The Prince George Minor Hockey Association has reversed a decision to remove body checking from its midget club division.
Body checking was reinstated for the 2011-12 season during a meeting of the PGMHA executive on Monday night.
"After careful consideration and some discussion -- and also getting feedback from our members, which included both parents and kids -- we decided we would bring it back into midget," said Shawn Rice, who is now the association's vice president after one year as president.
The midget club division is one rung below rep and caters to players in the 15- to 17-year-old age range. Last month, the PGMHA announced on its website that body checking would be removed because of "rough play and a multitude of discipline issues" in the 2010-11 season. Rice said hitting from behind incidents, fighting and verbal abuse of officials was all too common.
At the PGMHA annual general meeting last Wednesday, close to 20 people spoke out against removing body checking from midget club.
On Wednesday, see The Citizen and pgcitizen.ca for more.
