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HIHA Rules & Regulations

Updated July 2021:

  1. All players must wear all required safety equipment always while on the rink surface, including practice and games. Required safety equipment includes hockey helmet with full face cage/shield (with chin strap and cage straps fastened), mouthpiece, hockey style shin pads, hockey gloves, and protective cup/pelvic protection. Recommended equipment includes chest protectors & elbow pads.
  2. All players must register to play by the last sign up date established by the Hendersonville Inline Hockey Association (HIHA) Board. The Board may, at its discretion, allow a player to be placed on a Waiting List if the player failed to register by the deadline. Players advancing from the Waiting List to a team will be at the Board’s sole and absolute discretion. Executive Committee makes a recommendation to the Board for a vote. Waiting list closed at end of second week of the season. Waiting list players stay on list all season. No guarantees. No
    coach interaction.
  3. Teams will be selected via draft by coaches in that age division. All players drafted will be evaluated and numerically rated. The numerical rating system will be based upon player evaluations and player rating sheets submitted by the coaches and Board Members. All players must play on their assigned team. There shall be no deviations to this rule based upon carpooling or other considerations.  Siblings playing within the same age group may be placed on the same team if requested by the parents at registration.  The board will try to accommodate for this whenever possible. 
  4. The child or children of a coach, depending on age, shall be automatically assigned to the parent/coach’s team. For purposes of this rule, no team shall be considered to have more than one coach.   
  5. A player may, at the sole and absolute discretion of the Board, be allowed to play up one age division. The player’s parent must submit in writing the request to play up prior to the end of evaluations. The Board will evaluate the request and make a determination in the best interest of the league as to whether the player will be allowed to play up. If allowed to play up, the player will be placed on the draft board and must be chosen in the first two rounds. If not selected in the first two rounds, the player will be placed in the appropriate age division.  If player is selected to play up, the player will be allowed to participate in one division only. 
  6. Parents are responsible for providing league officials with a correct jersey size at registration. No replacement jersey shall be provided unless necessary due to the fault of the league. 
  7. All games will be played on such date as scheduled by the league with the exception of rained-out games which shall be played on such date and time as may be rescheduled by the Board. Requests from parents, players, coaches or officials to reschedule a game will not be heard by the HIHA Board.
  8. No games will be rescheduled by anyone but the Board at any time or for any reason. 
  9. HIHA does not allow the use of players not included in the team’s roster to play for that team at any time. Team rosters are set during the draft and not to be amended. This includes skaters and goalies. Borrowing of players or goalies from other teams or age divisions is not allowed at any time. Suspended players do not count when determining the number of players present for a game. In the event a team does not have the minimum number of players required for a game as established in AAU/USARS rules, the game shall be forfeited. Notwithstanding the forfeit, the opposing coach shall select from his team a sufficient number of available players to provide the forfeiting team the minimum number of players, and the teams shall proceed with playing their scheduled game as a scrimmage with a running clock. For purposes of league statistics, the score shall be considered 1-0 and none of the other statistics from such game shall be included in official league records or standings. It is up to the discretion of the Board Member on Duty and the Head Referee present as to whether or not the scrimmage game with altered rosters can be played. The Board Member on Duty has the discretion to stop and end the scrimmage at any time.
  10. If at any time during a game a player has scored 4 goals, and the player’s team has a leading score, that player will be frozen and ineligible to score as long as the player’s team maintains the leading score.  Once the score is tied the player will be unfrozen and will be eligible to score, once the players team takes the lead again the
    player will go back to being frozen, regardless of who scored the go-ahead goal. If at any time a player is frozen, and the player shoots or passes the puck into the opposing team’s net, a penalty may be called at the sole discretion of the referee.  This rule applies to all age divisions.
  11. If at any time during the second period of a game, one team goes ahead by as much as 8 goals, the game shall be considered over and the team which is ahead shall be declared the winner. No further statistics shall be kept in the game. If both coaches, the referee in charge and the BMoD agree, the teams may finish the game solely as a scrimmage. This rule applies to all age divisions.
  12. HIHA is intended to be a recreational/instructional hockey league. All coaches shall endeavor to provide their players with adequate instruction and shall endeavor to equalize playing time between their players. 
  13. At no time shall a player, coach, referee, league official, parent, or spectator act inappropriately while attending a game or practice. At all times, such persons shall be courteous and respectful to all other spectators, players, referees, and league officials participating in and attending such games and practices. 
  14. No spectators shall be allowed in the fenced bench area during practices and games. Coaches, players, and league officials are the only persons allowed in the bench area during games. 
  15. There shall be no more than two (2) persons, including coaches, in the bench area of any team during warm-ups, games, and after games. This rule does not include league officials. Any person that is in the bench area for games and practices needs to have their AAU insurance as well passing the Hendersonville Parks and Recreation background check.  No non-player children under the age of 18 shall be allowed in the bench area at any time. Teams in the 8U or younger divisions shall be allowed one (1) extra person in the bench area to assist players. 
  16. Referees will not be paid for games that are forfeited if at least 24 hours’ notice is given to the referee by a Board Member. 
  17. At the end of each season, all coaches are required to submit to the Board a rating sheet, as provided by the Board, setting forth a rating for each player on his/her team on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the most skilled. 
  18. At any time, all persons on the rink surface shall wear inline skates, quad skates, or athletic shoes. No skateboards, bicycles, tricycles, or other similar devices or conveyances shall be allowed on the rink at any time. 
  19. HIHA shall be allowed to place temporary signs at and on the rink facility. This shall include banner type signs attached to the rink and sponsor signs on the exterior side of the boards so long as the latter can be reversed such that the sign is not visible during times that games are not being played. 
  20. No person shall purposely cause any damage to any part of the rink surface, board system, fencing, benches, pavilion, utilities, lights, or any other part of the rink facility. Any person willfully causing damage will be responsible for replacing or repairing damaged items. 
  21. HIHA activities of any kind take precedence over all other activities at the rink. 
  22. All HIHA activities including practices and games shall be scheduled through the appropriate HIHA Board Member. All non-HIHA uses of the rink facility shall be scheduled through the appropriate HIHA Board Member.   All coaches that are non – HIHA affiliated and that schedule usage of the rinks through the HIHA appropriate Board Member mush have passed the Hendersonville Parks and Recreations background check.
  23. All spectators, players, coaches, referees, and league officials
    must demonstrate proper decorum and respect toward all other persons at all times. Failure to comply with this rule will result in possible penalties and/or expulsion from the rink. 
  24. HIHA league utilizes AAU/ USARS Rules in conjunction with above-listed HIHA Rink Rules. 
  25. HIHA Coaches shall be AAU Double Goal certified or certified USA Hockey, have AAU membership and have passed the Hendersonville Parks and Recreations back ground check. Concussion forms required from all players. 
  26. 6U – 18U games consist of three 10-minute periods.  Any game that runs 2 complete 10-minute periods (or 20 minutes) will be considered a “complete” game in the event of a weather event or situation that causes play to be stopped for the remainder of the time that game is scheduled.   Any game that has not exceeded 2 complete 10-minute periods (or 20 minutes) is subject to be rescheduled at a later date. Incomplete games that are rescheduled to a later date are to start at the time the clock ended when the game was postponed. For example, if the game was postponed and there was 05:41 left in the second period, when the game is re-started at a later date, the clock should be set to 05:41 left in the second period and played from that point until the end of the game.
  27. HIHA LIGHTNING POLICY - In the event Hendersonville Parks and Recreation Department's lightning detection system detects a lightning event and sounds an alarm (single horn sound), all players, coaches, referees, officials, scorekeepers and members of the Board of Directors MUST exit the rink playing surface and bench areas and seek shelter immediately. ​No persons will be allowed inside chain link fenced areas (including the rink surface and bench areas) after a single horn or while the strobe mounted to the baseball field concession stand is illuminated. ​Only after a triple-horn sounds and the strobe mounted to the baseball field concession stand is no longer illuminated will return to the rink and bench areas be allowed.  This is generally referred to as the All Clear Signal. In the event Hendersonville Parks Department's lightning detection system detects an event during gameplay or practice time and sounds an alert, the following rules apply: Immediately evacuate the rink and bench areas and seek shelter. Gameplay and/or practice cannot resume until the All Clear Signal is given. Practices can resume after the All Clear Signal is given unless the regularly scheduled end of practice time has already been reached.  If the end of the regularly scheduled practice time has passed, then that scheduled practice is over, and the rink must be available to the next scheduled team. Games will resume once the All Clear Signal is given provided that the next scheduled game is not delayed. Regularly scheduled game times will not be delayed accommodating a game which has been delayed due to the lightning detection system.
  28. REFUNDS - Any player that elects to withdraw from the league before the first game of the season will receive a full refund less any paid by the league for that player, such as jerseys or AAU Hockey fees. We will not provide a refund after the first game of the season.
  29. WEATHER RELATED CANCELLATIONS (GAMES) - We will make every attempt to play the games according to our posted schedule. However, if the weather conditions make it unsafe to play games, we will postpone the games and reschedule them as soon as possible. The rescheduled games may be played later that day, during the following week, or on upcoming weekends. Once games are postponed, we will send notice via SportsEngine to all affected teams, coaches and officials. We attempt to send cancellation notice at least 30 minutes before game time. Please keep in mind that this will not always be possible.
  30. WEATHER RELATED CANCELLATIONS (PRACTICES) - Coaches will make every attempt to hold practices as scheduled. However, if weather conditions make it unsafe to practice, coaches are responsible for informing their team.  Once a coach makes the decision to cancel practice, they will send notice via SportsEngine to their team.  HIHA's Board of Directors serve as volunteers and cannot be at the rink every time a practice is scheduled; as such, HIHA's Board cannot necessarily be aware of weather affecting the playing surface. Typically, if a practice is cancelled then it is not rescheduled.
  31. LATE REGISTRATION - We do not accept registrations after the season cut-off date. However, we do maintain a waiting list. Any player that chooses to withdrawal during the season will have his position filled on a first-come, first serve basis from the waiting list.

The HIHA Board of Directors reserves the right to modify, enforce or not enforce any of the rules above at their sole discretion at any time.