"People were skating on the ponds up until a couple of weeks ago, but we can't anymore. You factor the wind chill in, it's like -35 [C], -40 outside already, so it's not too pleasant to be skating around outside."
Hockey Canada will not amend its residency regulations to give players more freedom to decide where they will play. The authority to determine which teams an athlete can play for will remain in the hands of individual Hockey Canada branches...
Scores like this are typical, and with the victories come accusations that the Hawks are running up scores against inferior opponents.
Minor hockey in Ottawa is on the chopping block. If the city passes its current budget, funding for 230 outdoor rinks will be wiped out completely, and arena ice time fees will go up 51 per cent-- making the sport impossible for many families to afford...
"For the first time in the 14 years I've been with the league, we had to turn players away," Mason said. "We tried everything to get ice time, but there doesn't seem to be any hope."
"We have a 64-foot trailer and it's almost full of gear..."
Rochelle Wallace has seen it often. A young player in the early years of development hits the ice almost every day of the week for practices, games and skills camps. But instead of landing that coveted pro hockey career, the exact opposite normally happens...
Sometimes, when Carla Carmichael's oldest son, Graham, was the starting goalie in a big game, a roar would erupt from the crowd and Carla wouldn't know why. That's because she was walking around outside the arena. "I would sit by myself in the parking lot, listening to the crowd, trying to decipher if we scored," she said. "There was a lot of pressure."
There's no fighting in women's hockey, there's no intentional checking. What's left? It's the unintentional collisions, or catching an edge, stepping on a puck or something like that. You take out the two largest contributors to bodily force, fighting and checking, and you still end up with rates that are equal to or higher than men's hockey...
"Symptoms may be much worse later that night, and even again the next day. You can't always tell on the ice at that time, so even if they just felt dazed or dinged, they come off, and I don't care how important a game it is, they do not go back that same day...
It only took a month for Chris Winckers to get injured during his first year playing house league hockey. "It was the end of the game, there was five seconds left on the clock," he said. "I was standing still, looking behind me, totally unaware, and I just got hit. I fell over, broke my wrist. I could feel it break, I knew I was injured, because I never felt like that before."
Fifteen-year-old Spencer Van Asten has lost more than half of his hockey season because he didn't know about a new Hockey Canada policy. It could have been worse...
"I had no idea where I was when I woke up. I kept repeating myself, and my mom was really worried. I was so confused -- I just didn't know what happened. That was the only time I ever had memory loss. To this day, I don't remember a thing."
"You know, [as a coach] you're doing it for free, and unfortunately, you're crapped on by parents. They have these high expectations of what they want from a coach and there's a lot of pressure... [The parents] are just too intense about hockey," Trapid said...
The economic slowdown is not only having an impact on minor hockey in Canada; it's being felt south of the border as well. American teams are trying to reduce expenses and as a result, some are participating in just half of the Canadian tournaments they used to play in...
"If our fees go up significantly, I can see people dropping out of minor hockey," says Portage la Prairie, Man., minor hockey president, Ferdi Nelissen. "Do we want people dropping out of our national pastime? No, we don't."
"I think our rink compares to others in southern Canada, less the cooling facilities," says Todd Roche, president of the local minor hockey association. "It's fairly modern. It's just not what you would see in other provincial communities. "When it's as cold as it gets here, you really don't need to run a cooling system."
With three little girls and a South African wife, Harley Godfrey never expected a life in the arena. But that's exactly what he got...
"The interest just isn't there anymore," says Roche, who held a registration night on Nov. 1, where only two parents dropped by to pick up forms. "It's a commitment on the child and the parents to participate in minor hockey, and we're not seeing that commitment anymore."
It's a mixed bag of news for minor hockey in Clearwater, B.C. While a hockey school had to shut down because numbers were low, minor hockey registration remains steady...
If the rental fees for ice time in Ottawa are increased at the proposed rate of 51 percent, minor hockey in the capital city will be jeopardized...
Accidents happen. If anyone knows that all too well, it's Tim Tisdale. On Dec. 30, 1986, the hockey player was travelling with his teammates to a game in Regina, two and a half hours away. They never made it to the game...
"At first, some of the parents were a little shocked, if that's the word, to see I was the coach," says Barnett, a Grade 12 student who's known around the rinks as Coach Kiely. "But since we started practices, I've gotten a lot of great feedback. They realized when I got on the ice that I knew what I was doing."
"I think it's fair to say the economy has certainly had an impact on lots of people's decisions, including minor hockey teams," MacInnis said. "We've never had a problem putting a good program, a good tournament together - this is the first year. It's a bit of unknown territory for us."
"It's a true showing of the big hearts that we have in the city of Ottawa..."
"They were asking, 'Which route do you and your family want to go?' and whether I'd be willing to go to that team ― just that kind of stuff. The first couple of times, it was a little intimidating, having WHL scouts coming up and talking to you, but you get used to it after a while."
"If it was somebody from Windsor I wouldn't be shocked. It was somebody from Kingston, a total stranger who has nothing to do with Windsor Minor Hockey, and he felt compelled to help. It's fantastic."
It's a common sight during a hockey practice anywhere-- a skater takes the puck at one end of the ice, does a few turns, and then whips a shot at the goaltender sitting patiently at the other end. It's a good workout for the skater, but what about the goalie?
Under-18 provincial women's teams are hitting the ice in Napanee, Ont., for the national championship tournament, which begins Wednesday.
"It's a chance for them to see us backstage, out of costume, so they can see we're real people," said Pearson. "For parents or players who might be frustrated with calls, it gives them a chance to ask us questions away from the game."
With the recent death of minor hockey coach Ron Ebbesen, Alberta's Strathmore Minor Hockey Association has enacted a mandatory helmet policy for coaches. Ebbesen died Oct. 21, two weeks after falling on the ice at practice and hitting his head...
Making the best of a bad situation - that's what Grimshaw Minor Hockey is attempting to do after the community rink burned down nearly a month and a half ago...
"This is the only way we can play this game, the only way most people can play this game right now, unless you've got lots of money and lots of time," says Dave. "I don't have much of either."
"It's not easy sometimes, especially during tournaments; there are lots of teams so the rooms are booked all the time," Gionet said, noting that during tournaments, one dressing room is designated for girls, meaning female players of opposing teams have to share facilities...
There aren't enough referees in Winnipeg. While there are numerous reasons, verbal abuse is the main culprit, according to Winnipeg hockey officials...
"We have a tough time finding former players to come out and help teach our young players and I think if you start putting mandatory helmets as part of the coaching regimen I think you're going to start losing some of the higher-end coaches..."
"At this point in time it's sort of gone to where now we're trying to maintain our base, not build it. Now we're saying we don't need to go anywhere to recruit, we just have to hang around the arena and figure out how we get these 200 kids back into hockey who can't afford it anymore."
Kids in Scarborough aren't playing hockey. Over the past 10 years, the Scarborough Hockey Association (SHA) has gone from having 10,000 players to 3,000...
There will be hockey this season for the Triport North Island Eagles midget team after all. The Vancouver Island Hockey League (VIHL) voted unanimously to make an exemption for the Eagles, allowing them to play even though they don't have the minimum number of roster players.
For the third year in a row, the Newmarket minor hockey club's red jersey will hang in the Aurora Minor Hockey Association office - a constant reminder to their rivals that once again, Newmarket came out on top in their recent home and home tournament.
"...I think all the little extras might take a back seat to the necessities for hockey. For a lot of families, taking care of the necessities means they can't play hockey, but we're going to do everything we can to make sure hockey is affordable for these kids."
The question of whether minor hockey players in Canada should have more freedom to play where they want will be voted on at Hockey Canada's semi-annual general meeting in Toronto on Nov. 21 and 22...
After suffering severe head trauma at a hockey practice, Alberta minor hockey coach Ron Ebbesen died at Calgary Foothills Hospital on Tuesday.
The heat is on this weekend as 28 rep teams from two neighbouring cities face off in a friendly rivalry that puts hometown pride on the line and raises money for a local cancer centre.
After a six-month police investigation, the former president of the Hawkesbury Minor Hockey Association has been charged with fraud...
The battle between so-called "outlaw" hockey leagues and Hockey Canada is going to continue for a few more weeks...
"This site is the most infamous one out there," Oakman says. "It's infamous because people can say what they want on there without any level of accountability. Quite frankly, it's cowardice to post the things people post on there..."
"This is really good opportunity to just try and inspire...To make them think, 'If Darian can do it, there's a shot here.' They can possibly try and do it too."
"The associations within an hour, an hour and a half from us, we're the only one that has this issue," says Gambin. "The problem of having ice time and not being able to utilize it."
"There are coaches and referees who we develop and train...and there's concern over not having them available to do the very games they were trained to do," McCurdie said.
An Alberta minor hockey coach remains in serious condition at Calgary's Foothills Hospital six weeks after he hit his head on the ice.
"There are lots of myths associated with hockey...Obviously, it's a cultural staple in Canada, and so some people say, 'The earlier you can start the kids checking, the better.' And there's pretty much no evidence of that. In fact, there's pretty good evidence that as soon as you start them checking, they'll get injured."
All Nicklas Harkins wants to do is follow his father's footsteps to the NHL, but a life-threatening illness is challenging his ability to play hockey at all.
"I do believe that wooden sticks will be around for awhile, but I don't think you will see them 50 years down the road."
There might not be a midget rep team representing the Tri-Port Minor Hockey Association this season. The AA team out of Port Hardy, B.C., dubbed the North Island Eagles, is on the bubble because of a lack of players...
"There's people who look at us and shake their heads...I say to them that my children want it. It's what they love, and we're fortunate enough to be able to make it work."
"I'm totally confident that this will be the future for hockey selection processes in Terrace...It's not a province-wide mandate, but it should be."
Canada's best young hockey players from the East Coast will take to the ice this Thanksgiving weekend in Moncton, N.B., for the annual Atlantic Challenge Cup tournament, whose alumni include NHL star Sidney Crosby.
"It gets to be a lot of money for a lot of people, and many think it's getting to be an unreasonable cost...Nobody's wages seem to be keeping up with the price of gas."
Aspiring junior hockey players in Iqaluit, Nunavut, no longer have to uproot themselves from their homes and travel south if they want to get noticed by the bigger squads...
The team of women who will suit up for Canada at next month's 4 Nations Cup was announced Friday, a roster that includes 12 members of the squad that won silver at the world championships earlier this year.
Matt Cook, who had his left leg amputated in February of 2006, is the first player with Junior A hockey experience to make the Canadian sledge hockey team...
"Any type of growth is good growth. It's picking up momentum..."
"I've been wearing a helmet since I was four years old, (and) I've always been wearing one. It doesn't affect the practice at all..."
"It used to be the 'If you build it they will come' mentality. People are no longer flocking to hockey."
"I've been fortunate to win three Olympic medals, and I can honestly say that I'm more proud of the fact that so many little girls are playing."
A 'How-to' guide to suiting up the right way...
Off-ice training is getting more and more popular with minor hockey players, but not all of it is effective, and some of it can even be damaging to a young athlete's physique...
"You hear of kids being slammed into the boards, or getting a bad check. You've got to make sure the screws are all in properly, the foam is in properly, that there aren't any cracks..."
"It's a real struggle to keep rinks afloat these days."
Events and issues in the world of minor hockey.
