NCRRL Coaches' & Managers' Page - Cette page est également disponible en français

On this page you'll find information that all teams, and specifically all coaches, should be aware of.  PLEASE NOTE:  This is a summary only.  For complete rule details, please refer to the appropriate operating manual (NCRRL, ERRA or ORA).  If you have any questions or require clarification regarding anything found here, please contact your appropriate NCRRL level convenor.

NCRRL vs ERRA

While there sometimes exists an overlapping of responsibility, ERRA and NCRRL are separate entities with their own executive boards.

ERRA (Eastern Region Ringette Association) represents the administrative arm of ORA and is one of the six regions within the Ontario Ringette Association. ERRA governs all teams in this part of the province from Bunnies to Open.

NCRRL (National Capital Region Ringette League) is one of four leagues that ERRA teams may play in. Elite level teams (Tween AA -Belle AA) play in the LERQ, and Open teams (19 years and older) play under the GAARA banner or NRL.

NCRRL exists solely to provide game competition for all of the member associations in ERRA plus those of the Gatineau association and all teams Novice to Belle and levels A, B, C and REC.

Ontario Tournaments

Tournaments played in Ontario are ORA sanctioned events, and ERRA oversees all of the tournaments in this region. It's important to note that NCRRL specific rules may not apply in these events. Tournament rules are well publicized and given to each participating team at the start of the event. Make sure you are aware of these. You can also refer to the Games and Tournaments Manual on the ORA website and any questions, concerns regarding tournament games should be addressed to the ERRA Games & Tournaments Coordinator.

There are several tournaments, both locally and throughout the province, which are very popular. It's in the best interest of your team to decide very early in the season which tournaments you plan to enter and to send in your registration forms. After that be sure to advise your association's ice scheduler which tournament(s) your team has applied for. This will greatly reduce the number of NCRRL rescheduled game requests throughout the year.

Rescheduling of Games

In recent years, there have been so many league games cancelled or rescheduled that it has caused a huge administrative problem, not to mention a major headache for the association ice schedulers. As a result, NCRRL decided to specify that the rescheduling of league games would only be permitted in the following situations:

Inclement Weather

No one expects your team to risk their safety by driving to a game on icy or snow covered highways. However, please do not cancel a game based on a weather forecast alone. Forecasts will often change in 24 hours and the driving conditions may improve the next day. Whenever possible, you should wait until the morning of the game to decide if you will cancel due to weather or road conditions. The only exception to this would be if you play early in the morning the next day or have a long drive (i.e. to or from Kingston).

Note that the away team is the cancelling team by default in situations of inclement weather unless both teams are traveling in which case either team may cancel.

Loss of Ice

Examples of this would be if there is a power failure at the arena, the Zamboni is broken, or the ice time was double booked.

Participation in a Tournament

As noted above, a little bit of pre-planning can avoid many of these occurrences. By advising your local ice scheduler which tournaments you have applied for in advance, this information can be shared with the league and the game schedule can be created with few conflicts. Occasionally teams apply for tournaments late, well after the league game schedule is set, but this should rarely happen for second half games.

League Problems

An example of this would be if no referees showed up to work the game.

Other

If a team selects "other" as the reason for rescheduling a game, the request must be submitted by their respective association's executive confirming their knowledge and approval of this request. They must provide details of the reason to the level convenor and must receive the convenor's approval before the game can be rescheduled. The NCRRL will not consider requests made directly by the team. While there may be unique situations that will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, reasons that are not acceptable for rescheduling league games include, but are not limited to:
 

What to do to Cancel a Game

Obviously, you should not cancel any game without first speaking with a representative from the other team. It is the responsibility of the cancelling team to file the cancelled game report through the NCRRL website. If you are cancelling a game less than 24 hours in advance, you must also contact the ERRA referee assignor. Once a make-up date has been determined you must also file a rescheduled game report through the NCRRL website.

How to Reschedule a Game

In all cases of cancellations and regardless of the circumstances, the home team will be given the first opportunity to provide two possible dates for rescheduling the game. However, the home team is not obligated to do so unless they are also the cancelling team, in which case they must be the first to provide the alternate dates. The dates and times provided must not conflict with either team's game schedule and must be appropriate for the division and levels of the teams involved. If the dates offered meet these conditions, the visiting team must accept one of the two dates or risk forfeiting the game.

If the home team is unable to propose two acceptable dates, the visiting team will provide two possible dates and times. If the dates and times offered meet the conditions noted above, the home team must accept one of the two dates or forfeit the game.

The date for the rescheduled game must be determined, in cases of participation in a tournament, within two weeks of the date that notice of the tournament was provided by the cancelling team, and in all other cases, within two weeks of the originally scheduled game. The details of the rescheduled game must be reported by the cancelling team through the NCRRL website. This does not mean that the game has to be played within two weeks, only that the date of the game must be decided within two weeks.The game must, however, be played before the end of the current half of the season and before the start of play offs.

Should the date of the rescheduled game not be decided within two weeks of the originally scheduled game, the league executive will review the dates offered by both teams. Should it be found that one of the teams did not fully co-operate and accept a reasonable offered date, that team will forfeit the game.

In all cases, the cancelling team (and their respective association) will be held financially responsible for the cost of the game ice and any fees payable to officials if proper notice of the cancellation is not provided.


Player Call-up Rules

A team may pick up a player within the same Association as a substitute and may only pick up the same player a maximum of three (3) times during the season. A team may pick up enough players to bring its roster up to eleven (11) maximum, but not to exceed its number of registered players. Pick-up players may only play at an age or skill level as follows

No lateral pick-ups will be allowed at any level except Novice C and Novice Rec.

A Chart in Excel Format may be found here. (If after clicking this link you get a pop-up box asking for a password, simply click the X on the top right corner of the pop-up and the form will appear.) Your team is the team listed on the left side of the chart. You may pick up a player from any team on the list at the top of the chart that has an X listed beside your team's name with out any further approval. You may pick from a team shaded in purple beside your team's name only if there is no opportunity to pick from the X's. To pickup from the shaded portion of the list you need written approval from the league. (Ask your Division Coordinator for this approval beforehand.

Goalies are exempt from the three-time limitation. As well, a team that has no goalie on its roster may pick up a goalie in accordance with the pick up rules, with the addition that in this case the roster may exceed its number of registered players by one. In every game involving a pick up of a goalie using this exemption, an email must be submitted to the level convenor specifying the team, the name of the pickup player and what team she is registered with, along with the game number, date, time and division of the game.

In all cases, pick-up players must be noted beside the players name on the game sheet before the game begins and include the name of the team and Division they are registered with. (Ex: #16-Sarah Jones, Metcalfe Tween A)

Seeding / Re-Seeding Meetings

The NCRRL meets twice a year to seed league teams in every division. The goal is to have every team playing meaningful, competitive games against teams of equivalent skill. Obviously, it is very difficult to do this with very limited information. At the fall seeding meeting, decisions are made largely based on team grids, which are submitted by each association. These grids tell the league the number of players on the team, their relative experience in the sport, if they have an experienced goaltender, and a rough idea of their projected skill level. All associations are represented at these meetings and additional information may be submitted which might factor into where a particular team is seeded.

The re-seeding meeting is done near the end of the first half of the season - this year it will be done at the end of November. At that time the league re-assesses their decisions from the fall based on the game results available. Often divisions are split into smaller groups, as the stronger teams emerge, with the goal of having teams compete in the second half against teams of similar skill levels. Hence, you often see B-1 and B-2, or Blue and Red divisions for the second half of the season.

Occasionally there are teams that request they play at a higher or lower level than statistics would indicate they should. Usually this is because teams wish to have greater or lesser competition. Such requests must be sent to the league level convenor via your association president. Be prepared to give supporting reasons why you would like the league to grant this request.

Also at these semi-annual seeding meetings, the league considers any special requests, such as using goalies from another team, using overage skaters, etc. Any such requests must be submitted to the respective league level convenor, via your association president. The league executive makes decisions on requests of this nature. It's important to note the following:

Contact Your Convenor

A list of the NCRRL convenors is found here. Your respective level convenor should be your first point of contact concerning anything to do with the league. Any concerns arising from tournament play or Prelims should be directed to the ERRA Games & Tournaments Coordinator.

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