2004 Northern Region Championships Event Notice

ORGANISING AUTHORITY &= nbsp; The organizing authority for the 2004 Northern Region Championships is the

NZIHA Northern Region committee.=

RULES = The 2004 Northern Region Championships will be conducted under sanction of the NZIHA and it’s

by-laws, the NZIHA Rules 2002 Edition, the Northern Region Championship Tournament Rules and

this Event Notice.

GRADES THAT CAN BE CONTESTED U/10, U/12, U/14, U/16, U20, Women and Senior.

ELIGIBILITY &n= bsp;

Clubs & Teams

The 2004 Northern Regional Championships are open to:

-&nb= sp; Teams entered by NZIHA affiliated clubs contained within the boundaries of the Northern Region. <= /p>

-&nb= sp; Each club is entitled to enter = one team per grade per division. Additional entries will be accepted at the discretion of the Northern Region management committee, who may elect to delegate this responsibility to the event co-ordinator(s).

Players

-&nb= sp; Players must be registered with the NZIHA f= or the club they are playing for.

-&nb= sp; Players must be registered with the NZIHA p= rior to playing their first game.

-&nb= sp; Players must be registered by the 31^st= July 2004.

-&nb= sp; Players shall be entered as playing for one club and one team only, except for women who may play in the Women’s grade and an age grade.

- Players must always comply with age eligibility and division eligibility (if applic= able). Note that the NZIHA bylaws now allow women to play an additional year in the U10 to U18 grades.

- In addition to the NZIHA bylaws women may also play an additional year in the = U20 grade.

-&nb= sp; Players may play up an age grade or where t= here are several divisions within a grade up a division within the Age Grade, wi= thin their club, a maximum of three times. Where a player has played 3 games up whichever team they next play for is the team in which they must remain for= the rest of the competition.

-&nb= sp; Players can not play across a division with= in a Grade unless playing up. ie/.= a club may have 3 x U/12 teams, 2 x teams being designated (a 1 & a 2) with 1 being designated (b) or vice versa. A player in (a 1) can not play for team (a 2) nor for the (b) team. However a player from the (b) team can play up in either of the (a) teams but only a maximum of 3 t= imes in total.

FORMAT

-&nb= sp; The format is expected to be a minimum of a double round robin (home & away) however this may vary depending on the number of entries received.

-&nb= sp; Where the number of ent= ries within a grade is such that it is impractical to run a single competition t= he Grade will be split into divisions. Clubs will have the choice of nominating the status of their teams, either an A or a B. Only teams competing in an A division within an Age Grade will be eligible f= or qualification towards the National Championships.<= /p>

-&nb= sp; For the U10 grade alternative l= ocal formats together with a Regional Championship tournament are being consider= ed.

QUALIFICATION FOR NATIONALS

-&nb= sp; In 2004 National Championships = will be held for the U12, U14, U16, U20, Women and Open grades. There are up to = two teams per region (one team per club) for all grades except Open which will have four teams per region (w= ith a maximum of two teams per club).

-&nb= sp; For the U12, U14, U16 and U20 grades the top five clubs in the Regional Championship will playoff to deci= de the top two teams for the Nationals.

-&nb= sp; For the Women’s grade the= top two teams in the Regional Championships will qualify for the Nationals.

-&nb= sp; For the Open grade the top four teams in the A division will qualify for the Nationals.

-&nb= sp; Where a club qualifies for one entry into the Nationals it may select a team from all of its eligible play= ers.

-&nb= sp; In the Open grade if two teams = from a club qualify for the National Championships, players who have played in t= he Regional Championships in one of the qualifying teams are only eligible to = play in the same team as they played in the Regional Championships. However, other eligible players in= the club may be included.

VENUES

-&nb= sp; The venues to be used are Mt Wellington, Sabres rink and Whangarei.

-&nb= sp; The use of each rink will depend upon the number of teams entered into the Northern Region Championships and= the individual rinks availability. Any Club proposing to use a rink under the minimum size as dictated by the NZIHA Rules 2002 Edition must apply to the Northern Region Committee for dispensa= tion to use. (Application forms available from the NZIHA secretary)

ENTRIES & FEES

-&nb= sp; All entries are to be made on t= he official Northern Region Entry Form or by email to the Regional Secretary (Janet Lee JanetandRoyLee@xtra.co.nz)

-&nb= sp; Closing date for entry into the Northern Region Championships is 5.00pm March 10th 2004.<= /p>

-&nb= sp; Late entries will not be accept= ed.

-&nb= sp; Entry fees and referee levies p= er team are to be decided mid February and clubs will be notified.<= /span>

OFFICIALS

-&nb= sp; Teams are to provide two off-fl= oor officials ie/. a scorer/timekeeper and a goal judge.

-&nb= sp; All Team Officials must be registered with the NZIHA.

-&nb= sp; Referees are to be admitted fre= e.

DRAW

-&nb= sp; A draw will be produced and iss= ued to all clubs for any comments. The final draw will be published when comple= ted. Games will be played as per the “Final” draw, only exceptional circumstances or unsafe rink conditions will allow a game to be postponed a= nd replayed.

-&nb= sp; The Regional Chairperson, plus = two others to be appointed at beginning of each season, will be the sole judges= of exceptional circumstances; their decision will be binding and not subject t= o appeal.

-&nb= sp; All applications for a postpone= ment must be made directly to the Regional Chairperson.

COMPETITION DATES

-&nb= sp; Games may be scheduled to commence 2^nd April and finish no later tha= n 22^nd August.

-&nb= sp; There will be no games scheduled around the Easter break, Queens Birthday weekend or (if possible) the middle wee= kends of school holidays.

POINTS

Points will be awarded or deducted as follows:

&= nbsp; - Win awarde= d 2 points

- Draw award= ed 1 point each team

- Loss award= ed 0 points

- A default = or no show will result in 2 points being deducted from the offending teams overall points tally.

- A team fou= nd to have fielded an ineligible player shall forfeit the game and the result sha= ll be recorded as

5-nil or the actual score whichever is the most advantageous to the non-offending team.

FINAL PLACING = In the event of a tie when determining the top five teams for advancement into= the Regional Play-Offs, the Northern Regions “Final Placing” format will be applied to determine the team/s that will advance to the RegionR= 17;s Championships Play-Off competition.

GAME RESULTS

-&nb= sp; Game scores are to be recorded in an Offici= al NZIHA Score Book provided by the Northern Region committee to each rink.

-&nb= sp; Each rink will nominate a perso= n responsible for the forwarding of the white copy of the game sheet to the Championship Coordinator each Monday.

-&nb= sp; The yellow copy is for the away team and the green copy for the home team.

-&nb= sp; Team managers are responsible for their tea= ms copies of the score sheet which are to be kept until after the completion of the Regional Championships and made available to the Championship Coordinat= or if requested, due to a white copy going missing.

-&nb= sp; Game results and competition progress information will be posted on the NZIHA web site

-(www.nziha.com) as they become available.

-&nb= sp; The frequency of postings on the NZIHA home page and to clubs will depend upon the regularity of score sheets being forwarded to the Championship Coordinator.

= - Each club is to advise an email contact address for the receiving of updated Regional Championship

= information.

PRIZES

-&nb= sp; A prize giving will be held the venue and time will be announced once decided.<= /o:p>

-&nb= sp; Prizes will be awarded to the 1^{st, 2^nd
and 3^rd placed teams in each Grade and each Division as at the
conclusion of the Northern Region Championships. (not Regional Play-Offs)}

LEAGUE COORDINATOR(S)

-&nb= sp; The League Coordinator until the final draw= is published is Brent Murray (brent@isdesign.co.nz)

-&nb= sp; The League Coordinator after the final draw= is published (for results and rescheduling of games) is Doug Elder. (021 73638= 0) &= nbsp;