Inline/Ice

[DaveTheWave 0]

Yeah roller hockey vs. ice I think is analogous to snowboarding vs. skiing. You have less players so its more improvisational in play, and we're mostly down to earth and out there to have a good time rather than to compete. We just need a phenomenon like Shaun White for our sport... (no Tony Hawk-like franchises though!)

[Jim A 4]

nothing wrong with Pat Lee, had some good ice offers before the west coast seduced him...

for the most part if we have a phenom he is often shared..

a kid like Brian Williams - who broke the record held by Iginla at the Calgary Ice Tournament a couple years back is like 10 years old..or how about Brad Boyes (Boston Bruins) who was #3 in Rookie Scoring and won a NARCh Championship with the Mississagua Rattlers in '99.....Alex Hemsky, Gilbert Brule, Bobby Ryan, TJ Oshie and the scores of others who are involved with both..

[steve66 45]

Nothing wrong with Mr Lee, he's posing, sure he's stoked to get the new mission stuff.. bit of faux attitude for the snappers never hurts B)

Which team did Brule play for at NARCh?

[Justin 1933 134]

Nothing wrong with Mr Lee, he's posing, sure he's stoked to get the new mission stuff.. bit of faux attitude for the snappers never hurts B)

exactly...he is a great player and loyal...that is why I call him a teammate...

[#96 0]

I like the video Justin, hopefully we can see some argyle uniforms in the near future....you guys always do a great job with the booth and drawing attention

(side note: Brule played the regional in Vancouver a number of times..there's a long list in the latest NP Mag that outlines a lot of these players..but I don't have that one yet..also in the vids section..there's a guy from Wild playing Sr. Gold!!)

IMHO, a decent ice player with some training becomes a very good roller hockey player when out on the court. However, a good roller hockey player does not necessarily become a good ice hockey player when out on the ice.

Like Justin and others said, ice and roller is becoming a comparison of apples and oranges, rather than apples and apples. Just two different games. I haven't seen the elite roller guys play, so I don't know what that kind of game is like. But I have seen good guys around where I play, and roller will always be a less fine game and more individual based when compared to ice IMHO.

Justin, everything looks great. Mission once again leads the way in Roller design, always evolving. I like the idea of 76-80 setup too. I've felt much sturdier on the larger 80 wheels than I ever did with the small 72s up front. Quick question though, and I'm not sure if this has been asked yet, but does 76-76-80-80 connotate HiLo and is it protected by Mission's Patent? I thought patents were very specific and that HiLo was 72-72-80-80.

[Jim A 4]

actually the NHL is going more towards roller than roller going more towards traditional ice nowadays imo...

the open ice and flow of the game 4 on 4 for the OT, etc..the highlights you see Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Gagne etc pull on TSN you see at any big NARCh comp...

both games are great..i'm just happy for blue lines!!

[Reijo29 0]

To #96

Friend, I think you are absolutely mixed up in your view of an ice player and roller player trying the other game. This may have been documented about 9,999 times so I won't beat a dead horse, but roller players convert to ice much easier than ice players to roller. Of course this differs and has exceptions out the whazoo, but for the most part, far more roller kids become STARS in ice. I see it everyday, all over the place. I am talking about roller only kids who go out and make AAA Ice teams and then light it up. You take your top inline players, give them a couple of months to adjust to stopping and gliding, and their game is like an unmolded piece of clay. They see the game so much better and understand passing. They look like they have played/learned the game in Europe and absolutely do a fantastic job.

Not to be cocky or start a big debate on this, but I'd argue to the death and bet you Jim Andersons money, that your best roller player will make a far better ice player than your best ice player coming to Inline. Any day of the week.

[trucks 0]

Well if its any example the Coldshots in Midget Platinum were all top level ice players who put together a roller team because they thought they could kill the American and Canadian teams who may not be as good at ice. The true roller kids showed them and spanked them at NARCh. Its proof that being good at ice doesnt make you good at roller. It does help tremendously in both games though if you play both because you see the game differently and work on different skills that can be used in both games. Its the same as any sport though the more you practice at that one sport the better you will be.

[Patrick67 1]

Two of my friends are National team players, and play in the Swedish Elite League, if we play roller I'm better than them. (besides shooting power, which is wack on their part) On Ice the difference is alot more between us, in their favour.

The best roller players are better at inlinehockey than Ice players, but the difference is bigger the other way around because of more off-Ice strength training. Icehockey players are generaly stronger, while roller players are faster, but speed doesn't always win.

[KYHockey3 0]

To #96

Friend, I think you are absolutely mixed up in your view of an ice player and roller player trying the other game. This may have been documented about 9,999 times so I won't beat a dead horse, but roller players convert to ice much easier than ice players to roller. Of course this differs and has exceptions out the whazoo, but for the most part, far more roller kids become STARS in ice. I see it everyday, all over the place. I am talking about roller only kids who go out and make AAA Ice teams and then light it up. You take your top inline players, give them a couple of months to adjust to stopping and gliding, and their game is like an unmolded piece of clay. They see the game so much better and understand passing. They look like they have played/learned the game in Europe and absolutely do a fantastic job.

Not to be cocky or start a big debate on this, but I'd argue to the death and bet you Jim Andersons money, that your best roller player will make a far better ice player than your best ice player coming to Inline. Any day of the week.

i agree.

tons of kids around us have switched to ice and have been great.

[Neo5370 132]

This logic is flawed unless you have the exact same amount of kids switching from ice to inline as you do vice versa.

Also, once you get so far in inline there are not as many attractive college/minor pro/pro options so of course the better inliners switch to ice to further their careers.

This isn't as much the case with ice players. The better ice players stick with ice. Not to say there aren't excellent ice to inline players, I'm just saying this analogy is bunk because the sitation isn't the same.

[#96 0]

To #96

Friend, I think you are absolutely mixed up in your view of an ice player and roller player trying the other game. This may have been documented about 9,999 times so I won't beat a dead horse, but roller players convert to ice much easier than ice players to roller. Of course this differs and has exceptions out the whazoo, but for the most part, far more roller kids become STARS in ice. I see it everyday, all over the place. I am talking about roller only kids who go out and make AAA Ice teams and then light it up. You take your top inline players, give them a couple of months to adjust to stopping and gliding, and their game is like an unmolded piece of clay. They see the game so much better and understand passing. They look like they have played/learned the game in Europe and absolutely do a fantastic job.

Not to be cocky or start a big debate on this, but I'd argue to the death and bet you Jim Andersons money, that your best roller player will make a far better ice player than your best ice player coming to Inline. Any day of the week.

Reijo,

I have no problem with dissenting opinions whatsoever. Jim A seems to have a pretty good grasp on the roller scene in general so I can imagine his opinions are based on his wide ranging experiences.

But I think my point was more that the there is becoming a widening gap in the differences between ice and roller, hence the apples to apples and apples to oranges comment I made. It's becoming clear, to me at least, that ice and roller are fast becoming two different games with their own identities. It's becoming more and more necessary to identify oneself as a Roller Hockey person or an Ice Hockey person, rather than saying "Yeah, I play hockey". The lines of "hockey" are not so blurred anymore. I guess an analogy would be like Softball and Baseball. Both basically the same game, but much, much different when it comes down to specifics. As a roller guy, I'm glad to see the game develop the way it has with all the attention, people joining the sport, opportunities to go to events like NARCH. These are all positives for the sport.

I am certain there are people that can play both games at a high level. It's my opinion, however, that the Ice trained guys stick out as being the better guys on roller teams. The way they handle the puck, situations on the puck and off, keep their head up, protect it/sheild it, mechanics in shooting/skating, are just much more developed than most of the roller only guys. Most Ice guys have had official training. But most roller guys have had to develop their own skills. So to me, they appear to me to be less developed when compared to ice people.

However, I understand this is changing. As I mentioned, opportunities to learn the roller game are booming. Camps, leagues, travel, etc., are all opportunities for young kids now that were not available before. I think as time goes on, roller guys will become just as skilled in all facets of the "team game of hockey" when compared to their ice counterparts. Roller guys will be just as fast, just as agile, just as hard to knock off the puck, just as smart, etc., etc., and you get my point.

PS - Justin I'm sorry for hijacking your thread.

[Sprungster 5]

Hey guys, the apples and oringes are gonna collide big time real soon. The Czech National Team got the silver medal at the AAU world in Detroit. They're all ice players and most are Rusian Elite League players. The Czech coach says, "Wait till you see the team I bring next year." They gave my partner, Joe Noris a game jersey.

And here comes the horn toot. The Sprung chassis that the high scorer was on removes the performance advantage that ice has over roller. The whole Czech team is going on to the new chassis when it comes out. So's the Swiss team. For what it's worth, I got a request for frames from a player on Team Great Britian.

Most of the Tier 2 pro Jr Team USA that won the overall $10,000 prize went home with frames, and there was only one player on the team with them.

Lets face it. A killer athlete can play both with no problems whatsoever. I've seen some very recent NHL guys put on inlines for the first time and say, "So what's the performance difference everybody talks about. It feels the same as ice." He was on our chassis.

There were some Czech players that wanted to start playing in the defunct SoCal Elite League, which had full checking and touted the fights, which were many and bloody. Anyway, they'd heard about our frames and came out before their first game and skated around in their street clothes. "Just like ice." was what they said and they joined and played.

Whether an indivedual ice player can catch on to the game difference is up to ability and practice and coaching. I've heard that there's more than 5000 ice rinks in Canada alone, and a ton of them are going roller for three months a year. Same in Europe.

We are about to see some serious shifting in roller hockey. It's gonna be a two way street.

[Larry54 243]

I've seen some very recent NHL guys put on inlines for the first time and say, "So what's the performance difference everybody talks about. It feels the same as ice." He was on our chassis.

That's exactly how I felt about the TUUK Rocker chassis, so if the Sprung turns out to to be even better, which it should be with its shorter wheelbase, I can't wait to try it!

[pantherfan 0]

I got a request for frames from a player on Team Great Britian.

Who was it?

[Sprungster 5]

The fellow's name is Ashley Hughes. He wants to know about getting them in GB and possibly reping them.

I told him we were comping any national team that wants them with the new model. I'm sending him a pair of the old ones to try out.

[iceburg19 1]

yeah i have to agree a good athlete could play both games,a kid who has been playing ice hockey for a good part of10 years and then comes to 4 on 4 inline hockey could be a little lost,sure he can pass and shoot but does he understand the 4on4 strategy,ive seen very good ice players confused with the speed and transition of no off sides 4on4,and the edges of blades to wheels(mostly stopping)was a problem,ill tell ya 4on4 helped my ice a great deal.i have the same problem ajusting from wheels to ice and back to wheels,it takes afew strides and alittle bit of focus.

[pantherfan 0]

The fellow's name is Ashley Hughes. He wants to know about getting them in GB and possibly reping them.

I told him we were comping any national team that wants them with the new model. I'm sending him a pair of the old ones to try out.

Ahhhh Screw him, if you ever need a UK tester shoot me a PM ;)