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[DMan]

Tom & Dean,

What is the "Checking Certification" that coaches have to go through? I'm a little unsure about starting body contact later, as I do think the testosterone factor is there. I also think it allows kids to play for too long with their heads down and be very vulnerable to injury. Tom, what do they do in Europe?

Obviously there is no easy answer, but I do think off ice clinics can help. Our players are pretty rough around the edges since they haven't been playing all that long. When we were taking too many penalties for high hits & head contact this season we started doing the UAS Hockey off-ice checking drills and the improvement was immediate. The video is available here:
http://usahockey.cachefly.net/webofficecheckingvideo.wmv
I'm sure hockey Canada has something similar?

When it comes to the NHL, one discussion I never hear is talk about going to Olympic size ice. It's so much tougher to make contact with the little bit of extra space. Just a thought….an expensive one, but when you see your most talented players sitting on the sidelines all options should be open for discussion.

Dave