Florida state wars

[BigDipper 0]

Hey fellas. I'm 25 from canada and I live south florida year round now. Anyone on here involved with or play for the Florida state wars team for my age?

[WAMPS19 0]

I ran a team for SW2 but didn't for 3 because my wife and I went to Paris in September, she wouldn't have been too happy if I played hockey a month before.

I am not sure if anyone is running it this year but I do know that Jason Munger has run a team the last two season, go to www.echohockey.com to contact him.

I must warn you that his team hasn't won a game in the two years they played, just FYI.

Where is SFL do you live? Tampa?

[BigDipper 0]

No I live in fort lauderdale, I was skating in a couple leagues down here but I stopped because these guys thought there was inked to be signed and were playing some dirty shit that I am way too old for. I met a guy named Jason..maybe its him? how old is he? I was hoping to find some more higher calibre hockey than what I had to skate in.

[rwshockey55 0]

Munger is around 30, currently lives in Tallahassee. Really good guy.. From what I hear the past couple of years had really good teams until the week prior to state wars and people dropped and had to pick up a few scrubs which brought the team down.. If you are intersted in contacting him send me a PM I will give you his personal numbers.

[BigDipper 0]

I just sent him an e-mail but thanks anyway. I'll take you up on the offer if he doesn't reply. Care to explain to me front and back what this State Wars is all about?

[sdcopp 1]

it's basically a bigger tourny that divides teams by home state instead of pooling players from across the country like teams in NARCH, TORHS, etc do. The big point is home state pride

[Lufria 1]

+1 on Jason Munger. GREAT guy, a good person to get involved with. Even if you can't play for him, he'll show you somewhere or someone to contact.

[WAMPS19 0]

Munger is around 30, currently lives in Tallahassee. Really good guy.. From what I hear the past couple of years had really good teams until the week prior to state wars and people dropped and had to pick up a few scrubs which brought the team down.. If you are intersted in contacting him send me a PM I will give you his personal numbers.

Nothing against Jason, he is a nice guy and has always pulled through with a team but I watched his team the year I went the State Wars and they had no business being there.

If you live in Ft. Lauderdale there is a Sunday night league in Lake Worth that is pretty good. I currently live up in Melbourne and it is the closest best rink to where I live (1.5 hour drive). They are in the middle of a session now but if you are interested let me know for next session, I could get you the guys name who runs it and I might even be putting in a team if my hand is better by then.

Let me know.

[Dante2004 0]

The "thing" with State Wars Senior division...and I purposefully use the word "thing" because it is more approriate than saying "issue" or "problem" because I don't believe either is the case...so I will just say "thing"...

State Wars does not hold, or really promote the try-outs for the Senior division. They appoint a "franchise owner" who is essentially the team manager/coach and possibly player. This person then is on their own to find players, put together the practices (if any) and arrange for the team to get to the tournament site. State Wars does a great job of connecting interested players with the franchise owners...but without the scheduled try-outs that the kids have, it can be difficult to market a team. You are left with selecting players from the pool of players that you know and the players that you can attract through word of mouth, message boards, etc. Then widdle that list down to the few players that are able to take almost a week off of work AND can afford to travel to the tournament destination. Kids don't have the work/time off issue so it is easier for them.

What you are left with is a team of players that want to go to Chicago (or where ever) and have a good time. Maybe this team is competitive, maybe they aren't...but they have fun regardless.

Some states will bring teams that are virtually carbon copies of a competitive men's league team from their local rink that have played together for years and they are great. Other states do whatever they can to pull together a team and some players may meet for the first time in the locker room before the first game.

Also, you have to keep in mind that the AA/AAA division is not made until after the round robin games. So you have elite teams playing against "guys who just want to have fun". This can result in some lope sided scores

Add to this the fact that some states are so large, geographically it isn't feasible to get together and practice often, unless your team consists of players out of the same general area (back to the local men's league team vs pieced together team from all over the state).

I think it might be unfair to say a team "has no business being there" unless they lose all their games in double digit margins. But I guess that is just a difference of opinion. Of course at the "Senior" level, the purpose for playing has dramatically changed from when you were 15.

All that is said to bring up my final point. States have not historically brought their BEST TALENT of you would have seen better results from MI, MO and FL in the past. But...it might be because the "best" players aren't interested in playing. Can you really fault the franchise owner for that?

[BigDipper 0]

Dante thanks for the insight. Where in Florida do you live? And yeah from looking into I figured that as much. Even some adult leagues here are for the most generally mixed like that. That's why I wanted to find a better venue to play in. I didn't realize the tourney was over a week as well. That could pricey really quick with my drinking habits. You kind of have to feel bad for the guy running it. That's defintely a big wall to climb. Thanks for the advice however, greatly appreciated.