I. MISSION STATEMENT

The University Hockey League (UHL) is an organization made up of American Collegiate Hockey Association affiliated programs. The primary purpose of the UHL is to promote the growth of the member university programs as well as structured competitive regional collegiate ice hockey.

II. TEAM ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

A. Membership Requirements:

1. Annual payment of season membership dues to the Commissioner by September 30th prior to the beginning of the season.

2. Teams must adhere to all American Collegiate Hockey Association
standards, policies, and procedures.

3. Teams shall participate in mandatory organizational meetings, provide timely response to requests for information and feedback, and communicate weekly with the UHL Commissioner. All scores and statistics are to be e-mailed each Sunday evening to the Commissioner.

B. Membership benefits:

1. Members shall benefit in the following: A website which includes the previous weeks' results, this week's matches, UHL information, links to the individual teams and the ACHA, a playoff style tournament involving all teams in the UHL, and players recognized for exceptional performance in the naming of an all-conference team.

C. Suspension of Membership Benefits:

1. Membership affiliation and benefits may be suspended or withdrawn for non-compliance with any UHL rules or regulations. Suspension of benefits may include removal of team participation from league post-season tournament, probationary status for one or more seasons, or forfeiture of games for violation of player eligibility requirements.

2. All suspensions of benefits for violations shall be decided by the Board of Directors of the UHL. Each team in the UHL will have one vote on the Board.

3. All suspension of benefits may be appealed in writing within 7 days to the UHL commissioner who shall present any new information to the other member teams and a decision shall be rendered within 5 days. All appeals decisions will be final.

D. Membership Restrictions:

Only teams affiliated with the ACHA Division I or II shall be eligible.

E. Membership Operations Standards:

1. Any UHL team which fails to honor a confirmed scheduling commitment except under an act of God shall have membership benefits suspended immediately and declared ineligible for the post season playoffs. Compensation shall be rendered to the relevant team for travel expense and/or ice and referee costs.

2. Any team using an ineligible player in a UHL game shall forfeit the game in which the player participated. A notice to the ACHA shall be written alerting it of the incident. The team who used the ineligible player may be subject to suspension of membership by the Board of Directors.

F. Team Uniforms:

1. All players must wear an HECC approved facemask and helmet.

2. All teams must have at least two sets of jerseys, a home and an away. Both sets shall consist of large permanent numbers on the backside of the jersey.

III. PLAYER ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

A. General Player Eligibility:

1. All players must meet ACHA requirements. Any annual rule changes by the ACHA shall be adopted accordingly by the UHL.

2. Any player or coach whom was suspended from USA Hockey or from any other sanctioned hockey league may not be eligible according to the terms of the suspension. Any player or coach put on probation shall receive amnesty from the UHL and shall be allowed to participate with all benefits.

C. Academic Requirements:

The UHL shall use the same academic requirements established by the American College Hockey Association. Any annual rule changes by the ACHA shall be adopted accordingly by the UHL Board of Directors.

D. Rules of Play:

1. The UHL will use the rules of play specified in the NCAA Rule Book unless specified otherwise in these Policies and Procedures. Teams are responsible for acquiring copies of the NCAA Rule Book. These are the same rules adopted by the ACHA.

2. Teams shall be permitted to have the option of dressing a maximum of 18 skaters and 3 goaltenders or 19 skaters and 2 goaltenders. Failure to dress at least 2 goaltenders shall result in a forfeit as dictated by ACHA rules.

3. All league contests will consist of three twenty-minute periods. One five minute overtime will be played during league contests, unless the game is curfewed because of a shortage of time. In that case, the game will be considered to be a draw.

4. A minimum of 2 ½ hours of ice time shall be slotted for each league contest to avoid curfewed results.

5. At least one resurfacing of the ice surface shall be completed during a normal three period game. The home team shall have the discretion as to how many resurfaces of the ice and when they occur.

6. All league games shall use either a two or three man referee system. It is up to the discretion of the home team. Three officials will be used in the post-season tournament.

7. Disqualification (DQ) procedures will adhere to the procedures recognized by the ACHA. No special situations shall be taken into consideration regarding the disqualification of a player or coach.

8. A point system will be followed when determining seeding for the UHL Playoff Tournament. Each UHL win is worth 2 points, ties are worth 1 point, and losses receive 0 points. In addition, overtime losses shall each be assessed 1 point. However, 0 points will be assessed for an overtime loss if the losing team pulls the goaltender unless the goaltender was pulled on a delayed penalty in which case 1 point will be assessed to the losing team.

IV. REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE

A. Number of Games:

1. Each team will play the other member teams in the UHL twice.

2. Any additional games that are played between the league teams will count neither towards league play nor as a post-season tiebreaker.

3. In Case of a tie at the end of the regular season, the tie breakers are as follows:

a. Head to head win/loss record
b. head to head goals for/goals against differential
c. goals for/ goals against differential in UHL regular season gamese
d. coin flip

V. Post Season Tournament

A. Sites:

The UHL Play-offs shall be hosted by bid. Bids must be in by May 31 prior to the start of the season. The play-offs shall be played at alternating sites from season to season.

B. Tournament Format:

The UHL championship will be played the weekend before the ACHA National Tournament.

Seedings will be determined based on the number of UHL teams.

The following format must be followed with four teams:
Game One: Seed #1 vs. Seed #4
Game Two: Seed #2 vs. Seed #3
Championship: Winner of Game One vs. Winner of Game Two

The following format must be followed with five teams:
Game One: Seed #4 vs. Seed #5
Game Two: Seed #1 vs. Winner of Game One
Game Three: Seed #2 vs. Seed #3
Championship: Winner of Game Two vs. Winner of Game Three

The following format must be followed with six teams:
Game One: Seed #3 vs. Seed #6
Game Two: Seed #4 vs. Seed #5
Game Three: Seed #1 vs. Lowest Remaining Seed
Game Four: Seed #2 vs. Second Lowest Remaining Seed
Game Five: Winner of Game Three vs. Winner of Game Four

There will be no consolation games.

In the event that a team gets suspended from the UHL Play-offs, the highest seeded team(s) will have a bye.

D. Tournament Player Eligibility:

1. Only rostered players as of January 31st shall be eligible to participate in the tournament.

2. Any team challenging the eligibility of any player shall do so in writing to the Commissioner no later than midnight of the day of the scheduled game.

3. Any team using an ineligible player in the tournament shall forfeit the games in which the ineligible player participated based on the ACHA Rule and be subject to suspension of membership by the Board of Directors.

4. Decisions by the Board of Directors may be appealed following the aforementioned process.

E. Officiating System:

A 3 person officiating system shall be utilized in the UHL Play-offs. This system will be used in all play-off games unless an injury to an official prevents him or her from participating.

F. Rules of Tournament Play:

1. In the event of a tie after three twenty-minute periods, a twenty- minute sudden death period shall be played. Subsequent sudden death twenty-minute periods shall be played until the tie is broken. Tournament games will not be curfewed.

2. All teams shall bring both home and away jerseys regardless of tournament seeding.

G. Tournament Recognition:

The UHL Board of Directors shall determine the "All Tournament Team".

H. Team Behavior:

It shall be the responsibility of each individual team to ensure the proper care of hotels, restaurants, ice rink facilities, etc. The UHL Board of Directors shall act strictly upon any incident involving the above. This action shall be an effort to keep the tournament sponsors satisfied with their investment. Any action by a team member or fan deemed embarrassing to the sponsor or to the UHL shall be dealt with per incident.

I. Date of Tournament:

The UHL post-season tournament will be played the weekend before the ACHA National Tournament. The spring meeting will occur during this weekend of the tournament.

VI. ADMINISTRATION

A. Board of Directors:

1. The Board of Directors shall manage all business and affairs
involving the UHL. It has the authority to establish policies and procedures for the operation and organization of the UHL. The Board of Directors will consist of one voting member from each team.

2. The Commissioner shall oversee the Board of Directors. The Commissioner only has organizational duties. All major decisions will be voted on by each team collectively as the Board of Directors. Should there be a tie vote, the Commissioner will be asked to break the tie. Elections for Commissioner will be held at the spring meeting during the post-season tournament. An intention to run for Commissioner must be declared to the Board of Directors by January 31st.

3. Each team shall be represented on the Board of Directors. Any coach or manager associated with the team can be appointed by the team to sit on the Board.

4. Members of the Board of Directors shall be appointed annually. There is no limit to the number of years a member can sit on the Board of Directors.

5. The Commissioner shall be voted into office by the Board of Directors and shall serve a one-year term. A unanimous vote must be cast by the Board of Directors to remove a commissioner from power. The removal of the commissioner cannot be appealed. A replacement can be voted in immediately after the removal of the previous commissioner. If no commissioner can be found, the Board of Directors shall assume responsibility of all the responsibilities assumed by the position.

VII. MEETINGS

A. Members of the league shall meet no less than once annually. There shall be a spring meeting, directly before or during the start of the UHL Play-offs and there shall be a fall meeting prior to the start of the season.

B. There will be at least a seven-day notice to any unscheduled meeting.

C. The procedures of all meetings shall be governed by Robert's Rules of Order.

D. Decisions shall be made by majority rules. Each member of the Board of Directors in attendance shall have one vote. Ties will be resolved by the ACHA commissioner.

E. No individual can sit in for a Board Member. They may bring a vote from the Board Member but they cannot vote on any amendments or new business associated with the meeting.