Wheres the Hockey!

[hockeydad11]

Wheres the Hockey!

What is happening to our hockey...

Hep
Fair Play Points
ADM
Blue Pucks
No Checking for Peewees
1:30 Penalties
Coaches must wear helmets (figure skaters don't wear helmets)

Every year we are making the game softer. What is next padded boards and foam pucks. Why wouldn't families go to the Choice league.

[Concerned Hockey Coach]

Wheres the Hockey!

What is happening to our hockey...

Hep
Fair Play Points
ADM
Blue Pucks
No Checking for Peewees
1:30 Penalties
Coaches must wear helmets (figure skaters don't wear helmets)

Every year we are making the game softer. What is next padded boards and foam pucks. Why wouldn't families go to the Choice league.

You point out the pattern, that's for sure. All of these EXCEPT the No Checking in PeeWee's have been window dressing and not affected the kids...

Which is why we need to draw a line in the sand on this checking issue, and while we're at it, we need to stop those in the world who want to mandate numbers on teams and two equal A teams and such... that's all done in the same vein in my opinion - equality and trying to prevent all injuries - both good intended results - are KILLING this game right now at the youth level.

[Mite-dad]

Wheres the Hockey!

What is happening to our hockey...

Hep
Fair Play Points
ADM
Blue Pucks
No Checking for Peewees
1:30 Penalties
Coaches must wear helmets (figure skaters don't wear helmets)

Every year we are making the game softer. What is next padded boards and foam pucks. Why wouldn't families go to the Choice league.

Not a ton of pucks and sticks flying around during figure skating, but I see what you are saying. I know as a coach that I wouldn't want to be out there w/o a helmet personally.

[royals dad]

Goalie masks
Players face shields
Rocker-ed skate blades
Tuks
Curved sticks
Mouth guards
Breakaway nets

Time to go back to Eddie Shore old time hockey. Geez there are even guys in the NHL with there own teeth, they used to get their first bridge at pee-wees.

I remember how painful it was to be a goalie when I was a kid, you would have bruises all over and the back of your head would get nailed all the time. With my equipment now you hardly feel a thing and seldom get a stinger. The good old days were not always good. I don't agree with all the changes but it seems like USAH has decided that really great players are found and not made, most of the changes seem to be aimed at casting a wider net and then keeping them as long as possible. You might disagree with the principle but I think it seems clear that is what they are trying to do.

[Puck Whisperer]

Goalie masks
Players face shields
Rocker-ed skate blades
Tuks
Curved sticks
Mouth guards
Breakaway nets

Time to go back to Eddie Shore old time hockey. Geez there are even guys in the NHL with there own teeth, they used to get their first bridge at pee-wees.

I remember how painful it was to be a goalie when I was a kid, you would have bruises all over and the back of your head would get nailed all the time. With my equipment now you hardly feel a thing and seldom get a stinger. The good old days were not always good. I don't agree with all the changes but it seems like USAH has decided that really great players are found and not made, most of the changes seem to be aimed at casting a wider net and then keeping them as long as possible. You might disagree with the principle but I think it seems clear that is what they are trying to do.

Careful - this thread could go in another direction

[Concerned Hockey Coach]

Goalie masks
Players face shields
Rocker-ed skate blades
Tuks
Curved sticks
Mouth guards
Breakaway nets

Time to go back to Eddie Shore old time hockey. Geez there are even guys in the NHL with there own teeth, they used to get their first bridge at pee-wees.

I remember how painful it was to be a goalie when I was a kid, you would have bruises all over and the back of your head would get nailed all the time. With my equipment now you hardly feel a thing and seldom get a stinger. The good old days were not always good. I don't agree with all the changes but it seems like USAH has decided that really great players are found and not made, most of the changes seem to be aimed at casting a wider net and then keeping them as long as possible. You might disagree with the principle but I think it seems clear that is what they are trying to do.

Good points Royal. Very good.

Can I inquire as to what you are in support of though? Do you really think that eliminating checking is going to keep kids in the game longer? And if so, do you think those same kids will stay in the game through Bantams when they are now forced with hitting for the first time with boys who are the size of grown men?

[O-townClown]

Soccer starts its competitive track with 6-on-6 for U9 & U10. They play with a Size 4 ball. At U11 & U12 it becomes 8-on-8. They do not play 11-on-11 in most areas until U13 (7th grade).

Basketball begins with a shorter goal. Baseball transitions from 60' to 75' to 90' bases as you get older. Football players use a Pee Wee size ball before moving to what you see on TV. Golfers play from forward tees.

If a blue puck, crossice play, or limiting contact means it isn't hockey then we really don't have youth sports at all. Apply that standard across the board and I guess chess is chess, but nothing else matters.

I don't want to watch an 11-year-old run 26.2 miles.

What I like seeing are the smiles kids have when they leave the ice after playing whatever game used to be called hockey.

[royals dad]

Goalie masks
Players face shields
Rocker-ed skate blades
Tuks
Curved sticks
Mouth guards
Breakaway nets

Time to go back to Eddie Shore old time hockey. Geez there are even guys in the NHL with there own teeth, they used to get their first bridge at pee-wees.

I remember how painful it was to be a goalie when I was a kid, you would have bruises all over and the back of your head would get nailed all the time. With my equipment now you hardly feel a thing and seldom get a stinger. The good old days were not always good. I don't agree with all the changes but it seems like USAH has decided that really great players are found and not made, most of the changes seem to be aimed at casting a wider net and then keeping them as long as possible. You might disagree with the principle but I think it seems clear that is what they are trying to do.

Good points Royal. Very good.

Can I inquire as to what you are in support of though? Do you really think that eliminating checking is going to keep kids in the game longer? And if so, do you think those same kids will stay in the game through Bantams when they are now forced with hitting for the first time with boys who are the size of grown men?

Jury is still out for me, I was really against cross ice but after coaching it a few years I see some really big benefits. Same time I think we should do a bit more full ice jamborees for mites just because they are really fun for the kids. Current travel rules get it the way of that, mix it up keep it fun.

As far as hitting in pee wees goes I think maybe hitting is a bit over emphasized at that level. The game might be better with rules closer to the Girls HS rules with body contact but no checking. As we get to the section finals spend 7 bucks and go to parade or aldrich and catch a Girls HS game between 2 top teams. See what you think about how they call the body contact vs checking rules it might change your mind (or might solidify your position). I think people think no check means no contact. There are some pretty cool things kids can do with the puck when they can look down once and awhile going across the middle.

All that said I do like that USAH is at least trying to evolve and make the game better, would be sad to see hockey become even less relevant. It is way to much fun to play and watch.

Sorry about the "made" comment didnt mean to bring that into the thread but I do think it is at the core of what they are trying to do. If Wayne Gretzky was born in Florida he probably would have been an average soccer player who never put on skates. Who knows the next great one might be a 3 year old Asian kid in St Paul or a farm kid by the Iowa border, how do we get skates on more kids? How do we get them hooked on the sport? I think that is what USAH is trying to answer.

[scrapiron]

In Canada they have twice the number of kids playing with a much small population. They don't seem to have soften the game to get kids to play.

We live in the stongest hockey state in the country. I just don't thing we need to change and soften the game.

One other comment: do coaches helmets protect them from pucks and sticks. I think that are supposed to protect them from falling and figure skater fall all the time.

[woodley]

In Canada they have twice the number of kids playing with a much small population. They don't seem to have soften the game to get kids to play.

We live in the stongest hockey state in the country. I just don't thing we need to change and soften the game.

One other comment: do coaches helmets protect them from pucks and sticks. I think that are supposed to protect them from falling and figure skater fall all the time.

Figure skaters don't get undercut by a runaway 12 year old!!

[icnet01]

In Canada they have twice the number of kids playing with a much small population. They don't seem to have soften the game to get kids to play.

Actually in Quebec there is no checking at the PeeWee level. And under review in the city of Calgary in June.

[egf hockey1]

Manitoba starts in Squirts and the reasoning is that they teach them to make contact early before they are big enough to actually hurt somebody by doing it. By the time their players have hit puberty they know how to properly give a hit and how to defend themselves.

[muckandgrind]

Manitoba starts in Squirts and the reasoning is that they teach them to make contact early before they are big enough to actually hurt somebody by doing it. By the time their players have hit puberty they know how to properly give a hit and how to defend themselves.

This makes much more sense to me than banning it at the PW level.

[icnet01]

Manitoba starts in Squirts and the reasoning is that they teach them to make contact early before they are big enough to actually hurt somebody by doing it. By the time their players have hit puberty they know how to properly give a hit and how to defend themselves.

In Manitoba hitting begins at PeeWee this being the birth year of 1999's as first year PeeWees.

[egf hockey1]

Maybe it was Ontario or sasaktwan then. A Team that have came to our Squirt tournament a few years ago was talking to me about the checking rules. Either way it makes more sense to me to start earlier. There are a few big Peewee age kids and I can see where a smaller kid could be scared. If they had already had a few years of experience with chcking they would be better adapted.

[sk8]

....

[hockeydad]

In Canada they have twice the number of kids playing with a much small population. They don't seem to have soften the game to get kids to play.

We live in the stongest hockey state in the country. I just don't thing we need to change and soften the game.

One other comment: do coaches helmets protect them from pucks and sticks. I think that are supposed to protect them from falling and figure skater fall all the time.

I believe the helmet rule was started by Minnesota Hockey a few years ago when a coach (in Duluth??) was hit in the head with a puck and died.

[Cdale]

Everyone is a winner. We all get trophys. We are all equal. Ahhhh the pussification of America trickle down afffect to kids sports.

[iwearmysunglassesatnight]

[quote="hockeydad"][quote="scrapiron"]In Canada they have twice the number of kids playing with a much small population. They don't seem to have soften the game to get kids to play.

We live in the stongest hockey state in the country. I just don't thing we need to change and soften the game.

One other comment: do coaches helmets protect them from pucks and sticks. I think that are supposed to protect them from falling and figure skater fall all the time.[/quote]

I believe the helmet rule was started by Minnesota Hockey a few years ago when a coach (in Duluth??) was hit in the head with a puck and died.[/quote]


that coach had a helmet on, and the rule was in place already. The rule was put in place after a mite coach was clipped from behind by a mite and hit his head. Good rule, i don't mind wearing a brain bucket, and i hope my wife and kids appreciate it.