House League

Playing Rules

1. Playing rules will be those recognized by the OWHA (Ontario Women’s Hockey Association) and the CHA (Canadian Hockey Association), except as noted.
2. Neckguards:  Players are required to wear neckguards for all tournament games.
3. Mouthguards:  Players are required to wear mouthguards at all times during play if their own district requires that they do in league play.
4. Helmets: Must be worn by trainers who attend to injured players on the ice. City of Ottawa bylaws state that “walking on the ice surface with footwear to gain access to the player’s benches, penalty box and timekeeper’s station is NOT permitted. Walking on the ice surface to respond to an emergency and provide trainer assistance is permitted provided the designated person is wearing a CSA approved helmet.”
5. Game Length: 
1. Periods and running times to be used:

Round robin games will consist of 10-10-10 stop-time periods OR a 50-Minute Running Clock whichever comes first. Playoff and championships games will consist of 10-10-10 stop-time periods, with no time limit.

2. All games will have a 3 minute warmup which will begin from the time the arena staff have left the ice. At the 2 minute mark, a warning horn will sound and teams should collect their pucks and proceed to the bench for their coach talk and/or cheer. The starting line should prepare to lineup at centre ice. To encourage teams to begin the game promptly, at exactly the 3 minute mark of the warmup, the referees will blow the whistle and the 1^st period 10 minute time clock will begin running and will not stop until the first whistle during play.
3. If, at any time during the third period, a team is ahead by five or more goals, straight running time shall commence on the game clock.  If the goal differential is seven goals at any time during the first or second period, running time shall also commence.  If at any point the margin is reduced to four goals or less, stop-time play shall resume.  This rule is in effect for all round robin, playoff and championship games.
5. Time-Outs:  One (1) thirty (30) second time out will be permitted in playoffs and in championship games ONLY.
6. Overtime: Overtime will only be played in playoff and championship games if regulation time produces a tie. When signing in for playoff and championship games, coaches will be required to designate 3 shooters on the game sheet (S1, S2 & S3) Overtime shall consist of:
1. One sudden-victory 5-Minute stop time period with teams playing four (4) skaters plus a goaltender.
2. If still tied after the overtime period, a shootout with 3 skaters from each team will take place. .  The team that scores the most goals with the three shooters indicated on the game sheet, will be declared the winner. The shooters will go one at a time. Whichever team has had the fewest penalty minutes in the game, will have the option of shooting first or last.  If the teams have the same number of penalty minutes in the game, the HOME team will shoot LAST.  Once the order is determined, it will remain the same for all future rounds of the shootout.  A player from one team will go, followed by a player from the other team, and so on until all 3 designated players have gone.
3. If still tied, a sudden-death shootout with one player from each team will take place.  Each shooter must not have participated in any prior round of the shootout.  Whichever team shot first in the previous round, will once again shoot first.


4. Repeat step above until no skater remains that has not yet participated from either team.  In the event that one team runs out of players, they will work in reverse order selecting the player that has most recently shot to participate next, until the other team has also used every skater. At this point in time, the shooting order for each team will be repeated from the beginning, starting with S1, S2 & S3.
5. If a player is still serving a penalty at the end of the overtime period, they will NOT be permitted to participate at any point in the shootout. If one of the designated shooters is serving a penalty at the time of the shootout, the coach of that team will be required to replace that shooter with another player. The replacement player MUST shoot in the penalized player’s spot.
7. Round Robin Standings will be based on points: two (2) points for a win, one (1) point for a tie, no points for a loss.
8. Round Robin tie-breaker:  If tied in points, standings (seedings) will be determined based on the following order:
1. The head to head result involving the teams tied (two-way ties only).
2. The team with the most wins in round robin play.
3. The highest ratio of goals for divided by goals for plus goals against [GF/(GF + GA)] NOTE: In the interest of Fair Play and Sportsmanship, there will be a cap of a 5 goal differential. For example, if the final score is 7-1, the winning team will receive a +5 in goals for/goals against and the ratio will be calculated as if the score were 6-1.
4. The team with the lowest number of penalty minutes accumulated in round robin play.
5. The team with the lowest number of goals against
6. Coin toss by the tournament committee or a designated representative.
9. Penalties:  Penalties carry over into overtime and shoot-outs.   In the event of more than one penalty being assessed to the same team while playing 4 on 4 in overtime, the penalized team will play with 3 skaters and the non-penalized team will play with 5 skaters. When the first penalty expires, the penalized player will return to the ice to give a 5 on 4 configuration, if the second penalty expires prior to a stoppage in play, that player will return to the ice which will give a 5 on 5 configuration. At the stoppage of play, both teams will revert to 4 skaters and a goalie.  No less than three skaters plus a goalie and no more than five skaters plus a goalie per team shall be on the ice during overtime play. If a penalized player has not served their entire penalty at the end of overtime, they will not be permitted to participate in the shootout. All suspensions will be enforced according to OWHA 2009/10 rules and regulations.  OWHA minimum suspension rules will be strictly enforced.
10. Fighting Penalties:  Any player receiving a major penalty for fighting will automatically be suspended for the remainder of the tournament.
11. A Player of the Game award will be awarded at the conclusion of each game.  No player may win the Player of the Game award more than once during the round-robin portion of the tournament. Coaches will choose their own Player of the Game. Time permitting at the conclusion of the game, players will line up on their respective blue lines and the presentations will be made on the ice. If there is a lack of time available, coaches will present the award in their dressing room.
12. For playoff and championship games, the home team will be the team with the highest seeding after the round robin portion in the tournament.

General and Administration Rules

1.     ZERO Tolerance: Taunting or berating of any players, officials, staff, or tournament volunteers will NOT be tolerated under any circumstances by parents, players, team officials or other spectators.  The Ottawa Girls Hockey Association reserves the right to eject any person whom it deems, in its sole discretion, to be acting in an improper manner and we accept no liability in connection with such ejections.

2.     Referee’s Decisions:  All referee’s decisions are final and may not be appealed.  No protests will be permitted.

3.     No “select” or “tournament teams” are permitted to compete in any OWHA sanctioned tournament.  Eligible players must be registered members of the team, or affiliated players in accordance with OWHA rules.  Pick up consent forms and OWHA approved team rosters must be presented to the tournament registration desk at the time of pre-tournament team check-in.  In order to be eligible for the playoff and final games a player must have played in at least one of the round robin games. 

4.     A player may only participate with one designated team in a tournament.

5.     A player must play at least one round robin game to qualify to play in the play-off and championship games.

6.     Scheduled Game times are approximate. TEAMS MUST BE PREPARED TO START THEIR GAMES UP TO 15 MINUTES BEFORE THEIR SCHEDULED START TIME.  TEAMS NOT READY TO START THEIR GAMES ON TIME OR WITHIN THE 15-MINUTE WINDOW BEFORE, MAY FORFEIT SUCH GAMES AT THE DISCRETION OF THE TOURNAMENT COMMITTE OR A DESIGNATED REPRESENTATIVE.

7.     Check In:  One (1) team representative must check-in to the tournament office, located at the J.A. Dulude Arena no less than forty-five (45) minutes before the team’s first scheduled game.  He or she will be required to present their OWHA approved team roster (or similar registration form as supplied by their district), pick-up consent forms and travel permit/sanction forms (for out of province teams).  The team representative will then be given an ‘approved roster’ form which must be presented at each  arena sign-in desk before each game. 

8.     Team officials are responsible for the conduct and supervision of all of their team’s participants at all times.  No shooting, stick handling, or passing of any objects is permitted anywhere in the facility other than the ice surfaces!

9.     Team management WILL be held responsible for vandalism of any kind done to their dressing rooms.  Teams MUST bring any pre-existing dressing room conditions to the attention of tournament or arena staff BEFORE their ice time.

10.  The tournament committee reserves the right to change or alter these rules at any time without prior notice in order to act in the best interests of the tournament.