No NHL Christmas

Nothing NHL-related under our Christmas tree this year. Count me among the disgruntled fans.

Minor hockey fraud a familiar tale

This is a too common theme in minor hockey circles - happened in our home West London Minor Hockey Association a decade ago and now in Pickering, Ont.
A trusted volunteer treasurer with a gambling problem or debts helps himself to the kids' money.
In the Pickering case, a civil lawsuit resulted in an order to repay the Pickering Minor Hockey Association more than $700,000.
As the Pickering president told the Toronto Star, “I never thought I’d see the day when something like this would happen in minor hockey,” said association president Don Linthwaite. “It brings a sense of disappointment and heartache for the people that do it for the right reasons. I don’t know how somebody could do it. How do you do that?”
But it's happened here and there and everywhere so frequently that you've got to wonder how easy it is and how much has gone unnoticed, unreported or fixed by making quiet restitution.
In West London's case, it ended with a personal tragedy in addition to the financial one when the volunteer treasurer took his life.

Midget coach accused of teaching teens to fight

Having seen my share of midget minor hockey games and the coaches some teams have, I have no trouble believing it might be true that a coach in Winnipeg include a tutorial in uppercuts for his 16- and 17-year-old players.
The first report detailed how players gathered in a circle and told to fight whomever they like with one boy suffering a concussion during the practice fight.
An investigation by Manitoba Hockey concluded there was no evidence available that the fight drill took place and no evidence as to when during the practice the boy suffered his concussion.
For his part, the coach says he was just offering advice on how the teens could defend themselves after a series of fights "provoked by the other teams" in recent games. Even that is against minor hockey rules, where referees are supposed to be keeping things sporting.
Sounds to me like the coach has his heart in the right place and has the loyalty and backing of his players. But his methods are flawed. The real way to win a minor hockey fight is to skate away, hope the other kid gets a penalty or two, and score on the ensuring power play.

NHLers bide time with minor hockey

It's nice how idle NHLers such as Corey Perry  show up a Canadian minor hockey practices to thrill the kids and provide a little bit of celebrity coaching. It's an experience everyone wants and cellphone photos will be everywhere.
But I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that minor hockey, Hockey Canada or whomever doesn't insist these NHLers pay for and sit through Speak Out courses before interacting with the kids. Speak Out is required for all team volunteers and has been since the sexual abuse scandals of Graham James, and likely others, finally came to light.
Truth is, most of these NHLers couldn't meet the test of being minor hockey volunteers, particularly when it comes to vocabulary in front of 11-year-olds or their off-ice conduct choices.
By contrast, consider how the minor hockey organization my son has played for treated an idea involving him and his juvenile team teammates.
The coach of a younger team asked juvenile players to attend practices to share skills and mentor the younger kids. Many juveniles - young referees, honour students, youth coaches were among their ranks - were interested and willing. But minor hockey insisted the teens take and pay for the course and submit to a police check before sharing the ice or changerooms with the younger kids.
Needless to say, the teens lost interest after simple volunteerism became so complex and costly.
Did NHLers like Perry submit to a police check? Learn about the Speak Out two in a room policy? Doubt it.

Big House awaits NHL

Michigan Stadium, future home of the NHL's
Winter Classic. (Wayne Newton photo)

Can you stare at the biggest football stadium in the United States and think about hockey?
You can if you are a Canadian NHL fan and you're in the massive press box looking out over Michigan Stadium, aka the Big House, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
The stadium already holds the record for biggest attendance for a hockey game when the Wolverines played rival Michigan State in front more than 100,000 people.
Next month the NHL's second most important event (next to the Stanley Cup playoffs) was supposed to have been played in the stadium between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs - my team. Attendance likely would have topped 114,000. Typical NHL rinks seat between 18,000 and 20,000 fans.
The labour dispute between NHL players and the league forced cancellation of the Winter Classic along with about half the season - so far.
The university and city were geared up for the event, with plans in motion for receptions and parties along with staffing and inventory planning at the plethora of local brew pubs, microbreweries and restaurants. All of it came to a halt with hopes the game will be held in 2014 when the league and players get their acts together.
Meanwhile, I've written a piece about how to spend 48 hours in the Ann Arbor area for Sun Media newspapers in Canada, along with some great photos of the stadium, beer and food - all of which are ready for hockey fans to enjoy. Expect publication this month.

Kids take over time booths

Amusing blurb in Steve Simmons' column for Sun Media newspapers today. He writes, " The latest minor hockey problem around Toronto: Testing timekeepers. Clocks are being improperly run in local rinks - and probably across the country - while kids with cellphones communicate with friends."
Hiring teens or 20-somethings to run time clocks for kids' hockey games is relatively recent. Used to be the norm that parents from the home team would train for two minutes, then take on the task. But when referees had to make complex calls, usually involving staggered penalties, the wheels could fall off. More importantly, parents didn't like doing it because, A. the timekeepers booths are cold, and B. they didn't really get to watch the game.

Police investigate minor hockey hit

Here's something new for parents of young teens playing full contact minor hockey: spleen damage and a police investigation in British Columbia.
Seems a stick was used as a spear during a bantam game.

Coach takes swing at teen player

Minor hockey season has just begun and already we've reached a new low as a coach is accused of punching a teen player on the opposing team in Quebec.

Goal celebration smashing success

Sure, the problem was likely bad installation of the glass and not the gusto of the celebrating player, but amusing nonetheless. Player was unhurt and happy.

Minor hockey never locked out

Missing the NHL during the lockout? Take comfort in this fan's video lamenting the pro league and check out some minor hockey. Kids love a crowd.

Lesson learned at Penn State

NCAA got it right with Penn State and blind Joe Paterno. It's a lesson for everyone involved in sports, from the highest levels of college like Penn State to local minor hockey associations. 

Minor hockey helps pay cancer-fighting bills

Novice hockey player in Calgary came off the ice with a headache. Then it got worse. http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2012/07/20120709-085551.html
To help, visit Visit http://www.gofundme.com/help-jordan-battle to help.

Minor hockey fraud and sexual assault charges

It's sad when people get into such a pickle they turn to crime - like the Petrolia Minor Hockey treasurer who scooped funds from minor hockey to support her family. She took $75,000, but should be commended for an effort to right her wrong as reported here.
I thought fraud of minor sports organizations began and ended with a few hundred thousand dollars stolen by our own West London Minor Hockey Association treasurer at the turn of the century to support a gambling habit. Sadly, he committed suicide when caught.
But every season it seems there's another case which comes to light. Checks and balances, folks. When it comes to families' and sponsors' money, no one gets exclusive trust.
Speaking of things that can go wrong in minor hockey, there's a new charge in an old sexual assault in Mississauga where an Applewood minor hockey coach from the 1980s is charged with assaulting boys who were about 10 at the time. The assaults allegedly took place in the 1980s - decades before the Speak Out program and two-in-the-room rule.

Coach trips 13-year-old in handshake line

The problem with summer minor hockey leagues is they don't have the same controls and screening that more formal minor hockey associations have. Not sure if that was a factor in this guy being allowed to coach in a British Columbia spring league, but unless the video is lying he's not the kind of guy parents should want leading their kids.
After all, what adult would purposely trip a 13-year-old child?
He might be charged and even if the charge doesn't stick, he should be done as a kids' coach in any league, even one like this.
Thanks to video being shot everywhere these days, we have the coach's trip here on YouTube.

Fluke OT goal illegal - but that's OK

A fluke goal in the American Hockey League final should have been disallowed, says the league president. But oddly, the Toronto Marlies won't protest their Game 3 loss to Norfolk.
Kind of solidifies that the AHL isn't a real pro league - just a practice group for the NHL.
Here's the background from the Toronto Star. Here's the video of the fluke.

City road hockey gets complex

The ice is out at most arenas and minor hockey has given way to road hockey season. Except maybe in places where there's an unreasonable ban or bureaucratic permit applications - like here.
My son spent the weekend playing in a four-on-four road hockey tournament in downtown London and while games rarely break out on our cul-de-sac anymore, it's a sign of the neighbourhood growing older, not a lack of interest.
Road hockey is as Canadian as maple syrup - and a lot cheaper than minor hockey. It should be encouraged on quiet residential streets everywhere.

Hockey earmuffs

Think pro hockey is G-rated for kids? Think again.
The language is R, even for gentle teams like
the Philadelphia Flyers. Check out the protective dad
and child in his hero's jersey.

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.

Fighting, exit stage left

London Knights GM and coach Mark Hunter, one of the brightest guys in Canadian major junior hockey, has seen the writing on the wall and is OK with it: Fighting is on the way out in teenage hockey, even at the highest levels.
Hunter tells the hometown London Free Press he's been on both sides of the issue, but the bottom line is protecting young athletes and, as we understand more about head injuries, we've confirmed what should have been obvious all along: Blows to the head from fists can cause concussions with life-long ramifications.
Eliminating or reducing fighting would follow the lead of university hockey rules, using significant suspensions.
The comments from Hunter are no small matter, given the family's professional hockey pedigree. Hunter's brother, Dale, is the former coach of the Knights and now coaches the NHL's Washington Capitals. As a player, Dale Hunter committed one of the most brutal on-ice assaults in the history of the game against Pierre Turgeon of the New York Islanders.

Junior hockey fights losing the battle?

The move to eliminate fighting from non-pro hockey leagues is gaining the upper hand in Canada - which will cause Don Cherry to shake his head.
The London Free Press reports fighting could be on its way out from junior hockey, making the game more like that played by Canadian universities.
Hockey is likely the only sport where teams sometimes tolerate, sometimes encourage, fighting. Teens with dreams of the big money of the NHL embrace it as part of their ticket to the show.
It's a little ironic that the debate resurfaces when a new hockey movie, Goon, pokes fun at the hockey culture.

Six-year-old scored hat-trick in final game

The hockey story we all fear spending so much time on the road driving to games with our kids - a six-year-old and his coach/volunteer dad dead after crashing their pickup truck on the way home from a game in bad weather.
Ryan Wood, who scored a hat-trick in his final game, was also a childhood cancer survivor.

Coach from hell?

Ever gotten stuck with a minor hockey coach from hell? We haven't, but I've seen them in action.
Never heard of anyone standing up against a coach on behalf of her 12-year-old son quite like this hockey mom from British Columbia, though.

Kids and concussions

The Toronto Star has an interesting Tale of Two Concussions, telling a story most hockey moms and many hockey dads worry about.
I suppose in retort, Toronto Sun columnist Steve Simmons, a longtime minor hockey volunteer, offers a retort. (Scroll to the end of Simmons' column.)
We got off easy with head injuries, but not so several of my son's teammates over the years, including one who was drilled into the boards by a boy of much larger body size during their first year of bodychecking and another, in midget, the pinnacle of minor hockey, who not once, not twice, but three times came back too early only to see his entire city and high school seasons fizzle.

Hazing involved 12-year-olds

It's the story that never stops: Hazing in sports.
From now-pro hockey players stuffing naked major junior hockey players naked into a bus washroom while coaches ignored it to heavy bottles tied to boys' genitals, minor hockey players too often continue to think sexual exploitation is a team bonding technique.
They should be content with hitting the showers.
The latest example of hazing gone public - although the details from the school are not public and transparent enough to change the world - comes from Montreal where a school hockey team with boys as young as 12 was caught in a hazing ritual. Maybe it was an "elephant walk" where naked boys parade in public in a line holding each other's private parts. Maybe it was forced streaking.
CBC has a story, and note how the team coach failed to deal with it.

Funeral for 15-year-old hockey player

Today's the funeral for 15-year-old minor hockey player Tyler Kerr, who collapsed last weekend during a hockey game in the rural Carp, Ont., arena near Ottawa. He died later in hospital.
Cherish your life, cherish your sport, cherish your child.

15-year-old player dies of heart attack

One doesn't expect a teen athlete to collapse and later die at the rink. It happened in Ottawa, despite efforts to save him.
Condolences to his family and team.

Ray Wylie Hubbard "Screw You, We're From Texas"

Last fall when I was in Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio on a travel writing jaunt, I expected to hear songs like this at least a dozen times from the various honky tonks and barbecues I visited. But most of the music I heard playing in the background wasn't about Texas pride and wasn't even country. Mostly vintage rock and roll and more than once I caught tunes by classic Canadian rockers Bachman-Turner Overdrive and, of course, Rush - one of the most popular bands in the state.

Go figure.
I was also a little ticked they took a gaggle of Canadian travel writers to the massive Cowboys Stadium yet didn't mention the NHL or Dallas Stars. When I asked where the arena was, it was kind of a wave of the hand and a "over there near the airport" dismissal. When I was in Toronto with an international group of writers from Mexico, China, Hong Kong and Dubai, Toronto Tourism to ok us to a Maple Leafs-Edmonton Oilers game and encouraged a self-guided tour of the Hockey Hall of Fame near the Air Canada Centre.
To be fair, there was a hockey component to the Cowboys Stadium tour. The guide said the facility is making a pitch for a future NHL all-star game with an eye to setting an attendance record. Sure. It's the one hockey game no one cares about, even Canadians, and Dallas can't even fill its regular hockey rink, wherever it is, for Stars games despite being a recent Stanley Cup winner.

Strike threatens minor hockey playoffs

Luckily for minor hockey players and parents in Toronto, a strike of city workers have been averted.
Had the strike happened, city-owned arenas would have been shuttered, ending the approaching playoffs and deep sixing any tournaments. Only games at privately owned rinks, where the hourly ice rental is usually higher, would continue.
London, my centre of the minor hockey universe, face the same situation during my son's peewee year. He was lucky enough to be on a team that was clicking and anticipating great playoffs so the anxiety level during negotiations was high.
Along the way, minor hockey made its rinkside influence felt. Turned out many London city workers were hockey parents, too. Initially the buzz was that arenas would be allowed to stay open in the event of a work stoppage. Then, happily for all and just like in Toronto, a strike was averted.
Never underestimate the power of minor hockey to bring people together.

Bomb expert designs better hockey helmet

Here's what every parent wants - better protection for their child's noggin.
But who knew the design would come from a near-hockeyless nation like the United Kingdom. We could've guessed it'd be designed by a bomb expert.
Here's the link to the headgear story.

Rink roof collapses at end of minor hockey practice

Incredible video from inside the collapse of an arena roof in Slovakia just as a minor hockey practice was ending, posted by Puck Daddy.

It reminds me of a more tragic minor hockey arena roof collapse in 1959 in Listowel, Ont., where seven peewee hockey players and the recreation director were crushed to death.

Sportsmanship!

Nice story in the Ottawa Citizen points out great minor hockey sportsmanship at the recent Bell Capital Cup tournament.
Good stuff.

PM's home ice

Here's a nice piece in the National Post that mentions the arena where Prime Minister Stephen Harper played his minor hockey in Toronto. Wonder if he'll donate to the effort to build a second pad?
A tip of the hat to a Facebook hockey nut for pointing out the story

Girls' hockey confronts sexual abuse case

An unexpected twist in the latest case of a minor hockey volunteer charged with a sexual offence against a young player: The former coach is female and the victim, a 14-year-old girl.
The Fairbanks, Alaska, Daily News-Miner has the story.
There have been cases like this before - the worst being Canada's Graham James whose victims included future NHLers Theo Fleury and Sheldon Kennedy - but this is the first I remember reading involving girls' hockey, a female coach and female victim.
Hopefully Alaska minor hockey has a program like Speak Out - and take it seriously.

Referee, coach faces sexual assault charge

Minor hockey coach and referee in Fairbanks, Alaska,  faces sexual assault charges.
Not to pass judgment on the charges, but it is another, too frequent, example of why parents and organizations have to pay attention.

Canada's loss at World Juniors no big deal

Here's a memo for anyone upset about Canada losing 6-5 to the Russians at the World Juniors: Canada's best teenage hockey players are already in the NHL, not playing for the national team in this tournament.
The best teens from Russia, Sweden, the U.S. et al haven't yet proven themselves to win pro jobs.
Imagine if the Canadian junior team had included players such as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, born in 1993, and already a dominant player for the Edmonton Oilers? Ditto Tyler Seguin of the Boston Bruins.
All due praise to the Russian kids, and best of luck in the gold medal game. But remember, despite the loss, Canada still is the world factory for producing elite teen hockey players.

When referees support fighting in kids' hockey

Fighting in minor hockey happens and is usually not a big deal with appropriate penalties dished out - usually involving suspensions.
But what happens when referees are not with the program, either through flawed on-ice judgment or bad position which prevents them from seeing events transpire?
And what happens when a kid trying to follow the rules and is unwilling to fight finds himself being assaulted on the ice?
It unfolded before my eyes last night as our undermanned juvenile team played in yet another lopsided recreational game. Nothing big was on the line, few really cared who won or lost. It's nothing more than an hour of exercise, little different than a high school gym class.
A forward skates after a loose puck, he's tripped by an opposing player and slides into the feet of the goalie who's come out of the net to play the puck. The goalie is upended, one of his teammates makes a b-line for the forward lying on the ice and starts tugging at his helmet cage, trying I suppose to dislodge it to better hit his face. The forward has never fought in hockey, tries to cover up and wait a seemingly long time for the adult referees to pull off his attacker.
The penalties? Both players get 5 minutes even though it was an on-ice assault, not a fight. Even though a trip resulted in the collision with the out-of-crease goalie.
The secondary penalty? Questions from teammates why the forward didn't fight back.
He didn't fight back because he was playing by the rules and trusted the referees to do the same.
Meanwhile, he's out shopping for a new cage as the one from last night is now mangled, an additional monetary penalty for wanting to play by the rules in game that's only, supposedly, about fun, friends and fitness.
Next time I see Hockey Canada's president on TV wringing his hands about declining enrolment and reaching out to kids to stay in the game, I might suggest he check with the referees and ask them why they think kids leave.