Ligue Elite

Ligue Elite
Current season, competition or edition: 2010–11 Ligue Elite season
Sport	Inline hockey
Founded	1998, Bordeaux, France
No. of teams	10
Country	France
Headquarters	Bordeaux, France
Continent	Europe
Related competitions	Coupe de France
Official website	http://rilh.ffrs.asso.fr

The Ligue Elite is the top professional inline hockey league in France. The Championnat de France is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season.

Game

Each Ligue Elite regulation game is an inline hockey game played between two teams and is 50 minutes long. The game is composed of two 25-minute halves with an intermission of ten minutes between halves. At the end of the 50-minute regulation time, the team with the most goals wins the game. If a game is tied after regulation time, the game ends in a tie.

Ties do not occur during the playoffs. In the Coupe de France, if a game is tied after regulation time, overtime ensues. Overtime is a five-minute, four-player on four-player sudden-death period, in which the first team to score a goal wins the game. If the game is still tied at the end of overtime, the game enters a shootout. Five players for each team in turn take a penalty shot. The team with the most goals during the five-round shootout wins the game. If the game is still tied after the five shootout rounds, the shootout continues but becomes sudden death. Whichever team ultimately wins the shootout is awarded a goal in the game score.

Inline hockey rink

Ligue Elite games are played on a rectangular inline hockey rink with rounded corners surrounded by walls. The rink can measure between 40 and 60 meters (131.23 and 196.85 ft) in length, and between 20 and 30 meters (65.62 and 98.43 ft) in width. The proportion between the length and width must comply with a ratio of two-to-one. The ideal size of the rink is 50 by 25 meters (164 by 82 ft). The center line divides the floor in half. Near the end of both ends of the rink, there is a thin red goal line spanning the width of the floor, which is used to judge goals.

Rules

The Ligue Elite follows the general rules of inline hockey, although it differs slightly from those used in international games organized by the International Roller Sports Federation (FIRS) such as the World Championships.

Teams

List of teams

Team	City/Area	Arena	Head Coach
Écureuils d'Amiens	Amiens, Somme	Veillère
Hawks d'Angers	Angers, Maine-et-Loire
Artzak Anglet	Anglet, Pyrénées-Atlantiques	Salle du Pignada	Olivier Dimet
Conquérants de Caen	Caen, Calvados	La Halle des granges
Yeti's Grenoble	Grenoble, Isère
Anges Nice	Nice, Alpes-Maritimes
Diables de Rethel	Rethel, Ardennes	Salle André Chausson
Spiders de Rouen	Rouen, Seine-Maritime	MJC	Yohann Labreux
Hockline Toulouse	Tournefeuille, Haute-Garonne
Fous du Bitume Villeneuve	Villeneuve-la-Garenne, Hauts-de-Seine

Season structure

The Ligue Elite season is divided into a regular season (from mid September through mid April) and a postseason (the Championnat de France). During the regular season, clubs play each other in a predefined schedule. The Championnat de France, which goes from end of April to the middle of June, is an elimination tournament where two teams play against each other to win a best-of-three series in order to advance to the next round. The final remaining team is crowned the Champions de France.

In the regular season, each team plays 18 games; nine games at home and nine on the road. Each team plays each other team in the Ligue Elite twice (one game at home and one on the road). Points are awarded for each game, where three points are awarded for a win, one point for a tie, and zero points for a loss.

At the end of the regular season, six teams with the highest number of points qualify for the playoffs. Teams are seeded one through six based on their records. The Championnat de France playoffs is an elimination tournament, where two teams battle to win a best-of-three series in order to advance to the next round. The first and second seeded teams receive first round byes to the second round. The first round of the playoffs, or quarterfinals, consists of the third seed playing the sixth seed, and the fourth playing the fifth. In the second round, or semifinals, the first seed plays against the winner of the third and sixth place series, and the second seed playing the winner of the fourth and fifth place series. In the third round, or Championnat de France, the two remaining teams play each other for the championship.

In each round the higher-ranked team is said to be the team with the home-floor advantage. Two of the three games are played at this team's home venue—the second and, when necessary, the third games—with the first game played at the lower-ranked team's home venue.

External links

Template:Ligue Elite Template:European Inline Hockey Leagues