MES Rules

Tournament Director:
The Tournament Director shall be responsible for resolving all inquiries or disputes regarding off‐ice rule application or interpretation, player eligibility, disciplinary action, or any other procedural disputes. He or she will not overturn any dispute concerning rules and/or the judgment applied by on‐ice officials. All decisions of the Tournament Director are final.

Player Eligibility:
A player may only play for one team in his own age group. A player must appear on the official roster. Teams must supply their own team insurance.

Jerseys:
Home and visiting teams are indicated on the tournament schedule. Home teams shall wear light-colored jerseys. Visitors will wear dark jerseys. All jerseys must have a player number clearly displayed.

Penalty Box:
Each team is responsible for providing its own penalty box attendant

Warm-Ups:
A five (5) minute warm-up will take place before the start time of the game. Pucks will NOT be provided. Please bring warm-up pucks for your team.

Time Outs:
One 30 second time-out is permitted per team per game.

Length of Periods:
Games are 3 x 20 minute stop time periods unless otherwise noted.
U14 (2007) & U13 (2008) will play 3 x 17 minute stop time periods with an ice cut after the 2nd period.

Period Break:
There will be a full ice resurface break between each period. It is the responsibility of the coach to ensure their team is ready to go at the start of each period and the sound of the buzzer after timeouts.

Mercy Rule:
The mercy rule shall be in effect. If a team at any point during the third period is leading by 6 or more goals the clock will revert to running time. If the difference is reduced to 3 goals or less, the clock will revert back to stop time.

Officials:
All on‐ice officials are currently and completely registered and in good standing with USA Hockey and their respective State Association or the International Ice Hockey Federation, (llHF). Games will be played under USA Hockey rules. Please note that MES cannot change or alter decisions made by USA Hockey officials.

Penalties/Match Penalties:
Penalty times will be as follows: Minor 2:00minutes, Major 5:00 minutes, Misconduct 10:00 minutes.

Any player and/or team official who is in receipt of a match penalty or gross misconduct will be suspended for any remaining games. Any player that receives a second major penalty will result in an ejection from the remaining games of the weekend.

On Ice Altercations:
If a game is interrupted by on‐ice fighting between players and /or bench staff, then the clock will continue to run. Games times will not be restored until the whistle has blown on the play that immediately follows the on‐ice fight. Minutes lost will not be restored.

Division Scoring (where applicable):

All divisions will be scored per game as follows:

    1. 3 points for a regulation win
    2. 2 points for an OT/SO win.
    3. 1 point for an OT/SO loss.
    4. 0 points for a regulation loss.


Overtime Rules

    1. 5-minute stop time 3 on 3.
    2. 3-man shootout

Eligible Players for a Shootout

    1. Each team will select three (3) players to participate in the shootout.
      1. If a player is serving a penalty, he is unable to participate in the shootout
      2. Once a player shoots, he/she is no longer eligible to participate until every player on the bench (excluding goaltenders, players serving penalties, and/or players that are injured) has shot at least once.
    2. The home team decides who shoots first.
    3. Once all six (6) players have finished their attempts, the team with the most goals is declared the winner.
    4. If, after all six (6) players have finished their attempts, the game remains tied then each team will start the fourth round by selecting one (1) player who has not yet participated in the shootout.
    5. The shootout will then continue, one player at a time, with each team having an equal number of turns.
    6. During the fourth round and beyond, the team that scores first, with the other failing to score, is declared the winner.

Forfeited Games:
Any forfeited games will be recorded as a 3-0 score.

Goal Differential:
The maximum goal differential attainable per game is +/- 7