Off The GoalPost

Minor Hockey Week Format Leaves Bitter Taste
Written by Brian van Vliet - March 1, 2009

Another Esso Minor Hockey Week just concluded and once again I can only feel disappointment as opposed to the excitement one should have at what is supposed to be a highlight of the hockey season.

The Problems with Minor Hockey week - Most parents agree with me when I tell them my thoughts about how poor the supposed “double knock out” system is. First and foremost, it is not a true double knock out format. If it were, a team could only be eliminated after two losses. Under the current system, it is fine if a team loses their first game but they cannot lose any game after that. This is where the whole format falls apart.

To start with, your first opponent is not based on where your team finished in the first half of the season. There are two problems with this. First off, it renders the whole schedule up until Christmas virtually useless. The first ten games of the season are considered the “seeding round”. This is supposed to determine if a team is suited to stay in the division that they were originally placed. However one team (team name and division to remain anonymous) had an 0-7-3 record, scored a whopping 26 goals and gave up 74 but remained in the top group for the second half of the season!! However the team placement and seeding round debacle is a different topic for a future date. The second problem with the current system is that it does not guarantee that the strongest team will play the weakest in their first game of EMHW, which should be the case.

The current system works as follows: A team loses their first game and they fall to the “loser” or “B” pool. That losing team then plays another losing team for a chance to move on. However, the team that won their first game has to play another winning team. The loser of that game is out. Makes sense right? Wrong. What this creates is a situation whereby a team is better to “throw” or lose their first game of Minor Hockey Week for a better chance to move on. To combat this, Hockey Calgary made the first game of minor hockey week count in the regular season standings. That would have some effect if it weren’t for the fact that every community team makes the playoffs so another loss in regular season makes no difference! To give a live example of how flawed this current system is; my son’s team won their first game of EMHW and were rewarded with a match against the second best team in the division. They lost and were eliminated. The team they beat in game 1 got to play the last place team in the division. They in turn, went on to make the finals of minor hockey week by beating all the weaker teams in the division. The exact same thing happened to my daughter’s team in girl’s hockey. The weaker you are the better your chances for success. It is hard for this armchair sportsfan to jump up and down with excitement when I witness failure being rewarded.

Solution for EMHW – A simple solution to fix this system is as follows: (For simplicity, let’s assume an 8 team division). After the seeding round, line the teams up 1 through 8. Team 1 plays team 8, 2 plays 7, 3 plays 6 and 4 plays 5. All the teams that win their first game play all the teams that lost theirs. What this creates is the likely scenario that the best teams will move on and the weak teams will be deservedly eliminated. It would also make the first 10 games of the “seeding round” highly important as clubs would want to finish at the top of the standings for a chance to play the weaker teams in EMHW. The need to throw the first game of EMHW would be eliminated plus you would usually end up with the two best teams in the final. My proposed system makes so much common sense. And for that reason alone, it is highly unlikely that it will ever be implemented.

Agree or disagree, I’m off the goalpost.