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Sports Oakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR:JONKUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2012 21 SEEKING A CHANGE: Oakville midget A Rangers coach Kevin Kokotailo is challenging a Halton high school hockey rule that prohibits male rep players but allows female rep players. Kokotailo has appealed the rule to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, claiming it is discriminatory. ERIC RIEHL / OAKVILLE BEAVER MOHA president attempted to change rule in past Continued from page 1 And Georgetown midget AA Raiders head coach Craig school hockey in Halton to the Human Rights Tribunal of Nicolucci feels the rule hurts minor hockey as much as it Ontario (HRTO), claiming discrimination. does individual players. "If you had a pair of twins who played rep hockey all their "We were fortunate this year that I know a lot of the boys lives and they got to be 16, the girl couldn't play rep anymore and was able to get some of them thinking about playing and the boy could, the cry would be heard all high school hockey to play for us," Nicolucci over the province," Kokotailo says. says, "but last year, we weren't able to field an "If you had a pair of "But, because it's the other way around twins who played rep additional entry (AE) team because of this and the girl can play but the boy can't, no one rule." hockey all their lives seems to mind. Except me." Most students feel they are at least entitled and they got to be 16, to decide for themselves whether to play both Others feel rule is unfair as well the girl couldn't play rep high school and rep hockey, even if they Actually, Kokotailo is far from the only anymore and the boy don't want to. one who has a problem with the Halton could, the cry would be "It's a dumb rule. Why stop people from rule. playing different levels of hockey at the same "It's always been a bee in my bonnet," heard all over the time?" asks Bishop Reding Royals center MOHA president Mark Bentley says. "I hon- province." Connor Hakime. "I probably wouldn't be estly think they need to let these kids make playing both if I could, but we should have their own minds up. If this were a reverse Oakville midget A Rangers the choice if we want to." issue (boys allowed to play both, girls not coach Kevin Kokotailo Last year, in attempts to have the rule allowed to play both), it would be dealt with. abolished. Bentley contacted members of the I absolutely know it would." Halton District School Board. He also sent e-mails to board Milton Minor Hockey Association vice-president in charge trustees and says he received replies from a couple of them. of rep Mac Rathwell adds, "I won't use a word like discriminaBut Bentley eventually discovered that neither the Halton tory as it relates to boys' vs. girls' hockey. However, while we District School Board nor the Halton Catholic District encourage the girls' game to grow, it doesn't seem right that School Board seems to have jurisdiction over the HSSAA. the double standard exists." The HSSAA is made up of representatives of its member schools (public, Catholic and separate), meaning the association -- not the boards, apparently -- has control of what rules it enforces. HSSAA convener Darrin Curtis says he doesn't have any influence on the rules, either. His job is primarily to ensure association rules are followed. "Their oversight is from OFSAA (the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations, the provincial governing body for high school sports)," Kokotailo says. OFSAA rules don't prevent the HSSAA from having its own rules about player eligibility in particular sports. Kokotailo, a pilot with Air Canada, draws an analogy between the Halton hockey rules and airport security policies across the country. "When I go back and forth across Canada, there's a minimum standard for security. You can do more, but you can't do less," he says. "In Winnipeg, if they decide they're going to go through every bag -- not even randomly -- they can, because they're not going below that waterline. It's ridiculous that they would, but they have the authority to do that." That's why Kokotailo decided to appeal the rule to the HRTO. "I was told (the HSSAA) constitution stipulates (a proposed rule change) has to be brought to the floor at a meeting, and that one of the member schools needs to support it," See Safety, page 22