Rules

Tournament rules

1. The games will be played according to the rules and regulations of the Finnish Ringette Association including the additions and clarifications below.

2. Playing system

A team gets 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss.

If two or more teams are tied after the round robin, the following rules for ranking will apply:

1. Head-to-head points

2. The goal difference of the round robin/first round

2. Goals for

3. Team with less penalty minutes

4. Dice

3. Game time

Round robin/First Round: 2 x 20 minutes (stop-clock timing), but maximum 60 minutes on the ice.If the goal difference between the teams increases to 7 goals in a game, the game will continue with running time after the free pass following the goal. If the goal difference narrows to less than 7 goals, the match will continue with stopped playing time immediately after the goal is scored.

If a playoff game ends in a draw, a shootout will take place. Both teams must immediately name three players according to shooting order in writing to the referee (a player cannot participate in the shootout if she is in the penalty box when the game time ends). All three players will shoot. If the teams are still tied after that, one shooter per team will continue. The shooter must be a different player than the first three.

PLEASE NOTICE! If the total game time ends and there is under two minutes stop-clock timing left, the game will be played to the end according to the stop-clock-timing. When the total game time is ending, the last 4 & 2 minutes will be announced.

If less than half of the stop-clock timing is played and there is a technical malfunction or serious injury of a player, which lasts over 10 minutes, the total game time clock will be stopped after the 10-minute break. The game will continue after the malfunction, according to the remaining total game time. If more than half of the stop-clock timing is played, the total game time clock will not be stopped.

The length of intermission is one minute in every game.

No timeouts allowed.

4. Tournament format

The tournament has a different format for each series due to the different number of teams.

The U14 series has 7 teams and a simple round robin will be played. There are no medal games in the U14 series. The winner of the round robin is the winner of the U14 series of the tournament, the second place team receives silver and the third place team receives bronze.

The U16 series has 12 teams, which are divided into two pools (A and B). There are three Finnish and three Canadian teams in each pool. In the pool, each Finnish team meets each Canadian team in its pool once. The teams in the groups are ranked in their group based on the results of these three games. In the semi-finals, the first place in group A meets the second place in group B, the second place in group A meets the first place in group B, respectively. The third place in group A meets the fourth place in group B, and the fourth place in group A meets the third place in group B, etc. In this way, the teams ranked 1-2 in their groups will end up in the medal matches, the teams ranked 3-4 will play for places 5-8, and the teams ranked 5-6 in their groups will play for places 9-12 after the semi-finals. Each team will therefore have 5 games.

There are 10 teams in the U19 series. Five (5) of the teams are from Finland and 5 from Canada. The preliminary series is played so that the Canadians play against the Finnish teams, after which the teams are ranked based on the games played and the points they receive from them. The placement games are played so that the 1st and 2nd in the preliminary series play for places 1-2, the 3rd and 4th in the preliminary series play for places 3-4, etc. There are 6 teams in the OPEN series. The preliminary round is played with each team playing one game against each other. Of the placement games, only the final will be played between the 1st and 2nd teams in the preliminary round. The bronze medal will be awarded to the team that comes in third after the preliminary round.

5. Penalties

Penalties are given according to the regulations of ringette, with the following exceptions:

If in the tournament

1. a player / an official is removed from the game for the second time during the tournament,

2. a player / an official receives a match penalty, the jury of the tournament handles the penalty actions of the case regarding to the tournament and also the possible transmission of the case for additional handling.

6. Roster

The team manager must check the team roster at the tournament office at least 45 minutes before the team’s first game of the tournament. If there are changes to the roster during the tournament, the team manager is responsible for updating the roster at the tournament office.

7. Starting the games

Teams must be ready to go on ice and start the game five (5) minutes before the starting time mentioned in the game schedule, in order to start according to the game schedule. If a team breaks this rule, they will forfeit the game with a 7-0 loss. 

Rings are not allowed on ice during warm-up!

The jury of the tournament has the right to change the game schedule and timetables, if required.

8. Settling the game reports and the protests, jury of the tournament

The task of the jury is to settle the game reports and protests made during the tournament and to hand down decisions concerning the tournament. The jury can also send the handled game report or protest to the Finnish Ringette Association for further evaluation.

A written protest which concerns the game must be left at the tournament office maximum 30 minutes after the end of the game. Other notifications or protests concerning something other than games can be left in writing for the jury during the tournament. The fee for leaving a protest is 100 euros. The fee will be refunded if the protest is accepted.

The jury's power to make decisions does not concern only the actions at the rink. The jury has the responsibility to intervene over the duration of the tournament also in other offences and misbehaviors, if one party is a player or an official.

The jury consists of the representative of the tournament organizer (1) and a representative of referees (2). The precise composition of the jury and contact details will be available at the tournament office during the tournament. When accepting a protest, the jury must be unanimous in its decision. The jury is not obliged to explain its decisions.

9. Insurance

Each player must have a valid insurance. Tournament does not include any insurance.