Hockey Arbitration Competition of Canada (presented by SELS)

Sports and Entertainment Law SocietyOverview

The HACC is a competition for sports law enthusiasts run exclusively by University of Toronto law students. It simulates the salary arbitration procedures used in the National Hockey League (NHL). As a moot competition, the HACC’s main goal is to give participants an opportunity to sharpen their advocacy skills and develop work product in the sports law industry. This student activity is not offered for credit.

After the competition, the event concludes with a mini symposium where a select group of our guest arbitrators discuss hot topics impacting the NHL.

2012 Competition Results

Thank you to all the teams and schools that participated in the inaugural competition. Congratulations to the following teams:

  • First Place: Queen's University Faculty of Law- Alex Radin and Chelsea Ritchie
  • Second Place: Windsor Law- Dan Di Fonzo and Matt Rossetti
  • Semi-finalist: Queen's University Faculty of Law- Zahir Ali and Megan Rolland
  • Semi-finalist: Windsor Law- Scott Buchanan and Roy Gentles

2012 Competition Date

The inaugural competition took place at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law downtown Toronto campus on Friday, October 5 and Saturday, October 6, 2012.

Rules/Procedures

A new version of the rules is currently being drafted for the 2013 competition.

Teams

16 teams from 8 law schools across Canada participated in the inaugural competition. The following schools were represented:

  • British Columbia- 2 teams
  • McGill- 2 teams
  • Ottawa- 2 teams
  • Queen's- 2 teams
  • Toronto- 1 team
  • Western- 2 teams
  • Windsor- 2 teams
  • Saskatchewan- 3 teams

NHL CBA

Here is a link to the current NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement: NHL CBA

Sample Briefs

Sam Gagner Player Brief

Ondrej Pavelec Club Brief

Guest Arbitrators

The following individuals served as guest judges in the 2012 HACC:

  • Clifford Hart, Partner, Miller Thomson
  • Andre Nowakowski, Partner, Miller Thomson
  • Rahim Suleiman, Associate, Heenan Blaikie
  • Brad Ross, Partner, Goodmans
  • Rand Simon, Certified NHL Player Agent, Newport Sports Management Inc.
  • David Goldstein, Associate, Cassels Brock
  • Michael Penman, Partner, Blaney McMurtry
  • Sam Hill, Law Offices of Sam Hill
  • Tom Heintzman, Arbitrator, Arbitration Place
  • Coulter Osborne, Arbitrator, Arbitration Place
  • Dr. Emir Crowne, Associate Professor, University of Windsor, Faculty of Law
  • Gord Kirke, Mediator, Global Resolutions
  • Dave Poulin, Vice-President of Hockey Operations, Toronto Maple Leafs

Symposium

The topics at the inaugural symposium included the NHL labour dispute and ways to improve the salary arbitration process.

The following individuals participated as speakers:

  • Clifford Hart, Partner, Miller Thomson
  • Rahim Suleiman, Associate, Heenan Blaikie
  • Gord Kirke, Mediator, Global Resolutions

Helpful Links/Articles

CapGeek: http://capgeek.com/

NHL: http://www.nhl.com/

NHL Salary Arbitration Explained: http://proicehockey.about.com/od/nhlfreeagents/a/arbitration.htm

Christopher Travascio - President, SELS
Adrian Battiston - Vice President, SELS
utorontosels@gmail.com

This page will be continually updated to provide all the relevant information and documents for the competition.