Metro Hockey League

METRO HOCKEY LEAGUE RULES & REGULATIONS

I. METRO HOCKEY LEAGUE

A. Purpose

• The Metro Hockey League (MHL) is established within the Maroon Section of Minnesota Hockey to organize a multi-district league for Junior Gold teams.

B. Membership

• The MHL is comprised of many hockey communities, as established by MN Hockey, from the following MN Hockey districts:
  • District TC, 2, 3, 6, 8, and 10
• All deviations from this list must be approved by the board. If team(s) from other district(s) are added by the Board, such district(s) shall select two representa-tives to the Board. Such representatives shall be full voting members of the Board.

C. Governing Board

• The board will consist of The League Chairman, Treasurer, Scheduler, Secre-tary and two representatives from each member district. District Directors should be involved on a regular basis, but are not entitled to vote unless they are serving as one of their district's two representatives.

D. Voting

• The League Chairman, Treasurer, Scheduler, Secretary and each of the two district representatives are voting members. No individual person can cast more than one vote.

E. Board Member Eligibility

• A person or spouse of a person that is coaching a team playing in the MHL is NOT eligible to represent their District on this board.

F. Board Meetings

• The Board meetings shall be held as often as necessary to perform all administrative tasks that are required to operate the league.
   
• The meetings shall be conducted in a centrally located facility to minimize the driving for all members.
   
• The Chairman will be responsible for scheduling all meetings and establishing their respective agenda.

G. QUORUM

• A minimum of four (4) voting members representing at least three (3) of the member districts are needed to establish league rules or make financial decisions (e.g. team fees).
   
• No set quorum is required for decisions regarding implementation of existing rules or operating procedures, setting up meetings, etc.

II. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE METRO HOCKEY LEAGUE BOARD

A. General

• To organize and supervise all hockey in the Metro Hockey League, including year-end playoffs and perform such other duties as shall be assigned them by the MN Hockey Directors. Individual MN Hockey districts shall remain the "proper authority" or "proper disciplinary authority" within the league for all purposes con-templated by the official rules of USA Hockey.

B. Specific Tasks

• Schedule team enrollment cutoff and coaches meeting dates.
   
• Ensure that the host and visiting teams understand their responsibilities at games regarding officials, scorekeepers and timekeepers (and trainers for tour-naments). See sections V-E and V-F.
   
• Ensure that the coaches submit score forms. Respond to comments made on the score forms to both coaches and Supervisor of Officials.
   
• Serve as tournament officials for the playoffs. Perform trophy presentations at the end of the playoffs.
   
• Handle and be accountable for all monies collected by MHL for the purposes of MHL activities.

C. Board position Responsibilities.

• Chairman
  
  
  • The Chairman presides over MHL board meetings, is Tournament Director for playdown games and playoff tournaments, and is for communicating with the district directors regarding all MHL business and program activi-ties.
     
  • The Chairman will schedule board meetings at intervals required to estab-lish and maintain all required items of business in the best interest of the league.
     
  • The Chairman will appoint an accountant at the end of the season to re-view the financial records and reports provided by the Treasurer. The re-view must be completed within 90 days of the end of the fiscal year.
     
  • The Chairman may delegate any of these responsibilities to another board member in his absence.
     
  • The Chairman will appoint someone to procure trophies for the playoffs.

Treasurer

• The Treasurer will take the lead in developing a budget for the league for the season. This will be done following rules and guidelines of expenses for which the MHL is responsible. The season budget must be approved by the Board by December 15 to ensure final District/Team assessments can be defined by December 31.
   
• The treasurer, with the advise of the Board, will pick an individual account-ant to review the annual financial report.
   
• The Treasurer will assess and collect all monies from the Districts and/or teams per budget requirements and established processes.
   
• The Treasurer will be accountable for these monies and provide financial reports at times as specified by the Board.
   
• The Treasurer will maintain the league checkbook. The account will re-quire only one signature except for checks greater than $2000. The ac-count will provide for the Treasurer and Chairman as two of the authorized signatures. Others may be added by approval of the Chairman as re-quired.

League Secretary

• The League Secretary will take minutes at Board meetings and protest hearings and provide a copy to all Board members.

League Scheduler

• Coordinate scheduling meetings and publish league schedules and for-ward schedules to the referee schedulers throughout the Metro League.
   
• To be the recipient of the approved reschedule requests for changing the website only.
   
• Publish regular standings.

District Representatives

• District Representatives shall be the contact person for the coaches in their district. They shall keep an accurate record of all major, game mis-conducts and match penalties and shall be included in all disciplinary hear-ings held in their district. The representative shall be responsible for all re-scheduled games in their district.

III. DISCIPLINE HEARINGS

A. Each MN Hockey District will be responsible to conduct grievance or discipline hear-ings as needed to resolve gross misconduct or match penalties assessed to their coaches or players in league play.

B. The Metro Hockey League will cooperate with the respective districts by providing game scoresheets, referee reports or other information as needed to facilitate the hearing process.

IV. GAME PROTESTS

A. Basis of a Protest

• A protest must be written by the coach of the protesting team.
   
• Game protests will be considered in regard to procedural rules, such as:
  
  • Improper timekeeping – See rule VI—B
     
  • Improper scorekeeping
     
  • Improper players/coaches
     
• Protests based on the official's call of the game and interpretation and application of the playing rules per current USA Hockey Rulebook will not be allowed.

B. Procedures for Filing Protest

• The filing of a protest must be in writing and postmarked within 48 hours of the end of the game. A fee of $25.00 shall be included which will be forfeited if the protest is disallowed and returned if allowed. The fee and written protest shall be directed to the Metro League Chairman. Copies should also be delivered to the opposing coach and the officials' organization officiating the game. The protest will be heard by the Metro Hockey League Board.

V. GAME ADMINISTRATION

A. E-mailing scores and Fairplay Points The winning team shall be responsible for e-mailing SCORES and Fairplay Points to the league scheduler. In the event of a TIE, the visiting team shall re-port to the league scheduler. If not time-stamped within 48 hours, the team re-sponsible will be fined $25.00. If these fines are not paid prior to the beginning of the playoffs, that team will be disqualified from participating in the playoffs.

B. Scoreforms Each team manager will be furnished with MN Hockey standard scoreforms. The visiting team shall be responsible for the official scoring and see that the officials sign the scoreform. Coaches are encouraged to write objective comments on these forms for each game. The scoreform shall contain room for comments about the game by the coaches and officials. The officials may sign the scoreform in the Officials’ Room. When any major, match or gross penalty is called, and/or any incident requiring inter-vention by the Supervisor of Officials, the game officials shall immediately notify the Supervisor of Officials of the home district. NOTE: All coaches are encouraged to comment on each game's scoreform re-garding playing conditions, officials, minor officials, coaches or other items of in-terest. Objective comments will help improve the game and procedures for eve-ryone. Both teams are responsible to mail a LEGIBLE copy of the scoresheet to their designated league representative for the purpose of reviewing Fairplay Points. It is recommended this mailing be done once a week.

C. The goal nets shall be affixed with the breakaway anchors for all games.

D. Each team shall furnish a team roster by number and position to the official score-keeper at least ten minutes prior to the start of the game.

E. Each team is responsible for assigning minor officials for every league game, and these minor officials are the only officials allowed in the scorekeepers’ box during the play of the game. They are: Visiting team: Scorekeeper and their Penalty Box Home Team: Timekeeper and their Penalty Box

F. The minor officials are responsible to identify themselves to the game officials and the game officials to the coaches prior to the start of the game.

G. All minor officials must be adults (18 or older).

VI. GAME FORMAT

A. Each league game is allocated one (1) hour or one hour and one half. For associa-tions buying 2 or 3-hour blocks of ice to use for ninety (90) minute games, ninety (90) minutes of actual ice time (excluding resurface) can be used as the game time. (Applies primarily to districts 2 and 10.)
B. Starting the Game The timekeeper, scorekeeper and the referees must agree to the start time and finish time of a game prior to the start of game. Start time and finish time of the game must be posted on the scoreform. If not posted, protest will not be al-lowed.
C. Hour Breakdown & The Wes Barrette Handshake Rule Five (5) minute warm-up that coincides with game start time. The ice may be available early and this time may be used for additional warm-up. Immediately following the warm-up, the teams shall shake hands. However, game start time shall not begin prior to the allocated game time.
Hour Games One minute for team organization following warm-up. Play three (3) eleven (11) minute stop time periods. Whenever a team has a six (6) goal margin in the third period, the game will be played in running time format. One-minute rest time between periods. 1 ½ Hour Games Same as above except ?Play three (3) fourteen (14) minute stop periods with resurfacing between 2nd and 3rd periods or every 2 periods for back to back games.?
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METRO HOCKEY LEAGUE RULES & REGULATIONS
D. Game Termination A game is ended when any of the following occurs: Completion of period 3 or the end of the agreed upon 60/90 minutes. In this case, a game may be ended with time remaining on the game clock. At rinks that have 60/90-minute hour clocks, this hour clock will be used in lieu of the rink clock. No game shall go beyond the allotted ice time. The timekeeper is respon-sible for notifying the referee at the end of the 60/90 minutes allotted ice time. If a game is terminated due to spectator misconduct neither team will be awarded any points and the game will not be replayed.
E. Penalties The USA Hockey penalty durations shall be used for all league games: Minor - two minutes Major - five minutes Misconduct - ten minutes Game Misconduct - removed from this game and the next league game, invitational tournament game, playdown or playoff games.
F. Fair Play Point Fair Play rules are in effect for all MHL league games. Refer to MN Hockey Handbook.
VII. PLAY OF THE GAME
A. League play is governed by the playing rules of MN Hockey and USA Hockey, with the following exceptions and/or clarification: No time-outs are allowed during the scheduled league games. Home team will furnish game pucks.
VIII. PARTICIPATION CONDUCT
A. Fighting and Fisticuffs The penalty for fighting for the first offense will be suspension for the remainder of the game plus the following three (3) league games, invitational tournaments, playdown or playoff games. Scrimmages do NOT count for these games. For a second violation the player will be removed from the program. Minnesota Hockey Handbook, Youth Rules and Regulations VIII, E
B. Game Ejection At the Junior Gold and 16 & under classifications, the referees may call a Game Ejection on any player/team official at any time during the play of the game. The player/team official will be removed only from the game being played when re-ceiving this penalty.
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METRO HOCKEY LEAGUE RULES & REGULATIONS
Minnesota Hockey Handbook, Youth Rules and Regulations VIII, E
C. Automatic Game Ejection Assessment At the Junior Gold classification and the 16 & Under classification, a Game Ejec-tion shall be automatically assessed when a player received a third penalty dur-ing a single game. Enforcing this penalty is the joint responsibility of the refe-rees, the scorekeeper, the coach and the player. Any team which allows a player to continue to participate after their third penalty will forfeit that game. Minnesota Hockey Handbook, Youth Rules and Regulations VIII, G
D. Notification of Penalties The Head Coach must notify the Metro League district representative within 24 hours after the game, when any Game or Match Penalties have been issued to anyone associated with his team. The Team Manager may make this call, but it is the Head Coach’s responsibility to ensure it is done. It is also the Head Coach’s responsibility to understand the additional suspension penalties that are associated with these penalties as outlined in USA Hockey Playing Rules 404 and 405. Note: Scrimmage games do not count as a game that a player or coach must sit out due to a suspension because of a Game Misconduct.
E. Match Penalties Match penalties shall require a hearing by the respective MN Hockey District. Offending players or coaches are not allowed to participate in any sanctioned league games, scrimmages, tournaments and ALL TEAM ACTIVITIES until the respective MN Hockey District has reviewed the incident. In the event of subse-quent incidents with the same player or coach, the Districts are encouraged to issue a suspension from participating in any MN Hockey/USA Hockey sanctioned games for the remainder of the year.
IX. PROCEDURES FOR RESCHEDULING GAMES
A. Planned Rescheduling Procedures Following the standard scheduling process, each team will be allowed to re-schedule two (2) league games by December 19th. Any additional rescheduling will cost the petitioning team $100.00 per game. All requests to reschedule games must be made on the proper form, signed by both coaches, accompanied by a $100 required check and submitted to the Metro Hockey League district rep-resentative of the requesting team. The district representative shall verify that the rescheduled game is within scheduling parameters and that referees are available. If these criteria are met, the district representative shall approve the change and notify the League Scheduler and the appropriate referee scheduler. There will be no forfeits. Note: form found on Website.
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METRO HOCKEY LEAGUE RULES & REGULATIONS
B. Game Cancellations Due to Unavoidable Circumstances. (Examples include inclement weather and arena problems) These games must be rescheduled within 48 hours of the cancellation; otherwise a rescheduling fee of $100.00 will be assessed against each team. If the coaches concerned cannot agree to a rescheduled date, the MN Hockey
District (s) involved will resolve the dispute.
C. Games Not Played for Other Reasons If a team does not appear for a scheduled league game and lacks a valid reason (unavoidable circumstances) for not appearing, the non-appearing team (a) shall pay the entire cost of the ice and of the on-ice officials, (b) shall pay a fine of $200 to the Metro Hockey League, and (c) shall be disqualified from league post-season playoffs. The team that appeared for the game shall be awarded a 3-0 win in league standings.
X. JERSEY STANDARDS
A. The home team will wear the light uniforms and the visiting team the dark uniforms.
XI. PLAYER, COACH AND TEAM REGISTRATION
A. Each team must be able to provide, upon request a copy of the team membership application, a signed copy of the players roster form, a copy of the IMR form for each player and a birth certificate (or proof of age) for each player. Proof of high school enrollment for each member on the team also must be available. Any skater not enrolled in a conventional high school (public or private) but in an alternative education program such as night school must, in addition to proof of enrollment, no-tify their respective district representative of such, who will monitor their enrollment throughout the season with that schooling program. The skater and/or parent must consent to this. This is to ensure that a skater did not just enroll to meet the initial requirement, but does, in fact, remain involved with the school program for the dura-tion of the hockey season.
B. Teams unable to provide this documentation may be subject to game forfeiture. The team has 24 hours to produce this documentation at the arena where the game took place. If this is not achieved, then the MHL Chairman must be notified.
C. All Junior Gold coaches (A, B and 16&under head coach and assistants), will be re-quired to have as a minimum an ?INTERMEDIATE? level III certification through USA Hockey’s Coaching Education program.
XII. PLAYOFF TOURNAMENTS
A. Team Participation The purpose of the playoffs is to determine which teams will advance to theMN Hockey Regional/State Tournament. Teams are seeded in the playoffs accord-ing to their final league standings.
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METRO HOCKEY LEAGUE RULES & REGULATIONS
B. Teams Tied For Position League standings shall be determined based on the MN Hockey standings pol-icy. Refer to MN Hockey Youth Playing Rules. In the event that the tied teams played an unequal number of games, the formula results from the MN Hockey Rules must be normalized for a common number of games.
C. Where the goal differential is used in breaking ties, the maximum differential al-lowed per game is six goals. In calculating goals scored, the figure shall be re-duced for the winning team if necessary to obtain the six-goal maximum differential per game.
XIII. PLAYOFF TOURNAMENT FORMAT
A. The playoff format (number of games, single or double elimination, and consolation bracket) must be determined by the League Board as soon as possible after the number of teams participating has been determined. The format does not neces-sarily have to determine a final standing of the teams; it may be used in some cases to determine teams, which will participate in the MN Hockey Regional/State Tourna-ment.
B. If ice is available and by agreement of the League Board, the final rounds of the playdowns can be conducted using three (3) fifteen-minute stop time periods. Whenever a team has a six (6) goal margin in the third period, the game will be played in running time format.
C. Breaking of ties In case of a tie at the end of the regulation playing time in playoff games, the teams shall not change goals and sudden victory overtime play shall ensue us-ing the following format: Two (2) minute rest First overtime period – ten (10) minutes – five on five Two (2) minute rest Second overtime period – five (5) minutes – four on four Resurface the ice Remaining overtime periods – ten (10) minutes – three on three followed by two (2) minute rests. In the event of a penalty, the non-penalized team would be allowed a fourth player (four on three). The penalized player (or player serving the penalty) would return to the ice when the penalty is over, and four on four play would continue until there is a stoppage of play, at which time three on three would resume. Minnesota Hockey Handbook, Youth Rules and Regulations
D. The highest seeded team is the home team and wears light colored jerseys.
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METRO HOCKEY LEAGUE RULES & REGULATIONS
XIV. PLAYOFF ADMINISTRATION
A. The MHL Board Chairman is the director of MHL playoff tournaments and he may delegate other Board members to supervise the tournament to ensure that they are in accordance with MHL format and staffing requirements.
B. Problems should be handled through the normal chain to the respective District Di-rector.
C. Tournament Director Duties are as follows: Be present or have a designee at all playoff games. Ensure that scorekeepers, timekeepers and trainers have been scheduled. Ensure that officials and District Directors are informed of schedules. Arrange for award presentation (regular season and playoff) at the end of each playoff.
D. Host organization duties: Provide minor officials. Provide standings and standings board for playoffs. Notify coaches of any time restrictions on games.
E. General Playoffs All playoff expenses are paid by the League (ice, officials and EMTs), there-fore, there will be no admission charged.
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METRO HOCKEY LEAGUE RULES & REGULATIONS
Jr. Gold A, B and 16U Team Selection Policy
The local hockey association is in the best position to determine the levels of fielding their Jr. Gold A, Jr. Gold B and 16U teams based on the number of players, age and skill of the players in this group. The goal of all must be to encourage the continued participation in hockey for those who are not participating in the high school program. The following is a criteria for making those decisions.
A. Every Association should strive to have a Jr. Gold A team. Some Associations will need to play at the ?B? level because of numbers, in-creasing/decreasing, but their goal should be to field an ?A? team. Associations are encouraged to field a Jr. Gold ?A? and Jr. Gold ?B? vs. two Jr. Gold ?B? teams and no ?A? team. Fielding two Jr. Gold A teams is not recommended—Jr. Gold A should be the association's most competitive team.
B. Teams should be selected in the following order, with the objective of placing all eligible players on a team. Jr. Gold A Jr. Gold B 16 and Under
C. Associations with multiple Jr. Gold ?B? teams should have these teams selected equally.
D. Associations with multiple ?16U? teams should have these teams selected equally.