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By-Laws

ARTICLE I

Name, Purpose and Values

 

Section 1.  Name. The name of the organization is the Morris County Youth Hockey League (hereafter referred to as MCYHL), formerly known as the Colonial Hockey League.

Section 2.  Purpose. The MCYHL is an organization and structure for youth minor hockey programs in Morris County in the form of Inter-town League play and practices.  All Star teams may be comprised of member town players for play in tournaments.  The organization is charged with the following objectives.

  1. Develop and stimulate interest in hockey for youth.
  2. Stimulate interest in developing high school hockey programs in Morris County.
  3. Develop the Core Values in our youth as described in section 3.

Section 3. Core Values. The members of the organization shall promote the following core values.

  1. SPORTSMANSHIP.  Foremost of all values is to learn a sense of fair play.  Become humble in victory and gracious in defeat.  We will foster friendship with teammates and opponents alike.
  2. RESPECT FOR ALL INDIVIDUALS. Treat others as you would expect to be treated.
  3. INTEGRITY.  We seek to foster honesty and fair play beyond the strict interpretation of the rules and regulations of the game.
  4. ENJOYMENT. We seek to make the hockey experience fun, satisfying and rewarding for all participants.  We encourage equitable distribution of playing time for all players.
  5. PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE.  Each player, team, and organization shall seek to perform their duties and all aspects of the game to the best of their individual ability.
  6. TEAMWORK. We value the strength of learning to work together.  The success of the hockey experience is learning to work together.

 

Article II

Organization

 

Section 1.  Board of Directors. The MCYHL is governed by a Board of Directors.  The Board of Directors shall consist of:

  1. One representative designated by each member organization.  Each organization may choose to elect two alternate representatives to replace the representative if he/she cannot attend a meeting.
  2. An Executive Board consisting of four officers:
    1. President
    2. Vice President
    3. Secretary
    4. Treasurer

Section 2. Rules of Board.

  1. Members of the Executive Board are to be elected on an annual basis at the last meeting of the year.
  2. Each Member shall have 1 vote.
  3. No member of the Executive Board is eligible to serve as the representative of his/her organization.
  4. Executive Board Members shall have a vote, except for the President who shall only vote if necessary to break a tie in votes.
  5. All votes require a quorum of not less than ½ of the board.
  6. New Organizations may apply for membership in the organization.  These groups need to apply for membership and may be granted a 1 year probationary membership by a vote of 2/3 of the Board of Directors present.  Upon completion of the probationary period, if they have met all requirements of membership, including but not limited to participation, timely payment and volunteering, they may join the league if approved by 2/3 of the board.  The incoming organization shall be required to pay “fair share”. This shall be the year end organization balance divided by the number of member organizations.  This must be paid in full prior to September 1st of the season which they gain full membership status.

Section 3.  Membership.Member organizations shall be:

  1. Organizations that represent town(s), including multiple towns with historical attachment, from Morris County.
  2. Organizations that may not be for profit.
  3. Organizations that make available the opportunity for participation for all who qualify, without any prejudices, including ability.
  4. Responsible for having representatives attend league meetings.

Section 4.  Meetings. 

  1. All meetings shall be held at locations designated by the President within the boundaries of Morris County. Meetings may be held elsewhere only in case of emergency and by agreement of 2/3 majority of the Board.
  2. Elections of Executive Board members shall be held annually at a regular meeting held after the conclusion of the season and playoffs.  Board terms shall be 1 year and run from July 1 through the following June 30.
  3. The Order of Business for meetings shall be:
    1. Call to order
    2. Approval of minutes from previous meeting
    3. Officers reports
    4. Committee reports
    5. Old Business
    6. New Business
    7. Announcements
    8. Adjournment
  4. Other Meetings may be called by the Executive Board as necessary or upon the request of 1/3 of the Member organizations.
  5. The Executive Board shall make all interim decisions that cannot be delayed until the next regularly scheduled board meeting.  These decisions shall be reported to the entire board as soon as possible, and shall be reported prior to the next meeting date if possible.

Section 5.  Removal. Any Board Member may be removed with or without cause by vote of a two-thirds majority of the Board of Directors.   In the event of such a removal, the effected organization may immediately replace the removed director.  If the removal is of an Executive Board Member, the Board shall select a replacement.

ARTICLE III

DUTIES OF EXECUTIVE BOARD

 

President. The President shall:

  1. Preside over all meetings
  2. Appoint all committees and committee heads including but not limited to:
    1. Operations and Scheduling—contracting and scheduling ice with providers.  Shall set all deadlines for the league, including but not limited to:
      1. Deadline to submit team numbers and entries to league
      2. Deadline for schedule release
      3. Payment deadlines (in conjunction with treasurer).  The penalty for missed deadlines shall be exclusion from the playoffs and/or suspension from the MCYHL.  Exceptions will only be made in extreme situations with approval of the board.
    2. Protest Committee—game protests.  The Supervisor of Officials must be a member of this committee.
    3. Registration—conforming to USA Hockey rules and responsible for insurance
    4. Supervisor of Officials—responsible for rules updates and scheduling of officials as well as training and evaluating officials.
    5. Publicity and League Reporting—as needed
    6. New Admissions—Process and evaluate new League Members applications
    7. Clinic—Learn to skate
    8. By Laws—review and updating as necessary.
    9. Rules committee—Sets rules to govern all play.  The Supervisor of Officials must be a member.
    10. Disciplinary Committee—shall consist of the President, Vice President and Supervisor of Officials.  They shall review all suspensions and Match penalties.

Vice President. 

  1. Assist the President in the above tasks and preside over meetings the president is unable to attend.
  2. Shall verify the status of the treasury semi-annually.  Shall head the Protest Committee and Disciplinary Committee.
  3. Shall review scoresheets for accuracy and suspensions.
  4. Shall serve on all committees as required by the bylaws.

Secretary

  1. Take minutes for all meetings. 
    1. Be responsible for all minutes of current year and the safekeeping of previous year’s meeting minutes. 
    2. Distribute minutes to all board members in a timely manner. 
  2. He/she shall also be responsible for the maintenance of the league website.

Treasurer

  1. Shall be responsible for collection of all fees from organizations.  
  2. Shall create a budget using information provided by the board and schedules from the Supervisor of Officials, Director of Operations, Committee Chairs, and the Executive Board.   
  3. Shall provide a report to the Board of the financial situation of the organization at all meetings. 
  4. Shall provide evidence of the existence of any and all league funds as required by the board or any member organization.  Shall submit to inspection of the league treasury by the Vice-president at least semi annually.  If the vice president is unable to inspect the treasury, the board shall direct another individual to perform the inspection, so long as that person is not able to independently disperse the organization’s funds.   The treasurer is responsible that all of the leagues books and finances meet the laws of the State of New Jersey. 

ARTICLE IV

LEAGUE RULES AND STRUCTURE

 

Section 1.  Age Levels  The MCYHL shall form leagues based on the age structure established by USA Hockey Inc (hereafter USA Hockey).  Currently those brackets are as follows:

  • Mites:  Ages 8 and Under
  • Squirts:  Ages 9 & 10
  • Peewee:  Ages 11 & 12
  • Bantam:  Ages 13 & 14
  • Varsity/Midget:  Ages 15, 16, 17 (as per USA Hockey classification)

Other brackets may be added, such as mini-mites, at the discretion of the Board of Directors.  Only member organizations may enter teams in the leagues unless approval has been made for other organizations as necessary by the Board of Directors.

Section 2.  Schedules   Teams may be divided into divisions if there are more than 8 teams in a league.  All teams will play an equal number of games.  In the event a team is unable to participate in a scheduled game, for whatever reason, that teams shall forfeit the game to the team it is scheduled to play.  The team who has received the forfeit shall be able to use the ice time the game was scheduled to be played on for whatever purpose it chooses.  The team receiving the forfeit has the option of allowing the forfeiting team to reschedule the game at another time provided the forfeiting team supplies both the ice and pays the referees assigned by the Referee Scheduler.  If no such arrangements can be made, a forfeit will be the result.

Section 3.  Rosters.  Roster shall be composed entirely of players residing in the towns represented by the organizations who are members of the league, unless they have been assigned to the team through the Special Participant (SP) program.  All rosters must be set in accordance with the date requirements of USA Hockey.  Rosters need not meet specific size requirements, however no more than twenty players shall be allowed to participate in a game.  Rosters shall include name, address and phone number of all players.  All players must be registered with USA Hockey before participation in any event, game or practice.  Organizations must obtain birth certificates or copies from all participants and have them available for league inspection.  Players may only be added to rosters beyond USA Hockey deadlines under extraordinary circumstances and with approval of the Board of Governors.

Goalies may be borrowed from another team at the same level following processes set up by the Board of Governors.  No player may play for more than one team in the league, nor may the play at different levels in the league for the same organization.  (i.e.  once a Peewee plays a single game at Bantam, he/she is no longer eligible as a Peewee, even if that is the appropriate age level).

Individuals are permitted to play in an age bracket above their own under the approval of the organization member programs.  The MCYHL strongly recommends any player in this situation understands the risks in hockey and sign situation specific waivers for the organization for whom they are playing.

Section 4.   Games.  USA Hockey rules shall govern all play.  Play shall be consistent with the Core Values discussed in Article I Section 3.  Rules for play including period times, penalty times, score sheet regulations, off ice officials, etc shall be distributed to all organizations at least two weeks prior to the first games.   Distribution shall be through the organizations board of directors member.  All teams are expected to abide by the rules set forward by the rules committee.

Section 5.  Suspensions.  Suspensions shall be automatic in the event of a game misconduct in the following manner:

  1. First infraction for a player - 1 game suspension
  2. Second infraction for a player - 2 game suspension
  3. Third infraction - 4 game suspension
  4. Continue doubling the number of games suspended

Players that receive match penalties shall be suspended until a review has been completed by the Protest Committee.

These progressive penalties do not include the game in which the suspension occurred.  USA Hockey rules shall mandate availability of any suspended player, except that the disciplinary committee shall have the right to supersede these rules as they feel appropriate or necessary..  The suspended player must sign the score sheet of the game missed due to suspension.

The disciplinary committee has the right to suspend any person (coach, player, fan, official officer, director) for any period of time it deems appropriate for conduct that is detrimental to the MCYHL or the sport of hockey, whether it occurs on or off the ice.  This shall include abusive or threatening works or actions toward any participant, coach, director, official or officer of the MCYHL.

Section 6.  Playoffs.  At the conclusion of the regular schedule, the league shall seed all teams based on their regular season record and schedule playoff games.  Players may only participate in the playoff games if they have participated in at least 50% of their teams regular season games, unless extraordinary circumstances cause Board approval.  Age brackets may be divided into divisions based on regular season records by approval of the Board of Directors and to be decided no later that 3 weeks prior to the end of the regular season.

In the event of ties in the seeding process, the ties will be broken in the following manner.

  1. Most Wins
  2. Head to Head results during the regular season
  3. Least goals against
  4. Most goals score
  5. Coin toss

League champions of all age divisions and all playoff brackets shall receive awards.

Section 7.  League Fees and Ice Usage - The league fees shall be set in accordance with the costs of the organization, including all league overhead.  Ice usage shall be made in accordance with the principle of equitable distribution to all organizations.  Any exceptions shall be with the approval of the board and all effected organizations.

Section 8.  Special Participants (SP) Program The purpose of the SP program is to provide a means of entry into the MCYHL for players from towns who do not have organizations of MCYHL membership, while helping member organizations fill their roster needs.  Enrollment in the SP program is based on the following qualifications:

  1. Applications must be filled out on time
  2. Preference will be given to players from Morris County, with players from member towns without roster space receiving first placement priority.
  3. Attendance is required at a skills evaluation test.  The players shall not be placed by ability, but shall be able to demonstrate the ability to participate safely in youth hockey.

Once a player has qualified, he/she will be placed in an organization based on that teams needs at individual team levels.  The selection process shall be set by the Board of Governors.  Goalies will always be placed in a separate pool.  The Board and the SP Committee will make a best effort commitment to placing as many players as possible.

Once a town has been assigned an SP player, they may continue to have that player in their organization upon mutual consent of the player and organization, without reentering the SP program.  Such players must annually be reported to the executive board and the head of the SP program prior to roster submittal each in order to be retained.

Article V

Coaches

 

Section 1.  Head Coach.  The Head Coach is the principal representative of each team.  He is responsible for the leadership of his team and coaches in the spirit of the Core Values discussed in these By-Laws.  They are responsible to understand the rules of hockey and the rules of the MCYHL and abide by them.  All coaches who participate must be certified by USA Hockey.

Section 2.  Assistant Coaches.  No more than the USA Hockey allowed number of coaches may be on the bench during a game.   Currently that number is four.  All coaches must be certified by USA Hockey. 

 

Article VI

Dissolution of the MCYHL

 

Organizations may leave the MCYHL at their discretion.  If they formally resign, they give up their right to any money they share in the MCYHL treasury.  Upon the vote of two-thirds (2/3) majority of the Board of Directors, the MCYHL may be dissolved.  If the organization is dissolved, all moneys in the MCYHL treasury shall be divided evenly among member organizations after all organization debts have been paid.  75% of the money (after liabilities have been met) shall be distributed within 180 days of the decision to dissolve the league.  The remaining money must be distributed within one year (365 days) of the decision to dissolve.  Any distribution made under such circumstances must be made in accordance with tax laws of the United States of America and the State of New Jersey.

 

Article VII

Omissions/Errors

 

Omissions.  The Board of Governors shall have the right to make any decisions necessary to fill omissions from these bylaws or any rules distributions as they deem necessary.  In the case of any bylaw that is deemed illegal, the laws of the State of New Jersey and the United States of America shall supersede any defect or error in these Bylaws.

 

Article VIII

Amendment of the By-Laws

 

These By-Laws may be amended at any meeting of the Board of Directors by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the entire membership of the Board then in office (not only those present), including officers, entitled to vote.