How do you organise an ice hockey tournament?

The rink sells you hours, and every game has to fit into them. IIHF Rule 77.1 sets a game at three periods of 20 minutes of actual play. The clock stops at every whistle, so a period lasts longer than 20 minutes on the wall clock. Rule 77.2 adds a 15-minute intermission between periods. That is 90 minutes per game before a single stoppage, and 16 such games need 24 hours of ice for clock time and breaks alone.

For a youth or recreational weekend, write shorter periods into your own rules. Agree the slot with the rink manager before you invite anyone. A slot is the periods plus the breaks, the stoppages, a short warm-up and the change of teams.

Ask the rink one more question: when is the ice resurfaced, and how long does it take? Put each resurface between games into the timetable the same way as a game. The worked example below shows how much of the day it takes.

In JudgeMate you set the period length and the number of periods (one to four) for the whole draw and can change them for a single game, for example to give the final full 20-minute periods.

Round robin works with up to five or six teams. Everyone plays everyone, so the field of six needs 15 games.

Groups plus play-offs is what most weekend tournaments use. Two groups of four guarantee each team three games on Saturday, and the top two of each group go to Sunday's semi-finals, the bronze game and the final. JudgeMate builds one to four groups. With two or four groups, 1 or 2 teams go through from each; with three groups, 1 or 2 from each plus the same number of best teams outside those places. A single group sends its top 2, 4 or 8 to the play-offs.

Knockout only is the shortest, and a team that travelled three hours may go home after one game. Add a consolation round if you use it.

For a cup spread over two weekends, JudgeMate can pair each tie as a home game and a return game. The aggregate score decides, and a level aggregate goes to a shootout.

IIHF Rule 5.1 caps a team at 22 players: no more than 20 skaters and two goalkeepers. The team must hand in its line-up at least 60 minutes before the start of the game. Put both numbers in your invitation, because a youth club often travels with more children than the rule allows.

A JudgeMate hockey team starts with a squad of 22, and you can raise it to 30 if your own rules allow larger squads. The club is entered by name. You decide who adds the clubs: you, each team manager, or the players.

For youth age groups, check the protective equipment rules before the day. Rule 202.1 requires U20 players to wear facial protection.

IIHF Rule 84.1 handles the preliminary round: up to 5 minutes of sudden-death overtime with three skaters and a goalkeeper per side. In play-off and bronze games, Rule 84.5 extends that to up to 10 minutes, still 3-on-3.

If nobody scores, a shootout follows (Rule 84.4). Each team sends five different shooters. If it is still level, the shootout goes to sudden death, and the same player may shoot more than once. A player whose penalty has not ended when overtime finishes cannot shoot. Only the decisive goal counts in the result, so a 2:2 game won in the shootout is recorded as 3:2.

The JudgeMate scoreboard runs a 5:00 overtime and then the shootout, with a goal or miss button for each attempt. It flags the result as soon as the shootout is decided, even before the fifth attempt (3:0 after three, for example), and in sudden death when one team leads after an equal number of attempts. The operator ends the game. You can switch overtime off, which sends a level game straight to the shootout. A 10-minute play-off overtime cannot be set. If your rules use it, run the play-offs without overtime or keep the 5-minute overtime and say so in the rules.

In the gold medal game, Rule 84.6 calls for one 3-on-3 sudden-death overtime after another until someone scores, each after a 15-minute intermission. A rink booked by the hour rarely allows that, so write a shootout into the final as well.

Article 218.1 of the IIHF Event Code gives 3 points for a win in regulation time and 0 for a regulation loss. A game level after 60 minutes gives each team 1 point, and the winner of the overtime or the shootout gets 1 more. So every game ends 3:0, 2:1 or 1:2 in points, and the table has no draws.

Take a group of three. A beats B 3:2 in regulation: A 3, B 0. B and C draw 2:2 and B wins the shootout: B 2, C 1. C beats A 2:1 in overtime: C 2, A 1. Final points: A 4, C 3, B 2.

Teams level on points are split by Article 219: two teams by their head-to-head game, three or more by points, then goal difference, then goals scored in the games between them.

In JudgeMate a new hockey draw starts with the IIHF rules. The table records overtime and shootouts when the game was played on the live scoreboard, or when a level knockout result was entered with its shootout. A group result typed by hand carries no such information, so a hand-typed win counts 3 points and a hand-typed level score gives each team 1. Run group games on the scoreboard if you want 2:1 to appear. The JudgeMate table applies the head-to-head steps; when they do not separate the teams, it marks the tie and you set the order.

In a JudgeMate league the IIHF rules can be chosen only when the league records results as decided after overtime. A team that does not turn up loses by walkover, which JudgeMate enters as 5:0 by default.

Add the rink as a resource, set the first face-off and the slot length, and the auto-schedule spreads the games and flags clashes. It only plans games that have not been played yet, so build the schedule before the first puck drops.

Every game you start on the live scoreboard gets its own referee QR code (you create the board from the game's row). The person at the scorers' bench scans it and runs that game on the live scoreboard: clock, goals with the scorer and one assist, and penalties of 2, 2+2, 5 and 10 minutes counting down. When a third penalty would leave a team with fewer than three skaters, the board holds it until a running penalty ends, as Rule 26.1 requires. Open the board on a TV by the glass and the parents can read it.

Print the match cards and the bracket for the noticeboard. A JudgeMate match card is a working sheet for your scorers. It is not the official game sheet under Rule 5.1, so if your national federation requires one, fill it in as well.

1. Open Create with ice hockey selected and create the event. A hockey category runs as a club tournament.
2. Choose who enters the clubs: you, each team manager, or the players. Check the squad size (22 by default).
3. Pick round robin, knockout, or groups plus play-offs, and add a bronze game or a consolation round.
4. Check the table rules (IIHF by default), the period length and number, and the walkover score.
5. Add the rink as a resource, set the start time and slot length, and let the auto-schedule do the timetable. For a printable fixture list without an account, use the schedule maker.
6. Decide who enters results. By default you do. You can let team managers or players enter and confirm group and round-robin games. Knockout, consolation and bronze results are confirmed by you; the referee can keep the score on the board from the QR code.
7. Print the match cards and the bracket. Start each game on the scoreboard and hand its scorers' bench the referee QR code; the printed match cards do not carry one.

What JudgeMate does not do: set a 10-minute overtime, record a second assist, produce an official IIHF or federation game sheet, keep save percentage or plus/minus, or take entry fees. For the rules themselves, read how ice hockey scoring works, the ice hockey referee guide and the scoreboard guide.