Winning became more important to teams, after a series of rule changes adopted at the annual general meeting of the South Coast Women’s Hockey League.
The eight teams in the SCWHL voted to go to a three-minute, three-on-three overtime in regular season games which are tied after regulation time.
If a game is decided in regulation time, the winner gets three points, the loser receives no points. Games decided in overtime will have the winner earning two points, the loser receiving one. Both teams will earn one point in a game in which there is no winner after overtime.
The league has also decided to adopt the hybrid icing rule for the 2023-24 season. The SCWHL already features rules which do not allow teams which ice the puck to make player changes and moves face-offs into the defending zone after teams are assessed a penalty. Hybrid icing in the SCWHL will follow the Hockey Canada rule.
The league also confirmed its intention to play the SCWHL/Provincial Championship Tournament in Hope, BC for the next two seasons. Hope has hosted the year-end tournament in 2019, 2022 and 2023 (no tournaments in 2020-21 due to the COVID pandemic).
The league will play a 28-game season in the 2023-24 regular season, with the six teams advancing to the playoff tournament.
