jmiami

this is an interesting discussion re tapping. I never encountered it when I played in high school decades ago. But upon getting back into the game again a couple years ago, mostly via open hockey sessions, I come across it all the time. The place I see it most is at a game where there are a lot of Junior players, as well as Russian players who played high-level on the other side and live here now. It's a pretty intense pick-up game actually, and lots of fun. A lot of them tap-tap. I would say most actually. It never bothered me though. It just struck me as being competitive, an effort to distract. And sure enough, I started doing it too from time to time. But nobody on the other team has ever flipped the puck to me as a result. And to be honest, I don't think it is very effective in distracting opposing players under most circumstances. But man, I had no idea it was considered "bad manners" in pick-up. Or worse yet, a "douchebag" move! Ouch! So from now on, it's one thing to do it in my Juniors/Russians pickup game if the urge strikes me. But I'll make a point not to do it in the other pick-up games, which are more laid back. I pride myself on being a good sportsman, and honestly had no idea that this was considered unsportsmanlike in pick-up. Thanks for pointing it out!

Regarding drop-in. In my book, fancy-danglers who ignore open teammates should not be congratulated on scoring goals. I've come across a number of these yo-yos, none of whom have made a living playing the game, or even played D1/D3 college. The fancy-danglers I deal with are mostly failed Junior players who never got to the next step cause they couldn't make grade in school, or have personality issues. On the other hand I have played drop-in with/against guys who have played Pro/Olympic,D1/D3 college. The first thing you notice is that they love to pass the puck and are very unselfish. In fact, most of them thrive on setting other guys up. And none of these guys do excessive dangling, cause they are coming from a contact-game, and dangling doesn't really go over so well in a contact game. Moral of the story regarding this thread is PASS THE PUCK! The puck can move up-ice a lot faster than a player can.