PLAYING RULES

USA Hockey and CAHA rules shall prevail unless otherwise stated.

All games will be officiated by either 2 or 4 registered officials in good standing with USA Hockey and CAHA.

The top seeded team will be the home team.

Volunteers

The home team will provide an electronic scorekeeping system operator and clock operator if not otherwise stated there is a scorekeeper in game sheet

These individuals are declared as an Off-Ice Official

Each team will provide their own penalty box attendant as an Off-Ice Official

Remember - These individuals are considered “Off-Ice Officials” and must conduct

themselves in a manner appropriate for officials. Off-Ice Officials are not allowed to

coach and are to remain neutral.

Period Lengths:

will be the same as regular season

o Varsity: 17 minute stop clock x 3 periods with an ice make between the 2nd and 3rd

o JV: 15 minute stop clock x 3 periods (no ice make)

o Girls: 15 minutes stop clock x 3 periods (no ice make)

o There will be no ice make before sudden death overtime, shoot out, or sudden death shootout

Mercy rule will be the same as during the regular season

o A six goal differential or higher in the 3rd period will result in a run clock in all games including Championship Games

o Revert to stop clock if the lead is reduced to 5 or less at any time

o Option for run clock prior to 3rd period if both head coaches agree

Teams in each division will be Seeded according to the following criteria

1. Total points from the regular season with a win = 2 points, tie or OT loss = 1 point, and

regulation loss = 0 points

Note: If any league games are canceled due to any reason that does NOT result in

forfeit to one team, then a PTS per Game average will be used to determine seeds for

that division instead of Total Points. In order for a cancelled game to NOT be counted as

forfeit BOD approval will be required.

Example: 11 pts in 11 games = 1.00 PTS/GM Average. Another team with 11 pts, but with

12-games would have a 0.917 PTS/GM Average and be seeded lower.

2. The following tie breakers will be used to determine seeding among teams tied in points:

a. Head-to-head game(s) during the regular season if only 2 teams are tied.

b. If more than 2 teams are tied, then the following tie-breakers will be used

i. Total points among the tied teams for games played among those teams only.

ii. Highest total number of total wins in the season.

iii. Fewest goals against during head-to-head games among these teams only.

iv. Fewest penalty minutes during the regular season.

v. Most shutouts during the regular season.

vii. In the case of disputes regarding seeding and/or tie breakers, the final decision

will be at the sole discretion of the HPHL Competition Committee.

FORMATS AND MATCHUPS:

• Single elimination for all rounds of playoffs and championship games.

• The HPHL Tournament Director will determine the brackets with matchups based on seeding

with higher seeds playing lower seeds in round 1 and then continue per the bracket

• Teams will not be re-seeded after each round

• No game will end in a tie. See overtime below

OVERTIME

Will be played anytime a Playoff or Championship game is tied at the end of the

3rd period.

o 1 OT Period Format:

• Length of OT Period:

• Playoff Games: one 5-minute period 3 v 3;

• Championship Game: one regulation time 3 v 3 (17 min varsity; 15 min JV

• sudden death

• stop clock

• 1 OT period ONLY – If still tied at the end of 1 OT period, then shootout occurs

(see details below).

o There will be a 2-minute rest between the end of the 3rd period and start of OT

o Teams will switch ends prior to the OT

o Penalties and # of Players at the Start of OT:

• If there is a player in the penalty box at the end of the regulation time, that

player’s penalty will continue into the overtime, and the penalized team will play

short handed

• In the case where penalties require the non-offending team to have a man

advantage, a skater will be added to achieve a 4 on 3 advantage

• The player in the penalty box shall return to play as the penalty expires and then

at the next stoppage of play following this scenario, the teams would be required

to return to a 3 on 3 situation.

o Timeouts:

• There will be no additional time-outs given to either team during the sudden

death overtime

• If a team did not use their time-out during the regulation game, they may use it

during the sudden death OT

o SHOOTOUTS- If the game is still tied at the end of the single sudden death overtime, there

will be a shootout

• Initial Shootout Round (one 5-player round): Each team will have 5 different players

• Any player(s) in the penalty box at the end of the OT period serving a penalty or

that are penalized at 00:00 at the end of OT, must stay in the penalty box during

the shootout and are not eligible to shoot in the shootout.

• The goalie(s) may not be one of the shooters during any shootout.

• Teams will switch ends prior to the shootout

• At the beginning of a shootout (regular or sudden death), the home team will be

given the choice of whether to go first or second. From that point on, the

shooters will alternate between teams

•During a shootout (regular or sudden death), a goalie may be substituted for

another goalie who was/is on the bench before or between shots.

• There is no limit to the number of times the team can change their goalie

between shooters.