Checking (in non-checking classifications)
As a referee, player and parent the subject of checking is near and dear to me. Cheating is another.
What I am seeing at the 10 and Under and 8 and Under house levels disturbs me greatly. Kids are being told to block shots and hit without being taught proper technique to do either.
In a particularly bad display, one team was hooking and slashing more than they were playing the puck. The other team was hitting them back, either as a form of retaliation or simply because it was fun. At least the checks would have been legal in peewee.
I don’t understand why checking isn’t allowed at all levels of hockey, because it is part of the game. My biggest argument for allowing it is that it would force USA Hockey and Hockey Canada to train coaches in teaching proper technique.
The last game I watched a kid hit another leading with his knee, another kid was checked from behind and 4 players from the team trying to check hurt each other, because they tried to check a better skater who simply got out of the way. The kids ended up crashing into each other. More still went awkwardly into the boards one injuring his wrist.
More disturbing was that the parents thought this was a good thing until the other team started to hit back. Teams that cheat by checking in non-checking classifications often have the element of surprise. It gives the kids a false sense of security and the parents a false sense of accomplishment. It also can end up hurting an unsuspecting child. Remember these are young kids not NHL players.
When the other team starts to hit back and the referees do nothing to stop it, either because they aren’t trained well enough or they don’t care, the problems escalate. Interestingly, the hitting wasn’t as much fun for the checking team’s parents when their kids started to get hit and began to injure themselves because they couldn’t get out of their own way.
I have to admit that my son has been lucky to have coaches who taught skating first. They teach body positioning, angling and contact as part of the game. They teach keeping heads up and playing the puck along the boards. They also teach how to take and receive a check which means that teams that cheat have a harder time against these kids, because they are ready for it.
They don’t teach it as a strategy to win a game. They teach it for safety. Truthfully, that is how it should be taught at the lower levels, but aren’t we all going to the NHL as coaches any day now?
Children with less experienced coaches aren’t so lucky and players end up getting hurt by illegal techniques. In the long run, the kids who learn to check, but don’t know how to integrate it into the game don’t go very far. In peewee, the kids that can skate usually level the kids who can’t regardless of size.
The bottom line is that checking is not allowed in the 10U classifications and referees need to be more alert in calling it. If it looks bad, call it. Safety first. These kids are not going to get an NHL contract out of Squirt, so let’s err on the side of caution. I believe that kids should hit starting at Mite, but that is not what the book says.
If they are not all going to hit, then I can’t just allow some to do it and others not to. That is when people get hurt. Parents need to stop applauding thuggery and start applauding good plays.
Good hits don’t score goals. Good plays do.