Ontario Removes Body Contact from Rec Hockey

[jds 20]

Here's the offical release:

The Ontario Hockey Federation’s (OHF) Minor Council met on Friday April 29th to discuss the minor programs and among the topics was body checking in recreational hockey.

The OHF Minor Council unanimously endorsed the following motion:

Effective the 2011 – 2012 season body checking will be removed from all age divisions of House League and House League Select hockey.

House League and House League Select make up the majority of the OHF playing membership. The majority of House League hockey was already non body checking, which made it practical to standardize the rule across the entire membership. The extension of this decision to House League Select was similarly practical since Select teams are formed out of House League registered hockey players.

The OHF continues to review the delivery of all levels of hockey in order to create a safe and fun environment for all of its participants. Removing body checking at House League and House League Select is a positive decision for player recruitment and safety.

The removal creates a safer environment for new players that join the game at any age to develop the fundamental skills of skating and puck handling without the concern of being intentionally hit by another player.

At the end of the day hockey is a sport intended to give health benefits and life lessons to participants, and the OHF wants to highlight these core attributes of the game. With this new rule change, more players and parents will feel safer in these leagues and bring the focus back to the basics of the ‘good old hockey game’.

The OHF is one of three Hockey Canada Branches operating in the Province of Ontario and is the largest of all thirteen across Canada. The OHF is comprised of seven Member Partners and has a membership base that represents over forty percent of Hockey Canada.

[W.Heinle 0]

Just common sense IMHO. No need for body checking in houseleague and/or select hockey.

I'd even say no need for body checking below AA.

[jds 20]

Just common sense IMHO. No need for body checking in houseleague and/or select hockey.

I'd even say no need for body checking below AA.

What about the kids who begin to excel in select and have the opportunity to play rep but have never had any introduction to contact and end up way behind in that skill set?

[bigdmac 12]

What about the kids who begin to excel in select and have the opportunity to play rep but have never had any introduction to contact and end up way behind in that skill set?

I agree with that. Take it out of house league, but the purpose of select is to prepare the players for any future in rep hockey, which is, and always should be contact.

[shotty 7]

just because the kids aren't the most competitive in their age group doesn't mean they should be segregated from the full experience of ice hockey. what leagues should do is put on hitting clinics to show these kids how, when and where to use body contact. body checking was introduced to me at the bantam level. it was my 2nd year of rep as a 1st year Bantam player and pretty much all of the 1st year bantams had no idea how to hit and were pretty scared of that aspect of the game -- so our coach spent the first two FULL practises of the season working on technique for giving and receiving hits in certain areas of the ice. the fact of the matter is that kids need to be taught that hitting has a time and a place within the game. to the hockey world, house league players may not be playing for anything, but to them it's competition and all rules should be the same across all tiers within each level.

[jds 20]

The trend seems to be going towards rep hockey and the hell with the unskilled kids. I love the idea of house league because it gives everyone a chance to play. Kids who do well AND want to pursue a higher level have the option to play rep. I know several kids who play with my kids who could easily play rep but have no desire to because they want to play with their school friends a couple of times a week and not devote the extra hours to rep. I think they should get to experience "real" hockey and that means hitting at a certain age. Our local association holds several hitting clinics to prepare the kids the year before they are allowed to hit and again at the beginning of the year when they are allowed to hit.Where I live, the talk from the various governing bodies is always around development of good hockey players and how to facilitate better rep programs with little concern for house league. Having said that, after every World's or Olympics where Canada doesn't take the gold, there is always a lot of nationwide complaining about how we aren't developing players as well as we should. The offshoot of that is that the governing bodies do what they can to improve that and that tends to mean rep hockey programs.It's a double-edged sword and unfortunately the pure fun of the sport that is what house league is all about tends to get overlooked.

[automorph 0]

that is sad, takes away from the sport and will leave many kids without developing protective, balance and vision skills

[iceNsteel 0]

Checking is a part of the basics of hockey. At the adult rec level no checking is completely appropriate because the players have an interest in minimizing the potential for injuries. At the youth level it's a fundamental hockey skill, and this decision will only serve to deny players the chance to learn and potentially advance. Hockey participation probably isn't much of an issue in Canada, but if American associations start following suit there's just one clear message: if you aren't playing rep hockey you may as well just quit. This would be akin to just making every high school JV team a flag football team. The player development system is already way too focused on assigning some kids to the "have a potential future" group, and a lot more to the "house league you might as well just quit" group at way too young an age. Sadly in a lot of cases that's exactly what happens, kids quit hockey.

[mtc 0]

Hitting is part of the sport and i dont think they should take it away. Just because your in house doesn't mean anything. There are amazing players in house league who can easily make a rep team but their parents just cant commit to it. Thats the same as saying if you arent in a high level football team, you can only play tag football.

[jds 20]

The player development system is already way too focused on assigning some kids to the "have a potential future" group, and a lot more to the "house league you might as well just quit" group at way too young an age. Sadly in a lot of cases that's exactly what happens, kids quit hockey.

Exactly. Elitism in sport warps the true nature of sport which is recreation and participation. We have become so result oriented that kids without great skills are relegated to the sidelines as a waste of time and energy. They aren't products to be developed. We play sports as a diversion. We watch sports as a diversion. Some can make a living at this but the vast majority do it for fun. The hockey parent is also a product of this mindset.

[W.Heinle 0]

Just common sense IMHO. No need for body checking in houseleague and/or select hockey.

I'd even say no need for body checking below AA.

What about the kids who begin to excel in select and have the opportunity to play rep but have never had any introduction to contact and end up way behind in that skill set?

I agree with that. Take it out of house league, but the purpose of select is to prepare the players for any future in rep hockey, which is, and always should be contact.

No kid from houseleague will move straight to AAA. Even moving from A to AAA is a big stretch.

There was a kid at my son's AAA tryouts this year who over the last 3 years moved from houseleague to AE to A and next year to AA. The kid is nowhere near AAA level at this point. Might be next year, but not this year.

My son has been playing AAA since he started minor hockey and will be going into his minor bantam year .

I have yet to see a player moving from AA to AAA and have an impact on the game. The ones I have seen were intimidated in the first year and the majority ended up going back to AA.

Adjusting to the higher speed and skill of the next level is plenty for the kids to handle, throw in hitting and a lot of them will lose their confidence and revert back.

[17D1998 1]

AKA NHL Draft 2020: No Ontarians drafted in the first round for the 4th year in a row!

[W.Heinle 0]

AKA NHL Draft 2020: No Ontarians drafted in the first round for the 4th year in a row!

How many players were drafted from houseleague to juniors and then to the NHL over the last say...20 years or so?

[ndlancer95 0]

David Perron

[W.Heinle 0]

David Perron

Quebec does not allow body checking in house league either.

[jds 20]

Minor hockey doesn't exist to feed the NHL or national teams? We need to keep that part in mind. Yes I would love to have Canada win every World Championships, Olympic gold medal and be the dominant nation in hockey for my own patriotic pride. BUT I would rather have more kids play real hockey and enjoy themselves simply because it is a great sport if I had to choose one outcome over the other. House league allows for that to happen. There are tons of benefits to playing sports and why should kids be excluded from the opportunity because they aren't stars and I fear that is the path we may be headed down as our priorities revolve strictly around development.

[mfd1068 0]

Well there is no need for a separate girls league now!. They can all just play together. I don't really get it, in the era I played minor hockey, we could hit from the minute we stepped on the ice in tyke. My coaches at every level instructed us to hit and take hits. It was just part of the game. I don't recall anyone getting seriously hurt. It was never the focus in the game,winning was. Why does everyone want to change the game? Its hockey, they shoot,score,skate hit and yes Virginia..even fight, I'm just old and frustrated lol!

[Chadd 916]

Well there is no need for a separate girls league now!. They can all just play together. I don't really get it, in the era I played minor hockey, we could hit from the minute we stepped on the ice in tyke. My coaches at every level instructed us to hit and take hits. It was just part of the game. I don't recall anyone getting seriously hurt. It was never the focus in the game,winning was. Why does everyone want to change the game? Its hockey, they shoot,score,skate hit and yes Virginia..even fight, I'm just old and frustrated lol!

What you missed was the fact that hitting is the most important thing about the game now, not the other stuff. And they all want to hit like the pros.

[jds 20]

What you missed was the fact that hitting is the most important thing about the game now, not the other stuff. And they all want to hit like the pros.

True enough. And there are plenty of misdirected coaches who focus on making big hits. I know an excellent coach who teaches hitting as just another tool on the ice and to not go after guys just to hit. If you there is some effort to properly teach kids how to hit and how to take a hit you can reduce the number of injuries that are becoming more common rather than just banning it at lower levels. The beauty of house league is that it lets everyone try the game and house league select lets kids try a more competitive level if they choose to without having to commit the time and money to rep.

[twolinepass 0]

What is house league select?

[mfd1068 0]

In today's Toronto Sun http://www.torontosun.com/2011/05/05/ban-body-checks-gimme-a-break

[W.Heinle 0]

What is house league select?

It's a team made up of the best players of an age group from a houseleague. The play in another league on top of HL and do some tourneys.

[goblue9280 33]

It's a team made up of the best players of an age group from a houseleague. The play in another league on top of HL and do some tourneys.

Seems like that would be the perfect place to introduce checking. Take checking out of the house league, keep it in selects so that the top kids who could possibly move up to travel the next year will gain the experience.

[W.Heinle 0]

It's a team made up of the best players of an age group from a houseleague. The play in another league on top of HL and do some tourneys.

Seems like that would be the perfect place to introduce checking. Take checking out of the house league, keep it in selects so that the top kids who could possibly move up to travel the next year will gain the experience.

True, but in most cases the kids playing HL select could probably make a AE or A team if they wanted to play rep hockey, which still has checking in it.

[twolinepass 0]

It's a team made up of the best players of an age group from a houseleague. The play in another league on top of HL and do some tourneys.

We have

AAA

AA

A

B

Here,so I assume selects is around A/B.