sportsmanship

[cause4alarm 6]

How do you feel about this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_up_the_score

(good external links for examples at the bottom of the page too)

In light of this topic, how do you judge what's considered poor sportsmanship and what is acceptable?

[All Torhs Team 0]

It is Always acceptable because in tournament play, the more points you score can sometimes determine a tiebreaker. Always "mercy" a team.

[Chadd 916]

My opinion varies depending on the rules. If there is a mercy rule, score enough for it to be used. If not, get your lead and then back off a little. I have reffed a number of JR high games that weren't the slightest bit competitive but teams would play keep-away for most of the third period to prevent the mercy rule from kicking in. One kid had two break aways and dumped the puck into the corner from the hash marks because his coach told him not to shoot. To me, that's showing up a team even more than beating them.

[blues_91 0]

I was at a tournament with my school, and high school around here is pretty bad, (half the teams at the tournament were all house league, some had beginners), and we ran up the score enough for the mercy rule to happen. Our coach didn't want us to run up the score higher because it would look bad, so he said 5 passes before you can shoot. Only thing is, it made the other team look even worse because on breakaways we couldn't shoot, and in their end it basically made us look like we had a powerplay and we sometimes had to pass it to the outside from in the slot. It made us look like we were just toying with them, which imo looks worse than running up the score.

[akhockeyplaya 0]

I agree with Chadd, it's more embarrassing IMO to toy with a team than it is to just run up the score. Obviously once you're past a certain point the team can stop working overtime to score, but you can't just toy with people. I remember when I played rec soccer, they had a mercy rule that would actually PUNISH you for scoring more than you were allowed. I'm pretty sure it was if you got up by 5, every goal you scored after that would be a (-) point for you. Something along those lines...

[chk hrd 164]

if the other team is honestly trying hard but just plain sucks use the mercy rule. Switch up lines so the d-men play forward, give the worst players more ice PP/PK time and let them have some fun. Take the one kid who has never scored and feed him passes until he does. Also use the game to practice on weak spots of your game.

If the other team is a bunch of jerk offs, coach screaming, players talking crap, cheap shots, fights then put it down thier throats.

[trucks 0]

id like to see the winning teams in those games whenever they do get breakaways and good chances to just shoot right at the goalie and let him make some saves and give the kid some confidence back cause being a goalie myself I know how much it hurts to lose 7 or 8 to nothing and if at the end of the game you start making some stops, even if they are easy ones they make you feel better and not useless. I highly doubt any team would ever do that though, most kids these days from what I can tell are too caught up in the high scorer races.

[KYHockey3 0]

in our end of the year tourney we beat the team that was in 1st place in the league 11-1.

not to just ruin up the score, but to:

1- earn more points for a possible tie-breaker

2- revnge becuase they beat us 3 times this season

3-rub it in because they try to start shit all the time

[All Torhs Team 0]

rub it in because they try to start shit all the time

My team very rarly gets mercied - but when we loose by alot we just try to come back and not let them get a shut out or somethin. But when the other team starts bragging and skates by your bench saying we suck or somethin -- That is how fights start. Cant remember how many times theres been a brawl cause of a guy being a douche.

If your going to mercy a team. At least have class!

[sonsplayhockey 0]

In beer leagues you get lots of beginners as well as sand baggers. Teams within the same division (especially the lower ones) can have lots of games that hit 10 point lead (our mercy rule point). I am against this. If people want to run up the score, let them, That will seperate the A$$holes and you will know who they are. Most teams when they get up to 8 goals and they are in the last 10 minutes will tone things down by working on more passing, or mixing up positions and such.

I've been on both ends of this. I'd rather loose 20-1 and have someone get a goal than 10-0 and not score at all.

We have a running clock at 7 point lead. That sucks also. Hey everyone pays for the ice time, we wanna play. We had a game where we were up 3 zip in the first 2 minutes against a beginner team. We decided that anone who scored a goal so far that season could not shoot. It was funny as the one guy on a line who had not scored, kept passing it to other people instead of shooting. It was like a 4 minute power play with no shooting.

Even when a team has run up the score on us and mercy us, I've never had them tell us we suck though (ok,maybe they came up and told us we needed a better goalie once or twice).

[Chadd 916]

In beer leagues you get lots of beginners as well as sand baggers. Teams within the same division (especially the lower ones) can have lots of games that hit 10 point lead (our mercy rule point). I am against this. If people want to run up the score, let them, That will seperate the A$$holes and you will know who they are. Most teams when they get up to 8 goals and they are in the last 10 minutes will tone things down by working on more passing, or mixing up positions and such.

I've been on both ends of this. I'd rather loose 20-1 and have someone get a goal than 10-0 and not score at all.

We have a running clock at 7 point lead. That sucks also. Hey everyone pays for the ice time, we wanna play. We had a game where we were up 3 zip in the first 2 minutes against a beginner team. We decided that anone who scored a goal so far that season could not shoot. It was funny as the one guy on a line who had not scored, kept passing it to other people instead of shooting. It was like a 4 minute power play with no shooting.

Even when a team has run up the score on us and mercy us, I've never had them tell us we suck though (ok,maybe they came up and told us we needed a better goalie once or twice).

The league should be forcing those teams to move up a division. Every team should go into their games knowing they have a chance to win.

[chk hrd 164]

we had something close to that happen in our beer league, we were up by 4 goals real fast so we just started to play around and call where the next goal had to be (top left corner, 5 hole). What was really funny is that the goalie was having a bad day, one of our guys lobbed the puck across the low slot (from circle to circle) , the goalie tried to hit it with his stick and knocked it in his own goal.

In USA Hockey santioned tourneys there is no mercy rule. They just stop posting the score after a 7 goal difference. They won't even run the clock.

[LoXish 0]

My brother had a team in his High School league last year that lost every game to mercy, that must have been demoralizing, but they showed full strength to every game and gave it their best.

And by mercy I don't mean like 15-5, I mean, 10-0, 11-1, maybe 12-2 ONE time...

None of their games got into the last 10 minutes of the game.

[hockeyhair91 0]

I would never say stop trying, or back down. I always tell the teams i coach, if we're up you keep going up, but you dont get fancy, you stick to the basics and never show off but you never make it look like you're not trying or you "feel bad" for the other team, whether you really do or not. Thank god in many peewee hockey leagues there are mercy rules to prevent teams from gettin seriously embarrassed because nobody likes a completely one-sided win. In pro leagues, i dont see why a team wouldnt keep battling as hard as they can, since you should always be playing as if every goal means somehting. Granted, a coach has to make a judgment call on whether he should save his best players' 'legs' and possibly prevent them from injury (and we all know teams dont like gettin blown out andwill start to take runs at the top guys, which is why pro teams have enforcers among other reasons)

on the other hand, i always tell my guys, no matter how bad we're losing you keep trying until the very end. if you give up you look like a bunch of sore losers, andsame goes if you take a run at a guy. ive suspended kids for showing lack of sportsmanship and ya it sucks when you get beat up on, but you have to understand its a part of the game. But you play to the end and you don't let the team walk away with it, even if they can do it themselves.

Obviously there's no clear cut answer to this argument though, because its a combination of personal, moral, sports etiquette and coaching philosophies, so you can basically never win with everyone

[sonsplayhockey 0]

In beer leagues you get lots of beginners as well as sand baggers. Teams within the same division (especially the lower ones) can have lots of games that hit 10 point lead (our mercy rule point).  I am against this.  If people want to run up the score, let them, That will seperate the A$$holes and you will know who they are.  Most teams when they get up to 8 goals and they are in the last 10 minutes will tone things down by working on more passing, or mixing up positions and such.

I've been on both ends of this.  I'd rather loose 20-1 and have someone get a goal than 10-0 and not score at all.

We have a running clock at 7 point lead. That sucks also. Hey everyone pays for the ice time, we wanna play. We had a game where we were up 3 zip in the first 2 minutes against a beginner team.  We decided that anone who scored a goal so far that season could not shoot.  It was funny as the one guy on a line who had not scored, kept passing it to other people instead of shooting. It was like a 4 minute power play with no shooting. 

Even when a team has run up the score on us and mercy us, I've never had them tell us we suck though (ok,maybe they came up and told us we needed a better goalie once or twice).

The league should be forcing those teams to move up a division. Every team should go into their games knowing they have a chance to win.

Yes they should but they just really care about selling the ice time. For the past 2 years people have begun playing in multiple divisions. I do it myself but I play up, not down. They need to clamp down but just want to sell the ice time.

I played a small season this year with HNA, a regional organization. They monitor this more closely. They even told us our best player had to go if we rejoined next winter(which they rightfully said) because he was so much better than the rest of us.

[crutesie 0]

My team Won 48-0 last season. (2x20stop)

the reason why we didnt stop scoring is becuase the league was being decided on goal diffrence..

anyone know of any other higher scores than this?

[kosydar 0]

Washington and Oregon

The largest margin of victory turnaround in Division I-A football in successive years belongs to the University of Washington and the University of Oregon, and showcased two prime examples of running up the score. In 1973, Oregon ran up the score at home, burying Washington 58-0. A year later, Washington responded with a 66-0 drubbing of Oregon back home in Seattle. In that game, Washington's starting quarterback Chris Rowland played longer than necessary and suffered a season-ending knee injury. Rowland recalled that Washington head coach Jim Owens "wanted me in and said, 'We're going to beat these guys more than they beat us.' He (Owens) apologized to me because it was a personal thing for him."

Go Ducks