Youth Ice Hockey: 7 Simple Steps to Reduce the Most Dangerous Game Hits & Contact

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Youth Ice Hockey: 7 Simple Steps to Reduce the Most Dangerous Game Hits & Contact

by Gary Pilarchik LCSW-C

To the argument this is too severe… In the 4 games I watched, 3 hits occurred that would have caused 3 players to be immediately suspended from the game. All the players would see this immediate suspension. In that 4 game span, 3 players didn’t control themselves and about a100 players did control themselves. Focus on the 97 out of 100. How is that severe? Removing 3 players is not severe. One coach would have received 1 yellow card and another coach, 2 yellow cards. No forfeits occurred. How is that severe? Well, it is not severe. If you institute a harsh immediate penalty as I outlined, you won’t change the fabric of the game. You will save 100’s of children from concussions and harm. Innovate. The numbers are in this paragraph. A harsh penalty will be a preventative penalty. This type of penalty prevents future behavior. (The above paragraph is my conclusion. Feel free to read further about how I got there.)


I have been concerned about hits to the necks, heads, and backs of youth ice hockey players. It is my belief that concussions and severe injuries can be reduced by consistently and severely penalizing all neck, head and back contacts. This sounds, well severe. But keep this mind… How often do you see hits like that? How often do these hits to the neck, head, and back cause harm? In addition to severe penalties, significant checking training is also needed in youth ice hockey to reduce concussions and injury.


Penalizing with force and frequency reduces unwanted behavior. Don’t we want to reduce the behaviors that cause the most harm to our children? That is neck, head, and back hits that cause head and neck trauma. I would also include excessive force hits because that isn’t really checking. We want to protect our children on the ice but we hesitate greatly to institute a simple severe penalty. I am a cognitive behavioral therapist. I am an experienced hockey parent. This is how I would shape behavior. The goal is to extinguish the bad behaviors and reward the good behaviors. The reward for good behavior is you get to keep playing and have a chance to score the game winning goal for your team. Youth ice hockey is about our children’s dream. They aren’t dreaming of getting hit in the face.


I did pose three questions that need to be first answered before I can provide my solution for extinguishing the unwanted behaviors of neck, head and back hits.


How often do you see hits like that?
The answer is really one is too often but if you look at several games like I did, you might say there is low occurrence. In the last four games, I watched, there were two hits to the head and one to the back. So three hits for my point, I will make further down in the article.

How often do these hits to the neck, head and back cause harm?
That is a trick question because we are trying to reduce the number of hits to the neck, head, or back. We aren’t counting harm. By reducing these hits, you lower the chance of concussions and other injuries. So the answer isn’t a number, it is a statement. Every time a player is hit in the neck, head, or back there is a greater risk of concussion or injury to the player. The player that gets hit in the head has a greater chance of harm then the player that isn’t getting hit in the head. You can try this out on yourself if you don’t believe me. At this moment you have not received contact to the head. Go bang your head on the wall. Your chances of a concussion just increased. Do it again. It just doubled. Stop.


Don’t we want to reduce the behaviors that cause the most harm to our children?
The answer is yes when we say do we want to reduce harm to our children. Who would say no? But do we as a hockey culture want to reduce the behaviors that pose the greatest risk to causing injury to our children? We do, but we get muddled with hockey being a physical sport and blah blah blah… So I won’t muddle my point.

How to Shape Behavior in Youth Ice Hockey:

Seven Simple Steps to Reducing Harm

Step One:

Introduce immediate penalties and games suspension for hits to the head, neck, and back at all levels. If a player touches the neck, head, or pushes with force the back of a player… that player is suspended from immediate game play. This is not about intent or outcome of harm. If it is done - it is penalized. All current USA Hockey penalties are still called and severed by a bench player. If the contact is severe enough, additional penalties may be added as already defined in the current rule book.

Players ages 6-10 will probably cry when suspended and will fear this penalty. You will get 4-5 years of teaching players that this type of neck, head, and back contact is unacceptable. You are shaping future behavior. You are putting it in the heads of the soon to be 10-14 year old players that will start checking one day, that hitting to the neck, head, and back is unacceptable.

The players that are already checking will be angry that they got booted out of the game but they will be out of the game to calm and compose themselves. Being angry means the punishment was significant. Other players will see this. You will be shaping all the future behavior of the players on the ice when they witness one player being immediately suspended. It is a great way to remove the most harmful contact behavior from youth ice hockey.

Step Two:

Create a poster and slogan and put it everywhere. Add it into the player, coach and parent hockey culture by giving it some good PR.

One and Done

or

Check the Wrong Way (safety & respect) You Don’t Play that Day

Step Three:

Have the players shake hands before the game. The idea is safety, respect, and good competition. They might wish each other luck and no foul. Respect is taught and practiced. They are playing a game with other kids out there. They aren’t playing objects.

Step Four:

Step One was about the individual getting the penalty. You need to have a team penalty. The best way to ensure coaches teach their players the proper way to check and behave on the ice is to punish the coach and team. One of the most powerful tools in sports is the yellow card. It is a symbol of a foul and progression to greater penalty if you don’t get your act together. Adopt the yellow and red cards from soccer. If a team receives two yellow cards for hits to the neck, head, or back… the third time is red card and game forfeit. The pressure for respectful and safe play falls on the coaches. They need to teach their players how to check and how to manage their physical play.

No player is going to want to get the third foul for neck, head, or back contact and cause the team to forfeit. Peer pressure in a good way.

Step Five:

A hockey club that has X amount of teams game forfeits has to come before the league.

Step Six:

A hockey league that has X amount of hockey clubs coming before them for review has to go (you know I don’t know where they go) before USA Hockey (?) Steps Four, Five and Six hold everyone accountable for managing the behavior we all don’t want in hockey.

Step Seven:

A player reaching X amount of immediate game suspensions will come before a review board and face further penalties.

This is my solution or seven simple steps to reduce the behaviors that lead to the most harm in youth ice hockey. The argument is often - this would be too severe and you can’t do it. That is the old hockey culture speaking and we need to get over ourselves and protect the children. All we are talking about is telling a kid you can’t play because you hit someone in the neck, head, or back. They can play tomorrow. All we are telling the coaches are, you are adults and you have to make sure the kids play safely and respectfully. If you can’t then you team won’t be allowed to play that day. It is simple.

It really isn’t that big of a deal (in the way of a new penalty) for what it will achieve. It will reduce the number of hits to the neck, head, and back drastically. By drastically reducing these types of hits you will prevent children from getting concussions, neck trauma, and other injuries. The message is clear and simple. You don’t play right; you can come back when you can play right. In this case two rights save children from getting severely harmed. Which means two rights can prevent a wrong.

To the argument this is too severe… In the 4 games I watched, 3 hits occurred that would have caused 3 players to be immediately suspended from the game. All the players would see this immediate suspension. In that 4 game span, 3 players didn’t control themselves and about a100 players did control themselves. Focus on the 97 out of 100. How is that severe? Removing 3 players is not severe. One coach would have received 1 yellow card and another coach, 2 yellow cards. No forfeits occurred. How is that severe? Well, it is not severe. If you institute a harsh immediate penalty as I outlined, you won’t change the fabric of the game. You will save 100’s of children from concussions and harm. Innovate. The numbers are in this paragraph. A harsh penalty will be a preventative penalty. This type of penalty prevents future behavior.