Home » Blogs » Hal Tearse

htearse's blog

Parents Rethinking Contact Sports

Local youth football organizers in Minnesota say they are experiencing a 20 percent decline in registrations this year, citing increased awareness of the potential of serious injury and parents who are apparently picking other sports for their 3rd and 4th grade children.

Changing Hockey Culture: Are We Reaching A Tipping Point?

Playing the game of ice hockey within the rules would seem like a simple concept.  Yet all efforts to accomplish this objective have thus far proven elusive, from the NHL all the way down to the youngest levels.  In a previous post I reported that Minnesota Hockey has retained the much harsher penalties for two of the three most dangerous plays in the game. In fact, Minnesota has the toughest rules in youth and high school hockey in the country. The question is, will this be enough to change the culture of the sport?

Playing the game of hockey within the rules would seems like a simple concept. Yet all efforts to enforce the rules have thus far proven elusive.  Will making the rules for dangerous play tougher be enough to change the culture? This coming season may be the tipping point.

Minnesota Hockey Retains More Severe Penalties, Aims for Better Enforcement

Minnesota Hockey, the governing body for 40,000 youth hockey players in the state, has voted to continue with the pilot program begun last Janaury that made checking from behind and boarding 5 minute major and 10 minute misconduct penalties.  The program was instituted after high school player Jack Jablonski suffered a spinal cord injury from an unpenalized check from behind. The USA Hockey rule book allows for escalating levels of penaly time depending on the incident. That discretion no longer exists in Minnesota in youth or high school hockey. 

Minnesota Hockey, the governing body for 40,000 youth hockey players in the state, has voted to continue rule changes enacted last January which stiffened the penalties for checking from behind and boarding and hope for better enforcement.

Better Enforcement, Not Rule Changes Key To Reducing Dangerous Play in Hockey

 

Minnesota Hockey and the Minnesota State High school league increased the penalties for dangerous plays following the tragic life changing accident Jack Jablonski, a 16-year-old Benilde St. Margarets player, suffered in January of 2012. The question at hand now is should we continue with the stiffer penalties, modify them, add to them or return to the previous rule book? So far the consensus is to keep them and add to them.

It seems so simple, but as we learn in life nothing is simple. Perhaps we should look at the causes that are creating the current environment and then asertain if the  penalties are warranted, are sufficient or need changing.  

We won't make ice hockey safer for players by increasing penalties for dangerous play. We need to address the core issue: the violent culture of the sport.

NHL Commissioner Pleased with Increased Hitting in the Playoffs

The Stanley Cup playoffs bring out the best and worst in professional hockey. The quest for the Cup and the bragging rights that go along with it intensify the game and bring it to a higher level each year after the regular season. There have been some really exciting games and, as a fan, former player and coach of the game, it is a thrill to watch, most of the time.

But I also wonder why we have to wait until the conclusion of an 80-game season before we get to see the good stuff? I think something is wrong here.

And then there is the bad stuff, and plenty of it. 

The Stanley Cup playoffs bring out the best and worst in professional hockey.

Player Safety Summit Offers Ideas

This morning at the St. Paul RiverCenter, the Herb Brooks Foundation assembled a panel of the leaders in the hockey community to discuss issues and solutions surrounding player safety in ice hockey at all levels. The purpose of the event was to raise awareness in the hockey community about the issues facing the game and to discuss possible solutions. Each of the 13 panelists introduced themselves and provided a brief history of their invovlement in the game. 

Minnesota Governor, Mark Dayton, made the opening remarks and told about his experiences playing hockey as a youth, high school and Division 1 player at Yale College.

Player safety takes the spotlight at the Herb Brooks Foundation Safety Summit as part of the boys sate high school hockey tournament in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Parenting for the Game of Life

March is a busy time of year as winter sports wind down and spring/summer sports wind up. This is a time of year where the demands on parents to get kids to their in-season activities and the early sessions of the next season is daunting. Being a parent is hard with all of the pressures that your kids place on you and the pressure to participate non-stop all year-round in almost every sport. 

A longtime youth hockey coach advises sports parents to just say no, to place limits on excessive sports, and have their kids spend more time on things that matter more in life in the long run.

The Endless Hockey Season: Is It A Good Thing?

The off-season for hockey will start in a few weeks.

Or will it?

Apparently not. These days, it seems many hockey parents and players consider what used to be the traditional off-season, when kids played outdoors and changed sports until the next winter season, as the real season, because it is the time of year when AAA all-star teams are formed and tournaments are played, weekend after weekend. The off-season teams have cool jerseys, expensive jackets and warm-ups for players and parents. It's also a time for tournament organizers to rake in the big bucks. 

How to make $100,000 in 4 days of youth hockey or "Whatever Happened to the Off Season?"

The Future of Ice Hockey: What Kind of Game Do We Want?

What kind of game do we want ice hockey to be? Do we want a very physical game with lots of hitting from behind and head contact or do we want the game we once had, a game of skill and respect along with legal physical play?

The game of ice hockey has not always been played as it is now. Checking was not permitted by attacking players in the offensive zone until the mid 1970’s. The center red line created another point that slowed the game down a bit and there was no tag-up offsides, so defensemen actually had to learn some skills to survive in neutral ice until their linemates got back onside.

What is the future of youth ice hockey? Will it continue to be a game of illegal hits to the hitting, interfering, intimidation, and trash-talking opponents, or one rewarding speed, skill, and physical play within the rules?  Only time will tell.

Cyberbullying: A New Threat to Our Kids

Recently, I learned that one of the players on my hockey team was Tweeting negative statements about another player. He claims he though that only the other player could see it. We discussed the situation with him, told him it was unacceptable, and asked him to remove the Tweets and apologize to the team. He started out by saying to his teammates,  "I was told I need to apologize for Tweeting," and then promptly quit. Wow, talk about lack of sincerity or honesty.  The incident offered several "teachable moments", which we will take advantage of as we work through this issue. 

Cyberbullying is rampant in the teen-age culture today.

Syndicate content