Lady Falcons Invitational (Spring Tournament)

1) All teams must be registered with U.S.A. Hockey, the Canadian Hockey Association, or the appropriate IIHF affiliate.

2) Any forfeited games will be recorded as a 3-0 score. Any forfeited games affecting other teams in terms of playoff status, may be reviewed by the tournament director to determine which teams advance beyond preliminary round play. Also, use of ineligible players will disqualify team from remaining tournament play. All games played by the disqualified team will be forfeited (3-0 score recorded). No monies will be refunded.

3) Players and coaches should report to the arena at least 45 minutes prior to the start of their scheduled game in case tournament is running ahead of schedule. A team representative and head coach must sign in prior to each game. The tournament organizer has the right to start games up to 20 minutes ahead of schedule, if games are running early. Players do not have to sign in, unless told otherwise.

4) Team contacts should carry with them to all tournament games the following items and have copies to hand the tournament director at each game:

• USA/CHA/IIHF AFFILIATE CERTIFIED ROSTER OR PLAYER CARDS
• TRAVEL PERMIT (IF REQUIRED BY TEAMS SANCTIONING BODY) 

PLAYING RULES:

1) A zero-tolerance rule for verbal abuse is in effect. For players; a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct (zero tolerance) shall be assessed whenever a player: A.

• Openly disputes or argues about any decision by an official (On-ice or tournament directors)
• Uses obscene or vulgar language in a boisterous manner to anyone at anytime, even if it is not directed at any particular person.
• Visually demonstrates any sign of dissatisfaction with any decision by an official.

2) For coaches/managers/trainers; a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct (zero-tolerance) shall be assessed whenever a coach/manager/trainer:

• Openly disputes or argues about any decision by an official (On-ice or tournament directors)
• Uses obscene or vulgar language in a boisterous manner to anyone at any time, even if it is not directed at any person.
• Visually demonstrates any sign of dissatisfaction with any decision by an official including standing on the boards or standing in the bench doorway with the intent of inciting the officials, players or spectators.
• PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT THE TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR DOES NOT HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO REVERSE THE DECISIONS OF THE GAME OFFICIALS.

3) U.S.A. HOCKEY playing rules for all games. All teams please note the following rules, especially teams from outside of the United States that may not be familiar with or aware of some of them:

• Any player receiving 4 penalties (major, minor, misconduct or any combination of these) in one game will sit out the following game.
• Any team receiving 12 penalties (major, minor, misconduct or any combination of these) in one game will have their head coach sit out the following game.
• All minor penalties will be for 1:30
• No center ice line except for icing the puck. Icing will be called in all age divisions.
• All Divisions will have automatic off-sides
• Players are required to wear mouth guards and neck guards (if required by league)

4) Any game misconduct results in an automatic one game suspension regardless of when the infraction took place during the game. In other words, if a player is given a game misconduct during a game, he/she must sit out their team's next game.

5) Any player or coach receiving a match penalty or a gross misconduct will be disqualified from further tournament play and is not permitted on the bench during games they are serving the suspension. There are no exceptions to this rule!

6) Tournament directors reserve the right to take measures necessary to ensure completion of the tournament. For championship games, if tournament is running behind schedule, the tournament director has the right to move the awards ceremony off ice to ensure completion of all tournament games.

7) Mercy rule: if 5 or more goals separate the teams at the end of the second period or at any time during the third period, running time will commence for the remainder of the game. If the team behind comes to within two goals of the team ahead, stop time will resume for the remainder of the game. Maximum goal differential attainable per game is +/-6

8) TEAMS MUST BE PREPARED TO BEGIN A GAME UP TO 20 MINUTES AHEAD OF SCHEDULE. Failure to comply with this rule may result in the assessment of a two-minute bench minor penalty. Tournament officials reserve the right to use their judgment in this case, especially if it involves a playoff game, missing goaltenders and/or a possible forfeit. The tournament also reserves the right to not resurface if games are running behind schedule (usually this measure is only invoked under rare circumstances and only following a mite/novice or squirt/atom games).

9) No time outs will be allowed in preliminary round games, one (1) time out per team will be allowed in SEMI-FINAL AND CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES ONLY.

10) With respect to divisional standings; teams are awarded 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss. This is for preliminary round play only. There are no points awarded for winning periods.

11) Games may be called, if in the judgment of tournament officials, continuing play is deemed to be not in the best interest of the tournament, participants, spectators, officials etc... All games may be subject to curfew or changed to running time, regardless of the score, if one or both teams on ice actions indicate that there is little interest in actually playing hockey.

PERIOD LENGTHS:

12-12-13 MINUTES SQUIRT (10U), PEE WEE (12U) & BANTAM (14U) DIVISIONS.

Semi-final and championship games: period times will be same as above. If tied at the end of regulation play, the teams will play a 5 minute of sudden death overtime 4-v-4 (4 players plus a goalie per team). If teams are still tied after the overtime period, then a "shoot-out" will take place.

PENALTIES DURING OVERTIME:

When a team receives a penalty during overtime, that team will skate shorthanded 4-v-3 during this time. If that same team receives another penalty, while the time of the first penalty is still being served, the teams will skate 5-v-3. Once the first player’s penalty has expired, the player will enter the ice and the teams will play 5-v-4 until the next stoppage of play. During this stoppage, the teams will then go back to 4-v-3 power play and the player still in the box will enter the ice once their respective penalty has expired and the teams will skate 4-v-4.

“SHOOT OUT” FORMAT

1) The team manager/coach should indicate the order of the shooters by placing the numbers 1-10 next to the individual shooter’s names on the score sheet or fill out the shooting order form.

2) The "shoot out" will start with a round of three (3) shooters per team. If a team out scores its opponent in the round then the game has been decided and no further rounds will take place. If the game remains tied after shooters 1-3 have completed their respective attempts to score, the shootout will proceed to a “sudden death” format starting with shooters 4-10. Sudden death means the first team to score without the opposing team scoring wins. This process will be continued indefinitely until a non-tie situation exists. If the score remains tied after attempts from shooters 4-10, the order returns to shooters 1-3 and so on. The shooting order cannot be changed during shootout.

3) To start the "shoot out" process the shooter designated "1" will shoot first, "2" will shoot second and so on. PLAYERS RECEIVING A PENALTY IN OVERTIME THAT HAS NOT EXPIRED BY THE END OF THE OVERTIME, ARE NOT ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE “SHOOT-OUT” AND CANNOT BE SUBSTITUTED FOR BY THE TEAM. THE SPOT(S) WILL BE SKIPPED AND THE NEXT PLAYER IN THE ORDER WILL SHOOT.

4) Goaltender substitution once the “shoot out” process has begun is not permitted unless an injury occurs.

5) If a team has less than ten non-goaltender players on the roster, then the players assigned the lowest numerical positions in the first round (positions 1-3) will assume the "shoot out" positions that have not been assigned in the Second round (positions 4-10) due to a short roster that does not allow for the entire second round of shooters to be filled. Shooter "1" of the first round will fill in the first vacated spot of the second round of shooters; shooter "2" will fill the second and so on.

PLAYOFF FORMAT

Please refer to tournament scoreboards or speak to a tournament representative in order to determine playoff format for each individual division. It is incumbent upon the team management/coaches to confirm with a tournament representative, their final position in the standings and their playoff status, before leaving the rink after their final preliminary round game.

"TIE BREAKERS"

(TO DETERMINE PLAYOFF TEAMS)

1. "HEAD TO HEAD" COMPETITION. DIRECT PLAY BETWEEN TWO TIED TEAMS.
2. “GOAL DIFFERENTIAL”. THE TEAM WITH THE GREATER GOAL DIFFERENTIAL (GOALS FOR MINUS GOALS AGAINST) WILL ADVANCE. THE MAXIMUM GOAL DIFFERENTIAL ATTAINABLE PER GAME IS SIX.
3. LEAST GOALS AGAINST. (TOTAL GOALS, DIFFERENTIAL OF MORE THAN SIX IS POSSIBLE.
4. LOWEST TOTAL PENALTY MINUTES.
5. COIN TOSS 

“SPECIAL EXCEPTIONS”

“SPECIAL EXCEPTIONS” SCENARIOS AND “TIE BREAKERS” ASSOCIATED WITH EACH ARE AS FOLLOWS;

1) 4 TEAM DIVISION, 3 TEAMS ARE TIED WITH IDENTICAL RECORDS. THE 4TH TEAM IN THE DIVISION HAS 0 WINS AND 3 LOSSES. SINCE THE 3 TIED TEAMS HAVE ALL DEFEATED THE 4TH PLACE TEAM AND HAVE COMPILED IDENTICAL WIN AND LOSS RECORDS IN PRELIMINARY ROUND GAMES, “HEAD TO HEAD” COMPETITION IS NO LONGER VALID.

“TIE BREAKERS”, 2, 3 & 4 ARE THEN APPLIED USING ONLY SCORES INVOLVING GAMES BETWEEN THE TIED TEAMS. IF STILL TIED, “TIE BREAKER” 5, A THREE-WAY COIN TOSS WILL TAKE PLACE. THE TWO TEAMS POSSESSING A SIMILAR RESULT WILL ADVANCE. IF ONLY 1 PLAYOFF SPOT EXISTS, THE 2 REMAINING TEAMS WILL REPEAT THE COIN TOSS. 

2) DIVISION CONSISTING OF MORE THAN 4 TEAMS, 3 OR MORE TEAMS ARE TIED IN TOTAL POINTS UPON COMPLETION OF PRELIMINARY ROUND PLAY. EACH TIED TEAM HAS NOT PLAYED ALL REMAINING TIED TEAMS IN PRELIMINARY ROUND GAMES.

“TIE BREAKER” 2: GOAL DIFFERENTIAL WILL BE APPLIED. UPON APPLICATION THUS ADVANCING AND/OR ELIMINATING 1 OR MORE TIED TEAMS FROM FURTHER PLAY AND LEAVING 2 TEAMS WITH AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ADVANCEMENT, IF “HEAD TO HEAD” CONDITIONS EXISTS, THIS WILL DETERMINE THE FINAL PLAYOFF TEAM

3) 6 TEAM DIVISION: 3 TEAMS ARE TIED IN POINTS. 2 GAMES INVOLVING TIED TEAMS HAVE BEEN PLAYED. ONE OF THE 3 TIED TEAMS HAS DEFEATED THE OTHER TIED TEAMS. THE TEAM THAT HAS DEFEATED BOTH OF THE OTHER TIED TEAMS WILL ADVANCE. 

ANY SCENARIO NOT SPECIFICALLY COVERED BY THE ABOVE, WILL THEN BE LEFT TO THE DISCRETION OF THE TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR. 

GUIDELINES REGARDING JERSEY COLORS

As a general rule of thumb home, teams wear light colors, visitors wear dark colors. If your team has two sets of jerseys, we strongly recommend bringing both sets to all tournament games. If a color conflict or dispute arises, the tournament director reserves the right to make the final decision.

SANCTIONING & ON-ICE OFFICIALS

All tournaments are sanctioned by USA HOCKEY. We are required to use U.S.A. HOCKEY carded officials and have them officiate only those games that U.S.A. HOCKEY has deemed them qualified to officiate. 

PARENTS, SPECTATORS AND FANS REGULATIONS

We ask that all parents, spectators and fans conduct themselves in an orderly, sportsmanlike and professional manner when attending a tournament game. Any report of disorderly conduct in the rink, parking lot, etc. including, but not limited to the following, will not be tolerated:

• Parents, spectators and fans going on the ice or into bench area, penalty box or scorer’s box.
• Parents, spectators or fans going into referee’s locker room or opposing team’s locker room. x Physical or verbal abuse of referee’s, coaches, players, rink employees or tournament officials.
• Fighting amongst parents, spectators or fans in the stands.
• Excessive use of noise makers

If any of these issues are abused, the Maryville University Hockey Center, Chesterfield Hockey Association or Tournament Director has the right to dismiss all culprits from the facility at any time. Also, to be included:

• Parents, spectators and fans are not permitted to confront the tournament director(s) or scorekeeper(s) at any time. If an issue arises, that issue must be brought to the attention of the Tournament Director by a coach or manager. If a parent, spectator or fan continues to abuse the tournament director(s) and/or scorekeeper(s), they can be dismissed from the facility at any time, by the director or rink personnel. If the person(s) does not leave in a timely fashion, police can be called to assist.
• Any parent ejected from the rink during a game must leave the building and are not permitted back in the facility until the team’s next game or whenever determined by the tournament director.
• There is to be NO use of any air horns, mechanical noise makers or vuvuzelas at any time. These hinder the ability of players and scorekeepers to hear the whistle. If anyone is found with any of these, they will be confiscated and returned to them after the game has finalized. Excessive use of cow bells will also not be tolerated.

If the tournament director(s), rink personnel or officials deem the use is too excessive, they will be confiscated and returned after the game has finalized. If the situation is serious enough, the Maryville University Hockey Center, Chesterfield Hockey Association or Tournament Director reserves the right to dismiss any and all people involved from all tournament games and facilities for the entire weekend. Remember, we all are here for the kids to have an enjoyable and fun-filled weekend of playing hockey. We thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation.