Hockey Manitoba needs to up its game

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This article was published 24/02/2016 (3722 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Can Hockey Manitoba bring so-called outlaw spring hockey programs out of the wilderness into the fold?

That is certainly the goal of the province’s senior governing body, which announced Monday that along with provincial chapters in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, it was moving ahead with plans to welcome the spring hockey operators formally into organized hockey.

Hockey Manitoba hopes to lure the spring operators, or the families that play spring hockey, by offering them an array of “benefits” that include a less costly, more comprehensive insurance package, rules that are standardized with the Hockey Canada rule book, and a pledge that players and coaches would be subject to the same suspensions used in minor hockey.

Spring operators that affiliate with Hockey Manitoba will still be allowed to recruit players from any jurisdiction and will not be asked to adhere to minor hockey’s protocol on fair play. However, Woods said they would receive all of the other benefits of membership.

“We’re not looking to totally dismantle these programs,” said Peter Woods, executive director of Hockey Manitoba. “They don’t have to join if they don’t want to, but those programs that do join us will get some value.”

Many unaffiliated spring hockey enthusiasts will see this as a pure power play on the part of Hockey Manitoba, but there are undeniable problems with some spring programs that could theoretically be solved with simple affiliation.

The cost of many of the spring programs is, quite frankly, so high that it borders on madness. That is partly because these programs are ambitious, and partly because many of the programs are run like businesses, where coaches and organizers are paid for their time.

There are also concerns about the rules in play. Right now, any spring coach or player guilty of serious misconduct (majors, misconducts or match penalties) faces much less discipline in a spring program than would be handed out in the winter season.

(For example, in many unaffiliated spring tournaments, players assessed a minor penalty for checking from behind will not be ejected from the game, as is the practice in minor hockey. Often, they get an extra 10-minute misconduct — but no ejection and no suspension from future games.)

That might seem like a small point, but it certainly does speak to a different level of tolerance for some of the more dangerous aspects of the game.

Woods admitted no one is sure how many spring programs will volunteer to join the Hockey Manitoba family. There is a broad array of spring programs, from big institutional spring leagues hosted at the MTS Iceplex, Canlan Ice Sports and the University of Manitoba, and the so-called premiere “AAA” programs that have proliferated in recent years.

The former programs are heavy on development and light on “elite” marketing; it is the latter category, the AAA programs, that cause the most concern for hockey officialdom.

These programs shamelessly promote themselves as elite alternatives to minor hockey; many in the hockey governing bodies believe the better term is “elitist” and see these programs as unnecessary and disruptive to the winter season.

Will spring hockey operators willingly affiliate? Representatives of AAA programs could not be reached for comment, but the drive to affiliate spring programs began in B.C. five years ago. The experience in that province suggests this will be an uphill battle for the governing bodies.

BC Hockey CEO Barry Petrachenko said his organization has brought about 30 programs under the provincial governing body to date, accounting for some 600 spring hockey players. However, Petrachenko said having the other western provinces in lockstep with the drive to affiliate spring programs should help build momentum.

“We knew there was no quick-growth strategy with this initiative,” said Petrachenko. “It’s going to be a slow process to get the numbers up.”

A slow process to be sure, but one that will require the governing bodies to enunciate their case much better than they did this week.

The debate over affiliation is fraught with hard feelings. For as long as anyone can remember, hockey organizations have resented the swagger of the spring programs and the influence they sometimes have over the best players.

Minor hockey coaches often complain about players who miss winter season games or practices to attend tryouts or practices for their spring teams. The coaches complain about not being able to find practice ice because spring programs hoard prime-time bookings.

There is an element of sour grapes, but also a nugget of truth. It is more accurate to say the lack of co-operation between minor hockey and the spring operators has often created competition that’s not entirely healthy for the sport.

Better insurance coverage and standardized rules may not be enough to encourage the spring operators to join the family. The AAA programs have a rather rabid following. Contrary to the best principles of the Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model, which preaches multiple sports in every child’s life, spring programs are built on a belief year-round ice time is the path to elite-level hockey.

Hockey Manitoba should be applauded for making the offer to spring operators, but the argument must be stronger and much more focused if this is to have any effect on outlaw hockey proponents.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca