Rules of the UUHA

The UUHA adheres to the rules of the Canadian Hockey Association, however, numerous exceptions apply. In the event of any rule discrepancies or extenuating circumstances in particular or general, the decisions arrived at by the UUHA Board of Governors will override any others, regardless of precedent.

Teams wishing to appeal any disciplinary or officiating decision must do so in writing within a timely fashion of the decision or instance being appealed (ideally, within 24 hours). All appeals will be considered and dealt with by the Board of Governors as quickly as possible, ideally prior to the appellant team's next game.   

1. No Fighting: Fighting is prohibited. Any player who receives a fighting major will automatically receive a minimum five-game suspension (not including the game in which the fighting took place). Any additional fighting penalties will result in a player's indefinite suspension from the league, the ultimate length of which will be determined by the Board of Governors.

2. No Intentional Contact: The UUHA is a non-contact league. In other words, intentional contact such as body checking, hip checking, excessive pushing and shoving and rubbing out another player along the boards should result in a penalty being assessed to the offending player. It is recognized that some incidental, non-aggressive contact between players (such as jostling, leaning into one another, minor bumping, etc.) may occur during the course of gameplay without constituting an infraction and, ultimately, subject to the referee's discretion.

3. No Red Line: The centre red line is not in play. As such, icing is only called if a shot originated from behind the far blue line.

4. Automatic Icing: Icing is automatic (you're welcome, Don Cherry) and is called (at the referee's discretion) as soon as the puck crosses the far goal line.

5. Slapshots: Slapshots are allowed.

6. Facial Protection: All players are required to wear a full compliment of protective gear including approved helmets with a minimum half visor. Players wearing half visors are strongly encouraged to wear a mouth guard. In the event a player wearing a half visor suffers a blood-letting injury due to an infraction by an opposing player (a high stick to the chin, for example) an additional penalty will NOT be automatically applied.

7. Game Length: Standard games typically consist of three 13-minute running-time periods. The Last 30 seconds of the 1st and 2nd periods, and the final 2 minutes of the 3^rd period are stop time. If, during the last 30 seconds of the 1st and 2nd periods, or the final 2 minutes of the 3rd period, the goal differential is 3 or more, the clock will run.

8. Penalty-free Incentive: Any team that finishes a regular-season game without being assessed a penalty will receive an additional half point. Too Many Men and delay of game penalties do not count against the bonus 1/2 point.

9. Offsetting Penalties: Offsetting penalties do not affect the number of players on the ice.

10. Excessive (Individual) Penalties: Any player who receives three minor penalties (or whose PIM total meets or exceeds 5 minutes) in a single game will be required to sit out the remainder of the game. The player is obliged to leave the team's bench, but may return after changing into street clothes. Players who demonstrate a regular pattern of excessive penalties may be subject to disciplinary action as determined by the Board of Governors.

11. Respect for Officials: Players who wish to convey a question or concern to an official are asked to do so through their captain or alternate captains. Team captains and alternates are responsible for curtailing any negative or abusive comments from their bench.

12. Shorthanded Line Changes: In order to negate any advantage that may be realized by the running clock, if a team is short-handed on the ice due to a penalty, they may only substitute players when the puck is in play (or the clock is stopped).

13. Penalty Shots: In the event of a penalty shot, the player infracted upon must take the penalty shot. If no specific player was infracted on then a player on the ice at the time of the call must take the penalty shot.

14. Timeouts: Each team may call one 30-second time out per game.

15. Team Captains. Each team will have a minimum of three and a maximum of four designated captains and alternate captains, as designated by the letters C and A on the front of their sweaters. Ideally, team captains should be even-keeled, good communicators who are well versed in rules of gameplay.

16. Spares: As a matter of courtesy, in the event a team is dressing any spare players for a game, a representative of the opposing team should be made aware of this prior to commencement of the game. All spares must be vouched for by a roster member of the team for which they are playing. All spares should be noted as such on the game sheet with the letters SP following their name. Spares may be used to augment a team's roster to a maximum of 11 skaters. If, for some special reason a team wishes to employ spare players beyond that number, it must be cleared by the opposing team's GM prior to the additional spare, or spares, dressing for that game. Spares should not be employed for the sake of affording a team any significant competitive advantage beyond the team's normal capacity. Complete strangers may not play as spares in any UUHA games. In accordance with the UUHA's insurance policy, in order for a spare player to be covered by insurance, the spare's names must be e-mailed to the insurance company prior to the start of the game. The policy affords insurance protection to no more than one spare per five insured players.

17. Minimum Number of Players: A Team must have at least six dressed roster players on the ice for the opening face-off of a game. If a team cannot dress this minimum number of players, the game is considered to be defaulted. A regular pattern of defaults is to be considered detrimental to the operation of the UUHA and subject to the disciplinary discretion of the Board of Governors.

18. Overtime: Normally, UUHA games that end in a tie are simply recorded as such. However, in the event of an excess of available ice time, a game that is tied at the end of regulation time may be settled by a period of sudden-death overtime during which teams will compete in accordance with the standard 5 on 5 format. The length of an overtime period may range from 2 to 5 minutes, depending on how much remaining ice time is available. Overtime will be running time and all line changes and substitutions must be done on the fly. The same overtime rules will apply to any UUHA Playoff game that requires a definite victor, unless circumstances require an alternate scenario, such as a shootout (below) or other mutually agreed upon means of determination.

19. Shootouts: In the event a game must be determined by a shootout, each team will select three players to shoot in staggered order. If the game has not been decided after four-to-six, each team will send a single shooter until a winner is determined. All the skaters on the team must take a shot before any player takes a 2^nd shot and so forth. Players still serving penalties at the end of overtime are not eligible to participate in a shootout.

20. Team Uniforms: All UUHA teams should have two distinct sets of jersey, one of them dark in colour, the other light in colour. Teams should be prepared to wear either of their uniforms for any particular game. The team designated as the "Home Team" will decide whether to wear light or dark jerseys prior to that particular game. All UUHA teams are also encouraged to have players' names on the backs of their jerseys. This affords the league an aesthetic uniformity and promotes familiarity among the league's membership and spectators.