Besides actually playing, what else do you like about hockey?

[Doctor Hook 0]

Besides being the funnest sport to actually play, what really gets you fired up about having a game or pickup session on the upcoming calendar? My thoughts:

The friendships. You can't get a much more random assortment of personalities and backgrounds than the dozen or so dudes on my beer league team. Yet somehow, we all get along, we care about each other, and we have each other's backs on and off the ice no matter what. I have two families, the one I grew up with, and the one I play hockey with.

The stress relief. Just having something to look forward to in an otherwise dreary week, even if it's just for an hour or so, makes it worth it.

Drinking a beer in a stinky locker room/darkened parking lot, talking about the game you just won (or not talking about it if you lost), hearing the same jokes and stories you've heard 10 times before but never get tired of, and not wanting to be anywhere else.

There's a bunch of others, but those are my major ones.

[hockeyherb 1]

We moved from So Cal to Austin and didn't know a soul when we got here. Once I joined a beer league here I found lots of guys and families that we had common interests with. So I agree with your friendship comment - it's a great way to meet new guys when you're starting from scratch.

[ktang 34]

In addition to the other posts (me too for those, and I just moved too):

If you ever get into coaching, and if you're lucky enough to have a great bunch of players, then seeing them develop, work as a team, and rib each other (in a good way) is priceless. And it's a way that I pay back the coaches who taught the game to me.

Shooting that perfect slap shot, or making that perfect saucer pass, or breaking up the 2-on-1.

Hanging on for a win in a close game.

Reffing: making the tough but correct call, managing the game, calming down the coaches.

Trying new equipment, techniques, plays.

Using the lungs and voice.

Staying in shape.

Forgetting about work etc.

[Doctor Hook 0]

I definitely want to get into coaching someday. I feel like a coach sometimes on the ice, because I'm a yeller. Never a trash talker, but to my own team, I communicate things like "FEET! SHOOT! MAN ON! CLEAR! SWITCH! TEE IT UP! TOSS ME ANOTHER LABATTE'S!"

[RadioGaGa 162]

I definitely want to get into coaching someday. I feel like a coach sometimes on the ice, because I'm a yeller. Never a trash talker, but to my own team, I communicate things like "FEET! SHOOT! MAN ON! CLEAR! SWITCH! TEE IT UP! TOSS ME ANOTHER LABATTE'S!"

Two things...

first...Every instruction yelled on the ice MUST be repeated 3 times..."Feet, Feet, Feet" ... "Man on, Man on, Man on" ...etc.

And, the is no 'e' in Labatt!

[chikinpotpie 137]

I like being able to walk into a new city, go in the locker room, and instantly have a group of guys that act like they've known you for a long time.

Nothing beats having a few in the room after a game also.

[crazylegs_9 0]

thanks to the YMCA we cant have beer in our locker rooms anymore, due to it being a county building

[QandA 0]

It's something not found in anyo other sport. The dressing room. Being able to joke around and insult each other. Meeting new people, who are your best friends. I moved to a new city for hockey and my 17 new friends are my 17 best friends. Being able to tell jokes, here the stories, get pumped up by the cheesy music, and laugh at the terrible jokes your team mate has to tell. Always repeating the mom jokes, and being able to shower with other man naked and realize it's not as gay as you thought it was when you were 12. Listening to the coach get you going. Skating the lines, hating it, but knowing it's for the best. Going on road trips and doing the dumbest shit, ordering porn 'by accident,' messing around, breaking curfew and knowing you'll reap the consequences. Playing playstation in the hotel rooms. Telling your friends the stories of how you 'laid this guy out, schooled this guy, and were the hero.' Knowing that you can have a fight with a team mate the minute before the game, that he'll be the first one in to defend you when you get hit from behind. Getting lipped to death when you play, and returning the favour. Having crowds boo you, cheer you. Scoring the big goal, setting up the big goal, blocking the shot, picking up your man on the back check, and sitting a guy on his ass. Training in the summer, having a reason to not smoke or dring and to eat properly. Growing the playoff beard, getting the mohawk and dyeing your hair for playoffs. Getting out of school early, and getting home at 1 in the morning, tired as can be, and happy as can be. Not listening to your doctor and playing through injury, knowing your an idiot for doing it, but bragging about it. The hype before the season starts, and the feeling you get when your in a 2-2 game in the finals. Making the dumbest investment to buy a $250 stick and breaking up, thinking its gonna make you better. Man, I got 3 more weeks of playing this kind of hockey, I'm gonna miss it, but I love it.

[prenny207 1]

And, the is no 'e' in Labatt!

nor an S. always good going to bars in the US and hearing... can i have a labatts blue. blue, labatt, or labatt blue is acceptable.

[TBLfan 25]

Hockey is different from other team sports I played in. The friendships are different than in football and baseball, it's just a more... dare I say, caring type of friendship. What I mean by that is that it's not soo much a group of friends but more so a family.

[GSHL99 0]

I really love the entire hockey community, or the fact that "being a hockey person" automatically plugs you into a community. Guys that don't really know each other come out at drop in and have enough in common just on dedication to hockey to become friends quickly. I love helping beginners pick up the game, I love the fact that I never see skilled players complaining at or belittling beginners.

I love coaching, there's just nothing like the experience of going through the ups and downs of a season with a great group of guys. Or the feeling of pulling out that come from behind win in the last 3 minutes of the third period.

I love the fact that whether it's score keeping, refing, or whatever there's a place for everyone to be involved in the game. I love the fact that there are never volunteer shortages. In high school football I remember it was like pulling teeth for the coach to get volunteers to work the chains and such. The HS hockey league I coach in, we've got parents that call us and want to be plenty box attendants.

Lastly, I just love the general devotion to the game of hockey among those of us that proudly wear the "hockey people" title.

[Doctor Hook 0]

I've played beer league softball, flag football, lacrosse, and hockey.

Beer league hockey guys are the best dudes on earth.

The shittiest: softball dudes.

[B Neal 0]

One thing I've noticed lately is the difference between NHL atheletes and athletes in any other pro sport. Shows like HNIC and things like After Hours would never even be possible in other sports. I love hearing announcers having intellectual conversations with the players. All the players are so gracious and respectful of the game. It's just nice not to deal with hot heads who can't even speak English. That's not really a reason, I, myself, love to play, it just seems to me that a hockey player is a different breed.

[Doctor Hook 0]

We're a humble lot (for the most part). I for one am very grateful to my parents for buying me equipment, paying league dues, driving my ass all over to games and practices, getting up at the crack of dawn to get me to tourneys, cheering me on like I'm the second-coming of Glen Wesley, and giving me the opportunities to be a hockey player.

For all this, I am forever grateful to be able to look at ice as something other than what I put into my Crown and Cokes.

My mom always asks me the scores of my beer league games the next day. I make sure to tell her when I scored a goal, just like back in the day. I'm almost 30 but it doesn't matter, she cares.

[Cliff_12 0]

I think like many of you have said being part of the team and being tight with the guys. When we have a weekend off, or on a random week night or during the summer, we go out on the town as a team. I will bump into other friends I have known for years, from school and work, some of them play Football (soccer to you) or rugby, and they will be out with their mates, but I never see them in such big groups with their team mates like me and my buddies. I think it helps that most of us have played together for years, through the junior ranks and now on to adult hockey, but some guys have joined along the way and been accepted into our ‘team’ with open arms and are just as much a part of the team as the rest of us. We have some mates who made it Pro, and we all love going to watch their games when we can and when those guys come back home for the summer they are still just as much a part of the team as they ever were!

I also love the trips and the stories, how the same story can get told so many times but no one ever tells the other guy to shut up, every time a story gets told the guy you beat up gets an inch taller and a few lbs heavier, or the goal you scored sounds just that little bit better than it actually was. Oh and the fact that on our trips we bet on everything, from who needs to go for the first piss on the bus, to who’s bag is gonna come out at the airport first!

I don’t think any other sport is like hockey, we are all lucky people.

[jjalb29 0]

Friendships above all.

Sophomore year in college I started playing with this group of guys in Beer league...I was/am the youngest by a good 10 years. 3 division drops and 4 losing seasons, I still look forward to playing. Its all about having fun and hanging out, we all have to go to work in the morning, I'd rather be a little hung over than injured.

Also playing with some of the guys that my dad use to play with is a great experience

And, the is no 'e' in Labatt!

nor an S. always good going to bars in the US and hearing... can i have a labatts blue. blue, labatt, or labatt blue is acceptable.

You have to been careful still in the US, Numerous times I ask for a blue and get handed a PBR, not thats a let down...haha

[Jordan 13]

To me there are a couple of things that stand out:

When you get that chemistry, you know, when it just clicks with a new line mate ! You both wind up playing way above your heads, and it is that feeling of being a kid again.

The second thing that I just love, is when you have had a really hard skate and you are sweating like mad and you are hot and cool at the same time. The steam coming off your body, nothing like it.

[Doctor Hook 0]

Skating against guys who could've been Stan Mikita's babysitter and having them make me look like an ankle bending mite. Someday, I will become them.

[hockeyherb 1]

My mom always asks me the scores of my beer league games the next day. I make sure to tell her when I scored a goal, just like back in the day. I'm almost 30 but it doesn't matter, she cares.

Ha ha!! I'll be 40 this year and my Dad still likes to follow my stats on the web for our league!

I still play hockey and video games, I'm certainly not a 40 year old like I remember them when I was young. :P

[Zamboni 6]

I see a real passion for the game in these posts-nobody has mentioned coaching kids tho. Don't be scared away by the horror stories, especially about problem parents.....their actually almost non existent. I'd encourage anyone who really enjoys hockey to volunteer as an assistant coach next season, theres a real need in most areas especially for skilled, knowledgable coaching in the lower age groups in house league. Get yourself some extra ice time, no travel involved-kids involved in hockey are great. You will be amazed how enjoyable and rewarding an experience coaching kids is, within months the 8 year olds weekly house game will be looked forward to more than your favourite NHL teams. Helping the kids develop is a very rewarding experience, even if you can just volunteer the 1-2 hours a week practise time and not be bench staff in games do it....that helps a lot.

[Langenbrunner15 0]

Two words: The friendships. My best firends are the ones from hockey. They were my extended family and have total trust in them, and trust is hard to come by when not it hockey. My teammates parents are like my own. Granted every few years your best friend will leave the organization, get cut, whatever it may be, but that year, it's almost a given to get a new one.

[TBLfan 25]

I see a real passion for the game in these posts-nobody has mentioned coaching kids tho. Don't be scared away by the horror stories, especially about problem parents.....their actually almost non existent. I'd encourage anyone who really enjoys hockey to volunteer as an assistant coach next season, theres a real need in most areas especially for skilled, knowledgable coaching in the lower age groups in house league. Get yourself some extra ice time, no travel involved-kids involved in hockey are great. You will be amazed how enjoyable and rewarding an experience coaching kids is, within months the 8 year olds weekly house game will be looked forward to more than your favourite NHL teams. Helping the kids develop is a very rewarding experience, even if you can just volunteer the 1-2 hours a week practise time and not be bench staff in games do it....that helps a lot.

I coach adult beginners and I feel the same rewarding feeling. I love it and love to see these guys and girls become more passionate about the sport I love soo much.

[Sven 1]

This is by far one of the best threads ive ever read. What a pity, season ends mid April here and the rinks will be closed until September :(

Uh yah, for me, its besides your reasons because of these rituals and the spirit.

[All Torhs Team 0]

Cliff 12 had a perfect answer. The off time in between games has probally been some of the best/funnest/most memorable times of my life. Playing a Tournament in St. Louis for the weekend living on $20. Always fun to look back and tell other people about the storys. And looking forward to making more memories next season. And when your telling your stories to other people, but you and your buddies are the only ones laughing.

Also when you find that perfect team to play against. I always look forward to playing them because I know it will be a intense and a serious game. When they are at the same caliber as your team. And you have been playing against each other for years. Your really good friends outside the rink but when you step on, we all aim for the same thing.

[theone96 0]

Really good thread. If you enjoyed this thread may I recommend a book (yes a real book). Midnight Hockey by Bill Gaston it is all about beer league hockey as the subtitle reads "the boys, the beer and the real Canadian game"

I think many of you will enjoy it.