Paula Crosby has done the math and she’s not liking the numbers.
“We spent almost $4,000 (last season) and that was only for away games,” says the Scotsburn resident, one of a group of parents strongly opposed to their sons playing another season in a Midget AA hockey league, playing a Midget AA team from Antigonish and three more from Cape Breton.
“That is for hotels, food and gas on a very tight budget.”
They say most parents would prefer to see two Midget A teams formed in Pictou County, allowing them to play teams from this region – Antigonish, Colchester and Cumberland counties – without having to do overnight trips once (or perhaps twice) each month.
“Amherst would be the furthest, and they’re all day trips. We have no interest in AA and yet Hockey Nova Scotia is trying to ram it down our throats,” said Louis LeBlanc, another parent unhappy with HNS’s proposal.
“We only had five or six kids try out for AA,” said John Tetreault, who also has a son playing Midget hockey. Tetreault has asked Brad MacKinley, the chair of HNS’s minor council, to have a face-to-face meeting with concerned parents, but as of Friday had yet to receive a response.
“Even if we did put the best kids together to play AA, we wouldn’t be strong enough to be able to compete.”
Hockey Nova Scotia keeps insisting there are enough Midget-aged players in Pictou County to form a AA squad, and has told the parents the only other option is to play Midget C, which is non-contact hockey that offers no opportunity to compete for a provincial title.
Tetreault said there would be a competitive imbalance created by forcing all those players to drop down to Midget C, where they would likely dominate against what are generally lesser-skilled players.
“How much fun are they going to have?” said Tetreault. “It’s not going to be good for anybody.”
On the other hand, the parents say, if they were allowed to form two Midget A teams in Pictou County, competitive balance would not be an issue: with Dr. J.H. Gillis High School in Antigonish and Amherst Regional High School not icing hockey teams this season, most of those players in those regions would conceivably be playing Midget AA, while a number of players in Pictou County good enough to play Midget AA have the option of high school hockey.
Another problem, the parents say, is that teams from Cape Breton aren't enthusiastic about the idea of travelling to Pictou County, either.
“One time last year, we went seven weeks without a home game because (Cape Breton teams) kept cancelling,” Crosby said.
HNS officials would not respond to multiple emails from The News this week seeking comment.
It’s all about the numbers
The News
PICTOU
Hockey Nova Scotia’s policy is that if a minor hockey association has 57 or more players eligible to play Midget AA, then the association is required to form a Midget AA team. However, a list provided to John Tetreault from the Pictou County Minor Hockey association indicates that a total of 51 players tried out for AAA and AA Midget teams this season.
Tetreault said he forwarded that to an HNS official and has received no response thus far.
