ADMINSTRATIVE RULES AND PROCEDURES
1 Ringette Canada (RC), Ontario RIngette Association (ORA) and Western Region Ringette Association (WRRA) Rules shall apply unless otherwise stayed below.
2 All players must meet ORA/WRRA player eligibility rules.
3 The WRRL offers recreational Ringette in the following age groups/categories on a calendar year basis at the beginning of each season:
U8 - Under 8 years of age (Bunny)
U9 - Under 9 years of age
U10 - Under 10 years of age
U12 - Under 12 years of age (Petite)
U14 - Under 14 years of age (Tween)
U16 - Under 16 years of age (Junior)
U19 - Under 19 years of age (Belle)
4 Each Association has the right to form each team as they desire within the ORA/WRRL rules.
5 Any fines levied on the WRRL by WRRA or the ORA as a result of actions or omissions of a member association shall be paid for by the association that was the cause of the fine.
6 All Team or Association fines must be paid before the team or teams in question are allowed to remain in good standing.
7 All games are to be officiated by two referees certified and in good standing as a member of the ORA. It is recommended that at least one ice official shall be of the level determined by the game. Minimum pay for referees will be determined by WRRL at the beginning of each season.
8 All Associations shall use the ORA/Ringette Canada game sheets and these shall be supplied by the Home Team. The white copy of the game sheet shall be retained by the Home Team for safe keeping. In the case the game sheet is required the League will request this sheet from the Home Team.
9 Each team coach/manager shall carry, at all games, a copy of the team's TRF, any two team player agreement and over age player approvals.
10 All 2-team players are expected to participate regularly with their regional team during the current playing season. In order to participate in playoffs and/or the year-end Regional Event, 2-team players must have participated in a minimum of 5 league games with their regional team. Proof that the 2-team player played a minimum of 5 qualifying league games must be provided at the time of the seeding meeting in early March. Exceptions must be brought to the attention of the Executive prior to the Regionals seeding meeting.
11 Any Association wanting to add an over age player shall e-mail their appropriate Eastern/Western Commissioner Convenor the Western Region form with the necessary details. The WRRL President will then apply on behalf of the Association to WRRA for approval (note: A letter/form to substantiate overage player approval must accompany any TRF submitted to any Tournament Host).
12 Any Association including a male player on their team should e-mail their East/West Convenors the Western Region form with the necessary details. If a male player is added to the roster during the season this should be reported to the WRRL prior to the player's first game.
13 At the AGM dates for the following season will be determined and a date for the re-seeding meeting(s) set. Bench Staff are welcome and encouraged to attend the re-seeding meetings.
14 Each Association will provide the WRRL a contact person and procedure for the cancellations and rescheduling of games.
15 A team that fails to play a scheduled league game, after being given three alternative dates to replay the game, will be subject to a fine of $250 (first occurrence), $350 (second occurrence) and $500 (third and subsequent occurrences), payable to WRRL by the offending association and further disciplinary action may accompany the fine where deemed necessary.
a. Timeline: that resolution (game being rescheduled) must be made within 2 weeks of originally scheduled game. If not resolved then the appropriate Commissioner(s) will be called to take action.
16 If by the end of the season all games to be rescheduled are not played and reasonable efforts were tried to reschedule the game, the team initially cancelling the game is declared to have forfeit the game in question.
17 Each team must have Certified Bench Staff as outlined by ORA. Bench Staff have until January 8 of the current season to become certified. Bench Staff can include a Head Coach, Assistance Coach, Manager or Trainer. No more than one manager and one trainer are allowed on the bench during each league game. Each team must have a minimum of one female on the bench for all league games. Failure to comply with these rules will result in the forfeiture of the game in question.
18 The WRRL Board of Directors shall determine the playoff format to be used for each division and age group.
GAMES RULES and PROCEDURES
1 Any protest must be denoted on the game sheet by the coach and must be forwarded to the appropriate Eastern/Western Conference Commissioner immediately after the game in question.
2 Protests will be done in accordance with ORA rules.
3 The referee's decisions are final. Officiating of a game is not a basis for protest.
4 Home team will have the right to Choose Jersey colour. If the Jersey colours are deemed to cause a problem in distinguishing the teams by the officials the Visiting team is responsible to change their Jerseys. Therefore it is important that the Visiting team remember to bring two sets of Jerseys to all away games. Officials have final discretion as to who changes jerseys.
5 72 hours notice must be given by a team planning to reschedule a game. If less than 72 hours notice is given and on-ice/off-ice officials are not able to be notified sufficiently, the offending team will pay the home Association for the cost of the on-ice/off-ice officials and pay for 50% of the ice rental cost. Failure to reschedule may lead to a an additional fine(s) (as indicated in Administrative Rules and Procedures subsection 15) and/or forfeit. A forfeit is recorded as a 7-0 loss. The above does not apply to games cancelled due to inclement weather.
6 Coaches are to be notified prior to game start if there is only one referee being used. It is at this time that the coaches must make the decision to proceed with the game as scheduled or play the game as an exhibition game only.
7 Should there only be 1 referee present and no advance notice is given, then it is first the discretion of the referee to continue the game. If they choose to proceed then it's up to both coaches to proceed as per #6.
8 In the case where a visiting team has a concern about the officiating within the association they have the right to bring one referee from their own association to co-officiate the game in question. The visiting team must give minimum 4 days notice that they are bringing a referee to the home team so that they may make arrangements with their Referee in Chief. Mileage is the responsibility of the visiting team. In this situation the WRRL Referee in Chief shall be notified.
9 Minimum number of players is 7. If one team does not have the minimum number of players by game starting time, the game will be forfeited and played as an exhibition game. A team does not have to have a goalie to play a game.
10 The expectation is that all players must be given equal ice time as per the ORA Fair Ice Policy.
11 Players can be substituted for any league or playoff game. A player cannot be substituted for more than a total of 5 league games during the season no matter which team they have substituted for. All substitutions shall adhere to the ORA G&T Substitution rules.
12 Substituted players should be denoted as such on the game sheets with a 'S' as well as the number of games they have substituted in total. Therefore is a player has substituted a total of 3 times already for the team in questions plus any other team it should be denoted on the game sheet beside their name as 'S4' to show they are a legal substitution with this being their 4th game.
13 Note the substitution Rules as denoted only apply to League games and not to Tournament play. For Tournament play, teams must follow the requirements under the ORA Rules and Guidelines.
14 Players may be substituted as allowed per the ORA substitution chart/rules. When a player is substituted he/she must be of the same caliber of the player they are substituting for. Therefore coaches should use good judgement that is in the spirit of the game when making any substitution.
15 Coaches are not to run up scores. Every effort should be made to keep the game fun for each team especially in the lower divisions. If a coach allows their team to dominate a game with no effort to hold back the team it is to be brought to the attention of the appropriate Eastern/Western WRRL Conference Commissioner immediately upon which disciplinary action may be taken.
16 Game clocks are not to show more than a 7 goal spread for division U9 to U19.
17 WRRL will use shot clocks for all game at the U12 level and above in those arenas that have them. Those Associations that do not have shot clocks are encouraged to purchase or borrow a shot clock from another association of the Region.
18 Running time can only be used in the second period and will commence at any time during that period when there is a seven (7) goal differential. If the goal differential goes below seven (7), then the game will go back to stop time. If a penalty is called during running time, then the clock stops and restarts when play commences. The clock will stop for injuries or if a time out is called and restarts when play commences during running time.
19 Coaches must be notified by the referee before the clock is run straight time.
20 Game will consist of two 15 minute stop-time periods in the U9-U19 divisions. Upon the end of the allotted regulation time by the arena the game is considered over and complete whether the game time is completed or not and the score at that time will be the official final.
21 At the scheduled game time, the timekeeper with start a THREE minute clock for warm-up. As soon as this time expires, the game will start. If there is an excessive delay of the game, there will be a two minute delay of game penalty assessed to the team in question.
22 No monetary awards will be given to individual players or teams by the coach.
23 No spectators are allowed on the ice with the exception of medical staff in the case of injury.
24 Players and coaches using foul language may be ejected from the game.
25 Any players not wearing proper equipment will be removed from the ice.
26 If the score of a regular league game is tied at the end of regulation time, the game shall be declared a tie and each team shall receive on point.
26
a. If the score of a playoff or championship game is tied at the end of regulation time, there will be one (1) overtime stop period. (i.e.: if two (2) fifteen (15) minute periods were used during regulation time, then the overtime period is fifteen (15) minutes), which will be sudden victory. (i.e. the first team to score in that overtime period will be declared the winner).
b. If neither team scores during the first stop time overtime period, there will be successive stop time sudden victory periods until a goal is scored to break the tie.
c. Possession of the free pass to start the first overtime period is decided by the tossing of a coin by the referee. The team winning the toss will get the free pass. The other team will get the choice of ends.
d. If additional overtime periods are required, possession of the ring for the opening free pass will alternate between teams. The teams will also exchange ends for each overtime period.
27 The home team coach or designate is responsible to submit the Game Report to the Statistician within 48 hours of the completion of their game.
28 All Match or Misconduct penalties, and all game ejections for any other reason, must be reported and game sheet forwarded to the Conference Commissioner and G&T within 24 hours or before the offending team's next scheduled game, whichever is less.
29 Any player or member of the bench staff receiving a misconduct penalty, or ejection for any other reason, shall receive an automatic one game suspension.
30 Any player or member of the bench receiving a match penalty during a game shall have an automatic two game suspension.
31 Any player member of the bench receiving a match penalty after the game shall receive an automatic three game suspension.
32 Any player or member of the bench staff receiving a subsequent suspension during the year will be suspended for two games in addition to the ORA defined suspensions.
33 Suspensions are to be served with the same team as the suspension was received and served at the next regularly scheduled game(s).
34 For the purposes of suspensions, a regularly schedule game shall be defined as any game during ORA sanctioned play, Interprovincial play, organized league, and previously scheduled exhibition play. Games are NOT to be rescheduled to speed up suspensions.
35 Any player or member of the bench receiving a suspension shall be suspended from any/all teams until the full suspension is served with the team he/she was a member of when the penalty occurred.
36 Suspensions are carried forward indefinitely until served.
GAMES RULES AND PROCEDURES U8 ONLY
1 1st period 16 minutes, 2nd period 14 minutes or can be adjusted according to the time left. Both periods are running time with a two-minute buzzer, six different players go on the ice and when the players are set-up the clock commences. Coaches are expected to make line changes quickly.
2 Mandatory rotation, no double shifting. All players should receive equal playing time.
3 As this division is meant to be non-competitive, no score will be kept. The score clock should show 0, 0 at all times.
4 Proper game sheets should be prepared including all player information however scoring nor should penalties be recorded on the game sheet as this level is meant to be non-competitive.
5 Upon the end of the allotted regulation time the game is considered over and complete whether the game time is completed or not.
6 Penalties should be called where applicable however similar to a regular violation such as carrying the ring over the Blue Line the play should be stopped, the official should explain to the player what they did wrong and the ring should be awarded to the non-offending team. The penalized players should not be placed in the penalty box for the violation.
7 No more than one coach allowed on the ice for games for the first half of the season. In the second half, coaches are not allowed on the ice unless agreed upon by the Head Coaches prior the game.
7 If playoffs occur, all teams will be given one Championship game for which all players will receive the same award in recognition of their season.
8 All Games are to be officiated by referees certified and in good standing as a member of the ORA. IN the case U8 games, associations are only required to use one referee but two can be used if preferred.
9 On-ice coaches may not re-position players of the opposing team.
10 On-ice coaches may not re-position players of their own team once play has started.
11 On-ice coaches must position themselves so as not to impede game play or to impede the on-ice officials.
12 Failure to comply with #10 thru #12 may result in the coach's removal from the ice surface at the discretion of the official. The coach may remain on the bench for the duration of the game but may not be replaced on the ice by another coach.
13 All ORA ejection rules still apply.