1. League Setup

1.1 The league is currently comprised of 16 teams which are split into two conferences. Each conference is made up of 8 teams, which are split into two divisions of 4. 

1.2 The two conferences are the Blake and Imlach conferences. Both of these conferences are named after famous NHL coaches of the past. The Blake Conference is named after Hector "Toe" Blake, the coach of the Montreal Canadiens from 1955-1968. During this thime, he complied an impressive .634 winning percentage, and won 8 Stanley Cups. The Imlach Conference is named after Punch Imlach, the coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1958-1969, and again in 1979-1980. He also had a stint in Buffalo from 1970-1972. Overall, he has coached 879 games, and won 4 Stanley Cups.

2 Divisions

2.1 The four divisions are all named after goaltending greats of the past. They are Tretiak, Sawchuck, Dryden, and Bower. The first two are found in the Blake Conference, while the latter two are in the Imlach Conference.

2.2 Vladislav Tretiak is the only goaltender in the Hockey Hall of Fame who never played in the NHL. He spent many years with the great Russian teams of the 70's and 80s. One of his biggest achievements is winning the MVP trophy at the 1987 Canada Cup.

2.3 Terry Sawchuck played 21 season in the NHL from 1949-1960, most of them with the Detroit Red Wings. Over that time, he accumulated an NHL record 103 shutout, and posted a career GAA of 2.52, while winning 4 Stanley Cups.

2.4 Ken Dryden was the first, and only, player to have won a major award before being an NHL rookie. He did this by winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 1971. He won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year the following season. His short career lasted only 8 seasons, but he did win 6 Stanley Cups.

2.5 John Bower was the last goalie to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a Stanley Cup. Over his 15 year career, he won 4 Stanley Cups, and 2 Vezina Trophys. He also finished a with a career GAA of 2.52 and 37 shutouts.

3 Ownership

3.1 Any individual may only be owner, or part-owner, of a single franchise.

3.2 It is the owners responsibility to name a general manager, coach, and any other team official they deem necessary, if they choose. Should they decide not to name any of other team officials, they will assume any those responsibilities.

3.3 The owner is the team's point of contact with the league for any league related issues. Only the owner can represent the team on any league committees.

3.4 The owner is also responsible for naming the team. Once named, the team cannot change names, unless approved by the league.

3.5 The owner is directly responsible for the actions of all members of the organization. It is their responsibility to ensure that the duties of the general manager and coach are being fulfilled to the league's satisfaction.

3.6 Should a member of the organization fail to fulfill their duties, the league will be in contact with the owner. If the situation warrants, the league reserves the right to revoke ownership of the franchise.
Should an owner decide that they are no longer willing/able to participate in the league, they must inform the league.

4 Players

4.1 Ratings

4.1.1 Each player is rated from 1 to 9 in 11 different categories. The goalies are rated from 1 to 9 in only 9 of the categories. In all cases, a rating of 1 means that they are poor in that area, while a rating of 9 means that they are excellent in that aspect.

4.1.2 The different ratings are Agression, Quickness, Power, Fatigue, Injury, Penalty, Skating, Passing, Puck Control, Checking, and Shooting. The two categories that the goalies do not get rated in are checking and shooting.

4.1.3 Agression measures the player's agressiveness. If a player is rated 1, he is not aggressive, and tends not to go into the corners, whereas a rating of 9 means that the player is very aggressive, and does not shy away from the rough stuff.

4.1.4 Quickness measures the player's speed. This means that a highly rated played will be faster than one who is rated poorly.

4.1.5 Power measures the player's strentgh. If a player is rated 1, he is not very strong, and will be easily knocked off the puck. A player who is rated 9, is more likely to win the battle for the puck.

4.1.6 Fatigue measures the player's stamina. A player who is rated low in this category will tire quicker than one who is highly rated.

4.1.7 Injury measures the player's tendency to get injured. If a player is rated low in this category, he is more likely to get injured.

4.1.8 Penalty measures the player's tendency to get penalties. A low rating here is equivalent to more penalty minutes.

4.1.9 Skating measures the player's skating ability. The higher the rating, the better the skater.

4.1.10 Passing measures the player's passing ability. A high rating allows the player to complete more passes, and more difficult passes.

4.1.11 Puck Control measures the player's ability with the puck. A high rating means that they are able to better hold on to the puck, and do more things with it.

4.1.12 Checking measures the player's checking abilities. A low rated player is not as suited to play when under pressure from opponents, or to pressure opponents effectively.

4.1.13 Shooting measures the player's shooting abilities. The higher the rating the better the shot of the player. This tends to translate into more goals.

4.2 Aging

4.2.1 Each player has a specific age, tracked outside HLS2. The player ages can range from a low of -3 to a high of 10. Once a player finishes a season with an age of ten, he is forced to retire.  Players in the entry draft are -3, -2 or -1. 

4.2.2 You can, if you wish, think of -3 aged players as being 17, 0 aged players being 20, and 10 aged players being 30. Not a lot of grey beards in the EMFHL.

4.2.3 Only players on the farm team can have ages less than 0. If a player with an age less than zero is placed on the pro team, the age is automatically increased to 0, and will go to age 1 in the next aging.  The 'lost' years cannot be returned.  Players cannot be moved from the farm team to the pro team, or from the pro to the farm during the regular season or the playoffs.

4.2.4 At the end of each season, the players are put through the aging process. The outcome of this process is random, and is tied to the player's age. Here is the breakdown, according to age the player is *before* the aging:

4.2.4.1 If a player's age is -3, -2 or -1, they can increase between 1 and 9 points

4.2.4.2 If a player's age is 0, 1, 2, 3, 4  or 5, they can increase between 1 and 5 points

4.2.4.3 If a player's age is 6 or 7, they do not change

4.2.4.4 If a player's age is 8 or 9, they can decrease from 0 to 8 points

5 The All Star Game

5.1 Each year the league will select a team to play host to the All-Star Game. The host city will be selected from the bids received from the team owners.

5.2 The All-Star Game will highlight the three day break the league takes after Day 40. It will feature a team of Blake All-Stars against a team of Imlach All-Stars.

5.3 The teams will mostly be chosen by the general managers. Each general manager will be required to vote for the team that will represent their conference.

5.4 Each general manager will be asked to select 3 centermen, 3 left wingers, 3 right wingers, 6 defensemen, and 2 goalies from any team in their conference, other than their own, and with no more than 3 players from any one team.

5.5 A player receiving a first place vote will get 3 points. A player will get 2 points for a second place vote, and a single point for a third place vote. The defensemen are the exception to this rule. The top two ranked defensemen will get 3 points each, and the next two defensemen will get 2 points each, and so on down the line.

5.6 The top two lines of the All-Star teams, as well as the two goalies, will be selected according to the votes. The third unit, and other players will be selected by the league.

5.7 The league will follow the voting as close as possible, but will ensure that there is at least one representative from each team in the lineup.

5.8 The coaches for the All-Star Game will be the coaches from the teams leading their conference at the All-Star break.

5.9 At the conclusion of the game, it is the host's responsibility to select the All-Star Game MVP, and announce them to the rest of the league.

6 Awards

6.1 At the conclusion of the regular season, all the owners will be asked to vote for the end of season awards. The ballots must be returned to the league by the start of the Conference Finals. Failure to do so can result in revocation of the franchise.

6.2 The owners will be asked to vote for their top three choices for each of the following awards:
   Charles Sutton Trophy (league MVP)
   George Hainsworth Trophy (best goalie)
   Tim Horton Trophy (best defenseman)
   Rejan Houle Trophy (best rookie)
   Scotty Bowman Trophy (best GM)

6.3 Each first place vote will receive 3 points, while the second place votes receive 2 votes, and third place votes each receive 1 point.

6.4 At the conclusion of the Prime Minister's Cup Final, the league will announce the winners of the above awards, as well as officially recognize the players who led the league in points (Joe Malone Award), and penalty minutes (Hansen Award).

7 Drafts

7.1 There are three drafts that occur each off-season. They are the entry draft, the free agent draft, and the waiver draft.

7.2 Entry Draft

7.2.1 The first of these drafts is the entry draft. In the entry draft, all teams pick from a list of players provided by the league.

7.2.2 The players in this draft are randomly created by the custom application. They will typically range from 40 to 65 attribute points, although as this is random, the values can vary. The age of the players will range from -3 to -1.

7.2.3 The first overall pick of the draft will be determined by a draft lottery. The lottery will be comprised of the four (4) worse teams in the league from the previous season. Each team will get the same number of ballots as their position in the overall standings (i.e. last place gets 16, second last gets 15, third last gets 14 and fourth last gets the 13th position).

7.2.4 The leauge will then randomly draw ballots for the first four overall picks. Any of the four teams can draft in any of the four draft positions.

7.2.5 After the lottery, the draft will procede in a reverse order. This means that the team which finishes 16th will get the 5th pick. All teams that miss the playoffs will draft before any of the playoff teams.

7.2.6 The draft lottery only applies to the first round, and the team that finishes last overall will get the first pick in the second, thrid, fourth, and fifth rounds.

7.2.7 In the event of a tie between teams, the tie will be broken by the following:

  - The team with the least amount of wins
  - The team with the least goals for
  - The team with the most goals against
  - The team with the worse record in games played against each other
  - A coin toss (or roll of the dice, if more than 2 teams)

7.2.8 The draft will be 3 rounds in length. It is the general manager's responsibility to ensure that the draft picks are sent before the specified deadlines. Should a manager not respond, the league may force the owner to remove him from his duties, or revoke the franchise from the owner. In any case, not sending in picks will mean that the team will select the next available player.

7.2.9 The list of draft eligible players will be made available to the general managers after the Day 30 games.
 

7.3 Waiver Draft

7.3.1 The waiver draft is a draft of players dropped by a team after the entry draft.  Each team can protect 34 players.  All additional players are eligiple for the waiver draft.

7.3.2 The order of the waiver draft will be determined by regular season standings, and will proceed in a reverse order of finish.

7.3.3 The purpose of the waiver draft is to move some unused talent from strong teams to the weaker teams.  The waiver draft does this by allowing teams to make three of their selections at one time. For example, the team that finishes last gets the first, second and third pick.

7.3.4 There will be 60 players selected in the waiver draft (three by each team). When the waiver draft is complete, all players who are not currently on a team are considered dropped, and are removed from the league.

7.4 Free Agency Draft

7.4.1 The Free agent draft will commence after the Players age, and during the Entry Draft.  To save time, it will usually be performed at the same time as the entry draft.

7.4.2 All players who are age 8 are eligible for the free agent draft.

7.4.2 If a player is listed as a free agent, he/she/it may be bid on by any team. You cannot place a bid on your own players.

7.4.3 Each team starts free agent draft with 10 Free Agency Bid points (FAB's). These points cannot be traded.

7.4.4 Order of the FA Draft is the reverse order of Regular Season Standings.

7.4.5 During the FA process:
   a) Any team can have a maximum of 3 bids placed against their players.
   b) Any team can gain a Max of 3 FA's.
   c) Any team may MATCH as many BID's as they have FAB's available to do so.

7.4.6 The FA Process is as follows:
   a) The Bidding Team (BT) may BID on any available FA, using any of the 1 to 10 FAB's they have available.
   b) The Player's Team (PT) that currently owns that player may then chose to either:
   i] MATCH the BT's BID, by using as many FAB's as was BID by the BT, or
   ii] RELEASE the player to the BT, and therefore not using any of their FAB's.

7.4.7 If the team that owns the player before the draft matches the bid, the bidding team does not lose their FAB's they used to place the bid.

7.4.8 At the end of the free agent draft, all free agents who were not BID on are re-signed with their original club.

7.4.9 TRADES that involve *players eligible for Free Agency* are are prohibited during the FA Draft Process, until the individual players have been bid upon (and are therefore ineligible to be bid upon again).

7.4.10 Bidding will be done in rounds like the Entry Draft. Teams will bid in groups of 5. The 5 teams will bid in drafting order (i.e. reverse of the standings). If two teams place a bid on the same player, the team drafting first will get to bid on that player, regardless of the number of points bid on him/her/it. To ensure that each team gets the player that they want, the first team should send in one selction with points bid, the second team 2 choices (in order of preference), the third 3 choices, 4th=4 choices, 5th=5.

7.4.11 There will be a TIME LIMIT for making your decisions. A deadline of reasonable time (probably 2 work days) will be set for players to make a decision to place a bid. Then I will send an email to GMs who have had their players bid on. They will have 2 work days to MATCH or RELEASE the player that was bid on. If a GM does not submit a bid on time, it will be assumed that he/she/it has decided not to place a bid. Each round should take a week, and the third round may be done faster, depending on the
situation.

7.4.12 If a GM does NOT respond to a bid placed on one of his players, it will be assumed that the GM will RELEASE that player.

7.4.13 Trades which have a condition based on the free agent draft are not allowed. A condition is (often) a predefined arrangement that a team will bid on a particular player, who will then be traded back to the original team. These deals are difficult to track, and league offices will not accept them. However, once the player has changed teams, they can be traded freely.

7.4.14 A Free Agent will become a Free Agent once in their careers. This year it will be players turning age 8 and 9. Next year, and each year after that, it will be just players that turn age 8.

7.4.15 Once a bid has been placed on a player, he/she/it may not be bid on again, regardless of whether or not the bid was matched.

7.4.16 Players who were waived in the waiver draft of previous seasons, and are aged 10 or less, are eligible for the Free Agent draft. These players dont play for any team, but are not officially retired. These players will be released to bids of 1 point.

7.4.17 The draft ends when either:
   a) Three full rounds of bidding have elapsed
   b) All points are spent by all teams
   c) Every team has had 3 bids placed against their players.

8 Schedule Of Events

8.1 The following is a description of the events that occur over the course of a season, and the dates upon which they occur.

8.2 The first event of any year is the pre-season. The pre-season is run over 2 days. The schedule is set up so that each teams plays each other twice, once at home, and once on the road.

8.3 After half of the games have been played, the stats are sent out. The stats that are sent are the standings, home-away records, divisional records, power play, penalty killing, penalty minutes, leading scorers, goalies, and defensemen, as well as the individual leaders. The scoring and goalie stats for each team are also sent out.

8.4 The following night, the process is repeated with the remainder of the games. The individual game stats for the pre-season are not sent out, meaning that a team will not necessarily know how they did against any other team.

8.5 After the pre-season is completed, there is a day or two break before starting the regular season. This time is used to send out the league schedule, as well as each team's individual schedule.

8.6 During the regular season, a set of games is played each evening. On weeknights, the games are played no eariler than 8pm, and on weekends (Saturday and Sunday), the games are played no earlier than noon.

8.7 The league does it's best to ensure that a set of games is played each night, although there are times when this is not possible. Whenever possible, the league will notify the teams of this event.

8.8 After Day 30 games have been played, the league will send out the list of draft eligible players for the entry draft at the end of the season.

8.9 This list displays the 100 players and goalies that are eligible for the draft in descending order of total attribute points.

8.10 At this time, the league will also begin to receive and evaluate applications to host the following season's All-Star game.

8.11 Around Day 40, the league will take a three day break to allow the playing of the All-Star game. During the All-Star break the league will announce the host team for the next season.

8.12 The trading deadline will be set to Day 60 of the season. After this date, the teams are no longer allowed to trade. A team may resume trading as soon as it has played its last game of the year (playoffs included).

8.13 At the conclusion of the regular season, the playoffs will begin. This is also the time that the league will begin to accept votes for the post-season awards.

8.14 Once the playoffs are over, the league will announce the winner of the playoff MVP, as well as the regular season awards.

8.16 The offseason period will last approximately two months. It is during this time that the league will hold the expansion draft (if applicable), the entry draft, and the waiver draft.

9 Hall of Fame

9.1 Hall of Fame Director

9.1.1 The league will select an owner to become the director of the Hall of Fame. This individual will oversee the operations of the Hall of Fame for the duration of their 3 year term.

9.1.2 At the end of each three-year term, the league will ask interested individuals to apply. Any owner, general manager, coach, or other team official may apply, including the director whose term just finished.

9.1.3 The Hall of Fame director is the only person who can not be inducted into the builder's category, until their term has been completed.

9.2 Player Induction

9.2.1 For a player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, he must be retired for a minimum of one season. In the case of this league, a player retires after playing a season at age 10. That player can not be inducted until his age would reach 12.

9.2.2 As well, the player must have played a minimum of 350 games (200 for goalies), and/or parts of 6 or more seasons. (N.B. This rule will not take effect for another 3 seasons as the retiring players would not meet the qualifications)

9.2.3 Once the player has met the above criteria, they are eligible to be inducted. They must now be voted in by the league owners.

9.2.4 At the end of each season, the league will provide the Driector with a list of the newly eligible players, and their statistics. The Director will then merge this list with the list of eligible players from previous years, and provide the information to all the league owners.

9.2.5 The owners will be then be asked to vote for, and rank, the 5 players they feel are most deserving of being inducted into the Hall of Fame. Owners may vote for any of the eligible players, including those that retired as part of their organization. This voting process will occur concurrently with the season ending award votes.

The players will then be ranked according to the following:
Each first place vote is worth 8 points
Each second place vote is worth 5 points
Each third place vote is worth 3 points
Each fourth place vote is worth 2 points
Each fifth place vote is worth 1 point
Any player that accumulates more than 60 points will automatically be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Should a player accumulate less than 60 points, by more than 16 points, they will be automatically be placed on the next season's ballot. Those players that do not receive the minimum 5 points can still be inducted should the owners vote for them. In other words, the owners are allowed to vote for any eligible players, not only those on the ballot.
At the end of the voting period, the Director will notify the league and the owners of the players that have been inducted. Please keep in mind that under this scheme, it is possible to have a season whereby no player receives the required 60 points, and hence, no one is inducted.
Should an owner not vote, they may be punished at the league's discretion.
Builder Induction
Owners, general managers, coaches, and other team officials are eligible to be inducted into the Hall of Fame's Builder Category. To have one of them inducted, another team official, from the same team, a different team, or the Hall of Fame Director must nominate them.
Before they are eligible to be nominated, the team official must have completed a minimum of a 4 season term within the EMFHL. This term can be in the same role, or in many various roles.
The nominating officer must send the nomination to the Hall of Fame Director, as well as to the league. The nomination must include a little write up of why the nominee should be inducted. This will include his participation in the league, accomplishements, etc...
The Hall of Fame director will then include the builder on the ballot for the season.
Unlike the player's, for a builder to be inducted, they only require 12 of 15 owners to vote in favour of the nomination. (The owner for which the nominee is affiliated will not be allowed to vote) Should the nominee not reach the required votes, the process must be restarted before they can enter the Hall of Fame.

Playoffs

Following each regular season, the playoffs will begin. The top four teams in each division will qualify for the playoffs.

The first round will be the Division quarter-finals.  The first seed in each division will play the fourth seed, and the second and third seed will play each other.

The second round will be the Divisional Finals. The winners of the Tretiak Divisional Final will play the winner of the Sawchuck Divisional final in the Blake Conference Final.

The winner of the Dryden Divisional Final will play the winner of the Bower Divisional Final in the Imlach Conference Final in the second round.

The winners of the Blake Conference Final will play the winner of the Imlach Conference Final for the right to drink from the Prime Minister's Cup.

All series will be best 4 out of 7 series. The home team will be determined by the regular season records. The team that performed better over the course of the regular season will be considered the home team in any of the playoff series.

The first two games of any series will be played be played in the home team's arena, with the next two in the visiting team's arena. Games 5, 6, and 7 will alternate between the two venues, with the home team hosting games 5 and 7.

Please note that HLS2 has some very odd methods for tie-breaking.  It is possible HLS2 will determine that when teams are tied in overall points, the team with fewer wins and more ties is considered to have the better record.  There is nothing that the Commish can do about this problem.

Season Schedule

The schedule consists of a pre-season, and a regular season. During the preseason, each team plays all the other teams in the league twice, once at home, and once on the road.
The regular season consists of a 72 game season. In these 72 games, each team will play 36 games at home, and 36 games on the road. The schedule is an unbalanced schedule as teams play divisional rivals 8 times and non-divisional teams 4 times each. The teams play an equal amount of home games and away games against each team.
The league plays the games on a daily basis. From Monday to Friday, the games will be played no earlier than 8pm. On the weekend, the games will be played no earlier than noon (all time Eastern).
The league will follow this schedule as closely as possible. However, there may be times when a games are not played on a given night. As much as possible, the league will notify the teams of this.
After a set of games have been played, the league will send out the game summaries to all the teams. These summaries consists of the game scores, scorers, and the goalie stats. The scores will also be posted to the ticker on the webpage.
The league will also send out the league standings and player stats to the teams twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. On Saturdays, the league will also update the webpage with the updated standings and stats.

Lines

 begin lines
-list off centers, minimum of 3-
-list off left wingers, minimum 3-
-list off right wingers, minimum 3-
-list off defensemen, minimum 6-
-list off two goaltenders-(total of 20 playersin this section)
(blank line)
-C- -LW- -RW- -D- -D- (5 on 5 line 1)
-C- -LW- -RW- -D- -D- (5 on 5 line 2)
-C- -LW- -RW- -D- -D- (5 on 5 line 3)
-C- -W- -D- -D- (4 on 4 line 1)
-C- -W- -D- -D- (4 on 4 line 2)
-C- -W- -D- -D- (4 on 4 line 3)
-C- -LW- -RW- -D- -D- (5 on 4 line 1)
-C- -LW- -RW- -D- -D- (5 on 4 line 2)
-C- -LW- -RW- -D- -D- (5 on 4 line 3)
-C- -LW- -RW- -D- -D- (5 on 3 line 1)
-C- -LW- -RW- -D- -D- (5 on 3 line 2)
-C- -LW- -RW- -D- -D- (5 on 3 line 3)
-C- -W- -D- -D- (4 on 5 line 1)
-C- -W- -D- -D- (4 on 5 line 2)
-C- -W- -D- -D- (4 on 5 line 3)
-C- -D- -D- (3 on 5 line 1)
-C- -D- -D- (3 on 5 line 2)
-C- -D- -D- (3 on 5 line 3)
-G- (starting goaltender)

So, here is what a correct game roster would look like.....

begin lines
9 98 99
17 37 12 20
10 15 29 24
77 28 6 4 2 3 5
35 32

98 37 29 77 4
99 17 10 28 2
9 20 15 5 6
98 37 77 4
99 10 28 2
9 15 5 6
99 17 10 77 4
9 20 15 28 2
99 17 10 77 6
9 17 10 77 4
99 20 15 28 2
9 17 10 77 6
24 37 77 4
99 17 28 2
9 10 5 6
9 77 4
99 28 2
37 5 6
35

Please note the following important points about creating your line up:

1. Double shifting is not acceptable on Even Strength lines (5on5, 4on4)
2. Double shifting is acceptable on special teams only (PP and PK).
3. Triple shifting is not acceptable on any lines.
4. Goalies must be dressed as goalies.  Skaters cannot be dressed as goalies.