Skill vs Braun, Where It Doesn't Pay To Play Hockey

Too Young For Bad Habits
I've been hanging around the local arenas lately catching some great youth hockey games.  I love talking with the parents about the game, their kids progress and their take on how the sport is played (and how is should be played) at this level.  We're talking about squirt, pee-wee and girls high school hockey just so that we're all on the same page going into this discussion.  At these levels it's clear to me the intent is to teach skill: skating, stick handling, puck possession, shooting and following through on a play (or as I like to call it: teamwork). 

There is no checking allowed in grils hockey, at least those are the rules.  There is no checking allowed at the Squirt level, but once you get into the PeeWee and up it's allowed.  I understand that USA Hockey is considering removing checking from PeeWee but that hasn't happened as of yet.  However, I've yet to attend a game, at any these levels, where a kid hasn't been taken down by a blindside hit, an outright boarding move or a blatant cross-check.  One kid had to be helped off the ice by the coaching staff.  For each incident the parents in the stands were very vocal about the penalty that should be assigned to the offending player and there were loud grousings about how that kind of play isn't allowed.

But what I didn't hear were calls for the offending player's coach to be sidelined or suspended from coaching when he clearly advocates that kind of unsportsmanlike conduct. Where do you think the kid learned the crosscheck from? How would the kid know to when to perform such an infraction? One could easily argue 'from a parent' or perhaps from watching an NHL game .  I've seen enough of these youth games to know that a coach is ultimately responsible for how his team plays - clean or dirty. And behind that coach is a parent, or set of parents, who need to reinforce the rules of fair play, let alone the rules of the league their son and/or daughter play in.  

At the risk of getting more than I bargained for I asked some parents if they wouldn't mind weighing on the subject of holding coaches and parents more responsible for how the kids played and behaved while on the ice.  My question: Skill vs Brawn, Finesse vs Body Count at the pee-wee and bantam level. 

Here's what I got back in an email from one hockey parent who definitely took the time to think about it:
So, I’ve started to ponder … what type of hockey game would I prefer to watch … a hard-hitting game where players take every opportunity to remove their opponent from the puck OR a game of fast skating, lots of passes, creativity all over the ice ?? Oh, by the way, this is a youth hockey game – PeeWee and Bantam."


Over the past weeks as I have pondered on this question, I have kept a keen eye on youth games. And, I’ve gotta be honest … I don’t like what I see. A couple of years ago, USA Hockey instituted a ‘New Standard of Play Initiative’ … trying to bring speed and finesse back to the game. Has it worked ? Oh sure, to a degree. But …


Recently, I was watching a Bantam B2 game as well as a PeeWee game. I couldn’t believe the number of players who actually take themselves out of the play by trying to make Dad and the Coach happy with the ‘big hit’. Well, since when was ‘checking’ about putting your opponent into the first row of the bleachers ?? I thought checking was about separating a player from the puck or shielding the puck from someone else. Far too many Coaches and ‘mobile-coaches’ (i.e. Dad as you are driving home from a game) are looking for the big hits. These hits are becoming more and more dangerous.


Come on coaches and players, get back to the skating, passing, and creativity that makes hockey the great game that it is !!

It would seem that I'm not the only one who's alarmed by the misconduct I'm witnessing.  My thanks go out to this particular hockey dad for taking a step back in order to give the question due process.  I'm sure it's not easy when you're knee pad deep in the sport.
 
KHL - Konvict Hockey League  
Many of you have already read the articles and seen the videos of the debacle of last week's "hockey" game in the KHL between Vityaz (The Muggers) and Avangard (The Unsuspecting Muggees).  Here's the follow up article by Dmitry Chesnokov on PuckDaddy.com KHL BRAWL.  As you'll read and view, Marty Skoula, who plays for Avangard, got blindsided by Josh Gratton, a Vityaz player.  Josh, "I-Couldn't-Cut-It-In-The-NHL", Gratton decided to pull a Bertuzzi move while Marty was already squaring off with one of Josh's team mates.  Marty and another Avangard team mate were hospitalized with broken bones when all was said and done.  This kind of thing happens quite frequently in the KHL since that's how they role over there.  That makes sense, since Chris Simon plays there - in fact, he's currently on the Vityaz player roster...shocking, I know.  And their team is coached by Andrei Nazarov, former NHL player with 1409 penalty minutes.  And yes, under Doug Risebrough's management we had both Chris and Andrei on our team, albeit ever so briefly. 
Here's the video of the fight - it's not the worst I've seen but it's pretty brutal. 


I can't leave this post on that kind of a note.  So here are some cute Buster pictures, cuz I can - it's my blog ;)

Where Did It Go??

Found It!!

Dashing Through The Snow

Handsome, Ain't He?

Buster, The Abominable Snow Dog!

Hey - if you've got cute pet pictures you'd like to have posted, feel free to send them my way and I'll be happy to share them here.  But I warn you, send me pictures of animals in clothing and I can't be responsible for the captioning...you know who you are ;)