North American Roller Hockey Championships

North American Roller Hockey Championships (NARCh)
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2013 NARCh season
Sport Inline hockey
Founded 1994
Founder Paul Chapey
Jeff Mason
Director Daryn Goodwin
Motto The world's greatest roller hockey.
Country Canada[1]
United States[1]
Related
competitions
See divisions
Official website http://www.narch.com/

The North American Roller Hockey Championships (NARCh) is a company which operates inline hockey tournaments of independent clubs, in Canada and the United States. Headquartered in Encinitas, California, NARCh is widely considered to be the premier inline hockey tournament series in the world.

The company was founded in 1994 by Paul Chapey and Jeff Mason. The inaugural NARCh Finals was held in 1994 at the All American Sports Mall in St. Louis, Missouri, and featured 39 teams. In 2002, Chapey and Mason sold their interest in the company to Daryn Goodwin.

NARCh draws many highly skilled players and teams from all over world. The annual division champions are widely accepted as being the best inline hockey teams in the world.

Game

Main article: Inline hockey

Each North American Roller Hockey Championships regulation game is played between two teams and is played in two periods. Generally, regional qualifying tournaments are composed of two 17-minute running time periods, championship events are composed of two 12-minute stopped time periods. Pro Division games are composed of two 15-minute stopped time periods. In the event that the game is tied or within a "one-goal" differential in the last two minutes of the game, the game goes to a "stopped clock" scenario until the goal differential is two or more. All games have an intermission of one-minute between periods.

At the end of the regulation time, the team with the most goals wins the game. If a game is tied after regulation time, and no winner needs to be determined, the game shall be called a tie, and each team shall be credited with one point in the standings. If the tournament format calls for a winner, overtime ensues. Overtime is a five-minute sudden-death period, in which the first team to score a goal wins the game. If the game is still tied at the end of overtime, the game enters a shootout. Four players for each team in turn take a penalty shot. The team with the most goals during the four-round shootout wins the game. If the game is still tied after the four shootout rounds, the shootout continues but becomes sudden death. Whichever team ultimately wins the shootout is awarded a goal in the game score and thus awarded two points in the standings. The losing team in overtime or shootout is awarded only one. Shootout goals and saves are not tracked in hockey statistics; shootout statistics are tracked separately.

In some tournament formats, the overtime period may be eliminated and the shootout will occur immediately following the end of the second period. If a tournament format calls for unlimited overtime periods, the length of each period shall be consistent with the time of each period during the game. The game terminates upon the scoring of a goal and the team scoring the goal shall be declared the winner. If no team scores during the overtime period, the teams continue with this format until one team scores.

Inline hockey rink

Main article: Inline hockey rink

North American Roller Hockey Championships games are played on a rectangular inline hockey rink with rounded corners surrounded by walls and Plexiglas. The dimensions of the rink surface may vary between 70 to 90 feet in width and 160 to 210 feet in length. The center line divides the floor in half, which divides the rink into two attacking zones. Near the end of both ends of the rink, there is a thin red goal line spanning the width of the floor, which is used to judge goals.

Rules

Main articles: North American Roller Hockey Championships rules

While the North American Roller Hockey Championships follows the general rules of inline hockey, it differs slightly from those used in international games organized by the Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports (FIRS) such as the World Championships. Infractions of the rules can lead to either the stoppage of play, or a penalty call for more serious infractions.

Season structure

See also: List of NARCh seasons and Season structure of the NARCh

The North American Roller Hockey Championships season is divided into East Coast and West Coast Winternationals (January or February), regional qualifying tournaments (from mid March through mid June) and the NARCh Finals (July).

Competitions

Winternationals

The Winternationals are tournaments held annually in January and February. They are not qualifiers for the NARCh Finals, but are entirely separate tournaments. From 2008–2010, the tournament was split up into two events: the East Coast Winternationals and the West Coast Winternationals. In 2011, the Winternationals returned to their traditional one-tournament format. In 2012, the Winternationals once again were split into two events.

Year Host City Host Arena
1997 Huntington Beach, California Coast 2 Coast
1998 Lakeland, Florida Lakeland Center
1999 Las Vegas, Nevada Crystal Palace
2000 Las Vegas, Nevada Crystal Palace
2001 Las Vegas, Nevada Crystal Palace
2002 Las Vegas, Nevada Crystal Palace
2003 Las Vegas, Nevada Crystal Palace
2004 Las Vegas, Nevada Crystal Palace
2005 Reno, Nevada Reno Events Center
2006 Phoenix, Arizona Arizona Sports Complex
2007 Phoenix, Arizona Arizona Sports Complex
2008 (West Coast) Irvine, California 949 Roller Hockey Center
2008 (East Coast) Bethpage, New York Skate Safe America
2009 (West Coast) San Jose, California Rollin' Ice at Silver Creek Sportsplex
2009 (East Coast) Bethpage, New York Skate Safe America
2010 (West Coast) San Jose, California Rollin' Ice at Silver Creek Sportsplex
2010 (East Coast) Bethpage, New York Skate Safe America
2011 San Jose, California Rollin' Ice at Silver Creek Sportsplex

Regionals

The Regionals are held March through June annually across North America. They act as qualifiers to the NARCh Finals. The cities the regionals are currently being held in are:

Finals

The NARCh Finals are held annually in July and are NARCh's largest event. The winner of the Finals is awarded the NARCh Cup.

Year Host City Host Arena
1994 St. Louis, Missouri All American Sports Mall
1995 St. Louis, Missouri All American Sports Mall
1996 Chicago, Illinois Odeum Expo Center
1997 Vancouver, British Columbia Great Pacific Forum
1998 Alpharetta, Georgia The Cooler
1999 Alpharetta, Georgia The Cooler
2000 Brampton, Ontario Brampton Centre for Sports & Entertainment
2001 Estero, Florida TECO Arena
2002 St. Paul, Minnesota Xcel Energy Center
2003 Estero, Florida TECO Arena
2004 Cincinnati, Ohio Sports Plus
2005 Estero, Florida Germain Arena
2006 Mississauga, Ontario Hershey Centre
2007 Estero, Florida Germain Arena
2008 San Jose, California Rollin' Ice at Silver Creek Sportsplex
2009 Mississauga, Ontario Hershey Centre
2010 San Jose, California Rollin' Ice at Silver Creek Sportsplex
2011 Estero, Florida Germain Arena

Divisions

The divisions (age range) and subdivisions (tiers of play within division) for NARCh tournaments are listed below.

Division Age Requirement Subdivisions
Cub 6 and under Silver, Gold, Platinum
Atom 8 and under Silver, Gold, Platinum
Mite 10 and under Club, Silver, Gold, Platinum
Squirt 12 and under Club, Silver, Gold, Platinum
Peewee 14 and under Club, Silver, Gold, Platinum
Bantam 16 and under Club, Silver, Gold, Platinum
Midget 18 and under Silver, Gold, Platinum
Junior 21 and under Gold, Platinum
Division 1 24 and under Platinum
Men's 18 and up Silver, Gold, Platinum
Women's 14 and up Gold, Platinum
Girl's 18 and under Gold
High School Player must be attending high school Gold
College (NCRHA) Player must be attending college
35 and Over 35 and up Platinum
45 and Over 45 and up
NARCh Pro 18 and up

NARCh Pro

NARCh Pro is a division of NARCh in which professional teams compete for cash prizes and the NARCh Cup. As of the 2010 NARCh Finals, the cash prizes are $15,000 for the winning team and $5,000 for the runner-up.[2] The current teams as of the 2011 NARCh Finals are:[3]

Team From
Detroit Mission Stars Michigan
I-95ers Florida
ISCA Grizzlies New Jersey
Kristo Sport France France
LA Pama Cyclones California
Larceny California
Las Vegas Tour Rebels Nevada
Mission AKS Empire California
Mission Axiom California
Mission Labeda Snipers New York
Mission/Bauer Next Gen California
Mississauga Mission Rattlers Ontario
Revision Vanquish New York
Tour Bordercats Michigan
Tour Excitement New York
Tour Mudcats Pennsylvania
Tour Roadrunners New York
Tour Scorpions Florida

NHL players

The following is a list of former NARCh players who are also current or former National Hockey League (NHL) players.

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/13/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.