JAM rules for Floor Hockey - Men's (Officiated)

Floor Hockey: Men’s

There is only one format of Men’s Floor Hockey under Nation Leagues rules. It is described in its entirety below.

 

Game Time

All Floor Hockey games are approximately 50 minutes in length, including two (2) 23-minute halves and a 3-5 minute halftime. Please arrive early to ensure you get the full use of your allotted court time. Regardless of when your game begins your game will always end on time to allow the succeeding games to begin at their scheduled time.

Time Keeping: The on-site Nation Leagues scorekeeper and official will be keeping track of time and the score. Please refer to the on-site score clock to see the remaining time in each half.

Defaults: A default will occur if any team cannot field a squad by 10 minutes after the official start time. A team must have a minimum of 4 people. Defaults are beyond the control of the league, and there will be no refunds for defaults.

Timeouts: Teams are allowed 1 timeout per game. Timeouts are 2 minutes in length (during which the game clock is not stopped). Timeouts cannot be taken with less than 12 minutes remaining in the game.

 

Players

Teams are comprised of three (3) players plus a goalie for a total of four (4) players on the court at once.

 

Playing Area

For all formats of Nation Leagues Floor Hockey, the net and court will always be set up for you when you arrive. All gymnasiums will vary in size, so the dimensions of the playing area will vary per location.

 

Last game of the night must change and leave ASAP, due to time restraints with the school permit.

 

Equipment/Set Up

Players are required to provide their own sticks. Wooden sticks with WHITE tape are acceptable. Sticks with BLACK tape are not allowed - no exceptions.

Players are welcome to wear a traditional hockey helmet/cage. This rule supersedes JAM general guideline #10 regarding soft-style head protection.

Goalies are required to provide their own equipment. Full goalie equipment is allowed, including blockers and trappers of any size. Goalie masks are mandatory.

Balls will be provided onsite by the league.

 

Uniforms

Teams are required to bring both light and coloured shirts to every game. Team colours are posted on the Nation Leagues website in your schedule. If two teams have the same colour the team captains should contact each other to ensure that each team knows what colour to wear.

Defaults: There is no default for players that don’t wear the right colour. However, that player must do everything they can to ensure it’s not confusing for the opposition. Whether this means wearing a pinny, a hat, a teammate’s shirt, etc. Under no circumstances can a player purposefully deceive the opposition.

Uniforms with #s are NOT mandatory. However, since statistics are being kept for your team, we strongly recommend that you wear shirts with #s so that specific players can be identified with accuracy. 

 

Floor Hockey 101

A) Face-offs

• Face-offs occur at the beginning of each period, after every goal and when players from both teams are sent off on the same play
• Players must have feet outside the face-off circle and be directly across from each other
• Only the stick can be used to win a face-off.  Any other method will result in turnover to the other team's goalie.
• The ball must bounce before being hit (early draw will result in turnover to the other goalie)

B) Line Changes

• Players may only sub on-the-fly OR after a goal.  
• Substitutions at other points in the game will be considered a delay of the game. 

C) Penalty and Ejection Policy

• Penalties result in a 3-on-2 advantage (a team can never be down more than 1 man)
• If a team picks up a penalty while shorthanded, the player currently serving a penalty cannot come on until the new penalty is finished
• NO TAKING A PENALTY TO KILL TIME AND HAVE YOUR BETTER PLAYER COME ON
• If a team is shorthanded and picks up another penalty and does not have a man to serve that penalty, it is a penalty shot AND the shorthanded clock starts again.
• Penalty time starts at the whistle restarting the play
• Penalty time is 45 seconds 
• Only the offending player can serve a penalty. Teammates are not allowed to substitute.
• The team on advantage get the ball inside the half circle in their offensive zone
• Defending player must be outside the black circle
• The ball is live once the player on advantage touches the ball
• The ref will blow the whistle restarting the play before the advantaged player can touch the ball

D) Protocol when a Player Receives a Penalty

• The play is stopped. The player is sent off.
• Only the penalized player may sub at that moment.
• The ball is given to the team that was not penalized, inside that teams offensive half circle.
• Once all players are ready the ref will blow the whistle restarting the play
• The team defending the in-bounding ball must have their body and stick outside the half circle
• Once the team awarded the ball touches the ball (after the whistle has been blown restarting the play) the ball becomes live
• The player that has been sent off will sit off for as long 30 seconds of play (The ref will not stop the play if a team passes the ball back to its goalie that is not under attack)
• The penalized team will know to come back on by the raising of the flag by the scorekeeper OR the counting down of time by the ref.
• If a team gets a 2nd penalty before the penalized time is up, the clock begins again and both penalized players are ineligible to return on the court until the time has passed.

E) Protocol for when a Player High Sticks someone in the Face

• The offending player will sit off for 12 minutes

F) Protocol for when Players Fight

• Instant ejection from the game
• Fighting will likely lead to additional suspensions and possible lifetime bans from the league.

G) Types of Penalties

• High-Stick: When a player raises their stick above their chest (for any reason, including windup, follow-through, knocking down a ball, running aimlessly, throwing their stick, etc). High-Sticking will be called during a player's windup if their stick goes above their waist, not their chest. 
• Delay of Game: When a player holds up the game by making the ball unplayable on the court (stepping on it, sitting on it, hiding it in clothes, squeezing it against the wall, etc) By slowly getting off the court after receiving a penalty (a 3 second gratuity is allowed) Goalie smothers the ball through the mesh (not allowed), etc.
• Sliding / Kneeling: No other part of the body other than feet can touch the ground
• Slash: When a player swings their stick at a player,  if more than 45 degrees across their body will be a slash whether there is contact or not with another player
• Interference: When a player or goalie gets in the way and stops/reduces their speed in front of a moving player (Note: If a player does not take a direct route to the loose ball, and makes contact with another player going for the ball, it is interference)
• Holding / Hooking: Having your arm(s) / stick wrapped around another player, or/and impeding their movement (Note: Having one hand on your stick while trying to poke a ball away from someone along the wall, will often be called as Holding, especially if you  are standing behind the other player)
• Boarding / Checking:  Squeezing another player against the wall using your body; bumping another player (Note: If a player does not take a direct route to a loose ball, and makes contact with another player going for the ball, that is boarding/checking)
• Roughing / Pushing / Shoving / Cross- Checking: Using your stick or hands or body to push/shove someone or to physically engage in a matter that is outside the game  of ball hockey 
• Tripping: Using your stick or any part of your body to trip another individual
• Charging: Having possession of the ball and running into a player/ having the ball and backing up into the player; that is not moving
• Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Verbally abusing any individual inside the gym with words of threats or racism (This includes inviting another player to fight, arguing calls with the ref, etc.)

H) Ejections

• There is a, 4 and you walk policy.  If a player receives any combination of 4 penalties, that player will be ejected from the game.
  • 1st time – ejected from that game
  • 2nd time – ejected from that game 1 game suspension
  • 3rd time – ejected from that game 2 game suspension
  • 4th time – ejected from that game 5 game suspension
• Note:  In certain cases that the ref/commissioner consider severe, a player may be ejected from a game before receiving 4 penalties.  A player may also be subject to a special suspension instead of what is listed and categorized above

I) Penalty Shot

• Penalty shots may be awarded by interrupting a breakaway with a penalty or closing your hand on the ball inside the crease

J) Rules Specific for Goalies

• Goalies may only smother the ball inside the green box surrounding the net
• Smothering the ball outside of the green box will result in a delay of game
• Once the goalie has legally smothered the ball, the whistle is blown and play is dead
• The goalies team has 7 seconds from the time the whistle is blown to move the ball into play without hassle from the opposite team, from behind the blue line (if the opposing team has a player beyond the blue line when the whistle is blown, the 7 seconds will then begin when the player has stepped back beyond the blue line). Exception: During a penalty, the goalie's team will have 5 seconds instead of 7 in order to keep the game moving. 
• After 7 seconds the other team may advance
• Breaching the blue line before the 7 seconds is up is a delay of game penalty 
• If the ref has blown the whistle to acknowledge the save, the goalie and team must play it from behind the blue line

K) Officials

• This league is officiated. However, sportsmanship is a key and an integral part of the league.
• Abusive language toward other players/ the officials will result in ejection from the game for the evening and you will be asked to leave the gym. This could also possibly lead to an ejection from the league without refund.
• Even though there are referees, players must govern their own teams to ensure the experience of everyone in the league is as enjoyable as possible.

 

Rules and Exceptions

Code of Conduct (outside of the game)

• No cigarettes/alcohol/drugs on school property. This may lead to elimination from the league with no refund.
• Please throw out / recycle your garbage and do your part to create a safe playing environment.
• Never jam open any door into the school
• Enter and exit the school through the designated areas only.
• Wait for a goal stoppage before crossing through the gym during a current game

Code of Conduct (during the game)

• No jewellery while playing
• Shin pads, Eye protection, Gloves (and any other safety measure) are recommended.
• Designated team captains should be the only ones to address the referee.
• All plays start and stop on the referee's whistle
• No (arguing, questioning, commenting, abusive behaviour directed) to the referee during or after a game. 
• Balls landing on top of the net become goalies ball, Players cannot hit the ball off from under the mesh

 

Regular Season Matches

Games can be tied during the regular season.

 

Playoffs Eligibility and Tiebreak

There must be a winner in a playoff match. In the event that the match ends in a tie, teams will partake in the following tie-breaker until a winner is determined:

• 3 shootout rounds (with no repeating shooters)
• If still tied, teams will shoot sudden death 1 by 1 until a winner is decided. Repeat shooters can be used for these sudden death rounds.

A player must play 3 regular season games to be eligible for playoffs.

 

Rough Play

Any rough or physical play will result in immediate expulsion from further league play and may result in a lifetime league expulsion. Please see the JAM General Policy for our official guidelines on this subject. It is recognized that incidental contact between players is inevitable; however, all players should go out of their way to avoid creating an unsafe play.  This rule supersedes all others. 

Please note that on-site staff and officials have full autonomy when supervising games. Games may be stopped entirely, players may be asked to leave the playing area or be removed from the game entirely under their discretion.

 

Alcohol

There are absolutely no alcoholic beverages permitted on Nation Leagues property. Any offenders will be asked to leave the league without refund. No exceptions.