Rules and Regulations

• Two conferences: No Checking and No Checking Development, each divided into American, Olympic, and National divisions (when three are needed).
• Regular season is 14 games per team, no overtime. All teams advance to the playoff round.
• Playoffs are double elimination. Trophies and medals to champions and runners-up in each division.
• Each division champion's team name is added to the hanging banners at Ice Line (AAA Arena, Rink 3).
• Each division holds an All-Star Game, picked by the coaches/team reps in that division.
• Meetings: Summer (July), Final Declaration (September), Division Re-alignment (November), All-Star Selection & Playoff Alignment (January).

• Three 13-minute periods after a 4-minute warm-up. No overtime in regular-season games; a tie ends as a tie.
• Penalties: 1½-minute minors, 4-minute majors, 8-minute misconducts. After 4 penalties a player is suspended.
• USA Hockey rules apply for 14U and below. Icing is called while shorthanded.
• No Check levels: no checking, slapshots allowed. Development levels: no checking, slapshots not allowed.
• Development American only: no player may score more than 3 goals; a 4th earns a bench minor and doesn't count. Tier 1 AAA and 6th-8th grade Tier 2 AA may not play at this level — one petitioned 5th-grade Tier 1 AAA exception per team.
• Mercy rule: trailing by 5+, a team may request a running clock, stopped once back within five.
• Be ready 10 minutes before game time; failure to field a starting line-up within 10 minutes is a forfeit.
• Two referees scheduled; if only one shows, the game is still official.
• Coaches verify the iPad score sheet at game's end; once submitted it is official (head coach/team rep only authorize changes).
• Video may be used only to clear a player/coach, correctly assign a penalty, or assess a match penalty — never to overrule a referee.

• Regulation is three 13-minute periods.
• Tied after regulation: a 4-minute sudden-death 4-on-4 overtime.
• Still tied: a 4-minute sudden-death 3-on-3 overtime.
• Still tied: a 3-player shootout, then sudden-death until a winner (6 different shooters, or full bench if fewer, before repeating).
• Double-elimination format.

Players must be in grades 5-8 and attend one of their team's approved feeder schools (approved 4th graders by petition). Players must play for their own school unless released in writing to the commissioner — no exceptions. Petitioned players are illegal until approved in writing.

Public feeders: any public intermediate feeding the sponsor high school; any public elementary feeding an approved intermediate; district students at a private/parochial school (only if no approved private/parochial team); home-schooled/special-education students living in the sponsor district.

Private/parochial feeders: students within the public district where the school is located (only if no approved public team).

Feeder-change requests due by August 1; approved feeder list posted by September 15. Additions Sept 15-Dec 1 require written commissioner approval. Bishop Shanahan feeders: St. Agnes, Assumption BVM, St. Basil, Coatesville Catholic/Pope John Paul II, Holy Family, St. Joseph, St. Max, St. Monica, St. Norbert's, Notre Dame Academy, Sacred Heart-Oxford, St. Elizabeth, St. Patrick's (Kennett & Malvern), St. Peter & Paul, St. Phillip & James, St. Simon & Jude, St. Thomas, Villa Maria Academy. (Subject to change.)

• All teams USA Hockey registered; all coaches registered with the correct credential. Each team supplies a USA Hockey roster link shared with all club members. Your USA Hockey roster is the playoff roster.
• All players register and sign a waiver. Dress up to 20 (18 skaters + 2 goalies); roster up to 23 skaters + 2 goalies.
• Rostered on one club for playoffs (goaltenders excluded).
• Must play at least half the regular-season games (currently 7) for playoff eligibility (goaltenders excluded). Medical-note injuries get credit for missed games.
• Swing players allowed up in the regular season; limited to three skaters + one goalie in playoffs, on both rosters, marked Affiliated. No one swings down.
• Goaltender shortage: bring up from your lower division, or borrow from a same/lower division team with approval + written notice to the commissioner.
• Mid-season permanent roster moves reported to the commissioner are then permanent; none after playoff rosters are set.

• Each team supplies a scorekeeper: Home = 1st, Away = 2nd. The Home Team uploads to the cloud.
• Scored in the GameSheet app on an iPad. Code: ipad-ilmsl-cb. iPads at the front office at most rinks.
• No scorekeeper = a minor penalty at the start of each period one is unavailable (max 3, one per period).
• Reference: 2026-27 ILMSHL Score Keeper Helper Sheet. Scorekeeping questions: Bud Dombroski, cell 610-764-9505 (texts OK).

If there is a conflict in jersey colors, the designated home team has first priority. If one team has two sets, they switch to a contrasting color.

Note the protest on the score sheet or send an immediate email/text to the commissioner, with a follow-up before the protesting team plays that team's next game. No protest on a referee's call/no-call. Match penalties carry over to the ILMSL and all USA Hockey teams that player is rostered with.