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j ctiici iiuuii. l nr duui wtrm wiuc ui me litri, uui was ucwiiu uic muci taiio.Complicated eligibility rules lead to confusionby KEN COLEMAN Sun Staff WriterWhile spectators may still need a program to tell one player from another, the coaches at the Canada Winter Games hockey tournament being held at the Keystone Centre and the Sportsplex have a much more complex problem.They almost need a manual to tell them who is eligible to play and who is not.And that’s where the catch comes in. Spectators can buy programs, but there’s no manual available to the coaches. And it has been causing problems.After three days of competition, numerous questions and a few explanations, most coaches now understand the rulings on eligibility set down by the Canada Games Council, but many don’t agree with them.The problem many coaches are concerned with is that there are different rulings for different parts of the country.For example, the fourMaritime provinces are allowed to use players who are currently enrolled and playing with university hockey teams, while the other provinces and the Northwest Territories are not.The four western provinces and the Territories can, however, pick an all-star team from all the Junior B teams in the province and territory.But Ontario and Quebec must use a club team, with no pick-ups or university players.That, says Quebec coach Gilles Lacelle, puts his team and Ontario at a disadvantage.“We’re the underdogs of the whole competition,” Lacelle says. “We can only use a club team. . . . Because of that, I’d certainly consider us an underdog.”Quebec has lost two of its three games, 8-5 to Nova Scotia and 13-2 to British Columbia. Its first win came Wednesday, a 4-3overtime decision over New Brunswick.To make matters worse forthe Gatineau Ambassadors, Lacelle says the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association and the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) have added more restrictions.“Under CAHA rules we can only have 19 players on our list after Jan. 10,” he says. “We have two guys hurt who can’t play and two guys sitting on the bench who can’t play. And we can’t pick up anybody to help us.“And the provincial association won’t let us use 20-year-olds in our league. Everyone else here has at least eight 20-year-olds on their team,” he says. That puts us at more of a disadvantage.”Newfoundland coach Leo Murphy also questions the eligibility rules.His team has no university players on its roster because Memorial University at St. John’s doesn’t have a hockey program. The team has lost all three games it has played, but the scores haven’t been lopsided.The losses were to Saskatchewan, 4-3 in overtime, 7-3 to Alberta and 4-2 to Ontario.“What would the scores be like if they (Saskatchewan and Alberta) weren’t allowed to use university players?”Earl Dawson, western representative for the department of fitness and amateur sport, says the rules were made for very good reasons.“The four Maritime provinces are allowed to use university players for the simple reason that there is a shortage of players in the Maritimes,” Dawson says.Another reason is that the Maritime teams lost badly at the Winter Games in Lethbridge in 1975.“The whole idea of the Games is to increase the calibre of the competitors,” he says. “We don’t want to pull the winners down to the level of the poorer clubs . . . the purpose is to improve the poorer teams to the calibre of the better teams.”Dawson says the provincial amateur hockey associations asked the Atlantic Universities Athletic Association to permit university players to compete on their Canada Winter Games’ teams.An agreement was reached two years ago between the two associations which would allow university players to join both Canada Winter Games (Junior B) and university teams for this year only. The agreement was approved by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association.“It’s only for this year, because it’s the year of the Games,” Dawson said. “Theywon’t be eligible to play both Junior B and university nextyear.”Changes may be made for the next Winter Games, Dawson said. “The provincial associations will get together at the annual CAHA meeting and make recommendations to the Canada Games Council,” he said.
Newspaper Details
Brandon Sun
Brandon, Manitoba, CA
Thu, Feb 15, 1979
Page 32
Full Page
Clipped by
Jason P.
USA 08 Nov 2019
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