GCMHA Early Bird Tournament
2025 Early Bird Tournament Rules
1. PLAYING RULES
a) The current Hockey Canada Rules and Hockey P.E.I. guidelines will apply for all games. b) The referee’s decision on playing rules will be final.
c) The Tournament Rules Committee will rule on matters relating to the Tournament and their decisions shall be final.
2. PLAYERS
a) All players must be registered with the Minor Hockey Association represented by their team.
b) A player may only play for one team throughout this tournament.
c) A team will be allowed to dress a maximum of nineteen players including two goaltenders.
All AP players shall be listed on GAMESHEET Roster prior to the start of the tournament
d) A team’s roster may be adjusted with the approval of the Tournament Rules Committee.
e) In the event of an injury to a goaltender during Tournament play, and the team does not have an alternate goaltender dressed, the team will be given five minutes to dress another player as goaltender. The game will continue after the five minutes have expired.
3. GAMES- Division Play
a) Each Team will have a 3 minute warm up.
b) Each game will consist of three twelve-minute stop time periods.
c) If there is a goal differential of five goals or more at any time during the third period, the remainder of the game shall be straight time.
d) 2 points will be awarded for a win, and 1 point per team for a tie
e) There will be no overtime in Division Play. All ties will remain ties.
f) No time outs will be permitted during Division Play.
Cross-Over Games
a) Divisional play rules apply. Exception that each team will be allowed one 30 second time out.
b) In the event of a tie, a 5-minute 3 V 3 sudden victory overtime will commence immediately following the third period (teams do not change ends).
c) In the event that the game remains tied, the game will be decided by a shootout as follows:
I. Each team shall submit three (3) shooters.
ii. The home team will shoot first and the team with the most goals after three shooters will win the game.
iii. In the event the game is still tied, the game will be decided by sudden victory shootout as follows: Each team shall submit one (1) shooter. The home team will shoot first. This will continue until one team scores and the other does not. Coaches may not select a shooter twice until all skaters have been selected.
Championship Game
- In the event of a tie, sudden victory overtime will commence immediately following the third period (teams do not change ends).
- Overtime will be played as follows:
10 minutes stop time; 5 V 5
In the event that the game remains tied, the game will be decided by a shootout as follows:
I. Each team shall submit three (3) shooters.
ii. The home team will shoot first and the team with the most goals after three shooters will win the game.
iii. In the event the game is still tied, the game will be decided by sudden victory shootout as follows: Each team shall submit one (1) shooter. The home team will shoot first. This will continue until one team scores and the other does not. Coaches may not select a shooter twice until all skaters have been selected.
Floods will be determined at the discretion of the Tournament Committee
4. PENALTIES
a) All Penalties shall be served as per Hockey Canada rules.
b) All suspensions will be per Hockey P.E.I. Minimum suspensions guidelines. Players and team officials are advised that all suspensions earned in this tournament will be reported to Hockey P.E.I. who may take additional action if warranted.
c) Any Player or Team Official receiving a Match Penalty will be suspended from further Tournament Play.
d) Penalties assessed when the clock is running on straight time shall be served as follows:
Penalty time begins with the drop of the puck;
Minors -three (3) minutes
Majors –seven (7) minutes
e) There will be no protests. Any problems or concerns are to be brought to the Tournaments Rules Committee.
5. GENERAL
a) All players are to be at the arena prepared to play fifteen minutes prior to all game times for the duration of the tournament including cross over and championship games.
b) Teams should have two sets of contrasting sweaters. Home team shall wear white. In the event that teams present themselves with similar sweaters, the visiting team will be required to
change.
c) Highest ranking team are the home team for all playoff games.
6. DIVISIONAL CROSS-OVERS
U11 A/U13AA/U15AA
Group 1 2
nd Place Team will play Group 2 3
rd Place Team. Winner of this game will play 1
st Place team from Group 2 in quarter final
Group 1 3
rd Place Team will play Group 2 2
nd Place Team. Winner of this game will play 1
st Place Team from Group 1in quarter final
Group 3 2
nd Place Team will play Group 4 3
rd Place Team. Winner of this game will play 1
st Place Team from Group 4 in quarter final
Group 3 3
rd Place Team will play Group 4 2
nd Place Team. Winner of this game will play 1
st Place team from Group 3 in quarter final
The semi-final winners will play in the final.
U18 A
Group 1 1
st Place Team will play the Group 2 4
th Place team.
Group 1 2
nd Place Team will play the Group 2 3
rd Place team.
Group 2 1
st Place Team will play Group 1 4
th Place Team.
Group 2 2
nd Place Team will play Group 1 3
rd Place Team.
The semi-final winners will play in the final.
7.GROUP AND DIVISIONAL TIE BREAKING FORMULA
THESE ARE APPLIED IN ORDER OF OCCURRENCE AND AS APPLICABLE
TWO TEAMS TIED
1. Record between two teams tied
2. Team with the most wins
3. Largest goal differential all games (maximum of 5/game)
4. Least goals scored against all games.
5. Most goals scored for all games
6. The team that scored the earliest in the game between teams tied.
7. The team that scored the earliest in their first tournament game
8. Coin toss
THREE OR MORE TEAMS TIED
If three or more teams are tied in points, the higher standing will be determined based on the ratio of goals for to goals against (goals for divided by goals against) calculated to three (3) decimal places. If a team has given up 0 goals, then the goals against number becomes 1. A maximum 5 goal differential per game will be used in this calculation. If all teams have played each other only the games against each other will be used in this calculation. The team with the higher ratio will be awarded the higher standing.
If the teams are still tied up, the higher standing will be determined by goal differential (goals for minus goals against) A maximum 5 goal differential per game. If all teams tied have played each other during round robin play only the games against each other will be used in this calculation. The higher standing will be awarded to the team with the higher differential. The second highest differential would get the next highest standing, etc.
If the teams are still tied, the higher standing will be awarded to the team scoring the most goals in the round robin portion of the Tournament. If all teams tied have played each other during round robin play only the games against each other will be used in this calculation. The second highest goals would get the next highest standing, etc.
If the teams are still tied, repeat steps I through III including the games against all teams in the divisions.
If the teams are still tied, the higher standing will be awarded to the team accumulating the fewest penalty minutes in the round robin portion of the Tournament.
If all three teams are still tied, the higher standings will be determined by drawing a number from a hat.
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