Welcome to the 2025–26 Hockey Season!

We’re excited to kick off another year of hockey and want to extend a warm welcome back to our returning officials, as well as to those joining us for the first time. Games are being loaded into ZebraWeb by the hour, so please step in where you can—this is one of the busiest times of the year.

A few important reminders:

• Protective Equipment – Neck guards, mouthpieces, and helmet ear flaps must be strictly enforced. Please follow the procedures outlined in the USA Hockey rulebook.

• Bench Personnel – Each team is allowed a maximum of four staff members (including coaches, trainers, photographers). Any additional staff must relocate off the bench.

• Every Game Matters – September games carry just as much weight as those in January. Work hard, stay focused, and approach every assignment with professionalism and respect.
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Finally, the IHOA registration will be opening soon! Once it’s live, our registrar will send details on how to pay your IHOA dues.

Let’s make this a great season—see you at the rink!

Brad Baumruck

President of IHOA

Registration opens October 2, 2025!

You will receive an email once the site is live on 10/2/25. Please register for the season as soon as possible. Dues must be paid by December 1, 2025. Failure to pay by the deadline may affect your game assignments.

IHOA is proud to welcome non–USA Hockey officials this year. If you are officiating only CUHL or Men’s League games, you are now eligible to be a part of IHOA. We would like to thank our partners at MCHO for helping unite all of Illinois hockey under one banner.

2025–26 Dues Structure:

• USA Hockey Level 1: $50
• USA Hockey Level 2: $25
• USA Hockey Level 3: $25
• USA Hockey Level 4: $25
• Non–USA Hockey Officials (CUHL and Men’s League): $50

IHOA will only be accepting credit card payments this year. No other forms of payment will be accepted.

If you are USA Hockey registered, please have your USA Hockey Official Number and level available when completing registration.

Thank you for your continued patience during this transition. While it may not appear to be a lot of work from the outside, IHOA and MCHO are working hard behind the scenes to strengthen our officiating community. Transitions from legacy systems can often take a year or more, but we have been tasked with completing this in just a matter of weeks.

Thanks,

Matt McManus

IHOA Registrar

The weekend of November 7-9 will be packed with events, including the CCM World Invite, featuring 9U to 18U teams from across the country, along with teams from Canada. Additionally, we’ll have various local high school, college, and house league games. In total, there will be over 1,400 games.

Please mark your calendars!

The 2-1 officiating system will be used this season in the North Central and Illinois West High School Hockey Leagues, as well as in most ACHA Division 2 and 3 games. This will serve as the primary system for all games in these leagues. Please take some time to review how the system works so you are prepared when officiating.



You can find more information on the IHOA Resources page at the link below:

2-1 Officiating System

Below are the differences in offsides and icing signals when working these games. Please be sure to explain these signals to the coaches before the game to avoid any confusion with delayed penalties.

Below are the 2025-26 rule changes made by the NCAA rules committee. These same rules are applicable to any ACHA hockey game played.

Key Rule Changes

Supplemental Discipline – Game Misconducts (Rule 29)

• Conferences may request NCAA review of game misconducts (in addition to disqualifications).
• Rationale: Ensures fairness; misconducts carry progressive penalties.

Facemask Penalty (Rule 47)

• Minor: Hand push on opponent’s facemask.
• Minor: Moving open hand across facemask (was major).
• Major + Misconduct/Disqualification: Grasping/pulling or twisting facemask.
• Rationale: Keeps major penalties for significant fouls; avoids forcing majors on minor infractions via replay challenges.

High-Sticking the Puck (Rule 64)

• Scoring a goal: Stick cannot contact puck above crossbar (4 ft).
• All other plays: Stick cannot contact puck above player’s shoulder (normal standing height).
• Rationale: Clarifies confusion from last year’s change.

Did you know that the rules for Central States, Chicago Catholic HS, Chicago United (CUHL), Illinois West HS, North Central HS, NIHL, Northwest, and the Scholastic and Academic leagues are posted on our website? Many have been updated for the 2025-26 season and can be found at IHOA Illinois League Rules Rules. Please check the date as we continue to update the rules based on league submissions.

Please note that we strive to include only the variations from USA Hockey rules, such as period length, ice cut procedures, penalty minutes, and overtime.

Please review the video to see an example of teams failing to adjust to the penalty standard early in the season.