| Frequently Asked Questions Q: If a player or coach has been suspended and the team wants to appeal it, can the player/coach keep playing until the appeal is heard? A: No. The player is suspended and can not play until the games have been served. If the association chooses to appeal and have followed the correct steps to do so, the appeal will be heard as indicated in the regulations. The player or coach serves until that time. Q: If a team chooses to enter a tournament, do any teams impacted by that decision have to provide multiple options for rescheduling? A: No. The teams should make reasonable efforts to work with each other but the team attending the tournament is obliged to make it work. Q: If a team feels that the official has done a poor job of calling a game, can the game be protested? A: No. Any and all calls made on ice are not protestable. However, a complaint against the official made be filed. The outcome of the game will not change and a protest will not be entertained. Q: Who is responsible for the conduct of fans at CAHL games? A: The local association is responsible for this. If visiting fans are a problem and rink attendants can not address it, police should be called. The CAHL will follow up with the association to ensure that measures have been taken to avoid repeat incidents. If deemed necessary and fans can not be controlled, the team may be suspended. Q: Who should game sheets go to for tournament games? Are they to go to the Governor? A: If there are any Game Misconduct penalties, the Governor should be made of the situation. However, the actual suspension decision should be handed down by the appropriate Hockey Alberta Zone Discipline Coordinator. Until the suspension notification has been sent, any player or coach can not be involved in any games, league or otherwise. Q: How late can we decide to change the tier a team is in? A: Tiers are set at the tiering meeting which is held after the four weeks of tiering round games. Governors make recommendation as to where the teams belong and unless there is other information provided by the association director, the teams are set. Q: If a player gets a major penalty, are they allowed to come back into the game? A: No. All major penalties come with an automatic Game Misconduct. That means the player is out of the game and someone else has to serve the 5 minutes. If that penalty occurs in the last 10 minutes of the game, the player will also be out of the next game at a minimum. Additional suspensions may be assessed depending on the nature of the penalty. Q: What happens if a suspended player or coach is in a game while suspended? A: The Head Coach is guilty of having an ineligible player or coach included and is subject to additional, lengthy suspensions by Hockey Alberta. Q: Can a player now serve a suspension in an exhibition game? A: No. The player must serve the suspension in sanctioned games including tournaments, league play and provincial playoffs. Q: If a player gets a major penalty (5 minutes) in a tournament game, do we need to inform the Governor? A: Yes. A Game Misconduct will also have been assessed. If a suspension is assessed, it will have been determined by the appropriate Hockey Alberta Zone Discipline Coordinator and the Manager of the team must ensure the Governor is aware. Failure to do this could result in a player playing while suspended and the Head Coach being guilty of playing an ineligible player. Q: How many coaching staff are allowed on the bench? A: The team is allowed to have up to 5 including Trainer provided that all are listed on the Hockey Canada Registry and on the CAHL roster for the particular team. Registration as part of another team does not make a coach eligible to be on the bench with another team even with the same association. There are also training requirements for coaches which must be respected so be sure to meet those as well. Q: Can an injured player be on the bench for games? A: A player may ONLY be on the bench if they are in full uniform. The player must be in full gear including skates or must be removed on the bench. The belief that a player may be present as long as they have a helmet on is incorrect. Q: If a coach or player is suspended for actions in a game, can the games be served by sitting out games with another team? A: No. Even if the coach or player is registered with another team, the games must be served by sitting out games with the team on which the suspension resulted. As an example, a coach who is an Assistant on a PW Tier 2 team and Head Coach of a Bantam Tier 4 team and behaves in such a manner in a PW game that he is suspended for 3 games. Those three games must be served by missing 3 PW games. The coach may not be on the bench with the Bantam team either until the game have been served with the PW team. The same applies to players. Suspension games must be served where they were earned. |