League Committee

A League Combination Committee of seven team owners will be formed to over see the LaBatt Ice Cup Challenge Hockey League. All on this Committee will have equal power and a commissioner will be named to head the committee. The seven member committee will have the stats, keep track of the rosters, coach files, trades, handle all e-mail from the owners of the league, and any gripes or arbitration decisions. ALL TEAMS have a say in rules and structure of the LaBatt Ice Cup Challenge Hockey League as described within the rules.

To e-mail any of the League Committee members click a name:
Rick Cole
Andrew Cornelius Co-Commissioner & Statistician
Paul Gardner Jr Co-Commissioner & Web Page Designer
Rob Gallamore
John Lethbridge

The sequence of events for binding arbitration are:
1.League Committee makes initial rules interpretation.
2.One of the parties involved, or a third party makes a grievance to the League Committee.
3.The League Commissioner solicits the opinion of the parties involved.
4.The League Committee votes, with each member receiving one vote.
5.An appeal of the ruling may go only to a vote of the entire league if the League Committee cannot make a decision with the teams\owners involved in the grievance not allowed to vote.
The teams\persons involved in the grievance may not appeal the ruling. A grievance must be made within two weeks of the time of the incident or ruling to the entire league and the reason for the action. If one of the parties involved, or a third-party files a grievance and they are on the League Committee, they are not aloud to get involved or vote within the committee or if it goes to the league as a whole.

League Structure

All rules of the LICCHL are as described within this constitution unless amended by the league as a whole and distributed as an official Constitution/Rules Update. The league going into the fourth year will consist of twenty NHL (20) teams as it did the years before. All teams will play an unbalanced schedule of 82 games see Seasonal Play. The division winners and top six non-division champions from each conference will advance to the playoffs each year. The computer coach programmed by the STRATEGY EDITOR will manage all LICCHL road games. The text results of all games played will be sent to the entire league. The XXX.fot files (home game results) will be sent to the League Statistician. The Regular season will run November through the first week of April with the last three games of the season being completed the first week of April.

Rosters

The LICCHL rosters range from a minimum 32 players to an unlimited maximum amount of players using the salary cap system. The salary cap for the 2000/2001 season is $54,000,000 see salary cap. No players can arbitrarily be dropped from a team unless it is due to the team going over the salary cap. Rosters are frozen 5 weeks before the end of the regular season and then are open after the championship. Players dropped from teams two weeks before the beginning of the regular season to get down to the salary cap are not allowed to be picked up. After rosters are set two weeks before the season any of these players can be claimed according to free agents.

Player Usage

All players are restricted to playing their actual number of games played. If a player goes past his allotted games, he is suspended for the remainder of the season and playoffs. In addition, the team in question will lose their lowest draft choice. If no draft choices remain, the player in question will be released into the immediately subsequent draft pool with the team losing the player not being able to re pick the said player till all teams have one change to take him. In accordance with the game play in FACEOFF HOCKEY, 20 carded players must dress for each game (18 skaters and 2 goalies).

Injuries

Injuries will be used for the game being play only. Once the game has been played all players are eligible to play again.

Annual Free Agent Re-Entry Draft

Check new rule for the change in this years draft.
At the end of each season each team will be required to submit a protected list of players totaling anywhere from 29-33. No draft picks may be traded from drafts beyond the upcoming re-entry draft until draft day. Draft order based upon LICCHL last season's standings with the team that has the least amount of points drafting first through the top point team drafting eighteenth with the league runner up drafting nineteenth and champion twentieth. The regular draft will last 5 rounds and with all teams having all the picks they have acquired through out the season too. After the regular draft a supplemental draft will be conducted with the teams that protected less then 33 drafting a maximum 4 rounds or till their team reaches 38 players. Only carded players will be allowed to be selected in the supplemental draft. The re-entry draft will be held in August or early September. Teams at the end of the re-entry draft may be over 38 players (see Rosters for cut down time). Teams not at the minimum of 32 players after the draft will draft additional players in the supplemental draft till they reach the minimum of 32 players. If a GM cannot be available for the draft, he must supply the League Commission with DETAILED draft instructions and understand that this system is imperfect and that the Commission is in no way responsible for draft mishaps.

2000 Free Agent Re-Entry Draft order

Drafting Order Phoenix, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Vancouver, Washington, Montreal, Florida, New York R, New York I, Colorado, Dallas, Chicago, Anaheim, Edmonton, Ottawa, Detroit, Buffalo, New Jersey, Toronto, Philadelphia.

Salary Cap

The real salaries of the NHL players will be used in the LICCHL. Two weeks before the regular season, teams will be required to cut down to a salary cap. For the 2000-2001 LICCL season, no team would be permitted to carry a total salary over $54,000,000 during the season. This number was taken from the top 5 NHL team salaries and averaged out with the league approval. If a team exceeds the salary cap during the season the last player whether be from a trade or free agent pickup is dropped from the team. The only time a team may exceed the salary limit is from the end of the playoffs through the end of the annual re-entry draft. The league will alter the salary cap annually to keep within the spirit of the league charter, i.e. to keep the league from becoming too talent-rich.

Seasonal Play

The season will start with a 2 week Exhibition Schedule. These games and their stats will not count toward season records or statistics. The regular season will run the end of October to the middle of April with the playoffs to follow. Each team will play an average of 16 games every month, i.e. 8 home and 8 away games. The Auto Scheduler will be used in the Face-Off game with the following parameters: League Play (3), Conference Play (2), Division Play (2). The breakdown is as follows 28 games same division, 25 games opposite division same conference and 30 opposite conference games which comes to 83 games. To get to 82 the top to bottom finish teams in each division will have the bottom to top divison game of the opposite division game deleted. Each owner will play only his home games, the "computer coach" will play the away games. The league statistician must receive by the 28th of each month the XXX.fot file "ZIPPED" which contain home games stats for the given month. XXX.fot files not received by this deadline may be auto played at the discretion of the commissioner. Repeated offenses will be grounds for disciplinary action, which might lead to expulsion. see Incentives/Penalties.

Faceoff Configurations Options

The following are to be set in the options for the game:
Skaters Limit: 18
Goalie Limit: 2
Modern Day Fatique
Injuries: Random
Overtime: 5 minutes, skaters 4 on 4, end on a goal, and overtime loss points will be awarded as in the NHL

Visitors Instructions (STRATEGY EDITOR)

The Faceoff Strategy editor will manage each teams road games. At the beginning of each month each team will wait until the NEW league files are sent before programming or altering their Strategy file. Each owner is responsible for sending out their XXX.fot file zipped to the league by the 8th of the month or permission is given to your opponents to play with the computer managing your team, which includes the computer selecting the starting roster. If a problem arises that a XXX.fot file can't be sent you must notify the League Commissioner of this for other arrangements to be meet. Teams will distribute one zipped XXX.fot file each month to the league every month or the previous coach file will be used.

The Playoffs

The division champions and top six non-champions in each conference will advance to the playoffs. The first round will be 1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5. Home ice will be awarded to the top seeds using a HHAAHAH format. The lowest surviving seed in each round will be paired against the highest seed left in each round. The tie breaker is as follows for regular season, wavier wire, playoffs, and re-entry draft: 1. most wins 2. divisional record 3. team goals for 4. team goals against 5. record within the division 6. a one-game playoff For determining playoff eligibility the following formula will be used. Players are allowed to play each round according to the following.

SKATERS	SKATERS	GOALIES	GOALIES
REGULAR SEASON	PLAYOFFS	REGULAR SEASON	PLAYOFFS
41GAMES	ALL GAMES	45 GAMES	ALL GAMES
31-40 GAMES	4 GAMES	35-44 GAMES	6 GAMES
21-30 GAMES	3 GAMES	25-34 GAMES	5 GAMES
11-20 GAMES	2 GAMES	15-24 GAMES	3 GAMES
1-10 GAMES	0 GAMES	8-14 GAMES	1 GAME
		1-7 GAMES	0 GAMES

Trades

Roster moves take effect on the 28th of the month when all player movements are due. All GM's are REQUIRED to use the official roster files provided by the League statistician. These files will be e-mailed to each team by the 8th of every month and also put on the league web page. Each team must announce the trade to the commissioners for it to take effect then if they wish to announce it to the league. All trades are subject to review to the league committee. NO TRADE(S) shall be voided by the League Committee unless a 2/3 majority of members agree that the trade is NOT in the best interest of the league. If a League Committee member is involved in the trade that member is not allowed to vote.

Player-to-be-Named Trades

Trade Deadline

Trades will end with 5 weeks to go in the regular season and may not start again till the conclusion of the Labatt Ice Cup Challenge finals. This way no team can attempt to load another team for the playoffs.

Free Agent Pickups

Players left over from LICCHL re-entry draft will form the base of the free agent pool. There are no monthly free agent pickups allowed in the LICCHL. The only time a free agent may be taken is when a teams roster drops below 32 with the following restrictions. The rating of the new picked up player from the player pool the team selects shall be no higher then 2/2 defenseman or forward or a goalie with a .890 percentage. Additionally the player(s) picked up are not allowed to be kept after the season, the player(s) will be returned to the draft pool. The team with the lowest point total has priority if more than one team needs players. If a team wishes to select more than one player they will choose the additional players by round which is based on a reverse order of the standings. Player pickup will be at the time of the trade due to multiple trading in months so teams will know who is available. All pickups will be completed by the 25th of each month with notification done to the commissioners and the statistician.

Penalties System

The Penalty system is set-up to be fair to those General Managers that consistently meet deadlines. At the same time this point system will reflect a non-subjective opinion of a General Managers qualifications for this league.
The "Point System":
· Send protected list in on time and receive 3 points
· Create a XXX.foc file and is sent to the league on time receive 3 points
· Finish monthly games and send in XXX.fot files on time to the stats keeper and receive 3 points
· Total points for a full season is 39 due to 13 chances to get 3 points
Penalties:
· total point between 33 and 39: NO penalty in re-entry draft pick
· total point 30 less then 33: penalty lost of 3rd round re-entry draft pick
· total point 27 less then 30 penalty lost of 2nd round re-entry draft pick
· total point score less than 27: Board decides on possible FORFEIT league of membership

NOTES:
If a team loses a draft pick it does not have because of a trade then the lost pick reverts back to a 1st round pick. If that same team does not have a 1st round pick then the penalty will be a 3rd, 4th and 5th round pick. The point system will be updated weekly along with the updated League files for continuing league play. Team performance for peer review will be shown on our League News and Trades 1999/2000
web page.

If a team continually misses deadlines, then the co-commissioner/opponent reserves the right to simulate the games using the default computer manager settings. No exceptions to the rule. In the event a General Manager is on vacation or will be away for an extended period then, that owner must find a replacement General Manager within the league or use the one of the co-commissioners to operate their team. If a new owner takes over a team that has lost it picks due to the previous owner not complying with the point system that the new owner will get the pick(s) back at the position the team should have drafted.

Annual All-Star Game

 1. There will be a best out of three series (a team needs two wins) to win the all-star series. For the 1999/2000 Season the Western Conference will play the first and third game (if needed) at home. The Western Conference will play the second game.
 1.2 The owners of the teams', which lead their own conference, will play the home games. The owner who has coached his team to the best road record in his conference will create the strategy file for the road-game(s). But all the players in the team will have to get the same amount of ice-time (not exactly the same but pretty close anyway).
 2. Both all-star teams will consist of 18 skaters and three goalies, every team will get two players to the game, one team in each conference will get three players to make it a total of 21 players per team.
 2.2 The two teams who get three players into the game will have a goalie, defenseman and an attacker. Ten teams (5 in each conference) will get an attacker and a defenseman to the lineup, the rest of the teams (4 teams in one conference) will get two attackers.
 2.3 Only the players and the goalies who are able to play at least 10 games are allowed to play in the all-star game.
 3. Every owner will send a list of the players they want to the all-star game to a designated owner running the all-star voting (at least a player in each position and maximum 2 at one position and a total of 8 players). Once the commish has the lists he will send the lists to the owners who'll take care of the teams (the owner of the team, which leads the conference). Then they choose eight players for each position and send this list to the league. Then every owner will vote numbering one to three with three rated the player highest at that position for the starting-lineup for both conferences. After the starting lineup is chosen, the two owners will choose the rest of the players in the best interest of the team. Then the owners will send the final rosters to the designated owner running the all-star voting and the "all-star league" will be setup.
 4. As mentioned earlier, every player must get to play, you can't play just 12 guys for the whole game, everyone will have to get to play evenly. One goalie will play only one period, if the game goes to over-time, the goalie who played in the first period, will play the first over-time period and so on.
 5. The game settings. No game injuries and the overtime ends to a goal. Otherwise the same settings as in the league play.
 6. The home games played in the Western Conference will be played using the strat which is made by the owner who has the best away record (ending January) in the Eastern Conference. The home game played in the Eastern Conference will be played using the strat which is made by the owner who has the best away record (ending January) in the Western Conference.

New Rules

Any member can propose a new rule or amendment from the period after the season until the beginning of the Exhibition season the following year. The league then votes on all proposed rules. If the majority of the league doesn't vote for the rule then the change in the charter or rule is dropped.

New Changes for the LICCHL starting year 2000-2001

PHASE 1

(to be implemented immediately upon adoption of this format) LICCHL teams may change their names and city locations. This will be a one-shot deal and team names must be subject to the League Management Committee (no obscene or offensive names will be allowed). Only one team per city will be allowed, on a first come, first served basis. Teams may apply to shift their franchises or change their team names, subject to approval by the LMC. At this time teams may protect up to 15 of their original NHL-affiliated PROSPECTS and that list must be submitted to the league office prior to this summer's LICHL Entry Draft. (DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED) Players taken by the affiliated NHL team in this summer's NHL Entry draft may be included in this list. The purpose of this is to give the league a structure for who is on which team without having to do a lot of research down the road when the 29th best prospect on a team suddenly makes it big. Allowing teams to have the top 15 prospects in the organization should not impact on this year's LICCHL Entry Draft. NOTE: "prospect" is defined as a player who is uncarded for the past (1999-2000) season, or for the upcoming LICCHL season, and is under the age of 23 as of September 1, 2000. For example, Alexei Yashin of the present Buffalo Sabres is uncarded for the next LICCHL season. He is not defined as an uncarded prospect and will be treated like any other carded player.

This summer's Entry Draft will otherwise be conducted in exactly the same manner as it has been in previous years.

PHASE 2:

As a one-time only method of trasition from the present league structure to the new league structure, a Waiver Draft will be held just prior to the beginning of the 2000-2001 LICCHL season, immediately after the exhibition schedule has been completed. This draft will be conducted in the following manner: Drafting order will be according to reverse order of finish in the 1999-2000 LICCHL season, with the team with the lowest point total drafting first. All teams will protect 18 skaters and two goaltenders. Uncarded Prospects, as defined above need not be protected for this draft. IN additon, CARDED players who are under the age of 21 as of September 1, 2000 will not need to be protected as well. Protected lists for all teams must be submitted 3 days prior to the actual draft. Teams may NOT trade draft choices for this draft. This draft will last a total of 5 rounds, or until all teams pass. No team may lose more than TWO skaters or ONE skater and ONE goaltender. When a team loses a player to another team, it may immediately take a player from its list of unprotected players and protect him as well. Players who are not drafted remain the property of their origninal LICCHL team. After the draft, teams have two days to cut down to the league maximum. For example, Buffalo does not protect Wade Flaherty. No team selects Flaherty during the 5 rounds of the draft. Flaherty thus remains property of the Buffalo Sabres. To get to the league roster maximum, the Sabres then decide to drop Flaherty, and he becomes a free agent. Free agents who are cut in this manner must pass waivers. Once a team announces for any reason at any time during the season that it is dropping a player from its roster, all league teams have 48 hours from the time the notice is sent to the league list to claim the dropped player. If several teams claim the player, the team with the lowest standing in the league at the time the player was dropped (during the season, that would be at the last reporting period) would be allowed to claim that player.

PHASE 3

The Entry Draft for the summer of 2001 will be the first wide-open draft in the history of this league. All NHL-drafted players will be available in this draft. Teams will be allowed at this time to protect 25 carded players and two goaltenders. Carded players are defined as players who appeared in the 2000-2001 NHL season. They may also protect TWO uncarded prospects without penalty. Teams may then, if they so choose, protect up to five more uncarded prospects but will lose a draft choice for each additional uncarded prospect they choose to protect, starting with their 5th draft choice and moving up. If a draft choice has been traded, then the team wishing to protect the player must notify the league which of the draft choices it still owns will be forfeited prior to the draft. For example, the Buffalo Sabres automatically protect Mikka Noronen and Barrett Heisten. However, they also wish to protect Norm Milley and Ryan Miller. In order to do this, the Sabres notify the league that they are protecting these two additional prospects and must surrender their 5th and 4th round entry draft picks. However, it is discovered that Buffalo traded its 4th round pick to Edmonton earlier. The Sabres then must tell the league that they will surrender the 3rd round pick that they aquired from Anaheim by way of another deal in place of their own 4th round pick. (they could designate any draft pick that they own of equal or better value than their own 4th round pick in this case). By the end of this draft, all NHL affiliations will have been effectively severed.

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