5.08 PLAYER MOVEMENT & AFFILIATION PROCEDURES
The general goal of Affiliated Player (AP) involvement is to promote player development and is supported by the Representative Teams Management Committee. To the extent possible teams should be practicing and playing games with a full roster. In the event of injury, illness or other absences, APs should be contacted for practices and games. For games, an AP may only be used to replace a player in the event of injury, illness, suspension or if a player is away on holidays.
Players are expected to make the team to which they are rostered their priority but will have the option to attend practices, games, and off-ice training with the higher-level team to which they have affiliated to. An AP player may also decline to participate in the activities of the team to which he or she has been affiliated to.
SHA Rep teams may affiliate with up to 19 affiliated players (APs). Hockey Canada, OHF and ALLIANCE Hockey rules apply. It is recommended for all teams to file an AP list with a minimum of five (5) skaters and one (1) goalie with the appropriate Rep Director who will then submit the AP list to the SHA Registrar. A more robust AP list is encouraged.
AP players may participate in a maximum of ten (10) regular season and playdown/playoff games in total (tournament and exhibition games DO NOT count toward the 10-game limit) over the course of the entire season. **Note - once the team to which an AP player is rostered is eliminated from ALLIANCE Playdowns, that AP player may resume playing regular season and playdown/playoff games as an AP in more than the 10-game limit. An AP’s participation in more than ten games must be reported to the appropriate Rep Director.
Each team will provide a provisional list of AP players to the appropriate Director by Oct 15th of the current hockey season for approval. It is recommended that the AP list contain forwards, defencemen and at least one (1) goalie. The declaration and signing of APs must be complete by January 15th, however the AP’s name must be on the provisional list prior to the Affiliated Player’s participation in any team activity (i.e., game, practice, etc.) with the team such player is affiliating to. Coaches from a rostered team must contact the Coach of all the AP player teams to identify which players they wish to AP to confirm that they are available, since players are allowed to AP to only one team. Each Coach of the AP player’s team will then confirm with each player that they wish to AP to the higher team.
For the AP process to work smoothly, it is essential to have good communication between the coach of the player’s rostered team and the coach of the AP team. The coach of the team needing an AP is responsible for notifying the coach of the player’s rostered team to make the request to use the player in either a practice or game. No coach requesting the use of an AP will call a player directly unless requested to do so by the coach of the team to which the player is rostered.
In Summary the following rules apply:
1. Recreational League players may affiliate with the B/BB teams.
2. B/BB team players may affiliate with the A/AA teams, or the B/BB team at the level above them.
3. A/AA players may affiliate with the level above them or with AAA teams.
4. A player is only permitted to participate as an affiliated player with one Minor Hockey team of a higher division or category during the playing season. If a player is released off an affiliated player list, they cannot be assigned to another one in the same season once the affiliated list has been submitted to the ALLIANCE.
5. In the case of a minor aged player participating on a B/BB team, the player will be allowed to affiliate with the minor A/AA team.
6. Any player participating as an AP must be indicated on the game sheet by the notation “AP” beside his/her name. Appearance of the player’s name on the official game sheet shall be considered participation in the game, except in the case of a substitute goal tender, in which actual participation should be noted on the game sheet.
Any team that fails to follow the Affiliated Player protocols for notification and procedures shall be denied player affiliation for 30 days following the first offence and for the second offence the team shall have its affiliation privileges suspended for the remainder of the season.