Hockey shakes off longtime tradition

In a longtime and widely practiced tradition, tens of thousands of young hockey players in Minnesota and other places around the country line up after their games, remove a glove and shake hands with their opponents. For a player to keep the gloves on while shaking hands is considered bad sportsmanship.

Not this year.

Just as the youth winter hockey season is unfolding in Minnesota, the nation's governing body for amateur hockey is urging a halt to that practice as part of its recommendations to combat the spread of the H1N1 flu virus.

How revered is the postgame handshake in hockey? NHL superstar Sidney Crosby of the champion Pittsburgh Penguins came under fire for not offering to apologize for unintentionally failing to shake hands with some of the Detroit Red Wings after the Penguins won Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in June.

USA Hockey, with the counsel of its chief medical officer, recommended several steps Friday to slow the spread of the so-called swine flu:

• Provide individual water bottles rather than shared bottles.

• Have players wash hands regularly.

• Clean equipment for each time on the ice.

• Keep gloves on during the traditional handshake with opponents.

Players are being urged to knock gloves going through the line rather than shaking hands.

More than 60,000 Minnesotans belong to USA Hockey, according to Mike Snee, executive director of Minnesota Hockey, a USA Hockey affiliate. Minnesota high school teams are not governed by USA Hockey, and so far the Minnesota State High School League has not issued comparable rules for high school sports, apart from recommending that athletes who are sick skip practice and games.

"Some individual schools have made their own determination," said Dave Stead, executive director of the league, but the league itself has not specifically addressed handshakes for athletes in any sport.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482