At the May VIJHL meetings, the Board of Governors made some decisions that will have an impact on the 2019-2020 season.
Here are some of the highlights:
Shoot-Out and Overtime
The ‘Shoot-out’ to resolve games that are deadlocked will remain for the 2019-2020 season but there will be changes to ‘Overtime’.
Overtime will be limited to one sudden-death 7 minute extra period of three-on-three hockey.
Playoff Format
The VIJHL will be reverting to a North/South format with the first two post-season series being intra-divisional. For the past two years, the top eight teams were seeded according to their points in the final standings in a 1 versus 8 format.
Kerry Park will be the swing team. In the event that the 9th place team is from the North, the Islanders will be seeded in the North based on their points at the end of the regular season.
The VIJHL Championship Finals will feature North versus South.
Media Timeouts
In the coming season, there will be no restrictions on when the media timeout will be called each period other than it will be in the final 9:59 of each frame.
Officiating
The VIJHL will be employing the three-person officiating system during the regular season and the playoffs.
20 Year Olds
Effective in the 2019-2020 season, teams will be limited to 6 twenty year olds. There is a grandfather clause that will allow up to 8 this season under certain circumstances.
MORE TO COME…