Little dukes

These little kids were frustrated during a practice. Wonder how they play the game now.

Hockey hot shots

I love these shots posted by the Toronto Star's Steve Russell on his blog. Shooting junior hockey can afford more opportunities than the pros. Russell's shots also provide ideas for parents shooting minor hockey games.

Minor hockey could be televised on Internet

This is an awesome possibility for parents and grandparents who can't be at every game - and coaches looking for an edge.
Calgary minor hockey is considering a plan to record games in HD for viewing live or later via the Internet.
CBC has the story.

Linesman punched, teen player charged

Kids in their final year of minor hockey can create the biggest headaches for officials, coaches and opposing players.
An altercation at a midget house league tournament in Barrie, ON, did just that. The fact that the air was blue and punches were thrown was nothing new for teenage hockey. The fact that it was a linesman's face fielding the flailing torqued the situation.
A 17-year-old player left the ice - and the arena - before police arrived. They found him and charged him with assault.
The Barrie Examiner has the story.

Good hockey skills can be relative

Do genetics play a role in creating great hockey players?
Sometimes. Two of Gordie Howe's sons were good enough to play pro hockey and Marty was a great defenceman, if not truly a superstar. But there's no third generation of hockey Howes coming down the 'pike.
Bobby Orr's two sons, Darren and Brent, were not athletes despite the fact their father changed the way the game is played and, along with Howe and Wayne Gretzky, is the interchangeable answer as to who was the greatest player to ever lace 'em up in the NHL. None of Gretzky's kids have pro hockey potential.
But sometimes there is a second generation. One of the best 15-year-old players in Canada is Max Domi, the son of former Toronto Maple Leafs enforcer Tie Domi. Max is a skilled forward winding up his minor midget days in Toronto and planning to continue his education and play in the United States instead of playing major junior in the Ontario Hockey League. No one wishes to jinx a teen, but there's a lot of buzz about Max's potential.
The OHL Belleville Bulls have lots of players with dads who played in the NHL. Carter Sandlak, who played minor hockey for the London Jr. Knights, is the son of former Vancouver Canuck Jim Sandlak. Bjorn Krupp is son of Ewe Krupp, ex of the Detroit Red Wings. Dylan Corson is the son of Shayne Corson, who played for the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs and Dallas Stars. Dylan's uncle, by marriage, is Darcy Tucker, whose NHL career took him to Montreal, Tampa Bay, Toronto and Colorado. Andy Bathgate's father didn't play in the NHL, but his grandfather and namesake did - with the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins before finishing his pro career in the old World Hockey Association with the Vancouver Blazers.
Just for good measure, Belleville has the brother of an NHLer on the team, goaltender Malcolm Subban. Malcolm's brother, PK, is a rookie defenceman with the Canadiens.
So it seems sometimes at least hockey skills can be all relative.

You're ours, coach

Toronto Sun columnist Steve Simmons weighs in on new minor hockey rules in Toronto that will allow easier movement among young players from season to season, but not coaches. It's a bit of problem when so many coaches of kids are also fathers.
Simmons says, "... staid old North Toronto Hockey Association ... has taken petty to a new limit, threatening Select coaches from leaving North Toronto and taking players with them, which may be by the book correct on their part, but in the spirit of the new rule is downright nasty."
Should people volunteer wherever they like, or would it create organizational chaos?
I'm not sure what's right in El Toro, but cities like London there's something good to be said about playing and volunteering for teams in the neighbourhood in which you live. It builds a sense of community and provides an opportunity to get to know your neighbours.
Then again, there needs to be flexibility to have kids playing at the level that's right for them, especially among goaltenders.

Sizing up minor hockey

Interesting thoughts today from Toronto Maple Leafs assistant captain Mike Komisarek on his size difference being a factor in making a hit on Colorado Avalanche Mark Olver look worse than it was intended to be.
He tells the Toronto Star, "I hit the guy, I thought the puck was there. I thought it was pretty good time. The only thing that might have hurt me was the height difference ... I go in and have my elbow to my body and try to get my shoulder to his chest. If that's not a clean hit then I don't know what is."
His comments follow the hit by Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara, the biggest guy in the NHL, in Montreal.
It begs the question, should minor hockey be organized according to body size and ability, not birth dates, especially during the early years of checking?

'Weather' or not you care

We've all driven through weather we'd rather not to get to minor hockey games. And we know all leagues have policies and protocols for cancelling games due to road conditions. But this house league select situation in North York (Toronto) seems odd and harsh.

As the Toronto Star reports the Ted Reeve team failed to to make it to the first game of a best-of-three playoff series during last Wednesday's snowstorm - the same storm which cause big delays at Pearson International Airport and left my wife without a connecting flight home, but I digress.

The league's harsh answer wasn't to reschedule the game. It wasn't to count the game as a forfeit. It was to deem the Ted Reeve kids as forfeiting the entire series.

Which begs the question: Is minor hockey for kids?

Reimer started hockey at age 12

James Reimer, great goaltending hope for the Toronto Maple Leafs, didn't start playing hockey until age 12 in rural Manitoba, according to this SI posting.
So, what does that say about all those long drives and oodles of money spent on tournaments for 9-year-old AAA players? Is it worth the cost, time and travel to create elite teams at an early age in the name of  "developing" skills?

Coach did what?

I've heard minor hockey coaches accused of many things, but this is a first.
In Winnipeg during post-game handshakes, a 12-year-old player complained that the opposing coach punched him in the stomach and hurled abused at him. The referee didn't see it. Police are investigating.\
I came across the story reading the Winnipeg Sun.