group will be determined by points (see #8 below), or if two or more teams are tied in points, by application of the tie-breaker procedure. The wild card team will be selected from the non-Group winners on the same basis (most points or tie-breaker procedure if two or more teams tied in points).

: Preliminary Round standings for the Novice A division will be based on the following points system:

Win Game= 2 points

Tie Game =1 point

Lose Game= 0 points

Win Period= 1 point

Shut-out = 1 point

Maximum # points for any game is 6 (team wins all three periods and opponent does not score). In the event of a 0-0 tie, each team will receive 2 points-1 each for the tie and 1 each for the shut-out.