PHA mites use half-ice
Hockey Canada requiring half-ice or cross-ice hockey for players six and under
The Peterborough Hockey Association is ahead of the curve when it comes to its mite and preschool hockey programs.
Hockey Canada announced last week it wants all its affiliated minor hockey programs to follow the Initiation Program which mandates half-ice or cross-ice hockey for players aged six and under.
The Ontario Hockey Federation (OHF) and Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) announced their support of the IP program on the same day as Hockey Canada’s announcement.
Although the Initiation Program (IP) – originally developed more than 35 years ago – always recommended cross-ice or half-ice smallarea games, its delivery has varied from community to community. Beginning in the 2017-18 season, a new Hockey Canada policy now mandates that Initiation-aged players receive age-appropriate programming on cross-ice or half-ice surfaces.
That’s just fine by the PHA which has run an OMHA-certified IP program with half-ice programs for several years. Players in the mite (ages 5-6) and pre-school (under five) age groups participate in a half-ice practice setting with each session ending with a mini-game with no scores, statistics or standings kept, says PHA president John Welsh. There were eight teams registered at mite last season, about 100 players, and 42 in pre-school.
“They have an hour of ice and four teams on the ice and the coaches create four stations. They’ll do each station and then play a mini-game,” Welsh said. “We are doing what they are talking about. It’s all about development; to teach them how to skate, pass, puckhandle and shoot.”
Mike Farrugia, a PHA executive, AA coach and a development program instructor, says it’s important the young players play in an environment appropriate for their size. Reactive thinking is one of the skills young players need to learn and that’s difficlt, he said, when there is too much space between players.
“It teaches a kid to push the puck all the way down and I’m going to be OK because no one is going to touch me,” Farrugia said. “It doesn’t teach the quick reflexes needed. I think half-ice is definitely the way to go.”
There are a number of disadvantages to full-ice at that age, he says.
“Fatigue is a factor. It’s overwhelming. I just think some kids don’t get involved in the play as much. When you’re in a smaller area you have no choice. You’re only 10 to 15 feet away from the play and kids who are still developing their skating habits still have a chance to be involved in a few more puck touches or the play is closer to them so they feel like they are in that environment rather than standing in his zone by the net and the puck is 200 feet away. That’s a struggle.”
It also improves player awareness in terms of safety.
“You have to learn to skate with your head up a little bit earlier, you can’t just skate with your head down and not expect to bump into anybody,” Farrugia said.
It also levels the playing field a little for advanced players.
“They’re going to have a few more obstructions in the way,” Farrugia said.
“You could even take it a step further and look at the size of the nets we’re using for five-year-old hockey. Why are our nets four-by-six? They should be more like four-by-five or three-by-five to make it relative.”
Paul Carson, Hockey Canada’s vice-president of membership development, compared it to other sports.
“You would never put a five- or sixyear-old child on a full-size soccer pitch, or expect them to play basketball without any adjustments made for their size. Hockey is no different,” Carson stated in a press release.
Carson said it’s time for uniformity across Canada.
“The Initiation Program was developed to allow kids to have fun, learn skills, and develop confidence,” he said.
“Resizing the playing surface to cross-ice or half-ice means more puck-touches, which result in more chances to practice puck-control and shooting, as well as overall more movement and motor skill-development – twisting, turning, balance, coordination, agility. Their field-ofplay matches their size, and these players hone in on their skill-development in a way that larger ice surfaces just aren’t conducive to.”
According to Hockey Canada statistics players receive five times more passes and take six times more shots in half-ice hockey.
Special boards and bumpers have been developed that allow for quick and easy division of a regular-sized rink into two half-ice surfaces or three cross-ice rinks, with options to create different small-area configurations.
It also allows communities to maximize their ice time, notes Hockey Canada. The playoff schedule is now set for the Peterborough Timbermen. The Timbermen begin the Arena Lacrosse League playoffs on Friday at 8 p.m. at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre in Oakville in a sudden-death match against the Toronto Monarchs, who finished third in the ALL standings with an 8-6 record. The Timbermen are the sixth-place seed in the playoffs with a 3-11 record. Each round is single-elimination. If the Timbermen win, they will face the first-place Oshawa Outlaws in the semi-finals on Saturday. Oshawa and the second-place Six Nations Snipers have a bye to the second round, hosted at the Tribute Communities Centre in Oshawa. The league final will be on Sunday, also in Oshawa. The Paris RiverWolves and St. Catharines Shockwave play in the other quarter-final on Thursday.