Cheap F'ing players in beer/rec leagues....

[Fletch 219]

So tonight, we're playing the 2nd game of a doubleheader (back to back) in our roller league. I'm skating with the puck and I dish it off and go hard to the net. Our guy gets a shot off, and I spin to try to get the rebound. I get a crack at it while on my knees, and one of their guys literally baseball-swing whacks me across the cage. My head shoots back as the ref's arm goes up.

As the guy is skating to the box, he yells at the ref saying "I didn't even touch him - it was one of his own guys." Complete utter bullshit, as my teammates weren't even around me when it happens.

So we go on the power play and as it's expiring one of our guys takes a slap shot, which is saved by their goaltender. The puck is sitting loose at the goaltender's pad (who's in the butterfly) and I'm in the low slot by the hash marks, so I take a whack at it. The goaltender makes that save as well and as that's happening, I hear "clug clug clug clug clug" (the sound of someone skating full speed ahead). The guy who had just two-handed me in the cage flys out of the box and charges at me, cross-checking me to the ground - I landed on my back, thankfully I kept my head towards my chest so it didn't hit the surface. My guys go after him, and again he complains to the ref "He was whacking at my goaltender."

He gets 2 minutes for charging, and I left the surface because my back was in immense pain from landing on it. I came back at the start of the third and the refs asked me if I was ok, and I said "I think" and vented to them that it was a cheap play and that it should have been more than 2. The ref didn't say anything about that though. I played a regular shift for the rest of the game in pain but only because we were short as it was.

I'm not trying to complain, but at what point to people start realizing that we are doing this for fun - we aren't paid to play and the grand result of playing in these leagues if you win is a $8 trophy at best.

I love playing hockey. I have been playing for almost 20 years but I am getting tired of basically risking my ass and well-being out there to people who play this game like it's life or death. I play hard - I play to win and I compete. I play a gritty style but by no means am out there trying to hurt people.

I literally have imprints of my girdle in my skin right now where I landed - it's sore everytime I take a step but I should be ok - hopefully it's just bone bruises. All of this just makes me think that it's just not worth it anymore. I'm going to be 33 in May - I have a Wife, a 2 year old Son and a 9 month old daughter and I support all 4 of us. Maybe it's time to stick to pick-up only, where people are just out there having fun (most of the time).

Sorry for the rant....I'm just frustrated as hell right now.

[ahbroody 1]

I hear u on that.

I get to play with some older guys early in the morning at the local rink. Done pick up a few times also. Its casual and fun and no one is trying to hurt anyone. There is no score in the early morning games. we just have fun. I am 34 also with a 3 year old boy a 1 year old girl and wife is going to have our third in 1.5 months. I just dont have the desire to deal with mr. game7 anymore. You showed more composure than I would have. I would have waited that dude out and lined him up. Well in the past I would have probablly still would have :P

speaking of this the other day after my sons class we were watching some dudes playing pickup at the ice rink. I shit you not all of a sudden it got chippy as hell. Dudes were checking the shit out of each other at pick up. Then it happened. Two dudes fighting with cages on. I LOLed and pounded on the glass. It was pretty comical. Dudes fought at pickup. It was sad very very sad.

[automorph 0]

as$ho#@s are everywhere..........no matter where you play or what division there is ALWAYS someone who is still trying to make the show :P or loves to goon it up

We had a player on our team who told us when his wife pisses him off, he takes it out on the ice....

[RecLeagueHero 0]

I've noticed the over competive idiot in higher levels of rec league play is always the guy that thought he should have been drafted and is still living in his glory days from junior hockey. In the lower levels it's usually the guys that never got to play competive sports when they were in high school and are going for their glory now.

[Fletch 219]

Well, the shittiest thing of all is that 9 times out of 10, these incidents are caused by "kids" (i.e. under 21 or so) who have no concept of what real life is all about. The kids who have no responsibilities and who likely still live at home with their parents. The kids that don't realize that the guy they just checked into the boards from behind has a pregnant Wife at home and is his family's provider.

It's bullshit....I have no idea what can be done to stop it that's "within the rules" and the rink I play at doesn't seem to give a rat's ass about the safety of it's players as long as they keep paying them to play there.

[durke 0]

I think most leagues have a few jerks with no lives that take it way too serious. I usually play with the local "Old Boys" (I'm 40). Almost everyone is there for hard fun hockey. When ever we enter a tournament there is the same jerks that think we're playing in the Stanley Cup finals. Recently we entered a tournament in Slovakia, and the same jerks really embarrassed the rest of us by yelling at refs that didn't even understand them.

We won the tournament!

[raygunpk 0]

Good thing you aren't seriously injured, get it checked out if you still feel pain though!

[Hooah4 12]

Well, the shittiest thing of all is that 9 times out of 10, these incidents are caused by "kids" (i.e. under 21 or so) who have no concept of what real life is all about. The kids who have no responsibilities and who likely still live at home with their parents. The kids that don't realize that the guy they just checked into the boards from behind has a pregnant Wife at home and is his family's provider.

It's bullshit....I have no idea what can be done to stop it that's "within the rules" and the rink I play at doesn't seem to give a rat's ass about the safety of it's players as long as they keep paying them to play there.

The worst part of this is it's everywhere. Softball, basketball, everything. There's always an a#$hole who can't turn it off. That's why I joined a 35+ league where most of us have the same mindset. But unfortunately you still have morons. This league has started suspensions and is now forming a sportsmanship committee just due to the escalating BS.

Thank god I wear a cage. I've taken 4 high sticks this season alone(all were called) and the last one I was seriously considering tuning the guy up. Luckily I have a good rep in the league where people know I'm not a cheap player.

[fieldofdreams 0]

Fletch, I know exactly where you are coming from. On one hand, you did the right thing showing so much composure. Kept your team on the man advantage. On the other hand, from my experiences, guys like that won't learn unless you force feed them their lunch.

The inline league I play in was TERRIBLE when my team first came in. Guys were dirty, chippy, both kids and older guys alike. All playing for a pro tryout in their minds. We had MANY MANY scraps with guys that needed it. Stick work up high, checking in a non checking league, just general douchebaggery of all kinds. While I am NOT a big advocator of fighting or physical play in general, I DO believe that sometimes there are guys who need to have a message sent that their style of play is unacceptable. While it is always nice to carry a goon on your squad for those reasons, it should be the player who was wronged stepping up. It not only shows THAT player you won't accept it any longer, the rest of the league takes note as well.

As for my league, for the past 3 seasons, there has been NO nonsense. Barely a tripping call a game. The hockey is MUCH better that way.

[Fletch 219]

I think I may write to the league director to tell him how I feel about what happened. I doubt much will come out of it though....

[Eazy_b97 1]

I play in the 2 leagues. One is pretty good, few stupid guys, but usually held in check by their teammates. The other has been awful this year. It's a C division, but the teams range from good A teams to low D teams. One team is made up of primarily former junior players and a semi-pro or two, while the worst team looks like it's a beginner league with a few guys just playing for the first time. This creates alot of issues as the better teams can get frustrated and chippy. I'm somewhat surprised as usually the better players are more controlled, but it seems this season the best players in the league are the ones most willing to start things. Alot of taunts, hacks, and blatant cheapshots occur. Every game there's a realistic possibility of a fight and I think we've had 3 incidents where the whole line has ended up squaring off with someone. It's over the top and pointless, we'll be out of the league as soon as we can. It's interesting to see the ages of some of the lunatics as well, we have 21-22 year olds who are just itching to fight, but also men in their mid to late 30's who are even worse. One player was suspended for the year for slashing. Roughly a 15-20 game suspsension, and nothing (including jumping the bench to fight) has been over a 3 game suspension. For that older team, it's not uncommon to be standing infront after a whistle and get a cross check in the jaw if you're wearing a half-visor.

My problem is, much the same as yours Fletch. What do you do? It's dangerous to play. Some will say "just fight" but there are some in the league that have made their "career" out of fighting. It's what they did in junior and what they do now. If I get a good shot, I could be out of work for a few weeks and lose my job (my job frowns upon violence). The league hasn't helped and won't help the situation. We're locked into a few more games. Our league fines teams for not showing up as well. For now, we play our games, most of us keep it as clean as we can, and we go from there. Some nights it's enough, others it isn't.

[DoubleT96 0]

Well, the shittiest thing of all is that 9 times out of 10, these incidents are caused by "kids" (i.e. under 21 or so) who have no concept of what real life is all about. The kids who have no responsibilities and who likely still live at home with their parents. The kids that don't realize that the guy they just checked into the boards from behind has a pregnant Wife at home and is his family's provider.

It's bullshit....I have no idea what can be done to stop it that's "within the rules" and the rink I play at doesn't seem to give a rat's ass about the safety of it's players as long as they keep paying them to play there.

I find in inline, the more over aggressive players that will go haul off and drop you for taking a legit poke at the puck near the crease or pin you up against the boards like a cage match are the older guys still living the dream, but can't really skate with the inline game. Rather than skate there out there just swigging the stick like a golf club.

The younger guys seem more to dangle it up rather than throw the body all over the place. You might find a kid out there that will pull a spinning Michigan Lax move when the score is 14-1, rather than run someone who is poking at the puck near the crease; but that's just my experience.

[mrusse01 0]

Well, the shittiest thing of all is that 9 times out of 10, these incidents are caused by "kids" (i.e. under 21 or so) who have no concept of what real life is all about. The kids who have no responsibilities and who likely still live at home with their parents. The kids that don't realize that the guy they just checked into the boards from behind has a pregnant Wife at home and is his family's provider.

It's bullshit....I have no idea what can be done to stop it that's "within the rules" and the rink I play at doesn't seem to give a rat's ass about the safety of it's players as long as they keep paying them to play there.

Agree 100%.

Sounds like the refs in this case dropped the ball big time, I've always been a proponent of longer penalites and bigger suspensions in rec/adult leagues everywhere. Most leagues around here now are 4 minute penalties for any kind of stick infraction, and I have found that really cuts down on the slashing/hooking.

[Scoobersti 0]

I agree with you guys, I play beer leagues and I play because I like the game and play the game for fun. I was playing last night and one of their guys gets a penalty and gets the puck so the whistle blows and play stops. A few seconds later, one of their guys comes and cross checks me in the back and knocks me over. I couldn't figure out which one of the two that was behind me did it, the red didn't see it and I didn't say anything so nothing happened, but I don't understand why they have to do some stupid stuff like that. It was only my second or third shift so I don't think I did anything to any of their guys to warrant anything like that.

[cdoug55 0]

Jeez and I was looking to get back into playing some somewhat competitive hockey instead of just hitting up open sessions. Not sure if i really want to deal with the a-holes out there hahahaha. There is always someone who thinks that because hockey is technically a contact sport than he should be hitting people.

[Fletch 219]

Here is my letter to the Rink President, and the Operations Manager -

Hi. I'm writing to you to inform you of an incident that happened in our game last night (Irish Car Bombs vs. Island Tribe - I play for the Irish Car Bombs).

The game was going relatively smooth (i.e. clean) until about halfway through the 2nd period. Number 23 on the Island Tribe (according to the scoring chart his name is ______ ) two-hand chopped me across the face, enough to make my head shoot back. Luckily I wear a cage or I would have had some major damage done. The refs called the penalty, and as he was skating away he was complaining that one of my teammates had done it, which was ridiculous because my teammates weren't even near me when it happened.

So, we go on the power play and with 30 seconds or so left, I go back on the rink. As the penalty is expiring, we get a shot on net, and the rebound is sitting loose by the goaltender's pad. I take a whack at it, which the goaltender saves and covers. At that moment, I hear that someone is skating full speed ahead toward me, but I have no time to react. I get hit hard, flying back a few feet and landing flat on my back. Thankfully I didn't hit my head (I tucked it toward my chest). I had pain shooting down my legs as I got to my knees and was seriously concerned that I was in trouble. As it turns out, it was Mr. _____ again who had run me. He came out of the penalty box at full speed and ran me over. As the refs were escorting him to the box for a second time, he again was complaining, saying "He was whacking at my goaltender - what am I supposed to do?"

I left the surface to get some air and to make sure I was ok - with every stride I had pain but at the start of the 3rd I came back to see if I could go and because we were shorthanded as it was. I talked to one of the refs (the young one - I forgot his name) and I explained that something needs to be done about this kind of play, and that what he did was a deliberate attempt to injure me. He said they gave him a penalty, and he understood it was a cheap shot but they called what they could.

Look - I don't want this email to come off like I am being a baby, or I'm "telling" on the guy, but seriously - something needs to be done. I don't know what it is about the players these days, but someone is going to get seriously hurt if this cheap play continues. I wear a girdle and a padded shirt when I play, and thank god for that or it could have been much worse. I literally have imprints of my girdle on the skin on my lower back and my back is so sore it hurts to walk, and even to sit down. I'm 32 years old, I have a Wife, a 2 year old son and a 9 month old Daughter, and I support us all financially. I have no idea what Mr. ____ does for a living or how old he is, but players like him have no regard for the safety or well-being of other in this league and unless something changes, he and others like him will continue to play like it's game 7 of the finals every time he steps on the rink.

I understand the need to compete, and the want to win - I am a competitive person and I hate losing at anything. I have been playing for almost 20 years, and I play a gritty, hard-nosed style. But by no means am I out there to hurt people - I understand that the majority of the people that we play with and against have lives outside of hockey that they need to uphold by waking up every morning and going to work, or being fathers, etc. We are supposed to be playing in these leagues for fun, but at what price? I don't mind coming home with bumps and bruises, but this is getting ridiculous.

I urge you to please come up with some way of being more strict when it comes to these cheap shots - maybe suspensions need to be explored and refs need to be given the authority to eject players based on blatant cheap shots. Because honestly, someone is going to end up with a serious injury one of these days and if all the offending players have to contend with is a measly 2 minute minor penalty, it will continue for the foreseeable future.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this.

Sincerely,

Brian Fletcher

[hotsauce 0]

sounds like he is from staten island new york haha we get alot of the same shit in jersey.

[Vishi05 0]

Just make sure you are ready to play on Monday buddy. I'm already playing injured also.

[porky45 1]

Let us know what he says!!!! I think that was a well written letter and I too agree that a ref should be able to eject a player out of the game if they deem a cheapshot was made. It was just a couple weeks ago when a player on my team received a full body check on the boards (we play adult inline, obviously it's a non-checking league). The other team was frustrated as they were up 3-0 and quickly found themselves down 5-3 (our team finally woke up in the 2nd).

It was an unbelievable site to see. We have a good mixture on our team (i'm only 21 and we have some RHI guys in their 40's playing with us) and the adult league we play in is pretty competitive (some platinum level players, even a guy on Team USA). What got me was the player that through the check happened to be my coach last year for my Junior Travel team. I lost all respect for him and couldn't believe that he lost his temper that badly. He got 2 minutes in the box and cooled down after that.

Just the week before last, I had been stopping a winger on defense all game long. He was getting frustrated... I play the body and I stand up some people pretty hard, but usually don't get called for it because my focus is on the puck after the play is made. It was late in the game when a loose puck popped out next to our bench. I was pretty far away but figured i'd make a break for it at full speed. Guess who decided to make a break for it as well.... the guy that i had been stopping. He was clearly closer but made sure to let me get to it first, then through a cross check at me right in front of my bench to try and "prove a point" . he got 2 minutes and I continued to stand him up the rest of the game watching his face as he became more and more frustrated..

anyways..if anyone read this thank you for letting me babble on. haha.

[ktang 34]

I don't know if it's related to the recession, but cheap play and lack of respect for other players / officials seems to be on the rise, both in beer leagues and in minor hockey. Or maybe that's the way society is going.

[Darshu 0]

I don't know if it's related to the recession, but cheap play and lack of respect for other players / officials seems to be on the rise, both in beer leagues and in minor hockey. Or maybe that's the way society is going.

You gotta figure a lot of guys have a lot on their minds off the ice and if they're miserable in general, that's bound to translate to their game.

[dsjunior1388 81]

I was playing drop in and watched a guy take a baseball swing at another guy, breaking his stick on this guys shin. The guy who got hit goes down hard, and stays there for a while, before two of his buddies start carrying him off. One of the guys who knew "chris simon" grabbed him by the shoulder pad and yelled "what the F*** do you think your doing?" to which he replies grinning no less, "I just gave him a little BC two hander."

We later found out the guy who got hit had a bigtime bone bruise but luckily no fracture, and "chris simon" is banned from the rink.

[Fletch 219]

I got a call from the Operations Manager about 20 minutes ago - he thanked me for the letter and took some time to talk things over to me. Basically, he said he totally understands where I am coming from and told me that believe it or not, things have gotten much better since they took over 2 years ago (which I believe). He said he would keep his eye on that player to see if he gets out of line again. He said it was really cool of me to write that letter because it lets them know exactly what is going on, because they have so many players and teams that it's hard for them to monitor everything.

He also said it was cool of me to write that because mostly players just seek revenge out there because they were run, and that makes things worse all around.

In any case, I guess it's a "wait and see" approach now....I like to think that things will change, but I truly believe the only way to successfully improve things is to outright eject and suspend players for bullshit plays like the one last night. I also think it would be a good idea to have players on a points system, where eventually they can get banned for a year or so if they get too many points (similar to getting your driver's license suspended).

[JohnnyCanuck 0]

/Yawn....

Not to play down what happened to you, but it happend everywhere all the time no matter where you are.

There is always going to be a:

1) Mr. Game Seven

2) Can't skate wannabe hero that thinks he is Mr Game Seven

3) Guy who has no idea about hockey and the "Code" but watched enough on tv to be dangerous.

4) Guy who had a career and some other douche ended it and he holds "The Grudge:

I think at the end of the day everyone accepts this guy (and there are more than the four I listed above) as part and parcel of rec hockey and you just have to roll with it as most leagues and officials cannot be bothered to do anything to remedy the situation until it is too late.

Sad but true.

Good to see the league administrator actually got in touch with you though, that is a good sign that someone actually cares about their players (Customers ;) )

[chippa13 1844]

I don't know if it's related to the recession, but cheap play and lack of respect for other players / officials seems to be on the rise, both in beer leagues and in minor hockey. Or maybe that's the way society is going.

You gotta figure a lot of guys have a lot on their minds off the ice and if they're miserable in general, that's bound to translate to their game.

Hence the oft used phrase, "Looks like [insert number here]'s wife burned dinner tonight."