P.A minor hockey has no plans to ban body checking

He explained there are a few reasons that leagues across the country are moving away from body checking in the lesser competitive levels.

“No matter what city you’re in, your initiation levels — novice, atom and peewee are all strong, but when you get to bantam and midget the players drop off, the numbers decrease,” Mays said. “One of the factors is probably, ‘You know what? I’m not crazy about the contact,’ so if this means that some of those kids play for another year or two, then it’s a benefit.”

Mays said a move to ban body-checking might allow younger players the chance to mature physically.

“I know this from doing the research and looking at the numbers with our kids. If we’re going to get injuries with bantam or midget age kids, it’s usually first-year kids,” Mays said.

He added the drawbacks that come from a ban will be felt by players trying to move up through the hockey ranks, who will miss out on a season of body-checking.

Mays said P.A. Minor Hockey has actively worked on training coaches to reduce injuries.

“We’ve been pushing this for quite a while, we’re making it mandatory that all of our coaches take a checking clinic,” Mays told paNOW. “So they know how to teach checking. How to check, how to get checked, safety precautions that type of thing.”

He also sees changes to the rules as a sign of a changing game, which sees bigger and faster players at all levels.

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Ron.quaroni@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @RonaldQuaroni

by Ronald Quaroni

P.A minor hockey has no plans to ban body checking

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