| Index |
|
Preamble |
|
Section I - The Community |
|
| Rule 1 - The Commissioner |
|
| Amendment 1 - Appointment of Commissioner |
|
| Rule 2 - The Board of Governors | |
| Amendment 2 - Appointment of Board of Governors | |
| Rule 3 - Owners, Players, and Teams |
|
| Amendment 3 - Appointments of
owners/players/teams |
|
Section II - Administration |
|
| Rule 4 - Role of the Governing Body |
|
| Rule 5 - League Communication |
|
| Rule 6 - Submission of Picks and Arbitrative Matters |
|
Section III - Competition |
|
| Rule 7 - Playing Forum / Arena |
|
| Rule 8 - Scoring |
|
| Rule 9 - Penalty Deductions to Scoring |
|
| Amendment 4 - Extenuating Circumstances |
|
| Rule 10 - Championship Tiebreaks |
|
Section IV - Honors and Conduct |
|
| Rule 11 - Spoils of Victory |
|
| Rule 12 - General Conduct |
|
Section V - Adherence to the Rules |
|
| Rule 13 - The Constitution |
|
| Preamble: |
This official
codification of rules is intended to govern the playing of the annual
Heroes of Hockey NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Competition for the invited
and participating owners, players, and teams. It is expected that
officers and participants follow a strict adherence to the following
rules, explicit in nature, in addition to any implied underlying
statutes, throughout the observance of the competition. The cohesive nature of a finely-tuned dynamic machine can only exist as long as the administrators, owners, players, teams, and commissioned officers respect the discipline of its code of rules. |
| Section I: |
The
Community |
| Rule
1. |
The
Commissioner (is always right) |
| (a) For the purposes
of running
all regular League matters and game play, mediating lower-level
disputes, organizing the competition, accurately administering the
statistics, serving as webmaster to the contest, determining 'fair
play' for the purposes of all league and
team matters, and executing all guidelines set forth in the ruleset
below, the League Commissioner will have final say and authority in all
the above situations. |
|
| (b) The League Commissioner will serve as chairman, is a voting member, and will oversee the Board of Governors. | |
| (c) The Commissioner
position is an appointed duty with an indefinite term limit. |
|
| (d) Grievious
dereliction of duties or impropriety of action on the part of the
League Commissioner may warrant censure or impeachment. Articles
of impeachment may be drawn up by any owner, player, or team, and
presented to the Board of Governors for a punitive vote. |
|
| Rule 2. | The Board
of Governors |
| (a) In order to best
mediate a
degree of fairness and equality, the League shall establish a judicial
Board of Governors. This board will oversee all issues pertaining
to high levels of complexity and elevated degrees of importance, beyond
the scope of the implicit powers
of the Commissioner. |
|
| (b) The Board will
consist of at
least four (4) officer positions. These positions will hold
equal-stake voting rights. |
|
| (c) While not technically permanent, all League officer positions will not change in perpetuity, unless petitioned as such to the Commissioner. | |
| (d) Grievious dereliction of duties or impropriety of action on the part of any commissioned League officer may warrant censure or impeachment. Articles of impeachment against any Board member may be drawn up by any owner, player, or team, and presented to the remaining Board of Governors for a punitive vote. | |
| Rule 3. | Owners, Players, and Teams |
| (a) Only contestants explicitly invited by the Commissioner may participate in this competition. | |
| (b) Owners, players, or teams may be added or subtracted at the discretion of the Commissioner and the League Board of Governors, though regular plurality standards of voting will be required for approval or removal. | |
| (c) No unauthorized personnel are allowed to compete in, visit, or view this competition. "Unauthorized personnel" is considered to be any person or organization not explicitly named in Rule 3 Amendment 3. This includes family members, friends, or acquaintances to the active participants. | |
| (d) Intentional
actions contrary
to this privacy mandate
facilitated by any current player will result in immediate
disqualification from the current competition, permanent expulsion
from all future competitions, and any previously acquired Grand
Championships may be forfeited at the discretion of the Board of
Governors. |
|
| Section II: | Administration |
| Rule 4. | Role of the Governing Body |
| (a) Instances affecting serious League matters (including but not limited to: infractions of League Rules or amendments to the League Rules or governing members), will be placed before the League's Board of Governors for judicial review and/or discipline. | |
| (b) In instances whereby interpretation of the rules or guidelines may be in dispute, a vote of arbitration may be petitioned by the protesting party, to the League's Board of Governors. | |
| (c) All petitions of
arbitration
must first be reviewed and approved by the League Commissioner.
Should it pass approval, a vote will be placed before the Board of
Governors. Should it be ruled frivolous or inconsequential by the
Commissioner, the petition will not be presented to the Board nor
eligible for further action. |
|
| (d) All matters reviewed by the Board of Governors shall require a majority vote in order to pass. | |
| (e) Board members are required to vote only by one of the following responses: "yea", "nay", or abstention. | |
| (f) Failure to vote by a Board member will be considered to be a passive vote of abstention. | |
| (g) In the event of no majority outcome due a mathematical lack of voting Board members present, the League Commissioner may mediate the situation and cast an additional tie-breaking vote, if he so desires; however, this is not a requirement mandated upon the Commissioner, and the petition may simply be permanently tabled. | |
| (h) All matters placed before the Board of Governors for review must be taken to a vote within seven (7) days, following the receipt, by the Commissioner's office, of any petition. | |
| (i) Matters of precedent, when available, must first be considered for any League disputes. | |
| (j) Once ruled upon by the Board of Governors and a matter fails to achieve the degree of votes required to pass, the same petition of dispute for the same matter can not again be petitioned by the same party. No appeals will be allowed following a summary judgement. All rulings are final. | |
| Rule 5. | League
Communication |
| (a) Communication
within the
competition is defined as series picks, petitions of arbitration,
submission of original material to be posted within any of the website
pages of the League, or any other protected documentation submitted to
the League offices. |
|
| (b) All
communication pertaining
to official League matters must be routed first to the office of the
Commissioner, prior to any other destination. |
|
| (c) The only
acceptable forms of
communication are limited to the following means: Electronic Mail
Hand-written messages transacted in person Hand-written messages sent via a reputable postal or courier service with proper payment/postage Verbal submissions via secured forms of telephony Entries made to the League's Discussion Boards Entries within League-sanctioned VIP Champagne Chat Rooms Citizen's Band radio broadcasts |
|
| (d) All
communication must be
clearly legible and the subject must be fairly obvious in nature in
order for it to be approved. |
|
| (e) The receipt of all
communication transmissions are the responsibility of the sender.
The League is not liable for lateness or missing communications. |
|
| Rule 6. | Submission
of Picks and Arbitrative Matters |
| (a) Petitions of arbitrations or protest must be officially filed with the League Commissioner's office within 36 hours of the disputed infraction in order for it to be considered. Any filings after the deadline will not be considered. | |
| (b)
Picks for each Playoff Round
must be received by the League Commissioner, time-stamped no later than
the opening faceoff of the first game of the the earliest-starting
(Eastern Time) series of the
Round. No exceptions will be made for technical or human errors
that cause the delay in transmission or relaying of picks. |
|
| (c) All late picks
received
after the deadline of each round will be subject to penalty deductions
(see: Rule 9) for
any points accrued only within that round. |
|
| Section III: | Competition |
| Rule 7. | Playing
Forum / Arena |
| (a) All matters
pertaining to
this competition will be maintained and conducted solely within the
forum
of "The Heroes of Hockey" website. |
|
| (b) This website is
currently
networked through the public World Wide Web and may be accessed from
any terminal point. In order to keep this degree of openness, a
level of secrecy is required to be maintained by all participants. |
|
| (c) On non-secure, multiple-user
computer terminals, the website address location and related pages are
not to be bookmarked in the browser. |
|
| (d) Violations of
the website
privacy mandate outlined in Rule 3(c) will trigger
emergency powers to
the
Commissioner, authorizing the establishment of a password protection to
the entirety of the competition and all related website pages. |
|
| Rule 8. | Scoring |
| (a) The outcome of games, series, championships, and awards will be determined according to the official record as judged by the National Hockey League (NHL). | |
| (b) Three (3)
standard points
will be awarded for each pick correctly identifying the winning team of
a series. |
|
| (c) Two (2)
additional bonus
points will be awarded for each pick that correctly identifies both: (i) the winning team of a series
and
(ii) the exact number of games in which the series concluded |
|
| (d) Five (5) bonus
points will
be awarded for the prediction of the eventual Stanley Cup Champion. |
|
| (e) Five (5) bonus points will be awarded for the prediction of the eventual individual Conn Smythe Trophy (Playoffs Most Valuable Player) winner. | |
| Rule 9. | Penalty
Deductions to Scoring |
| (a) Picks received
after the
aforementioned deadlines in Rule
6(b) will be subject to adjusted scoring and
deduction of potential points. |
|
| (b) All late picks
are
ineligible for any bonus points. This includes the potential two
(2) duration bonus points for each series, as well as the five (5)
bonus points
for the Stanley Cup Champions or Conn Smythe winner. |
|
| (c) Picks received
after the
first faceoff of the first game of the first series of a round, but
prior to the first faceoff of the second game of the same series will
only be eligible to earn a maximum of two (2) points for any series
within that round. |
|
| (d) Picks received after the first faceoff of the second game of the series that began a round, but prior to the first faceoff of the third game of the same series will only be eligible to earn a maximum of one (1) point for any series within that round. | |
| (e) Picks received after the first faceoff of the third game of the series that began of a round will not be accepted, and zero (0) points will be earned for the entirety of the round. | |
| (f) No late picks, whatsoever, will be accepted for the Stanley Cup Finals round. | |
| (g) Picks for the
eventual
Stanley Cup Champions or the individual Conn Smythe Trophy winner must
be received prior to the beginning of the first game of the first round
of the Playoffs in order to qualify, otherwise zero (0) bonus points
will be awarded. |
|
|
Amendment
4: Extenuating
Circumstances (a.k.a. "The
Honeymoon Clause")
Special arrangements may be made
for late or non-submitted picks in emergency situations of high duress,
or other extenuating circumstances.
Should a player fail to submit picks either on time or at all, and if a special situation warrants an exception, a majority vote by the remaining Board of Governors may be held to offer the picks in absentia to mirror exactly, the picks submitted by the Canadian Loonie team, with no penalty deductions made to the final scoring for the round. This eligibility for this emergency vote will be determined by the Commissioner on a subjective case-by-case and round-by-round basis. This is a privilege, not a right. |
|
| Rule 10. | Championship Tiebreaks |
| (a) If, at the end
of the
Stanley Cup Finals round, two (2) or more teams finish with an
identical number of total points, the following tiebreak
criteria will be applied, in the hierarchy as listed below, for as many
criteria as
necessary, in order to determine the Grand Champion: |
|
|
i. Total Wins (best
win-loss percentage)
|
|
|
ii. Number of Exact
Predictions (best exact winning percentage)
|
|
|
iii. Correct Stanley Cup
Winner Bonus pick
|
|
|
iv. Most verifiably
legitimate entries in the Discussion Boards, posted
prior to conclusion of
the Playoffs
Note: Frivolous entries made solely
for the purposes of increasing
the weight of this tiebreak will be disregarded at the discretion of
the
Commissioner.
|
|
|
v. Bravo trivia
showdown. If a tie still exists at this point, players out of
contention will draft a 10-question (approximate) trivia quiz
consisting, of shared and relevant topics, to be administered to the
remaining players. The most correct answers will crown the victor.
|
|
|
vi. Loonie flip
Note:
Should more
than two (2) players still be eligible at this fifth tiebreak, the
Loonie may be substituted for a roll of a multi-sided die with a
properly-divisible number of sides based on the number of remaining
teams.
|
|
|
vii. If the forefathers
whom
drafted this extensive document somehow completely failed in their
wisdom, and after the sixth and final tiebreak, somehow there is still
no
apparent winner, then as Heroes, we shall graciously accept defeat and
award co-Grand Championships to the remaining competitors.
|
|
| Section IV: | Honors and Conduct |
| Rule 11. | Spoils
of Victory |
| (a) To the annual
individual
Heroes of Hockey Grand Champion, their name, number, and year of
victory will be permanently displayed on a decorative banner to hang in
infamy from the Rafters of Heroes, and their feat will forever be
displayed among the greats who conquered before. |
|
| (b) To the annual
individual
Heroes of Hockey Grand Champion, the following prize (or substitute of
similar value) will be awarded: ..... <insert outcome of Board of Governor's
vote here> |
|
| (c) No other awards will be
bestowed upon any other player, whom finishes in a final place other
than first. |
|
| Rule 12. | General
Conduct |
| (a) All owners, players, teams,
and commissioned officers are expected to observe and maintain high
levels of gentlemanly conduct, honesty, and sportsmanship throughout
the tournament. |
|
| (b) Activities contrary to the
understood code of honor among owners, players, teams, and commissioned
officers may pose cause for censure, expulsion, or other punitive
measures. |
|
| (c) The annual Heroes of Hockey
Grand Champion will be held to the highest degree of standards of
conduct, sportsmanship, and honor. While the mantle of "Grand
Champion" is a lofty and heavy mantle, all activities nonetheless
should still be subject to upholding of the title with the utmost of
professionalism, respect, and status befitting of a Hero. |
|
| (d) Conduct contrary to that
which is implied and reasonably expected of befitting a Grand Champion
may bring grounds for censure, expulsion, and/or the withdrawal of the
Championship title and subsequent transference to the runner-up. |
|
| (e) A petition for censure or
other punitive measures against any owner, player, team, or Grand
Champion must be presented before the Board of Governors for a
disciplinary vote. This can be made at any point in time in
perpetuity, especially if information arises indicating specious
activity which may have assisted a player's attempts for a past
championship. |
|
| Section V: | Adherence to the Rules |
| Rule 13. | The
Constitution |
| (a) Any activity contrary to these rules, willful or otherwise, constitutes a violation and renders the offender subject to punishment before the Board of Governors, via the standard judicial process. | |
| (b) While these
rules are binding, it is recognized that future events may warrant
timely adjustments when and where necessary, in order to ensure the
highest and optimal level of play. These rules will be open to
future
amendments as time and circumstances warrant, so that the competition
may continue to evolve in order to best suit future events. |
|
| (c) General petitions of amendments to the official rules must pass the standard voting regulations of the Board of Governors. | |
| As codified on this 19th day of May 2004,
Anno Domini Offiically ratified on 1st June 2004 AD. |