Tournament Format

This season, the event will take place from March 27 - March 30, 2025,  and the Tournament Committee is offering the following Spring Classic tournament format:

 
  • To meet the requirements of all the scheduled games all teams should be prepared to start on Thursday around 12:00 PM (Noon) with the final games starting Sunday at around 2PM. The committee will make an effort to accommodate the furthest traveling teams to later times on Thursday with  no  guarantee’s.
  • 5 Divisions, 28 teams total with 63 games in total
  • All round robin and playoff games will feature three twenty minute stop time periods
  • Each team will be guaranteed four games of play (three round-robin, one playoff), with a fifth game, the Tier Final, to be determined following the semi-final playoff round.
  • The SHOWDOWN SKILLS COMPETITION returns.  The players have had fun with it!  The parents loved it!!  Great fun and lots of excitement and remember,  it’s  all  about  the  kids having fun!
  • Tournament Fees will be  $2000.00 per team plus a $350 damage deposit which will be returned if dressing rooms are left clean and no graduating player is assessed a ($150 fine) fighting major
  • There will be a 50/50 and a raffle table.
  • There will be raffle tables and silent auction tables with draw being held Saturday afternoon after the Showdown Skills Competition at approximately 5:00PM​   
Tournament Format For All Tiers
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  • All Tournament play will  be governed by the  Canadian Hockey Association (“CHA”)    /    Hockey     Alberta     (“HA”)    rules;;     
  • All rulings by on ice officials will be governed by Hockey Alberta Discipline. Protests will not be allowed.
  • The Tier 1, Tier 3, & Female A Tournaments will follow a three game round robin. After round robin, teams will be ranked 1st to 4th in order of finish for the semi finals. For the semi final games, 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd. Winners of the semi finals will go to the final.
  • The Tier 1/2 NBC and Tier 3 NBC will play 3 games vs teams in their 8 team tournament. The teams will then be ranked 1 to 8 and placed into an A Pool and a B Pool for semi finals. 1st to 4th will go to the A playoffs, 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd. Winners of the semi finals will go to the final. 5th to 8th will go to B playoffs, 5th vs 8th and 6th vs 7th. Winners of the semi finals will go to the final.
  • Round robin placement points will be awarded as follows:
  1. Win – 3 Points;  Tie – 2 Points; Loss – 0 Points;  16 total penalty minutes or less in a game – 1 Point​
  • Sunday’s  final  game  participants  will  be  determined  following  the  winners  of  the semi-final games
  1. Winners (for Tier 2 NBC & Tier 3 NBC the A Pool only) will be awarded the YELNATS CUP. The cup is not to be taken off of the ice.
Tie Breaking Procedure
  • Although individual round robin games can end   in   a   tie,   tiered   team’s   round  robin records cannot end in a tie, in order to be able to determine tiered team placement for semi-finals
 
  • A two team tie in the standings after round robin play will be broken as follows:
  1. If the teams played in round robin, who was the winner of the head-to-head game played between the two tied teams
  2. If the head-to-head game was a tie or teams did not play, then the better (higher value) round robin  performance  (formula  “GF  /  GF  +  GA”)  will  decide  where  GF  is  “goals  for”  and  GA  is  “goals  against”
  3. Least amount of penalty minutes in all games played
  4. Least goals against (GA) in round robin
  5. Most goals for (GF) in round robin
  6. Coin toss!

  • Three or more teams tied will be broken as follows:
  1. The  better  (higher  value)  round  robin  performance  (formula  “GF  /  GF +  GA”)  will  decide  where  GF  is  “goals  for”  and  GA  is  “goals  against”
  2. Least amount of penalty minutes in all games played
  3. Least goals against (GA)
  4. Most goals for (GF) in round robin
  5. Coin toss!
  • Pre-Game Warm-up
  1. Teams are allowed a five minute warm-up prior to each game. Any team unable to start play 10 minutes after the schedule start time will forfeit the game and the non-forfeiting team will win the game with a score of 1-0 and 3 points awarded

  • Game Format Round Robin
  1. 2.0 hour ice time which includes a flood after the 2nd period
  2. 5:00 minute warm-up with 20:00 minute stop time periods
  3. 2:00 minute break after each period
  4. As per drop clock rules, if the allocated playing time per game is about to be reached (five minutes left in the allocated time slot), at the next stoppage of play, the playing clock will be reset to 2:00 minutes of regulation stop time remaining in order to maintain tournament schedule

  • Game Format Semi-Finals
  1. 2.25 hour ice time which includes flood after the 2nd period
  2. 5:00 minute warm-up with 20:00 minute stop time periods
  3. 2:00 minute break between period.
  4. If game is tied after regulation the teams will play as per OT format

  • Game Format Final
  1. 2.5 hour ice time with three 20 minute stop time periods, flood at the end of each period
  2. 5:00 minute warm-up with 20:00 minute stop time periods​
  3. If game is tied after regulation the teams will play as per OT format

  • Overtime format
  1. All round robin games can end in a tie (see Tie Breaking procedure below)
  2. Semi-final and final playoff games cannot end in a tie.    Overtime will be played as follows:
  3. 5:00 minute stop time sudden death – 4 on 4 with goalies
  4. 5 player shoot out – total goals after all ten players shoot (list of shooters to be submitted to the referee)
  5. Sudden death shoot out – using five different players, alternate shot format, until one team scores / misses and the other team misses / scores
  6. Repeat sudden death shoot out, if necessary, with all players eligible