SMHA HANDSHAKE POLICY

Sportsmanship is an important part of sport.  it is important that players, team officials and parents learn to win or lose with sportsmanship.  The handshake line is symbolic of the "battle" on the ice being over and it is time to put that behind all involved. SMHA has created policy around the post-game hand shake, a symbolic and important part of hockey.

Players:
Players on both teams will line up after games for the traditional post-game hand shake.  Gloves MUST BE KEPT ON the entire time by all players.   There are no bare-handed hand shakes.  This is important to reduce the spread of germs and viruses and also for player safety, should a player ever fall to the ice while in the handshake line and expose his or her bare hand to many skate blades.

Coaches:
Coaches will not participate in the players' post-game handshake line.  Coaches will shake hands with the opposing coaches on the ice right in front of the players' benches.  This allows coaches to keep an eye on the handshake line with a better view than being at the end of the line.  It also avoids the possibility of player-coach confrontations occurring in the handshake line. Note: Coaches may choose to fist or elbow bump vs. bare-handed hand shakes to avoid the spread of germs and viruses.

Officials:
To avoid congestion and to allow the officials to stay on task during the post-game handshakes, team captains will represent the team and shake the hand of the officials after the game.  Team captains should keep their gloves on and fist bump with the officials for safety purposes.

Playoff Series:  Teams are expected to shake hands after each game per the information above.  However, if BOTH teams agree in advance of the first game of a playoff series, the teams are permitted to shake hands only after the final game of the series. If both teams do not agree to this, the teams are expected to shake hands after each game of the series.

IMPORTANT: SMHA may elect to postpone handshakes during periods of high flu cases or in the cases of known viruses in the community.

Thank you to all players, team officials and on-ice officials for their adherence to these policies.

APPROVED by SMHA Board of Directors February 24, 2020