Except for the 8U division, PWGFS holds a Skills Assessment and draft each Spring.  In the Fall, teams generally remain intact, with exceptions made for new players or players who want to move to another team and enter into a hat draft (possibly to be returned to the same team). The next Spring, teams are drafted again from scratch.

Here are details on how PWGFS drafts work:

Spring ladder-style & hat-pick-style draft procedure 

In this example, there are four teams:

Each team picks a number from the hat to determine their order in the draft.

Only players present at tryouts are eligible to be drafted. Afterward, the rest are picked from a hat.

Each team with less than two freezes chooses a player in order until each team has their authorized number of freezes.

Ladder-style draft selection begins with team No. 1 and continues each round as follows (1,2,3,4,4,3,2,1,1,2,3,4, etc.) until all players have been selected.

Following the initial ladder-style draft, a blind hat-pick-style draft will continue, to place the remaining registered players who were not present at Skills Assessment Day on teams. This round of the draft will continue from where the ladder style draft concluded. 

At the completion of the draft, the floor will be opened for trades. Once trading ends, only the Board of Directors can approve any additional trades, upon recommendation of the PWGFS Registrar Player Agent.

Once registration is officially closed, if necessary, PWGFS reserves the right to extend registrations for the purpose of filling in remaining roster spots. The PWGFS Registrar/Player Agent will accept and assign players according to draft order.

Once again, the floor will be opened for trades. Once trading ends, only the Board of Directors can approve any additional trades, upon recommendation of the PWGFS Registrar Player Agent.

Fall draft procedure

The Fall is treated as a continuation from the Spring, meaning the teams are kept intact and we fill in open spots on the rosters. New teams will be formed if needed, based on the fall registration totals. For the Fall, we do not hold skills assessment; the players are drafted by the Board using a blind hat-pick-style draft. 

New teams will be allowed two freezes prior to the Fall draft (freezes cannot be already on another roster) with the remaining players filled using the Fall draft procedure.

Existing teams from the Spring are allowed to replace lost freezes prior to the Fall draft but, cannot freeze players who are already on another roster.

If necessary, two or more teams may be combined, if approved by the PWGFS Board.

On occasion, the PWGFS Board will make special allowances for teams to enter with complete rosters.

Ladder-style draft rules

Player freezes
Each team is allowed a maximum of two freezes

A coach must have the parent's & player's consent before freezing that player. Failure to do so could result in forfeiture of that player & freeze.

Freezes need to be submitted at least one day prior to Skills Assessment Day. There will be no freezing of players at skills assessment.

Any team with fewer than two freezes on the day of the draft will be allowed to select players from the Skills Assessment Day prior to the start of the ladder-style draft in order to fill out their allotted two freezes. This will be done in accordance with the draft order.

Sister rule
If a coach picks a player with a sister, the sister must be taken two picks later. For instance, the first sister is picked in Round 3; the next sister is automatically placed on that team with the Round 5 pick. The only exception to this rule is based on a parent request for both daughters to play on separate teams, in which case, this won't apply.

Freezing sisters will work the same as freezing two daughters. (See rule below.)

Coach's daughter rule:
Coaches have the option to waive freezing their daughter(s) however, if a coach decides to waive freezing his/her daughter(s), they will be eligible to be drafted by another coach. If still eligible, a coach must pick up his daughter no later than the 4th round of the draft. If the coach has a second daughter, she will be the 5th round pick. If a coach has two daughters and intends to freeze them both, it is only necessary to freeze one, while the other will be inserted as his/her 4th round pick prior to the draft.

Examples:

1) A coach has 1 daughter and elects to waive freezing her. The draft begins. Round 1 — the coach picks up a third player. Round 2 — the coach picks a fourth player who has a sister. By rule, the sister now becomes the 4th Round pick. This now means that the coach must use the Round 3 pick to get his daughter if she is still eligible to be drafted.

2) A coach has 2 daughters and elects to waive freezing them. The draft begins: Round 1 — the coach picks up a third player. Round 2 — the coach picks a 4th player who has a sister. By rule, the sister now becomes the 4th Round pick. This now means that the coach must use the Round 3 pick to get the first daughter if she is still eligible to be drafted and pick the other daughter up in Round 5 if she is still eligible.

3) A coach has 2 daughters and decides to freeze them both. With the 2nd freeze, the coach decides to freeze 2 sisters. Prior to the draft, one sister would be inserted as the 3rd Round pick and the second daughter will be inserted as the 4th Round pick.

- 30 -