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Middle School hockey


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I’m wondering the same thing.  It’s no fun to cut a skilled kid from the middle school team simply because you’ve hit your limit of a certain birth year.   Our school wouldn’t have had a team last year under this rule.  It’s my understanding that Mid Am is responsible for this.   PIHL doesn’t want this rule at all....there has been an exception granted each year allowing 9 pee wee birth year kids per team for the last several years and Mid Am is refusing to grant the exception this year.   This will kill some MS teams for sure.   

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9 hours ago, Pucks11 said:

I asked my sons school about him playing as a 6th grader and they said NO because of the hitting. 

Your son's school needs to be brought up to speed on MS hockey as there is no hitting.  It is one of the reasons why some parents with smaller and less skilled players are more open to MS hockey vs PAHL.  

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How is the PIHL tied into MidAm?  I searched Mid Am website to find a link and was unable.  I'm just trying to understand how the 25% rule applys to the PIHL and Middle School Hockey.  I guess the PIHL is also tied into USA Hockey somehow?  I'm new to all this and just trying to understand it all.

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USA Hockey is the main governing body that oversees hockey across the country.  Under USA Hockey, you have different Districts/Affiliates such as Atlantic, Central, and in our case - Mid-American (MidAm).  Under the Districts, you have leagues that fall within their supervised areas, such as the PIHL and PAHL in our area.  Individual leagues have their own rules, but also must adhere to rules set by their district, as well as the standard USA Hockey rules.

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52 minutes ago, sample39 said:

USA Hockey is the main governing body that oversees hockey across the country.  Under USA Hockey, you have different Districts/Affiliates such as Atlantic, Central, and in our case - Mid-American (MidAm).  Under the Districts, you have leagues that fall within their supervised areas, such as the PIHL and PAHL in our area.  Individual leagues have their own rules, but also must adhere to rules set by their district, as well as the standard USA Hockey rules.

To be clear though, this 25% rule is not a USA Hockey rule, this is strictly Mid-Am doing this. Other districts do not implement this policy.  We had families recently move in from other districts that couldn't believe there was such a rule because we were unable to take their 2007 because we had hit the limit....we will have a short bench because of this and next year, maybe no team at all in PIHL.

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The primary issue is there is no official “middle school” classification. The Classification is the age of play. High school includes only High School programs (Varsity and Junior Varsity). Elementary School and Middle School programs must be shown as the USA Hockey-defined Classification, i.e., 8U, 10U, etc., using the USA Hockey age classifications for these teams. The team is classified based on the age of the oldest player on the roster. In the case of middle school, that is 14U/Bantam. Any 2007s are considered 12U that are playing up, therefore MIDAM is restricting the amount of players that can play up. The rule applies to amateur and school teams. It makes some sense for amateur, but not for middle school - but there is no difference in how it is applied. It’s a PIHL rule that there is no checking at this age group. MIDAM isn’t going to change the entire rule to accommodate school hockey, unfortunately. 

Edited by Ynot02
Typo
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6 hours ago, fafa fohi said:

Your son's school needs to be brought up to speed on MS hockey as there is no hitting.  It is one of the reasons why some parents with smaller and less skilled players are more open to MS hockey vs PAHL.  

YES. I know this,  but they still said NO because of the % rule too even though he would improve the team. 

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There is no body checking, but as Jack Handey noted above, most of the players are bantams who body check in amateur hockey. U12 parents whose players want to play middle school have to sign a waiver because of this.

My son played middle school in sixth grade, but that was a few years ago and things have changed.

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Here is a question for the group.  Does it seem that in the last 5+ years or so, there has been this major fear of having kids check?  My child is grown now, but 10 years ago I can tell you this was not the case (also checking started in PeeWee's then not Bantams).  I mean kids play football before the age of 13 and there is tackling in that still right?  So, why this huge concern?  It seems that all you hear about from parents is this huge issue they have with checking.  I have my own theories, but I would like to get input from others as well.

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Eddie, I think removing body checking at 12U has amplified the parent paranoia, and in some areas hindered the kids development.  I understand the thought process behind removing it 8 or so years ago, but respectfully disagree with it.  It's better for players to learn and acclimate themselves to body-checking at a younger age, where both first and second year players are still relatively small.  At bantam, the size discrepancy is much larger.  You can have a first year player at 4'11 and 85lbs go up against a second year player who is 5'10 and 160lbs.  That's the nature of bantam hockey.  When you factor in the first year player having no experience with checking, specifically lacking good habits to properly protect themselves, then things can get dangerous.  They should consider reintroducing body-checking back into 12U, however, I fear they're more likely to remove it from 14U.  

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