Hockey Calgary’s proposal to ban legal bodychecking at every division at the Peewee level should not be replicated in the foothills, says an Okotoks Peewee Tier 1 head coach.
Hockey Calgary announced it won’t allow body checking until the Bantam level, for children aged 13-14, starting in the 2012-13 season. The proposal is subject to a vote by all Hockey Calgary members at its Annual General Meeting on June 23.
Okotoks Peewee Tier 1 coach Kevin Kobelka said it’s the wrong move, saying it’s essential to teach kids at a younger age to protect themselves in game situations.
“I think at the Bantam level the gap in size in strength is even bigger,” Kobelka said. “I think if you start teaching it in Bantam 1, 2, or 3 … they’re a year and a half away from playing in the AJHL or the Western Hockey League. They can go from not hitting to one year and a half or two years of hitting to playing against 20-year-olds in the AJHL and personally I don’t think it’s the right move.”
Those playing at a higher tier or in the AA divisions who are on track to play at elite levels in Bantam should be prepared for the contact they’ll see, he said.
“For the Peewee players that want to play at a higher level of hockey that’s their choice and they shouldn’t ban it at the elite levels,” Kobelka said.
A body checking committee was formed after the Hockey Calgary 2011 annual general meeting. The committee gathered information from studies, research before presenting its findings to the board of directors. The committee originally proposed to allow for hitting only in high-end Peewee leagues (Tiers 1-3), but Calgary’s board of directors decided to make it a wholesale ban of hitting at every level of Peewee.
“The findings of a five year study make it very clear that children who body check at the Peewee level are three times more likely to suffer from a concussion or major injury,” said Todd Millar, president, Hockey Calgary in a press release. “We want the game to be fun and children to be put in a safe environment where they can develop their skills.”
The Hockey Calgary release adds Peewee aged children would continue to receive instruction in how to take and deliver a hit in practice situations.
“They talk about it reducing injuries and I understand what they’re saying, but I think at any level of sport when you play at the elite level where you’re bigger, faster, stronger you’re probably going to have a few more injuries at that level, but that’s part of playing,” Kobelka said.
The coach’s experience with a spring league hockey team, featuring elite 2000-born players representing the rural areas as well as Calgary, has given him an inkling that more Peewee aged players could be on their way to the foothills.
“I honestly think you’re going to see some of the elite players from Calgary probably move out to the rural areas, to the Airdrie’s and the Okotoks, to the Strathmore’s, Cochrane’s to make sure that there kid has the same opportunity to play at a higher level.”
“That will be interesting to see and with Okotoks Minor Hockey being (crowded) as it is, that’s going to be a challenge I think for our association and for our town.”
Kobelka’s son Jackson was the Oilers’ leading scorer in 2011-12 and despite his diminutive frame he wants body checking to be a part of the game.
“My son does and I’ll be honest, he’s one of the smallest players at the Peewee level,” Kobelka said. “But he’s skilled enough and he understands the game enough that he needs to work himself to the spots where he doesn’t get hit.”
Okotoks Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) Peewee director Jeff Faye said the idea of delaying bodychecking has been thrown around before, but has never been formally brought up at OMHA meetings.
“OMHA we monitor it, but we don’t know what (Calgary) is going to do yet,” Faye said. “It’s so new that we haven’t had a chance to look into it and see what we’re going to do.”
Playing in the rural-based Central Alberta Hockey League (CAHL) offers its own challenges with regards to the disparity in size amongst the players, Faye said.
“There’s some kids out there for some reason who are just bigger, you know the farm boys, the big strong kids,” Faye said. “So you’ve got some kid that comes into first year Peewee and he may not be ready at first to take the hitting.”
Faye said he expects hockey parents to be split on the issue, but from personal experience he knows there are those out there who want hitting removed.
“A lot of parents question why they have to have (hitting),” Faye said. “There’s a kid on my kids (Tier 4) team that got a concussion. He was out for three weeks. You can guarantee they’d say there shouldn’t be any hitting in Peewee.
“It was a blatant hit-from-behind. Does that have to happen? Do kids have to be subjected to that playing a game they want to play just for fun? To me it doesn’t make sense. Some coaches want to play a rough and tumble style and that’s one of the ways they win. Intimidation works pretty easy when you’ve got some kids that don’t know how to hit and are new to Peewee.”
If Hockey Calgary goes ahead with the motion, the CAHL will have to react, said Faye.
“They have to decide, we kind of follow their guidelines, all the community hockey in Okotoks or Indus or Brooks, they all have to follow what CAHL makes a decision on,” Faye said.
There is precedent for Hockey Calgary measures being instituted by the CAHL reflected by the enforcement of mandatory helmets for all coaches on the ice a few years ago.
The proposal is far from unprecedented in North America.
USA Hockey introduced hitting in Bantam as of the 2010-11 season while Quebec has made a similar move in banning hitting at the Peewee level and introducing it in Bantam hockey. The Ontario Minor Hockey Association has made similar moves in banning hitting in all of its house leagues and house league select programs.
