USA Hockey president Ron DeGregorio sat down with MiHockeyNow editor Michael Caples to discuss the state of hockey in Michigan and across the US during the MAHA meetings in Traverse City.
MiHockeyNow: How would you describe the status of USA Hockey, as it stands today?
DeGregorio: We have some goals and obviously those goals are long-term in nature. I think we’re progressing towards objectives. The great thing about it is that we have more and more use of resources, both human and financial, thanks to the NHL grant, thanks to the success of our staff, and our volunteers. We’re moving ahead. Obviously our main goal is to grow the game, and also grow the players who are in the game, along with our referees and our coaches, and also improve the caliber of our administrators and our programs.
MHN: How is the health of hockey in Michigan?
DeGregorio: I think it’s going well. It’s amazing to me, despite the economic downturn that the area has had, the sustainment of interest and numbers, Michigan is our No. 2 provider as a district in terms of participants, and not too far away from Minnesota, in terms of numbers. It’s a tribute to all the volunteers and all the people involved with the programs, the rinks and the whole infrastructure in Michigan, despite a pretty difficult barrier, overcoming it and continuing to excel in terms of their operations.
MHN: How do you feel about the big 8-and-under rule change for MAHA?
DeGregorio: Cross-ice, the red, white, and blue program, is part of the American Development Model, but it’s just one piece of it. It’s a piece that starts people out in the FUNdamentals of the game. That’s what it should be at that age, at least that’s what all the science and all the literature tells us. Obviously from an adult perspective, adults like to see full-ice games, but I think that’s lessening. I think more and more, as people look at the game in a smaller environment, like Little League baseball, like soccer, like what they’re doing in tennis, like they do in basketball; as long as we replicate a game in a smaller ice surface, there are great advantages in small areas for games with smaller people. We know that it takes about 16 or 17 strides for an adult to go from one end of the ice to the other, but it takes that same number of strides for a youngster, typically 7 or 8 years old, to go from one end of the boards to the other end of the boards. In a smaller area, it provides more opportunity for the better players to get more contact, and more resistance.
MHN: Can you talk a bit more about the new checking rules put in place?
DeGregorio: The progressive checking skill development program is a full program, and the rule that predominated the discussion – moving legal bodychecking to Bantams – that was seventh piece of it. The points of emphasis allow for more contact in the body-contact division, sometimes called the no-check division – the younger age groups. No check does not mean no touch. It means body contact, and we’re enhancing that body contact with our points of emphasis, and we also have the standard of play, so even in the Bantam level, there will be less intimidation hits. We’re going to be policing the intimidation hits in youth hockey in the legal checking division. We think that training body contact and training coaches for that is an important piece of training that important skill of body contact in checking, that really we don’t think has properly been done.