Did Dion Have To Go Through This? (Rant)

[hfboardsuser]

Okay, my brother is nowhere near the talent of Phaneuf, but for the Peewee level, he's a dominant physical player.

For all I and the refs can tell, he's a clean hitter. Not been called yet this season for such a check despite laying 4-5 massive ones a game.

Yet for some reason or another, the moment the kid he lays out recovers from the hit- and by this time my brother will be back in the play- the victim will go right after him with a punch. It happened twice last game and once again today. It's disgusting to watch.

Being this his first year at the Peewee level, is this something to expect for the rest of the season and next? I don't recall ever seeing that in Bantam or Midget, and it frankly scares me. Sure, he has a helmet on, but if a kid decides to sucker him from behind, it won't matter- he could still be seriously hurt.

I'm glad that both times, penalties were called. I'm just extremely surprised at the frequency of it. Where are kids this age picking that up?

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[BCCHL inactive]

It's pretty simple really. Kids at the Peewee age think that they can run anybody and not get penalties (for the most part), and they think that anytime they are touched, whoever hit them should get a penalty.

I called a peewee game this morning, and I must have called at least half-a-dozen slashing and roughing penalties in retaliation for clean bodychecks.

It all comes down to coaching and teaching the players not only how to bodycheck properly, but how to take a check as well. That is simply not happening on both sides of the coin.

 

[Joe Cole]

I see this too. There are two issues....

1- if a small player gets hit, a penalty is more easily called. Big guys have to take the hacks and slashes in stride, ofcourse retaliation is an instant penalty for a big guy. This is a stupid double standard that almost ALL refs seems to live by.

2- no one can accept a hit anymore. As soon as someone gets clocked, clean hit or not, they retaliate. Players should realize that this is a contact sport. When you get hit cleanly, you shut your trap, pick up your stick and continue playing. It is a team game, stop focussing on yourself and how YOU put YOURSELF in a position to be knocked off the puck, and start trying to help your team.

 

[NyQuil]

Considering that you see it in the NHL now, kids tend to ape what they see their idols do.

 

[Yertle The Turtle]

I play Midget A hockey and I am the teams heavy hitter at 6'2. I lay 2-3 kids out a game and most of the time the player will yell some profanity at me or try to slash or hook me while hes on the ice. I think it has alot to do with a players pride. You dont feel very big after you get laid out

 

[hfboardsuser]

It's great to hear all these different viewpoints- from a ref, to a player in a same role, to Joe Cole and Nyquil (Parents, casual fans, family of Peewee players? Good stuff).

Flyerfreak, would you have any suggestions as to what my brother can do to avoid this kind of stuff, if anything? I doubt anything would work besides instilling greater fear in the opposition, something he's managed to do to a few players on every team he's faced.

Pride is perhaps the biggest factor here, but I've seen the whole spectrum: kids who don't want to get involved in the play for fear of being flattened as soon as they put their head down, the cheap-shot players, and those that simply take the hit, get up, and keep on going.

 

[Heat McManus]

I play Midget A hockey and I am the teams heavy hitter at 6'2. I lay 2-3 kids out a game and most of the time the player will yell some profanity at me or try to slash or hook me while hes on the ice. I think it has alot to do with a players pride. You dont feel very big after you get laid out

Best of luck to you. Sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders.

I coached HS for the two seasons preceding this one and I noticed this trend too. I agree, a lot of players just don't like getting hit because they feel like they've been one-up'd. Best thing is for coaches/parents/teamates to remind them that if you play this game and plan on coming into contact with the puck then sooner or later you will be hit. And yes, sometime or another you may be hit HARD!! The best thing you can do is get up and play harder. Shake it off, score a goal, make a hit, something productive. Putting yourself in the box, or an opponent in the hospital is not going to help your team.

 

[Greg7]

Well I coach a Peewee team, and I think the main thing is it's the kids' first year of being hit (for at least half of them), and they don't like it. They simply get angry and retaliate without thinking. What I've seen usually doesn't go as far as what you're saying, they usually just get up and maybe push the guy as they go down the ice or something, but it's the same idea. I just tell the kids that being hit is part of the game, and not to retaliate but to take a lesson from it and keep their heads up. Once they get used to being hit it will probably become less frequent, which is what is already happening on my team.

If your brother really is laying guys out with huge hits though, it will probably always continue at least a little bit just because kids, and indeed many hockey players of all ages, don't like it and never get used to getting completely clocked, and they react. It might not be right, but providing he isn't having to deal with anything more than a little bit of roughing (not sucker punches, vicious slashes etc), at least he's drawing penalties.

 

[grapeshine]

There really isn't much your brother can do. Tell him to keep his cool. The refs have a good idea about which players are cheap and which ones aren't, and the guys who are hitting him back might get the odd cheap shot in, but they'll get called more often than not. I went through this when I was younger and my coach gave me some excellent advice: if a guy does something cheap to you after a hard hit, keep his number in mind and next time hit him twice as hard.

 

[Transported Upstater]

I don't mind if I receive a good, clean hit.

Dirtys plays result in me playing dirty. I'm a skinny guy with a short fuse, and had a tendency of getting involved in a lot of stick-related penalties due to retaliation.


EDIT: I mean, a lot. I only would play dirty if someone else started it first, but I did a lot of things that I regret, mainly due to my aforementioned short fuse.

 

[Jack Canuck]

Kids are nuts it is that simple. A lot of them are trying to prove they are tough. I remember watching my brothers games at that age and there were literally times when there were more guys in the penalty box than in the teams bench.

 

[KariyaIsGod*]

Kids are nuts it is that simple. A lot of them are trying to prove they are tough. I remember watching my brothers games at that age and there were literally times when there were more guys in the penalty box than in the teams bench.

It's true. Kids are crazy. I talk a lot of smack when I play and really sometimes verbally humiliate my opponents. It's pretty normal for the victim to fly off the handle and take a shot at me. It's not just kids though, it's been like that from when I played as a kid to now playing against older guys...

 

[LoudmouthHemskyfan#1]

It's terrible even being a moderately big guy in Midget and Bantam. Nothing but HEAD BUTTS from the little guys who can't take a hit so instead they come up right under your chin and whack you with the top of the helmet on purpose. If anyone wants to know why big elbow pads are handy, that's why.

Nothing like knocking out a small guy with a clean hit after he's just head-butted you. That sure was satisfying....jerk.

 

[Pensfan86]

this may sound dumb, but i think alot of it has to do with the fact that players are wearing a shield at a younger age...my cousin played junior a for a number of years and has since moved onto NCAA Division 1...once he remarked how the "cheap stuff" that seemed to go away in juniors has since returned in ncaa, largely due to the fact that everyone is wearinga shield and feels invincible, so to speak....just a thought, but it makes some sense

 

[MiZZZike*]

Tell your bro if someone retaliates on him to hand out some more punishment, the rule is once someone punches you you have the right to go crazy.

 

[donelikedinner]

tell your brother to keep his hits big and clean, but to always be ready to defend himself.

personally i was a decent hitter playing D back in the day, and usually 3-4 times a year i had to scrap some kid i'd flattened, or a teammate of his. if you hit hard and don't back down, the word usually gets around and the cheap garbage goes way down (but never away).