Peewee checking letter
Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:36 pm
Below is a copy of the letter I have sent by snail mail to both Mn Hockey and USA Hockey. The Mn Hockey next meeting is at the end of April and USA Hockey will meet in June. If you want to try and make a difference then if all who view here I wold encourage you to send a letter voicing your opinion. If each of you can also have 10 of your friends also send a letter and then have them contact 10 of their friends. A massive letter writing campaign is needed. The addresses are:
MINNESOTA HOCKEY
317 WASHINGTON STREET
ST PAUL, MN 55102
(651) 602-5727
(651) 222-1055 FAX
www.minnesotahockey.org
info@minnesotahockey.org
USA Hockey, Inc.
Walter L. Bush, Jr. Center
1775 Bob Johnson Drive
Colorado Springs, CO 80906-4090
Phone: (719) 576-USAH (8724)
Fax: (719) 538-1160
usahockey.com
usah@usahockey.org
To all,
I would like to offer my opinions on the current proposal put forth by USA Hockey to not allow checking at the Peewee Level. This was in place for the 1983-1985 seasons and my oldest son was a first year Peewee for the 84-85 season. Unfortunately his coach decided to move up 2 Squirts to the Peewee level and worked the entire seasons practices with drills concentrating on winning and did not even attempt to teach any sort of body contact. Two other coaches and I tried in vain to change this but were ignored and tried to work on this when we had time on our own. The next year checking was back for the Peewee level and because of the size difference I do believe my son would have been hurt more if the checking had been put off till his Bantam years. There were 2 players in their first year of Bantams that received season ending injuries because I believe of the greater size difference and the lack of proper teaching procedures.
I do believe that the hard hitting needs to be removed from the game. There are currently more than enough rules in place to take care of this, it just needs the courage to enforce them by both the officials and coaches to understand. Another issue is if you go back to the 80's,90's and early 2000 there was an effort to call fewer penalties and especially at the High School level hard and heavy hits were rewarded not penalized and there was also a lack of effort in teaching the proper techniques of body contact and body checking and angling. The players of those time periods are now the coaches and referees today.
I have a few proposals to put forward:
1. From USA Hockey a directive to enforce the rules of contact, contact to the head if accidental is a minor penalty plus a 10 minute misconduct. All other head contact Major plus a Game Misconduct. Use the terminology in 604 Board checking to govern excessive hits away from the boards.
2. Starting for the 2011-2012 season all coaches no matter what level must attend a clinic sponsored by USA Hockey first re-learn the techniques needed to body check and then be graded on ice as to their proficiency before their CEP card is re-certified. Also at all clinic levels sufficient time is to be spent on this area.
3. Start the teaching of body contact and allow limited body checking at the Squirt A and B levels.
4. Have independent evaluators' observe different Districts at the A and B Peewee levels and also evaluate the USA coaching clinics to insure the proper techniques are taught.
5. A complete record of penalties and injuries from different leagues throughout the state.
6. A 2 year study on above changes before other changes are put in place.
There was a reason that USA Hockey tried the no check in Peewees during the 1983-1985 season and there was also a reason that checking was put back in place the following season. I do fear that if body checking is removed from the Peewee level there might be coaches who will instead of teaching proper checking techniques and also the proper way to receive a check to protect yourself, take more practice time to work on other parts of the game. Also a player can get a false sense of security as now knowing there are restrictions on checking. By waiting till the Bantam age group there will also be a greater size and physical development factor which could lead to increased injury potential for those players new to checking in game situations.
Yes I did print and sign my name along with mailing address and phone number on the actual letters.
MINNESOTA HOCKEY
317 WASHINGTON STREET
ST PAUL, MN 55102
(651) 602-5727
(651) 222-1055 FAX
www.minnesotahockey.org
info@minnesotahockey.org
USA Hockey, Inc.
Walter L. Bush, Jr. Center
1775 Bob Johnson Drive
Colorado Springs, CO 80906-4090
Phone: (719) 576-USAH (8724)
Fax: (719) 538-1160
usahockey.com
usah@usahockey.org
To all,
I would like to offer my opinions on the current proposal put forth by USA Hockey to not allow checking at the Peewee Level. This was in place for the 1983-1985 seasons and my oldest son was a first year Peewee for the 84-85 season. Unfortunately his coach decided to move up 2 Squirts to the Peewee level and worked the entire seasons practices with drills concentrating on winning and did not even attempt to teach any sort of body contact. Two other coaches and I tried in vain to change this but were ignored and tried to work on this when we had time on our own. The next year checking was back for the Peewee level and because of the size difference I do believe my son would have been hurt more if the checking had been put off till his Bantam years. There were 2 players in their first year of Bantams that received season ending injuries because I believe of the greater size difference and the lack of proper teaching procedures.
I do believe that the hard hitting needs to be removed from the game. There are currently more than enough rules in place to take care of this, it just needs the courage to enforce them by both the officials and coaches to understand. Another issue is if you go back to the 80's,90's and early 2000 there was an effort to call fewer penalties and especially at the High School level hard and heavy hits were rewarded not penalized and there was also a lack of effort in teaching the proper techniques of body contact and body checking and angling. The players of those time periods are now the coaches and referees today.
I have a few proposals to put forward:
1. From USA Hockey a directive to enforce the rules of contact, contact to the head if accidental is a minor penalty plus a 10 minute misconduct. All other head contact Major plus a Game Misconduct. Use the terminology in 604 Board checking to govern excessive hits away from the boards.
2. Starting for the 2011-2012 season all coaches no matter what level must attend a clinic sponsored by USA Hockey first re-learn the techniques needed to body check and then be graded on ice as to their proficiency before their CEP card is re-certified. Also at all clinic levels sufficient time is to be spent on this area.
3. Start the teaching of body contact and allow limited body checking at the Squirt A and B levels.
4. Have independent evaluators' observe different Districts at the A and B Peewee levels and also evaluate the USA coaching clinics to insure the proper techniques are taught.
5. A complete record of penalties and injuries from different leagues throughout the state.
6. A 2 year study on above changes before other changes are put in place.
There was a reason that USA Hockey tried the no check in Peewees during the 1983-1985 season and there was also a reason that checking was put back in place the following season. I do fear that if body checking is removed from the Peewee level there might be coaches who will instead of teaching proper checking techniques and also the proper way to receive a check to protect yourself, take more practice time to work on other parts of the game. Also a player can get a false sense of security as now knowing there are restrictions on checking. By waiting till the Bantam age group there will also be a greater size and physical development factor which could lead to increased injury potential for those players new to checking in game situations.
Yes I did print and sign my name along with mailing address and phone number on the actual letters.