Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

YOUTH HOCKEY

KV hockey association pushes for more players

By Gary Hawkins ghawkins@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

BY GARY HAWKINS

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STAYING SHARP: Children play on the ice during ice time at the Kennebec Ice Arena in Hallowell.

Staff photo by Andy Molloy

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Staff Writer

When he was a kid growing up in Nova Scotia, hockey was the only sport on Todd MacFarlane's mind. Not only is it Canada's national pastime, it's also considered a birthright.

Here in the United States, the sport is a tougher sell.

MacFarlane, who is a hockey parent, coach and board member of the Kennebec Valley Youth Hockey Association, wants to clarify a few misconceptions about the sport in an effort to draw more participants.

The youth hockey season begins Columbus Day weekend and runs to mid-March. Kennebec Ice Arena in Hallowell is hosting four, free one-hour sessions beginning in mid-September in which equipment is provided in an effort to spur interest.

"The selling point is it's a unique sport," MacFarlane said. "It's a little different than every other sport because there's skating."

In addition to competition from everything from basketball to video games, MacFarlane says hockey suffers from a poor image. That includes prohibitive costs to early practices to a culture of violence.

Costs are relatively high. Ice time costs up to $575 a season for those who play games in central Maine while travel team members pay $800. After a deposit, though, the costs can be spread out in payments over a year.

"We try to be flexible with folks," KVYHA player representative Mark Christopher said. "If they want to pay a deposit and a monthly fee we're fine with that."

Practices, MacFarlane said, are in the early evening and twice a week for most teams while most teams play two games a week. There are no tryouts for KV association teams and girls are welcome, too.

"You want to play for a team, you play," MacFarlane said. "If there aren't enough girls to make a team, they play with the boys. Body checking doesn't really start until Pee Wees (11-12 year-olds)."

As recently as the mid-1990s, players in KV youth hockey participated in so-called house leagues with all their games at their own rink. Numbers were high enough that groups from Gardiner and later Maranacook peeled off from Kennebec and formed their own organizations.

"We were fat, dumb and happy," KIA manager K.C. Johnson said. "We had huge numbers and everybody was moving forward."

Now it seems everyone is hurting. Waterville and Winslow combined their hockey associations a number of years ago and so-called house teams only exist at the state's two largest associations, Lewiston and Casco Bay.

Players from Kennebec play teams throughout central Maine and are in effect travel teams themselves. The actual travel teams hold tryouts and instead of coming from one rink are combined. Kennebec travel is now part of Zone 4 -- there are five zones in the state -- that includes Waterville, Maranacook, Gardiner and the mid-coast area.

The perception of violence in the game is exacerbated by the Internet and YouTube where isolated incidents are reported within hours of their occurrence.

"Everything's instant," Johnson said, referring to an incident in Massachusetts between parents a few years ago that resulted in a death. "It's perceived differently."

The greatest challenge for youth hockey is holding on to young players. Johnson said Kennebec Ice Arena had its best numbers for Atoms (3-6 year-olds) in last year's winter when more than 70 kids signed up.

"The Olympic push helped," he said. "It's all about retention."

After Mites (8-under), many players drop the sport. In an effort to bolster that group, Kennebec has gone to cross-ice games to help lower costs, improve skating and allow players to touch the puck more often. Soccer has done the same thing by limiting the number of players on a team and the size of fields for younger kids.

"I think there's been less interest in the Augusta area," Christopher said. "I'm not sure why. We're trying to get the word out to kids. You like to get kids skating early."

Gary Hawkins -- 621-5638

ghawkins@centralmaine.com