World Hockey Summit checks out checking in Toronto
The who’s who of ice hockey from around the world met in Toronto this week to look into ways of improving the sport. Fixing something that is wrong is possibly the easiest and most intuitive way to do that and there is plenty of wrongs associated with ice hockey. One of the things that can be done to improve the game is somehow reduce the number of injuries and make the sport safer for all.
Philadelphia Flyers coach Peter Laviolette was amongst the people who recognized and tried to address the injuries issue at the summit. But if one was thinking on the NHL level, then one can never be wrong. Peter is a hockey dad and shares the same concerns that so many other parents, who aren’t panelists at the world hockey summit, also share.
Last year, when he didn’t have coaching duties with the Flyers, Peter had the opportunity to coach his sons in the minor league. It doesn’t compare to 6 feet tall, 200 pound skaters throwing each other around, but Peter found the minor leagues more aggressive than expected. “If you take two kids going 25 (miles an hour) and you slam them into one another, there is a good chance that somebody is going to break a bone or get a concussion.”
Peter said that body checking with kids under the age of 13 was unwise and should be excluded from the minor leagues. He also said that the 'NHLish' model of teaching should be introduced in the minors. He described how in the NHL, coaches teach players about legal and illegal hits with the aid of videos that are played for the team. “All NHL teams have to watch a video and sign off on the fact that they did watch it.” Peter insisted that similar measures should be introduced to all lower level leagues. “The same should [apply] to the coach that’s coaching my children,” Peter said. He also said that children should also view the relevant material to understand the difference between legal and illegal hits and about the repercussions of hits that harm other children.
Peter of course wasn’t the only one concerned for the safety of children playing hockey. Dr. Mark Aubry, one of Hockey’s leading doctors and the chief medical officer for the International Ice Hockey Federation, also came out strong for safety. Dr. Aubry said that the kids who played hockey were exposed to an increased risk of injury at a very early age. He maintained that children should stay focused on skill development and just have fun when young. Body checking shouldn’t be a part of the package until much later.
Dr. Aubry also highlighted the risk to young players who return to the game after concussions. “When is the number of concussions too many in allowing that young player to return to play?” He showed that the number of concussion amongst youngsters at an age where they have not been introduced to body checking is no greater in ice hockey than it is in any other sport. But after its introduction the number rises significantly.
Dr. Aubry explained that from the initiation level to peewee, the game remains safe for children but it changes from there on. In the peewee leagues, when body checking is introduced, injuries rise significantly partly because the children are just entering puberty. “The weight and height differences are huge. The skeletal maturity for one is complete; for the other one, it’s not even begun.”
Hence children entering later stages of physical development become less susceptible to injuries. Dr. Aubry said that hockey leagues just needed to focus their attention on the issue and then a solution could be forthcoming. He mentioned how the leagues successfully cut down on spinal cord injuries when it focused its attention towards it to drive the point home.
“Hopefully, things may change in the future,” Aubry said.
Tags: