League and Game Policies Specific to the PBLA

Policies and Rules Specific to the PBLA

The Game:

• The duration of a game shall be three, 15 minute running time periods. If the score of the game is a difference of two goals or less in the last two minutes of the third period the game clock shall be altered to stop-time. Time will also be stopped for the assessment and recording of penalties.

• The teams shall change ends after each period and there shall be a one minute intermission between the periods.

• If at the end of regulation time the score is tied, a shoot-out will be used to break the tie. The shootout will consist of three rounds and tiebreakers if needed. If the game is a playoff, additional periods shall continue with 3 minute intermissions until a sudden death goal is scored. There shall be no shoot-out in the playoffs.

• If any unusual delay occurs within five minutes of the end of the first, second, or any overtime periods, the referee may order the intermission to be taken immediately and the balance of time added to that of the next period. If the event of excessive heat or other conditions caused by weather, teams may opt for shorter periods/game time provided both teams and the officials agree prior to the game.

• If Philadelphia temperatures during the day exceeded 90 degrees the captains and officials may consider to agree to go with no less than 12-minute periods (a 36-minute game). If a more extreme situation exists and further time needs to be cut, due to flooding for example, that again can be agreed to by captains and officials. For a game to be considered “complete” there must be at least 36 minutes of competition.

Team Jerseys:

• All players must wear the PBLA team jersey given to him at the beginning of the season. No player may participate in a league game without a league jersey unless permission is granted from the league President or surrogate prior to play.

• All equipment must be covered by the jersey, therefore cutting the jersey, (sleeves, collar, waist, etc.) is illegal. Any player who has cut or altered his jersey will not be allowed to participate in league games until the jersey is replaced at the offending player's expense. In addition, the offending player's team shall be assessed a two minute bench penalty for each offense observed by the official. In the event that a player rips or tears his jersey during a league a game, the player may continue play without penalty; however, the jersey must be repaired or replaced before he may participate in another league game.

Identity Verification:

• If asked to do so players will be required to provide picture identification for the following reasons:  

  • To maintain a fair and competive league

  • To assure all players are on the roster and properly registered

  • To distinguish whether a player is eligible

  • At any time an official needs to clarify the identity of a suspected non-rostered player.

• All players must have their photograph taken by the league to keep on file in case a team is questioning the eligibility of a player on another team.  

Teams:

• Teams can hold up to 26 players provided two are goaltenders who can never play as a forward. It a team only has one goaltender, their roster will be limited to 25 players total

Standings and Stats:

• League team place standings will be calculated by points earned for wins and loses for teams. A win earned in regulation time without a shoot-out equals 3 points. A win earned in a shoot-out situations equals 2 points. A loss in regulation time will equal 0 points but a team that loses in a shootout will be awarded 1 point.

• The top four teams in the standing will advance to the playoffs. The first place team will play the fourth place team. The second and third place teams will play each other. The winners will play for the championship. 

• In the event of a tie in the standings the tie breakers will go as such:

1. Head to head record -- This is based on the standing points system. For example if Team A wins a regulation game vs Team B and Team B wins a shootout vs Team A, Team A would take the high seed. Goals scored in-game are not factored in. Hence, if Team C defeated Team D by a score of 10-5 and Team D defeated Team C 15-2, then they are 1-1 against each other and still tied.

2. Regulation Wins -- This means if a two teams tied in points but one team earned more points thru regulation wins as opposed to a combination of shootout wins and losses, the team with more regulation points takes the higher seed. 

3. Winning percentage -- This would only come into play in the event of a shortened season, which could be due to excessive rainouts, a facility issue, or some unforeseen circumstance out of the PBLA’s control, which led to some imbalance of games being played and no reasonable way of playing those games. The system used would be 1.000 for a regulation win, .667 for a shootout win, .333 for a shootout loss, .000 for a regulation loss. 

4. Goals for and against differential -- If Team A scores 120 goals and gives up 100 goals and Team B scores 110 goals and gives up 95 goals, Team A would take the higher seed due to its plus 20 goal differential. (Please note: The PBLA rule of a per-game max of 15 goal differential applies to discourage “running it up” on opponents. Hence a team with 120 goals scored who had won a game 22-2 would have five goals deducted from its goals-scored total for the purpose of tiebreakers.)

5. If the goal differential was the same the next tiebreaker would be the lower goals-against. 

6. In the unlikely event of a standings tie after all of those issues were factored in, in the event of a tie for the last playoff spot only, a preference would be given to a team with the longer current streak of missing the playoffs. New teams and the playoff teams from the previous season would be give a 0. 

7. Play-in game or coin toss. For first, second and third place a coin toss applies here. For the final playoff spot all efforts would be made to avoid a coin toss ending a team’s season. A play-in game date and location would be sought and conducted ASAP.