Bytown Adult Hockey League

BYTOWN ADULT HOCKEY LEAGUE CONSTITUTION

INDEX

ARTICLE ONE: GENERAL PROVISIONS

• 1.1       Name
• 1.2       Objectives
• 1.3       Finance 

ARTICLE TWO: GOVERNANCE

• 2.1       Officers
• 2.2       Election of Officers
• 2.3       Duties
• 2.4       Meetings
• 2.5       Voting 
  

ARTICLE THREE: TEAMS AND GAMES

• 3.1       Teams
• 3.2       Player Eligibility
• 3.3       Replacement Players
• 3.4       Spares
• 3.5       The Draft
• 3.6       Red Players
• 3.7       Red Goalies
• 3.8       Trades
• 3.9       The Season
• 3.10     Fees

ARTICLE FOUR: RULES OF PLAY

• 4.1       Body Contact
• 4.2       Slap Shots
• 4.3       Red Line
• 4.4       Residual Rules 

ARTICLE FIVE: DISCIPLINE

• 5.1       General
• 5.2       Fighting
• 5.3       Suspensions

ARTICLE SIX: DEFINITIONS

ARTICLE ONE: GENERAL PROVISIONS

1.1       NAME

• President
• One or more Vice Presidents

2.2       NAMING OF EXECUTIVE

The Vice Presidents shall be appointed by the President.

If avoidable a Vice President shall not be a Captain of a team in the League. The President may suspend this rule if no suitable candidate is available to be the Captain.

A Vice President may be removed from his office before the expiration of his term of office at the sole discretion of the President.

If a Vice President is duly removed, the President shall appoint another Vice President to assume the duties of the removed Vice President.

2.3       DUTIES

The President shall:

1. Be responsible for the general management and supervision of the operation of the League; and
2. Be responsible, unless these duties have been formally delegated to another officer, for the following duties:
3. Negotiations with the referees;
4. All financial duties of the league;
5. Scheduling of games;
6. Maintenance of the web site; and
7. All other residual duties not specifically assigned to the Executive or Captains.

The Vice President(s) shall:

1. Assist the President;
2. Carry out the responsibilities of the President on a temporary basis in the event the President is unable or unwilling to carry out his duties;
3. Organize meetings of the Executive;
4. Attend all meetings of the Executive, create a written record of the minutes of each meeting, maintain and store such written records as appropriate;
5. Distribute the minutes of the previous meetings within ten days;
6. Communicate matters of concern between the Executive and the Captains;
7. Receive individual complaints from Captains and make recommendations to the Executive;
8. Attend required meetings;
9. Decide on disciplinary issues;
10. Lead the recruitment efforts for new Players in the off season; and

The Captains shall have the following duties:

1. Off Ice
2. Distribute communications regarding fee payment (e-transfer being preferred), waiver completion and other league communications to their teams;
3. Collect sweaters & socks, ensuring all sweaters are accounted for, at the end of the season, launder them and remove the name tags; and
4. Report any problems promptly to one of the Vice Presidents 
5. Assist the Executive to recruit new Players in the offseason.
6. Participate in the draft, select Players and inform Players that have been chosen;
7. Put the name tag on the sweater of the Players on his team;
8. Explain league rules, including those pertaining to the treatment of officials and the policy regarding complaints to team prior to first game;
9. Provide team roster noting absences and Spares, including sweater number, to the timekeeper prior to the start of every game (preferably via email).
10. Appoint an alternate when he is unable to perform any of his duties.
11. Manage the complaints of the individual members of his team, determine validity of complaint and if appropriate forward the complaint in writing to the appropriate Vice President.  No verbal complaints will be accepted.
12. On Ice
13. Ensure that the team has enough Skaters and a Goalie for each game;
14. Check roster of opposing team before game begins if applicable. Ensure that Spares listed on the game sheet from both teams respect the league sparing rules.
15. Ensure that Players on his team display sportsmanship and refrain from dangerous play; and
16. Keep Players from inappropriate communication with game officials.  

2.4       MEETINGS

There will be regular meetings throughout the year, with the Executive, and with the Executive and the Captains.

Preseason meeting, held at the league draft

Invitees: The Executive, Captains

Agenda

Announcement of the Executive

Determination of number of protected Players

Determination of draft format

Player draft

Items of general concern

Winter Meeting

Invitees: The Executive, Captains

Agenda

Items of general concern

Concerns expressed through the Captains

Rating of players for playoff sparing

Recruiting plan for next season

May Meeting – if needed

Invitees: The Executive and Captains, referees’ representative

Agenda

Season wrap-up

Recruiting update & plan for next season

2.5       VOTING

Except where otherwise noted, articles involving governance of the League shall be voted on by the Vice Presidents. The majority of votes shall decide the outcome of any motions.

Articles involving rules of play, playoff format, and the draft will be voted on by the Vice Presidents and the Captains.

The President has the authority to override all votes.

ARTICLE THREE: TEAMS AND GAMES

3.1       TEAMS

Each team will consist of eleven Skaters and one Goalie.

3.2       PLAYER ELIGIBILITY

1. Players will be eligible to play if they have been selected by a team in the current season’s draft process.
   1. Skaters and Goalies will be entered into the draft process each season. Preference will be given in the following order:
      1. returning Players from the previous season who have paid in full.
      1. returning Players from prior seasons who have paid in full.
      1. new Players paid in full before the start of the draft process.  Priority will be given to new players in the order fees are received.
   1. New Players underage will be considered on a case-by-case basis by the Executive.
   1. Any Player who displays overly aggressive or dangerous play, engages in fighting, disrupts his own team, treats League Participants including referees in a disrespectful manner, or otherwise impairs the ability of the Executive to manage the League, may forfeit his eligibility subject to a vote by the Executive.
   1. No Player who has not paid in full will be allowed to start the season.

3.3       REPLACEMENT PLAYERS

1. If determined before a team’s 11th game that one of its Players is not able to play for the remainder of the season, due to injury, relocation or other circumstance, the Executive may (but is not obliged to) find a Replacement Player for the departing Player. If the determination is made after the start of the team’s 11th game no action will be taken.  If applicable the Replacement Player will pay a pro-rated fee and the departing Player will receive a pro-rated refund.
2. Once a Player is declared “done for the season” and is replaced, the departed Player will still be treated as a returning Player the following season and may participate in the draft process but is ineligible to play in the League until the following season.
3. If the Replacement Player wishes to play in the League in the following season, he would be subject to the draft process, but would not be eligible to be protected in his first year in the draft.
4. The Executive will determine how to integrate the Replacement Player with the goal of replacing the departed Player with a Player of similar skills, and to maintain or enhance the competitive balance of teams.
5. In the event that the Replacement Player is of markedly different caliber than the departed Player the Executive will take steps to maintain the competitive balance of the teams, which may include Player trades.

3.4       SPARES

During the regular season, teams will be permitted to replace an absent Player or Goalie with another Player or Goalie in the League subject to the following rules:

1. the team has no more than 10 Skaters and a Goalie including all Spares
2. the team has no more than the number of Red Players and Blue Players that they have on their current roster.
3. All eligible league goalies will be asked before any outside goalie is permitted.
4. the Replacement Player or Goalie is not suspended at the time

During the playoffs teams will be permitted to replace an absent Skater with another Skater in the League subject to the following rules:

1. the team has no more than 10 Skaters including all Spares
2. the Replacement Player is not rated any higher than the missing player, this based on a 1 to 11 scale determined at the winter meetings by the captains
3. the Replacement Player is not suspended at the time

During the playoffs teams will be permitted to replace an absent Goalie with another Goalie subject to the following priority:

1. Eligible goalies playing in the league, rated equal or lower than the absent goalie.
2. If no league goalie is able to play an outside goalie who has already spared in the League and been assessed by the Captains as equal or lower than the absent goalie.
3. In the event a replacement Goalie cannot be arranged subject to these priorities, the Executive must approve the replacement Goalie

During the regular season any Player that plays in two divisions will have both his teams play against each other. The team he plays for will be determined in the following manner:

1. the visiting team will keep the player, i.e. a Thursday team playing on Sunday will keep the player.
2. in the event multiple Players are on both teams the Captains may come to a mutual agreement on which Players play for which team.
3. team Captains play for the team they are Captain of regardless of the preceding. 

• the team that loses that Player can replace the Player subject to the regular season sparing rules.

During the playoffs any Player that plays in two divisions may possibly have both his teams play against each other. The team he plays for will be determined in the following manner:

1. the Player will play for the team ranked lowest in the global regular season standings.
2. team Captains play for the team they are Captain of regardless of the preceding. 
3. the team that loses that Player can replace the Player with the same conditions as section 4.5 subject to the play off sparing rules.

3.5       THE DRAFT

Before the first game of each new season, each division will conduct a draft to establish teams for the season. All Players and Goalies will be entered into the draft, including the Captains.  

The draft process is as follows:

1. All Players on the draft table are ranked on a scale of 1 to11 (1 being the strongest Players in the League, 11 being the weakest), and in the interest of fairness and transparency, any intelligence on the Players is shared by and amongst everyone present. Captains have no vote in their own ranking. There must be an equal number of players ranked in every category (1-11)
2. Each team Captain must be drafted based on the rank determined by the other Captains. If, based on that rank the Captain would be protected, he must count as a protected player for his team. Disputes will be settled by the Executive.
3. In reverse order of the regular season standings from the previous year, each Captain declares his intention to protect zero, one or two Players. If the captain is assigned as Protected, he must protect himself. This assumes a two protected player draft. If in the captain’s meeting prior to the draft it has been determined to protect a different number of players this will be adjusted accordingly.
4. Goalies may not be Protected. Replacement Players that joined the League after the previous season’s draft may not be Protected.
5. Continuing in reverse order of the regular season standings from the previous year, Captains with no Protected Players may protect a Player from the draft table.
6. Continuing in reverse order of the regular season standings from the previous year, Captains now with only one Protected Player may protect a Player from the draft table.
7. At this point in the draft, all teams should have exactly two Protected Players.
8. The draft will continue in reverse order of the previous year’s regular season standings, with each Captain selecting one Player per round until all teams are full.

3.6       RED, BLUE AND BLACK PLAYERS

All skaters drafted 1, 2 or 3 are automatically considered Red players for the season.

All skaters drafted 4, 5 or 6 are automatically considered Blue players for the season.

All skaters drafted thereafter are automatically considered Black players for the season.

Rankings can and will be revisited at the winter meetings.

Goalie draft order is excluded from this count, i.e. if a team drafts a goalie with their third choice the fourth player drafted is considered red.

3.7       RATING GOALIES

Once the teams have been selected, the Captains will designate the Goalies in the League as ‘A’s, B’s or C’s. This designation will only impact sparing during the playoffs, as per the play-off sparing rules. Again, the goalie ratings can be changed at the winter meetings in time for the playoffs.

3.8       TRADES

At any time before the puck drop of the first game of the season, Players may be traded by mutual agreement of the two Captains involved. After puck drop of the first game of the season both Captains and all Players involved must agree to the trade.

If at any time during the season the Executive deems there to be a competitive imbalance, the Executive may suggest a trade that would help alleviate this imbalance. 

3.9       THE SEASON

Regular Season

The regular season shall consist of approximately 20 games (subject to change).

The regular season standings will award 2 points for each win and one point for each tie.

If two teams are tied in the standings after the regular season, the tiebreaker will be decided by the following criteria:

1. most wins
2. most wins in head-to-head games
3. goal differential for all regular season games
4. goal differential in head-to-head games 
5. fewest penalties during the regular season
6. coin toss

Regular season standings determine bonus points that are carried into the play offs. The last place team in each division receives 0, second last 1, third last 2.0 and so on.

Playoffs

The playoffs will be played in three rounds.

The first round will involve a round robin series of either one game or two games versus each team within the division.

Each team will be awarded three points for a win, and one point for a tie during the round robin. These points will be combined with the season bonus points awarded and carried over from the regular season.

Tiebreaker

If two teams are tied after the season bonus and round robin points are combined, the tiebreaker will be the following:

1. The record of the two teams in head-to-head games in the round robin
2. If the teams split their games or tied both, the team that gained more points in the round robin (first round of playoffs)

The second round will be a one game elimination format. There will either be one or two of these elimination games depending on the number of teams in a division.

The third round will be a one game elimination final. The winner will be declared champion.

Second and third round game games shall be two hours long. Play shall be divided as follows: first hour, two periods, running time; second hour, one period, 20 minutes stop time.

If at the end of the third period the game is tied the winner will be determined by shoot out.

The Shootout

Each team will choose three Players and the most goals scored with three shooters determines the winner of the shootout.

If the teams are tied after three shooters, each team continues to select one shooter at a time, who has not previously been chosen, and the winner of the shootout is determined as soon as the tie is broken.

Players cannot shoot more than once until every Player on their team has shot.

3.10     FEES, HST AND INSURANCE

All fees will be announced for the following season at the end of the current regular season. Acceptable payment schedules will also be published at this time.

Fees will include HST on the league fees as well as the CARHA Insurance premium.

ARTICLE FOUR: RULES OF PLAY

4.1       Body Contact

The League does not allow body contact.

4.2       Slap Shots

Slap shots are not permitted. A slap shot, defined as a shot where the backswing of the stick rises above the knee, will result in a stoppage of play and a faceoff in the offending team’s end. A team called for a slap shot infraction in their own zone while shorthanded will be assessed a minor penalty.

4.4       Residual Rules

All other rules, not specifically mentioned above are according to the ODMHA rulebook.

ARTICLE FIVE: DISCIPLINE

5.1       General

All forms of discipline will be decided by the Executive. The general philosophy in meting out discipline is to promote a fair, safe and gentlemanly conduct of play.

5.2       Fighting

A Player who is penalized for fighting or any other major penalty will be immediately suspended pending an investigation by the Executive.

5.3       Suspensions

1. A Player that receives three minor penalties in the same game shall be automatically ejected from the remainder of the game. A major or misconduct penalty will be considered as equivalent to three minor penalties for the purposes of penalty counts only.
2. A Player that accumulates ten minor penalties shall receive a one game suspension.
3. A further one game suspension will be received for accumulating thirteen and sixteen penalties. At nineteen penalties a Player will receive a two game suspension and an automatic review of his eligibility to remain in the League. For the purposes of this rule a major or misconduct penalty will count as the equivalent of three minor penalties. All penalty totals will be reset to zero before round 2 of the playoffs.
4. A game misconduct received in the last five minutes of a game will result in an automatic one game suspension. The Player that is suspended under this rule will not have any minor penalties added to his total.
5. Any Player ejected for any reason or receiving a major penalty or a game misconduct will not be permitted to spare or play for another team on the same day as the infraction occurred, regardless of whether the penalty results in further disciplinary action.
6. Any Player serving a suspension cannot spare for another team until his suspension is over.
7. Players playing on two teams shall serve their suspension by counting games from both their teams. For example a Player receives a three game suspension, he may sit out two games for his Thursday team and one from his Sunday team. He cannot spare in either division until the suspension is complete.
8. Gross or consistent breaches of expected League conduct may result in lengthy suspensions up to and including a lifetime ban from the League. Eligibility based on aggressive or unsportsmanlike conduct may be reviewed by the Executive.

ARTICLE SIX: DEFINITIONS

“League” refers to the Bytown Adult Hockey League

“Participants” shall include Players, referees, Timekeepers, and volunteers with the League.

“Executive” shall refer to the President and Vice Presidents.

“Captains” shall refer to the individuals responsible for the game-to-game management of each team.

“Players” shall refer to Skaters and Goalies playing in the League.

“Skaters” shall refer to Players playing the position of forward or defense, but not Goalies.

“Goalies” shall refer to Players playing the position of goaltender.

“Red Players” shall refer to Players drafted in the first 3 rounds on their respective team, as per clause 3.6.

“Blue Players” shall refer to Players drafted in rounds 4-6 on their respective team as per clause 3.6.

“Red Goalies” shall refer to one of the top Goalies in the League, as per clause 3.7.

“Protected” shall refer to Players removed from the draft table before the first open round of the draft, as per clause 3.5.

“Replacement Players” shall refer to Players joining a team after the start of a season, for the remainder of the season.

“Spares” shall refer to Players joining a team on a temporary basis.