the detroit hockey mom

Far be it from me to tell you what to do, but that's exactly what I'm gonna do here.  These proposed rule changes are going to be voted up or down in July 2010.  I have focused only on those rule changes that I think will affect girls and women's hockey.  Since there is only one person voting on behalf of "girls/women's hockey" whereas there are numerous people who vote based upon the "districts" (which typically cater strictly to youth boys hockey), your voice can best be heard by bending the ear of your district representative(s).

This proposed rule change was probably suggested simply as a "housekeeping" item, under the thinking that it wouldn't pose any controversy.  There is currently (for good or bad) a rule on the books prohibiting "boys" teams from playing games against "men's" teams.  This proposed rule change would add a similar prohibition against "girls" teams playing games against "women's" teams.  The problem, of course, is there just ain't that many of us out there.  To have a blanket rule prohibiting a women's team from playing a girls' 19U team is  unnecessary.  Especially for adult women's teams in the MSWHL 'advanced' division, many of the players are 19-24 years old and came to the MSWHL from their prior AA/AAA travel club team in the first place.  So having a game between a AAA 19U team and a MSWHL Advanced division team would probably actually be a good match.  See page "GB-8" for the full language.

This proposed rule change was not just fathomed out of the blue.  There is a very good girls-only house league at Suburban Farmington right now, and the experience in running that league suggests that providing the flexibility to "dual roster" on a "house" and a "house select" team will enable girls' "house" hockey to more fully develop.  As many of you are all too familiar with, girls are essentially forced to "travel" for hockey simply because they don't want to be "the" girl on the boys' team.  See page "10-15" for the full language.

This proposed rule change doesn't yet apply to girls' hockey, since technically there aren't any girls' "high school" teams governed by the Michigan High School Athletic Association like there are for the boys.  But the concept seems sound: let players "practice with" the high school team without restriction.  Just because they aren't officially on the roster (and are thus ineligible to play in games) doesn't mean they can't and won't benefit from being able to practice with the team that they are most likely aspiring to become a member of.  See page "10-16" for the full language.

This proposed rule change deals with "nationals bound" teams.  Instead of me paraphrasing, Patty said it best: Girls and Women have no "districts"; so having a boys' districts-based rule overlayed on the girls hasn't made sense and it's time to remove this artifice.  See page "10-21" for the full language.