2008 NEMHL PLAYOFF RULES

 

League regular season play ended on February 25, 2008.  The first place team in Division 2 will play in the Division 1 Playoffs.   The first place Division 3 team will play in the Division 2 Playoffs. Determination of the seeding for all three playoffs will be based on a simple points per game average as tabulated on the NEMHL website (http://www.NEMHL.org).

 

It is the responsibility of all team coaches and team officials to be familiar with the League Rules and Regulations prior to the start of the playoffs.  Accountability for the team and enforcement of these rules are the sole responsibilities of the Head Coach.  Failure to enforce league rules may result in game forfeiture.

 

The following procedures will be instituted for the upcoming NEMHL playoffs:

1.     All players must furnish photo ID prior to stepping a blade on the ice in any game.  If a player does not own a photo ID, the parent of that player will furnish his/her photo ID and vouch for the player.

2.     All players and coaches must sign their respective names on a sign-in sheet prior to each game in the playoffs.

3.     Both photos and signatures will be verified by representatives of the NEMHL.

4.     All players must have NEMHL 10th anniversary patches on their home and away jerseys.

There will be no exceptions to the above procedures.

 

Teams will be given 2 points for a win and 1 point for a tie.

 

The tie-breakers for semifinal qualification are as follows:

  1. Head-to-head play
  2. Least penalty minutes during playoffs.
  3. Goal differential (6 max) during playoffs 
  4. Least goals against during playoffs 
  5. Lowest average penalties per game during regular season.

Divisions 1 and 3 will play a full round robin, with each team playing each other in the division once.  The top two teams of each division at the end of the round robin games, as determined by game point total and the tie breakers as outlined from those games, will qualify as finalist in their respective divisions.   

 

For Division 2, the top four teams at the end of the three round robin games, as determined by game point total and the tie breakers as outlined from those games, will qualify as semifinalists. These four teams will be ranked 1 thru 4, again based on their point total and tie breakers from the round robin games.  1 will be the highest and 4 the lowest.  Match-ups in the semifinals will be 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3.  The winners of each of these semifinal games will meet in the Division 2 championship game.

 

For semi-final and final games, in the event of a tie, all games will continue with a 5-minute 5-on-5 sudden death period, followed by a 5-player shoot-out and then per player sudden-death shoot-out after each team has shot.  No player can repeat in the shoot-out until all skaters (excluding goalies) have participated in the shoot-out.  Order of shooters is at the discretion of the Head Coach for each team.

 

Sportsmanship Rule:     At any time in the game that one team holds an 8 goal lead over their opponent, the game will immediately switch to running time.  If that 8 goal differential lessens, then the teams will go back to stop time at the discretion and agreement of the two Head Coaches.  In the third period, teams will go to running time whenever one team has a 5 goal lead over their opponent.  If that 5 goal lead is diminished, then teams will return to stop time at the discretion and agreement of the two Head Coaches.  The League was founded on the tenant of sportsmanship and this will continue throughout the playoffs.