Who here actually plays hockey?

[Markt]

Re: Who here actually plays hockey?

Became a USAHockey official 15 years ago.

That's on my to-do list. My son wants to do it as well, but I'd probably give him another year or two before he's ready for it.

 

[St. Clown]

Re: Who here actually plays hockey?

Hmmm... I thought you lived to far away to have played with me.

In my defense, though, most of my goonery is directed toward guys I coach with and friends of mine.

If you don't hack your buddies on the ice, you're not playing with your buddies.

 

[state of hockey]

Re: Who here actually plays hockey?

Worse is the guy who is a good player, who you try to get around 9 times and he stops you. Then you finally beat him with a perfect move and he turns and hooks, grabs or trips you so you never get a shot. If a guy beats you clean, he deserves the chance to score. I especially hate to see it when one of the guys who almost never gets a scoring chance finally does, and ends up getting hacked.

Screw that.

I am a competitor.

I'll try and bold the smiley in my sarcastic posts from here out for the coward.

 

[Koho]

Re: Who here actually plays hockey?

Screw that.

I am a competitor.

I'll try and bold the smiley in my sarcastic posts from here out for the coward.

Who's "the coward"?

I get to play against a few hookers tonight. (Unfortunately, not that kind.)

 

[state of hockey]

Re: Who here actually plays hockey?

Who's "the coward"?

I get to play against a few hookers tonight. (Unfortunately, not that kind.)

Not you. Unless you are the one that dinged me for a sarcastic comment.

I never hack people. I have been known to hook someone when they beat me and it will immediately lead to a quality scoring chance though, it's just a reaction I find hard to control.

 

[Koho]

Re: Who here actually plays hockey?

Not you. Unless you are the one that dinged me for a sarcastic comment.

I never hack people. I have been known to hook someone when they beat me and it will immediately lead to a quality scoring chance though, it's just a reaction I find hard to control.

I haven't ever gotten into doing the rep thing.

I did hook a guy last night, after all my btching about it. Not really a hook, but I could see a WCHA ref calling me on it. There was a scrum for the puck along the boards, two of them versus me. The puck popped behind me, and as I turned around, one of them was leaning forward, about to grab the puck. I lifted his stick, and he was leaning so much, he went down forwards. I got the puck. Not the same as the hook on the guy who beats me.

Last might we also had the situation where one guy on my team pretty much sent 90% of the passes to the one guy on our team who was the best player on the ice. At times, it looked like they thought they were the only two in white on the ice. At one point late in the game, I missed a pass from the guy cause I had given up even expecting a pass, since the good player was on the ice att the time.

 

[goldy_331]

Re: Who here actually plays hockey?

I play in a couple pick-up groups. One created its own website, domain and all. Another went to blogspot and setup an account there. When people sign up, both groups assign the players to either dark or white to keep mixing up the teams. At the same time, they control the separation of the top players to keep the ice from gaining a slope to one end or the other. Slanted ice really sucks.

Check your rep; I'll give you a link to the blogspot group so you can get an idea as to what I'm talking about. The bonus of the route this group chose is that the blogspot method is essentially a free site, I think - never had an account myself.

Clown,

How many skaters does Enken generally schedule for their times? I'm thinking about trying it as some of the times work better for me than JMS times. I took another skating lesson on Tuesday morning and will have another next Tuesday. Hope to get on outdoor ice soon to work on what I've been trying to learn.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Who here actually plays hockey?

...I have been known to hook someone when they beat me and it will immediately lead to a quality scoring chance though, it's just a reaction I find hard to control.

Completely understandable, and I'll readily admit to doing the same. But it's appropriate to consider the rights and wrongs of the situation:

1. If you're playing in a rec league with refs, it's simply a play on the edge of the rules. If you go too far, you sit for two minutes. Even so, it might be a good penalty -- just as it is at the more serious levels of play. It's not a cheap shot.

2. In a friendly pick-up game, however, it's a bad play. This is especially true if the target is a weaker player who rarely gets scoring chances. You've taken a small liberty, knowing there's no price. There'll be bit of grumbling, then play resumes. Better to play clean D, or just let the guy take his shot.

3. If the two players involved are buddies, and are mutually horsing around, #2 doesn't apply.

IMHO.

 

[state of hockey]

Re: Who here actually plays hockey?

3. If the two players involved are buddies, and are mutually horsing around, #2 doesn't apply.

Yeah, I wasn't even talking about this kind of situation. There have been plenty of times where my friends and I are bruised and bleeding afterward, and maybe one goal was scored over the three hours we were horsing around.

Our bosses at the time thought we were in a fight club.

 

[pardonme]

Re: Who here actually plays hockey?

Yeah, I wasn't even talking about this kind of situation. There have been plenty of times where my friends and I are bruised and bleeding afterward, and maybe one goal was scored over the three hours we were horsing around.

Our bosses at the time thought we were in a fight club.

Its always fun when you start a "fight" and the people watching get upset and yell at you to stop.

 

[St. Clown]

Re: Who here actually plays hockey?

Clown,

How many skaters does Enken generally schedule for their times? I'm thinking about trying it as some of the times work better for me than JMS times. I took another skating lesson on Tuesday morning and will have another next Tuesday. Hope to get on outdoor ice soon to work on what I've been trying to learn.

Chris and Dan usually cap the number at 22 skaters. Given the time of our ice lately, we've not been seeing the rush to register like we have in the past.

 

[St. Clown]

Re: Who here actually plays hockey?

I haven't ever gotten into doing the rep thing.

Do you know how to read it? If not, then the link I left you won't do any good.

When reading a thread, towards the top of the page is a blue banner containing some words using white text. Choose "User CP" and you'll see all the various reputation notes people leave.

 

[Koho]

Re: Who here actually plays hockey?

Do you know how to read it? If not, then the link I left you won't do any good.

When reading a thread, towards the top of the page is a blue banner containing some words using white text. Choose "User CP" and you'll see all the various reputation notes people leave.

Yeah, I read it once in awhile for entertainment, just don't feel the need to rep others one way or another. I went to the link, and thought you had mentioned there was a place to comment on individual players (like if they were getting out of hand). I was disappointed that option wasn't there. I was going to ask which one was you and then put in a bunch of comments about how many times you hooked and tripped me.

 

[Koho]

Re: Who here actually plays hockey?

Completely understandable, and I'll readily admit to doing the same. But it's appropriate to consider the rights and wrongs of the situation:

1. If you're playing in a rec league with refs, it's simply a play on the edge of the rules. If you go too far, you sit for two minutes. Even so, it might be a good penalty -- just as it is at the more serious levels of play. It's not a cheap shot.

2. In a friendly pick-up game, however, it's a bad play. This is especially true if the target is a weaker player who rarely gets scoring chances. You've taken a small liberty, knowing there's no price. There'll be bit of grumbling, then play resumes. Better to play clean D, or just let the guy take his shot.

3. If the two players involved are buddies, and are mutually horsing around, #2 doesn't apply.

IMHO.

I've been around too many of #2. Their ego doesn't allow them to just accept they got beat so they resort to cheating.

I've also had #3 taken too far. An occasional hook or something for fun is one thing, but I've had it where a friend thinks that it is ok to do every single time, to the point that it isn't just an occasional joke, but status quo and no longer fun. (If one person is doing all the hooking/holding/checking and the other isn't reciprocating, the holder/hooker should figure out their friend would rather play hockey that day than fool around and back off.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Who here actually plays hockey?

I've also had #3 taken too far. An occasional hook or something for fun is one thing, but I've had it where a friend thinks that it is ok to do every single time, to the point that it isn't just an occasional joke, but status quo and no longer fun. (If one person is doing all the hooking/holding/checking and the other isn't reciprocating, the holder/hooker should figure out their friend would rather play hockey that day than fool around and back off.

This doesn't qualify as "mutually horsing around." About all that needs to be said is that it isn't mutual.

Those of us who ran our group would definitely be willing to intervene in that situation, regardless of whether the two players involved were friends off the ice. Fortunately this was rare for us...

It seems like you're pretty frustrated with your group. Maybe playing exclusively in the neighboring town for a time would be a good thing. Who knows, it might provide your local group with a wake-up call.

Obviously you love the game, as do I. But when it stops being fun, maybe it's time to try something different.

 

[RaceBoarder]

Re: Who here actually plays hockey?

Well, got my first instance of getting hacked today

Puck in my D-zone corner being battled for by 2 players... Puck squirts out towards blue line... I skate in from the slot and reach for the puck along the boards to clear... As I get my blade on the puck, opposing dude from the corner skates out and slashes at my stick, hitting it about 6 inches above the blade and jamming the toe of the blade into the boards... This resulted in denting/splintering the (wood) shaft... Had to borrow a stick to finish the session...

Because of this, I am forced to make a decision on a new stick about 3 weeks sooner than I wanted too Any suggestions on the wood vs composite argument? Right now, I would be looking at cheap/clearance composites in the $40-60 range... Still a significant improvement over a $25 wood stick?

 

[St. Clown]

Re: Who here actually plays hockey?

The composites are better sticks, on the whole, but they do have an adjustment period. Some people say they don't do as well when stickhandling, and others just don't like the "insubstantial" feel of them.

The one knock against composite sticks, IMO, is that they require users to become more knowledgeable about sticks as they try to become better players - the kick point, flex rating and all that.

If you're looking for a beginner composite stick, just find one that has a curve and feel you like in the store. All that other stuff will come with time.

 

[ericredaxe]

Re: Who here actually plays hockey?

If you want to be a little more subtle, you can have players of various ability levels switch. The bottom line is that you need to be a little more hands-on with the line-up. As long as you have loaner jerseys ready to go, the main reason for guys to resist is taken away.

The organizers of the most fun group that I skate with do just this. They have a couple of extra jerseys (white and dark) then look at the way the teams are divided up and say "you and you go to that team, and you and you go over there". After a few weeks like that everyone pretty much makes sure they bring a jersey of both colors or they risk having to wear the smelly loaner jerseys.

A couple of people grumble at first but then when the games are almost always evenly played everyone realizes that it is a lot more fun.

 

[burd]

Re: Who here actually plays hockey?

Played center through HS in the stone age. Leather skates and goalie pads; Wood rinks and sticks; no shields; big breezers with suspenders; cold air; natural ice sometimes. Loved it but was strictly average.

Gophers sucked then too.

 

[St. Clown]

Re: Who here actually plays hockey?

Played center through HS in the stone age. Leather skates and goalie pads; Wood rinks and sticks; no shields; big breezers with suspenders; cold air; natural ice sometimes. Loved it but was strictly average.

Gophers sucked then too.

You played Wisconsin HS hockey. You didn't play real HS hockey.