Minneapolis / St. Paul News Blog

Photo by jennrivo

​ As if H1N1 couldn't make our lives any worse, now kids can't even shake hands with opponents after a game. What has the world come to? Now children in youth hockey leagues will be forced to "shake hands" with their gloves on, which is more like a fist bump. Totally not worth it.

USA Hockey has issued a couple of recommendations for youth hockey teams to help prevent the spread of swine flu among kids. The handshake is probably a bad idea, they say, but now all of the kids have "bad sportsmanship," when they leave their gloves on. No one can win.

Here are some of their recommendations:

• Don't let kids share water bottles. No one wants hockey backwash anyway.
• Wash hands a lot and clean equipment each time they go on the ice. They will still smell terrible.
• Keep those gloves on. H1N1 makes it cool again to be a bad sport in the handshake.