What's Wrong With Youth Hockey?

For me, there’s nothing better in the world than going outside and playing hockey on a pond or an outdoor rink. However, through my own observations on the youth of the country, or as a whole are not following in this trend.

Now, at the risk of sounding like an old-timer at the age of 23, it’s no secret that the youth don’t get out as much. I try to skate on my outdoor rink 2 to 3 times a week. To be honest, I hardly see any young kids on the rink, ever. However, last week I saw a group of youths out on the ice right when I got there. The only issue was it wasn’t just them, it was their and their Dad’s hawking over everything they did.

Each kid had their travel team or club team’s jump suit on and were pretty good at what they did. 90% of the time the kids just worked on their one-timers and slap shots. Too me it almost seemed like an unofficial set up by the dads. At one point one of the fathers even said, “I don’t see much skating going on out there, go out and work on your stride.”

To me, going out on the pond is all about having fun. I only played a couple years of youth hockey, but I can already tell times have changed. At one point on of the kids yelled at the other kid to make crisper passes and pick it up. It, to me, seemed kind of wrong. I did however get to meet one of their little brothers. He couldn’t have been older than 6 and he wanted to play a pick- up game so bad. He asked his brothers and their friends and they all said no because they were working on their slappers. Now, what kid doesn’t wanna play pond pick up hockey? So I played 1 v 1 with the little guy, he beat me 10 to 6 according to him.

Now this is where I think we’re losing the game. Kids are being forced into the mold that their coaches and fathers want them to be. We’re losing the creativity of the game. Where do you think Wayne Gretzky learned his trade? On the ponds of Canada, that’s where. Kids are no longer allowed to be creative with how they play and are forced to be by the books.

When you're out on the pond or just playing outside, you can try things. When I was outside this day I was trying to perfect a move I saw Toews do on YouTube (in vain), but it was fun almost getting it. Being outside and away from youth hockey has allowed me to develop a style all my own. It may not be the best one, but it’s my style and I love it. I’ve been able to become a great skater, who has great hands within 5ft of the net. I may not have the best shot, or the best stick work, but I’ve always managed to stay creative. I’m 23 years old and every time I skate I wear a jersey of my favorite players still to this day.

I don’t think kids have this anymore, they’re not allowed to think out of the box. All defenders must sit on the blue line. All goalies must stay in the butterfly. Forwards need to handle the puck in a certain way.

Let me ask you though, would Bobby Orr have flown if he had been in a youth developmental program? Would Datsyk been able to undress Turco if his father had hawked his practices forcing him to work on his skating? Would the Staal brothers been as great as they are if their parents hadn’t let them skate together  on the pond?

Let them play.

--Dennis Malles, Rangers' 5th Line

Contact Dennis at https://twitter.com/DMalles98