Contact Information
Commissioner: Andy Mecs (e-mail)
Phone: 412-716-3727
College Hockey Mid-America (CHMA) is a regional ACHA Division 1 league based in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. The league consists of Duquesne University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP),
John Carroll University, the University of Pittsburgh, Slippery Rock University,
Washington and Jefferson College, West Virginia University, and Youngstown State University.
In 2007-2008 the regular season league champion will receive an automatic bid to the ACHA Division
1 national championship.
The top CHMA teams will face off at the second annual College Hockey Mid-America playoffs from
February 22-24, 2008 hosted by Youngstown State at the Ice Zone in Boardman, Ohio.
College Hockey Mid-America By-Laws
I. MISSION STATEMENT
College Hockey Mid-America (CHMA) is an organization comprised of American Collegiate Hockey Association Division 1 programs. The primary purpose of the CHMA is to promote the growth of structured competitive regional collegiate ice hockey.
II. TEAM ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
A. Membership Requirements:
- Annual payment of season membership dues to the Commissioner by September 30th prior to the beginning of each season.
- Teams must adhere to all American Collegiate Hockey Association Division 1 standards, policies, and procedures.
- Teams must participate in mandatory organizational meetings, provide timely response to requests for information and feedback, and communicate weekly with the CHMA Commissioner. All scores and statistics are to be e-mailed each Sunday evening to the Commissioner.
- Teams should adhere to additional minimum recommended guidelines as set forth by the Board of Directors.
B. Membership benefits:
- 1. Members shall benefit in the following: A website which includes game schedules, results, general CHMA information, links to individual team websites and the ACHA; a playoff style tournament involving the top performing teams in the CHMA; and players recognized for exceptional performance in the naming of an all-conference team.
C. Suspension of Membership Benefits:
- Membership affiliation and benefits may be suspended or withdrawn for non-compliance with any and all CHMA rules or regulations. Suspension of benefits may include, but are not limited to the removal of team participation from league post-season tournament, probationary status for one or more seasons, or forfeiture of games for violation of player eligibility requirements.
- All suspensions of benefits for violations shall be decided by the Board of Directors of the CHMA. Each team in the CHMA will have one vote on the Board.
- All suspension of benefits may be appealed in writing within 7 days to the CHMA commissioner who shall present any new information to the other member teams and a decision shall be rendered within 5 days. All appeals decisions will be final.
D. Membership Restrictions:
- Only teams affiliated with the ACHA Division 1 shall be eligible.
- Teams will only be considered for admission to the league if they are within 3 hours in driving distance of downtown Pittsburgh and no more than 4 hours in driving distance from the farthest league team.
E. Membership Operations Standards:
- Any CHMA team which fails to honor a confirmed scheduling commitment except under an act of God shall have membership benefits suspended immediately and declared ineligible for the league championship. Compensation shall be rendered to the relevant team for travel expense and/or ice and referee costs.
- Any team using an ineligible player in a CHMA game shall forfeit the game in which the player participated. A notice to the ACHA shall be written alerting it of the incident. The team who used the ineligible player may be subject to suspension of membership by the Board of Directors.
F. Team Uniforms:
- All players must wear an HECC approved facemask and helmet, a mouthguard, and other pieces of protective equipment required by the NCAA rulebook.
- All teams must have at least two sets of jerseys, a home and an away. Both sets shall consist of large permanent numbers on the backside of the jersey.
III. PLAYER ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
A. General Player Eligibility:
- All players must meet ACHA requirements. Any annual rule changes by the ACHA Division 1 shall be adopted accordingly by the CHMA.
- Any player or coach whom was suspended from the ACHA, USA Hockey, or from any other sanctioned hockey league may not be eligible according to the terms of the suspension. Any player or coach put on probation may receive amnesty from the CHMA and shall be allowed to participate with all benefits.
C. Academic Requirements:
The CHMA shall use the same academic requirements established by the ACHA Division 1. Any annual rule changes by the ACHA shall be adopted accordingly by the CHMA Board of Directors.
D. Rules of Play:
- The CHMA will use the rules of play specified in the NCAA Rule Book unless specified otherwise in the ACHA Division 1 Policies and Procedures.
- Teams shall be permitted to have the option of dressing a maximum of 18 skaters and 3 goaltenders or 19 skaters and 2 goaltenders. Failure to dress at least 2 goaltenders shall result in a forfeit as dictated by ACHA Division 1 rules.
- All league contests will consist of three twenty-minute periods. One five-minute overtime will be played during league contests, unless the game is curfewed due to a shortage of time. In that case, the game will be considered to be a draw.
- A minimum of 2 ½ hours of ice time shall be slotted for each league contest to avoid curfewed results.
- At least two resurfacings of the ice surface shall be completed during a normal three period game. The home team shall have the discretion as to how many resurfaces of the ice and when they occur.
- All league games shall use a three man referee system consisting of one referee and two assistant referees.
- Disqualification (DQ) procedures will adhere to the procedures recognized by the ACHA. No special situations shall be taken into consideration regarding the disqualification of a player or coach.
- A point system will be followed when determining seeding for the CHMA Playoff Tournament. Wins in league games will be worth 3 points in a two game series or 2 points in a three game series. Overtime losses and shootout losses will be worth 1.5 points in a two game series or 1 point in a three game series.
IV. REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE
A. Number of Games:
- Each team will play the other member teams in the CHMA 2 or 3 times at the discretion of the individual teams.
- Any additional games that are played between the league teams will count neither towards league play nor as a post-season tiebreaker.
- In Case of a tie at the end of the regular season, the tie breakers are as follows:
- Head to head win/loss record
- Head to head goals for/goals against differential
- Wins as a percentage of league games played
- Goals for/ goals against differential in CHMA regular season games
- Coin flip
V. Post Season Tournament
A. Sites:
The CHMA Play-offs shall be hosted by bid. Bids must be in by March 15th prior to the start of the season. The playoffs shall be played at alternating sites from season to season.
B. Tournament Format:
The CHMA championship will be played the weekend before the ACHA Division 1 National Tournament.
Seedings will be determined based on the number of HL teams.
The following format must be followed with six teams:
- Game One: Seed #3 vs. Seed #6
- Game Two: Seed #4 vs. Seed #5
- Game Three: Seed #1 vs. Lowest Remaining Seed
- Game Four: Seed #2 vs. Second Lowest Remaining Seed
- Game Five: Winner of Game Three vs. Winner of Game Four
There will be no consolation games.
In the event that a team gets suspended from the CHMA Play-offs, the highest seeded team(s) will have a bye.
D. Tournament Player Eligibility:
- Only rostered players as of February 15th shall be eligible to participate in the CHMA tournament.
- Any team challenging the eligibility of any player shall do so in writing to the CHMA Commissioner.
- Any team using an ineligible player in the tournament shall forfeit the games in which the ineligible player participated based on the ACHA Rules and be subject to suspension of membership by the Board of Directors.
- Decisions by the Board of Directors may be appealed following the aforementioned process.
E. Officiating System:
A 3 person officiating system consisting of one referee and two assistant referees shall be utilized in the CHMA Playoffs. This system will be used in all playoff games unless an injury to an official prevents him from participating.
F. Rules of Tournament Play:
- In the event of a tie after three twenty-minute periods, a twenty-minute sudden death period shall be played. Subsequent sudden death twenty-minute periods shall be played until the tie is broken. Tournament games will not be curfewed.
- All teams shall bring both home and away jerseys regardless of tournament seeding.
G. Tournament Recognition:
The CHMA Board of Directors shall determine the "All Tournament Team".
H. Team Behavior:
It shall be the responsibility of each individual team to ensure the proper care of hotels, restaurants, ice rink facilities, etc. The CHMA Board of Directors shall act strictly upon any incident involving the above.
VI. ADMINISTRATION
- The Board of Directors shall manage all business and affairs involving the CHMA. It has the authority to establish policies and procedures for the operation and organization of the CHMA. The Board of Directors will consist of one voting member from each team. Any coach or staff member associated with the team can be appointed by the team to sit on the Board.
- Members of the Board of Directors shall be appointed annually by the respective member teams. There is no limit to the number of years a member can sit on the Board of Directors.
- The Commissioner shall oversee the Board of Directors. The Commissioner only has organizational duties. All major proposals will be voted on by each team collectively as the Board of Directors. Elections for Commissioner will be held at the spring meeting prior to each season.
- The Commissioner shall be voted into office by the Board of Directors by majority vote and serve a one-year term. A supermajority vote of 75% or greater is needed to be cast by the Board of Directors to remove a Commissioner from power in the middle of the season.
- Decisions to add or remove member teams shall be made by supermajority vote of 75% or greater by the Board of Directors. All other decisions shall be made by majority vote. Each member of the Board of Directors in attendance shall have one vote. Ties will be resolved by the CHMA Commissioner.
VII. MEETINGS
- Members of the league shall meet no less than twice annually. There shall at minimum be a spring meeting and a fall meeting. At least a seven day notice is required for any meeting. This notice requirement may be waived by the Board of Directors.
- The procedures of all meetings shall be governed by Robert's Rules of Order.
- Decisions to add or remove member teams shall be made by supermajority vote of 75% or greater by the Board of Directors. All other decisions shall be made by majority vote. Each member of the Board of Directors in attendance shall have one vote. Ties will be resolved by the CHMA Commissioner.
- Where stated that a majority of league members must vote in favor of a decision, a majority of league teams must vote in favor regardless of the number of teams in attendance. Where stated that a supermajority of league members must vote in favor of decision, a supermajority of league teams must vote in favor regardless of the number of teams in attendance.
- Each school is required to submit a list of coaches and staff members eligible to serve as Board representatives at league meetings. No one person can represent more than one school during the same season.
- Meeting attendance is mandatory for all teams for the 3-4 scheduled meetings per season. Any team not sending a representative will be fined $100 per meeting.
