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CONTENTS

1. Overview
2. Calendar
3. Entering
4. Rules
5. Comments
6. History

OVERVIEW

The regular season involves roughly two months where each team plays one game per week. A team has at least five players on its roster. During a game, each team has 4 or 5 players on the rink. A game is 60 minutes long, broken into three, 20 minute periods. Substitutions may occur between the scoring of a goal and the subsequent faceoff.

The league Coordinator for this season is Ken. Hanson (email address: ken@mirrorlab.org).

CALENDAR

Deadlines and Noteworthy Dates:

• Thursday, Oct 1 - Final team rosters are due. Teams not entered by this date will most likely see no league play.
• Friday, Oct 2 - Team rosters, rankings, and games are released on this date. Start scheduling!
• Monday, Oct 19 - First day of league play.
• Wednesday, Nov 25 - Results of week 5 games and ALL OVERDUE results are due by this date. Only game results turned in by this date will determine final standings and who proceeds to the post season.
• Sundays during regular season- Please turn in the results for that week's game by this time. Current standings will be updated weekly and released each Monday.

Games:

 Team       1  2  3  4  5  6 
           ------------------
 Week 1     2  1  4  3  6  5
 Week 2     4  5  6  1  2  3
 Week 3     3  6  1  5  4  2
 Week 4     5  3  2  6  1  4
 Week 5     6  4  5  2  3  1
 
 Teams: 

 Team 1: 
 Team 2: 
 Team 3: 
 Team 4: 
 Team 5: 
 Team 6: 

The above schedule is the same as that used in the previous INHL season. The association of team names with numbers to go with the schedule was made by a random die roll.

ENTERING

Entries for teamless players should include: The player's real name, the player's email address, and the name by which the player is best known for when playing hockey,

Players should be able to give up 1 hour and 15 minutes of their time, once a week, for some weeks during the season. They should also subscribe to the hockey list: hockey@lists.panix.com, and have a good idea of when they can play the next week.

Team entries should have the following: team name, team captain, a roster of at least 5 players, real names of each player, email addresses of each player, well known hockey names for each player, and team names for each player (if they differ from the well known name).

For example:

 
 (Subject:  INHL Team Entry)
 Team Name:    Funk Inc.
 Team Captain: Ender

 ROSTER
 Real Name	Email			Regular Name	Roster Name	
 Jon Newton	yohan@ksu.ksu.edu	Ender		Dirty Steve	
 Mike Roderick	roderick@ksu.ksu.edu	Lord Newbie	Count Funkula	
 Jason Olson	mmt@ksu.ksu.edu		Sgt. Pepper	Crusty		
 ...

Any member of the INHL Council is free to make a proposal to be voted upon. Votes for purposes of arbitration will be decided upon by a simple majority vote. Any vote regarding a proposed alteration to the rules to be used for hockey will require a two thirds majority in order to change current accepted practices. Each Council member receives a single vote. The league Coordinator does not receive a vote in Council decisions, unless the Coordinator is also a team representative and thus a member of the Council.

The Council may vote, by simple majority, to declare a team inactive for a season as a result of a team's inability to schedule games. The success of such a vote would remove that team's representative from their position on the Council for that season.

Each team may choose their representative on the Council by whatever method they wish; their representative defaults to the team Captain.

The Season:
The regular season is a round robin tournament. The regular season determines who proceeds to the playoffs. The playoffs are power protect semi-finals tournament, so first meets fourth, and third meets second. The winners of those two matches then compete for the championship.

Tournament Scoring:
Teams get 1 point for a win or forfeit, and half a point for ties or unplayed games during the regular season. The sum of these points determine the rankings. The top four teams, after the regular season, enter the playoffs to determine the champion. During the playoffs, there is no scoring; it is simply a single elimination tournament.

If there are ties after the regular season, then opposition records break the tie. If this does not settle the tie, then the team with the best "goals for/goals against" ratio wins the tie (calculated as the average of GF/GA for each game played). If this still does not settle the tie, then a playoffs-style game must be played to break the tie.

Games:
Regular games will last 60 minutes. The clock should not run during the dead time between goals and the faceoff.

Games will be played 4 vs 4 during each point. In the event that both teams agree, and so long as both teams continue to agree, the game can instead be played 5 vs 5. (Note that this means that a game can start as 5v5 and then one team can force play at 4v4 if they lose a player during the middle of the game.)

Only during dead time (60 seconds right after a goal or the end of period), may a team switch players. Also, disconnecting during game time to gain an advantage in position is illegal. If a player busts during a point, another player may enter the ice during that point only with the acknowledgement of the opposing captain. Players who are sitting out may not interfere with play on ice in any way (including tractoring, pressoring, or firing torps onto the ice from the sidelines).

Server admins: Note that the dead time is changed from 30 to 60 seconds. This change is made in robots/puckmove.c, in the "#define FACEOFF ..." line.

Servers should have ALLOW_PAUSE defined in puckdefs.h, which makes pausing during the game possible on that server. The use of pause during games is strongly discouraged, and is expected to be used sparingly. The use of pause when a player has ghostbusted during a point is the only clearly acceptable use of pause at this time; the use of pause for any other reason risks bringing the matter to the INHLC and possible forfeit of the game for abuse of the pause.

Servers should allow clients to receive 10 updates per second.

During the regular season, there is no overtime, so ties are possible. During the playoffs, teams will play an extra period until the tie is broken.

In the rare case (heh) that a team fails to show at the scheduled time, the rules allow for a 15 minute grace period. If a team has failed to field four players within 15 minutes of the scheduled time, their opponent may demand that they either forfeit the game or play with however many players have showed up at that time. If the team chooses to play short, then it is legal if their late player enters the game later.

If both teams fail to field the proper team, then no one must forfeit. Either team may opt to reschedule the game. If BOTH teams agree, the game can be played shorthanded.

All players for a game must be on the team's roster. Only if the opposing team allows it, may a team play with an unregistered substitute. (see also: Roster Changes) Also, players should play by their roster names during the game.

Roster Changes:
The main goal behind roster rules is to prevent teams from aquiring temporary "ringers" and unfairly affecting the outcome of the tournament. Therefore, only players on the team's roster may play in their INHL games (although opponents may waive their right to protest).

For the same reason, there are restricitions on players switching teams. Such a roster move must meet the Council's approval. The move ought to be long term and have a good reason. For example, a player can't get along with his team.

Adding NEW players during the course of the season is allowed. However, if it gives a team an unfair advantage over the others (say some hockey master decides he wants to play halfway through the season), it may be disallowed. After the regular season, NO roster changes are allowed. Rosters during the playoffs should reflect the team from the regular season.

Any late roster addition must be announced to the current INHLC/Captains mailing list. Any member of the INHLC who objects to the roster addition may voice their objection to that list and call for a Council vote to approve the addition within one week of the announcement of that addition; such a vote requires a majority of the Council to approve the roster addition. If no one objects then no vote is required, and the roster addition stands. The new player may not play for their team during the week after the roster addition was announced unless the opposing team agrees.

Scheduling and Reporting:
Games are to be played and reported weekly, since INHL updates will be reported weekly. To gaurantee your results are in the report, email them to the league coordinator before Monday at 12:00am central. In the case that a game was not played during the scheduled week, it is legal to play it later, before the end of the regular season. All games reported by the final deadline of the season will count, otherwise unreported games will count as unplayed and receive half a point.

A report should include the part of the message log which gives the final score of the game. Statistics will be kept for individual players, so also include a copy of the player stats. This is done by sending "stats" to the puck.

If a game fails to be scheduled because of one team's negligence, that team will forfeit to their opponent. Such cases will be ruled on by the Council. A team which had responded quickly to suggestions, and had offered alternative times to play would not be negligent in their scheduling.

Server Selection:

Server selection is determined as follows: On odd weeks, the lowest numbered team chooses the server. On even weeks, the highest numbered team chooses the server.

However, given the extent to which lag has an effect on hockey playability, the away team has the option to decline the server chosen by the home team if lag exceeds some threshold of reasonability, which is defined to be the case if one or more of the following are true:

1. Two or more players have in excess of 400ms latency.
2. Two or more players have loss in excess of 10%.
3. One or more players are ghostbusting "frequently" (more than twice during pre-game).

In such an event, it is the responsibilty of the away team to locate an alternate server (which is then subject to being declined by the home team if the lag exceeds the threshold of reasonable lag for them). In the event that no server can be found with reasonable lag for both teams, the remaining options are to reschedule (in the hope that either lag or server availability will be such that a server with reasonable lag can be found in the future), attempt to locate a comprimise server at which lag is equally bad for both teams, or finally to play at a server which most closely reflects the lag of both team's players to the currently active hockey pickup server.

The decision to decline to play at a server must be made before the game begins. Once both teams agree to the server and the game begins, neither team has the option of contesting the server any longer.

Clients:
No borgs. Clients ought to have well accepted RSA keys, like Paradise and COW.

COMMENTS

Scheduling: Start scheduling a week ahead of time. Schedule week 3 games during week 2, for example. Start by offering 3 or so POSSIBLE times to play the game. When scheduling, send copies of mail to all the players on both teams. Better yet, send it to the hockey mailing list (use a descriptive title so that all subscribers don't read it unnecessarily). This way everyone can see what times are being proposed and respond promptly without having the delay of captains being middle men. Also, you have plenty of witnesses to your efforts in scheduling the game, in case the other team's negligence prevents you from scheduling a game.

Only after you are sure your team can field four players should you GUARANTEE some times to meet the other team. Also, read and reply to scheduling anouncements quickly.

Substitutes: Usually, if a team is short a player, their opponent will allow them to aquire a substitute instead of forcing them to forfeit or play shorthanded. Most teams would rather win in a real game than take a forfeit. However, if you think your opponent has grabbed a ringer, then feel free not to allow that sub. At least once last year, a team was rather sorry that they allowed a sub instead of forcing a forfeit. Remember, it is THEIR fault they are shorthanded, so your team's record shouldn't have to suffer for it.

Be courteous:
Namely this deals with scheduling again. Know when you can play a week ahead of time. Tell your captains QUICKLY if you can or can't make a proposed time. Show up to games ON TIME. Nothing pisses me off more than having to wait for another team's player(s). Being late is JUST PLAIN RUDE. Also, when playing, don't bitch at your team mates, especially on ALL.

Ask questions now:
If you have any questions about the INHL or its rules, ask them now. During the season, the Council's interpretation is law, not what you assumed it was. Of course, we will try to accomodate misunderstandings. ;)

HISTORY

Spring 1995
Draft league. Commissioner Jonathon W Newton, using 1994 rules, modified for the draft.

Spring 1996
Formation of the INHL Council. Rules adjusted for current league practices by Ken. Hanson (ken@mirrorlab.org).

Fall 1997
League Coordinator Ken. Hanson ( ken@mirrorlab.org).

Fall 1998
League Coordinator Ken. Hanson ( ken@mirrorlab.org). Several minor rules modifications accepted by the INHLC.