FALLFEST TOURNAMENT 2025 RULES AND REGULATIONS
SANCTION
This tournament is sanctioned by Hockey Canada, Ontario Women’s Hockey Association and the Kitchener Fallfest Tournament rules and regulations shall apply.
PROCEDURES
1.
Each team’s head coach must report to the Fallfest Tournament Office prior to their first game time for registration.
2. All players participating in the tournament must be properly registered through the OWHA to play on the team with which they are listed, or qualified to play by properly completing the Pick Up Player/AP Section within RAMP.
No paper “OWHA Pick Up Player for Tournament” forms will be accepted.
3. Teams are required to bring two sets of sweaters, one dark set and one light set. The home teams wear
dark.
4. Teams must be ready to go on the ice
15 minutes before scheduled game time.
5.
No time outs will me allowed in round robin play.
6. One 30 second time out is allowed in the
finals only.
7. Teams
are not allowed on the ice until at least one on-ice official is present on the ice.
8. There will be a (3) minute warm up – the Official will blow their whistle with one (1) minute remaining to notify teams to clear warm up pucks and report to centre ice.
9. Mercy rule apples to round robin games only as follows. Where there is a five (5) goal differential in the third period, the clock will revert to run time and
does not return to stop time.
10. Spectators are not allowed in the change area or dressing rooms. It is the responsibility of the Team Officials to respect and enforce this rule at all times.
12. Team staff must not cross the ice surface to get to their bench.
TOURNAMENT PLAYING RULES
1. Hockey Canada and OWHA rules will apply except for the added rules as detailed below.
2. To be eligible to play in the Fallfest, a player must appear on the tournament roster submitted by each team. Players on Ontario teams must be registered with the OWHA.
3. The OWHA minimum suspension list will be strictly enforced. Additional suspensions may be imposed at the discretion of the Tournament Committee.
4. Suspension of players, coaching staff, managers, trainers etc. will be served in the tournament. Major and Match penalties will be reported to the OWHA tournament Discipline Chair and the OWHA.
5. A two-person referee system will be used in all divisions except U15A, where a 3-official system will be used.
6. U11A, U11BB, U11B, U13A, BB, B, U15 BB, B DIVISIONS – 10-10-12 GAME LENGTHS.
7. U15A – 12-12-15 GAME LENGTHS.
8. Teams must be ready to commence play once the buzzer sounds to end the warm-up.
9. The score clock will not show more than a 5-goal differential.
10. Checking from behind penalties are zero tolerance penalties.
11. Teams will be awarded (2) points for a win, (1) point for a tie and (0) points for a loss
12. Flooding of the ice surface will occur at the end of each game.
13. KMHA and the Fallfest Tournament Committee and Volunteers will not be responsible for any injuries incurred during the duration of the tournament.
14. During run time minor penalties will be 3 minutes, major penalties will be 7 minutes and misconducts will be 12 minutes.
15. On-ice Officials decisions are final and not subject to appeal or grievance.
The decisions of the Tournament Officials are final. No appeals will be allowed.
TIE BREAKING PROCEDURE FOLLOWING PRELIMINARY ROUND
In the event two or more teams are tied in total points for determining 1st Place in a Group and where applicable – 2nd Place in a Group or any Wildcard position(s) in the Division at the end of the Preliminary Round, the following procedure will be instituted in the order listed below to break a tie or ties:
1.Where there are only 2 teams that are tied – The winner of the HEAD-TO-HEAD GAME BETWEEN the 2 TEAMS will advance.
2. Where there are more than 2 teams that are tied and/or rule 1 did not break the tie, the higher ratio of “(Goals Scored For)/(Goals Scored For + Goals Scored Against)” using all Preliminary Round games.
3. If (1.) or subsequently (2.) does not resolve the tie - the team the MOST ‘WINS’ using all Preliminary Round games.
4. If teams are still tied - the team with the LEAST AMOUNT OF ‘GOALS AGAINST’ using all Preliminary Round games.
5. If teams are still tied – the team with the ‘LOWEST NUMBER of penalty minutes’ using all Preliminary Round games.
6. If teams are still tied - A single COIN TOSS BY THE TOURNAMENT CHAIR or designate.
For greater clarity, where multiple teams are involved in a tie breaking procedure, individual teams can be eliminated from the tie as the procedure continues from (2.) above and so on.
PLAYOFF AND CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES
FOR ALL PLAYOFF AND CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES THE HOME TEAM WILL BE THE TEAM WITH THE HIGHER SEEDING FROM THE PRELIMINARY ROUNDS.
1. Semifinals will be played in each division.
2. Semi-finals (SF) and Finals (all Divisions) will be played on Sunday.
3. For single Pool division, the top four teams will advance and will be seeded 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th, as per the tie breaking rules above.
4. For 2 Pool Divisions, teams will advance as outlined in the schedule. Tiebreaker rules as above will be used where needed to determine advancing teams.
5. For 3 Pool Divisions, the 3 pool winners will advance and be seeded 1st, 2nd and 3rd place as per the tie breaking rules. The best record of the remaining teams from each pool on the basis of the tie breaker rule will advance as a wildcard and be the 4th seeded team.
6. In all Divisions the team seeded 4th will play the team seeded 1st and the 3rd seeded team will play the 2nd seeded team. The higher seeded team will be the home team.
7. Overtime will be played, if necessary, in all Play-off and Championship games. All Play-off and Championship overtime play will be Sudden Victory.
OVERTIME
Overtime is sudden victory
1. 5 minutes of 3 on 3 plus goalie - change freely
2. No additional time outs allowed and there is no carried forward provision.
3. Teams will not change ends.
4. If tied after overtime a 3-player shootout will take place.
5. If a penalty occurs – the non-penalized team adds a player – at the end of the penalty, the penalized team returns a player to the ice. At the next stoppage teams return to 3 on 3.
SHOOT OUT
1. Teams must provide a list of shooters pregame – S1, S2 & S3.
2. Home team has the choice to shoot first.
3. A player who is serving a penalty at the end of overtime can not participate in the shootout. The team coach will designate a replacement for shooter S1, S2 or S3 as required.
4. If teams are still tied after the first 3 shooters a single player shootout will occur until a winner is determined.
5. A player may not shoot a second time until all players on the game sheet excluding goalies have shot.
6. After shooting a player must go into the penalty box or the penalty box area.
AWARDS PRESENTATION
AFTER THE CAMPIONSHIP GAME, AWARDS WILL BE PRESENTED ON THE ICE – PARENTS ARE NOT ALLOWED ON THE ICE SURFACE TO TAKE PICTURES BUT ARE INVITED TO TAKE PICTURES FROM THE PLAYERS BENCHES.
It is the teams responsibility to ensure a clean dressing room is left upon completion of their game. All teams are requested to vacate the dressing room 20 minutes or less after their game is completed.
Where the game schedule or ice availability, or some other circumstances does not allow for an on-ice ceremony, Tournament Officials will designate an off-ice location for the ceremony.
Follow tournament news and scores on the KMHA website at: www.kitchenerminorhockey.com.