Pee Wee hockey players play in a game in Toronto in 2004.Tibor Kolley/The Globe and Mail
The national body that presides over 580,000 young Canadian hockey players is considering beefing up its bodychecking rules in response to a new study that shows 11- and 12-year-old athletes in leagues that allow hits are nearly four times more likely to suffer a concussion than players where the practice is banned.
Paul Carson, Hockey Canada's director of development, said there are inherent risks due to the nature of the game, but bodychecking remains a contentious issue. The organization plans to review the study and see what, if any, changes to policy need to be made.
"It's good research," Mr. Carson said. "What we then have to do as an organization is determine are we taking the steps that we're supposed to take to ensure that kids have a positive and safe experience in the sport."
The study, published in the most recent edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, followed more than 2,000 peewee players - half from Alberta leagues, where bodychecking is permitted, and the rest were from Quebec, where it isn't.
The results show a significant difference in the number of head injuries, with 73 concussions among Alberta players over the 2007-2008 season, compared to 20 in Quebec. There were 14 severe concussions in Alberta, versus four in Quebec.
Ash Kolstad wasn't part of the study, but feels it applies to him.
He remembers skating into the corner after the puck during his first game last season when a hit drove his head into the boards and then onto the ice.
At age 12, the Calgary-area hockey player was later diagnosed with a concussion so serious he was out of school for nearly four months. The slightest hint of light or noise pained him, and, even eight months later, his head still hurts.
"Throbbing every second of every day," he said. "It doesn't stop."
The study comes amid growing concern in the medical community about the long-term impact of repeated concussions, and the potential for permanent damage, including personality changes and memory problems. Researchers are also investigating whether concussions may be more dangerous in children than adults because the young brain is developing so rapidly.
The study's lead author, Carolyn Emery of the University of Calgary, called the statistics "pretty convincing" evidence that injuries could be reduced if leagues changed their policies to align with Quebec's.
"Hopefully, there will be some consideration around potential changes in the age at which bodychecking is introduced, possibly the level of play at which it's introduced," she said.
Dr. Emery estimates that limits to bodychecking in Alberta alone would cut out more than 1,000 injuries and 400 concussions a year. Previous studies have suggested that hockey injuries account for 10 per cent of all youth sport injuries.
Hockey Canada allows hitting at the peewee level, but it's up to individual branches to either follow that rule or set the bodycheck bar at an older age.
Quebec is the only province to ban bodychecking until the bantam level, when players are 13 to 14. It was concern over fractures that led Quebec to make that call two decades ago, said report co-author Claude Goulet of Laval University.
The researchers followed 2,154 players and 150 teams; only players in the top 60 per cent in terms of level of play were included. Each team was assigned a physiotherapist, athletic therapist or senior therapy student to collect weekly injury reports from practices and games.
The researchers found that Alberta players in the study were three times more likely to suffer either a concussion, a severe concussion or a severe injury that resulted in more than week away from the rink.
The greatest disparity between the provinces was in concussions and fractures. The study also found that smaller players were more at risk of getting injured, as were those who had suffered a previous injury or concussion.
Mr. Carson said Hockey Canada has mandatory checking clinics and this research further reinforces the value of them and other training it offers.
"Does [the study]immediately provide concern? No, because we are aware of the increased risk and our job is to minimize risk," he said.
One of the founders of the Toronto Non-Contact Hockey League, a league for boys that bans bodychecking, said the report confirms what's already apparent on the ice.
"If you look at the games being played in our league, you do not see kids getting hurt. It's a rare occurrence," Neil Clifford said.
Mr. Clifford said he hopes the report will spur other hockey organizations to follow the example of Quebec and leagues like his to stop bodychecking.
"People should be taking action, so the Quebec model can be implemented across the board," Mr. Clifford said. "Otherwise, children are going to continue to be hurt - and for what reason?"
Mr. Clifford argued that the consequences of bodychecking aren't worth it when few children will ever move on to play professional hockey as adults.
The study's authors have two important questions they still want to answer: Does introducing bodychecking at age 11 mean that players learn to more safely take hits by the time they are in their teens, and does it result in better hockey players?
The scientists are now analyzing the results of a study they conducted of bantam players in Alberta and Quebec during the 2008-2009 season.
Alberta minor league coach Dan Carefoot wonders whether eliminating bodychecking from peewee ranks will push the injury problem to a later level, but he's convinced there's something beneficial to teaching younger kids how to hit properly.
"The earlier you learn it, the more likely you're to be better at it at a later age," he said.
Ash's mother, Rosalie, isn't sure whether peewee hits should be banned, but she suggested that more bodychecking coaching and clinics could decrease the danger. "I think contact is part of hockey," she said.
Meanwhile, Ash, now 13, has watched his dream of playing in the National Hockey League - or participating in any other contact sport - disappear because of that single hit.
"The doctors told me I can never play again," he said, "It's really disappointing. It doesn't feel good."
He has taken up golf.
With a report from Adrian Morrow