The Midwest Inline Hockey Association (MIHA) is a newly designed league which was built to attract highly talented and intermediate level inline hockey players from across the Midwest region.
The MIHA community has skilled hockey players from many walks of life; from fire fighters, construction workers, mechanics and bartenders, to students, lawyers, dentists and accountants. If you love inline hockey, then MIHA is the home for you.
Divisions
TIER I is considered equivalent to NARCH/TOHRS/SW – pro/gold
TIER II is considered equivalent to NARCH/TORHS/SW – silver/bronze
TIER III is considered equivalent to Bronze/Copper house leagues. Higher level players are kept out of T3. There is a 4 goal limit per player per game.
TIER IV is our lowest division. These players typically don’t attend many national tournaments. There is a 3 goal limit per player per game.
Season Format
During the preseason, returning teams are placed into a draft where they select a maximum of 4 tournaments to compete in, from roughly 15 weekend tournaments across the Midwest. Teams have the option to play in fewer than 4 tournaments, but most teams choose to play all four. The draft is composed of multiple rounds and each team is awarded one tournament pick per round. The order in which teams get to select their tournaments is based on seniority. Afterwards, any openings in the schedule are offered to new teams. New teams can sign up to play in a tournament at any time during the regular season however, openings are extremely limited.
Each individual tournament schedule is composed of round robin games on Saturday and a single elimination playoff on Sunday. Teams play two round robin games and are seeded into the single elimination playoff bracket based on their record during round robin. Multiple skill divisions are offered at each tournament.
Throughout the course of a team’s 4 tournament season schedule they earn points for each game they play in (3 points for a win, 2 points for an OT loss and 1 point for a regulation loss). At the end of the regular season teams are ranked by points and the top 8 teams are invited to a championship weekend event.
The regular season is very fluid as it doesn’t contain a fixed number of games or opponents. Teams simply play in tournaments, earning points for each game. A team could face a new opponent at any time.
MIHA’s structure is second to none, it’s very flexible in that it allows teams the option to play in a single tournament or the full season while providing an entire experience to both.
Regular Season Tournament Schedule Format
At most tournaments only two of our four divisions compete, as a result, our events usually have 8 teams in each division. Those 8 team are then split into two 4 team pools, one pool consist of teams who request early games on Saturday and the other pool consists of teams who request later games. After each pool’s first set of games, the winners play against one another and the losers do the same. When the pool completes its set of games, teams are ranked first to fourth based on their results. The top two teams from each pool are then place into the 'A' elimination bracket for Sunday. The first seed from each pool plays the second seed from the other pool in the first round and the winners of each game play in the 'A' championship. Similarly, we place the bottom two teams from each pool into the 'B' elimination bracket. The third seed from each pool plays the fourth seed from the other pool in the first round and the winners of each game play in the 'B' championship.
'A' and 'B' Classifications
Over the course of the season teams are designated either an ‘A’ or a ‘B’ classification. A team’s classification for championships is determined by the number of elimination games they played in each class over the course of the regular season. Points are used to determine a team’s rank within their standings however, it has no bearing on their class. At the beginning of the season, each team is placed in either the 'A' or 'B' standings but, as the season progresses, teams switch classifications if they find themselves playing most of their elimination games in the other class. If a team plays in a tournament with 5 teams in their division or fewer then, that tournaments elimination games will not count towards classification determination. If a team has played an equal number of games in each classification by the end of the season, then their classification is determined by which games produced a cumulative goal differential closest to zero during elimination. If a team’s classification cannot be determined as outlined above then, their class will be assigned based on which games produce a cumulative goal differential closest to zero against teams who have been assigned a classification. If two teams in the ‘A’ classification are competing for the final spot for championships and they are within 5 points of one another, then any points earned playing 'B' elimination games will not count towards rank while comparing the two teams. Once everyone's classification has been determined, their seeding is based on points (3 for a win, 2 for an OT loss and 1 for a loss) and the top 8 teams in each class are invited to championships.
Championships
After the regular season has concluded, a final championship tournament is held. During the championship, on Saturday the eight invited teams in each division are split in half. The top 4 ranked teams are pooled together and compete for the top 4 seeds of Sundays single elimination playoff bracket and similarly, the bottom 4 ranked teams are pooled together and compete for the bottom 4 seeds of the same bracket. At the end of the playoffs a season champion is crowned for each division.
History
MIHA was founded by Mike Staple in 2010 and at that time, there were very few options for competitive inline hockey that adults could play on a regular basis. Mike set out to create a league that was organized and inexpensive with relatively limited travel. The first MIHA season had four events, three in Michigan and one in Indiana, with nine teams. Over the course of 10 years Mike developed the league’s current format. A focus was placed on the player’s experience; game times where kept convenient, ringers where discouraged and intermediate level players were encouraged to play. After running the league for a decade, Mike passed the torch to Karl Richardson, a player who attended the very first tournament, played in all ten seasons and assisted with the league’s formation in its early years. Today, MIHA has grown to sixteen events, throughout Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York and is home to roughly fifty-five teams.
