The Airdrie Minor Hockey Association (AMHA) announced this week it has decided to eliminate body checking from its Bantam and Midget city divisions for the upcoming season (see story on page 21).
And I say kudos to the AMHA’s board of directors for recognizing that body checking, which is the leading cause of injury among minor hockey players, has no purpose whatsoever at these levels of the game.
I hate to break it to them, but teenaged boys playing this calibre of hockey are not on a path to making the game an occupation. But that does not mean they shouldn’t be provided an opportunity to play our great national winter game, especially in a safe environment.
According to the AMHA, body checking will still be permitted at the travel, AA and AAA levels for both Bantam and Midget.
And I’m fine with that, too.
The children playing at the more competitive levels of hockey have aspirations of some day playing at a higher level, and at those higher levels of hockey body contact is a significant part of the game. Though, I hope these young players (and parents for that matter) realize that only one in 3,000 minor hockey players will ever suit up for a National Hockey League game and only 1.3 out of every 1,000 minor hockey players will earn a college scholarship. Not that I want to crush a young hockey player’s goals and dreams, but it is reality.
Just as the rise of concussive head injuries in minor hockey is a reality.
The adolescent brain is vulnerable, and we as parents and hockey executives need to protect it. I’m not saying we need to start bubble wrapping our children, but we are required to protect them from obvious dangers.
Despite this, body checking remains a hot button issue despite numerous studies conducted by medical professionals calling for the elimination of all body contact for children under 16 years of age.
The University of Calgary (UofC)recently completed a five-year study on the repercussions of body checking in Peewee (11 and 12-year-olds). Prior to Hockey Canada’s body checking ban for all Peewee levels in 2013, the UofC study concluded Peewee players from Alberta were three times more likely to get injured and four times more likely to suffer a concussion than players of the same age group from Quebec, which had banned body checking in Peewee 20 years prior.
Even more concerning is the study’s conclusion that while concussion symptoms were likely to alleviate after 10 days for 80 per cent of players, a percentage of those injured players suffered symptoms for weeks, even years afterward.
Just as hockey people presently shake their head in disbelief and say, “I can’t believe they played without helmets or goalies played without masks back in the ol’ days,” I believe a few years down the road we’ll be saying, “I can’t believe children were allowed to knock each other around into oblivion when their parents knew it was bad for their brains.”
It is encouraging to know, however, that a majority of hockey parents are coming to the realization that enough is enough.
After Toronto hockey parents launched a petition in February, the Greater Toronto Hockey League – the largest minor hockey association in the world – responded last month by banning body checking for players under the age of 18 at the ‘A’ level.
If you are a parent, or hockey fan for that matter, that still believes body checking should be permitted at all levels of hockey – at least from Peewee onward – please allow me to share the thoughts of Chris Montador, brother of the late Steve Montador, a former Calgary Flames defenceman who battled concussion problems for the final few years of his life.
“He wasn’t my brother. He was like a different person inside his body and it breaks my heart,” Montador told The Hockey News shortly after his brother’s passing. “He wanted to be the same guy, but he just couldn’t.”
“With respect to his brain, I don’t know how many cylinders were working in there.”
I must say, it’s reassuring to know the cylinders within the AMHA are working fine and well.
