KITCHENER MINOR HOCKEY ASSOCIATION
51st ANNUAL OKTOBERFEST INTERNATIONAL ATOM TOURNAMENT
October 17th to 19th, 2025
Follow tournament news and scores on the KMHA website at www.kitchenerminorhockey.com.
This Tournament is dedicated to the memory of Mr. T. Graham (d. 2019) who was the President of KMHA and Oktoberfest Tournament Director.
The objective of the Oktoberfest U10 (2016) and U11 (2015) Tournament is to provide exciting, fun-filled and competitive hockey for all participants, teams and fans. Kitchener Minor Hockey Association firmly believes that all players, coaches and team officials have the right to participate and compete in a tournament free of harassment. Therefore the Tournament operating committee will not tolerate any abusive or unsportsmanlike behaviour directed at any individual involved in the Tournament. It is the responsibility of each Coach and Coaching Staff to ensure that all team members behave in a respectful manner at all times while at the Tournament. Parents and fans will also be held to a high standard and shall be required to act in a Sportsmanlike and respectful manner.
We thank all participants for taking part in this 51st annual event. May you all leave this Tournament weekend with great memories filled with lots of new and lasting friendships.
GENERAL INFORMATION
This Tournament is for U10 age (2016) and U11 age (2015) teams.
The Divisions will comprise AAA, AA, A and BB/B.
U11 AAA consists of 18 teams in 3 Groups.
U11 AA consists of 12 Teams in 3 Groups.
U11 A consists of 15 Teams in 3 Groups.
U11 BB/B consists of 10 Teams in 2 Groups.
U10 AAA consists of 8 Teams in 2 Groups.
U10 AA consists of 11 Teams in 2 Groups.
U10 A consists of 14 Teams in 2 Groups.
U10 BB/B consists of 8 Teams.
The term “Group” or “Pool” can be interchanged and shall have the same meaning in this tournament.
Hockey Canada and Alliance Hockey Official Rules will be in effect for all Tournament games. See also local tournament rule(s) herein. All Coaches and team staff are encouraged to review Hockey Canada and Alliance Hockey Official Rules prior to the start of the Tournament.
Each participating team MUST be registered with Hockey Canada or USA Hockey.
**All teams must provide Tournament officials, at the time of registration a Travel permit, and official Team Roster and their approved Affiliate player lists prior to playing your first game of the Tournament. You must have a copy with you and provide it to tournament officials upon request.
Each team must provide a contact person and a cell phone number to be contacted by Tournament officials during the Tournament.
**All team coaches and managers must sign the game sheet before each game. The game sheet will be loaded onto the iPad by the tournament convenors at each arena. Team officials are asked to visit the tournament office/desk at the arena to sign the game sheet. Please do not remove the iPads from the tournament desk.
Dressing rooms must be free of any refuse by placing it in the containers provided. Teams will be responsible for any damages or littering to Dressing rooms and any other Arena facilities.
PLEASE NOTE:
Spectators are not PERMITTED to enter the change areas or DRESSING ROOMS at any time. It is the duty of Team mangers to respect this rule at all times.
There will be NO TIME OUTS permitted in the Preliminary Round, Quarter Final or Semi-final games in this Tournament. Each Team in the Championship Final game will be permitted one (1) TIME-OUT of 30 seconds. No additional time-outs will be allowed should the Championship Final game proceed to overtime.
Game times will commence with a Three (3) minute warm-up, beginning when the Zamboni doors close.
The timekeeper shall signal the end of the warm-up and commencement of first period of play by sounding the buzzer and re-setting the game clock.
A maximum 20 players including up to 2 goalies in full uniform and team officials (up to a MAXIMUM OF 5) will be permitted in the
players bench area during game play. One must be an HTCP safety person.
ARENAS
All teams will play at one or more of the local arenas listed.
The Activa Sportsplex - Twin pad
Don McLaren Arena
Grand River Arena
Lions Arena
The Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex - 3 pads
Sportsworld Arenas - Twin pad
Teams must follow any COVID protocols put in place by Hockey Canada, The Ontario Hockey Federation, Alliance Hockey, the governments of Canada, Ontario, and Waterloo Region, The City of Kitchener, or The Kitchener Minor Hockey Association.
RULES AND FORMAT
The game schedule and scores/standings will be posted on the website at www.kitchenerminorhockey.com
- The Preliminary Round games will begin on Friday October 17th and will continue through Saturday October 18, 2025.
- Playoff and Championship games will be played on Sunday October 19th.
- All teams are scheduled to play (4) games in the Preliminary Round, with two (2) games on Friday and two (2) games on Saturday.
- Based on playoff format, the maximum number of games a Team could play in the Tournament will be seven (7).
- All teams must be prepared to start their games up to (15) minutes prior to the scheduled start time. Teams not ready to play at the scheduled start time will be subject to local rules penalty at direction of the Tournament official present.
- Two (2) points will be awarded for each WIN and (1) one point for each TIE in the Preliminary Round. There will be No Overtime played during Preliminary Round games.
- All Preliminary Round Tournament games will be three (3) periods of stop-time hockey (10-12-12), with a 5 goal differential mercy rule applied to the 3rd period per local rules.
- All playoff and final games will be three (3) periods of stop-time hockey (10-12-12) with NO mercy rule applied. There will be a flood before each game.
- There will be a (2) two minute Rest Period between the second and third period in all Tournament games.
- Teams are not allowed on the ice surface until the Zamboni doors are closed and a coach is present and on ice Officials are present (no exceptions).
- ** Teams must have two sets of game Jerseys. The team listed as the Home Team will wear Dark colored jerseys. Teams listed as the Away or Visitor team will wear Light colored jerseys. In the event of a color conflict or dispute, the Tournament official present reserves the right to make the final decision.
As a sanctioned Hockey Canada and Alliance Hockey event, any intentional or careless body checking is prohibited. Incidental contact while establishing position, taking away the lane, or battling for possession is acceptable within reason. Referee judgment will prevail.
APPROVED NECK PROTECTORS ARE MANDATORY for all players participating in this Tournament. (exemptions as made by Hockey Canada with appropriate paper work considering home jurisdiction rules).
Mouth Guards - Though OPTIONAL, ALLIANCE HOCKEY STRONGLY RECOMMENDS all players wear a mouth guard.
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. Winner of head to head game between 2 teams (will only apply when there are only 2 teams in a tie breaker and they have played each other in the Preliminary Round and a winner was declared, otherwise proceed to step 2.)
2. The higher ratio of “(Goals Scored For)/(Goals Scored For + Goals Scored Against)” using all Preliminary Round games. This will be displayed on the website at www.kitchenerminorhockey.com
If 1. or subsequently 2. (as above) does not resolve the tie:
3. The team with the MOST WINS using all Preliminary Round games.
If teams are still tied:
4. The team with the LEAST AMOUNT OF GOALS AGAINST using all Preliminary Round games.
If teams are still tied:
5. The Team with the MOST GOALS SCORED FOR using all Preliminary Round games.
If teams are still tied:
6. The Team with the LOWEST NUMBER of penalty minutes using all Preliminary Round games.
If teams are still tied:
7. A 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
Quarter-Final (QF, where applicable), Semi-final (SF) and Final games for all divisions will be played on Sunday.
1. For single group division, the top four teams will advance and will be ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th, as per the tie breaking rules above.
2. For 2 Group Divisions, the 1st and 2nd place teams from each pool will advance. 1st place teams will be ranked into 1st place and 2nd place. The 2nd place teams from each pool will be ranked into 3rd place and 4th place as per tie breaking rules above.
3. For 3 Group Divisions, 3 Group winners will advance and be ranked into 1st, 2nd and 3rd place as per the tie breaking rules above. The best record of the remaining teams will advance as a wildcard and be the 4th place team.
4. For 4 Group Divisions, 4 group winners will advance and be ranked into 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th, as per the tie breaking rules above.
Quarter Finals (QF) – will be played in the U11 AAA Division only (18 teams).
This is a 3 Group Division - A, B & C - Rankings will be as follows:
1. The 3 Pool Winners will be seeded 1, 2 an 3 according to the tie-breaking rules above.
2. 2nd place from each pool will be seeded 4th, 5th and 6th according to the tie-breaking rules above.
Quarter-Final (QF) games, Semi-Final (SF) games and Final games will be played as per the posted schedule in the U11 AAA division.
The top 2 seeded pool winners will advance directly to the SF games. The remaining 3-6th seeded teams will play in the QF games on Sunday morning to determine advancement to SF games.
Overtime will be played, if necessary, in all playoff and championship games. All playoff and championship overtime play will be sudden victory.
OVERTIME FORMAT
Overtime is only applicable to playoff and championships games.
If teams are tied after 3 periods of play, games will consist of one (1) ten (10) minute stop-time period of four on four (4on4) sudden victory overtime. Teams may substitute players freely during the overtime period.
Teams DO NOT change ends for the overtime period.
IF THE GAME IS NOT DECIDED at the conclusion of the ten (10) minute overtime period, a three (3) player NHL style shootout will take place as follows.
1. The home team has the choice to shoot first or second.
2. The Team that scores the MOST goals during the shoot-out will advance.
3. If the teams are still tied at the conclusion of the initial shootout round, a sudden victory shootout will take place until one team has scored on (1) more goal than the other team. A player may not shoot again until all players on each team, excluding goalies, have had an opportunity to shoot
GAME OFFICIALS
1. All games will be officiated by registered HOCKEY CANADA, OHF and ALLIANCE HOCKEY officials.
2. Referees shall judge all goals from the ice.
3. All Tournament games will be officiated by a two (2) person officiating crew.
LOCAL RULES OF TOURNAMENT
1. ** There will be a 5-goal differential mercy rule in effect for all Preliminary Round games at this tournament.
During Preliminary Round games where there is a 5-goal differential at any point in the 3rd period (eg. a score of 5-0, 6-1 etc.), the time clock will run straight time for the remainder of that game, regardless of whether the goal differential becomes less than 5 (eg. a score of 5-1, 6–2 etc.).
During straight run time, the referee, at their sole discretion may instruct the timekeeper to stop the clock for a player injury. Any team attempting to delay the restart of play after a whistle in a run-time situation such as arguing referee calls or extending line changes (as examples), can be assessed a minor penalty and/or coach ejection.
Any minor penalties occurring during straight run time will be of 3-minute duration.
The 5-goal differential mercy rule does not apply to Quarter-final or Semi-final playoff or Championship final games.
2. Game start time: The game start time is listed on the tournament website. The listed game start time may be moved ahead by up to 15 minutes upon prior notice by the on-duty Tournament official to the coach or manager of each team.
In the event the Tournament is behind schedule, the on-duty Tournament official will make best efforts to determine a new game start time and notify the coach or manager of each team. Teams who are not ready to participate at the game start time can forfeit their 3-minute warmup time. The Tournament official present, in consultation with the referee, may impose further sanctions to a team that is not ready to participate at the game start time, such as assigning a minor penalty for delay of game.
3. Tournament on-time: In the event that an arena rink falls behind the scheduled start times of games played on Friday Oct 17th or Saturday October 18th by 30 minutes or more, the tournament director in consultation with the tournament office may at their discretion require games in that arena from that point onward to play the last five (5) minutes of the 3rd period in straight run-time, regardless of the score of the game. This would be in effect until end of day play. This would be communicated by the Tournament office to team officials, referees and timekeepers.
4. Forfeit: In the unlikely event that a team forfeits a game (excluding a force majeure event in 4 a) below), that team will be registered with a 2-0 loss and their opponent (provided they are ready and able to play) will be awarded a 2-0 win.
a) Force majeure: In the event of:
- i) OPP closure of Provincial Highway 401 within 90km of Kitchener that results in a team arriving late to play a scheduled Preliminary Round game, or
- ii) a power outage at the arena facility or
- iii) the City of Kitchener declaring a concern with playability of the ice surface;
the Tournament Director at his sole discretion may elect to delay the start time and play the game in it's entirety, or shorten the allotted game to 10-10-10 periods or reschedule the game to a later time that day (subject to ice availability and opponent’s schedule), or declare the game to be a 1-1 tie.
For the Tournament website, please visit www.kitchenerminorhockey.com