The following articles regarding Junior Gold Hockey recently ran in Let’s Play Hockey.  All three were written by Tom Slaird, the longtime Chair of the Metro Hockey League.

What is Junior Gold hockey?

Boys High School hockey try-outs just concluded.  Most teams in the metro area had more players trying out than open spots on either varsity or junior varsity.  Where do the young men who get cut go if they still want to play hockey?  Although some quit the sport entirely, others sign-up to play for a Junior Gold team in their community.  

What’s Junior Gold?  Last hockey season, the Metro Hockey League fielded 65 teams from Elk River to Hastings and from Forest Lake to Prior Lake.  Many say the League flies under the radar because parents and players don’t want to think about this hockey option until their son gets cut from his high school’s varsity program.  Other kids choose Junior Gold hockey because they don’t want to deal with the stiff competition in their varsity program, they may consider hockey as their second sport behind football, soccer, lacrosse or a spring sport, or they don’t care for some other aspect of their high school’s varsity program.

The Metro Hockey League has three divisions; Junior Gold “A”, Junior Gold “B”, and Junior Gold “16U”.  The “A” level teams can be quite competitive.  Many close to the program say that the top 5-6 Junior Gold “A” teams could beat half the varsity teams in the State.  Proving this theorem is not important to the League.  Continuing to provide a premier place for players to continue improving various skills, including hockey skills, leadership skills, and sportsmanship skills, in an enjoyable environment is the League’s goal.    

The Metro Hockey League was created by Minnesota Hockey’s metro area District Directors over 15 years ago.  The League will have anywhere from 56-65 teams in a given season.  Each team is sponsored by an existing youth association.  Large suburban youth associations will sponsor multiple teams and some associations will combine resources with adjacent associations to create a team. 

As an example, Edina had 6 Junior Gold teams last season, Wayzata had 5 teams and White Bear Lake had 4 teams.  Burnsville, Minnetonka, Centennial, Eden Prairie and Osseo/Maple Grove each had 3 teams.

Minnesota Hockey is committed to make certain that every high school age hockey player has a place to play.  The Metro Hockey League is a great option for the player looking for a competitive alternative to varsity hockey.  For more information, please check out:  www.metrohockeyleague.org.   

What Makes the Metro Hockey League Work?

For most young hockey players in Minnesota, playing for their high school varsity team is the eventual goal.  Not all players get there.  But, there is an alternative that allows young men to continue playing hockey at a very competitive level, often wearing the colors of their respective high schools.

For more than 20 years a group of volunteers have coordinated a league of 56-65 teams comprised of players not playing varsity hockey.  The goal for these volunteers is to grab these players who either get cut or choose not to play varsity before they become disillusioned with hockey and quit for good.  Several youth hockey associations have done better than others in keeping kids in the game.  Here are some stories that exemplify this. 

For many years Curt Giles, the Edina Varsity coach, has included Bill Smith, the longtime Edina Junior Gold “A” coach, in his team’s try-outs and planning process.  Whenever Coach Giles makes a cut, Coach Smith is right there to offer the player an alternative.  In Burnsville, Varsity coach Janne Kivihalme does the same with Burnsville Junior Gold “A” coach, Brian Backes.  Over the years, all the kids coming up through the Edina and Burnsville programs know about the Junior Gold program and they know it’s a good place to play hockey.  It’s no surprise that Edina and Burnsville played each other in the championship game of the Junior Gold “A” State Tournament last season. 

Even with the shrinking hockey participation in the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, the youth associations from these two cities field two teams most seasons under the banner of Eastside Wessy’s Boys.  Originally Wessy’s Boys consisted of kids from the Eastside of St. Paul.  Now players come from anywhere in either city.  For many years, the Eastside team was coached by Wes Barrette, who died in 1998 after an on-ice accident at a practice.  Coach Barrette received the prestigious Wm. Thayer Tutt Award, which is presented by USA Hockey.  After Coach Barrette’s death, the team’s name was changed to include the moniker “Wessy’s Boys”.  Coach Randy Schmidt has continued the efforts of Wes Barrette and each season recruits players who do not play varsity hockey.

The southern suburban youth hockey associations of Rosemount, Apple Valley & Eastview combine resources to field one or two teams each season under the RAVE banner.  This allows more kids to have an opportunity to play at the correct level than if each program attempted to field its own team due to the ever changing player numbers in these growth suburbs.  Coach Scott Peterson has kept this program strong for over a half dozen seasons.

Hockey is an integral part of the lives of many of Minnesota’s young men.  The Metro Hockey League continually strives to keep kids in the game by providing a quality hockey experience.  Check it out at www.metrohockeyleague.org. 

Sportsmanship and the Metro Hockey League

At my first Metro Hockey League Board meeting 15 years ago, the main topic of discussion was the desire of Minnesota Hockey to shut down the League.  For many years the Junior Gold program was viewed as a “hack league”.  The young men that played in this program often came with a “chip on their shoulder”.  Many failed to make their respective high school varsity team either because of skill or because of behavior issues.  In many associations, Junior Gold teams comprised quite a cast of characters leading to a wide array of deportment issues. 

Nevertheless, a group of devoted MHL Board members convinced Minnesota Hockey to let the League continue as it attempted to make improvements.  Faced with this threat of disbandment, the MHL Board embarked on a multi-year effort to improve sportsmanship in the League.  A Coaches Advisory Group was created.  This group of senior Junior Gold coaches met many times each summer for about four years creating a sportsmanship strategy that eventually turned the League around. 

The most significant piece of this strategy was the creation of a Junior Gold only coaching clinic that uses a case study methodology focused on improving sportsmanship and helping coaches deal with player behavior issues.  This season marks the 10^th year that we’ll ask all new coaches in the League to spend a full day participating in this engaging workshop.

Several other actions from this Advisory Group helped set an expectation for sportsmanship.  A “Disqualification Rule”, a “Three Penalty Rule”, and a “Handshake Before the Game Rule” were implemented.  The Disqualification Rule gave referees the ability to take a player out of a game for any reason without the player having to sit an additional game.  This became an important tool to improve sportsmanship as referees could diffuse the potential for an ugly game by ejecting a player or two when their general deportment warranted it.  The Three Penalty Rule tightened up the existing USA Hockey five penalty rule.  After a third penalty, a player leaves the game.  Conducting handshakes before the game set a tone for sportsmanship and avoided the opportunity for problems after a hard-played game.  

These three rules changes were very important in improving sportsmanship.  However, without supportive training for coaches they only “clamped down” on behavior rather than “affecting behavior change”.  The Junior Gold Coaching Clinic continues to be the best way for us to assist coaches in their role of mentoring young men who just happen to be playing the game of hockey. 

Around the same time this Advisory Group was working, Minnesota Hockey developed the Hockey Education Program (HEP) that included the use of Fair Play Points.  Teams started each game with a Fair Play Point, which they could keep or lose based on the number of penalties the team took during the game.  These Fair Play Points counted in their league standings along with points for a win or a tie.  At first, many were skeptical about Fair Play Points, they argued it too dramatically changed the nature of the game.  Over time, the feedback received became much more positive.  Coaches talked about how they could use Fair Play Points as another tool to guide player behavior for the better.  Now, most coaches would object if we discontinued the Fair Play program.

Today the Metro Hockey League has become a well run hockey league for high school aged players where sportsmanship is exhibited along with a highly competitive level of hockey.  Check it out at: www.metrohockeyleague.org.