USA Hockey ratifies drastic body checking changes

[Guest]

Agree. When kids turn literally at the last few seconds and get hit that is tough to blame the person doing the hitting. Making it worse is when the hit kid embellishes and lays on the ice to intentionally cause a 2 and 10 for the person who made the hit. Nobody wants any kid to get hurt but there is blame all the way around - including refs who make the wrong calls and let games get out of hand. We had refs explain they were giving our kids 2 and 10 because our kid was bigger NOT because it was a bad hit. Stupidity reigns

[Guest]

Proper checking is part of the game.  Taking checking away would be the equivalent of taking blocking or tackling out of football.  The decision to introduce checking in the later years, in my humble opinion, was a move in the wrong direction.  Introducing checking for the first time to kids who are 5' 8" - 6'2", have gone through puberty already, and are young men is a recipe for violence.  Teaching these skaters the proper technique and purpose of a check early on is the answer.  There are still different skill levels at the younger ages, I get that, but 8,9, and 10 year old kids are not able to inflict as much damage as a mini-man.  If we can ingrain into a new skater how to deliver effective body contact, or how to receive contact the right way, when they are still impressionable and learning the game, that would be far more effective.  Again, just my two cents.

[Guest]

Get USAH out of youth hockey. Go regulate Cup stacking.

[Guest]

It is the responsibility of the player delivering a body check to recognize a player may turn and contact may be made in the back, causing a penalty.  It is NOT the player that turned fault.  That's been in the USA hockey rules for a long time.

I am in favor of increasing the penalty for any contact to the head, checks from behind, to 5 and 10.

The only problem with any change or solution, is the officials need to enforce.  There isn't consistency presently on these dangerous plays.  Often, roughing is called for contact to the head instead of the proper call.

And...there is no accountability for officials.  That's the larger issue.  USAH loses officials every year because of insane parents/coaches so they don't want to implement anything to further erode membership, IMO.  That is the larger problem.

[Guest]

I completely agree with your observation of the inconsistency in the officiating. We (the coaches) were by our club of the new checking declaration. Specifically, as soon as a player releases the puck an opponent does not have a 1 or 2 second face period to follow through with their check. First 2 games it was called and players responded. However, it has not been called and as a result our players have let their guard down and taken some big hits. Need to be consistent.

[Guest]

My son is a first year Bantam player and now that we are 2 months into the season, my observation is the kids aren't being taught how to correctly check.  Aside from that, they aren't being corrected and yes the refs are sometimes inconsistent.  While the inconsistency from refs will always remain, the corrections on how to properly check can be corrected.  It's not just the checking from behind it's also way too many kids lifting their hands and/or elbows into the heads of their opponents.

[Guest]

Just another instance of a USAH solution in search of a problem. Amazing youth hockey survived all these years without this idiotic rule.