The league has initiated this in collaboration with Commercial Press, a local printer, which will award any team that plays a penalty-free game with a certificate of recognition.

Last year, league members introduced the penalty-free games as a pilot project after the Week Without Violence committee approached them about recognizing that particular week with a nonviolent focus.

"We talked about penalty-free games, and said we could give a try," says Al Walsh, president of the league.

"We thought, first of all, it will improve the games for the kids. It will speed the game up, which is important… And it sounded like a perfect idea in terms of a fit to see if we could make it work."

Apparently, it did work, though some were skeptical. Peterborough Police Chief, Terry McLaren, had a bet for a coffee going with someone from the league, that it wouldn't. He's a former hockey referee and knows the difficulty of managing a penalty-free game.

"It's tough sometimes in some of these divisions," says Al. "Some of the kids aren't good skaters and fall a lot and people are tripping over them. With a lot of the younger divisions, if there are any penalties, a lot of them are accidental."

However, about 30 penalty-free games were played last year, despite the challenges, and the Chief had to buy the coffee.

"The kids that were interviewed [by Canadian Press] the other night thought [the penalty-free week] was a good idea and some of them were pretty fair players," says Al. "It opened the ice more for them to improve their fundamentals. I think the majority of the team members thought it was a good idea."

The news about Peterborough's penalty-free week has hit provincial and national TV and radio stations. Canadian Press, a multimedia news agency, recorded a segment about the week which was distributed nation-wide. It includes comments from Al, the YWCA's Lynn Zimmer and players from the league.

Now the PCCHL is aiming to decrease its violent incidents further, and not just during the Week Without Violence. Just this past week, it introduced a regulation change to the games in the Midget division of the league.

Body checking is no longer allowed and the red line has been removed, which decreases stoppages during the game.

"The Midget division is a rough division," says Al. "We have more than the odd fight happening." Players are in their later teens and tend to be tough on each other.

League members are hoping that eliminating body checking and removing the red line will speed up the game, reduce the violence, and allow more time for players to focus on developing their fundamental hockey skills.

The first game with the new rules was played on Wednesday, October 16. "The chairman said that everything went well," says Al. "The game ran smoothly about ten minutes ahead of time. There were no fights."

The PCCHL is made up of ten individually organized church groups. For more information, contact Al at 742-7777 ext. 1836.

Send this page to a friend

Articles may be reprinted with permission. Contact us at peaceful@newsroom5.com or 1-800-294-0051