a) Based on a 9-team league, the regular-season schedule will see each team play 56 games – 28 as home and 28 as visitors, playing each opponent seven (7) occurrences with an optimized distribution ratio of home games.

b) Final season rankings are determined by total points. Each team earns two points for every win and one point for every tie.

c) If two or more teams are tied in points at the end of the season, use the following process to determine the final rankings:

a. If at least one of the tied teams will not make the playoffs and at least one of the tied teams will make the playoffs, then rank the teams:

i. First with a round robin tournament involving all the tied teams. Home teams are to be decided by a coin toss, then by

ii. Goal plus-minus in the tournament, then by

iii. Coin toss.

b. If the tied teams are all in the playoffs or all the tied teams are out of the playoffs, then rank the teams:

i. First by Won/Loss/Tie record in all games involving only the tied teams, then by

ii. Total wins in the current regular season, then by

iii. Coin toss.

A.2 Playoffs

Once the regular season games have been played and the standings are determined, the top six placed teams earn playoff positions.

a) All series are best-of-seven series. The higher ranked teams are the home teams for games 1, 2, 5 and 7.

b) In the first round of the playoffs,

a. The teams ranked first and second immediately advance to the second round of the playoffs,

b. The third ranked team plays the sixth ranked team, and

c. The fourth ranked team plays the fifth ranked team.

c) The winning teams from Round 1 will advance to Round 2, where they will face the first and second ranked teams.

a. The first ranked team from the regular season plays the lowest ranked team advancing from Round 1, and

b. The second ranked team from the regular season plays the other team to advance from Round 1.

d) The two advancing teams from Round 2 proceed to the Benko Cup Championship.

e) The most games played in any playoff round count as the number of games played for all remaining teams in regards to injuries. Round-robin games are to be included in the calculation of injury healing.

A.3 Overtime

If a game is tied at the end of regulation time, then the game shall continue into overtime.

a) Once a goal is scored in overtime, the game is immediately over.

b) One overtime period is played for regular season games. The game is considered tied if neither team scores.

c) For playoff games, overtime continues indefinitely until one of the teams score.

d) For regular season games, overtime is played using eight Action Cards with line changes after the 2^nd, 4^th, and 6^th Action Cards.

e) For playoff games, each overtime period is played using 30 Action cards with line changes after the 8^th, 15^th, and 22^nd Action Cards.

f) During each overtime period, only three forwards may play a maximum of two shifts. All remaining forwards may only play one shift.

g) During each overtime period, each defenseman may play a maximum of two shifts.

h) During overtime, all references to Opponent Defense 8, 9, 10, 11 become:

a. Opponent Defense 7, 8, 9, 10 respectively in the first overtime period;

b. Opponent Defense 7, 7, 8, 9 respectively in the second overtime period;

c. Opponent Defense 7, 7, 7, 8 respectively in the third overtime period;

d. Opponent Defense 7, 7, 7, 7 respectively in all subsequent overtime periods.

A.4 Playing Requirements

a) Unless Caged or without the benefit of the Endurance Coach Incentive, all skaters must dress for a minimum of twelve (12) regular season games.

b) There is no minimum playing requirements for the playoffs.

c) During the regular season, every goaltender must make every effort to play a minimum of 180 minutes, and not exceed:

a. The number of NHL games from the prior season, as determined from the current Strat-O-Matic card, and

b. The minutes listed in the following chart, based the goaltender’s Consecutive Appearances Rating.

Consecutive Appearances Rating	Maximum Minutes
1	1180
2	1360
3	1540
4	1720
5	1900
6	2080
7	2260
8	2440
9	2620
10	2800
11	2980
12	3160

d) During the entire playoffs, a goaltender may not play more than half of the NHL games reflected on his SHL card. Any half games are rounded up. (i.e, 11 NHL games = 6 SHL playoff games)

e) During any playoff series, a goaltender must not play more consecutive games than his Consecutive Appearances Rating unless the goaltender is considered ‘Hot’. Furthermore, a goaltender that is considered ‘hot’ may not play more consecutive games than that of twice his Consecutive Appearances Rating.

a. A goaltender is considered ‘Hot’ if, for every game during his last stretch of consecutive games, all of the following are true:

i. The goaltender has started every game, and

ii. The goaltender has played at least 55 minutes in each game, and

iii. The goaltender has never been substituted for by another goaltender, and

iv. The goaltender’s G.A.A. is less than the Hot Threshold value.

b. During a game in which a goaltender is playing ‘hot’, the goaltender becomes fatigued immediately after surrendering a goal that is greater than the Hot Threshold value. The goaltender may complete the game fatigued, but must rest for at least one full game before being considered rested.

c. A ‘hot’ goaltender that is lost to injury may return to the same game if possible, but is then considered fatigued and must rest for at least one full game before being considered rested.

A.5 Violating the Season Playing Requirements

a) When a team violates the Playing Requirements results of their roster, they will lose 2 points in the season standings for each game it would take to undo the infraction.
For example, if a team does not have the Endurance Coach incentive and a player from their roster only dresses for nine games (3 short of the 12 minimum), then that team will lose 6 points from their final season’s point totals.

b) Any points lost in the standings due to Season Playing Requirements will not benefit the violating team in the following season’s drafting order. In other words, if a team drops in the standings, the drafting order is based upon the standings BEFORE the decrease in team points.

A.6 Trades

a) Trades are solely the responsibility of the teams involved.

b) Draft selections may be traded. However, only selections from the next two immediate annual drafts may be traded, effective the date of the trade transaction. Draft selections traded during the draft festivities, up to and including the waiver draft, may only include the current and subsequent draft.

c) Cages, Waiver picks and Incentives can be traded.

d) When a Cage has already been associated to a player, the association cannot be broken (i.e., the player remains Caged).

e) Trades must be finalized. Trades may not include future considerations for forthcoming results or data, etc.

a. Exception: A trade that consists of Draft selections may consist of alternative Draft selections. The alternatives must be clearly defined; the team responsible for making the choice must be made clear; and a defining timeframe must be imposed. None of these alternative Draft choices can be based on forthcoming conditions.

Note: The team that is receiving these draft selections holds a lien on ALL the said draft picks until one of the options has been chosen. Subsequently, none of these draft selections can be further traded until the lien has been removed.

f) Upon completion of a trade, a League announcement should be made to the remaining teams, and the transaction must be logged into the Trade Section of the Season Log Book.

g) No trades are permitted after the Trade Deadline, which is established as the point in the regular season when all teams have played exactly 48 of 56 games.

h) No games can be played after the Trade Deadline until ALL teams waive their right to further trading.

A.7 Cages

· Unless traded away, each team is granted one Cage at the beginning of the season.

· Before the regular season begins, each team may assign one player to each cage for which that team owns.

· Once the Cage is assigned to a player, it is non-transferable.

· Caged players are eligible to be traded. However, the cage is still non-transferable.

A.8 Calendar Dates

a) In all situations, it is preferred that all General Managers try to schedule the following events on days that are in the best interest of all involved. If these days are undeterminable, then the following events will occur on these default calendar dates:

a. Annual Banquet & General Managers Meeting – The first Sunday in June

b. The Entry Draft – The last Thursday in August

c. The Draft Pool Selections – The first Thursday after the cards arrive.

A.9 Team Naming Conventions

a) The league board of General Managers must approve of all implementations or changes of team names, including both the city location as well as its moniker.

A.10 Dissolving Teams

a) If a General Manager is unavailable to manage and coach a team and no replacement can be found, then the team and its roster is held in suspension for one year. During this period, no trades involving this team may occur.

b) The team can partake in only one Draft. A committee, consisting of the remaining General Managers, will select the players drafted.

c) If a replacement General Manager & Coach is found before the following Draft day, the team partakes in this Draft. The team is granted the LAST draft selection in each round.

d) If no replacement General Manager & Coach can be found before the following Draft, the team is dissolved. The team does not partake during this draft. Any existing draft selections become null and void.

e) The existing roster of the dissolved team is placed into the Available Player Pool.

A.11 Expansion or Replacement General Mangers

a) Any new expansion or replacement General Manger can only be inducted into the Strat-O-Matic Hockey League after a unanimous, favourable vote by the existing General Mangers. This General Manager will be considered to be on a one-year probation. After the one-year probationary period, another unanimous, favourable vote of the existing General Mangers will be required to permit the new General Manger to continue as members of the league.

A.12 No Strat-O-Matic Hockey Cards

a) During the rare occurrences when there are no new Strat-O-Matic Hockey cards for an entire season due to NHL lockouts, etc - and there is a potential for new cards to be printed for future seasons – then our league will continue using the latest Strat-O-Matic Hockey cards available. The Draft, Available Player pool, etc… will continue as usual, based on these cards.

A.13 Rules, Change Management

a) League voting can only proceed if there at least quorum in attendance (half the league General Managers + 1)

b) To pass a new rule or change an existing one, a supporting vote of at least two-thirds of the voting General Managers are needed to successfully pass the proposed change.

c) To clarify an existing rule, a majority vote decides the outcome of the clarification.

d) Any new rule, change, or clarification must be recorded so that the Rules and Regulations document can be adjusted at a later date.

e) Any new rule that affects the next Draft may delay the induction of the rule if any trades are affected by the change. However, this delay will only last a maximum of one year.

f) If, during game play, a topic is found that is not covered by this document, then resolve the topic:

a. First by a vote of the General Managers, or

b. If insufficient General Managers are available, then by rationalizing the most logical application that is consistent with our existing regulations. The topic can be officially resolved at a later time once all General Managers can cast their vote.

Section B The Draft and Related Activities

B.1 Summary of the Draft Procedure

The following is a summary of the events that make up the SHL Draft in their chronological order. Further explanations of these events follow the summary.

a) Perform the Draft Lottery.

b) Establish the Available Player Pool

c) Establish the Draft Pool

d) Conduct the Draft

e) Select Team Incentives

f) Release Players into Waiver Pool

g) Conduct the Waiver Draft

B.2 The Draft Lottery

Lottery chips are distributed as follows:

Previous Season Standing	…Receives this ratio of Lottery Chips

9^th place team	4
8^th place team	2
7^th place team	1

Footnote – Any teams tied in regular season points will have their accumulated lottery chips evenly distributed between all the tied teams.

Once the chips are mixed thoroughly, one is taken blindly by the General Manager who has the lowest first overall pick (after any trades). The team whose chip is chosen will have their First Round pick moved to first overall. No other drafting rounds are affected by the Lottery.

B.3 Establishing the Available Player Pool

The Available Player Pool consists of all the current Strat-O-Matic player cards that have not been on an SHL roster for the prior two seasons.

B.4 Establishing the Draft Pool

The Draft Pool consists of 70 players. They are chosen from the Available Player Pool as follows:

a) A Rookie Selection is chosen randomly from the NHL All-Rookie Team.

To do this:

a. Remove the cards for the NHL All Rookie Team from the Available Player Pool. Some of these players may already reside on an SHL roster. If this is the case, no substitutions are made.

b. The team with the first overall selection blindly picks one card from the shuffled deck of NHL rookies.

c. This player will be put into the Draft Pool.

d. The remaining rookie cards are placed back into their respective positions in the Available Player Pool. This is to be done by a neutral party or by the SHL team with the lowest first pick in the draft.

b) (Effective 2012) The remaining 69 players are chosen by randomly selecting a fixed number of players from each position, as follows:

a. 5 goaltenders;

b. 14 from every forward position (LW, C, RW)

c. 11 from both defenseman position (LD, RD)

B.5 Conducting the Draft

a) The Draft is limited to four rounds of selections.

b) Establish Round 1 as follows:

1^st	Previous season’s 9^th place team
2^nd	Previous season’s 8^th place team
3^rd	Previous season’s 7^th place team
4^th	Lower ranked team eliminated in the 1st round of the previous playoffs
5^th	Higher ranked team eliminated in the 1st round of the previous playoffs
6^th	Lower ranked team eliminated in the 2nd round of the previous playoffs
7^th	Higher ranked team eliminated in the 2nd round of the previous playoffs
8^th	Benko Cup Finalist of the previous playoffs
9^th