Three B.C. Junior Lacrosse League teams were forced to forfeit wins following a late Tuesday ruling by the league commissioner.
Victoria and New Westminster both had points taken away from matches in June after allegations of dressing an ineligible player during a game.
Victoria and New Westminster were both stripped of two points following accusations by the league of playing a player who was on another team's holdout list.
Coquitlam was tagged for bringing up goalie Riley Camazolla from junior B without the proper paperwork.
In New West's case, the Salmonbellies played Quinn Smith following a league-approved trade on June 26 with the Nanaimo Timbermen, who previously held the playing rights of the Kamloops junior B player.
Smith did not garner a point in the game he played in New West's 11-4 win over the T-Men on June 28.
An appeal of the commissioner's ruling to an independent three-person committee was also denied later Tuesday night.
"Our argument is I didn't have him on a holdout list, so effectively he's a free agent," said New West general manager Doug Zack.
At dispute is a league aggreement that states a team must place a player on a list to be deemed a holdout. Zack maintains that was never done by the Salmonbellies in Smith's case.
Junior A commissioner Al Lang could not be reached for comment.
New West head coach Dan Perreault was disappointed with the appeal ruling and said the league has to clarify its stand to avoid similar incidents in the future.
"For two teams to get caught like that, it tells me the wording is very, very unclear. If that's the rule, we need it in writing," said Perreault following New West's 7-3 win over Port Coquitlam on Tuesday.
The ruling does not alter the playoff implications for any of the affected clubs.
"It's super tight. The way I see it, Wednesday's game (versus Delta) is for second place and Friday's game (in Coquitlam) is for first place. It doesn't make it any more difficult, it just makes me a little more skittish," said Zack.
