42^nd Annual

Manulife Financial Hockey Tournament

April 19/20, 2024

Rules / Regulations

1. All players must be associated with Manulife as an agent, broker, MGA broker, MGA employee, Manulife or John Hancock employee, other field representative or employee of our GIF partners, Association partners or technology partners. No ex-NHL players are permitted to play. Goalies, as in the past, are exempt from the above rule except for the NHL section.

2. All players and goalies must have CSA approved equipment. All players must wear a CSA approved helmet.

3. All round robin games will consist of 3 periods of 15 minutes running time plus 2 minute warm-up. (Game format is tentative and subject to change)

4. Ties in playoff games will be decided in a three player shootout.

If it remains tied after the shooters, the teams will continue one shooter at a time until there is a winner. Each team must go through their entire roster (except the goalie, although that would be fun) before the first shooter can go again.

5. Final round robin standings will be determined by points (2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 for a loss). Games will have a maximum differential of 6 goals. For example, if a team wins 9-0 on the ice, it will be officially recorded as 6-0. If a team wins 11-2, it will be officially recorded as 8-2. Ties will be broken using the following format:

a) Wins

b) Head to head results

c) Lowest Goals Against

d) Plus Minus

e) Lowest team penalty minutes

f) Coin toss

6. Penalties

Minor penalty – 3:00 minutes running time / 2:00 minutes stop time

Major penalty – 7 minutes run time / 5 minutes stop time, 10 minutes or game misconduct as determined by the official

Fighting – automatic ejection from the game and the tournament

Any attempt to deliberately injure another player (including hitting from behind) will result in a major penalty and will result from an automatic suspension from the tournament. The referee will determine “deliberate”.

Body checking of any kind will not be tolerated – including playing the man/woman – under any circumstance. A minor or major penalty will be called at the discretion of the referee, based on the severity of the impact.

7. No slap shots above the knee. The blade of the stick must not come above the knee on the backswing of either a shot or a fake shot. The referee will have full discretion on this point. Slap shots will result in a face-off in the offending team’s end. Fake slapshots will also draw a whistle. The blade may not come above the knee, whether the puck is struck or not.

8. Every team will select a captain and no more than two alternate captains. Only those players can discuss the referee’s rule interpretation or a penalty will be imposed. Any player, coach, or team official yelling at game officials will incur a personal or bench penalty (to be strictly enforced).

9. Three minor penalties in one game by any player will result in an automatic game ejection for that game only. Two such game ejections by a player may result in his/her ejection from the tournament.

10. One time-out per game of 30 seconds is permitted in the playoffs only.

11. The centre red line will NOT exist for this tournament. Icing will be from the blue line.

12. Icing will be called as soon as the puck crosses the red line.