RULES AND REGULATIONS:
Most of the Rules of Ball Hockey mirror those of ice hockey, or what you are already familar with, this is not meant to be a comprehensive list. However, there are a number of special rules that you should be aware of if you have never played SBHL Ball Hockey before
The SBHL will not tolerate fighting, intent to injure or abuse of officials and will provide all team reps with a suspension and fine list that will be enforced in the event that any of the above occur.
Minimal Contact:
Although the term non-contact is used for ball hockey a more accurate depiction would be the term minimal contact. There is no body checking, however, there is always a bit of bumping or light pushing amongst players to gain body position between them, the opponent and the ball. There is absolutely no stick work tolerated in the sport.
The "Floating Blue Line":
This method of offside is exclusive to ball hockey and heavily promotes offense, as the offensive zone is very large and extends from the center line all the way to the end boards in the defensive zone.
Ball Hockey mirrors international hockey in that there is no 2 line pass. However, the largerst difference between Ball Hockey and most forms of Ice Hockey is the "Floating Blue Line" that regulates offides in the offensive zones. Once a player has moved the ball over the blue line into the attacking zone, the attacking zone increases to include the entire opponent's half of the rink. If the defending team sends the ball past center, the zone is reset to the blue line and their opponent must regain it as explained above.
Periods
All SBHL Ball Hockey games in Atom and older consist of two 20 minute halves. Straight-time in the first half and stop-time in second half. If the score becomes more than a four goal spread at any time during the second half, straight time will occur.
Novice leagues will play two 24-minute straight-time halves with a 3 minute buzzer allowing teams to change lines. In the tyke, initiation and novice age categories there will be a 3-goal limit for each player in a game. Tyke and Initiation games will be played 3-on-3 or 4-on-4 (no goalies) half-court, so there will be two games played simultaneously on each floor with a screen dividing the court in half.
During regular season play, at the end of regulation time if there is a tie, a shoot-out will occur.
High Sticking & Stick Infractions
Other rules are those concerning penalties involving the use of the hockey stick. "High sticking the ball" (touching the ball with your stick at a height greater than 4' (or above the crossbar) is a 2 minute penalty. Hence, it's best to rid yourself of the habit of chasing a ball in the air with your stick (Street Hockey players - beware!)
Any stick infraction, including slashing, high-sticking (an opposing player) or a cross-checking penalty, will result in a double-minor. The penalized player will serve the entire length of his/her penalty regardless if the other team scores, even though his/her team will return to even strength. High sticking involving injuries will result in a 5-minute major and a game misconduct, and review from the discipline committee.
Any three penalties in a game will earn a game ejection.
To view the full rules of ball hockey please view PDF file provided here.
EQUIPMENT
Ball Hockey requires very minimal equipment. All that is required is running shoes, gloves and a helmet. However, all CBHA (Canadian Ball Hockey Association) leagues use a certified low bounce orange. The ball is a hard and at the elite levels, can reach speeds at over 100 km/hour.
Mandatory Equipment Requirements
CSA approved helmets (facemasks under 18)
CSA or ZEBRA Ball Hockey gloves
Hockey stick (no plastic blades) and running shoes.
Recommended Equipment Requirements (optional)
Shin pads - ice hockey (must be covered), soccer or ball hockey shin pads
Protective cup
Goaltenders
CBHA approved DGel balls are low bounce and hard. Therefore, goaltenders must use CSA approved ice hockey gear; no street hockey equipment can be used (except in Initiation & Novice youth leagues or unless otherwise approved by the league).
All Goaltenders in Atom (and older) must have their own goal equipmment. In Initiation and Novice, goal equipment (pads, blocker, glove, chest pad) will be provided to teams if they are needed. In circumstances where a team may not have a regular goalie, the league will provide some.
Required:
- Protective cup
- CSA approved goal pads
- Chest and arm pads
- Helmet with cage
- CSA approved blocker and trapper
- Protective hockey pants
Liquor Consumption within Playing Facilities
The consumtion of alcohol in dressing rooms/bench areas are prohibited by our facilities. The penalty (issued by the facility) may be the loss of dressing rooms facilities for 5 games. If these facilities choose to implement a fine, then teams will have to pay this out of their pocket and will be suspended from league play until they pay it in full to the facility. Additionally, the league will also forfeit your next game and the team you played will be able to take any game from your schedule being that they did not get to play your game.
Jersey Conflicts (teams responsibility)
In past seasons the league has left pinnies at different arena’s to avoid colour conflicts between teams; However, these pinnies are not returned in full and in other cases players have intentionally torn them, making them unusable for other players.
Teams that have their own custom jerseys will be responsible for their own second uniform to avoid colour conflicts; we understand that having two sets of jerseys are costly, so we will ALLOW teams to wear their own numbered pinnies or even get simple cost effective t-shirts with numbers on the back, to use ONLY to avoid colour conflicts.
For reasons listed above, it is now the team’s responsibility to supply some form of a respectable back up uniform/t-shirt with numbers in case of Jersey Conflicts.
Affiliate Players (AP) & Goaltenders
The use of affiliate players will be to eliminate teams having lower roster sizes for game play and/or helping to eliminate forfeits. Teams can only use Affiliate Players to get their roster up to 10 players. Team reps should contact league coordinator for a more extensive description of the process and rules for using affiliated players.
Brief Outline:
-Players can affiliate (AP) with any team from a lower or higher division until the roster freeze deadline of June 1st, at this time they must commit as an A/P to only one team in one division.
-Players MUST be registered in Regina Ball Hockey.
(ie: If after relegation your team is now in E that is your CURRENT division)
- To avoid misuse of AP players or fraudulent signatures, ALL AP’s must show photo ID to the timekeeper, before playing no ID – no play. In the event a player forgets his/her ID the opposing team, official or timekeeper may confirm that is actually the correct player, if they recognize him.
- AP’s must sign in on game roster sheets and indicate they are an AP beside their name.
Example: Wayne Gretzky (AP)
- There is no interdivisional use of AP players
- There is no inter-league play between Co-Ed or Men’s.
- Teams that have not paid a full team fee or do not have 16 full time registered players cannot use affiliate players.
- To use affiliate players, the team must provide the AP a matching team jersey
Suspensions:
If a player receives a suspension in any division, they will be suspended from play and cannot be used as an AP in another division. So if a player is suspended 3 games, the suspension ends when your registered team plays the three games; you cannot play in the league at all until your regular team plays three.
Failure to comply = double suspension and $50 fine.
ANY TEAM using a suspended player will be forfeited and the opposing team can take a game from their schedule.
FORFEITS
- A team that forfeits a game will not only lose that game, but the team they were supposed to play will also be able to take any game off their schedule, league will need 5 days notice.
- If you forfeit the last game of the season, you will lose game 1 in playoffs
- If you forfeit a game during a series, it will count as two games. Example: if you forfeit game 1 in a two game playoff series, the opposing team would automatically win game 2.
Roster Freeze Day
As of June 1st you can no longer register ANY players to your team.
Affiliate players must also be submitted to the league at this time and must commit to one team in one division.
To make sure the player has committed only to your team, it would be best them to have them write you an email stating this, in the event we have two teams submitting the same player.
Playoff Eligibility: Affiliate Players must play a minimum of 1 game with your team to be eligible for playoffs.
Goaltenders: If a team requires a goaltender they can use one from any team within the division or lower, if they would like to use a goaltender from a higher division this must be approved by the other team.
