PAHL has published their list of rule changes for next year and it looks to be pretty extensive: https://cdn1.sportngin.com/attachments/document/dd35-3178291/PAHL2024GameManualSummary.pdf?

 

I only browsed but a few highlights I noticed are:

-Removing fair play points

-getting rid of peewee playoffs and making it odsets like squirt

-changing length of bantam games

-mite games standard format is now 4 on 4 instead of 3 on 3

-getting rid of two OT periods in playoffs and making it only 1

Good riddance to the fair play points. Now I hope they fix offsides and icing on the powerplay

The offsides rule should stay as is through 14U and be adjusted at 16U and 18U to align with the HS rule.

Same with icing.

11 hours ago, nemesis8679 said:

Good riddance to the fair play points. Now I hope they fix offsides and icing on the powerplay

Those are USA hockey rules, I believe. PAHL could eliminate them but then they would not be a USA sanctioned league and thus games would not.count towards qualifying for Midams and nationals.

13 minutes ago, Saucey said:

Those are USA hockey rules, I believe. 

Absolutely correct.

3 hours ago, Lifelongbender said:

Absolutely correct.

PIHL is under USA hockey as well, though. 

29 minutes ago, nemesis8679 said:

PIHL is under USA hockey as well, though. 

If you review USA Hockey rules, you'll see that high school hockey rules include icing being permitted by a shorthanded team and delayed offsides. Amateur hockey had those rules changed under USA Hockey, but they remained the same for adult and high school classifications. The difference between the two is in USAHockey rules.

9 hours ago, Saucey said:

Those are USA hockey rules, I believe. PAHL could eliminate them but then they would not be a USA sanctioned league and thus games would not.count towards qualifying for Midams and nationals.

My understanding is PAHL can request a waiver for these rules. If that is true they should.  If not then someone just made it up. 

Not being permitted to ice the puck while shorthanded has been a USA Hockey thing for years. I remember talking about it at coaching clinics around 2008-09. I doubt its going anywhere, and in fact I would not be surprised to see it at higher levels soon.

19 hours ago, Spear and Magic Helmet said:

Not being permitted to ice the puck while shorthanded has been a USA Hockey thing for years. I remember talking about it at coaching clinics around 2008-09. I doubt its going anywhere, and in fact I would not be surprised to see it at higher levels soon.

USA Hockey added this rule in 2020-2021 rule changes.  The original goal was to adopt the same rules for high school and adult leagues, but that has not happened yet.  Not trying to weigh in on the merits of USA Hockey rule, but for anyone not familiar with the philosophy behind it, USA Hockey explains it at Frequently Asked Questions About New Rules For 2021-22 Season (usahockey.com)

In a nutshell, USA Hockey wants to keep the focus on player/skill development and views icing a puck on the PK as a lesser skill than a deliberate break-out with passing and skating.  They want to keep the motivation to make deliberate hockey plays over simply icing.  They recognize the NHL rules add to the viewing experience and minimize stoppages and give some relief to the PK unit.  For amateur hockey, which has less than 2 minute penalties for some age groups, they don't want to give the advantage of suspending icing to the PK unit.  

 

Yep, that's pretty much what they said back then too. No reward for the team that got caught breaking the rules and just generally, USA Hockey prefers making skillful plays rather than just shooting the puck off the glass. That said, this presentation was more than 10 years prior to USA Hockey actually adding the rule!

1 hour ago, James Gatz said:

USA Hockey added this rule in 2020-2021 rule changes.  The original goal was to adopt the same rules for high school and adult leagues, but that has not happened yet.  Not trying to weigh in on the merits of USA Hockey rule, but for anyone not familiar with the philosophy behind it, USA Hockey explains it at Frequently Asked Questions About New Rules For 2021-22 Season (usahockey.com)

In a nutshell, USA Hockey wants to keep the focus on player/skill development and views icing a puck on the PK as a lesser skill than a deliberate break-out with passing and skating.  They want to keep the motivation to make deliberate hockey plays over simply icing.  They recognize the NHL rules add to the viewing experience and minimize stoppages and give some relief to the PK unit.  For amateur hockey, which has less than 2 minute penalties for some age groups, they don't want to give the advantage of suspending icing to the PK unit.