Youth Ice Hockey

by NewsCore via poconorecord.com via myfoxboston.com

WINTHROP, Mass. -- The parents of a high school girls' hockey team in Massachusetts were crying foul after a man supporting an opposing team shone a laser beam into their daughters' eyes while on the ice.

The offender, who officials later said was an estranged relative of one of the home Winthrop players, was ejected and barred from future sporting events after directing the green laser at Medway-Ashland players during the varsity matchup.

Medway-Ashland parents claim Winthrop's 3-1 comeback win Wednesday night was invalid because of the laser drama, myFOXboston reported Friday.

They said the light had been seen throughout the Division I state preliminary game, but became more prominent in the third period -- in which all four goals were scored, led by Medway-Ashland's opener.

Read more at myfoxboston.com

by David La Vaque, startribune.com

When veteran referee Jerry McLaughlin skated onto the ice Tuesday night at Thaler Sports Center in Mound, he knew the game would be unlike any he had ever experienced.

McLaughlin and his two officiating partners met before the game with Hutchinson and Mound-Westonka team captains for longer than usual, reminding them they would draw five-minute major penalties for checking from behind, boarding and head contact.

During the game, McLaughlin analyzed open-ice hits more thoroughly, in fractions of a second. He called one penalty for checking from behind, although not exactly the type of headfirst crash into the boards that hurt Jack Jablonski. Hutchinson scored two goals to tie the score, drawing gripes from a Mound-Westonka assistant coach that continued to the postgame handshake between the teams.

Read more at startribune.com

via cortland.edu

Not many 18-year-olds can raise charity money by selling the naming rights of their backyard hockey rink to a national restaurant chain.

Then again, first-year SUNY Cortland student Nicholas Penberthy isn't like many other college students.

While growing up in snowy East Amherst, N.Y., Penberthy played ice hockey on his backyard rink, developing a passion for the sport matched only by his desire to help others.

His family's house, situated at the end of a cul-de-sac in suburban Buffalo, became a winter hot spot for neighborhood friends because of its skating surface. So in 2009, Penberthy created the Backyard Classic, a tournament that has raised more than $10,000 for young hockey players from low-income families.

Read more at cortland.edu

By Colneth Smiley JR, Athletic Businesses

It's no longer just crunching checks or slap shots to the face that hockey players need to worry about.

Concussions are benching skaters at an alarming rate as teams from the college to pro ranks struggle with a rash of head injuries usually seen in boxers and football players.

Bruins winger Nathan Horton is the latest victim of a blow to the brain. A blindside check sent him to the hospital and knocked him out of the Stanley Cup finals.

But, it's now a fact of hockey life.

'We know that with concussions, athletes need to stay out longer and recover more to make sure they are healthy before they come back so they don't endure long-term problems and they don't increase the likelihood of potential long-term damage,' said Larry Venis, athletic trainer for Boston University's men's hockey team.

By Stephanie Smith, CNN via wptz.com

via northcountrynow.com

MASSENA -- A long-time resident of Massena has four nearby grandchildren competing in national hockey championships this year.

Youth hockey in the North Country has a strong tradition of excellence, and that tradition is even more evident this year with several teams winning NYS Tier II championships and now moving on to compete for national titles this spring.

And Pauline Mailhot has people speculating about hockey genetics and what she and her family have done right to be sending four of their young ones to California and Virginia for a crack at nationwide bragging rights

Read more at northcountrynow.com

via huffingtonpost.com

After the ref of a youth hockey game called two penalties, a 5-minute boarding and one for cross-checking, a coach became so upset that he decided to throw a garbage can onto the ice. The referees fired back by refusing to continue the game until the coach cleaned up the mess he made. The coach, whose team was down 4-1 at the time, eventually walked onto the ice with a broom and cleaned up the trash.

MICHAEL TUTTON, Halifax-- The Canadian Press

Elizabeth Dagg doesn't hear the cross-ice screams of British Columbia's ringette squad, but the deaf player finds other ways to communicate in a fast-breaking sport where an unexpected pass can clinch a game.

Coach Richard White describes the 17-year-old deaf athlete as having an almost uncanny ability to see or "sense" where the ring should go.

"There's been times there's been three people on Elizabeth. There's no way she can see anybody. She can't hear them. But for some reason she knows where to put the ring," the coach said in an interview.

"So she has a chemistry going on."

Dagg was close to being cut from the squad, but improved her game in the closing months before the provincial squad was chosen, said White.

Despite the brawling that takes place in the NHL, kids in youth hockey leagues in Canada are showing great sportsmanship. Here are two recent examples:

The atom A Houston Wild, a youth hockey team from Houston, had planned for a year to play in the Bell Capital Cup in Ottawa. But after stormy holiday weather cancelled their flights and forced them to scramble for new ones, they arrived in Ottawa without their equipment.

The Bell Capital Cup manager sent out a call for equipment, and the atom B Canterbury Knights responded.

Jeff Z. Klein, nytimes.com

Below, the full set of rule changes proposed at USA Hockey's Winter Meeting last weekend in Colorado Springs. The proposals seek to raise the minimum age for body checking in boys hockey from 11-12 to 13-14, make all contact to the head-and-neck area illegal at all age levels and, in those classifications in which fighting does not result in immediate expulsion, provide for extra penalties when one player tears off an his own helmet or an opponent's helmet during a fight.

The rules will be voted on at USA Hockey's annual congress in June.

The rules proposed last weekend to USA Hockey's board of directors are intended to cut down on injuries and arose out of last October's Mayo Clinic summit on concussions and head trauma. Dr. Michael Stuart of the Mayo Clinic is also the chief medical officer for USA Hockey, and he helped frame the rule change proposals and presented them to the board.

USA Hockey wants to remove body-checking from the 11- and 12-year-old age group.

By Michael Rose, patch.com

How young is too young for checking in hockey?

That's the question asked right now by USA Hockey, the governing body for youth hockey across the country. The association is proposing the removal of body-checking from the male Pee Wee ranks -- players 11 and 12 years old -- in an effort to make the game safer.

The proposal won't come up for a formal vote until USA Hockey's annual summer meeting in June, but some adults involved with youth hockey in St. Louis Park are already grumbling.

This includes Steve Rosen, president of the St. Louis Park Hockey Association. Rosen doesn't think pushing the checking age back an age group -- to 13- and 14-year-old Bantams -- would make the game any safer.

via newstimes.com

As he laced up his ice skates in the Danbury Arena lobby prior to Monday evening's practice with the Western Connecticut Junior Colonials pee wee hockey team, head coach Doug Hook couldn't help but marvel at the scene unfolding around him.

The usual sounds of hockey practice -- sticks and skates, pucks and whistles -- echoed through the building as groups of youngsters raced back and forth on the arena's two ice surfaces.

This state-of-the-art, downtown arena was a far cry from the frozen pond in Michigan on which Hook had sharpened his skills so many years ago.

Read more at newstimes.com

by Fran DeMichele, UticaOD.com

For 11 months of the year, the Hadasz family rarely is in the same place on weekends.

With three sons playing travel youth hockey, it's common for Dave and Sharon Hadasz to head in different directions for games or tournaments.

"My wife and I go our separate ways to take them where they have to go," Dave Hadasz said.

Such is life for a multi-child youth hockey family, which willingly accepts the costs and personal sacrifices required to compete on a team. But Hadasz and other parents agree it's all worth it.

By JEFF Z. KLEIN, nytimes.com

EDINA, Minn. -- Some youth games in this hockey-mad state were a bloodbath just a few years ago, said Bill Smith, a coach in this Twin Cities suburb for more than 20 years.

"Man, it was out of control," he said. "Three, four, five fights a game, easy. Any time there was any body contact, they dropped the gloves."

But the mayhem has all but disappeared. All but gone, too, are hits to the head and dangerous checks from behind. Penalty rates have dropped sharply. Although there are no reliable statistics, many say that serious injuries are down. Enrollment in youth leagues is markedly up.

And all it took was a tweak to the standings.

Stereotypes head to the penalty box in Minneapolis, where efforts to get kids of all backgrounds involved in hockey are a huge success.

by Jess Myers - patch.com

There's a commonly-accepted stereotype in the hockey world that it's a sport for the white, the suburban, and preferably the wealthy.

Luckily, the diverse array of kids who first try the sport in the Minneapolis Dino Mights program don't know anything about stereotypes, they just know that when they get together with other kids, and take their first strides across an ice rink, it's great fun.

It's that common denominator - fun - that has made Dino Mights a great success for more than a decade, and fun is what's creating one of the fastest-growing and most diverse youth hockey programs in Minnesota at neighborhood rinks throughout Minneapolis.

Scott Harmon is currently the executive director of Dino Mights and has done pretty much every job in the organization over the years. He points with some pride to the 220 kids that will participate in the learn-to-skate programs they offer in the Powderhorn, Phillips and Central neighborhoods.

BY TIM SMITH • OBSERVER STAFF WRITER

When youth hockey coach and former U.S. Marine Dave Brass approached his players on the '98 Plymouth Stingrays about a community service project the team's enthusiasm was overwhelming.

And so the Stingrays are combining hockey and goodwill this Sunday, beginning with the 2:30 p.m. game at Plymouth Cultural Center.

After the Pee Wee AA travel team's game, the Stingrays and U.S. Marines will head over to Hermann's Olde Town Grille in Plymouth -- a Toys for Tots drop-off location.

Players, coaches, families and friends will bring gifts to drop off at Hermann's (195 W. Liberty Street, near Mill Street) and then there will be a chance to meet U.S. Marines and get in on a Christmas auction. Proceeds from the latter will go to Toys for Tots.

According to Brass, the team picks a charity to help out every holiday season. You might have seen some of the Stingrays recently ringing those Salvation Army bells at local Kroger stores, for example.

This season, the squad jumped at the chance to do even more to give back.

"These boys are given an awful lot in their lives, let alone hockey," said Brass, whose son Riley is on the team. "Which is a very expensive sport in and of itself (with) equipment, ice fees, travel expenses.

"So to see them rally around such a great cause with no prodding, knowing that they are so fortunate, makes everything we do as parents and coaches very rewarding."

The Sabres' Jason Pominville was concussed after a blindside hit against the glass on Oct. 11. A Mayo Clinic conference will discuss steps to prevent such injuries.

By JEFF Z. KLEIN - NYTimes.com

Published: October 17, 2010

From the N.H.L.'s top goalie to the parent of a 12-year-old who sustained head and spinal concussions from a body check, calls are proliferating for changes to the culture of a sport that many see as too accepting of reckless body contact and serious injury.

The movement for change in hockey comes before a medical conference on Tuesday at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where representatives from the N.H.L. down to youth leagues will meet to discuss recommendations aimed to reduce the occurrence of concussions and other serious injuries, primarily in youth hockey.

Prompted by statistics indicating a high rate of serious injury among players ages 11 to 14, the measures are expected to include pushing back the age at which body checking is introduced in the United States and some Canadian provinces to 13 from 11.

Lois Kalchman
Special to the Star

Two sets of parents are suing the Greater Toronto Hockey League, one of its clubs and four coaches for $25,000 each because their sons were cut by the Avalanche Minor Sports Club midget junior A team during tryouts in April.

It's the first time parents in the GTHL have ever taken legal action against the league or one of its teams for declining the services of their children, says league president John Gardner.

Even nationally, it's a rare event.

"We have had very few lawsuits on ice time or (player) cuts," said Hockey Canada's Glen McCurdie director of member services. "There are more threats than actual suits."