Blowout leads to calls to keep kids hockey fun

Hockey groups across the country are looking for ways to manage runaway scores in a bid to keep the sport fun for kids.

The issue swelled for the Minor Hockey Alliance of Ontario after a team of eight-year-olds from Kitchener crushed a squad from Cambridge 41-0 last month.

The lopsided score was unusual, but the group is still considering a variety of measures to prevent a similar situation, said executive director Tony Martindale.

Those measures could include new rules or guidelines and revisiting how the teams are split up based on skill, he said.

“Our biggest thing here is that we don’t want to turn kids off of hockey,” Martindale said. “We want hockey to be a lifelong adventure for the kids.”

The Kitchener-Cambridge game didn’t result in a barrage of complaints, he added, likely because the coaches found away to keep it fun for the young athletes.

The winning team also implemented some rules to try to slow the pace when the score began to balloon, including requiring players to pass at least five times before shooting the puck.

Hockey Canada recommends players under the age of nine play half-ice games and that no score is kept.

No one from Hockey Canada was made available to discuss the guidelines.

Groups across the country use various rules for young players, with the Ontario Hockey Federation saying keeping score is optional for eight-year-old (novice) hockey. Hockey Alberta and B.C. Hockey do not keep score for teams made up of kids eight and under.

Young players should be learning skills like passing and how to be part of a team, not focusing on the score or who has how many goals, said Brad Lyon, spokesman for Hockey Alberta.