Cuddy Shark

Rule changes may cost parents plenty

It’s costly news for goaltenders in minor hockey as Hockey Canada regulates equipment.
The governing body for hockey in this country announced at its recent annual general meetings in St. John’s, Nfld. that professional goalies will soon be joined by goalies at all levels of hockey in adhering to reduced equipment sizes.
Actually, the biggest losers in Hockey Canada’s announcement regarding reductions in goaltender’s gear to come into play for the 2008-09 season are not necessarily the goalies, but their parents.
You see, as the regulations governing equipment seep into the minor hockey ranks, parents are about to lose a valuable tool in reducing the high cost of sticking a kid in front of the net to stop, not score, pucks.
Playing goal is easily the most costly position on the ice, and perhaps in any team sport. It costs thousands of dollars in gear even before a goalie places a blade on the ice.
As it stands, parents are able to re-sell equipment their child has outgrown to another party in an effort to defray the cost of a new set of gear. No big deal, right?
Well, it likely will be a big deal. For who is going to buy illegal gear for their kid to wear?
Young goalies and their parents do have a grace period. But they will be obliged to purchase new equipment to meet specifications for the 2008-09 season, matching those adopted by the NHL this season.
The goalies will soon adapt to the size change. But one might wonder how many would-be goalies will be chased from the game because they can’t afford the equipment.
Maybe minor hockey associations ought to consider the possibility of decreased fees for goalies.
Or, since we’re in an era of radical change, even let them play for free.

Time to rethink RBC tourney disaster

Hockey Canada has nobody to blame but itself for the Royal Bank Cup tournament that concluded Sunday night at Brampton in almost complete anonymity.
Hosted by the Streetsville Derbys, a team with very little fan base, a mediocre on-ice record in recent years and an apparent inability to organize much beyond a penalty shot, the national body might have been wise to poke around, kick some goalposts and ask a few questions before awarding its Canadian Jr. A Hockey League crown jewel.
In retrospect, the tournament turned out pretty much the way everyone anticipated.
As it stands, the event to produce the champion for Jr. A hockey in this country is viewed in most corners a colossal embarrassment. The crowning insult was a nationally televised final in which a smattering of fans — reported to be 900 and change — turned out to the cavernous Powerade Centre in Brampton to watch the Burnaby Express pound the Yorkton Terriers, 8-2.
That the other 35 teams in the Provincial Jr. A Hockey League were obligated to purchase $1,000 worth of tickets couldn’t even prop up attendance figures so miserable officials stopped posting them early in the week-long event.
It would take a miracle for Hockey Canada to consider southern Ontario as a venue any time soon when it is handing out the event. Then again, considering the tournament never really has caught the public fancy in Ontario, maybe it’s time to let it go. Previous national championships in Sudbury and Ottawa are recalled as flops, too.
Publicly, HC is blaming the RBC dud on a variety of issues, ranging from competition against the Stanley Cup playoffs to the lack of a home crowd for the host side because it was forced to move all the way from Streetsville/Mississauga to Brampton to stage the five-team tournament. Get real.
It is more likely a great many potential fans were turned off by the presence of a host team with little profile and which didn’t deserve to be competing in the first place. Geez, the Derbys had not even played a game since February after losing a first-round playoff series.
As a comparison of entries in the RBC, consider that the Derbys had half (27) the wins of the next closest competitor, Burnaby Express (54). At the top was Fort William North Stars, which represented the Ontario Hockey Federation and brought a nation-best 61 regular season and playoff wins into the tournament.
Maybe Ontario doesn’t deserve to host this prestigious event. However, it wasn’t a fair test of the market. It may take a long, long time before we learn otherwise.
In truth, perhaps the event truly belongs in small-town western Canada.

Never has second best been such a spectacle

It is mind-boggling that so much interest is being spent on the notion Major League Baseball has displayed a detached interest in Barry Bonds’ pursuit of its home run record, perhaps its most glamorous record.
Good for MLB.
Of course, Babe Ruth’s is not just another baseball name. It is probably the best known name since the sport’s inception. His exploits legendary, on and off the field, for that matter.
However, Ruth sits second to Hank Aaron in the home run hammering department, which makes one wonder: if Bonds get this much attention for being second best, what happens should he last long enough to chase down Aaron’s total of 755 home runs.
With the steroid scandal aspect surrounding Bonds readily available as a handy, all-purpose out, even Bud Selig gets it that moving to No. 2 on any list is far less worthy of celebration than No. 1. One can’t help but feel commissioner Selig, who remains pretty much been head-in-the-sand over the steroids issue, hopes Bonds’ assault on the all-time record held by Hank Aaron stalls somewhere shy of the 755 homers counted by Hank Aaron.
Bonds entered tonight’s play with 713 home runs, one shy of the record Ruth established so long ago, fueled only by beer and hot dogs, according to legend. Not really sure to what, if anything unworthy, Hammerin’ Hank’s slugging proficiency is attributed.
You have to feel badly for surviving members of Ruth’s family who have been invited to track Bonds’ pursuit of their ancestor’s achievements. Requests by the San Francisco Giants, with input surely from the folks in charge of Bonds’ self-promoting reality show, to witness the occasion have been graciously rejected.
Good for the Ruth girls.
Somehow, it’s difficult to see one of the Babe’s granddaughters receiving a hug from Bonds on the occasion of his 715th homer as being terribly genuine. They really have no reason to attend.
Rarely has so much attention been directed toward being second best. Thankfully, the Bambino’s kin seem to understand that concept.
It will be interesting to watch, once Bonds passes Ruth, to see how close he gets to Aaron.
Certainly, age and injury and the manner in which teams pitch to Bonds will at least delay the process. Maybe together those issues will keep the more credible Aaron at the top of the pile.
It would be interesting to see what kind response is forthcoming from Aaron should that time come.