TFL-ELITE LEAGUE

Governing Document 2007-2008 Season

RULES

All games will be governed by International Floorball Federation rules unless explicitly stated otherwise.

GOVERNING DOCUMENTS

Any changes to the rules outlined in this document can only be made through the league rule change policy, which will be created by a committee that will convene at a minimum two weeks prior to the entry draft. A member of each team sends one representative to this committee and it will include the league commissioner. The procedure the committee creates must be reached unanimously and will stay in effect until the last game of the playoffs is complete.

The procedure for changing league rules for the 2007-2008 season is through unanimous decision by all the team general managers and the league executive.

GENERAL MANAGERS

Each TFL-ELITE league team is managed by a General Manager (GM) selected and hired by the Toronto Floorball League. The hiring is done based on applications received by the deadline set forth by the league. The league will use public criteria to choose the best suited General Managers if there are more applicants than positions.

PROTECTED PLAYERS

This season, each TFL-ELITE GM is granted the right to protect up to 4 of their players from last season's roster. In order for a player to be protected, that player must register and pay their league fees prior to the protected player registration deadline and mention on their registration form that they are a protected players of a specific team. Only protected player registrations that are fully paid prior to the deadline will be recognized by the league.

If a GM chooses not to protect 4 players, they will get to pick earlier in the entry draft until their protected core reaches the 4 player limit. So for example, if Team 1 and Team 2 protect 3 players and the other teams protect 4, Team 1 and Team 2 will pick one player from the entry draft in “Pre-Draft Round 1” before the draft is open to the other teams. The draw order of each round of the Pre-Draft will be determined randomly.

If more than 4 protected players register for one team, only the first 4 whose registrations are received will be protected and the remaining players will be included in the entry draft.

RECRUITMENT

To encourage recruitment, each TFL-ELITE General Manager can recruit up to 3 new players that can by-pass the entry draft and be signed to their team. New players are defined as players that were not registered to play in the TFL in the previous season at the rec or competitive level. In order for a player to be considered recruited by a team, they must register and pay their league fees prior to the protected player registration deadline and mention on their registration form that they are a recruited players of a specific team. Only recruited player registrations that are fully paid prior to the deadline will be recognized by the league.

If a GM chooses not to recruit 3 players, then they will continue to pick from the entry draft until the end of the draft and/or their team size reaches the same size as the other teams. Recruited players are considered to be a team's final draft picks so each team will skip the number of final rounds equivalent to the number of recruited players. To be eligible for recruitment a player must have been a resident of the GTA for six months prior to the date of the entry draft. Players that have temporarily moved away from Toronto for a year and are returning home are granted an exception to this requirement.

If more than 3 recruited players register for one team, only the first 3 whose registrations are received will be considered recruited players of the team and the remaining players will be included in the entry draft unless otherwise specified by the GM.

ENTRY DRAFT & EXPANSION DRAFTS

The players for the TFL-ELITE league are chosen via an entry or expansion draft with the exception of protected and recruited players. The TFL-ELITE league limits the number of players allowed in the entry draft. For this season, the entry draft will be limited to 72 players or 12 players per team MINUS the total amount of players protected, recruited and the GM if they are playing.

The Entry Draft pick order will be determined by random draw and will use the snake format. Only registered and paid players by the deadline set forth for the entry draft are eligible to be drafted. If an unequal amount of players enter the draft, the league and General Managers will attempt to give teams that draft extra players in the entry draft less picks in the expansion drafts. Each General Manager is given two selection waivers for each draft. General Managers have three minutes to make their pick and are not allowed to consult others before making their choice.

The First Expansion Draft selection order will be the opposite of the Entry Draft.

The Second Expansion Draft selection order will be determined by each team's regular season rank at the time of the draft, with the worst-seeded team choosing first and so on.

Only players drafted, protected or recruited can participate in TFL-ELITE league games. An exception may be granted if a team made up of players that have not registered in TFL before were interested in joining the league, but every attempt would be made to do so within the current format.

GAME LENGTH

The length of games will be 3 x 20 minutes with a 5-minute warm up session and 3-minutes in between periods, time permitting. The last three minutes of the game shall be effective.

TIES/SHOOTOUTS

If a game ends in a tie after regulation time is complete, a shootout will ensue with each team selecting four shooters. If the game is tied after four shooters, it will be sudden death until a winner is determined. The same four shooters shall be used in the second round but no player can shoot a third time until every field player has shot at least once. Whether a team shoots first of second is determined by a coin toss with the home team choosing the side of the coin.

REGULAR SEASON

The Regular Season will determine the rankings of the teams for the playoffs. Wins are worth two points, shootout losses one point and a forfeit results in one point being subtracted from the standings.

SCHEDULE

The organizers retain the right to change the published match schedule. In the event of such a change during the season, the organizers will do their best to contact the teams affected, but it is the responsibility of the team's General Manager to check the website for changes. Changes will be posted 48 hrs prior to the scheduled start of the game, circumstances permitting.

TIE BREAKERS

1. Points in the season

2. Greater number of wins in the season

3. Head to Head record between the tied teams (including Goal Difference if necessary)

4. Goals scored in games between the tied teams

5. Total goal differential during the season

6. Goals scored during the season

7. Coin toss.

ROSTER RULES

The minimum team roster size is the number of active (i.e. Registered) players in the league divided by the number of teams minus 1. The maximum team roster size is the number of active (i.e. Registered) players in the league divided by the number of teams plus one. Each team must satisfy this requirement at the end of each trading window.

No team can hold more than two goaltenders on their roster at any time.

TRADES

Trades are allowed only during league trading windows, currently the day of the Entry Draft from the time of the first pick until midnight and the time leading up to both Expansion Drafts. The Expansion Draft trade window begins one day after the conclusion of the final game before the Expansion Draft and ends at midnight on the day of the event. Trades must be notified to the league executive for approval using the trade form. Only once trades are approved can they be considered official after which the players must be notified. GMs must coordinate the swap of jerseys at the next TFL game after the league and notify the league of the players' new jersey numbers.

There are unlimited trades during the trade window. Trades will only be announced once the trade window is complete so essentially a player will change teams at most TWICE during the course of the season.

A hardship rule exists whereby if a team is in desperate need of a goaltender due to injury or other reasons the league may grant the team the right to make a trade outside the trade window but not after the final trade window has expired.

PLAYOFFS

All the teams make the playoffs. In the current structure of 6 teams, the top 2 teams receive a bye while the bottom four teams play in a first round playoff. Winners of the first round face the top 2 seeds in a second round playoff while the losers of the first round face each other in a consolation playoffs arena time permitting. The third place and championship playoff rounds follow. After each round, the following round match-ups will be determined by seeding the teams according to their regular season ranking.

STATISTICS & GAME ROSTERS

The Team Captain (chosen by the General Manager) must submit their team roster to the secretariat 10-minutes prior to the start of the match. A player not on the team roster cannot participate in the game.

The Team Captain must sign the Match Protocol after their game has ended. Once the Match Protocol is signed, changes cannot be made to the game statistics.

MATCH PENALTIES

?Match penalty 1 leads automatically to suspension until the end of the match in question, match penalty 2 to suspension until the end of the match in question and also for the next match, match penalty 3 leads to an extended suspension as determined by the league jury. If a member of the league jury is the player facing an extended suspension, that player does not cast a vote in the jury's suspension ruling.

JERSEY POLICY

General Managers are responsible for the distribution of jerseys to their team members. The GMs must collect a post-dated deposit cheque from each of their players and exchange these cheques for jerseys with the league staff prior to their team's first game. At the end of the season, the GM will collect all of the jerseys and return them at once to the league staff who will hand over the deposit cheques to the GM. At that time, any players with unreturned jerseys will have their deposit cheque cashed.

The jersey policy states that all players must wear their team jersey in order to play. Exceptions to this policy are only allowed if both General Managers and the league agrees. No exceptions are granted for playoff games. If the league cannot provide jerseys for all the players, a special exemption will be given to affected players but the players must wear the same color shirt as their team jerseys.

In case the referees decides that one team should change shirts due to the similarity of the opponents’ colours, the team listed as the away team in the official match schedule is obliged to change. Where a team does not have a second set of jerseys, pinnies are provided by the league in exchange for a piece of identification.

FORFEIT RULE

A team must field 4 players and a goaltender in full uniform 10 minutes past the scheduled start time of the game or the team not reaching the required number of players will forfeit the game 5-0 and lose one point in the standings.

GOALTENDER WILD WEST RULE

Each team may only have two goaltenders on their roster at any time.

A goaltender can play as a player and a goaltender in the same game, but only if they began the game as a player. A goaltender may not become a field player in the same match as per IFF rules.

REFEREES

Each team will be required to name a referee pair from their roster to officiate games throughout the season. These referees will be expected to officiate matches as per the schedule laid out.

BOARDS

Teams are required to help set-up boards 15-minutes prior to their scheduled start-time if they have the first game of the evening or take-down boards for 15-minutes after their game if they play in the late game. A minimum of 3 players per team is requested and it is the GM's responsibility to make sure his or her team contributes.

ALL-STAR GAME

The league will organize an All-Star Skills Competition and Game during the season. The GM of the first-placed team and the GM of the second placed team based on the team standings two weeks before the All-Star game will pick and manage the two teams. The previous season's champion will choose 13 players from the 1^st place, 3^rd place and 5^th place teams from the previous year while the runner-up will choose 13 players from the 2^nd place, 4^th place and 6^th place teams. At least two representatives from each team must be chosen and there must be two goaltenders per team who split the game time equally.

AWARDS

General Managers nominate players from their team for inclusion on the ballot for league awards. The league will organize a vote open to all league participants who then select the award winners from the ballot. GM's must submit the nomination form 3 weeks prior to the end of the regular season after which award voting will be opened.

WARM UP BALLS

Each GM will be provided with a set of warm up balls at the start of the season for the exclusive use of their team. The league will not supply warm up balls on game days and will only supply match balls. It is the GMs responsibility to make sure their team has balls to warm up with.

PROTESTS?

Protests should be delivered to the jury or to the hall secretariat in written form not more than 1 hour after the conclusion of the match being protested. The protest fee is CAD 30. The protest can be delivered as a hard copy to the hall secretariat or submitted electronically to the League Commissioner at juha.mikkola@floorballcanada.com. In case of the protest being refused, the fee is not refunded but the jury may make an exception if they find that the protest was not frivolous.

LEAGUE JURY

The league jury will be made up of league staff. The verdict of the jury is final.