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Girls-only minor hockey movement put on ice, for now

May 30, 2017 | 5:06 PM

NANAIMO — The president of the Nanaimo Minor Hockey Association (NMHA) is blowing the whistle on what he calls a “rushed plan” to drastically alter how girls on Vancouver Island play the game.

The Vancouver Island Amateur Hockey Association (VIAHA) has decided to hold off on mandating the primary team for girls to play on must be female-only for the 2018/19 season.

NMHA president Brad Knight said he only first heard of the idea a few days prior to the VIAHA’s annual general meeting last weekend.

“Who are we to say that she’s not allowed to play the sport the way she wants to play in the fashion she wants to do it in,” Knight said.

Knight said he wants to hear from the parents and girls directly involved before such a huge decision is made.

“Mandating things to people in this day and age, nobody has an appetite for that anymore.”

Knight noted people in all walks of life get turned off when they don’t have choices and sports are no different.

VIAHA president Jim Humphrey strongly supports the move, telling NanaimoNewsNOW co-ed hockey negatively impacts female registration.

While the VIAHA vision is for girls teams to be the priority, they could also play on a co-ed team. Humphrey noted girls playing on two teams would only pay one registration fee.

He said as co-ed female players get older, many want to play on female-only teams as the skill gap widens between girls and boys.

“A lot of them gravitate back to the female system, and there might not be a female system for them to gravitate back to.”

Of the 797 players enrolled in NMHA last season, 92 were girls, according to the organization. 31 played on two female-only teams. The balance skated on co-ed squads, while 12 girls in the NMHA zone decided to play for other female teams around the island.

Humphrey said there will likely be meetings throughout the island with parents and players over the next year. He said it’s not clear when a formal decision would be made.

The VIAHA represents 17 associations all over Vancouver Island and in Powell River.

Humphrey cautioned not putting a priority on female-only hockey could be costly.

“Female hockey as we know it could disappear”

 

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes