Like any responsible parent, Neil Clifford became alarmed when his 12-year-old son Phoenix suffered 3 concussions while playing AA hockey in the Greater Toronto Hockey League.
After the age of 11, body contact is permitted, and some may argue, encouraged, among young players.
But Clifford wasn't the only parent who started to wonder if the risks were really worth it. At one point in the season, 6 different players on the team were suffering from concussions. That got the ball rolling on an idea that could prevent more than a few headaches.
The concerned parents proposed a brand new hockey league, called the Toronto Non Contact Hockey League, TNCHL, where their children could focus on the skills of the game without worrying about the rough stuff.
"I think there are many parents like me who want to see an alternative to this kind of body checking," said Clifford, who told
CityNews how hard it is to watch his son lay on the ice injured, not knowing if he'll be okay.
"You don't know if he has a broken neck, spinal cord injury, brain damage, all of the above."
Getting the league up and running, however, wasn't quite as simple as planned.
The GTHL consider it an outlaw league, and haven't given the idea the green light, although they say they are open to future discussions.
"In a city of 4,000,000 people I think we should have the option of having our kids play non-contact hockey at a skilled level, especially given all the medical evidence that is out there. Concussions damage young brains," argued one parent.
The GTHL say they will consider the league, but not this season.
"We've committed to the members of the new league that it's not a dead issue, that we are going to continue to pursue it but it won't be until the 2010-11 season," explained Scott Oakman, Executive Director, GTHL.