Interesting observations below - What do you think of them?
From MIhockeykid.com
After years of watching this odd practice of stop clocks and blue
pucks for the younger kids, I say it's time for an end to both, with at
least room for judgment.
Watching the little guys (and girls) go at it on the ice is one of my
favorite things to do. It brings back memories of the "not so long ago"
when my little guys were balancing precariously on their blades and
their pants length ended just above their ankles. But that exprience has
given me perspective I didn't have when I was personally in the middle
of it.
I tolerated the stop clocks which ended line shifts at 2 minute
intervals because they did what they were supposed to do - give all the
kids equal (or semi-equal) time on the ice during games. I tolerated the
lighter blue pucks because I thought it was better for the kids so they
could get the puck off the ice easier and into the air. It also allowed
them to not have to survive the impact of a heavier hard black puck
hitting them. It wasn't long before I got frustrated with both practices
and now that I've had a chance to look back at those years and
objectively watch how both these practices screw up the game today, I
have the following suggestions:
1) Alter the 2 minute clock hard stop to allow the referees to
determine when to blow the whistle. How many times have you seen a poor
kid take off on a rush or breakaway and have the buzzer go off just as
they cross the blue line? Teach the kids to ignore the buzzer and wait
for the referee to blow the whistle at the end of a play.
2) Get rid of the blue pucks. We give our kids heavy orange pucks to
train on so they get stronger, so why are we wasting time with the blue
pucks? On soft ice they don't even move (ever see a blue puck stop on a
warm Spring day in the rink?) and frankly they just slow down a kids
strength and stickhandling development. As for injuries? Our kids have
never been more protected with equipment - it's a non issue.
What do you think?
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