Pick-up Players
Teams may call up a player from a lower division or category team due to a shortage of regular players. Pick-ups are permitted for shortage due to illness, injury or absent players; pick-ups are not permitted for suspended players.
U11 teams are only permitted to pick-up players from U9 after they have transitioned to full-ice.
Please be aware the pick-up request must be processed on RAMP, so be sure to place your request ASAP so it can be approved prior to your game. See Pick-up Process for details.
Local League
- Rep players cannot be a pick-up player for a Local League team regardless of the division or Association, including boys’ hockey associations.
- In a particular game, a team can have up to five (5) pick-up players, to a maximum of the roster limit.
- Skaters can be called up from a lower division (age level) team three times during the first half of the season (October to Christmas) and another three times during the second half of the season (January to March).
- Pick-up players can play more than 3 games if the Association’s Local League Liaison is able to prove that all players in the division have been contacted and are unable to play. For U22 teams, ‘all players’ refers to all major U18 players.
- Goaltenders can be called up from a lower division team (like skaters) and they can move laterally. That lateral movement can include moving between centres as well as between the teams within a centre.
- For league games and the Jason Cripps tournament only (not other tournament games), teams that do not have a rostered goalie may pick-up a goalie from another team/centre even though the total number of players will exceed their roster. In order to play in another tournament, one player would have to sit out in order to call a goalie from another team.
- Within the U9 and U22 divisions, players can move laterally within the same division with the three-time maximum/maximum five players at a time rule.
- Pick-up skaters cannot be used in the semi-final and championship games. Alternate goaltenders can be used in semi-final and championship games only if the team’s regular goaltender is not available.
U9 to U18 Rep teams
- In a particular game, a team can have up to three (3) pick-up players, to a maximum of the roster limit.
- A Pick-Up Player is defined as EITHER from:
i) a lower age level and the same classification or lower;
ii) the same age level and lower classification.
- Pick-up players must be Woolwich Wild players. If a situation arises where a team needs to pick-up a player or goalie from another Association due to no available Woolwich Wild players, approval must be obtained from the Board of Directors by contacting the Coaching Committee. In turn, approval must be obtained from the Board of Directors for a Woolwich Wild player to play for another Association.
- For Regular Season League games, a team may pick up any eligible player from a lower category to bring the total team strength to, but not exceed, the number of officially rostered players on the team.
- Pick-up player rules for Playdown, Playoff and Championship games will be communicated at that time.
Please also refer to the OWHL Rules and Regulations for Pick-Up Player policies.
Women’s Senior Rep teams
Please also refer to the Southwestern Ontario Women’s Hockey League (SOWHL) By-Laws for Pick-Up Player policies.