There is always going to be people who are interested in hockey at the highest level and those who are only interested in casual fun.Guest wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2025 10:08 amYou nailed a lot of points.Guest wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2025 9:15 am Canadian hockey is broken. 1.HC is poorly managed and does not focus on grassroots. Lack of development model. Oh we should do 1/2 ice cause the US is, 1/2 ice works with the right development. By U9 players should be ready to transition to full ice, sadly many are not. 2. Untrained coaching, you spend hours doing courses that are ridiculous, no coach mentoring or communication. Most coaches cant relate or even talk to their players. Most coaches run their own practice plans on what they drew on a napkin at the bar. And are rarely evaluated. 3. Crazy associations and parents who want games over practices. It's all about the game in Canada. 4. Environment of selfish kids who all want the goal, and don't play to make their teammates better. 5. Zero creatively, systems and robots, 12 months of hockey.
HC only cares about the highest levels that make them money or could make them money in the future. They care way too much about their U20, U18 and AAA teams with little to no focus on the lowest levels of hockey. Focus should be getting more kids playing hockey, especially goalies, and make it easier for them to get involved.
Coaching is a huge issue as there are less and less volunteers each year. While I do like that there is a training program I'm not sure that they are getting quality coaches. As long as you do the training and pass a VSC, you can coach. Kids are not being taught the game properly. At the house league level, if you have a kid who can skate, coach tells them to rush the puck by themselves every time they have the puck. That's not teaching them the game and what it means to work as a team. Even at the rep level, I know a lot of coaches who are in over their head. It takes a certain individual to teach the game properly and to deal with players & parents.
I know a lot of players, especially at house league, where their parents don't think practice is important and don't bring them. Their kids just get further and further behind but you can't do anything as they get equal ice time during games.
There is way too much hockey being played but if you don't play or train in the spring or summer, you will get left behind.
You are combining way too many issues into one conversation.
U9 hockey has NOTHING to do with what happened at the world juniors.
Full ice hockey at U9 for MD teams is a great idea because those kids are there to play at a competitive level. House league and Select teams should stay at half ice in my opinion or transition half way through the year like they do today. I am one of the most critical people of half ice, but I will always admit that the intended result was to always make hockey seem more accessible to more kids - and for lower level, new hockey players half ice absolutely is more accessible. Where half ice falls down, is at the highest levels where kids want to compete and continue to develop at the highest level they can but they are stuck playing with no rules, no positioning, and development is stunted because they have never practiced a break out play or played defense in the neutral zone.
Now, as far as results of HC recently and other nations catching us and surpassing us, there are a combination of two things: issues, and just normal progress from other nations. We have a small population and there is nothing special or unique about us as a people. Other nations that are the same population or more will of course end up becoming better than us at hockey.
the actual issues are:
1. Focus on individual skill
- Our best players spend a lot of time on the ice. However, they spend it on doing things that are pure individual skills. Skating, stick handling, shooting, etc. If you look at the way we play this game through our youth programs is purely a selfish sport. I'll ruin my credibility somewhat here because this is going to come across as racist, but the fact we have so many Asian kids playing at high levels (because they are talented and skilled - and absolutely deserve to be there) but they are the kids that more than anyone else, do not play as a teammate. Every single team in youth hockey, and at the highest level, if you look at the kids who are the "problem kids" because they don't pass there is a higher than normal percentage that are Asian. White / Black kids can be selfish too, you just don't see it nearly as much as a percentage.
2. Lack of toughness / mixed with skill
- the game is changing, you don't need goons, you don't need guys who go out there just to hit. I recognize that, and the sport is better for it. But the game is still a contact sport, and there is this sense of entitlement and focus on skill that tends to leave our best players uninterested in that part of the game. So you continue to see more and more Marner, types and less Jerome Iginla, Sidney Crosby, etc. And you know who does still have those guys who play super skilled, but also with an edge and toughness? USA. Think of MOST of the top players and think about which ones play with an edge as well as skill - most aren't going to be Canadian. That used to be OUR identity. Big, Strong, Tough and Skilled. USA has stolen it from us.
This is going to make me lose more credibility... again... but taking hitting out of the game until kids hit puberty is part of that issue. Firstly, I am convinced its WAY more dangerous the way it is today. Every youth hockey game I go to today, kids are getting hit, they just aren't doing a damn thing to protect themselves because they SHOULDN'T be getting hit. If kids at U8/U9 when they are all the same size (more or less) learned to give and take hits everyone would be safer. Kids would learn quickly to check over their shoulder before they go into that corner, etc. You can already see it at the beginning of the season when all the lacrosse kids come back to hockey from Lacrosse. They check over their shoulder, they have their head up in the middle of the ice, etc. Secondly, if it was introduced when kids are younger and smaller you would see the most skilled players learning and getting used to it. You might see in a different timeline Marner laying the body a bit today or at least being more physical in general, because when he was 9yo and the same size as his peers he was able to lay some hits and maybe even enjoyed that part of the game.