NMHA House League Tournament Rules and Regulations
2025/2026
This is a house league tournament. Competitive or select teams may not register.
Should your association not have an A division, your B team will be required to “play up”
in order to have a fair and competitive tournament.
General Rules:
1. The coach or team manager is expected to arrive at least 60 minutes before the
first game, and at least 45 minutes before all other games, to check in at the
registration desk, receive the dressing room key, and complete the game sheet.
2. All teams must be ready to play 10 minutes prior to their scheduled game. All
players are required to be fully dressed with skates on and ready to play at least
10 minutes before the game is scheduled to start. Any team not ready to play on time
will forfeit the game.
3. Each team must bring home and away sweaters to every game. The home team
indicated on the tournament schedule and on the game sheet will wear the white or light
coloured jerseys. In the case of a team only having one colour of jersey, the opposing
team will change to a non-conflicting jersey.
4. Dressing rooms must be tidied up and left in a respectable condition. The rooms must
be vacated no more than twenty minutes after the end of each game. Rooms will be
inspected and should any damages occur, team officials will be held responsible.
5. Visiting teams are responsible for the storage and care of their equipment. Equipment
storage facilities between games are not provided.
6. The NMHA, the Nepean host team, the tournament organizers, officials, officers and
designates accept no responsibility for any loss, damage, accidents or injuries to
participants, spectators or their property or belongings.
7. All NMHA, HEO. Rules and Regulations will apply unless Tournament Rules differ, in
which case, the Tournament Rules shall prevail.
8. Referees and timekeepers will be assigned by the NMHA.
Team Lists and Eligibility of Players:
9. Official Team Lists, signed by the Association’s Registrar must be submitted to the
Tournament Organizers by one week prior to the tournament. Only players on the
Official Team List may participate.
10. Any affiliate players must have proof of affiliation signed by their Association’s
Registrar, and appear as such on the affiliating team’s official team roster. The
Tournament Chairperson must approve the use of affiliate players by one week prior to
the tournament.
11. A player must play at least one of the 3 round robin games in order to be able to
participate in the semi-final or final games. No player may play for more than one team
in the tournament.
12. Each team may carry a roster of up to 19 players including a maximum of 2 goalies.
13. If, for any reason, when a player, other than a goaltender, is injured or compelled to
leave the ice during a game, they must be replaced by a substitute, and play must
continue without the teams leaving the ice.
a) b) If a goaltender goes to the players’ bench due to an injury, they shall retire from
the ice and their place shall be taken by an alternate goaltender and no warm-up
will be permitted. However, this will only apply where an alternate goaltender is
dressed.
If, for any reason, the regular goaltender cannot continue to play, they must be
replaced immediately by a substitute. No extra time shall be allowed for regular
goaltenders to recuperate from injury or to repair or change equipment.
14. There are no time-outs in any tournament games.
Round-Robin Games:
15. A timed two-minute warm-up will precede each game. A game will consist of three
ten-minute stop-time periods and a running- time curfew clock to the end of the game’s
scheduled ice time (50 minutes allowed in total).
16. If a goal difference of more than 5 is registered at any time, running time will prevail
until the score differential is less than 5 or the game is over.
17. The scoring for round robin games will be determined as follows:
• 2 points for a win
• 1 point for a tie18. The ranking at the end of the round robin play will determine the home teams for the
semi-final games.
19. In the event of a tie in round robin play, the following tie-breaker formula will be
used:
• Head-to-head record of two teams in a two-way tie (win ranks higher than loss)
• Highest goals for to goals against ratio, calculated as (GF)/(GF+GA)
• Most goals for
• Least goals against
• Least penalty minutes
• Flip of a coin
Once a tie breaker has been applied or passed it will not be revisited.
Semi-Final Games:
20. The semi-final games will be played by the top four teams in the round robin
standings 1st place vs 4th place and 2nd place vs 3rd place
21. The semi-final games will be played with the same three ten-minute stop- time
periods as for the round robin games except that there will be a 55 minute game
curfew clock. The running-time curfew clock will terminate the game after 55 minutes
remaining in the scheduled ice time, whether or not the score is tied.
22. If a semi-final game is tied at the end of 3 periods or when play is halted because of
the running-time curfew clock, a shootout will be conducted.
23. The first round of the shootout will involve three players from each team. Two
shooters, one per team, will shoot on the opposing goaltenders at the same time. The
winning team will be the one with the most goals scored after all three shooters from
each team have participated.
24. Any player serving a suspension or assessed a game misconduct penalty during the
game will not be eligible to participate in the shootout.
25. If the game is still tied after the first three shooters from each team, the shootout will
continue with one shooter per team until one team scores a goal when the opposing
team does not score.
26. The teams going to the semi-final games must choose their first three players for the
shootout before the game and must indicate them on the game sheet. Coaches must
be ready to designate additional players for the shootout quickly, so as to keep the
game on schedule.27. All teams must rotate through their roster for the shootout; no player may shoot
again until all players (except goalies) have shot.
Final Game:
28. The final game will be three 12-minute stop-time periods.
29. In the event of a tie, the game will be decided in the following manner;
• 1st Overtime Period of 5 minutes with 4 on 4 plus goalies
• 2nd Overtime period of 5 minutes with 3 on 3 plus goalies
• Shootout, using the same shootout rules as defined above for Semi-Final games.
30. At no time in the overtime periods will a team go below 3 skaters and a goalie. In the
event of a penalty during 3 on 3 play, the non-penalized team will add one skater and
the penalized team will put the penalized player in the penalty box creating a 4 on 3 for
the duration.
Penalties:
31. Minor penalties will be 2 minutes during stop time and 3 minutes during
running time. Other penalties will be the standard HEO times.
32. Any player assessed three minor penalties in a game will be ejected from the
game, they will eligible to return to play at next game.
33. Any player assessed a Match Penalty or Game Misconduct for fighting or intent to
injure will be ejected from the tournament.
End of Each Game:
34. With 5 minutes remaining in the game, the coach/manager of each team will provide
the tournament organizers/or game officials with the MVP selection for their own team.
34. At the end of the game, all players will line up at the centre of the ice to shake hands
with the opposing team and coaching staff, and then will line up on their blue lines for
the presentation of the game MVP awards before leaving the ice surface.
All Rules Agreed Upon and Accepted By:
_________________________________________
(Team Name)
_________________________________________
(Team Official’s name [Coach or Manager])
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Date