Appeal to be heard in row over midget hockey league

A plan to merge minor (age 15) and major (age 16 and 17) midget hockey in the region has been appealed.

Hockey Canada’s Eastern Ontario executive director Debbie Rambeau says no date has been set for the appeal, nor has a panel been struck, but a hearing could take place as early as next week.

The Eastern Ontario AAA Minor Hockey League is appealing to Hockey Eastern Ontario on behalf of five member associations after being denied by the Ottawa District Minor Hockey Association was denied. Under the proposal, approved by the ODMHA, the combined midget AAA league would run for three years as a pilot project starting next season.

“Stakeholders, parents and players, have not been consulted, and there has been a rush to judgment. The proposal was tabled and voted on within a week,” Chester Burtt, president of the EOMHL, said Friday. The EOMHL wants the project stopped and the plan modified.

The project is so contentious that one parent who was interviewed asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution against his son. Some parents believe the merger could harm the prospects of minor midgets by limiting opportunities for scouts working for major-junior and U.S. colleges to see the 15-year-olds eligible for the Ontario Hockey League draft. They fear some elite and showcase tournaments for 15-year-olds might not allow teams whose rosters included 16- and 17-year-olds.

However, ODMHA president Denis Dumais said “the biggest myth” was that midget hockey was geared solely to producing players for the OHL.

The goal, Dumas said, is to provide another option for all players. “Our goal is to try and keep players playing minor hockey.”

The project grew from a proposal made last fall by the Tier 2 junior Central Canada Hockey League whose commissioner, Kevin Abrams, noted that Ontario was the only province where midget hockey was split. Draft eligibility for the Western Hockey League is age 14, when players are in bantam hockey; it’s 16 for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Abrams said, noting that undrafted latebloomers may simply drop out of organized hockey. He said keeping them in the game longer is better.

“We all have an obligation to do what we think is better,” Abrams said.

All 12 teams in the proposed Hockey Eastern Ontario Midget AAA League would be affiliated with CCHL clubs, Dumais said, and the project would not affect AA midget hockey.

The appeal might not end the matter. A final appeal could be made to Hockey Canada.