Tournament Rules for Boys & Girls ICE HOCKEY (KIYHF Tournament Rules Document)

We encourage all team managers and coaches to read carefully the tournament ice hockey rules:

Tournament Rulings for the Kingston International Youth Hockey Festival 

1. Each team will play a minimum of four games in the preliminary round and the game will consist of two periods of eighteen minutes stopped time with no overtime for all levels, except that the game will be two periods of fifteen minutes stopped time for all playoff games.
2. Pre-game warm-ups will be three minutes continuous time. 
3. Minor penalties will be 1.5 minutes and Major penalties will be 4 minutes at all times during the tournament.
4. We will be playing with the no red line rule, therefore, 2 line passes will be permitted. The touch-up offsides rule will be used.
5. One 30-second time out per team per game will be permitted.
6. No equipment penalty will be awarded (Ex. Torn pants, curves, ….).
7. All eligible players must be entered on the first game score sheet (maximum 20 players including 3 goaltenders).
8. If a difference of five goals or more exists at any time from the beginning of the 2nd period on, the remainder of the game will be of running time. The time will stop again should the differential be reduced to a 2 goal differential (ex. 6-4).
9. If there is a tie game at the end of regulation time during the tournament playoffs, the following overtime rules will apply: a) One, Five minute sudden-death period:  Three on Three + Goaltender; and b) Shootout: Three penalty shots to each team. Should tie persist, one penalty shot each until there is a winner. You have to use a different player for each shot until all players have been used.
10. A player can only play for one team during this tournament weekend. Failure to do so will disqualify said player.
11. Neck guards are required from all Canadian, American, and Overseas players at all levels. 
12. The ice will be resurfaced after every game.
13. "Clean Hockey": A Major penalty and a Game Misconduct penalty will be assessed to any player exhibiting "intent to hurt": "Charging/Checking from behind if it results in injury", "Spearing", "Kicking" or "Kneeing". A second Game Misconduct penalty for any player will result in be ejected from the tournament. There will be no discussion on players or ejection from games. 
14. Each team should be ready to play 12 minutes PRIOR to their scheduled start times without any advanced warning. A team that does not present itself to a game will be subject to a disciplinary committee and expulsion from the tournament. A defaulted game result will be a 2 - 0 for the winning team and 5 – 0 result to the loosing team.
15. Every team must dress a minimum of 6 players and 1 goaltender. A ten minute delay will be permitted to dress a second goaltender in the event the regular goaltender is injured and the team has no dressed goaltender on the bench.
16. Should an “act of god” happen (power failure, major injury …), after ½ hour the game will be called and the score will be recorded as is no matter how long the game was running at the time of the “act of god”.
17. No Protests will be accepted.
18. Team’ s coach and manager are responsible of their actions and those of the parents and players.
19. Body contact will be permitted starting at the 1998 level, except there will be no contact if a team has some “1999-born players”. The direction of the tournament reserves itself the right to abolish the body contact if the well being of the player is threatened.
20. The point system for teams ranking in the standings will be as follow: 2 points for a WIN, 1 point for a TIE, & 0 point for a LOSS.
21. No matter what the score ends up, a team cannot get credited more than a 5 goals difference.
22. Teams ranking in the standings will be sorted first by Total Points, then by the BReaking formula where BR= GF/(GF+GA). (GF: Goals For and GA: Goals Against).
23.  In the event of a tie breaker (2 or more teams) for a playoff seed after applying ranking criteria in Rule 22, the following criteria will apply through 1 to 9 listed below until 1 team and only 1 team is identified ahead of all other teams tied. That team has the next position in the standings while we repeat the whole process from step 1 on with the remaining teams to determine the team's ranking in the standings:

1.      Head-to-Head

2.      Most games won

3.      Least Goals Against (GA)

4.      Most Goals For (GF)

5.      Fastest goal between the teams concerned

6.      Fastest goal at the beginning of a game in the preliminary round

7.      Best BR and if GA=0, that team will be ahead of everyone.

8.      Least penalty minutes during the tournament

9.      Flip of a coin

Please respect the referees at all times, should you have a situation you would like to discuss concerning a particular individual, we have appointed a referee in chief who is available to you, he does not have the power to change a referees decision. However, we have advised our refereeing staff to treat coaches with respect and they will expect the same in return. They will not exercise any patience when being sworn, screamed or gestured at. At all times, the direction of this tournament reserves itself the final word on the interpretation of the rules.                        

The Direction of the Kingston International Youth Hockey Festival