2024 Big CAT Pre-Season Showdown
Tournament Rules
1. Hockey Canada and OWHA rules shall apply except where listed below.
2. Team representatives/managers must check in at the registration desk (1) hour prior to their first game at the tournament headquarters located at each arena. The main Tournament Headquarters will be at St Thomas Joe Thornton Community Center (JTCC). Teams must be available to play fifteen, (15) minutes prior to regular scheduled game time.
3. Coaches must sign off on their roster in the Gamesheet app prior to each game.
4. To be eligible to participate in the tournament, the participants name must appear in the Gamesheets app. Changes to the roster must be made via OWHA or through the established AP process in Gamesheets.
5. All teams outside Canada must have a travel permit, certified roster and medical insurance.
6. The team listed first on the schedule will be designated the visiting team. The home team will wear white/light coloured sweaters. Visitors will wear dark coloured sweaters.
7. All locker rooms will be assigned by tournament officials. Rooms must be left clean, without damage and all tape must be properly disposed of. Teams will be financially responsible for any damage to the facility.
8. Teams are required to vacate dressing rooms within 30 minutes of completing their game.
9. All U11 and U13 games are 10-10-12 minute periods stop time and U15 and U18 games are 12-12-12 minute periods stop time.
10. All games will use the fast face-off protocol. The puck shall be put into play at the indicated start time of the game regardless of whether both teams are lined up in face off position.
11. There will be a three (3) minute warm up prior to each game, starting as soon as the Ice Resurfacer gates are closed. Once the game clock has started, the officials shall initiate the Fair Play procedures. When 2 minutes have elapsed, a game official will blow the whistle to let the teams know they have 1 minute to get to their benches and get their starting line up to centre ice. If teams fail to be ready a delay of game penalty may be assessed.
12. One 30 second timeout will be permitted per team per game in all Quarter-Final, Semi-Final and Championship games only.
13. Any game with a 5 goal differential will be running time at the start of the third period (or anytime thereafter). A return to stop time will result once a goal difference of 3 is reached.
14. OWHA minimum suspensions will be strictly ENFORCED.
15. Players must wear all protective equipment required by their home sanctioning body.
16. All equipment must be in accordance with OWHA guidelines. All players’ pant legs must be secured as per the OWHA guidelines before players enter the ice surface.
17. No body checking in all divisions.
18. Calls made by the on ice officials cannot be protested. A protest may be filed with the Tournament Director with a $200 non-refundable fee (if protest is unfounded). All protests must be filed within one (1) hour of the completion of the game in question. Items such as illegal player/age/non-registered coach, etc. are the types of things that may be protested.
19. Ensuring that all participating players and personnel are accurately signed onto each game sheet prior to each game is the sole responsibility of the team Head Coach. Failure to do so will result in forfeiture if reported to the tournament committee within one hour of the conclusion of the game in question. Only registered coaching staff and management (or Captains in the senior divisions) of the opposing (non-offending) team will have the authority to report such an error or omission to the tournament committee and as such it will be considered a formal protest as per the guidelines set forth in item 18 above.
20. The Disciplinary Convenor of the Tournament will deal with all disciplinary matters.
21. All decisions by the tournament committee will be considered final with respect to formal protest rulings and disciplinary matters.
22. Floods (addition or deletion) will be at the discretion of the Tournament Convenor and/or the Referee on the ice if the need arises. (e.g.: overtime, weather conditions, injury, etc.)
23. Two (2) points will be awarded for a win, one (1) point for a tie and zero (0) for a loss.
24. Tiebreakers.
In case of two (2) teams tie in points after round robin games, tiebreakers will follow the numerical order until all ties are broken. If more than 2 teams are tied then criteria ii will be omitted.
The following criteria will be used to break the tie:
i. Number of wins
ii. Head to head record
iii. Record against other tied teams
iv. Goals scored minus the goals against in round robin play (max.5 goals difference per game)
v. Fewest goals allowed in round robin play
vi. Fewest Penalty minutes in round robin play
vii Most goals scored in round robin play (max. of 5 per game)
viii. Flip of a coin
A “position of standing” will be decided according to the tiebreaker process.
Note: a tie is when more than one team within the same division, receive equal number of points after the round robin games are played. There will be no overtime play during round-robin games.
25. Overtime.
Will be played in quarter-final, semi-final and championship games only and will be sudden victory. Teams will not change ends after the third (3rd) period. Penalties will carry over into the Sudden Death overtime from regular time. Player changes are allowed to be made at any time as in regulation play. AT NO TIME WILL THERE BE LESS THAN 3 PLAYERS AND A GOALIE ON THE ICE. A goalie may be replaced with a forward player at any time.
Quarter-Final, Semi-Final, Championship (Gold Medal) Games:
- Head Coach must record S1, S2, S3 on game sheet prior to start of game for shoot out purposes
- One, sudden death, 5-minute stop-time period; teams will play 4 on 4 unless one or both teams are serving a penalty.
- If still tied, a three (3) player shootout will commence with teams shooting simultaneously. The shooters will proceed to the penalty box area prior to the start of the shoot-out and return there after each attempt. Any player serving a penalty at the end of the overtime will NOT be eligible to participate in the shootout. All non-shootout participating players will be on the bench. Shooters from both teams will shoot simultaneously and the team scoring the most goals in the three person shootout will be awarded the win. Should the three player shootout result in a tie A Sudden Victory Shootout Will Commence. A player from each team (other than those who participated in the three person shootout) will be chosen to shoot simultaneously until a goal is scored by one of the teams only (declaring a winner). A player may not shoot for a second time until all players on the game sheet (except goalies and players serving a penalty) have shot. The shooters will continue to proceed to the penalty box area after each attempt.
All decisions by the Tournament Directors for tiebreakers are final.
Fun Fair Play Integrity