Ontario Removes Body Contact from Rec Hockey

[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.

We have

AAA

AA

A

B

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

Sounds about right.

[iceNsteel 0]

In my view the purpose of youth hockey is to allow kids to play and learn the game of hockey. Checking is part of that game and without checking hockey is fundamentally altered. Perhaps not as much as if you took tackling out of football, but it changes the game. I don't see why kids of lesser skill level need to be denied the opportunity to play the game as it was meant to be played. If you view youth hockey as just a means for developing elite hockey players that will play in the NHL, I got some bad news for you: the vast majority of kids playing rep hockey will never make it to the Div I college or major junior level. Let alone play at the NHL level. This attitude that youth hockey is, and should be, player development for elite levels is the reason we see this idiocy like "my kid plays AAA tier 1 elite selects squirt hockey." Takes all the fun out of the game for everyone when it's just about junior getting that scholarship or fat NHL contract.

[tro 4]

The problem in my mind isn't the contact, its the kids who just want to drill other kids, think they"ll make the highlight reel. I went to a Div 1 PeeWee game couple weeks back, good solid hits all over the ice, kids taking the hit, no one getting hurt and then you have 2-3 kids on each team flying around the ice trying to be Raffi Torres. Resulted in 2 kids having to be basically carried of the ice, most likely with a concuss.

Is one kid from this game going pro? odds are no, this was Div 1 finals, so some good players, that will move to AAA and then on. So I get hitting in the highest level.

But I imagine in Div 2-3-4 you also have kids flying around trying to knock heads off. Why should kids with really no chance of playing college, jr or pro hockey, take hits that could effect their well being down the road, when they should just be playing for fun and exercise.

I've talked to a number of parents who have teenagers that have quit hockey, #1 reason they quit, they didn't want to get drilled anymore.

I know big tough manly men, will say "pussies, hockey is a tough contact game", ok, even Mike Milbury has changed his stance after witnessing the effect conuss could have.

My kid plays novice, small guy, circled around and collided with a giant of a kid, my little guy went flying and stayed down, as a parent your heart sinks, he was fine, but when you see your kid lying there, non-hitting seems like a good idea. Now if that kid was throwing a hit, who knows how my kid would have been, same or concuss?

I think even in non-contact they should still teach proper hitting, even allowing minor contact, but have a body checking penalty, my mens league is full of contact, but like most leagues, hitting is a penalty and drilling is a major.

And allow the top tiers to continue as is, but with the intent to injure hit being inforced more often.

Edit: Add, you hear a lot in men's league when someone gets hit, "We all have to go to work tommorrow!" Well kids have to go to school, play and grow up and do other things than play hockey. Why can't kids have fun, exercise, enjoy the team atmosphere without the worry of getting drilled?

I hope my kid is good enough to play top tier, contact hockey, but if not, why should he get layed out.

[iceNsteel 0]

Then why don't you put your kids in soccer? Sans body checking there's still the reality that youth hockey is kids on ice (which is harder than concrete), moving at speeds well in excess of what they could run at, surrounded by solid boards, with a hard puck, and sticks going everywhere. There's lot's of room for serious injury even if you reduce hockey for the low skill players to a bunch of kids with no other defense than poke checking. A kid with no future in hockey would be much safer playing recreational soccer or tennis. If parents are that concerned about injuries hockey just isn't the right sport for that family.

[Chadd 916]

Without checking in lower level youth hockey, how will we develop the next generation of junior C goons?

[hunterphfr 12]

As a Canadian who's kid is about to be affected by the decision of USA hockey I am very concerned for an entire generation of kids about to grow up moving through the neutral zone looking down as they make some sick dangle and a 14 year old moves them back into next week. I have a teammate who grew up in Colorado and they had a rule only hip checks were allowed up to a certain age. Seems ideal to me. It still makes contact a part of the game, removes head contact from the equation, requires one to keep his head up while carrying the puck and allows mastery of one of hockeys toughest skills. My understanding based on USAs hockey rhetoric is Millbury's kid is a little bitty dude and got drilled on his introduction to contact hockey. Their words, not mine.

[SirJW 207]

USA Hockey considering changes too.

http://www.usahockey.com//Template_Usahockey.aspx?NAV=ET_03&ID=299508

[tro 4]

Then why don't you put your kids in soccer? Sans body checking there's still the reality that youth hockey is kids on ice (which is harder than concrete), moving at speeds well in excess of what they could run at, surrounded by solid boards, with a hard puck, and sticks going everywhere. There's lot's of room for serious injury even if you reduce hockey for the low skill players to a bunch of kids with no other defense than poke checking. A kid with no future in hockey would be much safer playing recreational soccer or tennis. If parents are that concerned about injuries hockey just isn't the right sport for that family.

They play soccer, thanks, concussions happen there to. I'm not trying to put my kid in bubble wrap and scream "dont touch him", what I am saying is there is no need for my kid or any other kid to have his brain sloshed around because some have this idea that without hitting it aint hockey.

I played a game tonight, no hitting, everyone had fun, still competitive hard game, wow, think it was still hockey.

How many adults here play contact men's league? why? "i'm not going to the pros, don't get paid, need to work", guess what 99.9% of house league and 99.0% top tier kids will never sniff the pro's, get paid, and do another job. Yet we expect are kids to smack heads together.

I could link article, studies about the effects of concuss, especially when the trauma happens to yths, I have read a lot in the last year, the Dr are just starting to really see the effects. I played top tier hockey, high school football, knocked hard a number of times and was told to get back on, now I get slightly bumped and I have a concuss, the Dr has no idea if its from the knocks I took as a kid but they don't rule it out, Dr can't tell me if the concuss I have had will effect me in 10-20-30 yrs, but science is showing it might. Is my life better because I played contact sports, no, could my life be worse because of it, maybe, and that's kind of scary.

But I am sure a good number will still argue hitting is integral in all levels, which is cool. So I'll leave it at that.

I just feel that steps like this, will increase(not eliminate) the chance that kids, who purely play for fun, will go through hockey without long lasting brain injuries and possibly play longer (so many quit around age 16, girls and house league goons).

[jcp2 2]

There's a youth league (XL Hockey) in Minnesota that has no checking. I read about it in an older issue of USA Hockey magazine. It seems to work as a missing link between house league and beer league.

[iceNsteel 0]

They play soccer, thanks, concussions happen there to. I'm not trying to put my kid in bubble wrap and scream "dont touch him", what I am saying is there is no need for my kid or any other kid to have his brain sloshed around because some have this idea that without hitting it aint hockey.

I played a game tonight, no hitting, everyone had fun, still competitive hard game, wow, think it was still hockey.

How many adults here play contact men's league? why? "i'm not going to the pros, don't get paid, need to work", guess what 99.9% of house league and 99.0% top tier kids will never sniff the pro's, get paid, and do another job. Yet we expect are kids to smack heads together.

I could link article, studies about the effects of concuss, especially when the trauma happens to yths, I have read a lot in the last year, the Dr are just starting to really see the effects. I played top tier hockey, high school football, knocked hard a number of times and was told to get back on, now I get slightly bumped and I have a concuss, the Dr has no idea if its from the knocks I took as a kid but they don't rule it out, Dr can't tell me if the concuss I have had will effect me in 10-20-30 yrs, but science is showing it might. Is my life better because I played contact sports, no, could my life be worse because of it, maybe, and that's kind of scary.

But I am sure a good number will still argue hitting is integral in all levels, which is cool. So I'll leave it at that.

I just feel that steps like this, will increase(not eliminate) the chance that kids, who purely play for fun, will go through hockey without long lasting brain injuries and possibly play longer (so many quit around age 16, girls and house league goons).

I've played junior hockey at a decent level, played football in high school, rugby in HS and college, and lacrosse in HS and college. Never had a single concussion, and I'm no stranger to hard hits. Some people just seem to prone to them, and others are not as prone to concussions. Sure, even 10 years ago concussions weren't being treated as seriously as they should have been. It's not like you were going to live forever without the concussions. I don't know about you, but no one expected me to go out and hit hard. I did it because I had a hell of a good time doing it. Gauging from the way you talk about it seems like you didn't especially enjoy contact sports. Most boys do enjoy that aspect of the game, and taking it away from them because they've been deemed to have no future in hockey is wrong.

I've seen as many kids get concussions from catching a chip in the ice and going down hard as I have from checking. It happens a lot in beer league hockey as well. There's simply no argument about taking checking out of house league because the kids don't a future that couldn't be made about rep hockey either. Of all the years I played competitive hockey I've never met anyone that made it to the NHL. A few guys made some WHL teams for their juniors and a couple went on to play in the ECHL. Kids should be able to check because it's a fun part of hockey. The fact that with a world of players competing for roster spots on 30 NHL teams means they likely don't have a future shouldn't get in their way. If you don't feel contact sports add anything to life you can put your kids in basketball for their winter sport. There are lots of options for kids that don't want to play a contact sport.

[Chadd 916]

I've seen as many kids get concussions from catching a chip in the ice and going down hard as I have from checking.

You must have some really bad ice there. If you watch three high school games on a friday night around here, you will see at least one concussion and more often than not someone won't be able to leave the ice under their own power.

[mfd1068 0]

Without checking in lower level youth hockey, how will we develop the next generation of junior C goons?

Good one!!!

[AIREAYE 248]

Good one!!!

yeah, 'cause kids playing house league will go on to play junior C...

[ponder 0]

Virtually no house leagues have contact anyways, and IMO it's totally fine that house leagues (and beer leagues, for that matter) are non-contact. Hockey is still extremely fun without contact, and for a lot of kids it's actually MORE fun without contact. The more aggressive/competitive kids will play rep hockey, where there is plenty of hitting.

Select should have contact though, since a decent number of players move up from select to single A or high school, so they need to learn how to hit and be hit.

[JayLums 0]

It's a shame for house rep players who want the contact to stay. But it's an across-the-board ruling, so there's no fault there.

When I first heard the news, I though Ontario was taking contact out of its hockey altogether. Which meant I was calling it the first sign of the apocolypse.

[MrWizard 0]

I think it's a smart move. Realistically, the large majority of these kids do not have a future in hockey. If you're playing house league, your chances are basically 0, so why even bother with the risks associated with hitting? I appreciate that it's a part of the game, but it's not necessary in low level hockey.

[JayLums 0]

I think it's a smart move. Realistically, the large majority of these kids do not have a future in hockey. If you're playing house league, your chances are basically 0, so why even bother with the risks associated with hitting? I appreciate that it's a part of the game, but it's not necessary in low level hockey.

Mr Wizard, well put.

[reverseit 0]

Quebec does not allow body checking in house league either.

Kind of a tangent here but, I had a discussion with a buddy who came up through the Quebec hockey system, played Jr there and eventually played a couple of seasons pro in europe before throwing in the towel. He mentioned that in Quebec contact is introduced a couple of years later than in the rep levels of Ontario (14 vs 12 I think, it's been a while). Select hockey in Ontario also introduced hitting at the same age as Quebec. He's coaching AAA kids here in Ontario and his stance is that Ontario needs to bump contact back a couple of years like Quebec's system. He also mentioned kids here play the body a lot more than Quebec minor hockey players do. So this whole issue with minor hockey and contact in Ontario might be a consequence of the style of hockey that's played here more than anything else.

[flaming_june 2]

If the kids and the coaches like it then it's great. This shouldn't even be a discussion since most of it is already non contact.