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opponent from an angle minimizing time and space for the opponent.
Step #2 – Stick Checks
The second step is to effectively use the stick, poke checking and sweep checking, lifting and locking the opponent’s stick.
Step #3 – Body Contact
The third step is to use the body to block the opponent’s way or take away the skating lanes of another player. The correct stance and effective use of leg strength are important parts of these techniques.
Step #4 – Body Checking
The fourth and final step is actual body checking. This step includes teaching techniques to check and receive a body check as well as safety and rules.
    Unfortunately, body checking has taken on a life of its own, and sometimes isn’t used only to take control of the puck. In other words, Hockey Can­ada’s Four-Step Checking Model isn’t being fol­lowed. It’s become at times an aggressive act. If one player has his head down, skating with the puck, the defender is allowed to literally ram right into him on the open ice, throwing him off the puck. This can cause serious damage to the player being hit, especially if they didn’t see the hit com­ing. Although, according to the rules, that’s a legal hit because you did not hit the player’s head, you did not stick your knee out, and you did it with your body and your arms forward across your chest, you might have seriously injured the other player, especially if they are smaller than you are. In the eleven- to twelve-year-old Peewee category in particular, these children are still trying to learn how to handle the stick, pass the puck, and skate, not protect themselves from body checks on the open ice.
    At the end of the day, they are just kids. We are talking about Fourth and Fifth Graders – that time in life where everyone varies dramatically in shape and size. One little guy is scrawny and barely tall enough to go on amusement park rides, and another one looks like he’s already in full-blown puberty.
    Furthermore, these kids are just learning how to body check, and are highly reliant on their coach to teach them about this strange and frightening new aspect of the game. We rely on volunteers to teach kids about body checking, and hope that they receive consistent training, but we can’t be sure. So, we have Fourth and Fifth Graders on the ice, most of them have never had body checking ever in their life, and most of them have not had the full-fledged coaching experience they would need to teach them how to give and receive proper body checks. This situation is an accident waiting to happen.

    I recall one situation quite vividly, involving a ra­ther large boy and a relatively small boy, both of them in their first year of the Peewee category, during the third game of the season. The smaller eleven-year-old was skating out of his defensive zone during the game, and clearly had his head down. As he crossed the blue line, the larger boy did a textbook job of body checking the small boy, and stood the kid right up as he skated towards him. This was a legal body check. The large boy’s arms were down, and he didn’t hit the smaller boy’s head. He simply made a good, solid body check.
    Of course, what happened to that small child is that he was thrust down on the ice in a very, very impactful way. He lay there motionless. The air left the room as the stands became silent.
    An NHL player never would have put himself in that position. First off, he would have had his head up, and he would have been looking around. And second of all, the opposing player wouldn’t have been given the opportunity to give that kind of body check.
    The problem here is that you have a system, in particular in the Peewee age category, where you have young or less seasoned coaches, and young players who are inexperienced with the concept of body checking. There are ways of educating the giving and receiving of body checks, but coaches aren’t doing it correctly all the time, so there are big risks to these kids as