MRO cracking down on absenteeism

Stuck with the problem of absenteeism for several years, the MRO Minor Hockey Committee has decided to do something about the matter this season. Players with good attendance records, for example, were given priority by being allowed to register before the others.

“Coaches will be hounded to produce attendance reports. We will be taking a very hard line regarding unjustified no-shows. Attendance will be an important factor in being able to register next season,� said MRO committee president Daniel Mireault.

The problem stems from the fact that many local hockey players also happen to be avid skiers who spend many weekends at their winter chalets. As a result, certain clubs find themselves with fewer available players than the minimum required per match.

“For many years now, we’ve had players who also ski. They are present at the start of the season, but drop out when the ski season starts. According to the criteria set by the hockey federation, often the minimum number of players wasn’t reached and teams lost by default,� said Sonia Saint-Laurent, in charge of sports and recreation in Outremont.

Saint-Laurent points out, however, that none of the players from Outremont have been denied registration because of the new attendance policy. In TMR, half a dozen bantam-level players are on a waiting list, says the town’s assistant sports supervisor Heather Dalgleish.

“We want real players, even if it means fewer are registered. Hockey is a team sport. You can’t start a season with 14 players and finish with eight,� said Mireault, adding that “very few� had actually been cast aside this year.

Outremont has about 172 registered players in non-competitive categories, ranging from pre-novice to junior, while TMR has about 350.

The competitive double-letter teams, whose players are more skilled, have players who come from the MRO region as well as Saint-Laurent and Westmount and play in levels ranging from atom to junior. These have about a dozen players from Outremont and about 40 from TMR.

“We made a few calls and about 90% of those we phoned were very excited by the idea. As a general rule, the players are also skiers, but it’s not absolutely necessary,� said Michel Trudeau, one of the volunteers behind the new idea.

In total, 25 players between the ages of 9 and 13 chose this option rather than sign up for the more traditional leagues. Two balanced teams were formed and meet for matches on Sunday mornings at the TMR Arena under the supervision of a referee and a score keeper.

“The kids have to feel that it’s still competitive and that they have to push, but the games are friendly all the same,� said Trudeau, adding that participants benefitted from two supervised training periods early in the season to improve their technique.

“We’re very happy with the results and we’re thinking of setting up the league again next year,� said MRO president Mireault, who thinks that it could turn out to be a “nice alternative� to traditional leagues, where it is more difficult to take up another winter sport such as alpine skiing.

Translated by Anna Bratulic