Last week we ran a piece by youth hockey coach Eric Rigsby about pending legislation in Maryland that would ban contact for certain age levels. In his column, Rigsby argued that the well-meaning legislation may actually put children at greater risk.
Today, St. Mary’s Ryken Head Coach Chris Palombi, a speaker at the hearing, give us an update.
Hello everyone,
Come to find out, this bill, if passed, could also have huge unintended consequences for not only high school hockey, but any sports with contact (football, lacrosse, etc). A vote was not held yesterday, and the this bill is currently still pending. I do not think it will pass, but what bothers me is that if the Ways and Means Committee approve it to go to the House floor, it is such a small bill it may get packaged with other legislation and easily passed based on a passage of approval from the committee. Am paying attention closely and have been in direct contact with my Delegate, Mark Fisher, and State Senator, Mike Miller (both stated they oppose this legislation). Having Senate President, Mike Miller, on our side is huge for us.
A summary of the hearing follows.
Attendees/Speakers in opposition of the bill:
- John Coleman – PVAHA/USA Hockey
- Jon Weetman – Skate Fredrick Ice Rink Hockey Director & Carroll County Coach
- Paul Peditto – Navy Youth Hockey
- Chris Palombi – High School (former MSHL President) & St. Mary’s Ryken Head Coach
- Brian Kennedy – Montgomery Youth Hockey President & St. John’s College Prep Assistant Coach
Around Noon, on Thursday, March 10th, a staff member of the House Bill’s primary sponsor (Delegate Angela Angel) delivered us a document with two amendments to the House Bill 1424. Verbiage was changed and removed “Noncontact League” to “Noncontact Division,” striked “noncontact” to “nonbody checking. The second amendment added, just after line 5, after “advertise” insert, “during the registration process, on the official website of the youth ice hockey club and in print,”.
It was discussed that verbiage in this bill would mandate all high school ice hockey teams in Maryland to be in compliance with the measures proposed in this bill.
The attendees in opposition of the bill shared dialog and various talking points as to why this proposed bill is bad for ice hockey; such as, but not limiting to: the state mandating programs/teams to create additional teams, the lack of ice availability, USA Hockey’s current non-checking rules and stance, unintended consequences of the bill (affect on other sports), and development issues with players moving into more competitive leagues.
Hearings began around 1:00 p.m. but the House Bill 1424 was not discussed until approximately 6:00 p.m.
Delegate Angela Angel and Mark Turner, coach/dad of Howard Huskies CCHL Midget Gold team and primary constituent in support of the bill, began first in the hearing with the Ways and Means Committee.
- Turner claimed many players do not play ice hockey because ‘non-checking’ is not offered.
Turner also claimed that leagues do not promote non-checking leagues, even though it is in their league by-laws. - Turner claimed that non-checking is only offered in recreation programs, and not in travel and high school.
- Turner claimed he has seen one concussion a year.
- Turner stated the wide range of diversity of skill quality does not assist in league rosters.
- Turner stated Canada, specifically Quebec and Nova Scotia, has banned or is in the process of banning checking from Midget age groups on town, and he wants the hockey in Maryland to have two, a checking and anon-checking, leagues.
- Turner stated that hockey will head toward non-checking, putting emphasis that the hits along the board are a problem.
- Turner stated his son has had two concussions.
Delegate Kathryn Afzali then began questioning Turner:
- Delegate Afzali asked Turner “What is checking?”, which Turner replied, “pushing a player over. Removing a player from the puck.”
- Delegate Afzali stated that her daugther, who is a dancer, suffered two concussions from dancing alone. She stated her child’s active nature in general puts them at risk for injury.
- Delegate Afzali asked/stated to Turner, “Why does the state need to demand this? … it should come from local clubs and rinks.”
- Turner replied that hockey is moving to non-checking. He also stated that Canada is the leader in hockey and that Calgary and Toronto are also moving forward in removing hitting.
- Delegate Afzali again stated her position that it is up to the local community, and parents, who want to do a non-checking league to do it. It is up to them, not the state.
- Turner than stated that players in youth hockey suffer from amnesia from playing in the league, and claims the “carnage and trauma” suffered is a blur as they move up in age groups.
Delegate Frank Turner then began questioning Turner:
- Delegate Frank Turner, then stated, should this bill then set precedence for removing hitting from football.
- Mark Turner stated he just wanted non-contact hockey offered, and wishes the state to mandate it to be advertised by teams/leagues.
- Delegate Angela Angel (Bill sponsor) stated, this “legislation mandates they offer or post that leagues/teams can offer.”
- Delegate Angel then showed, via computer screen mirrored on televisions within the chamber, a graph of concussions rates per sport, claiming that ice hockey is ranked highest in concussions.
Then John Coleman, Jon Weeton, and Paul Peditto began their statements, limiting to three minutes each:
- Coleman placed emphasis on the current stance of USA Hockey, being the governing body of ice hockey in America.
- Coleman pointed out that the graph displayed by Delegate Angel showed that Girls Ice Hockey was #1 in most concussions and it plays by non-checking rules, as football was #2.
- Coleman also asked why would the state regulate ice hockey and not other sports, such as lacrosse.
- Weeton stated that real unitended consequences would develop if this bill would pass.
- Weeton stated there is no capacity with rink/ice availability
- Weeton stated this bill would force ice hockey from checking into non-checking from U18 and below, including high school and junior teams.
- Weeton stated USA Hockey currently has developmental guides and measures to teach players “Heads-Up-Hockey” to better develop, prepare, and protect players from the contact in the sport.
- Weeton also stated this bill, forcing teams to move to non-checking, would ill-prepare players who desire to play at more competitive levels (competition in other states, college, juniors, etc) as they will be inexperienced in checking and contact.
Delegate James Tarlau, co-sponsor of House Bill 1424, then stated he has fielded many calls from constituents on this matter and has began altering his original stance.
No further statements and questioning occurred, and the hearing for House Bill 1424 was dismissed with no vote held. The status of House Bill 1424 is still pending.
Post-hearing, the opposition leaders were able to meet with Mark Turner and Delegate Angel. I asked Mark Turner if he presented his issues and proposal to promote a non-checking league to the CCHL league, which he coaches and his son plays. Turner replied ‘No’. Whereas all members of the opposition offered assistance in at least promoting it and seeing what support would be received from players wishing to field a non-checking league.
You can watch video of the hearing here. It begins at the 4:15:30 mark.
