Team Russia forward Vladimir Tarasenko, right, reacts with teammate Dmitri Orlov, left, after defeating Team Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship gold medal final in Buffalo, N.Y. on Wednesday, January 5, 2011.Nathan Denette
On the night the roof fell in for Canada's best junior hockey players, cheers of celebration erupted from a house packed with Russian teens in Shelburne, Ont.
The members of the independent Shelburne Red Wings - 19 players are Russian-born imports - operate outside Hockey Canada's auspices. They saluted fellow Russians for coming back in the third period - and mostly for beating Hockey Canada's all-star squad.
Now the team is hoping to win a battle of a different kind, against the governing body of amateur hockey in Canada, which has a policy that declares their league an outlaw organization.
Given that the league is relatively obscure with only 13 teams - 12 spread through Ontario and one in New York State - officials of the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League (GMHL) are having trouble understanding what all the fuss is about.
"We don't know where it's all coming from," said Rick Sage, general manager and assistant coach of the Shelburne Red Wings. "We don't understand it. We're not sure why it's even happening."
The issue surrounds the right of an independent hockey organization to operate in Canada outside of the jurisdiction of Hockey Canada. The official governing body can't actually shut down an independent, but it can make life difficult by squeezing supporters who have Hockey Canada connections.
Hockey Canada stated it is concerned with "the proliferation of leagues that operate outside its auspices" and has deemed them "outlaws."
In a 2009 bulletin, Hockey Canada issued a warning and outlined policies and sanctions that would be levied against individuals and organizations that support independent operations.
Sanctions could include the forfeiture of an individual's membership in Hockey Canada for the season for participation in "outlaw" games.
Teams and leagues - even communities - could have tournament sanctions withheld for aiding or supporting non-Hockey Canada hockey operations. Sanctioned events can be lifted from the any community within the geographic boundaries of the association where support was taking place.
Officials with the Red Wings say the policy is heavy-handed and has divided the community in Shelburne, Sage said nervous parents don't know where to draw the line when it comes to interpreting the Hockey Canada policy.
He refers to a situation on his own team in which a 10-year-old boy was forced to quit as the Red Wings' waterboy or else be kicked off his Hockey Canada-sanctioned minor hockey league team.
"Very ridiculous," Sage said.
"We've also heard from some of the other kids playing minor hockey in Shelburne that their coaches have told them that they could not attend a Red Wings game because if you're buying a ticket, you're showing support."
Hockey Canada officials did not respond to e-mail requests yesterday, the day after the world junior championship in Buffalo.
According to the body's 2009 Action Bulletin, Hockey Canada told officers, directors, branch executives, referees and others that it was concerned about so-called outlaw bodies operating in a vacuum.
"The teams who make these 'leagues'... do not agree with the existing overall vision of Hockey Canada. They profess to have a better program yet often operate without a constitution, by-laws, create their own rule book and may not provide adequate insurance for their participants."
Sage says he does not understand why Hockey Canada would even concern itself with independent league such as his. "We're a tiny little blip on their radar," he said.
Sage said that while Hockey Canada's policies will not stop his league from continuing operations, referees have become nervous of losing their Hockey Canada status if they work GMHL games.
"We are not sanctioned by Hockey Canada and we do not have a problem with that at all," Sage said. "We feel that we are able to operate on our own and that we don't have an impact on Hockey Canada."