Received a confirmation email from our local MHA. Body checking has been removed from the lowest 2 divisions of Midget for the coming year. They also provided some stats from last season for the Bantam divisions that checking was eliminated:
Positives:
1. general atmosphere at the games was better. Less crowd animosity.
2. fewer after whistle incidents and as a result more games were completed in the allotted ice time.
Oddly there was no evidence to categorically state that injuries were down and this was one of the main reasons that checking was eliminated. Admittedly one season is a small sample size but thus far there is no evidence that removal has resulted in fewer injuries.
A few other stats regarding penalties called in these divisions:
1. Head Contact penalties reduced by 67%
2. roughing down by 25%
3. Cross checking down by 28%
4. Boarding down by 88%
5. CFB down by 87%
6. Charding down by 95%
7. Unsportsmanlike Conduct down by 40%
So some pretty significant reductions in penalties called which would make a huge difference to the flow of the game and definately speed things up.
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