North American Roller Hockey Championships

The North American Roller Hockey Championships (NARCh) is a "for-profit 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

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

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

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.

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:

• Apex, North Carolina
• Broomall, Pennsylvania
• Buffalo, New York
• Detroit, Michigan
• Escondido, California
• Fort Myers, Florida
• Glastonbury, Connecticut
• Irvine, California
• Kapolei, Hawaii
• Lake Worth, Florida
• Lakewood, Colorado
• Langley, British Columbia
• Mississauga, Ontario
• Queen Creek, Arizona
• San Jose, California
• Snellville, Georgia
• St. Louis, Missouri

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.

Divisions

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

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. The current teams as of the 2011 NARCh Finals are:

NHL players

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

• David Booth
• Brad Boyes
• Gabe Gauthier
• T.J. Hensick
• Ryan Kesler
• Peter Mannino
• Patrick Maroon
• Bobby Ryan
• Paul Statsny
• Brett Sterling
• Mike Van Ryn
• Joel Ward
• James Wisniewski
• Jason Zucker

External links

• NARCh Official Site