Duxbury High Hockey Lawsuit

[InTheHole]

I have been coaching youth hockey for 9 seasons now, my oldest played HS varsity as a freshman last year, middle child is a 2nd year peewee, and the last one is a 2nd year squirt...... I have seen, been a part of, a lot of youth hockey games. I think the fact that someone would try to sue over this his is about as ridiculous as it gets, but I will say that I cannot believe that kid wasn't given a penalty/major for a hit to the head. In my experience especially in the last 3-4 years any head contact is called, unintentional or not.
My oldest son is 15 years old and is 6'4" and has been called numerous times over the years for head contact during a check, not dirty head hunting checks but a clean hit that made contact with the head because of the size differences. On many occasions I have had refs come to the bench and state that even though it was a clean hit they have to call it due to contact with the head.

The Hannon kid that shot the puck also has to be aware and have his head up, especially at the high school level.

Now USA Hockey ( governing body ) for a majority of the youth leagues, voted last July to remove body checking from from the PeeWee level and start it at the Bantam level. They did this because they have studies that show that if a child receives a concussion in the 11-13yo range that it has a more dramatic effect on the brain than at any other point. The jury is still out on this one as far as I am concerned, while during this development stage as a player I have kids that are progressing faster and are more confident with the puck because no one is going to clean their clock, but there is nothing like the fact of knowing you can be hit to teach you to keep your head up.
My fear is that when these kids move into Bantams where kids have already been checking for 2 years, we are going to see a lot more of the Hannon like plays, where the kid's head is down and a larger/more skilled player lowers the boom.

[bart]

Plain and simple, don't play or let your kids if you don't want to get hit. It's friggin' hockey for Christ's sake! It's the only sport where fist fights are ENCOURAGED. I didn't think it was a dirty hit and I thought it was a JOKE that it went to court. Good for the judge for throwing out that garbage...

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by bart

Plain and simple, don't play or let your kids if you don't want to get hit. It's friggin' hockey for Christ's sake! It's the only sport where fist fights are ENCOURAGED. I didn't think it was a dirty hit and I thought it was a JOKE that it went to court. Good for the judge for throwing out that garbage...

Actually, fighting at any level in Europe, and other than at the professional level in North America, gets you thrown out of the game, and suspended for the next one.

In high school, in some associations, it gets you suspended for the rest of the year.

In the NCAA you get suspended for the remainder of the season after the second fight.

[bart]

Originally Posted by Mike P

Actually, fighting at any level in Europe, and other than at the professional level in North America, gets you thrown out of the game, and suspended for the next one.

In high school, in some associations, it gets you suspended for the rest of the year.

In the NCAA you get suspended for the remainder of the season after the second fight.

I'm talking on a professional level, which I would imagine, most young athletes aspire to be and model their game after...