my son played on a hockey team that lost a game 20 - 0, there were very strong words and a near fight with coaches and parents after the game, the two teams played 3 weeks later and the other team scored in the first minute of the game and then played keep away for almost three full periods, kids would go in on breakaways and then just stop and give us the puck. trust me the 1-0 loss was a far greater and intended humiliation then the 20 - 0 game. The only thing you can do is split the teams up and play a pick up game but I don't see that ever happening.
We were not even "killing" the other team- I think it was 6-1 at the time and our hockey coach took all his defense and made the offensive lines and vice versa- the only thing that did not change- the goalie stayed put. These were 8-9 yr olds. The coach told them after they learned more about themselves and their skills from this game by playing other positions then they would have by running up the score against this team. This was a league game. I thought the coach handled it pretty well and while the score remained pretty much the same- we did not score either. I thought this was a great lesson for all and no one was humiliated. if the real competition is in the Spring summer league- why not change things up- let someone play goalie that is not usually in the goal, let an attackman handle a long stick... no need for a 20-0 game, regardless if it is a business or not- if they had a large lead they would have kept it if the players are all talented and it may have evened out the playing field just a bit, or maybe not- but at least they tried.
