Gold Line Hockey Official Playing Rules
- USA Hockey adult league rules will be followed as a guideline. League rules will take precedence over any differences.
- Warmups: All games will consists of one (1) 5-minute warmup period.
- Note:
It should be noted that the warmup clock for all games will begin at the beginning of your scheduled ice time if your ice is ready, or when the zamboni doors close, regardless of whether your team is ready to go on the ice.
- Period Length: All games will consist of three (3) 14-minute periods. All periods will be stop clock with the following exceptions:
- Running clock will commence any time in the 2nd period if the goal differential is seven (7) goals or more.
- Running clock will commence any time in the 3rd period if the goal differential is five (5) goals or more.
- Intermissions: Intermissions will be one (1) minute in length between all periods.
- Overtime: There will be no overtime in all regular season games. Any regular season game tied at the end of regulation time will go directly to a 3-player shootout. The home team will choose if they would like to shoot first or second. If a winner is not determined after the 3-player shootout, it will proceed to 1v1 shootouts until a winner is determined. Ties at the end of playoff games will be resolved in the following manner, in order until a winner is determined:
- Sudden death 5-minute 4v4 overtime
- Sudden death 5-minute 3v3 overtime
- 5-player shootout
- 1v1 shootouts
- Timeouts: One (1) 60-second timeout per team per game is permitted.
- Standings: Standings will be calculated as follows:
- 2 points for a win
- 1 point for a shootout loss
- 0 points for a regulation loss
- Offsides: Delayed offsides will be observed for all games
- Icing: Blue line icing will be observed for all games
- Faceoffs: All faceoffs will occur at one of the 9 dedicated faceoff locations
- Goals: (C3 division only) No player is permitted to score more than three (3) goals in one game. Any goal scored by a player that has reached the goal limit will be disallowed, and the faceoff will be taken to the nearest neutral zone face off location. If in the referee’s discretion, the puck entered the net due to the opposing team’s actions and the last attacking player to touch the puck has 3 goals, the goal will stand. Any player with 3 goals that, in the referee’s discretion, shoots the puck at their attacking net to ‘harass’ or ‘intimidate’ the opposing goalkeeper will be assessed a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct and a 10-minute misconduct penalty.
- Body checking: All games are no-checking, however they are not no contact. There will be contact playing hockey, and as long as it is minor, and within the spirit of the game, body contact will not be penalized. With that being said, Gold Line Hockey's #1 priority is the safety of all participants. We instruct all on-ice officials to strictly enforce penalties for any unnecessary, avoidable or reckless body contact or body checking.
- Penalties: All minor penalties will be two (2) minutes in length. All major penalties will be five (5) minutes in length. All misconduct penalties will be ten (10) minutes in length.
- Any player receiving their third penalty in a game will be ejected from that game. They are not suspended for any future games.
- Any major penalties assessed will result in an automatic game misconduct penalty. The offending player will be immediately removed from the game and will not be allowed to participate in any Gold Line Hockey games until the incident can be reviewed for any disciplinary action. Disciplinary actions may include suspension or expulsion from the league at the Gold Line Hockey admin discretion.
