Finally banned peewee body checking starting next season for Hockey Nova Scotia.
So the board of Hockey Nova Scotia has finally voted today March 12, 2013 to make it illegal to body check anyone for PeeWee players and some Bantam/Midget leagues (11 - 12 year old players) as well. These changes take effect as of this September 2013 for the start of the new hockey season.
So why has it taken soo long for them to do this?. There is plenty of proof through out the ages to prove that body checking is used as a form of gangsterism in hockey. Look at Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, do a quick Google.com search for "Sidney Crosby injuries". You will see that he has missed more time than most for playing hockey than most people that have been playing it longer than him.
The longer hockey continues to go on the worse the game gets and the injuries as well, there was a report done by the Mayo Clinic from Rochester, MN Link showing that for every 1000 hours there are a average of 2.2 injuries happening (this is for all injuries not just for body checking). So why is it that it has taken soo long to come to this conclusion and movement to ban body checking. Hockey is no longer hockey, it is now more of a battle between the 2 teams as to who can get rid of the good/excellent players on the other team first so that they will not win.
Hockey Alberta, which governs hockey in Alberta Link, put together a committee 2 years ago to come up with recommendations on body checking. The first time they tried to pass it through to get it approved it was denied and the 2nd time it was approved; They say that parents are split 50-50 on the issue of it being banned. I say give the parents a reality check and then take that money spent on the committee and put it to good use instead of wasting it like they and everyone else has done.
There should be no doubt or question on this, theses are our children playing, their safety is first and fore most and fun of the game is 2nd to none.If you want to see these types of injuries or brutality, then go watch wrestling where it is expected and choreographed and the pay and health care are a lot better.
This should not of taken as long as it did to go through but at the same time it should be enforced for all levels of hockey so we can back to the basics of the game as it was intended and not what we have now "A boxing match with occasional hockey break outs".
Also here is a visual from a Youtuber USAHOCKEYHQ that posted a video titled "USA Hockey breaks down examples of body contact that would be considered legal and illegal" on May 16, 2011
Disclaimer: All company names and logos belong to their perspective owners and not me. Original article was from the Halifax Metro News at this link here http://ow.ly/kWQ88
