Drop in hockey

[epstud74 24]

I know at times you'll have a wide variety of skill levels at certain times during open hockey, but PLEASE learn to keep your stick down!

I've been hit in the face by more female players than any, for what reasons? I dont know. If you cannot control your stick or constantly whiff backhands, get more practice or learn to be aware of your surroundings.

Thus ends my rant.

[JoeyJ0506 192]

Agreed, my brother and a bunch of his buddies are just getting into playing inline hockey. Granted, I play college inline on sport court, with a puck, so playing on an asphalt rink with a ball drives me bananas, but it's a workout so I tag along. I have never had to dodge so many errant sticks around my face in my life. The problem is they all forget their hands aren't glued to their sticks, so anytime a ball gets lifted in the air they swat at it with said stick instead of pulling it down with their hand. I reached up to grab a floater out of the air this weekend and found myself getting slashed across the wrist. Apparently my constant yells of, "keep your sticks down boys!," are starting to piss people off... so says my brother. I prefer my face/hands intact though.

[pantherfan 0]

Yeh, I helped out at a begginers camp about 3 months ago, sticks flying every which way, and to say these guys had only been playing a few weeks the amount they THOUGHT they know more then me and some of the other guys was bordering on insulting. One of the guys spoke to me on the 2nd day and said the word round the changing room was that "Keep your stick down!" was condescending and taking the piss. Next day everytime I have to say sticks down the perpitrator has to do pushups mid-ice until everyone has done 3 laps, must have done it a good dozen times. Beautiful. I am the power hungry coach. :D

...and on the plus side they slowly started to take note over the camp.

[epstud74 24]

I know keeping your head up and being aware of your surroundings comes more naturally to some than others, but I think it can be taught. One of the things beginners need to learn is to keep their damned heads up and realize that they do have the benefit of "time" and dont need to throw the puck away. Calm down and keep your heads up...Look for other people on the ice.

[B19Kress 0]

I know keeping your head up and being aware of your surroundings comes more naturally to some than others, but I think it can be taught. One of the things beginners need to learn is to keep their damned heads up and realize that they do have the benefit of "time" and dont need to throw the puck away. Calm down and keep your heads up...Look for other people on the ice.

This drives me nuts on my beer league team, Like guys are afraid if the hang on to it for an extra second it is going to explode. Or that their blade has rubber in it or something.

It's like for F sake, hold on to it for a second and look to make a pass

[jmiami 4]

I know keeping your head up and being aware of your surroundings comes more naturally to some than others, but I think it can be taught. One of the things beginners need to learn is to keep their damned heads up and realize that they do have the benefit of "time" and dont need to throw the puck away. Calm down and keep your heads up...Look for other people on the ice.

And ain't that the truth. Learning how to play with your head up is the number one most important thing that will separate a player from the pack. And the earlier a player can learn to do this, the better. Playing heads-up means no blind-passes, no panic-passes, no panic-shots. If I was a youth league coach I would HAMMER into my players' heads that after learning fundamentals, playing with your head up is the most important thing is moving your game forward.

[tonguesOUT4life 17]

u guys ever seen the figure skating hockey player? hes skating swinging his stick in the air like hes the only one on the ice wacking people in the face like inspector clossue in pink panther. jeeebusss!!!

[maxamillion 3]

the problem is they are so used to wearing cages and not having to worry about getting hit in the face. I've played with either a visor or nothing since i turned 18, and my stick barely ever lifts above my belly button unless I know for sure I won't hit anybody.

[fieldofdreams 0]

u guys ever seen the figure skating hockey player? hes skating swinging his stick in the air like hes the only one on the ice wacking people in the face like inspector clossue in pink panther. jeeebusss!!!

I'm sorry, can you translate that please? I seem to have misplaced my retard-to-english dictionary.

[tonguesOUT4life 17]

if you have seen the movie pink panther where steve martin plays a character of a dumb detective called closseu however its spelled then you wont need your retard to english dictionairy.

[Guitarmy 0]

I've never seen Pink Panther and even I knew what he meant.

There's this particular over-enthusiastic beginner at my regular drop-in hour that drives me nuts. I can't count how many times I've been hit in the head by his errant high-stick. I've already had to replace two visors he ruined. Lately I've been wearing the same colors as him just so I don't have to worry about getting hit in the face, but just last week while I was digging for the puck in the corner I got whacked in the chin by him again.

[epstud74 24]

Some rinks vary by experience levels and it gets pretty bad in late spring/summer.

[fieldofdreams 0]

if you have seen the movie pink panther where steve martin plays a character of a dumb detective called closseu however its spelled then you wont need your retard to english dictionairy.

May I introuduce you to our friends: . , ! ? and ; Collectively, they call themselves punctuation. Feel free to use them, they won't bite.

[chk hrd 164]

the problem is they are so used to wearing cages and not having to worry about getting hit in the face. I've played with either a visor or nothing since i turned 18, and my stick barely ever lifts above my belly button unless I know for sure I won't hit anybody.

it has more to do withskill level, coaching and experience than with wearing a cage. I'm sure you had to wear a cage before you were 18 (like all youth players) and probably didn't high stick alot because of coaching, skill level, etc. You didn't just take off a cage oe day and WOW, no more hig sticks. I still wear a cage for safety and rarely get my stick up.

[IniNew 53]

if you have seen the movie pink panther where steve martin plays a character of a dumb detective called closseu however its spelled then you wont need your retard to english dictionairy.

May I introduce you to our friends: . , ! ? and ; Collectively, they call themselves punctuation. Feel free to use them, they won't bite.

You forgot a period after the semi-colon.

[fieldofdreams 0]

actually, the semi-colon works as proper spacing between the punctuation and the next word. My mistake was capitalizing "Collectively".

[tonguesOUT4life 17]

heres a clip from pink panther..

[Gomer 1]

actually, the semi-colon works as proper spacing between the punctuation and the next word. My mistake was capitalizing "Collectively".

Both of you guys, in your zeal to punctuate, have added an unnecessary hyphen into semicolon.

But that's neither here nor there. =)

Sticks down, heads up sounds like a great game plan for everyone!

[RecLeagueHero 0]

My thoughts: you can't control other people so you just have to protect yourself. In short, buy a cage (or one of those full face plastic deals) and wear it. I've noticed a lot of the people that can't control their sticks also have little control over their shots. So another reason to protect your face.

As a side note, I do wish more rinks would advertise differing drop in's based on skill level. But understand why they might not have enough volume to do that in all places.

[sickwilly 37]

As a side note, I do wish more rinks would advertise differing drop in's based on skill level. But understand why they might not have enough volume to do that in all places.

I'd absolutely love that... Then again, you'd still those guys who have an inaccurate idea of how skilled they are showing up.

I went back to wearing a cage mainly because of the boneheads who can't or don't pay attention to their surroundings.

[RecLeagueHero 0]

I'd absolutely love that... Then again, you'd still those guys who have an inaccurate idea of how skilled they are showing up.

I went back to wearing a cage mainly because of the boneheads who can't or don't pay attention to their surroundings.

Of course there'd always be the guy that can't live with the fact he's not Gretzky, and I wouldn't want to put rink staff in the position of telling someone they sucked too bad for a certain drop-in. But I think it'd be nice for people who have an accurate understanding of their skills and wanted to play with people around that average. For myself now it's really a crap shoot of whether I'm going to show up and it's going to be mostly high school kids and local junior B players so I can go balls to the wall, or if it's going to be 90% beginner/early novice players. I don't mind playing with less skilled people, save the guys that want to pass me the puck and watch me skate end to end. But it'd be nice to know going in where the level of play was going to be.

[yrhmblnr8r 69]

It's not an ideal solution b/c it takes a large player pool and someone willing to organize, but I know a guy who reserves ice time and then just emails a distro list when ice is available. With 50 or so names on the list, you usually get enough warm bodies of appropriate skill level for a good drop-in. Since it's not scheduled as a public drop-in session, we don't have to worry about a bunch of in shape high schoolers making us look slower and fatter than normal. In your case, RecLeagueHero, you'd want to keep the dregs like me out.

Are there enough guys on your team(s) to set up a recurring drop-in?

[SidCaeser 0]

I run a drop-in game at the end of the day during the summer months. It was getting huge with older gents, high school & college guys home for the summer. The rink allowed me to get a second slot, and now the first is an adult open hockey, and the second is geared towards 17-21 yr. olds. We've been able to secure four goalies and 15-24 skaters each week for each slot. It has been outstanding. The older guys don't get pissed at danglers, and the younger guys can rip it up at will. The rink is happy, as well. Double the money.

I, also, run a drop-in game early Saturday morning, and it is a great mix of guys 17-64 yr. old. The kids know they are there for a pick-up game, and it, too, is a great skate.

[MR MIZUN0 0]

Same case here, every monday night there is a nice skate with a variety of skill levels, and ages (17-50's) some former college and junior players......but it works out very well.

[lampliter87 8]

My personal favorite is playing/practicing with and against cage-wearers who have never worn a visor when you yourself do. I've got a good sized bruise on my face this morning from drop-in last night.