landry Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Talking about minor hockey gets me more excited or fired up than watching that dam muskie clubber. Lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenboater Posted March 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 nope, this gets me fired up for the soft water season ! just hate flinging huge wet streamers lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillM Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 what most of you do not realize is the GTHL A hockey is the house league of 20 years ago. None of these kids will ever play hockey for anything other than fun. Many kids quit at this age because of the contact. Also they are still allowing contact just no hitting Played house league (Kiwanis) from the age of 4 to 18. Contact started in Peewee and finished in Midget. There were non-contact leagues that were available for the kids that didn't want to play contact. It's never a bad thing to teach kids when they're young how to properly give and take a hit. It also (in my opinion) really helps their on ice awareness and just gives them better hockey smarts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lew Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 One of the reasons given on the evening news was the huge size difference between kids of that age with some kids weighing twice as much as others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillM Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 One of the reasons given on the evening news was the huge size difference between kids of that age with some kids weighing twice as much as others. I wanna see a 200lb 12 year old out on the ice, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lew Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 (edited) I wanna see a 200lb 12 year old out on the ice, lol. I don't write the news Bill, I just report it LOL Edited March 9, 2015 by lew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKRISONER Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Taking hitting out of leagues where there is no chance of actually becoming a competitive hockey player isnt such a bad thing IMO. Ive watched my friends play bantam A, The game was literally a bunch of guys skating around absolutely trying to kill eachother. There is nothing more to play for except to try hit everyone as hard as you can. In fact the biggest hit ive ever seen in my life was in Bantam A. Whatever you do do not take hitting out of any level of AA or AAA or you are asking for canada to fall wayyyy behind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crappieperchhunter Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 My son played Rep hockey in NewCastle and it was contact. Once there was a tournament in Peterborough we got asked to join last minute because a team bowed out. It was a non contact tournament. We had a solid team with some very physical young lads. No goons just kids that you had to play heads up hockey against. Our first game the kids had a hard time turning off the physical part and there was a few kids that got rubbed out on the boards pretty good. Basically every kid on the Kanata team skated with there heads down. It was brutal to watch. All this talk you hear about leave the hitting out and the other skills will become more developed... well I never saw any evidence of that at this tournament. Frankly I saw the exact opposite. Taking contact out of a contact sport produces a weaker less skilled player. And if you are a true hockey fan it is painful to watch. I told the coach... as did other parents...that if we entered anymore non contact tournaments we would not be attending. He said there was no chance that would ever happen again and it didn't. He hated it as well. I say don't mess with the game. Period. If your truly concerned about the well being of your kids pick another activity that satisfies your criteria for what is physically acceptable. Don't go watering down a sport others already enjoy as it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKRISONER Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 My son played Rep hockey in NewCastle and it was contact. Once there was a tournament in Peterborough we got asked to join last minute because a team bowed out. It was a non contact tournament. We had a solid team with some very physical young lads. No goons just kids that you had to play heads up hockey against. Our first game the kids had a hard time turning off the physical part and there was a few kids that got rubbed out on the boards pretty good. Basically every kid on the Kanata team skated with there heads down. It was brutal to watch. All this talk you hear about leave the hitting out and the other skills will become more developed... well I never saw any evidence of that at this tournament. Frankly I saw the exact opposite. Taking contact out of a contact sport produces a weaker less skilled player. And if you are a true hockey fan it is painful to watch. I told the coach... as did other parents...that if we entered anymore non contact tournaments we would not be attending. He said there was no chance that would ever happen again and it didn't. He hated it as well. I say don't mess with the game. Period. If your truly concerned about the well being of your kids pick another activity that satisfies your criteria for what is physically acceptable. Don't go watering down a sport others already enjoy as it is. curious, what level did your son play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crappieperchhunter Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 curious, what level did your son play? Whatever level Rep hockey was in Newcastle at the time, can't remember. This was 16-17 years ago and he only played in Newcastle for 2 winters before we moved and he played in Bowmanville after that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 I have one grandson playing AAA and one playing A who will progress to AA for the 2015/16 season. I don't understand the logic or the reasoning........... In larger centres isn't A hockey a feeder for AA....... and AA a feeder for AAA? What happens when the AA team in a centre AP's an A player, due to sickness or injury? Coaches are not going to do it if that player doesn't know how to receive a hit never mind deliver one. So development stops. Many professional players have spent time developing their skills in A and AA hockey! In most cases the problem is with the coaching staff and not with the players. I could go on about my thoughts on the GTHL centres, but this is not the forum......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickingfrog Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 I wanna see a 200lb 12 year old out on the ice, lol. I was 5 foot 8 and 180lbs.... I'm still 5'8" but I haven't found a scale that says I'm 180lbs for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 (edited) I wanna see a 200lb 12 year old out on the ice, lol. We have run into a couple Bill that were real close.....goalies though.. Edited March 9, 2015 by John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickingfrog Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Played house league (Kiwanis) from the age of 4 to 18. Contact started in Peewee and finished in Midget. There were non-contact leagues that were available for the kids that didn't want to play contact. It's never a bad thing to teach kids when they're young how to properly give and take a hit. It also (in my opinion) really helps their on ice awareness and just gives them better hockey smarts. Rogers just had a coach on national television say: "You don't have the luxury of working on skills during a hockey practice." Just let that sink in. Skill development is a luxury.... in practice. I don't want to rip on the coach (or coaches). They're volunteers and so many do so much good but they and the parents are too wrapped up in winning instead of developing ability. If skill development is a luxury because systems are what they work on in practice where do you think body checking falls? In utopia many of these ideas might have significance but not here in the real world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lookinforwalleye Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 It was a hot topic when I started coaching in the 80`s....It may get sorted out one day....or maybe not!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Urban Fisherman Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 House League / Local League doesn't need it. It's a place for new kids to the sport to develop the skills they need to try out for competitive hockey. I know kids who are starting their first year hockey in Bantam - right now they need to concentrate on skating and handling a puck. That said, I think it's stupid for them to kill checking for any teams that require tryouts. We fall into the "rural" bracket and even though we have some kids that could easily play AA/AAA hockey in larger centers, we don't have the population to put together a full team of this caliber. It wouldn't be fair to get rid of body checking in Rep or "A" hockey across Ontario. Talented kids from rural areas won't be able to develop the skills needed to move on should they make it beyond minor hockey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillM Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 We have run into a couple Bill that were real close.....goalies though.. Do goalies count? They are all crazy, lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paudash Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 less than 1% of the kids that play AAA will ever cash a check from playing hockey. The only thing we are doing is teaching these kids to play men's league, why have body contact so you can brag about your kid hitting another kid. Watch the games from 40-50 years ago on TV, very little hitting and a lot slower. With the equipment they where today they move way faster and hit a lot harder and the injuries are way worse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillM Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 less than 1% of the kids that play AAA will ever cash a check from playing hockey. The only thing we are doing is teaching these kids to play men's league, why have body contact so you can brag about your kid hitting another kid. Watch the games from 40-50 years ago on TV, very little hitting and a lot slower. With the equipment they where today they move way faster and hit a lot harder and the injuries are way worse If someone isn't going to play in the NFL, should they be playing tackle football? That reasoning is ridiculous. Checking is a skill just like skating and stick handling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenboater Posted March 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 snip... Checking is a skill just like skating and stick handling. This is the nut of it isn't it ? Really good hits are rare in the NHL afaic. The modus operandi seems to be go full bore at whoever has the puck. Do players even know how to throw a good open ice hip check anymore ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattybculp Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 I'm Just going to say this as it refers too some peoples thoughts on A AA AAA. Given this was about 15 years ago. Where I come from there are leagues with no contact " house league" and church league which has contact but also classified as "house league". A, AA, AAA were levels above those that would involve playing teams from other communities not other local clubs. To say that A is house league division and that there is no chance of those kids moving on to play junior is just false. Case and point in some communities A is there highest level of hockey due to participation numbers and size of there communities. Depending on the talent level of any given year you can run across a A team that has the talent level of a AAA team, I've seen it. When I was in my playing days we would run across a couple single A teams that were just flat out good, when we played there was a team from Cobourg that had a very good team and many of those players went on to play some sort of junior and some to the AHL. Now perhaps the year beneath them or above them were not as strong but that happens in every city at every level. I have played with guys who played A there whole minor league career and only till they were in major bantam - minor midget did they develop enough to play AAA and went on to have years played in the OHL. My birth year was so deep that in one year I believe minor bantam ( grade 10) the A,AA, and AAA teams all won all Ontario. No that's unheard of usually if the AAA team is very good the AA team may not be as strong and A even less. However perhaps in the GTA or larger communities there are more kids playing which allows the lower levels to still maintain decent teams. My belief on contact is this, if you desire for child not to participate in contact hockey, then you should consider putting them in a non-contact league, we have one here in town so I would imagine that in respectively populated city that option would be there as well. I believe there is right and wrong age to teach body contact and it never affected me negatively for the age at which I began at, I played with a lot of small guys who were very good checkers and were very difficult to hit. I always found the bigger guys were easier targets and easier to knock down then the smaller ones. Then again I wasn't wearing armour as protection either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickingfrog Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Roughly 500 thousand kids play minor hockey in Canada. One percent of that is 5000. There are approximately 700 nhl players, not all of which are Canadian. What is the purpose of minor hockey? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 less than 1% of the kids that play AAA will ever cash a check from playing hockey. The only thing we are doing is teaching these kids to play men's league, why have body contact so you can brag about your kid hitting another kid. Watch the games from 40-50 years ago on TV, very little hitting and a lot slower. With the equipment they where today they move way faster and hit a lot harder and the injuries are way worse Your reasoning is flawed. How do they learn that skill? It's about hockey development. 40 years ago trainers were just throwing kids (and professionals) back out on the ice saying "just skate it off" now at least we recognize concussions and have a system to deal with it. Don't agree that injuries are far worse, sorry. Players played hurt all the time it was a requirement!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Roughly 500 thousand kids play minor hockey in Canada. One percent of that is 5000. There are approximately 700 nhl players, not all of which are Canadian. What is the purpose of minor hockey? Not sure what side of the fence you are on here Rob....or are you playing the Devils Advocate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickingfrog Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Not sure what side of the fence you are on here Rob....or are you playing the Devils Advocate? I'm ok with an association limiting body checking and I've been consistent with that feeling for long before this thread started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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