Hockey Execs Ban Big Kid

Canadians are passionate about hockey.  This passion leads Canadian dads to spend endless evenings making back-yard ice rinks in sub-zero weather.  It leads thousands of volunteers to devote countless hours to coaching, convening, managing and organizing minor hockey so that kids can experience the greatest game on earth. 

Being passionate about something is great, but being too passionate about anything, including hockey, often leads to warped judgement and bad choices. 

Jared Murray* is an 8 year old hockey player, and a pretty good one at that.  He plays for a novice B house league team in Shawville, Quebec, a small town located on the Ottawa river.  Jared has had a very good season, scoring 51 goals in 17 games. 

Jared is a big kid (photo), 4"9' tall and 110 pounds, but novice house league hockey is non-contact so his size is not a huge advantage. In a radio interview Jared's dad said the kid took one penalty all season (for tripping) and that he was scolded for doing so by his mom, who also happened to be the time-keeper for the game, so it's not like the kid is some kind of cross between Zdeno Chara & Derek Boogaard.      

Sadly, Hockey Outaouais, the body that governs the league Jared plays in has decided he's too big and strong (and good?) for his league.  In a remarkable example of bad judgement Hockey Outaouais have banned Jared from participating in the end-of-season tournament.  Somebody need to remind the suits at Hockey Outaouais that Jared is EIGHT.  He's playing HOUSE LEAGUE HOCKEY.  He's playing at the NOVICE B level.  Lunacy. 

This is not the Danny Amonte case.  Jared is big and obviously talented, but he's playing by all of the rules.  Fifty-one goals in 17 games is pretty good, but Wayne Gretzky scored 310 goals as a novice and while parents on opposing teams surely whined about it, nobody banned the kid.  You can bet that every kid who played against Gretzky as a novice looks back on the experience and tells anybody who'll listen that they "played against the Great One."

To protest the decision, the Shawville Hockey Association has opted to withdraw all 8 of its teams, across all age levels, from the year-end playoffs.  This also feels like a questionable decision.  It makes sense for Jared's team with withdraw in support of their teammate, but the entire association?  Talk about throwing out the baby with the bathwater. 

To add a little spice to the dispute, media reports hint that the Shawville decision is linked to long-standing tensions between Shawville (a mainly English-speaking town) and Hockey Outaouais (an association with a largely Francophone executive, representing mainly French-speaking communities).  For many years Shawville fought having to join Hockey Outaouais, prefering a long-standing affiliation with the Ontario-based Ottawa Valley Hockey League. 

*Jared Murray has an admirable hockey pedigree.  His dad, Tim Murray, is a scout for the NY Rangers & his great-uncle is Ottawa Senators coach Bryan Murray. 

Comments

[outburst]

I could understand if they wanted to move him to another division with kids more comparable to his skill set, maybe even up an age or two. Wasn't Gretz playing kids much older than him and still racking up the points?
Banning him though seems way over the top.

On another slightly related topic of young players, if any of you guys want to do a story on Tavares, I'd enjoy that. Sounds like the kid had a great season and he's getting no print about it that I can see.

[Andrea Reilly]

This is a letter of support for Jared Murray, who was clearly discriminated against due to his size.

As mother of a Novice "A" hockey player who is 9 years old and measures 5'2" and weighs 123 lbs. and has a hell of a shot, we have endured our fair share of comments from referees and opposing teams.

The irony here is that the reason Jared probably plays "B" rather than "A" is that many people look at these big and tall kids and presume they will be slow and clumsy- obviously not the case for Jared.

At any rate, unlike football, there are no rules regarding size or weight in hockey, therefore the Outaouais officials had no right to ban Jared.

My son Michael has a message for Jared- if they are worried about us now, just wait until we can body check:)!

[C Takaoka]

I can't believe that adults would do this to a kid. He's 8! He's a kid playing a sport for fun - there's no rule in the sport about being too tall. I was always short for my age, but I didn't crow about the kids I played about being too tall. And it doesn't seem as if he's a bully (they're not allowed to hit anyway). If there is still time to reverse the decision, it ought to happen. Good luck to Jared!

[Pierre Chapman]

As a father who two boys, one in magh 2 the other Novice A I disagree with hockey outaouais from banning Jared on the basis of his size.Its time to get the politics out of hockey and let these kids have fun.I've seen Jared play and he's not a dominating force on a team he's a typical kid who enjoys having fun and should not be penalized because of his size.Let the kid have some fun and who cares who wins.

[Penny Nicholas]

From British Columbia. This is an outrage. so the boy is big. their team played all year, didnt run away with the league and now you say NO to an 8 year old that he is too big to play? Shame on you!!! Thank goodness you werent around when my son played as he was a bigger child but not as skilled.
I thought minor hockey was for the kids - not the adults!

Get Real!

[David Berndgen]

I just finished reading a article about Jared Murray on Espn.com, I wasn't sure if it was true or not. I googled the story and read all these articles about it. All I have to say is this is RIDICULOUS!!! I can see the concern for kids getting hurt by a player thats at least half a foot taller than they are, but wasn't this a non-contact league. Not to mention the kid took ONE penalty all year. This Mario Lemery guys seems to have it out for this team or maybe town. How do you ban a kid that played on a team that finished 3rd overall in their league and who wasn't even the best player on that team by saying he was to good and it wasn't fun to play against them. Mr. Lemery clearly has no-spine, or heart. I guess what I don't understand is how this wasn't a problem till the playoffs. Did the kid grow a foot overnight? It sounds like this Lemery guy is punishing this kid because his team didn't want to move up a level. Sounds like a great guy, what was he thinking? These guys wanted to stay where they were and go against my wish, so to get back at them I going to go after an 8 year old. When I was 8 playing sports they didn't even keep score, I guarantee that if you told these kids that they would lose every game this year and not win one, everyone of them would still go out and play. The kid is 8 years old, sorry to the guy that had to be the one to tell him he wasn't going to be able to play anymore because "he is to good". I guess you guys should be thankful Lemery wasn't running the league Gretzky played in as a little kid. Mario Lemery is the one that needs to be banned! Good Luck Jared.

[jim white]

your comment below is not quite right read my story and you will see this is not a language issue like all the media is making out to be

To add a little spice to the dispute, media reports hint that the Shawville decision is linked to long-standing tensions between Shawville (a mainly English-speaking town) and Hockey Outaouais (an association with a largely Francophone executive, representing mainly French-speaking communities). For many years Shawville fought having to join Hockey Outaouais, prefering a long-standing affiliation with the Ontario-based Ottawa Valley Hockey League

I coach a atom team in Fort-Coulonge (mostly french )so Outaouais hockey did not pick out Shawville because it is an english town my opinion is Outaouais hockey do not want us small towns winning , two years ago our novice B team was told at the end of the season to move one of our star players (The smallest player on the team)because he was too good we did not so Outaouais hockey put our B team in A for the regionals and playoffs we lost all games badly .This year again our Atom B team won 5 and tied one to start the year so again Outaouais hockey moved our team to A because we were winning and we lost all games in A class again the same situation as shawville look at the real reasons i pointed above let us go back to the ontario minor hockey leagues they sure don’t look like they want us in their city league
this is 3 timesin 2 years that a fort-coulonge team has been moved up for winning not for the language we speak