IIHF Rulebook

IIHF RULEBOOK

V.2.5 edited 2023-12-05

Federation Heads

Each IIHF Federation is run by a maximum two, minimum one person governing board, led by a Federation Head.
The selection of a new Federation Head when someone retires, resigns, or is removed will be up to the discretion of the IIHF Commissioners.
The IIHF Commissioners reserves the right to issue punishments to or fire a Federation Head if they do not fulfil their duties.

If multiple players or a Co-Federation Head bring forward concerns regarding a Federation Head’s performance, these concerns can be used as evidence for the Federation Head’s removal.

The duties of a Federation Head include;
- Submitting an IIHF roster in accordance with Rule 3 by the deadline issued by IIHF HO.
- Submitting lines in accordance with Rule 4.
- Perform transfers to their Federation in accordance with Rule 5.
- Filling out IIHF Award ballots at the end of each tournament.
- Keep your team profile and recruitment pages up to date.
- Be active in IIHF discussions.

IIHF World Championship Tournament

The official IIHF Tournament will begin no later than the Saturday after the end of the SHL Challenge Cup Final.
The tournament consists of a pre-season, a two group round robin stage, and a three round post-season (medal rounds).
The round robin groups are decided by the IIHF Rankings (see 8) in the following structure:

Group A consists of rank 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13
Group B consists of rank 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14

The top four teams of each group advance to the medal rounds.

The medal rounds are a 1 game knockout where the winner advances to the next round.

A bronze medal game is played between the two Federations that lost in round 2 of the medal rounds, but will not be added to the IIHF Index.

IIHF Rosters

An IIHF roster consists of 20 players, with 4 forward lines, 3 defensive pairings, and 2 goalies.
An IIHF roster must select an ACTIVE player over an INACTIVE (as defined by the SHL Rulebook).
An ACTIVE player does not have to be selected over an INACTIVE if either one of the following criteria is met. It is up to the Fed Head if the player is chosen.

The player has 424 or less applied TPE on their build.
The player is retired.
The player has been granted an exception by the IIHF Commissioner.

A user may only have one player in the tournament.

If a user recreates for the same Federation, then the Federation Head may only select one of the players.
If a user recreates for a different Federation, then the user is to choose which player is to play.

A Federation Head is able to drop an INACTIVE player on the roster for an ACTIVE player at any point up to the end of the round robin stage. Once an ACTIVE player is placed on the roster, they must be played for the remainder of the tournament.
Each Federation Head must post their selected roster for the IIHF World Championship in the current season roster thread by the start of the second round of the SHL playoffs.

Each selected player uses the updated build and claimed TPE from the week prior to the start of the SHL playoffs.
The posted roster should include links to the selected players’ player pages.
A capped player from the SMJHL may submit an uncapped build using claimed TPE from the week prior to the start of the SHL playoffs. Uncapped builds must be submitted by the player themselves to a IIHF Head Office member. The deadline for uncapped builds will be two days prior to the start of IIHF pre-season.

Lines

ACTIVE skaters at or above 425 claimed TPE must be set at a minimum of 6 minutes per game playing time in 5v5 lines for all games.

If a Federation has 16 or fewer ACTIVE skaters with 425 or more claimed TPE, the Federation may set the 4th forward line at less than 6 minutes per game. The 16th ACTIVE skater on the 4th line must be alternated so that they don’t play more than half the round robin games set at less than 6 minutes per game.
If a Federation has 17 or more ACTIVE skaters with 425 or more TPE, the Federation must utilize all 4 forward lines set at a minimum of 6 minutes per game.

A skater can play out-of-position as long as the roster follows the roster requirements defined in 3.

A forward playing defense will switch their Shooting Accuracy and Shooting Range.
A defenseman playing forward will switch their Shooting Accuracy and Shooting Range, as well as limiting their Shot Blocking to 12.

Tactical Role limitations follow the ones defined in the SHL Rulebook:

Teams are limited to a maximum of 1 Enforcer or Goon in their lineup.
Teams are limited to a maximum of 1 Agitator in their lineup.
Teams are limited to a maximum of 1 Crease-clearing Defencemen in their lineup.
Teams are limited to a maximum of 1 Shadow in their lineup.
Teams are limited to a maximum of 3 in any other role.

An IIHF team may only use Global Tactics in their submitted lines. Any line submissions that use Unit and/or Individual Tactics will be considered illegal lines.
Accessing the IIHF league file for the purposes of test simulations in FHM8 is strictly prohibited. Any other method of attempting to circumvent this ban in order to run test simulations is also prohibited.

Enforcement of this testing ban is conducted by the SHL HO.

IIHF International Transfer Regulations

A player is considered Locked to a IIHF Federation when they are dressed for one (1) IIHF game for their Federation.

A player with less than 426 applied TPE is never considered Locked.

The IIHF Transfer Period will open at least one week after the current SHL season starts.
The IIHF Transfer Period will close at the start of the pre-season of the current season’s IIHF tournament.
Assigned Transfer Limits for an IIHF Federation will be determined before the start of the IIHF Transfer Period,
Assigned Transfer Limits are set by the number of players in an IIHF Federation with 425 or more claimed TPE, hereby defined as SENIOR players.

If a Federation has 35 or fewer SENIOR players, the limits are 1 transfer out and 3 transfers in.
If a Federation has between 36 and 45 SENIOR players, the limits are 2 transfers out and 2 transfers in.
If a Federation has between 46 and 65 SENIOR players, the limits are 3 transfers out and 1 transfer in.
If a Federation has more than 65 SENIOR players, the limits are 4 transfers out and 1 transfer in.
A Federation may not transfer in more than 1 player from the same Federation in a single IIHF Transfer Period.

IIHF Transfers can fall into five categories:

Transfer of a Non-Locked and Unassigned player.

If a player's birthplace is not from one of the assigned IIHF Federations, they are eligible for transfer to any IIHF Federation.
Federations may have unlimited Unassigned player transfers.
The player is considered an Assigned player after this transfer.

Transfer of a Non-Locked Player from an Assigned IIHF Federation.

If a player's birthplace is from one of the assigned IIHF Federations, or have been transferred via rule 5.f, they are eligible for transfer to any other IIHF Federation once per career.

Transfer of a Locked Skater from an Assigned IIHF Federation.

If a skater does not dress for their assigned IIHF Federation during 2 consecutive seasons, they may apply to the IIHF Commissioners to be eligible for a transfer once per career.
A player cannot force a Federation Head to purposefully sit them against the wishes of the Federation Head. This will result in a denial of the transfer application.
The skater cannot be contacted by other Federations before they are approved for a transfer by an IIHF Commissioner.

Transfer of a Locked Goalie from an Assigned IIHF Federation.

If a goalie does not play at least 6 games for their assigned IIHF Federation over the course of consecutive 2 seasons, they may apply to the IIHF Commissioners to be eligible for a transfer once per career.
A player cannot force a Federation Head to purposefully sit them against the wishes of the Federation Head. This will result in a denial of the transfer application.
The goalie cannot be contacted by other Federations before they are approved for a transfer by an IIHF Commissioner.

Exceptional Transfers.

If an IIHF Federation does not have enough players to field a complete roster, or if a new Federation Head needs to transfer, a player can transfer irregardless of a player being Locked or not. These types of transfers will only be granted in rare circumstances with IIHF Commissioner approval.

SMJHL Rookies cannot be contacted before the beginning of their first SMJHL Playoffs.
Draftable Free Agents cannot be contacted in matters regarding transferring.

Tampering

Tampering is defined as either:

Illegal Contact with a player who is not eligible to transfer in the purpose of them joining a specific Federation. This includes:

Locked-in Players.
SMJHL rookies before the start of their first playoffs.

Illegal Contact with a current or prospective user, prior to their player being created and approved, in the purpose of them creating for a specific Federation.

Illegal Contact is defined as:

Suggesting, colluding, or attempting to transfer the tampered player to a specific Federation.

EXAMPLES OF ILLEGAL CONTACT

Encouraging a player to leave their Federation through a locked-in transfer by convincing the player to ask their current Fed Head to not be played.
Posting a transfer of an SMJHL rookie before the start of their first SMJHL playoffs.

Speaking about where the tampered player would fit into a specific Federation should they join.

EXAMPLES OF ILLEGAL CONTACT

Stating “We need you as a forward“ to a user or describing in detail the planned role for a specific player.

EXAMPLES OF LEGAL CONTACT

Stating “We need forwards” to a user and describing a Federation’s overall needs.

Contact with the intent of influencing or changing a user's mind, although Federation members are allowed to talk to members currently in their Federation about their intentions of recreating. A member of a Federation or Federation Head should appear objective and be promoting the league first and foremost over your Federation.

EXAMPLES OF ILLEGAL CONTACT

An imperative or commanding tone, guilt-inducing language, threats of repercussions (social or otherwise) outside of IIHF (on and off the SHL platforms), pejorative language towards another nation or a user on.another nation, repeated messaging and harassment, gaslighting and any other behavior judged abusive by IIHF HO.

Recruitment comments on Reddit, Discord, or non-SHL forums, such as a “Join our Federation” message.

EXAMPLES OF ILLEGAL CONTACT

Making a post on a Reddit thread advertising your nation.

EXAMPLES OF LEGAL CONTACT

Making a post on the SHL’s media sections advertising a Federation.

Punishments and Fines

Punishments for tampering and other offenses will be at the discretion of the IIHF Commissioners.

General guidelines for tampering offenses are as follows but the exact punishment may vary on a case to case basis:

For a first offense: The Federation Head will be punished by not being able to perform any transfer for one or more full seasons, as well as a fine and a suspension of their player.
For a second offense: The Federation Head will be fired, in addition to transfer restrictions.

General guidelines for failure in the Fed Head duties are as follows but the exact punishment may vary based on the severity of the infraction. Examples of a failure to perform their duties are, instances of breaking the rules, missed deadlines, inactivity.

For a first offense: The Federation Head will be issued a fine of half the Fed Head pay and be placed on probation for one season (current and following tournament).
For a second offense during the probationary period: The Federation head will be fined full Fed Head pay and extend the probationary period.
For a third offense during the probationary period: The Federation head will be fined full Fed Head pay and be fired.

IIHF Rankings

The IIHF Rankings are calculated from the results in the past four IIHF tournaments according to the formula:

Result Points are assessed 3 points for a regulation win, 2 points for a win in overtime or shootout, 1 point for a loss in overtime or shootout, 0 points for a loss. In the playoffs, only wins are assessed 3 points, and all other results are assessed 0 points.
Match Status is a factor defined by the type of game played, x1 for friendlies, x2.5 for Round Robin, x3 for Medal Round excluding Gold Medal game, x4 for Gold Medal game.
Assessment Period is a factor defined by historical tournaments, x1 for last tournament, x0.5 for two seasons ago, x0.3 for three seasons ago, x0.2 for four seasons ago.

Federation Heads

Each IIHF Federation is run by a maximum two, minimum one person governing board, led by a Federation Head.

The selection of a new Federation Head when someone retires, resigns, or is removed will be up to the discretion of the IIHF Commissioners.

The IIHF Commissioners reserves the right to issue punishments to or fire a Federation Head if they do not fulfil their duties.

If multiple players or a Co-Federation Head bring forward concerns regarding a Federation Head’s performance, these concerns can be used as evidence for the Federation Head’s removal.

IIHF World Championship Tournament

The official IIHF Tournament will begin no later than the Saturday after the end of the SHL Challenge Cup Final.

The tournament consists of a pre-season, a two group round robin stage, and a three round post-season (medal rounds).

The round robin groups are decided by the IIHF Rankings (see 8) in the following structure:

Group A consists of rank 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13

Group B consists of rank 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14

The top four teams of each group advance to the medal rounds.

The medal rounds are a 1 game knockout where the winner advances to the next round.

A bronze medal game is played between the two Federations that lost in round 2 of the medal rounds, but will not be added to the IIHF Index.

IIHF Rosters

An IIHF roster consists of 20 players, with 4 forward lines, 3 defensive pairings, and 2 goalies.

An IIHF roster must select an ACTIVE player over an INACTIVE (as defined by the SHL Rulebook).

An ACTIVE player does not have to be selected over an INACTIVE if either one of the following criteria is met. It is up to the Fed Head if the player is chosen.

The player has 424 or less applied TPE on their build.

The player is retired.

The player has been granted an exception by the IIHF Commissioner.

A user may only have one player in the tournament.

A Federation Head is able to drop an INACTIVE player on the roster for an ACTIVE player at any point up to the end of the round robin stage. Once an ACTIVE player is placed on the roster, they must be played for the remainder of the tournament.

Each Federation Head must post their selected roster for the IIHF World Championship in the current season roster thread by the start of the second round of the SHL playoffs.

Each selected player uses the updated build and claimed TPE from the week prior to the start of the SHL playoffs.

The posted roster should include links to the selected players’ player pages.

Lines

ACTIVE skaters at or above 425 claimed TPE must be set at a minimum of 6 minutes per game playing time in 5v5 lines for all games.

If a Federation has 17 or more ACTIVE skaters with 425 or more TPE, the Federation must utilize all 4 forward lines set at a minimum of 6 minutes per game.

A skater can play out-of-position as long as the roster follows the roster requirements defined in 3.

A forward playing defense will switch their Shooting Accuracy and Shooting Range.

A defenseman playing forward will switch their Shooting Accuracy and Shooting Range, as well as limiting their Shot Blocking to 12.

Tactical Role limitations follow the ones defined in the SHL Rulebook:

Teams are limited to a maximum of 1 Enforcer or Goon in their lineup.

Teams are limited to a maximum of 1 Agitator in their lineup.

Teams are limited to a maximum of 1 Crease-clearing Defencemen in their lineup.

Teams are limited to a maximum of 1 Shadow in their lineup.

Teams are limited to a maximum of 3 in any other role.

An IIHF team may only use Global Tactics in their submitted lines. Any line submissions that use Unit and/or Individual Tactics will be considered illegal lines.

Accessing the IIHF league file for the purposes of test simulations in FHM8 is strictly prohibited. Any other method of attempting to circumvent this ban in order to run test simulations is also prohibited.

Enforcement of this testing ban is conducted by the SHL HO.

IIHF International Transfer Regulations

A player is considered Locked to a IIHF Federation when they are dressed for one (1) IIHF game for their Federation.

The IIHF Transfer Period will open at least one week after the current SHL season starts.

The IIHF Transfer Period will close at the start of the pre-season of the current season’s IIHF tournament.

Assigned Transfer Limits for an IIHF Federation will be determined before the start of the IIHF Transfer Period,

Assigned Transfer Limits are set by the number of players in an IIHF Federation with 425 or more claimed TPE, hereby defined as SENIOR players.

If a Federation has 35 or fewer SENIOR players, the limits are 1 transfer out and 3 transfers in.

If a Federation has between 36 and 45 SENIOR players, the limits are 2 transfers out and 2 transfers in.

If a Federation has between 46 and 65 SENIOR players, the limits are 3 transfers out and 1 transfer in.

If a Federation has more than 65 SENIOR players, the limits are 4 transfers out and 1 transfer in.

A Federation may not transfer in more than 1 player from the same Federation in a single IIHF Transfer Period.

IIHF Transfers can fall into five categories:

Transfer of a Non-Locked and Unassigned player.

If a player's birthplace is not from one of the assigned IIHF Federations, they are eligible for transfer to any IIHF Federation.

Federations may have unlimited Unassigned player transfers.

Transfer of a Non-Locked Player from an Assigned IIHF Federation.

If a player's birthplace is from one of the assigned IIHF Federations, or have been transferred via rule 5.f, they are eligible for transfer to any other IIHF Federation once per career.

Transfer of a Locked Skater from an Assigned IIHF Federation.

If a skater does not dress for their assigned IIHF Federation during 2 consecutive seasons, they may apply to the IIHF Commissioners to be eligible for a transfer once per career.

A player cannot force a Federation Head to purposefully sit them against the wishes of the Federation Head. This will result in a denial of the transfer application.

The skater cannot be contacted by other Federations before they are approved for a transfer by an IIHF Commissioner.

Transfer of a Locked Goalie from an Assigned IIHF Federation.

If a goalie does not play at least 6 games for their assigned IIHF Federation over the course of consecutive 2 seasons, they may apply to the IIHF Commissioners to be eligible for a transfer once per career.

A player cannot force a Federation Head to purposefully sit them against the wishes of the Federation Head. This will result in a denial of the transfer application.

The goalie cannot be contacted by other Federations before they are approved for a transfer by an IIHF Commissioner.

Exceptional Transfers.

If an IIHF Federation does not have enough players to field a complete roster, or if a new Federation Head needs to transfer, a player can transfer irregardless of a player being Locked or not. These types of transfers will only be granted in rare circumstances with IIHF Commissioner approval.

SMJHL Rookies cannot be contacted before the beginning of their first SMJHL Playoffs.

Draftable Free Agents cannot be contacted in matters regarding transferring.

Tampering

Tampering is defined as either:

Illegal Contact with a player who is not eligible to transfer in the purpose of them joining a specific Federation. This includes:

Locked-in Players.

SMJHL rookies before the start of their first playoffs.

Illegal Contact with a current or prospective user, prior to their player being created and approved, in the purpose of them creating for a specific Federation.

Punishments and Fines

Punishments for tampering and other offenses will be at the discretion of the IIHF Commissioners.

General guidelines for tampering offenses are as follows but the exact punishment may vary on a case to case basis:

For a first offense: The Federation Head will be punished by not being able to perform any transfer for one or more full seasons, as well as a fine and a suspension of their player.