Coaches: Hockey Alberta Eliminates Body Checking at the Pee Wee Level

[Canadiens1958]

From the Globe and Mail. Alberta a positive step favouring hockey development:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...ychecking-in-peewee-division/article11779994/

Comments appreciated.

Click to read more...

 

[Skip2myBordyloo]

this is absolutely insane, what happens when the 13 year old's who make's bantam triple AAA come up and play bantam with a group of kids who know how to hit and they need to learn on the fly how to play the physical game, they are going to get ruined.

 

[snizzbone*]

I'm sure the higher end players will take body checking clinics and the sorts.

In BC, all house league hockey is non-contact. Let's the rep kids hit but the beginners / kids who dont wanna get killed play.

 

[Canadiens1958]

Well.........

this is absolutely insane, what happens when the 13 year old's who make's bantam triple AAA come up and play bantam with a group of kids who know how to hit and they need to learn on the fly how to play the physical game, they are going to get ruined.

Youngsters playing Pee Wee in 2012-13 moving up to Bantam for 2013-14 will have contact experience.

Bantam AAA if available in a jurisdiction is usually divided Minor - first year Bantams and Major - second year Bantams. As you can see the change will always be accompanied by a level playing field where all kids have equal backgrounds at the start of the season. No youngster at no point will be learning on the fly as you claim.

Teaching Bantams to body check.at the AAA level requires about a month if the coaches know the proper techniques and can actually teach.

 

[Jarick]

From what I've seen at the Pee Wee level, as soon as they can hit, that's all they want to do.

 

[UpGoesRupp]

Half the reason some of these kids quit is because they have skill but get in over their head physically and suffer from the culture shock and/or get injured. It needs to be established that contact is scary as long as the proper training is taught.

 

[Fanned On It]

I kind of feel like this is a bad thing... I've heard a few coaches/parents around here talking about it and agreeing with my line of thinking as well.

 

[Bruwinz37]

I kind of feel like this is a bad thing... I've heard a few coaches/parents around here talking about it and agreeing with my line of thinking as well.

USA hockey has done this as well. Many people felt the same way you do, but its more based on fear of change and not any real research or actual facts.

 

[Hockey RUS]

Hockey has changed in the last 20-30 years.

I believe "out of the box" thinking about the role of contact is important. Kids do not need to know how to hit in Atome or Peewee. Actually, contact should not be allowed until Bantam and when most kids have physically developed.

The equipment kids wear now are weapons. The hard plastic elbow and shoulder pads etc..

A huge problem is there are alot of kids with limited skill level who make competitive teams because of the intimidation factor.

I often wonder what a non-checking league would look like of the top Bantam players. Guaranteed it would be entertaining.

We have been putting brawn over skill ahead for too long.

I can easily see the day where there will be no contact at any age unless at the "elite" level.

 

[HIFE]

Interesting. As noted USA hockey implemented these changes over a year ago, I suppose this is a trend that parents/coaches and even Mike Milbury endorse.

I'm on the fence with this. On one hand I can see giving children the freedom to develop their skills without fear of annihilation. Checking later or not at all could be more fun for ones who are not physically agressive.

The older-school side of myself is saddened by the changes. It is(always was) a mean, rough, physical sport. Without checking you'll have more Pee-wee's thinking they can dangle/deke, watching the puck, admiring their pass, until they finally get laid out in Bantam. I don't see how checking could distract from all the other basic skills needed for ice hockey. One idea is that we should learn body checking in Pee-Wee, when youths are slower, so that once you're 13 you have a basic idea of what's coming at you.

In my time body checks were the #1 aspect of the game. Watching a lot of OHL hockey shows that not a lot has changed, just the skill underneath the huge, rocking, open ice checks. It makes for less offense, but it keeps hockey players honest. You shouldn't be able to walk through the crease and not get lit up. Without checking scores of games could be like 15-10, which isn't horrible it's just different than what I know hockey to be.

 

[leer2006]

I don't think body contact is the problem. The real problem is the amount of difference in the size of players in the pee-wee and bantam age groups. My son plays AAA spring pee-wee and is 4'8" and 75lbs. He has a team mate who is 5'11 and 180 lbs. These kids during these years are all over the place when it comes to size. Now my son has no issues with the physical stuff and gives it just as much as he takes it. Plus he plays defence. If he goes into the corner with a player that size it is almost always a head hit.
I also think that 90% of the bad hits that kids get can be controlled and that alot of them come from Ref's during games not controling the hitting from the outset. If a kid gets away with a dirty hit early in a game and the ref's don't call it they continue to make hits like that untill someone gets hurt.

 

[TieClark]

Very, very stupid idea to eliminate body checking at young ages. Before I go on I'm talking about rep levels, house league shouldn't have body contact because they don't have the fundamental skills to control their actions at all times. At rep though, the younger the BETTER for contact. Kids need to LEARN how to throw a hit, receive a hit, play with body contact. Starting at a younger age reduces the frequency and severity of hits drastically... 2 10 year olds under 100 pounds running into each other has a lot less damage than a 14 year old starting high school where the size difference can be absolutely massive does.

 

[TieClark]

From what I've seen at the Pee Wee level, as soon as they can hit, that's all they want to do.

You don't think that would be true for bantam as well when they're now 2 years older and more developed?

 

[Trevor3]

Hockey has changed in the last 20-30 years.

I believe "out of the box" thinking about the role of contact is important. Kids do not need to know how to hit in Atome or Peewee. Actually, contact should not be allowed until Bantam and when most kids have physically developed.

The equipment kids wear now are weapons. The hard plastic elbow and shoulder pads etc..

A huge problem is there are alot of kids with limited skill level who make competitive teams because of the intimidation factor.

I often wonder what a non-checking league would look like of the top Bantam players. Guaranteed it would be entertaining.

We have been putting brawn over skill ahead for too long.

I can easily see the day where there will be no contact at any age unless at the "elite" level.

I really hope not. Personally, I don't see how a player can develop into an elite player and make the jump to AAA if they do not know how to hit and everyone else does. We're basically streaming the system so that elite players are picked for AAA in peewee and ensuring that there is a physical element to the game which nobody else will get to experience, making it near impossible for someone to make the jump later, say in Bantam.

Just as an aside, for the many people who say that checking deters players, St. John's NL tried to create a no-checking division last fall. The numbers were so low that there weren't even enough for one house league team, so the division was folded within a month.