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Minor Hockey optimistic

Whistler Minor Hockey Association hopes to beat national trend of declining numbers
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Higher Goals Whistler's Atom "A" rep team celebrates its playoff win with a bowling party at the end of last season. Photo by Whistler Minor Hockey Association

Two recent studies that look at enrolment numbers in hockey across Canada — the Charlton Report in 2011 and a more recent parent survey by Bauer Hockey and Hockey Canada — suggest that the sport has some major hurdles to overcome to increase youth enrolment, ranging from price, to parent involvement, to concerns about head injuries.

Some changes, including a rule change that removes bodychecking from the game for kids under the age of 13, are having a positive impact, but it's too soon to know whether numbers will return.

Overall enrolment in hockey is up across Canada, but almost all of that growth is the result of more adults playing and the growth in hockey programs for girls and women.

But while Whistler isn't immune to national trends, Whistler Minor Hockey Association president Steve Legge said enrolment issues for the club have more to do with competition from other sports, ice time, the loss of the more talented players to clubs in the city and an unwillingness on the part of parents to commit.

"The rule change (on bodychecking) has helped us, I don't think there's any doubt that was a big issue for parents and kids, and we're seeing a jump in programs for our smaller kids," he said. "But we're still losing kids in the higher age groups."

Last year, Squamish and Whistler had to combine kids to field a midget house team. This year they're running a combined midget house league team out of Squamish, and have combined on bantam and midget rep teams as well.

Legge said one of the main reasons for the drop at those age groups is competition with other sports. "It's the mountain," he said. "We're second fiddle to skiing, we always will be and it's as simple as that. I'd love to say that hockey was first but it's not the case."

The fact that kids even have to choose between hockey and skiing is an issue, said Legge. He's spoken to a lot of kids that want to be able to do both sports, and believes there might be a way in the future to schedule skiing and hockey programs so that both programs benefit.

"I played hockey and ski raced as a kid and there was no problem, but that was in Ontario," he said, where more programs were available and ski programs were built around hockey.

The lack of available ice has also been an issue when it comes to recruitment. One major change that the WMHA made this year was to bump back its afternoon practices from 3:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. to give Pemberton players more time to get to Meadow Park arena. "That seems to be popular, and we're getting big numbers from that already," said Legge.

However, with figure skating and other programs sharing the ice surface, the club also has ice time booked at 6 a.m. on three mornings per week. Kids don't have a problem with that, said Legge, but parents aren't keen to get up that early. Unless Whistler gets a second sheet of ice — something being considered in the ongoing Recreation and Leisure Master Plan process — Legge said the early mornings will likley continue.

The good news, he said, is that the kids who are making it to the morning practices are doing well in school.

"We're hearing from teachers that are telling us that they can tell who the kids were that went to practice that morning. They're sharper and more attentive in school because they started the morning getting some exercise," said Legge. "That's a really good thing to hear."

As for concerns about cost, Legge said he doesn't think it's an issue in Whistler given the comparative cost of other programs. "We are the cheapest program in Whistler," he said. "If kids can't afford it we have bursaries, we have KidSport. And if it's still too much and families can't afford the $500 then I want parents to come and talk to me, we will find a way — there's a commitment level, but we will find a way."

The surveys also pointed to the fact that it was harder to find parents to volunteer as coaches because of the time and travel involved. Legge said that hasn't been an issue in Whistler yet, and that the WMHA is seeing more non-parent coaches step up.

Like other sports, hockey as a whole is also wrestling with the issue of attrition, losing older players to academics and other sports. One thing Legge would like to see happen to keep kids in the sport is for Canadian Universities to start offering scholarships to athletes, similar to American colleges. Legge listed several NHL players that came into the league from university programs.

"I have a nephew who is 16 years of age and he's been invited to play for the Kitchener Rangers, but he knows he would lose his status to be able to play for colleges in the States if signed up," said Legge. "He could be a top six player there, but he passed on it. Education is playing a bigger role (in the decisions players make). I talked to Wendell Clark two weeks ago in Toronto, and he agrees that high school hockey is what we need to be watching these days because these kids are choosing school."

Legge said Whistler players generally do well in competition against kids in other communities, and a lot of players have been able to progress beyond the association to more high performance leagues over the years — another reason Legge said the club's numbers have dropped in recent years, especially in the older age groups where the loss of two or three players make the difference between being able to host a rep team or not.

"They call it rep because the word 'crazy' was already taken," said Legge. "Rep is a big commitment, but it's also a lot of fun, and we do very well for a small town. The level of athleticism in this town is outstanding, it's something that parents in Whistler and Pemberton have passed down to their kids."