NHL playoffs undo good work of minor hockey leaders

The brutally violent NHL playoffs may be good for TV ratings and provide comedy for American sportscasts (although not as funny as NBA fights), but it's a disaster for Canadian minor hockey where the movement to sportsmanship and protection of children's heads will be derailed by the pros. It's a case of monkey see, monkey do, especially among teenage players.
Worst was Shea Weber, captain of the Nashville Predators and an elite defenceman any team would welcome. But his slamming of Detroit Red Wings star forward Henrik Zetterberg's head into the glass. It was a stupid WWE moment. Just substitute "glass" for "turnbuckle". How do you convince kids to respect heads now?
My No. 1 stupid playoff moment - so far - is a Pittsburgh Penguins-Philadelphia Flyers game in which the world's greatest player, the face of the pro game, a usually class guy, turned into a petulant child instead of a leader of a pro team. Following a scrum, Sidney Crosby knocked away the glove of Jake Voracek
 (its at the 2:25 mark of the video). How to minor hockey coaches tell kids to be sporting when an icon like Crosby behaves like a twit?
Trust me, the spectacle undoes much of the progress and good work done by minor hockey, from tyke house league all the way up to the future pros of major junior.
Hockey's a sport, not a circus.

Pushing elite kids too quickly

So your child has excelled in tyke house league and you want to push for a spot on an elite AAA team with visions of an NHL career for him and early retirement for you.
Chill.
While there's merit to having highly skilled children play up an age group, the rush to AAA isn't so wise unless the politics of the organization are such that it's "first in, stay forever", objectivity of tryouts be damned.
It's better for the child and family finances to stay grounded playing with a peer group with time for other kids' stuff such as school sports, family life and, heaven forbid, homework.
By age 10 or 12, it's time for the best of the best to try AAA.
Consider Canada's highest paid professional athlete, who by the way is not a hockey player. Joey Votto of Etobicoke, who just signed a monster 10-year contract worth $225 million with the Cincinnati Reds, didn't sign up for minor baseball until age 12. In house league. His mom still works as a sommelier so maybe she'll celebrate with one of the finest wines from the world's highest wine cellar at the 360 Restaurant.

Reserved for Walter Gretzky

Hockey dad/Twitter friend from St. Catharines posted this parking space photo from the newly renovated Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre in Brantford. If you've ever been to a tournament or had your kid's team play there, you know Walter's dedicated presence as a man who puts kids first.

Thrillers even in juvenile

West London defenceman Adam Newton (white jersey)
chases down a North London attacker in London
juvenile semifinal action.

Turns out even local juvenile games can be thrillers when it's boiled down to a one-game semifinal.
My son's West London team, reinforced by three APs to bring the skater count up to 10, worked their way to a comfortable 5-2 lead with minutes to play.
Then my son got four minutes in penalties for a punch or two. Oddly, the other teen got away with his initial jabs and a final jab after the call.
Then there was another penalty.
And another.
The third goal. The fourth. The fifth on a crazy deflection and we're tied.
Moments later, opposing North scores what at first appears to be the 6-5 winner with one referee calling a goal. Turns out the other saw what most of the kids on the ice saw: The North player pushed the puck in the next with his hand. North's on-ice celebration is cancelled.
A four-on-four overtime couldn't start until the convener clarified whether or not it should be three-on-four or two-on-four due to penalties.
Fast forward through overtime when nails were bitten but nothing resolved, and it's time to resolve the game with a skills competition - aka shootout.
Three shooters. West scores on its first two, North does not, yet no one seems to figure out the game is over and West can celebrate - for real. They let the third shooters go, for no apparent reason except the thrill of the skate.
After a dismal season where they won only once without the use of APs, the West team moves on Sunday to the city final, albeit in the B pool.
Wish them luck, I won't be there for what might be my son's last minor hockey game thanks to a crazy little thing called work.

Hockey dad's son packs it in

Hockey dads (and moms) who read Bob McKenzie's book Hockey Dad: True Confessions of a (Crazy) Hockey Parent will find this an interesting final chapter.
His son, Mike, has ended his hockey aspirations and moves on to "real" life. Catch up with Mike's tale on twitter, mikemckenzie11.

Kids we know

It's always fun when the hometown newspaper writes about kids you know.
This past season, The London Free Press has written about the hockey experience of several kids we've shared teams with.
There was an excellent piece about a teen goaltender who suffered a concussion during his major midget season, not by being injured on the ice but by hitting his head in a household mishap. He came back to tend net for his London, Ont., high school hockey team and was the subject of this piece in The London Free Press.
I'm working at The Free Press as a copy editor and suggested to sportswriter Steve Green that he should do a story on two cousins facing off against each other in the local Junior B semifinal playoff series. He did and, as luck would have it, the story came to me in the "rim" to copy edit and write the headline.
Scott Lombardi of the London Nationals and Michael Mandarelli of the St. Marys Lincolns both were classmates of my son's since junior kindergarten at St. George school in London. They played together on school teams a couple of years. Scott was drafted into major junior by the Guelph Storm and is the captain of the London Nationals. Here's Steve Green's story.

Blizzard doesn't stop tournament

They're hockey troopers in Canada's Far North, were snowmobiles were used to make it to a game.
It meant a blizzard couldn't stop a tournament in Rankin Inlet.
Cool, but for southerners let's remember to drive carefully or stay put.

Teen hockey player loses cancer battle

Seventeen-year-old Adam Fedosoff didn't want a "pity party".
A player with Barrie minor hockey who  lost his battle with leukemia, Adam was praised by his coach is a way which must have made his family proud.
The Barrie Examiner has the story.

Coach under review after stick-throwing outburst | Canada | News | Toronto Sun

Last time we saw something this bad was perv coach Graham James stripping to the waist.

Coach under review after stick-throwing outburst | Canada | News | Toronto Sun:

'via Blog this'

Rod Stewart's son plays junior

Singer Rod Stewart was a skilled soccer player. Now his son, born in Britain and raised in Los Angeles, is enjoying high-level junior hockey in the Western Hockey League.
Liam Stewart, after success with the Los Angeles Jr. Kings, moved up to play for the Spokane Chiefs.
After his parents divorced, mom/model Rachel Hunter dated a couple of Los Angeles Kings, including bad boy Sean Avery.
The story is in today's Toronto Star.