MMBHL Rules

Ball hockey-specific rules

Most of the rules for ball hockey are exactly the same as they are for ice hockey for minors. The basic game is played the same way, with the following exceptions:

The "Floating Blue Line" Offside

In ball hockey, once the ball has entered the attacking zone onside (that is, it crosses the blue line before any players have entered the zone), the attacking zone expands to half the playing surface. That means once the team is onside, the defending team will have to get the ball over the red line (centre-floor) in order to clear the zone. This increase helps game flow by keeping play in the attacking zone where it would otherwise be too easy to clear the ball out of the zone, in contrast to a puck which is less easy to move out of the zone quickly

Stick infractions

In ball hockey, because of the increased incidents of the ball rising off the floor, great precaution has to be taken with sticks. In Ball Hockey, all stick infractions (high-sticking, slashing, cross-checking) carry with with a 4-minute minor penalty. This is a hybrid penalty in which the player must serve the full 4 minutes, but the opposing team may only score once before the offending team returns to full squad of runners.

Game Play

Learnt To Play

At the squirt level (age 5/6), we divide the floor in half and play 4 on 4 hockey. The children play 3:00 shifts which is sounded by the arena horn. This play is less organized - there are no offsides, and face-offs only take place at centre-ice after the shift is over. On a goal or a whistle, we ask the teams to separate and allow the play to continue by giving the ball to one team, usually in the corner.

At this level, we have a coach on the floor to assist the referee with the children and guide them in their play

U8

Many the kids at Tyke level are still learning to play with offsides, but they are enforced lightly at the beginning of the season and more strictly toward the end. At the beginning of the season , games will be slightly shorter to allow for more warm up and learning, and the shift horn will blow every two mintues for line changes. Toward the middle of the season, the shift horn will go away and changing on the fly can take place. Faceoffs are taken for stoppages at the appropriate face-off dot. Coaches are not allowed on the playing surface during play. At the

U10 and up

At U10 and up, the kids change "on the fly" with three 10 minute periods. All penalties are served as normal.

MMBHL Penalties

Non contact

At all levels, the MMBHL is a non-contact league. In fact, all ball hockey is a non-contact league. It is much less of a problem on feet than it is on skates.

Serving penalties

LTP, U8

In the MMBHL, as a house-league, we generally end up having to call very few penalties on the younger kids for infractions. In some cases we will not send a child to the penalty box for a simple infraction (like for example a accidental tripping call in a neutral-zone scrum) but if the penalty is considered either intentional or it results in the loss of a certain scoring opportunity, the offended team will be awarded a penalty shot to be taken by the offended player, or a player on the floor on that team in the case where the offended player is unable to take the shot. (We strongly encourage the offended player to take the shot). In U8, this only applies while we're still playing with shift horns. Once they are changing on the fly, regular penalties willbe called and served.

U10 & up

All penalties are served as normal.