Elite 9 Hockey League

Elite 9 Hockey League

Current season or competition: 2016-17 E9HL season
Countries	United States of America
Region(s)	New England
Founded	January 22, 2014 (2014-January-22)[1]
First season	2014–15
Divisions	6 age groups
No. of teams	9 (6 charter members, 3 qualifiers)[1]
Feeder League(s)	Boston Hockey League[1]
Website	elite9hockey.com

The Elite 9 Hockey League (E9HL) is a youth ice hockey league composed of 9 clubs: 6 charter members and 3 BHL qualifiers. Headquartered in New England, the E9 is widely considered to be the premier youth ice hockey league in the region .

The National Hockey League was organized on January 22, 2014, in New England, after the suspension of operations of its predecessor organization, the New England Hockey League (NEHL), which had been founded in 2009. The E9HL immediately took the NEHL's place.

The league draws many highly skilled players from all over New England.

Teams

The Elite 9 Hockey League originated in 2014 with four Massachusetts teams and two New Hampshire teams. The Elite 9 has six charter members plus three teams that qualify from the Boston Hockey League parities.

Valley jr. Warriors 2003 is the most successful franchise in the league. Since the formation of the league in 2014, they have 2 E9 championships. Winning with ease every year. VJW took the first title of many for the franchise in 14-15 season.The next most successful Elite 9 franchise is the Boston Advantage although they have 0 E9 championships at the 2003 level. The 3rd most successful franchise of the E9 is the East Coast Wizards 2003. They have 0 titles and 2 playoff runs. They don't always come up at the top of the standing but they always do well in the playoffs.

    2015, 5 teams at 4 different age levels were granted qualifying exemptions, therefore they automatically qualify for the Elite 9. It also limits the space for qualification is two spots.[2]

All of the league's teams are located in the Eastern Time Zone.

Charter Members

Game

Each Elite 9 Hockey League regulation game is played between two teams and is 45 minutes long. The game is composed of three 15-minute periods with an intermission of 1 minute. At the end of the 60-minute regulation time, the team with the most goals wins the game. If a game is tied after regulation time, the result is recorded a tie. During the regular season, overtime is not used

There is overtime and shootouts during the Playoffs. A five-minute overtime period is followed with a 5-man shootout.

There is no checking allowed in Peewee divisions and below, per USA Hockey rules.

Hockey rink

Diagram of an NHL hockey rink:
1. penalty boxes
2. team benches
3. scorekeepers' area.

Elite 9 Hockey League games are played on a rectangular hockey rink with rounded corners surrounded by walls and Plexiglas. It measures 200 feet (60.96 m) by 85 feet (25.91 m) in the E9HL,^[3] approximately the same length but much narrower than International Ice Hockey Federation standards. They are the same size as National Hockey League rinks. The centre line divides the ice in half,^[4] and is used to judge icing violations. There are two blue lines that divide the rink roughly into thirds, delineating one neutral and two attacking zones.^[4] Near the end of both ends of the rink, there is a thin red goal line spanning the width of the ice, which is used to judge goals and icing calls.

Season structure

The Elite 9 Hockey League season is divided into a regular season (from the third week in September through early to mid March) and a postseason. During the regular season, clubs play each other in a predefined schedule. The Elite 9 playoffs, which are in March, is an elimination tournament where two teams play against each other to win a single elimination game in order to advance to the next round. The final remaining team is crowned the champion.

In the regular season, each team plays 32 games. All teams play every team in their conference twice-home and road.

The league's regular season standings are based on a point system instead of winning percentages. Points are awarded for each game, where two points are awarded for a win, one point for a tie, and zero points for a loss in regulation. At the end of the regular season, the team that finishes with the most points in each division is crowned the regular season champion.

The top six teams in each league qualify for the playoffs. The top two league winners with the best record in the conference receive byes to the semifinals. The next two highest teams play the two lowest-seeded teams and the, The Elite 9 Hockey League playoffs is an elimination tournament where the teams are seeded one through six and the winners moving on to the next round. The first round of the playoffs, or quarterfinals, consists of the third seed playing the sixth seed, and the fourth playing the fifth In the second round, or semifinals, the four remaining teams in the conference play each other. In the third round, the finals, the two remaining teams play each other.

In all rounds, the higher-ranked team is awarded home-ice advantage. In the Stanley Cup Final, the team with the most points (or in case of a tie, most wins) during the regular season is given home-ice advantage.

References