2006 Texas State Championships
TAHA Guidelines
A Tier I or Tier II team is any team that is properly registered as such based on criteria established by TAHA, the Rocky Mountain District, and USA Hockey. For reference, the State Tournament in this document refers to all teams who compete for the opportunity to play in the
Championship Tournament, which refers to the final championship weekend.
1. Eligibility/Registration
a. The team shall be certified by the Texas Registrar [USA Hockey Team Membership Application, Form 2-T] to have complied with all eligibility requirements. An Eligibility Grid should be completed for each team.
b. Copies of government issued birth certificate or, if birth certificate is not available, copy of passport ID page for each rostered player.
c. The team’s certified player roster [USA Hockey Official Team Roster, Form 1-T] and credential documents must be submitted to the Tournament Committee at the Credentials Check-in on Friday evening before the Championship Tournament.
d. A player(s) and any Registered Team Member (e.g. coaches) must be eligible to compete in the Championship Tournament in order to participate in the District and National Championships.
e. Each team must have competed as a team unit at least twenty (20) games.
f. Each player must have played on the team at least ten (10) games before the Championship Tournament.
g. For scoresheets to count in meeting the 20/10 requirements, the Team Membership Application and Official Team Roster must be certified by the Texas Registrar prior to December 31. Roster changes after December 31st will not be accepted. Copies of scoresheets for all games listed on the Eligibility Grid should be available at the Credentials Check-in prior to the Championship Tournament.
h. A game is a match played against another team that is registered with a member organization of the IIHF at the same competitive level and officiated by registered officials. A game shall consist of at least three periods, which last a minimum of sixty (60) minutes. A Game Summary should be completed for each team.
i. All Coaches (head and assistants) must have the required minimum certification as specified by USA Hockey to participate in the Championship Tournament.
2. Tournament Committee
a. TAHA shall designate a Tournament Committee to preside over the State Tournament and Championship Tournament.
3. Number and Qualification of Teams
a. All teams who intend to participate in the State Tournament shall submit their application to the TAHA President no later than Wed., Dec. 7, 2005.
b. The Championship Tournament shall consist of one team from each of four (4) regions in Texas as follows:
i. Dallas-Fort Worth Region A
ii. Dallas-Fort Worth Region B
iii. Houston region
iv. At-Large region
4. Notification of Intent to Enter Team(s)
a. Member associations shall signify their intentions of entering a team(s) in the State Tournament by doing so in writing to the TAHA President no later than Wed., Dec. 7, 2005. Each team must submit an Application, a list of games played, opponents (tier, level, & scores included), and Eligibility Grid in their application. Teams shall also submit copies of their signed 1-T Official Team Roster and 2-T Team Membership Application from USA Hockey.
b. Applications must be accompanied with a non-refundable deposit of $300 per team. If a team withdraws prior to competing in any region playdowns, the association shall be subject to a one-year suspension from State Tournament play. c. No USA Hockey member team shall play in any league that prohibits that team from entering and fully participating in the State Tournament.
5. Process to Determine Regional Team Representatives
a. Once all teams have declared their intent to participate, the Tournament Committee shall rank the teams in each region and determine all the State Tournament game pairings for all the regions.
b. A schedule for playdown games in each region will be determined by the Tournament Committee.
c. Playdown games shall be single or double elimination as determined by the Tournament Committee once all team applications are received. The winner shall advance to the next round. The higher ranked team will host games 1 and 3 (if needed) while the lower ranked team will host game 2 (if needed). The cost of the game(s) shall be split evenly by the teams.
d. The host team will be home team for the game, and shall be responsible for securing ice and officials for the game. On and off-ice officials shall be requested through the local officials association.
e. A playdown game shall NOT be a league game as tie games are not acceptable.
f. Teams in the same region will compete against one another in a series of playdown games as determined by the Tournament Committee. The winner of the region playdown games shall advance to the Championship Tournament.
g. If only one team from a region applies, the Tournament Committee may select that team to represent the region, unless it is determined that more competitive teams exist in another region. In this case, at least one team from another region will be selected to play a series of playdown games in the region with one team to determine the team to advance to the Championship Tournament.
h. If no team from a particular region submits an application, the Tournament Committee shall select two teams from another region to play a series of playdown games to determine the team to advance to the Championship Tournament.
i. In the event of any conflicts in scheduling of games, the Tournament Committee shall arbitrate, and their decision shall be final.
6. Format for Region Playdown Games
a. It is recommended that playdown games consist of at least three periods of 15-minute stop-clock play. However, at a minimum, any playdown game must be atleast three periods of play that lasts seventy five (75) minutes.
b. Should a playdown game end in a tie at the end of regulation time, the followingsteps should be followed until the game is decided:
i. A 1-minute rest with no ice cut shall follow the 3rd period.
ii. The teams shall not switch ends for the overtime period.
iii. A 5-minute, sudden death overtime shall be played 4-on-4 plus the goaltenders.
iv. A 5-person shootout shall be played.
v. A sudden-death shootout shall be played until the game is decided.
vi. If one team receives a penalty during the 5-minute overtime, the offending team shall skate with 3 players. Two penalties by an offending team shall result in the non-offending team adding a player to the ice.
vii.In the event that a prolonged regulation game ends in a tie with insufficient ice time available, steps a-c above shall be ignored at the direction of the game referee and the game shall be decided by shootout according to steps d-e above.
7. State Tournament Fees
a. Entry fee of $300.00 for each team participating in the State Tournament. The $300 is payable to TAHA at the time the Application is due.
b. Entry fee of $600.00 for each team participating in the Championship Tournament, which is payable to TAHA at credentials check-in.
8. Number of Players
a. A maximum of twenty (20) players, including goalkeepers, shall be permitted to play in a game. All teams are requested to arrive with two goaltenders.
b. Teams unable to arrive with two goaltenders shall be permitted with the approval of the TAHA President to use a substitute goaltender from a lower level team within the same organization. Any exceptions shall be determined by the Tournament Committee.
9. Playing Rules
a. Only official USA Hockey Playing Rules currently in effect shall be used.
10. Merchandise and Awards
a. Team championship and runner-up awards will be given.
11. Uniforms
a. All teams entered must be properly uniformed including home and away jerseys and matching socks.
b. Home teams shall wear light colored jerseys while the visiting team shall wear dark colored jerseys in all games.
12. State Tournament Dates
a. TAHA sets the tournament dates during their Annual meeting in the summer.
b. All playdown games should be played between December 15 and two weeks before the Championship Tournament begins.
c. The Championship Tournament shall be completed no later than fourteen (14) days prior to the start of the District Championships.
13. Time Between Games
a. No team shall be required to play a second game in one day against a team playing its first game on that day.
b. All games shall be scheduled to allow for a minimum of four (4) hours between games played on the same day and twelve (12) hours between games played on consecutive days, unless extenuating circumstances preclude it (between games means from the end of one game to the start of next game).
14. Age Classifications
a. 18 or under -- To be eligible to compete during the 2005-06 season, a player must be born January 1, 1987 or later.
b. 16 or under – To be eligible to compete during the 2005-06 season, a player must be born during 1989 or later.
c. 14 or under -- To be eligible to compete during the 2005-06 season, a player must be born during 1991 or later.
d. 12 or under -- To be eligible to compete during the 2005-06 season, a player must be born during 1993 or later.
15. Time of Periods
a. All Championship Tournament games will be played with stop time and will be played to their completion.
b. Period times are as follows:
i. 18 or Under three (3) period of seventeen (17) minutes
ii. 16 or Under three (3) period of seventeen (17) minutes
iii. 14 or Under three (3) period of sixteen (16) minutes
iv. 12 or Under three (3) period of fifteen (15) minutes
c. Round robin games shall include no overtime.
d. The ice shall be cleaned at least every two periods of each game.
e. It is recommended that the following ice be allotted for each age division:
Age Division Round Robin Championship
Midget 18&U 1h50m 2 hours
Midget 16&U 1h50m 2 hours
Bantam 14&U 1h50m 2 hours
Peewee 12&U 1h40m 2 hours
16. Tier I Championship Tournament Format
a. Should any game be tied at the end of regulation time, then sudden death overtime will be played until the game is decided. The format is as follows:
i. A 3-minute rest shall follow the third period.
ii. The teams shall not switch ends for the overtime periods.
iii. Each overtime period will consist of 5-minute, stop-time periods to be followed by 1-minute rest periods if the game remains tied.
iv. The first sudden death overtime shall be played 4-on-4 plus the goaltenders. If the game remains tied after the first overtime, a second shall be played 3-on-3 plus the goaltenders. If the game remains tied after 2 overtimes, then each subsequent overtime period shall be played 3-on-3 plus the goaltenders until the game is decided.
v. If one team receives a penalty during the 5-minute overtime being played 3-on-3, the offending team shall play with 3 skaters and the non-offending team shall play with 4 skaters. Two penalties by an offending team shall result in 5-on-3 play. As each penalty expires, the offending team shall add a player to the ice while play continues until the next whistle, at which point the extra players on the ice shall return to the bench. If during 3-on-3 play a non-offending team receives a penalty after an offending team, play shall resume with 3-on-3 until the penalty expires for the earlier offending team at which time they shall add a player to the ice.
17. Tier II Championship Tournament Pairings/Format
a. The Tier II Championship Tournament format shall be a three-game round robin. The pairings shall be determined by a blind draw by the Tournament Committee.
b. The top two teams from the round robin shall play for the State Championship.
c. The schedule of games, including home and visiting team designations, shall be set by the Tournament Committee, approved by TAHA, and sent to all qualifying teams no less than 14days before the first game of the Championship Tournament.
18. Process to Determine Tier II Championship Tournament Finalists
a. During round robin play, each team will play each other.
b. During round robin play, each team will be awarded 2 points for a win and 1 point for a tie.
c. The two teams accumulating the most points in the preliminary round will advance to the Championship game.
d. If two or more teams have an equal number of points, their positions shall be determined by the following tie-breaking formula. In order to break a tie, the following formulas will be followed until one rule determines the position of all teams that are tied.
i. The results of the games played between the teams tied in the following order:
1. The points acquired in these games.
2. Subtracting goals scored against from goals scored in these games, the positions determined in order of the greatest surplus.
3. Dividing the goals scored in these games by the goals scored against, the positions determined in order of the greatest quotient (Note – A quotient involving dividing by 0 has a higher standing than a quotient of dividing by any other number).
4. Dividing the goals scored into the total of goals scored and goals scored against in these games, the positions determined in order of greatest quotient.
ii. If after applying the formulas of (i) 1, 2, or 3 the tie still exists (i) 2 and 3 shall be applied using all of the games played by the teams tied.
iii. If the above procedure does not break the tie, then the final USA Hockey tie-breaking rule shall be applied. (Shoot-out involving all teams tied)
19. Tier II Championship Game Format
a. The format for the Championship game shall be the same as round robin games.
b. Should the Championship game be tied at the end of regulation time, then sudden death overtime will be played until the game is decided. The format is as follows:
i. A 3-minute rest shall follow the third period.
ii. The teams shall not switch ends for the overtime periods.
iii. Each overtime period will consist of 5-minute, stop-time periods to be followed by 1-minute rest periods if the game remains tied.
iv. The first sudden death overtime shall be played 4-on-4 plus the goaltenders. If the game remains tied after the first overtime, a second shall be played 3-on-3 plus the goaltenders. If the game remains tied after 2 overtimes, then each subsequent overtime period shall be played 3-on-3plus the goaltenders until the game is decided.
v. If one team receives a penalty during the 5-minute overtime being played 3-on-3, the offending team shall play with 3 skaters and the non-offending team shall play with 4 skaters. Two penalties by an offending team shallresult in 5-on-3 play. As each penalty expires, the offending team shall add a player to the ice while play continues until the next whistle, at which point the extra players on the ice shall return to the bench. If during 3-on-3 play a non-offending team receives a penalty after an offending team, play shall resume with 3-on-3 until the penalty expires for the earlier offending team at which time they shall add a player to the ice.
20. On-Ice Officials
a. All efforts will be made to procure a three-man system for all Championship Tournament games. All on-ice officials must meet the minimum certification level pursuant to USA Hockey’s guidelines for the age group they are assigned to.
b. Referees will be assigned by the TAHA Referee in Chief or his designee.
21. Discipline Committee
a. The Tournament Committee shall serve as the Discipline Committee, which shall be responsible for deciding any action, suspensions or otherwise to be taken against a player or team official receiving a match penalty. This includes all region playdown and Championship Tournament games.
b. The Discipline Committee shall have the authority to initiate action involving supplementary discipline against a player or team official whether or not it involves the playing rules, provided however that the player or official is given notice of intended action and has an opportunity for a hearing.
22. TAHA shall Host the Championship Tournament
a. TAHA is responsible for providing the following:
i. All financial aspects of running the Championship Tournament.
1. A sufficient amount of ice and associated fees.
2. On-ice officials and associated fees.
3. Scorekeepers and associated fees.
4. Team awards for the championship team and runners-up team.
ii. Sufficient accommodations for out of town teams at a reasonable price and in relative close proximity to the arena.
iii. Space for any TAHA officials attending disciplinary hearings and any other off-ice officials as needed.
iv. A gate fee may be assessed by TAHA for spectators at a maximum of $5 per game or $10 for a weekend tournament pass (Note - team officials and players listed on the USA Hockey Roster shall not be charged).
v. Title sponsor for the tournament subject to the approval of the Tournament Committee and the arena management.
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