Rules, Winter Classic Tournament, 2023-2024 (Oakville Rangers Hockey Club)

General

• All teams must pick-up their tournament swag for players and coaches upstairs at Sixteen Mile Sports Centre (3070 Neyagawa Boulevard, Oakville, ON ) on Thursday or Friday.
• Complaints, concerns and compliments are to be directed to Tourney HQ (downstairs at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex). Any distasteful engagement with arena staff, tournament volunteers, timekeepers or on-ice officials will not be tolerated and could result in a default or expulsion. Please take this seriously because we will and did last year.
• Tournament schedule, results, standings and rules can be found at www.oakvillerangers.ca/WinterClassic
• This tournament generally runs ahead of schedule. Therefore, teams must be prepared to play their round robin games up to 15 minutes early.
• All teams should bring their own dressing room locks. Tournament is not responsible for lost/stolen property.

Team Eligibility

• Teams must be registered with Hockey Canada or International affiliates (and/or their Provincial/State affiliates). An official/approved Roster and Travel Permit should have been pre-submitted electronically to the tournament website. If not, you must present your Roster and Permit at Tournament HQ (downstairs at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex) prior to your first game.
• All players including APs must be on an approved, pre-submitted roster. No player will be permitted to compete if not on an approved/official roster or card.
• Each team may dress up to (17) seventeen players and up to two (2) goaltenders for each game.

Digital Game Sheets

• Tournament is using GameSheet Inc. digital game sheets on iPads. Your team’s roster should appear in the system automatically if your team is in the OMHA or you have used a link sent to you to upload your roster. If neither is the case, you will need to manually enter your team into the iPad prior to the game.
• At least 20 minutes prior to each game, 1 member of the bench staff must sign digital game sheet at the Tourney Desk located in each arena. iPads stay at the desk.
• Tournament officials cannot change game sheets or overrule/change a call from a referee. When the game is over the score sheet is final.

Divisional Structure & Pools

• All divisions will begin with a 4-game Round Robin; with teams divided into pools of 4 or more teams:
  • Pools with 4 teams will play all games against another pool with 4 teams (all cross-over games)
  • Pools with 5 or more teams will play all games against teams within their own pool (pools with 6 or more teams will not play all potential opponents within their own pool)
  • All Round Robin games may end in a tie, and there is no overtime .
  • There are no timeouts in Round Robin play.
  • Home/Visiting teams are predetermined for round robin play as indicated in the official tournament schedule.
• After Round Robin play, the top ranked teams advance to a single-elimination Playoff Round
  • Divisions with 8 teams – the top 4 teams of the combined Pool A1 and Pool A2 will advance to semi-final games.  Winners of those games will advance to the championship final.
  • Divisions with 9-14 teams – the top 2 teams from Pool A and the top 2 teams from Pool B will advance to semi-final games.  Winners of those games will advance to the championship final.
  • Divisions with 15 or more teams – the top 4 teams of the combined Pool A1 and Pool A2, and the top 4 teams of the combined Pool B1 and Pool B2 will advance to quarter-final games.  Winners of quarter-final games will advance to semi-final games, and winners of semi-final games will advance to the championship final.
  • Special Case: U11AAA. Due to two late withdrawals, this division changed from 16 to 14 teams, however, maintained the QF games in order to preserve as much of the original schedule as possible. For this division only, the top 3 teams from Pool A and the top 5 teams of the combined Pool B1 and Pool B2 will advance to quarter-final games.  Winners of quarter-final games will advance to semi-final games, and winners of semi-final games will advance to the championship final.
• All Playoff Round games must decide a winner.  If tied after regulation time:
  • Overtime, as defined below, then if still tied;
  • Shootout, as defined below
• Each team may call one (1) 30-second timeout during any Playoff Round game.
• For all championship final games, home ice is awarded to the team with the higher rank after round robin play.

Jersey Colours

• Home team wears light-coloured jerseys. Visitors wear dark jerseys.

Tie-Breaking Rules

• Ranking of teams, used to determine which teams advance from Round Robin play as well as to determine home ice in the championship final, will be defined as follows:
  1. Most points in all round robin games, where 2 points are awarded for a win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 points for a loss;
  2. If both (or all) tied teams played against each other, the head-to-head record in those games;
  3. The most Wins (W) during all round robin games;
  4. The highest Goal Differential (GF%) calculated as GF / (GF + GA) during all round robin games;
  5. The lowest Goals Against (GA) during all round robin games;
  6. The highest Goals For (GF) during all round robin games;
  7. A random draw.

Period Lengths

• Under 10 Divisions – 10, 10, 10
• Under 11 to Under 13 Divisions – 10, 10, 15
• Under 14 to Under 16 Divisions – 10, 15, 15
• Period lengths are the same for all Round Robin and Playoff Round games within that division.
• No in-game floods for any Division in either Round Robin or Playoff Round games
• Teams will be permitted a 2-minute warm-up prior to the game. Teams not ready to start play at the scheduled time and/or when the referee calls the players to centre ice for the initial face off, will be subject to a delay of game penalty and possible forfeit of the game.

Overtime (Playoff Round Only)

• One 5-minute period, sudden victory
• 3-on-3 format.  If a team receives a penalty during overtime (or has penalty time remaining at the end of regulation), the opposing team will add another player for each penalty being served, up to a maximum of 5 players.

Shootout (Playoff Round Only)

• For the shootout, each team selects 3 players. Teams shoot alternately and all three players shoot. If there is no winner after 3 shots each, then shootout continues in sets of one, using different players. Goalies must be those who were last used in overtime. Flip of coin decides which team shoots first. Continue rotation in same order until there is a winner. If one team completes its player rotation before the other because it has fewer players, without a winner, both teams will be allowed to revert to their starting sequence and to repeat that sequence. A player who is still serving an overtime or regulation time penalty can not participate in the shootout.

Mercy Rule (Round Robin Only)

• In round robin games, if the 3rd period begins with a team leading by 5 goals or a team reaches a 5 goal lead during the period, it will be running time for the balance of the period. Time will continue to run throughout the period, regardless of further scoring changes. In the semi-finals or finals, the same Mercy Rules apply UNLESS the trailing team cuts the deficit to 3 goals. In that case, the game will return to stop time for the balance of the game.

Body Checking

• No body checking in any U13 and below divisions.
• For U14 and above, "A" divisions will be noted as either having Body Contact or Non-Contact in the name of the division. For clarity, the term "body contact" in these divisions refers to "body checking"
• For U14 and above, no body checking in any "BB" divisions

Officiating, Suspensions, & Safety

• Due to a province wide post-Covid shortage of certified referees many/most games that often have a 3-official crew will instead have a 2-official crew.
• This is an OMHA-sanctioned tournament (11641) and the tournament will be played and officiated according to OMHA rules. Fighting, Game Misconducts, Gross Misconducts and Match Penalties will be subject to suspension lengths as outlined at https://www.omha.net/ .
• It is the responsibility of the team to ensure any player or team official who has been assessed a game suspension (GM) sits out the required number of games as per OMHA minimum suspension rules. Failure to comply will result in the offending team forfeiting the game, which will be recorded as a 1 – 0 loss.
• All tournament forfeits (not including the above) will result in a 5 – 0 loss.
• The tournament committee reserves the right to take measures necessary to ensure a safe tournament for the participants including the modification of any rule(s) herein which is deemed by them to be in the tournament’s best interest. Decisions of the tournament committee are final.
• Mouth and neck guards are required if your local governing body requires their use.