“Eight year olds are going to collide with each other, with the other team, with the net, it’s the nature of it,” said Taylor. “That part, having an awareness on the ice, the ability to skate, knowing your surroundings, these are all skills that have to be put into place before you have two players hitting each other.”
“Body contact in the scope of puck pursuit and what happens when players engage in puck pursuit, there’s incidental contact happening there versus the intent of body checking which is to gain advantage through physical contact,” said Hamilton.
Regardless of age or level of hockey, the number one priority should always be player safety.
“We do want the game to be safe. We’ve eliminated head contact, the incidental and purposeful head contact,” said Taylor. “We’ve got to realize we need respect in in the game, that body checking is a skill. I think if we tie all that up together, it can be a real clean progression.”