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www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, February 3, 2012 · 22 Safety, commitment key issues for high school coaches Continued from page 21 Kokotailo says. "I was told `You're welcome to find someone who will support it at the next meeting.' I said thanks for the invitation to call every high school in Halton, but it's not going to fly." Former advocate of rule has 'flip-flopped' Thirty-plus years ago, Rick Redshaw helped create the rule that prohibits rep players from playing boys' high school hockey in Halton. And Redshaw is quick to admit he took full advantage of that rule, recruiting players away from the Georgetown Minor Hockey Association (GMHA) to play for his Georgetown District High School (GDHS) Rebels. "I stole kids (from the minor hockey association) with trips to Europe. The next year, they'd all want to play for me again," says the Oakville resident. "We'd win Haltons and go to OFSAA. "Georgetown minor hockey wouldn't talk to me for years after that. There was a war back and forth." Redshaw's tactics even prompted the GMHA to prohibit high school players from playing in its house league system. "That rule lasted one year," Redshaw recalls. "The players and parents grumbled enough." Now Redshaw is living the other side of it. He retired from his phys-ed head position at GDHS three years "The philosophy of high ago and has been involved school sports used to be with rep hockey ever since, to build athletes helping coach the Oakville through our system... midget AAA Rangers and Things changed as soon also serving as head coach of the Milton bantam A as the clubs got bigger Winterhawks. His son, and bigger. Then it Graham, plays for Kokotailo's became competitive." midget A Rangers as well. Seeing first-hand how Former Georgetown District the rule affects the rep High School phys-ed head hockey system -- particuRick Redshaw larly in midget, already a dying breed in many associations -- has been enough to change Redshaw's thinking. "I've flip-flopped," he says. Times have changed. High school sports, in Redshaw's opinion, are no longer about the student-athlete as much as they are about competing with club systems and enhancing the profiles of coaches and schools. "The philosophy of high school sports used to be to build athletes through our system. That was the number one thing way back," says Redshaw. "It was football, basketball, volleyball and track. That's all there was, and we produced those athletes." Then club teams began sprouting up throughout the region. "It became that we weren't developing the athletes. We were taking the feed-off," Redshaw says. "(The clubs) were the ones who had the good coaches, they were the ones developing the athletes. Then the athletes would get a little more playing time in high school sports. "Things changed as soon as the clubs got bigger and bigger," he adds. "Then it became competitive." What's the motivation for schools to fight against clubs for the top talent? "It's reputation," Redshaw says. "That's it, in a nutshell. The coach gets known and the school gets known." Rule designed to protect players, OT coach says Oakville Trafalgar High School phys-ed head and boys' hockey coach Jeff Gruber says the rule has nothing to do with ego. Rather, Gruber -- who played Halton high school hockey METROLAND MEDIA GROUP FILE PHOTO FAN FAVOURITES: A Nelson Lords player gets a few slaps on the back from friends prior to taking the ice in the 2008 Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference high school boys' hockey championship game. The Halton high school boys' hockey rule requires players to decide whether to play afternoon games in front of their fellow schoolmates or to play for their local rep teams. under the same rule in the 1970s -- believes the longtime system benefits students as much as it does their high school teams. "It is to allow the kids not to burn out. Some years, we play 30-40 games in high school. There's at least that, if not more, with rep. Now the kids are playing 80 games, "It is to allow the kids practising 160-180 times," not to burn out. Some he says. "When do they have years, we play 30-40 time for school or family life games in high school. or social life? "We classify them as stu- There's at least that, if dent athletes. They're stu- not more, with rep... dents first. We're looking at When do they have the whole kid," he adds. time for school or family In Gruber's opinion, "Nothing against the rep life or social life?" coaches, but they just look at them as hockey players. Oakville Trafalgar High That's fine, but they don't School boys' hockey coach know what's going on with and phys-ed head Jeff Gruber the (student) during the day at school. We felt we'll get the most out of the person by having them make a decision." The rule also gives students more opportunity to represent their high school, Bishop Reding defenceman Owen Cutrara points out. "I actually don't mind the rule," says Cutrara, who quit playing rep this season to join the Royals. "If all the repcalibre guys were playing high school as well, there wouldn't be room for some of (our) players." Commitment is another issue, Gruber says. When the schedules of rep teams and high school squads conflict, nearly all players' priorities lie with their rep team -- leaving their high school clubs with a short bench. "I don't know how many tournaments I've been at over the years where you just have to get through Friday," Gruber says, "because you know Friday night or Saturday, all the rep kids are leaving." One more main justification for the rule, Gruber says, is safety. "If you're playing twice as many games, that gives you more chance of injury, especially now with concussions in the forefront. If you run yourself down, there's more likelihood of getting hurt," he says. Kokotailo understands Gruber's stance on commitment, but he's quick to shoot down the defence of player safety. "I don't buy that, because (high schools) let students play football and then go to their rep hockey. They just can't play hockey and hockey," says Kokotailo. Kokotailo points to a University of North Carolina study two years ago that concluded more concussions actually take place in girls' hockey than boys'. The study found women's college hockey players suffered 2.72 concussions for every 1,000 player hours, while men's hockey players suffered 1.47 concussions per 1,000 player hours. "The commitment issue is the thrust of this," Kokotailo says. Halton teams at disadvantage against other regions Not all boys' hockey high school coaches in Halton are advocates of the rule, either. Carl Van Landschoot has coached high school hockey in the region for the past 25 years, beginning with stops at Loyola and Assumption. But it wasn't until Van Landschoot developed some very strong teams at Notre Dame that he began to see the downside of not allowing rep players to play for their high school teams. "The minute you step out of Halton, the playing field is See Winning, page 23