The Elite 9 Hockey League is a youth ice hockeyleaguecomposed of nine clubs: six charter members and three Boston Hockey League qualifiers. Headquartered in New England, the E9 is widely considered to be the premier youth ice hockey league in the region. The league was organized on January 22, 2014, in New England, after the suspension of operations of its predecessor organization, the New England Hockey League, 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. In 2015, five teams at four different age levels were granted qualifying exemptions, therefore they automatically qualify for the Elite 9. It also limits the space for qualification to two spots. All of the league's teams are located in the Eastern Time Zone.
Charter members
Rules
The league uses National Hockey League standard hockey rinks. Each regulation game is played between two teams and is 45 minutes long, composed of three 15-minute periods with an intermission of 1 minute. At the end of the 45-minute regulation time, the team with the most goals wins the game. If a game is tied after regulation time during the regular season, the result is recorded a tie. In the playoffs, the game would go into overtime and shootouts, composed of a five-minute overtime period and then a five-man shootout. There is no checking allowed in Peewee divisions and below, per USA Hockey rules.
Season structure
The league season is divided into a regular season and a postseason. During the regular season, clubs play each other in a predefined schedule of 32 games. All teams play every team in their conference twice, at home and on the road. The league's 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 playoffs, held in March, is an elimination tournament of single elimination games until the final remaining team is crowned the champion. The top six teams in each league qualify for the playoffs. The top two league winners with the bestrecord in the conference receive byes to the semifinals. The first round of the playoffs, or quarterfinals, consists of the third seed playing the sixth seed, while the fourth seed plays the fifth seed. Winners then advance to the second round, or semifinals, and then the finals. In all rounds, the higher-ranked team is awarded home-ice advantage.
