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Subject: Re: girls checking league 
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 01 12:49:34 -0500
From: ellice 
To: "Chuck Collins" 
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>Received:    2/14/01 12:28 PM
>From:        Chuck Collins, email@hidden
>
>> >
>> >If you register a team as a girls' or women's team, no checking is
>> >allowed in any games played by that team. However, there is nothing
>> >stopping a team from registering as a "Youth" team, such as Bantam
>> >rec, and playing checking hockey. Just because a team has no boys
>> >does not mean it can't be a boys' team. The only sticky issue might
>> >be whether your tryouts would have to be open to boys as well.
>> 
>> Hmmm - I think you'd have a very difficult time with this. In my 
>> experience, and I asked a lot of questions about this, as officials we 
>> were told that an all-girls team is an all-girls team is a girls team - 
>> meaning, no-checking, and everyone wears mouthguards. OTOH, you could 
>> have a co-ed team - there are plenty of those here in the non-check, 
>> younger, age groups (Mite, Squirt) and some house PeeWee where they play 
>> non-check.
>
>So here's a counter-example. Consider a team with 17 boys. 16 of
>them are Pee Wee age, but one player is 2nd year squirt age. They
>properly register them as a Pee Wee team, and the league accepts
>them as a Pee Wee team. Will you as an official will say that
>they cannot check since they have a player that is squirt age?
>
>Of course not.
>
>Well, what if the team consists of 17 2nd-year squirts? Does that
>change anything? No.

well, in your counter-example, part of the key is that the age groups are 
defined as 10 & Under, 12 & under or birthyear & under. Hence, if a 
parent signs the release for their 9 year old to go play with the 12 year 
olds, they can do that. Similarly, if the 10 year olds are so good that 
their coach, and parents agree to register them as PeeWees, that's how it 
goes. But, if they are a Squirt team, playing across the Division with 
PeeWees, then they're playing non-check, like it or not. 

My personal experience hasn't involved coaches lying about how their team 
is registered. Which isn't saying I haven't seen playeres wearing other 
players jerseys, listed as someone else, or suspended players skating, 
even a suspended coach on the bench. But, not lying - that I or my 
cohorts have noted - about their team classification.


>What seems to be so hard to understand is that there is only one thing
>that determines the class and division of the team, and that is how
>the USA Hockey team application is filled out. There are boxes on the
>application for Tier I/Tier II/House, mite, squirt, pee wee, etc.
>
>If you can register a team with 1 girl and properly play in a
>checking division, then you can register a team with 20 girls and
>play in that same division.

I understand your logic. I've coached a high school team for several 
years, and understand the form. What I am saying is two things - 
personally, I'd contact USAH at the Springs directly to have correct 
information to bring to my District organization if I were going to try 
and register an all-female team in a checking division. Second, there 
would be some difficulties with the officials - which, if the team were 
legitimately registered in a checking division, could be handled. As in 
that districts officials would have to be sent notice that there was a 
legitimate "all-girls" team playing in a Youth Checking division. 
Because, if you just tell the ref " Hey, we're playing full check" - the 
ref is going to say something along the lines of "I don't think so" or 
show me some proof you're registered that way. As I said before, we've 
been very clearly instructed that girls-teams are girls-teams and the 
girls rules applies. Hence, it will be a difficult time. Officials in 
stripes, league officials and tournament organizers are going to be 
concerned with liability, and just on someone's word, without some sort 
of proof that this team is a registered "youth" team playing check 
hockey, not going to let them play that way. 

In this area, we've actually been instructed by the youth leagues and 
high school league, that we as officials are to ensure and oversee that 
the coaches on both benches show each other their Coaching Credential 
card, pre-game. No, not just the registration - anyone can pay their $ 
and get registered, but their USAH Coaching Education card - with 
credential stickers. As now there is emphasis on being sure that the kids 
are actually being coached by someone with some semblance of a 
credential. Consequently, my thinking is that playing in a non-typical 
division, whether it's all-girls playing as PeeWees, or Squirts playing 
PeeWees will carry some more difficulty. Not that it's necessarily 
impossible.

Ellice