Introduction
The Interdenominational Hockey League (IDHL) is a hockey pool where combatants battle each other one on one from each week via teams composed of NHL players selected in a draft. Teams are given wins and losses every week based on how many goals their players scored, and the winner in the end is whichever team is named BIGTIM, unless some other team happens to win. It is for recreational purposes, and is rarely intended to harm the public. The purpose is to select NHL players that you believe will score more goals than the NHL players that opponents have chosen. This is considered to be fun and entertaining to people of all types, so long as they are the types that consider this to be fun and entertaining.
Section 1: Membership
Membership to the IDHL is based on team availability, sunny personality, and an ability to attain the status of being within 2 degrees of separation from Shane H. Hockin, league fascist. The league is made up of 10 teams, with the ability to expand if necessary to 12. No more than 12 teams will ever be allowed because of talent dilution. As teams play head-to-head, an even amount of teams is a necessity. Thus, a new member would warrant the obtainment of another member for new members to qualify.
If a member resigns or dies, then their team is available for �purchase� by a new member. Other members of the league would be required to scour the earth for potential members to submit to the group on a first-come, first-serve basis. The first-come, first-serve requirement can be waived if a more desirable candidate becomes available.
Definition of �more desirable:� A person who actually wants to play, compared to a player who reluctantly chooses to participate under pressure of a current member�s stringent encouragement.
Upon accepting membership, a new person can change the team name and logo of their acquired team, but maintain any players that come with that team. During the next draft, they will be able to select their own players. If membership comes for a brand new team, the owner will get to select players in the draft, being given slots in the middle. As there would have to be two new teams, the teams would alternate spots throughout the draft. An owner must gain membership a month BEFORE the draft to start a brand new team to allow for redrawing of the draft schedule.
Section W: Drafting
Teams are selected during the summer before each season. The league fascist creates a draft schedule based on the previous season�s standings. The last place team from the previous season gets first pick, and the first place team gets last pick. Each team is given dates on which it must make its picks each round. The owners are responsible for referring to the player list on the website, and choosing a player to be on their team each day they are to pick. They then must email their pick to [email protected]. Early picking is allowed. If picking early, a list of players equal to the amount of days early must be emailed to allow for other teams� picks.
Available players are listed on the webpage in white. Unavailable players are red. The numbers to the right of the players' names indicate their number of goals the past 5 seasons, with the most recent season being to the left.
Teams must choose 1 Centre, 2 Wings, 2 Defencemen, and 1 Goalie to be starters. Then the remaining slots are filled (up to 6 bench players). Starters do not have to be chosen first, but the above number of positions must be selected. The first players chosen for each position are automatically the �starters� unless indicated by the team owner. Players designated a Centre/Wing can be drafted at either position, but one or the other must be declared when they are picked. The player will remain at that position for the remainder of the year, even if dropped or traded.
If an owner knows they will not be able to choose on one of the dates given, the team fascist must be notified ahead of time and he will accept a player list from the absent team owner and select a player in proxy. The list should cover the amount of days leading up to the date to be missed. If a date is missed without sending a list, the team will be given the best player available based on the previous season's stats, dependent on what positions needed in the following order: C, G, W, D.
For example, if BIGTIM has already picked a Centre and a Wing, he will have the best available goalie given to him. So if Brodeur, Lalime, and Belfour had already been picked (based on stats 2003), BIGTIM would be given J.S. Giguere, as he had the most goals amongst goalies for last season after those three.
It used to be that the league fascist would trade a player for any player who was lost during the summer (starter for a starter, and bench player for a bench player). This was to make up for the draft being so early, and to make up for some people being new to the world of hockey. Now that the league is established, the team fascist will only trade players to people who lose someone for the season because of non-hockey related accidents before the NHL pre-season. Retirement does not count, nor does injury due to the previous season�s play. However, if Mats Sundin is beheaded in a boating accident this July, the league fascist will be happy to hand over Joe Thornton, and will then immediately get an extra draft pick.
The Little Scoring Section that Could:
Scoring in the IDHL will be as follows: 1 goal for every goal that is scored by a STARTING player in the lineup during a game. Also 1 goal for each win or shut out a goalie achieves. In the event of a goalie sharing a shutout, he will be awarded the shutout goal if he plays in a minimum of 50 minutes of the game.
Scorekeeping errors are always corrected, even after a game has ended. In the event of a scoring blooper by the official IDHL scorekeeper, past scores will be altered to reflect the true circumstances of that week, even if it changes the outcome of the game.
Section 902.42c: The Season
During the summer a schedule will be set up by the league fascist. When the season starts, each week beginning on that day will be a game. Based on the schedule, each team will battle another team during that week. Whenever a STARTING player scores a goal in the NHL, his IDHL team scores a point. For goalies, a team scores a point for every win or shutout their starting goalie achieves. At the end of the week, whichever team in a pairing scores the most goals WINS! They receive 2 points in the standings. In the case of a tie, both teams receive 1 point. The following week each team plays another team. Each team will play each other team at least twice in a season, barring a shortened NHL season.
The IDHL season ends approximately 3 weeks earlier than the NHL season.
Section IV: The Playoffs and IDHL Championship
After the regular season has ended, the two teams with the worst records are eliminated from play. The remaining eight teams will play each other in a 3 round playoff. The teams are seeded with the first place team facing the eighth place team, second place team facing the seventh place team, etc. Places are based on points from wins and losses. In the case of two teams having the same amount of points, the tie-breaker is based on the following order: wins, goals for, record against each other, and goals against. If all these are tied, then a coin will be flipped by a neutral party, preferably in the presence of another neutral party.
After seeding is established, the teams play each other for another week in the same manner as during the regular season. There are two major changes. First, a team that loses is eliminated from play. Second, ties are decided by whichever team is the higher seed. After teams are eliminated in this matter, the teams are reseeded with the highest remaining seed playing the lowest remaining seed, etc. The winners of these two games battle each other for the championship, with the highest seed getting the tie-breaker. The winner of the final week is declared champion, and is awarded the ability to say �I AM THE CHAMPION, HA HA HA! YOU ALL SUCK BUTT! EAT MY SHORTS,� etc. There will also be a trophy awarded by the league fascist whenever he gets off his fat ass and gets it. (He did so for last year�s winner, but it was lost in the mail).
Section Goochey-Goochey-Goochey-Pitang: Free Agents and Line Changes:
During the season and playoffs, changes may be made to lineups from week to week. All changes MUST be made before the following week�s NHL games begin. One may switch bench people for starters to account for poor play and injuries to current starters. Free agents may also be picked up and inserted into the lineup, but must be done by midnight the evening BEFORE the start of the new week to ensure proper processing time.
Any player who is not drafted is an available free agent. Each team is allowed 7 free agent pickups throughout the season. To pick up a free agent, a team will simply need to email the league fascist and tell him who they want to pick up, and who they want to drop. A player from the current roster MUST be dropped as to maintain a 12-man roster, and the dropped player would then become a free agent. Free agent acquisition does not go into affect until the following playing week. In the early stages of the season, free agent acquisition is first-come, first-serve. After the first two weeks, if more than one team asks for a particular free agent during a week, the team with the worst record as of that week would receive the free agent. All free agent pickups must be made before the final week of the regular season.
In some rare instances due to unforeseen circumstances, the draft during a summer might be cut short and a full 12-man roster may not be drafted. In these cases, the remaining roster spots can be filled by free-agent pickup without dropping a player, and this does not count against the 7 available free agent pickup limit. In the reverse situation where the draft ends before the season begins, teams may drop and add players freely between the end of the draft and the beginning of the season, without counting against the 7 free agent limit.
Section 145.327: Awards
At the end of the season, 12 Awards will be given. The prize for each Award will be the ability to say, "Hey! I won an Award!" The Awards are as follows:
The IDHL Cup: For winning 3 games in the playoffs, and therefore the championship.
The Dictator's Award: Awarded to the team with the best regular season record.
The Ebbie Goodfellow Award (League MVP): Awarded to the player who scores the most regular season goals while starting for his IDHL team. In case of a tie, the award will go to the player with the most NHL goals. In case of a tie here, a tie will be declared and both players win the award.
The Reggie Leach Award (Playoff MVP): Awarded to the player who scores the most goals during the playoffs for the winning playoff team. One exception exists, which is if an opposing player scores twice as many goals as the best player for the winning team, then that player would be the Playoff MVP. In the event of a tie, whoever scored the most in the final round would win. The next tie-breaker is whoever scored the most in the second round. If the stats are completely equal, then both players win the award.
The Tiny Thompson Award (Best Goalie): Awarded to the goalie who scores the most regular season goals while starting for his IDHL team. The tie-breaker, again, is total NHL goals scored.
The Bobby Orr Award (Best Defenceman): Awarded to the defenceman who scores the most regular season goals while starting for his IDHL team. The tie-breaker is total NHL goals scored.
The Jean Beliveau Award (Best Centre): Awarded to the centre who scores the most regular season goals while starting for his IDHL team. The tie-breaker is total NHL goals scored.
The Gordie Howe Award (Best WIng): Awarded to the wing who scores the most regular season goals while starting for his IDHL team. The tie-breaker is total NHL goals scored.
The Vladimir Konstantinov Award (Best Player Chosen After 7 Rounds): Essentially the best "surprise" player of the year, this is awarded to the player that is chosen after the first 7 rounds of the draft and scores the most goals while starting for his team. The tie-breaker here is based on who was chosen with the latest pick. Must be drafted, and not a free agent. Franchise players count as a round.
The Marvin Miller Award (Best Free Agent): Awarded to the best free agent pickup during the season. Award based on the number of goals scored while starting for a team. The tie-breaker here is based on who was picked up later. If picked at the same time, then NHL goals breaks the tie. Otherwise, both players win the award.
The Alexander Daigle Award (Biggest Early Round Flop): Awarded to the player from the first few rounds that scores the least amount of goals while starting for a team. Players are chosen from the first round first, and do not qualify unless they scored less than 20 goals as a forward or goalie, and less than 10 goals as a defenseman. If no one qualifies, then the same criteria is applied to the next round until a player DOES qualify, up to round three. If no player meets the criteria through round three, then the player who scored the least from the first three rounds is the winner, with earliest pick being the tie-breaker in all circumstances.
The Johnny Bucyk Award (Best Bench Warmer): Awarded to the player who scores the most goals while NOT starting for his team. Tie-breaker is total NHL goals.