Minor hockey players ‘begging’ controversy

BY MICHAEL PIASETZKI

They can be seen standing outside the Bell Centre before Montreal Canadiens home games, at busy West Island intersections, and during the fall, outside the Sportplexe 4 Glaces in Pierrefonds.

Adorned in their minor hockey jerseys, often young enough to look cute as buttons, these boys and girls stand, waiting for passersby to drop a few loonies into a bucket placed strategically on the ground in front of them. To some, they are fundraising, trying to pick up extra cash to finance their team’s expenses during a long season. To others though, they are panhandlers or for the lack of a better word, beggars.

When asked which fence they stood on as far as such behavior was concerned, several area coaches and association presidents did not hedge. All were staunchly against young pucksters — even those at the novice and atom levels who might not be old enough to raise money through such conventional means as bagging groceries — from standing on sidewalks asking for handouts. “We’d much rather see the kids work for their fundraising,” said Hockey West Island president Kevin O’Reilly. “Whether it’s doing a car wash, selling Christmas trees or bottle drives. In terms of life lessons, you learn more if you have to work for a couple of bucks than holding your palm out. That being said though, we don’t have a policy per say banning such behaviour, but I’d be very surprised if any of our teams do it.”

One of those is the atom BB West Island Kings, whose head coach Wayne Bews, said he would never be in favour of his players heading down to the Bell Centre on a Saturday night to ask for money. “I did see a local team standing around the Bell Centre last spring,” he said. “But there are other ways. For example, our team hopes to organize an outdoor skate-a-thon later this month, where the kids would get sponsored per lap from uncles, aunts and friends. That is just one example.”

One of the main reasons minor hockey players need to fundraise, said former Deux Rives Hockey Association president Jim Panetta, is not to pay for out of town tournaments or to buy extra equipment. Mostly, it’s to purchase extra ice time, which when sold by the hour, can be very expensive. “Particularly at the double-letter level,” he said. “But we encourage our coaches to have their kids raise the money through means that would be much better for their self esteem. As well, if parents feel their children are too young to fundraise, there are other options. I’ve heard of some parents who have bottled wine and put their children’s team photo on the bottle, then selling it to friends and family for $10.”

Longtime Lakeshore Hockey Association coach Pat Haney, currently in charge of the peewee BB Lakeshore Panthers, said he has also seen young hockey players standing around with hands out. Each time however, he has walked away with a sad feeling in his stomach. “There has to be better ways for the kids to raise money,” he said. “Begging puts a bad name not only on individual teams but on the organization as well.”