CHANGES TO IHAAZ RULES, DIVISIONS, ETC FOR THE 2024 SEASON
Each season, new rules and procedures are examined and debated to bring a better experience for all participants. Below are changes to the series for the 2024 season.
- State Finals is now the Zona Cup!
- As more teams from outside of Arizona look to participate in the series, this renaming of the season ending event from "State Finals" to the "Zona Cup" was done to truly capture the scope of the season ending championship event.
- New Zona Cup (Finals) Qualification Rules
- Teams may qualify to participate in the IHAAZ Zona Cup event (formerly State Finals) by participating in any 1 of 4 qualifier weekends.
- Players now only need to play in one event with their team to qualify.
- Teams needing to add players to their Zona Cup Finals roster, may participate in multiple qualifiers to add new players to their qualified roster.
- Click HERE for more info on the 2024 Qualification rules and procedures.
- Individual Roster Move Rule Changes
- Each Zona Cup qualifier is viewed as a stand alone event. As such, any player can participate with any team for any qualifier event, however a player may only play with one team at Zona Cup Finals.
- Click HERE for all Roster Movement and Change rule updates and explanations.
- Changes to divisions and age groups:
- Click HERE for all 2024 Age Group and Division guidelines and info
- Female players may now only play down 1 additional year (this was 2 years).
- To better align with the rest of the sport, female players are now only allowed to stay in an age division for 1 additional year instead of 2 years as previously done.
- This change is made to help with parity in younger divisions, as well as to align IHAAZ team rosters with other RHA events.
- The 8u division is now officially designated as a "development age group" and as such, will have the following new rules in place to ensure all 8U players have a good first experience.
- No 8U player may score more than 3 goals per game. If a player scores a goal after their 3 goal cap, the goal will not be counted on the score board or stats. The face off will move to the scoring team's defensive zone low dot, and the game will continue.
- Coaches are encouraged to focus more on learning and development, and less on winning. Playing time should be as equal as possible in this age group.
- Teams/coaches who give excessive playing time to any individual player(s) may lose their ability to participate in the 8U division at Zona Cup, and instead be asked to play in the 10U division.
- Teams with highly skilled or developed 8U aged players are advised to have those players participate in the 10U division from the start.
- Changes to the 18U age group, and the addition of the 16U age group
- The new for 16U age group is targeted as a "Silver/A" level age group ONLY. This is to provide the players coming out of 14U Silver/A, a path to continue to develop their skills and participate in the series. 16U teams that are of a high caliber are encouraged to form their teams based on playing in the 18U division, as that is most likely where they will be put.
- If you're looking to build a 16U team and are not sure of your team's skill level, please contact us prior to registering.
- In the 16U division, no team may have more than 2 players active in any game, who are also listed on an 18U Gold or Silver team. This rule exists to help keep the skill level goal of Silver/A.
- The 18U division no longer mandates players must still be enrolled or participating in high school. Instead the 18U division just states the players be of the appropriate age to play (meaning be born in 2005 or later for the 2024 season).
- In the 18U division if there are enough teams entered, and a clear split of Gold and Silver skill levels between those teams entered, both divisions may be offered. If there are not enough teams to split up for round robin play, a split may be done after round robin, into Gold and Silver. This greatly depends on the amount of teams entered and the available rink time to hold these two divisions.
- Later start and finish to the season and changes to age group blocking (days of play)
- The season will begin in February and end in mid-June this season.
- For most qualifier events the 16U and 18U divisions will play on Friday only. 8U, 10U, 12U, and 14U divisions will be scheduled on either Saturday or Sunday, depending on division participation.
- Click HERE to view the full 2024 schedule of events and divisional block info.
- Changes to the registration process and entry fees
- Teams MUST submit their final event rosters at the time of online registration. Teams need only list players who they have confirmed completed their RHA membership AND their IHAAZ online waiver form. Once a team's registration is processed by IHAAZ, only those players who have completed their RHA membership and waiver and been verified by IHAAZ will be added to the team's online roster. Prior to each IHAAZ game, the players on the floor/bench will be compared to the roster. Any player not on the roster will be asked to leave the floor. Those players will not be allowed back on to the floor until their waiver and/or RHA membership has been verified by the tournament director.
- Teams who use the IHAAZ preferred uniform vendor True Threds, will receive a $150 off coupon code for all events.
- Entry fees for the 2024 season:
- Qualifier entry - $650 (after $150 coupon code from True Threds)
- Zona Cup entry - $800 (after $150 coupon code from True Threds)
- The registration deadline will be strictly enforced. The registration page will be inactive on the IHAAZ site at midnight of each registration deadline. In its place a waiting list form will be there for teams who missed the deadline but would still like to participate. Those waiting list teams may still be entered into the event pending divisional team counts needed to hold divisions.
- Teams who miss the deadline to register may not be able to add their True Threds coupon code to offset their entry fee costs.
- Click HERE to view the Season Schedule, which includes each event's registration open and close dates.
