Garden Valley Collegiate
Winkler Manitoba

By Jamie T. (Grade 12)

Scoring goals is supposed to be the highlight of the game of hockey. It is too bad that the game is changing so fast.

Just a few years ago, Wayne Gretzky was scoring 200 points a season. Now brilliantly talented players are struggling to break 100, even with a bigger schedule.

Goalies are using bigger equipment these days, but the real problem is the clutch-and-grab style that defenders use to stop their opponents.

If a forward gives a pass and then moves into the slot for a scoring opportunity, he gets dragged down or knocked down by a defender. For crying out loud, the player doesn't even have the puck anymore! If a player has the puck, he is fair game to anyone. But it is ridiculous when a player is trying to get into scoring position and gets thrown to the ice.

Fewer goals are being scored and many of the highly-skilled players are becoming frustrated with this style of play. Since the Olympics, the league has started calling this "obstruction," but why only now? The season is half over and many players are fed up. The league should have reacted a long time ago, before TV ratings went down, and before we started to doubt Canada's greatest game.