My opinion of roller hockey...

[dippnall93 0]

i dont know about other countries but in england all the ice players who hate roller seem to be the goons,they simply hate roller since they cant get the puck off other players without trying to kill them.

i have played both roller and ice and do prefer roller

maybe this is because ive played roller at higher levels and only ice at jnr levels

but it seems to me the roller players who play ice adapt quicker than the ice guys tryign to play roller

[flyweightphantom 1]

You can also add chris higgins to that list as i played against him in LI this summer in a roller tourney.

[LkptTiger 1]

I hinted at it before, Law Goalie went a little further, and now I'm going to go come out and say it: this compilation list of NHLers who have played/play roller is pretty much irrelevant.

We, as hockey players, do a lot of "extra-curricular" stuff in our spare time away from the rink; particularly during the summer. Call them "hobbies," call them "activities," call them whatever: the fact is, hockey players (or athletes, in general) do just about everything. Take me, for example: once the season is over, I spend a little less time on the ice (maybe 6-7 hours/week - 3-4 days instead of 6-7) and more time doing other things. Aside from baseball, I've also played tennis, golf and basketball competitively nearly every summer since I was about 10 (well, basketball only lasted two summers), and have participated in quite a few semi-serious shorter "chase" runs. I also do just about everything else "for fun" - volleyball, swimming, indoor soccer, football...among others.

I know quite a few NHLers who are just as active and diverse as I am...and a few who are even more so. Then there are guys who spend their whole summer just doing one or two things - a couple I know practically live on the golf course. And, of course, there are the guys who really don't do much of anything besides make the rounds at the local clubs on a semi-regular basis.

No matter what we're talking about, most of these guys are somewhere between "pretty good" and "unbelievable" when it comes to their "vacation game(s) of choice." Ultimately, most everything comes down to athleticism and a need to improve yourself...and elite athletes usually have both of those bases covered.

How long until we get ball hockey guys in here citing Alex Burrows?

[monoclub 5]

Both sports require a greater degree of skill than pretty much any sport out there and should be appreciated for that alone.

I run an inline hockey club that also plays ice hockey. 95% of our inline players prefer ice hockey because of the increased mobility and what I could only define as the "finesse" of ice, superior: skating, starts, stops, stickhandling, passing, shooting.

It is rare to find an ice player that prefers inline.

None of this should take anything away from inline hockey. It's a different game with most of the same skills. It's just another form of hockey not better or worse. It has been interesting watching the sport gain greater acceptance and recognition over the last few years for it's skill and entertainment and value in developing hockey skills by the wider hockey playing/loving community.

[iron Ghost 0]

Several NHL players started with inline, and later moved over because of the established base ice has:

Brad Boyes

Noah Clarke

Robbie Earl

Ryan Hollweg

Chad Larose

Paul Statsny

Mike Van Ryn

Justin Williams

I'm not getting into the debate (I'm sure I've probably voiced my opinion in other threads of a similar topic)...I just want to say that I refuse to acknowledge Ryan Hollweg as a legitimate NHL hockey player.

First of all -- speaking for roller players everywhere -- Hollweg is a bad example to represent anyone, anywhere who isn't a DONKEY. Just had to say that (Man that guy sucks)!!!!

OK, so I have played roller and ice at the college club level.

Let me say this -- a lot of the perception of roller hockey has to do w/ where you live. In columbus ohio there is a serious lack of skilled roller players (I'm sorry but it's true). Most of the skilled hockey players in this town play ice or DEK. Yes, I said Dek -- we have a lot of former Minor league (ice) guys and what not playing Dek here.

Second -- the two are both great games w/ differences. I grew up playing Roller but now prefer ice. I'm a big man and two edges and a sheet of ice work a lot better for me than wheels (that I'm too cheap to replace all of the time) and court. I do feel like inline is more geared toward smaller guys. I know some small guys that can manuever a pair of inlines as well as anyone can on ice. As a big man -- it aint happening on the inlines (not that I'm much better on the ice) -- but definitely able to push off/ cut turns better. Surprisingly i stop quite well in inline skates (w/ the right wheels and skates)

Keep in mind -- if you are an ice guy and had crappy skates -- you wouldn't skate so well on the ice. Most people who try out roller arent going to invest in good skates

Also keep in mind that outdoor roller is nothing like indoor w/ a puck and sport court -- Nothing

I like that roller promotes hands -- normally in ice (because of the checking) -- unless you are the faster skilled guy on your team your coach probably has a heart attack if you try to carry the puck..

I dont like roller for the following reasons (note -- this applies to Columbus mostly) -- guys do things slowly because there is no offsides and the lack of talent here. Guys never move the puck early -- often trying to beat all four guys and then make some last second pass - and around here the roller click is pretty tight and whenever someone comes in and shows them up (by playing just good old fashioned hockey) -- the "top tier" roller guys slash/hook/ try to act tough with them.....

Also, I like roller w/ hitting at the college/pro levels -- sorry but if it's going to be "competitive" then there should be hitting -- the 4 on 4 keeps it roller

Goalies have it hard on inline and watchout for any goalie who is truly good on inline -- he/she is a beast when they figure out how to control their slide on ice!

What I dont like is guys who have only played ice, talk bad about inline, but can be beat by inline players on the ice (same goes for inline guys who talk bad about dek and then get beat at inline by dek guys b/c they move the puck better)

If you have never tried ice/dek/inline then do it -- I've done all three and dek was truly a surpirse to me -- what a workout!!!!

Final thought -- it's all hockey -- enjoy it -- your entitled to your opinion but dont knock the next man's way of experiencimng the greatest game ever!

[sectachrome 40]

Guys never move the puck early -- often trying to beat all four guys and then make some last second pass

Yup, this really frustrates me about roller. Everyone just tries to do somersalts through the entire team by themselves instead of passing the puck. I dont play roller because I like it better than ice or anything, Ive never played ice. I just like playing hockey and roller has always been the more accessible/cheaper option. Ive just started getting back into it and going to pick up games every week. The way people play is really annoying and really makes me want to give ice a try.

[sdcopp 1]

I hinted at it before, Law Goalie went a little further, and now I'm going to go come out and say it: this compilation list of NHLers who have played/play roller is pretty much irrelevant.

We, as hockey players, do a lot of "extra-curricular" stuff in our spare time away from the rink; particularly during the summer. Call them "hobbies," call them "activities," call them whatever: the fact is, hockey players (or athletes, in general) do just about everything. Take me, for example: once the season is over, I spend a little less time on the ice (maybe 6-7 hours/week - 3-4 days instead of 6-7) and more time doing other things. Aside from baseball, I've also played tennis, golf and basketball competitively nearly every summer since I was about 10 (well, basketball only lasted two summers), and have participated in quite a few semi-serious shorter "chase" runs. I also do just about everything else "for fun" - volleyball, swimming, indoor soccer, football...among others.

You're insinuating that these players who do roller in the off season do it purely for recreation, which once they reach the NHL is probably pretty true. The point you are missing is that many of the young players who have played high level inline did so before their professional careers as part of their development as players and not as recreation.

the NHL has moved away from trapping, clutch and grab play and goons in general and moved to a much more skill based game. Roller, whether you like it or not, is far better at teaching better individual skill with the puck. The deficiency comes at the team play and physical play aspects of the game.

by demeaning either you miss an essential part of the game as it is today. The game is going to grow and change, to consider anything beneficial to that growth as something lesser is very myopic and exactly the old school attitude I can't wait to see go away. Inline is the way to grow the sport from a purely economic standpoint, and is a great flavor of the game we all love.

For anyone who thinks inline is so inferior, go put a team together and play NARCH Platinum or Pro. If you run the whole thing and crush all the "inline" teams, then I'll laud your accomplishments and rethink my stance on the whole thing. What's more likely though is that you'll find a bevy of players who have played both and are far more skilled than you think. I'll never claim in any of my defenses that the world of inline is perfect, in fact I wish there was a much better organizational structure like ice has in place already, but please don't demean it because you've never done it beyond the concrete pond

[Law Goalie 147]

I hinted at it before, Law Goalie went a little further, and now I'm going to go come out and say it: this compilation list of NHLers who have played/play roller is pretty much irrelevant.

We, as hockey players, do a lot of "extra-curricular" stuff in our spare time away from the rink; particularly during the summer. Call them "hobbies," call them "activities," call them whatever: the fact is, hockey players (or athletes, in general) do just about everything. Take me, for example: once the season is over, I spend a little less time on the ice (maybe 6-7 hours/week - 3-4 days instead of 6-7) and more time doing other things. Aside from baseball, I've also played tennis, golf and basketball competitively nearly every summer since I was about 10 (well, basketball only lasted two summers), and have participated in quite a few semi-serious shorter "chase" runs. I also do just about everything else "for fun" - volleyball, swimming, indoor soccer, football...among others.

You're insinuating that these players who do roller in the off season do it purely for recreation, which once they reach the NHL is probably pretty true. The point you are missing is that many of the young players who have played high level inline did so before their professional careers as part of their development as players and not as recreation.

the NHL has moved away from trapping, clutch and grab play and goons in general and moved to a much more skill based game. Roller, whether you like it or not, is far better at teaching better individual skill with the puck. The deficiency comes at the team play and physical play aspects of the game.

by demeaning either you miss an essential part of the game as it is today. The game is going to grow and change, to consider anything beneficial to that growth as something lesser is very myopic and exactly the old school attitude I can't wait to see go away. Inline is the way to grow the sport from a purely economic standpoint, and is a great flavor of the game we all love.

For anyone who thinks inline is so inferior, go put a team together and play NARCH Platinum or Pro. If you run the whole thing and crush all the "inline" teams, then I'll laud your accomplishments and rethink my stance on the whole thing. What's more likely though is that you'll find a bevy of players who have played both and are far more skilled than you think. I'll never claim in any of my defenses that the world of inline is perfect, in fact I wish there was a much better organizational structure like ice has in place already, but please don't demean it because you've never done it beyond the concrete pond

To the first point, those inline players also played other sports. I challenge you to demonstrate that inline hockey was more important to their development than, say, soccer or baseball or track & field. Just because it's 'similar' to hockey doesn't mean that it's integral to skill development: in fact, if anything, the similarities are developmentally sub-optimal except for a very, very small period in the late teens. And by definition, any non-professional sport could be sidelined as mere 'recreation', so splitting hairs that way doesn't work.

To the second, that is exactly the sort of claim that makes these discussions ridiculous. You've made a completely unsupportable claim and stated it as an absolute conclusion. Now, if what you're really saying is that the roller community encourages individual play, puck-tricks, and so on, that's another issue - it has NOTHING to do with the sport intrinsically. If more kids went and 'invented the game' on their rivers and backyard rinks (to use Ken Dryden's description of Guy Lafleur's free-play), they would see the same benefits on a greater scale. Practicing your stickwork on a sheet of plywood might be equally helpful. If ice is unavailable, roller is ONE way to go.

Then you descend into some truly inexplicable malarky. Which convenient straw-man do you see claiming that anything "beneficial to growth is something lesser"? "A great flavour of the game we all love" - how exactly is that an argument?

Your final 'challenge' about playing in top-level roller leagues is a great instance of the final, desperate retreat of any avowed specialist: insist that your specialty can't be done by anyone other than the most special specialists. The sad part is that this is so easy to trump: take an NHL all-star team, train them at inline for a summer, and they would destroy everyone. My ultra-specialists beat your ultra-specialists. So there. A conclusion of utter irrelevance. Just because something is hard to do doesn't mean it's worth doing.

Once again, roller hockey is an adaptation of ice hockey to non-ice environments: nothing more, nothing less. It is not better than ice hockey. It does not teach or inherently encourage different skills. It has a very, very different community than ice, as you have amply evidenced. It is a fine way for players who lack access to ice to enjoy the game.

[mattzilla 0]

i have and and have had always had lots of access to ice ( growing up in Hamilton, Ont. and Victoria, BC ) and I just prefer roller. I pretty much grew up at the ice rink ( my dad was the Zamboni man and my mom worked in the office at the arena ) and all the BS politics that went along with it discouraged me from getting into it, even at a young age.

I started playing roller as soon as an organized league popped up and I have had the chance numerous times to take up ice. It just doesn't really interest me.

I can ice skate pretty well, but I can maneuver, turn, stop and go faster on roller blades. its all about practice. I'm a fairly large man ( 6'5 215-220 ish ) and i like the fact that i have to rely more on skill and positioning more than just mashing the guy to get the puck. On top of this, the thought of some dickhead running my head into the boards and rearranging my brain isn't too nice. I like hitting people as much as the next guy, but I like the challenge of catching these little shits and stripping the puck off them clean. Even non-contact roller is fairly physical... grinding, bumping in front of the net, along the boards... its pretty much just lacking in the open ice hits and the big obvious hits into the boards. but if the contact is coincidental the ref shouldn't call it.

When it comes down to it, its personal preference, like most other things. Some play roller as a training tool for ice... some play roller because of lack of ice... and some just prefer roller to ice, like me. I just don't like it when ice hockey players bash roller. I hear ice hockey players bashing roller more than i ever hear roller players bashing ice. The skills required to play both can obviously cross into the other but there is going to be an adjustment period for both. you take a roller guy and put him in a full contact ice game, he is going to get murdered until he adjusts. You put an ice guy in a roller game, its his instinct to hit and to play differently. Not to mention the way the puck feels is completely different.

[sdcopp 1]

Once again, roller hockey is an adaptation of ice hockey to non-ice environments: nothing more, nothing less. It is not better than ice hockey. It does not teach or inherently encourage different skills. It has a very, very different community than ice, as you have amply evidenced. It is a fine way for players who lack access to ice to enjoy the game.

it really does though, both for better and for worse. What's the one HUGE complaint "ice" players have against "inline" players? Trying to go coast to coast handling the puck.

To the second point you highlighted, I was speaking exactly to the nature of roller as more requisite of individual play and puck tricks, again a double edged sword. I wasn't digging in for a semantic argument. Roller and ice have one fundamental coaching difference that creates the inherint gap. Ice can be coached to control zones of play, roller is a puck possession game plain and simple.

As far the NHL all-star remarks go there's plenty who have played roller and at some point likely played in NARCH at the highest levels making them alumni and not specialists at all, which has never been my bone to pick. I do not like the ice specialist mentality which is the point inherint you are missing. I think anyone who has access should play both. As I've stated before elsewhere, at the end of the day it's putting a puck in a net with skates on.

I'm pretty sure the remark that started the debate was, in essence, "I'm an ice specialist and I decree roller is a joke despite not having really played it" Every counter point by inline players has been met with "But the NHL is better, and ice is older, and ice is the tradition, etc. etc. etc." Well no shit inlines have been around for all of 20 years, of course it's younger and not as well established. Doesn't make it any less or any more, just different I agree.

Does anyone here think ice hockey will be essentially the same in another century? What happens when some chemist figures out how to make a plastic sheet of some kind that emulates ice with minimal maintenance and no utility cost? Will people still argue it's not "real" hockey? Will people still jump up and down "but it's not real ice, so it's not real hockey because it's not the same!!!!" That is truly how ridiculous the argument is. There's always two sides, and I just take the side of the more maligned around here.

It's an unfortunate product of modern athletics that to succeed many sports are producing specialists instead of generalists in the name of competitive edge, hockey being a particularly painful example at the youth and high school levels. I completely agree that specialization in kids particularly is a huge detriment to athletic development, but it happens all the time because mom and dad want little Timmy to best the best whatever sport player so training for that lone sport becomes the sole focus. I really wish I could be optimistic enough to say a ton of kids play varying sports throughout the year, but it's becoming very uncommon.

EDIT: To further illustrate what I am trying to say here, Itan Chavira is a perfect example of why to not specialize in one or the other, as that ultimately is the point I am trying to get across. If he had played more ice in his young life then he might still be playing in the ECHL

[saba 0]

This reminds me so much of the road versus mountain bike debates its scary. When it comes down to it your rolling 2 wheels under your own power. 29, 69, fixie, carbon, aero, commuter, full suspension, hardtail....the whole thing is getting niched out until someone says. Shutup go out and ride

So go out and skate or run(dek)

[jrhky36 1]

nvm

[Chadd 916]

EDIT: To further illustrate what I am trying to say here, Itan Chavira is a perfect example of why to not specialize in one or the other, as that ultimately is the point I am trying to get across. If he had played more ice in his young life then he might still be playing in the ECHL

It's a good example of why not to specialize in inline if you want to play hockey for a career. For those of us playing it for fun, who cares what surface you're on as long as you have fun.

[JR Boucicaut 3797]

...exactly, however how good you are, you'll carry that stigma for you for a long time.

[Rick 0]

I love hockey period......I love to watch NHL, IHL (Ft. Wayne Komets), AHL, and in the 90's RHI and for a while PBH even though they used a ball, vform skates and had ramps.

Where I live we don't have any indoor ice rinks so the ice hockey I have played in the past has required a long drive to a rink or the very rare chance to skate on a frozen pond. In Indiana the winter weather is so unpredictable that if you buy a pair of ice hockey skates thinking that you will get a chance to play pond hockey most of the winter you are most likely going to be very discouraged by the end of the season. For example two weeks ago we had a week of single digit lows with ice and snow and then last weekend it was over 60 degrees with thunderstorms and rain in the forecast. Today its around 35 degrees with 25-30 mile an hour winds. Because of the crazy winter weather we play roller hockey, mostly outside on a large blacktop lot and man to me it doesn't get much better than a few friends skating hard and shooting the puck on a cool summers evening. It may not be ice hockey or real hockey as some would put it but its all we have and for the guys that play they are real hockey fans. If nothing else roller or inline has created a bunch of hockey fans and that is good for the sport. All my buddies follow the NHL and I would bet a huge percentage of the guys buying tickets for the Ft Wayne Komets games have never played any hockey other than roller. So if nothing else roller has helped the sport grow.

One other thought and then I will get off of my soap box........When I had the chance to play on a pond it was really fun once you adjust to the rougher ice surface but several years ago I played a few times in an ice league with a buddy. It was cool skating on smooth ice and for a while it was fun but even though it was supposed to be a no contact adult league we had a few younger guys that for what ever reason liked to push it and even caused some older guys to get hurt. We even had a guy that tried to start a fight or two like he though he was Bob Probert or something. Well not to sound like a wimp but I'm 42 years old and I'm a police officer and I'm not going to put myself in that situation. I have to go to work in the morning and in my job and at my age if I have to fight with someone that someone is going to go to jail end of story. Even though the league had a no fighting or you are done for the season policy they really didn't enforce that and even though my buddy and I were never victims of the incidents I mentioned just seeing them happen put me in a difficult position so long story short I stopped playing ice hockey. I just have never had any problem with the goon/block head mantality that I witnessed in the so called no contact adult ice league when I have played roller. To the young guys this may sound silly but as you age you realize that you recover from injuries slower and time off from work means loss of income and if you persue a career in law enforcement you just can not get involved in crazy behavior because the public will not allow it and they would never understand why you thumped a 20 year old kid playing hockey even though that 20 year old may have tried to take your head off on a face off........

Rick

[MEAGHAN 0]

i just started playing hockey last summer. I was already a very good ice skater but seeing as $50 per game and $7 + gas to practice 5 days a week is obviously pretty unreasonable for a beginner, I decided to play roller. I learned to skate and got on a league. I love it and maybe someday i'll play ice as well. not anytime soon though.

To me, they are two versions of the same sport. and I know plenty of players who play both and feel the same way.

Roller is just a whole lot more accessable than ice. That's it. Not all of us want to dole out the massive amounts of cash for ice hockey or want to be restricted to the hours and cost of an ice rink. doesn't mean we play a "lesser" sport. At least we get to play whenever we feel like it.

Some of you people need to quit bitching and worry about your own game. it just makes you sound like you suck at whichever one you are bashing. this thread was started really positively, there was no need to bring it down with asshole remarks.

[nmmnp 0]

My 14 yr old son has been playing inline hockey since he was 5 and he's played goalie since he was 11. He plays in an arena on a rink with a sport court floor. One of his friends from school played for a house ice team that didn't have a goalie and we got a call from the coach asking if he would like to play. He never skated on ice before but wanted to give it a try. He's had no real problem with the transition to ice but he still needs to master the nuances of moving as an ice goalie, he still sometimes looks like he's on wheels and flops like a fish (or Dominik Hasek ).

My point is he doesn't like one over the other, he loves them both. Just as long as someone is shooting a puck at him. I guess that's the goalie mentality. We got lucky and because they needed him we didn't have to pay for the ice season otherwise it would have cost around $1,900.00. He likes it but I honestly don't know if I can afford it. Cost for him to play inline? $0.00... Goalies play for free, even on the travel teams he plays for.

[mxihockey 0]

Edit. Read through the thread and don't want to add to the fire.

[mattzilla 0]

...and so it was said. thanks for the input.