Revised January 13, 2009
OPERATIONS AND PROCEDURES MANUAL OF CENTRAL ALBERTA RINGETTE ASSOCIATION
The following rules and regulations have been adopted by the Directors pf the Central Alberta Ringette Association pursuant to paragraph 23 of the Bylaws of the Central Alberta Ringette Association this 23rd day of September 2008.
1.0 Finance
1.01 Any two of the President, Vice-President, and the Treasurer shall have the authority to and they are hereby authorized to sign cheques, bills of exchange, and promissory notes for and on behalf of the Association.
1.02 The Directors shall prior to the 1st day of November in each season fix or assess an annual fee to its members within Zone 4 and outside Zone 4.
2.0 Member Responsibilities
2.01 Each member shall provide to the Scheduler and the Secretary by the 31st day of October in each season full particulars of tournaments it anticipates sponsoring over the course of the season including participant age categories and tiers contact persons and eligibility of participation. All tournaments shall be sanctioned by RINGETTE ALBERTA.
2.02 Each member shall provide to the Secretary by the 1st day of November in each season a written list of all players coaches managers teams (by age and tier) and sweater colours of teams sponsored by the member a copy of which shall be available for inspection and copying to any Director.
2.03 Each member shall provide to the Secretary by the 1st day of October in each season a written list of its executive and their executive positions.
2.04 Each member shall provide to the Secretary by the 31st day of December in each season a copy of the registration with Ringette Alberta of all players coaches managers and teams which shall be mixable for inspection and copying to any Director.
2.05 Each member shall provide at its own cost at all home games of those teams sponsored by it during regular season play and Zone 4 play offs:
2.05.1 Unless otherwise excepted, two qualified referees;
2.05.2 game sheets
2.05.3 one time-keeper and one score-keeper
2.05.4 pinnie or alternate uniform sweaters of contrasting colour be worn by the visiting team in the event of a color conflict.
2.06 Games shall be reported by winning teams to their respective member association statisticians. The member association statisticians shall then forward the results of the games to the Association's statisticians no later than Sunday night of the week during which the games were played.
2.07 The white copies of the game-sheets shall be delivered to the Association statistician no later than the next scheduled Association Director's meeting.
3.0 Player and Team Eligibility
3.01 All players, coaches, managers, and teams shall be registered by the member association with Ringette Alberta in the same age division and tiering category as they play in the league. The Directors may approve registration of a team in a division or category different from league play.
3.02 No player or team shall be double carded with Ringette Alberta or double carded with Zone 4 without the prior approval in writing of the Board of Directors.
3.03 A player shall be entitled to play only at an age category older or a tier level higher than she/he been registered with Ringette Alberta or listed with the Association during regular Season play and Zone 4 playoffs for an unlimited number of games in a season without penalty or disqualification to that player and the team or teams involved. Players brought up from a lower team shall be identified on the game-sheet.
3.04 Lateral, upward, or downward mobility of a player or a team by age category or tier, during tournament play (whether within or extraneous to Zone 4), shall in no way affect the eligibility or listing or registration of the player or the team during regular season play or Zone 4 playoffs.
3.05 First year members shall be entitled without the prior written approval of the Board of Directors to have a team with up to four players of an age category one level older than the categorized team, provided the member does not have a team of the same category one level older than the categorized team.
3.06 All associations wishing to have teams in a Zone 4 league shall seek approval prior to the September meeting of the Associaiton.
3.07 The Association shall give annual consideration to accept membership of non-resident teams to play in Zone 4 league, as long as it does not threaten the competitiveness of Zone 4 and as long as Zone 4 tiering methods are used.
3.08 All accepted non-Zone 4 teams shall be incorporated fully into league play, with games counting for league standings and play offs, and shall play in Zone 4 playoffs.
3.09 All associations shall encourage any "AA" players to play in Zone 4 before playing outside the Zone.
3.10 Players may not be picked up without prior permission from the players head coach and before asking the players. Failure to comply will result in disciplinary action.
4.0 Game Play
4.01 Except for Bunnies, where an association has a game time slot of 55 to 60 minutes in duration, then the game shall be two seventeen minute stop time periods. Where an association has a game time slot that will allow for playing two twenty-two minutes stop time periods, then the game shall be played as two twenty-two minutes stop time periods.
4.02 In regular season play there shall be no overtime.
4.03 A team shall ice a minimum of seven players in a game, in default of which the game shall be forfeited and the opposing team deemed to have won by a score of 5-0 with the goal scored at 00:10 of the first period. The defaulting coach shall re-sign the game sheet acknowledging the default.
4.04 All teams playing in Zone 4 must keep score, and score sheets handed in so statistics can be kept.
4.05 A three-goal limit per player, per league game at the Novice and Bunnie level.
4.06 For Bunnies:
4.06.1 Before January 1 in the season, Bunnies will play with a 3-minute buzzer to change lines. After January 1 in the season, unless otherwise agreed between the coaches, there shall not longer be a 3-minute buzzer to change lines.
4.06.2 The game will be played with 2 - twenty four minute running time periods, however for 1 hr 15 ice slots, there shall be 2 - thirty minute running time periods.
4.06.3 Bunnie teams may play a goalie without the Ringette Canada requisite Goal Equipment.
4.06.4 Before January 1 in the season, Bunnie teams may have one coach per team on the ice with the players during the game.
5.0 Regular Season Play
5.01 Regular season play shall commence on or as close as practicable to the 1st day of November in each season and shall conclude in each appropriate age category and tier by February 28
5.02 In regular season play two points shall be awarded to the winner of the game or one point shall be awarded to each of the tying teams in a game.
5.03 The regular season shall consist of the same number of games played by each team in any age category and tier against each other team in that category and tier as determined and published by the Scheduler in each season. The Schedule may schedule and allocate additional league exhibition games identified as such.
5.04 A minimum of forty-eight hours game cancellation notice shall be given to the opposing team in default of which the cancelling team shall forfeit the game and the non-cancelling team shall be deemed to have won the game by a score of 5-0 with the goal scored at 00:10 of the first period. Only weather advisory, local adverse weather conditions making travel dangerous, bereavement or similar extreme circumstances warrant shorter cancellation notice.
5.05 Postponed games shall be rescheduled and played prior to the Saturday of the second last weekend of scheduled play. lf the games are not played by then neither team shall receive points unless both teams agree to the rescheduled date and obtain approval from the Vice-president. The only exception shall be games which are postponed during the last three weeks of the schedule. These games shall be played before the last day of the schedule or neither team shall receive points.
5.06 The home team of a postponed game shall make an offer of two reasonable ice times at least seven days in advance which shall be adequate to reschedule a game. lf those times are refused then the game will be forfeited by the visiting team and the home team shall be deemed to have won by a score of 5-0 with the goal scored at 00:10 of the first period. Reasonable times shall allow:
5.06.1 at least four hours plus travel time from completion of another scheduled game
5.06.2 the visiting team not having to leave their home community before 6:00am, nor to arrive home later than 10:00pm on a weekend;
5.06.3 the visiting team not having to leave their home community before 5:00 pm nor to arrive home later than 10:00 pm during week days; and
5.06.4 at least one of the offered times must be on a weekend.
5.07 A visiting team which has had a game postponed and does not feel a reasonable attempt to re-schedule is being made, may offer to hold the game on their own ice, after consultation with the Vice-President and with the same restrictions as to reasonable ice time.
5.08 Postponed games may not be made up as part of a tournament unless agreed by both coaches.
5.09 Upon the conclusion of regular season play the teams in each age category and tier shall be ranked in decreasing order by the number of points earned as aforementioned (eg. the team with the most points shall be ranked highest as number one, etc.).
5.10 In the event of a tie in points between two teams in determining ranking as per paragraph 5.09, the tie shall be broken by the following formula in decreasing determination until the ranking is fixed:
5.10.1 the team with the more wins against the other shall be ranked higher;
5.10.2 the team with the greater difference between goals for and goals against in game between the two teams shall be ranked higher;
5.10.3 the team with the most recent win against the other shall be ranked higher;
5.10.4 the team, which scored the last goal against the other, shall be ranked higher.
5.11 In the event of a tie in points amongst three or more teams in determining ranking as per paragraph 5.09, the tie shall be broken by the following formula in decreasing determination until the ranking is fixed:
5.11.1 the team with the most wins against the others shall be ranked higher
5.11.2 the team with the greater difference between goals for and goals against in games amongst the teams shall be ranked higher
5.11.3 the team with the greater difference between goals for and goals against in all games shall be ranked higher.
In the event clauses 5.11.1. 5.11.2 or 5.11.3 only partially in itself fixes the final ranking for all three or more teams, the ranking so fixed shall be further determined in accordance with paragraph 5.10. For example, should teams A, B, and C each have 16 points, and in accordance with clause 5.11.1, teams A and B have three wins and team C has one win, then as amongst themselves team C would be ranked lower and the ranking of teams A and B would be determined in accordance with paragraph 5.10.
5.12 The league operated by the Association shall be called the Central Alberta Ringette League.
6.0 Provincial Championship Representative
6.01 The cut off date for Provincial eligibility shall be midnight December 1 of each year.
6.02 Coaches will agree on the playoff format. If no consensus is reached the following format will be used.
6.02.1 Provincial candidates from Zone 4 with more than one eligible team shall be determined by the Zone 4 Playoff Format (APPENDIX B)
6.02.2 Playoff to be played according to Ringette Canada rules.
6.03 In any division where the host team for Provincials is a Zone 4 team the remaining teams excluding the host team playoff to determine a representing team.
6.04 The eligible teams per division shall make best efforts to complete their series two weeks prior to the appropriate Provincial Tournament.
6.05 Provincially ineligible players shall not be allowed to play in the league playoffs used to select the Zone 4 league candidate going to Provincials.
6.06 In any division in which a wild card is awarded playoffs determine the team representing the Zone and the team who is the wildcard.
6.07 Visiting teams shall bring one referee for play off games; if one can not be provided the visiting team can ask the home team to provide one. The referee-in-chief shall be notified to insure adequate levels of referee are used.
7.0 Alberta Winter Games Representatives
7.01 Participation in the Alberta Winter Games shall be in the Junior age groupings per the Ringette Alberta Rules and Operating Procedures which include the following restrictions:
7.01.1 Players must be at least 12 years old and no more than 15 years old as of December 31st
7.01.2 Teams which include "REP", "AA", or "ALL STAR" players are not eligible.
7.01.3 Teams wishing to challenge as the Zone 4 representative to the Alberta Winter Games must÷
7.01.3.1 be sponsored by a Zone 4 Ringette Alberta Member;
7.01.3.2 register with Ringette Alberta under their tiering and residency guidelines as a Junior A team by the December 1st registration deadline;
7.01.3.3 declare themselves in writing with the AWG Zone Coordinator as candidates by the same date;
7.01.3.4 not allow ineligible players to participate in the qualifying games, the Zone AWG; and
7.01.3.5 field up to 18 players to enable replacement of ineligible, injured/illness or unavailable players.
7.02 The Zone host for the AWG Zone playoffs is encouraged to provide a format in which all candidate teams can participate and challenge for the Zone representative the AWG.
7.03 The inclusion of a Host team in the Zone Playoffs is a matter to be decided between the AWG Zone Coordinator, the Alberta Sport Council and the Host Association.
7.04 If there are more candidate teams than the Zone AWG playoffs will accommodate, the teams will be ranked using the following guidelines:
7.04.1 Teams playing in the at the Junior A level will be ranked according to their standing at December 31st in league play, counting ALL scheduled league games (with all league members whether a AWG candidate, a Zone 4 team or an out-of-zone team) BUT excluding league exhibition games and games played with teams in other age divisions.
7.04.2 Teams not playing at the Junior A level will be ranked below the teams above by random draw.
7.04.3 Qualification games will be a two game total point series, with the candidate determined as per section 6.03. Section 12.01 will apply to these games.
7.04.4 Sufficient qualification games will be scheduled to reduce the number of candidate teams to the quantity needed. Team pairings will top/bottom, second top/second bottom, etc.; byes will be given to the top seeded teams. For example, if six teams are applying for four spots; one and two would receive byes, three would play six and four would Play five.
8.0 Friendship Games Representatives
SECTION NOT IMPLEMENTED
9.0 Zone 4 Play-Offs
9.01 Zone 4 playoffs shall involve all teams in a sudden victory elimination format.
9.02 Ringette Canada game times shall be used during playoffs:
9.02.1 Bunnies: two fifteen minute stop time periods.
9.02.2 Novice-Tweens: two seventeen minutes stop time periods, a sixty minutes ice slot shall be provided;
9.02.3 Juniors and up: two twenty minutes stop time periods, a ninety minute ice slot will be provided.
9.03 In the event a play off game is tied after regulation time, successive five minute sudden victory, stop time overtime periods shall be played. If still tied a new game shall be scheduled with home ice advantage the same in this game only.
9.03.1 a time allowance to provide successive 5 minute overtime periods (ten minutes stop time sudden death overtime) shall be included.
9.03.2 if the game is still tied after sudden death overtime, and the ice time runs out the game will be played over with same home ice advantage.
9.04 The Scheduler shall, in scheduling play-off games, give consideration to the following principles:
9.04.1 the teams shall be seeded as outlined in paragraphs 5.09, 5.10, and 5.11;
9.04.2 any necessary byes shall be awarded to the highest ranking team
9.04.3 for four and five team leagues, the home team in the first round shall be the higher ranked of the two teams playing;
9.04.4 in all other leagues, the home team in the first round shall be the lower ranked of the two teams playing;
9.04.5 in all other rounds, the home team shall be the higher ranked of the two teams playing;
9.04.6 the games shall be structured so that they are reasonably competitive (e.g., in a four team play-off format, seed #1 plays seed #3 and seed #2 plays seed #4 in the first round; in an eight team play-off format, seed #1 plays seed #5 and seed #2 plays seed #6 etc. in the first round).
the directors shall approve playoff schedules based on the above criteria with adjustments allowed for scheduling needs.
9.05 Unless teams are involved Provincial tournaments, they shall complete their first play-off game by Tuesday evening following the weekend of round one. Each successive round shall be completed by the following Tuesday evening.
9.06 Play-off teams are limited to using only those players listed on their official Zone 4 registration sheet unless otherwise approved by the Associaiton Directors to replace illness/injury or players who have quit playing after January 15.
9.07 Local Ice Allocators shall arrange play-off games and shall offer two ice times if necessary. Acceptable ice times shall allow:
9.07.1 the visiting team not having to leave their home community before 6:00 am, nor to arrive home later than 10:00 pm on a weekend
9.07.2 the visiting team not having to leave their home community before 5:00 pm, nor to arrive home later than lO:00 pm during the week
9.07.3 at least one of the offered times must be on a weekend.
9.08 Teams which do not accept one of the two ice times shall forfeit the game, in which case two points shall be awarded to the non-defaulting team which shall be deemed to have won by a score 5-0 with the goal scored at 00:10 of the first period.
9.09 Teams which enter tournaments (other than Provincial playoffs) during Zone 4 playoffs must obey the rules of Zone 4 playoffs and shall receive no extra consideration.
9.10 Teams which are involved in Provincial playoffs may have their Zone 4 play-off series postponed one week, but shall make every effort to catch up to the schedule.
9.11 Where a division has fewer than two teams, there shall be no play- offs.
9.12 Visiting teams shall bring one referee for play-off games. Should there be any disputes, the Referee-in-Chief shall mediate.
9.13 In the event of a dispute as to the time and place of a play off game or in the event scheduling cannot be agreed upon by the local Ice Allocators, its rescheduling shall be determined by the Vice-President at exercising sole discretion.
9.14 Awards shall be presented to the finalists of the playoffs in each age category and tier.
10.0 Age Groups and Tiering
10.01 Players shall play in the age groups established and defined by Ringette Canada and all teams shall be formed on the basis of such age groups, unless the Directors authorized and permitted a overage player to play in another age group or on another team having taken due consideration of:
10.01.1the necessity of doing so in order to permit the fielding of a full complement of players for a team;
10.01.2the objective that players and teams be competitive; and
10.01.3the age, size, experience, and ability of the player in all the circumstances.
10.02 Member sponsored teams will be classified by Ringette Alberta guidelines (i.e. tiered or seeded) 'AA'; 'A'; or 'B'; in decreasing strength and ability. Members putting forward one team in any division shall be tiered 'A' unless they prove they are a 'B' team.
10.03 If a member sponsors more than one team in any age group, the member shall attempt to form such teams so that each higher classified team will be comprised of players of a skill and ability greater than the players of the next lower classified team.
10.04 Teams in the Bunnie and Novice age category shall not be tiered.
10.05 If a member sponsors more than one team in any age group and tier, the member shall attempt to form such teams so that they are equal to or on par with the other(s).
10.06 Notwithstanding the requirements of the preceding sections;
10.06.1a member may classify a team at a higher level of seed or tier; and
10.06.2the Directors have the overriding authority of re-classify any team in order to achieve competitive play within any age category or tier.
11.0 Protest, Grievances. and Discipline
11.01 Protest, grievances, and complaints shall be by phone to the President or Vice-President within 24 hours of the occasion giving rise to the protest, grievance, or complaint; to be followed by a letter in writing, signed and delivered.
11.02 Upon receipt of the protest, grievance, or complaint as aforesaid, the Vice-President shall be responsible for striking a committee, consisting of him/herself the President or neutral governor and two neutral associations governors, to deal with the issue presented as outlined in paragraph 11.01, giving notice to those individuals who may be affected by the protest, grievance, or complaint.
11.03 A player who receive a suspension (see 12.07) shall serve the suspension at the next official league game(s), league exhibition game(s), league play-off game(s), or sanctioned tournament game(s), as they occur
11.04 The referee of the game shall notify the Zone 4 Referee-ln-Chief of the player suspension within 24 hours.
11.05 If a player participates in the game(s) while under suspension, then the game(s) shall be forfeited (in which case two points shall be awarded to the opposing teams) which shall be deemed to have won by a score of 5-0 with the goal scored at 00:10 of the first period).
11.06 Each association shall appoint one governor from the directors whose name shall be submitted to the Vice President.
11.07 Performance Policy: Any Associaiton team playing outside of Zone 4 shall comply with the host Zone's rules and regulations. Failure to do so will result in disciplinary action by the Association.
12.0 Refereeing and Discipline
12.01 Each member shall provide two qualified referees at its own cost at all home games of those teams sponsored by it during league play (exhibition, regular season, and plays), and for Provincial qualification games.
12.01.1For play-off and Provincial qualification games, the following guidelines will apply:
12.01.1.1 the visiting team shall bring a qualified referee;
12.01.1.2 all expenses for this referee are the responsibility of the visiting team;
12.01.1.3 that having fully qualified referees be the overriding criteria; and
12.01.1.4 72 hours minimum notice is required to the home team coach of the visiting teams intent to bring a specific referee;
12.01.2The Referee-in-Chief shall mediate any disputes, and his rulings shall be binding.
12.02 For all games at Tween level and above, one of the referees shall be qualified at least at 'Level 2'. When a member cannot comply with this requirement, the Referee-ln Chief shall determine whether
12.02.1a game shall be played with both referees only qualified at 'Level 1', or
12.02.2If a referee shall be assigned from another member who is qualified at 'Level 2'.
12.03 When the Referee-ln-Chief has assigned a referee from another member to a game, the member sponsoring the home team shall pay the visiting referee the normal game fee, plus all reasonable expenses. All rulings by the Referee-ln-Chief pursuant to this section shall be binding.
12.04 Members are encouraged to pay a scale of fees to referees which recognizes their qualifications. It is suggested that fees paid to 'Level 2' referees should be at least $1.00 per game and those paid to 'Level 3' referees should be at least $2.00 per game, more than those paid to 'Level 1' referee for any game at a particular age category and tier.
12.05 A referee who has assessed a game misconduct or a match penalty to a player or a member of a teams coaching staff, must write a game report of the incident resulting in the penalty on the reverse side of the top copy of the game sheet after the game has ended and before leaving the arena. The referee shall mail a copy of this report to the Referee-ln-Chief of the Association (Zone) and to the Referee-ln-Chief of the member whose player or coaching staff were assessed the penalty. The top copy of the game sheet shall be mailed to the Zone 4 Statistician. If the Zone 4 Referee-in-Chief considers that more severe penalties than those automatically applied in paragraph 1206 are warranted, he shall inform the Vice-President who shall convene a meeting of a disciplinary committee who shall consider the Referee-in-Chief's recommendation - the disciplinary committee s ruling shall be binding.
12.06 Prior to the start of regular season play, the Zone 4 Referee-in-chief shall preside over a meeting attended by every members' Referee-ln-Chief to discuss and clarify refereeing objectives and issues for the coming season. A principle purpose of this meeting will be to establish ground rules for obtaining the highest quality and most consistent standard of refereeing throughout Zone 4. Any qualified referee from any member shall be free to attend this pre-season meeting an observer.
12.07 A player or a member of a team s coaching staff who has been assessed a game misconduct or a match penalty in any game regardless of where or under which jurisdiction the game was played, will receive the following automatic suspensions for the first offense:
12.07.1for a game misconduct: for bench staff and/or player - game expulsion.
12.07.2for a match penalty: a minimum two games suspension; automatic game expulsion.
Suspensions for second and subsequent offenses in the same season shall be determined by the disciplinary committee whose ruling shall be binding. A player or a member of a team's coaching staff who has been assessed a second or subsequent game misconduct or match penalty in the same season shall be suspended from all Zone 4 Ringette activities until the disciplinary committee ruled on the case.
12.08 At the request of the Referee-in-Chief, or as a result of a motion passed at a meeting of the Directors, the Vice-President shall convene a disciplinary committee comprising an odd number of members to rule on any matter referred to it. The committee shall comprise at least three members including the Vice-President, who shall be the chair-person. Other members shall be Directors sponsored by members who are not involved in the matter(s) to be considered. The disciplinary committee may take into account a player's or coaching staff member's previous season's disciplinary record in determining its ruling. All rulings of the disciplinary committee shall be binding.
APPENDIX A - AA TEAM PROCEDURES
APPENDIX B - PLAYOFF FORMAT
2 Team Playoff Format
Best 2 out of 3 - each game must declare a winner
2 x 17 minute periods - stop time
If tied after regulation time: 5 minute overtime - sudden victory period
If still tied: each team selects 3 players who compete in a shoot-out - most goals win
If still tied: shoot out continues with 4 additional players - sudden victory
If still tied after 7th players shot: revert back to first shooter and continue in order - sudden victory
3 Team Playoff Format
All games will be 2 x 17 minute periods - stop time
Round robin games are played with points awarded (2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie and 0 for a loss)
- AvsB, AvsC, BvsC
Round robin games count if required for tie break (Ringette Alberta Rules)
If teams are tied the top team is selected (using RAB rules) and the remaining 2 teams play the second game of a 2 game total point match to establish the second and third place teams.
Top 2 teams then play a best 2 out of 3 - each game must declare a winner
If tied after regulation time: 5 minute overtime - sudden victory period
If still tied: each team selects 3 players who compete in a shoot-out - most goals win
If still tied: shoot out continues with 4 additional players - sudden victory
If still tied after 7th players shot: revert back to first shooter and continue in order - sudden victory
Revised January 12, 2009