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NCHL RULES & REGULATIONS
- All players must complete and sign the Player Registration and Liability Waiver form prior to any game play (this link is team specific and available from your team GM).
- All players must be a minimum 18 years of age to qualify for league registration.
- Any player is permitted to play for multiple teams and multiple divisions.
- Each player must play 1/3 of the scheduled regular season games for their team in order to qualify to play for that team in the playoffs.
- Any player playing for a club team will be credited 0.5 games towards higher division teams in that club.
- There will be absolutely NO exceptions made to the number of qualification games required for playoffs.
- Goalies are exempt from all qualifying rules for playoffs. A goalie does not need any games played to qualify, but spares must be approved by the league if they have not played any games with that team.
- Players must be prepared to produce picture ID upon the request of league officials at any league sanctioned game (regular season or playoffs). Any player failing to produce valid ID upon request shall be considered an illegal player, and result in an immediate forfeit for their team.
- Any number of players can be added to the roster before the start of a regular season game providing they have previously filled out the Player Registration and Liability Waiver.
DIVISION REALIGNMENT AND SCHEDULE ADJUSTMENT
1. The league administration reserves the right to change the division of any team at any time during the season to ensure divisional parity.
EQUIPMENT AND UNIFORMS
CONTACT
1. Body checking is prohibited.
2. Incidental contact may or may not result in a penalty based upon the discretion of the on-ice officials.
FIGHTING AND/OR THE ABUSE OF OFFICIALS
1. Fighting is prohibited.
2. A first fighting offence will result in an indefinite suspension.
3. Any player suspended for fighting must attend a disciplinary review before they will be permitted to play in any further seasons in the NCHL again.
4. A second fighting offence will result in permanent expulsion from the league, with no chance of reinstatement.
5. Fighting majors will be called based on the discretion of the on-ice officials. All Fighting Majors will be reviewed by the NCHL head office.
6. Any player who leaves the players' bench in the midst of an on ice altercation will be suspended for the next game and will be placed on probation for the remainder of the current season.
7. Verbal abuse of any official will result in the assessment of a 10-minute misconduct penalty based upon the discretion of the on-ice officials.
8. Physical abuse of any official will result in expulsion from the league.
TEAM PENALTY ACCUMULATION
2. A ninth penalty by any team in any given game will result in immediate forfeiture of the game, unless it comes as a coincidental penalty.
3. Penalty shots are to be taken by the player that the infraction occurred against unless that is not possible due to injury.
4. Teams shall not accumulate greater than 30 minutes in penalty minutes per game. Any penalty beyond the 30-minute accumulation limit will result in immediate forfeiture of the game by the offending team.
5. By forfeiting, the offending team relinquishes all individual player points recorded in the game resulting in a win for the opposing team. All penalties will remain intact.
6. All team and individual player points scored by the opposing team will remain intact and be recorded.
7. If both teams exceed the accumulation limit simultaneously the score will be recorded as 0-0 and points will not be recorded for either team.
8. Teams shall not accumulate greater than 300 penalty minutes during the winter season or 150 penalty minutes during the summer season. Exceeding the limit will result in forfeiture of the remainder of the NCHL season.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER PENALTY ACCUMULATION
1. Individual players may not accumulate greater than two penalties (infractions) per game. A third penalty will result in ejection from the game. A fourth individual player penalty will result in ejection from the game, and a 10 min league assessed penalty, after which the offending player may be suspended for a minimum of one game.
2. Individual players may not receive more than one-ten minute misconduct penalty per game. A second misconduct penalty in any given game will result in ejection from that game after which the offending player may be suspended for a minimum of one game.
MAJOR PENALTIES AND EJECTIONS
1. Any player who incurs a single 5-minute major penalty will automatically receive a 10-minute misconduct penalty, will be ejected from the game and will be suspended for a minimum of one game.
2. Any player who incurs a second 5-minute major penalty during their probationary period (see below) may be suspended for a minimum of 3 games.
3. Any player who has been ejected from a game must leave the ice and/or bench/penalty box immediately, after which any remaining penalty time for the offending player is to be served by another teammate that was on the ice at the time of the offence.
4. Any player who has been ejected from a game could accumulate 10 minutes towards their total individual player penalty minutes, which will be regarded in the accumulation of the individual player penalty minute threshold/maximum as well as the team accumulation for that game.
5. Any player who has been ejected from a game may be suspended for a minimum of one game.
6. Any player assessed 4 penalties will also receive a 10 minute misconduct penalty. This Misconduct will be added after the game and will not count against the team for that game.
SUSPENSIONS AND PROBATION
1. Any player who has been ejected from a game and/or suspended will remain on probation for one year from the date of the offence.
3. Any individual player suspensions incurred will carry over into the playoffs and/or the next consecutive season.
4. Any player who receives a full season suspension for any reason; fighting, individual penalty minute accumulation or otherwise, will remain suspended indefinitely pending a disciplinary reinstatement hearing.
5. It is the personal responsibility of each suspended player to make arrangements with league administration for a disciplinary reinstatement hearing.
6. A player suspended for any reason as a result of his/her actions during a game will not be permitted to play for any team in the NCHL until the suspension has been served in full.
INCIDENT REVIEW PROCESS
FORFEITS
GOALTENDERS
1. All teams are required to have a goaltender present and on the ice at the beginning of each game. Game play will not commence until both designated goaltenders, wearing regulation certified goaltender equipment have been dressed.
2. If a teams goaltender is not present at the scheduled game start time, that team will be allowed a 10-minute grace period. If the goalie is present at the arena and in the process of getting dressed prior to expiration of the 10-minute grace period the game will be played. A 2 min delay of game penalty will be assessed to the team of the late goalie at the beginning of the game. This gives 15 minutes from start of the ice time to have the goalie in the building.
3 TIERED RULES
Tier 1. All the same NCHL rules except there will be no penalty shots awarded on a team's 6th, 7th and 8th team penalty. A forfeit still occurs at the 9th team penalty. (**See Team Penalty Accumulation Section)
Tier 2.
All the same NCHL rules apply.
Tier 3.
All the same NCHL rules apply except no one player can score more than 3 goals
in a single game, excluding any shoot out goals. If a player with 3 goals is awarded a penalty shot any other player on the ice at the time of the infraction will be selected but he team to take the shot. If a 4th goal is scored by one player the goal will be disallowed and the
face off will be at centre ice.
GAME PLAY (EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULES))
1. All games will be comprised of three 14-minute 'stop-time' periods.
2. In instances where the permit time for the ice has 5 minutes or less remaining and there is more than 2 minutes of playing time on the clock, the next whistle will result in the game clock being dropped to 2 minutes.
3. The centre red line will not be regarded in any instances of icing or offside calls. Should any player of a team, equal or superior in numerical strength to the opposing team, shoot, bat or deflect the puck from behind their own blue line beyond the goal line of the opposing team, play will be stopped and the puck faced-off at the end face-off spot of the offending team, unless on the play, the puck will have entered the net of the opposing team, in which case the goal will be allowed.
4. Automatic icing may be called or waived off based upon the discretion of the on-ice officials.
5. Any player ejected from an NCHL game may or may not receive a 10 minute misconduct based on the discretion of the on-ice officials.
6. Each team will be permitted to take one 30-second time-out during the course of any game, regular-season or playoffs. This time-out must be taken during a normal stoppage of play.
7. If at the end of regulation time, the score is tied, each team will be awarded one point in the league standings. Each team will each then designate 3 shooters for a shoot-out. The team scoring more goals in the shootout will be declared the winner, and the winning goal will be recorded as an OT goal. If at the end of the shootout the teams are still tied the game will be recorded as a tie.
8. No player in the penalty box at the end of regulation time will be permitted to participate in the shootout.
9. For a shoot-out to take place there must be 3 minutes remaining on the permit time.
The NCHL reserves the right to add to and/or amend the official league rules at any time as deemed necessary or appropriate by league administration.
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