World Hockey Summit Day 2: AM session, audio from Shanahan, Dr. Mark Aubry
Adrian Fung | Aug 24, 2010 | Comments 0
The second day of the World Hockey Summit in Toronto has reached the noon break after an informative session on Player Skill Development Initiatives on the floor of the Air Canada Centre this morning. Once again, TSN hockey analyst Bob McKenzie moderated and oversaw a discussion on “providing opportunities for safe, positive and enjoyable experiences in youth hockey.” Dr. Steve Norris, a sports medicine specialist associated with Hockey Canada opened the proceedings with a broad-ranging presentation covering many topics. He illustrated the steps needed for a nation to produce elite athletes but also emphasized the importance of children’s participation in sport for the simple love of the game. Dr. Norris believes that population size, financial backing and a socio-cultural committment to sports are three key factors to producting high-quality athletes in hockey and all sports, citing the example of Australia overhauling its sports systems in the 1970s until it became a respected sporting nation that hosted the 2000 Summer Olympics.
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He went on to caution against the trend seen in Canadian hockey where the “play” element has slowly dissipated, replaced by a system where hockey is often expensive to pursue, inaccessible and out of reach for many average families to enrol their children. At the same time, he emphasized the importance of “high-performance” in coaching and instruction from “expert eyes” to support talented hockey-playing teenagers. He concluded by stating “what it takes to become a champion may be different than what it is to be a champion” noting that a comprehensive approach looking at multiple factors of growth and development in children is necessary to produce talented athletes.
DR. MARK AUBRY 4 mins 43 sec Dr. Mark Aubry reviews initiatives in Canada and around the world to promote player safety. (This writer’s question on potentially examining players’ pre-existing medical conditions occurs at 3:10).
BRENDAN SHANAHAN 5 mins 41 sec Brendan Shanahan talks about the fatigue factor after the Olympics and other miscellaneous hockey topics. (This writer’s question concerning the wisdom of giving kids an off-season from hockey occurs at 4:10).
A second presentation followed, given by Dr. Mark Aubry, chief medical officer of Hockey Canada. He analyzed three key areas of player health and safety: skill development, doping and body-checking. He immediately pointed out that this past season, four of the ten top scorers in the NHL weigh less than 210 lbs., suggesting that hockey is inherently a complicated sport that places a premium on many kills including coordination, agility, balance and dexterity, not just purely muscle mass. He lauded the IIHF’s new “Green Puck Project” launched at the World Championships this past spring in Germany, an initiative that symbolizes a stance against doping. On the hot topic of body-checking, Dr. Aubry reviewed research literature and found that as far back as 1988, the Canadian Academy of Sports Medicine recommended that body-checking be introduced as late as possible. Numerous subsequent studies seem to indicate a significant risk in injuries and concussions in leagues with checking.
On a positive note, Dr. Aubry explained that spinal injuries have decreased significantly over the years as coaches and referees have been instructed to clamp down on checking from behind. Just as important, children are being taught how to safely position themselves along the boards to reduce their injury risk and to promote safety. With concussions occurring in players as young as 8 and 9 years old, Dr. Aubry empasized the need to teaach restraint and the use of common sense to deter shoulder to head checks. He stated that the IIHF has adopted regulations prohibiting no-head checking and no sticks to the head.
During the panel discussion, Philadelphia head coach Peter Laviolette gave his opinion on hitting in peewee hockey, stating that he felt there should be “no body checking but body contact. I agree with the fact that injuries are becoming substantial. My older son got a concussion, my other son broke a collarbone. For kids that are not going on to play college hockey, it’s an extreme risk we’re putting them at.”
Ex-NHL star and current NHL VP of hockey and business development Brendan Shanahan agreed. “When I was young, they took out body-checking and there wasn’t fighting but when you get to the professional level, if it’s in you to fight, it’s in you. What I really want is a safe environment for [his son] to learn the game of hockey. There has to be a little bit more accountability with the coaches. At the minor hockey level, what frightens me a bit, there are ways we punish players who play physically or over boundaries of fair play. We’ll punish those players but there are no punishments for coaches. I’d like to say to some of the delegations: if there is a coach whose behaviour is repeated over and over again, you might not have to just look at the player, but you’d have to look at the coach.”
Shanahan also exhorted the delegates to let hockey be a game and not a chore. He joked that his 7 year old son, Jack, is starting hockey, and “he’s a little bit of a pest like Avery, has desire and effort like Parise, but unfortunately skates like Happy Gilmore … the best thing [for kids and] a foundation for a young person’s future in hockey is to develop a love for it … I don’t ever hear kids talking about shinny hockey … you’d try new things, keep the parents and coaches off the ice. [Back then] we weren’t thinking of getting a scholarship, we were just playing.” He concluded by stressing the need to give kids an “off-season” break from hockey, however, during the summer months and dismissed the benefits of a round-the-year hockey-playing schedule.
