Quitting Hockey

[Jarick 5]

I think when you're young and something defines you, quitting it is a big deal.

For example, from about 10 years old until about 22, I was obsessed with playing music, was in a lot of bands, played a ton of shows, just absorbed it like a sponge. But I got bored and burned out and lost interest. It was a huge deal because I identified myself so closely with being a musician that it was kind of frightening not doing it anymore.

My interest turned to hockey, and I've been obsessed with playing, watching, learning, etc ever since. And at some point in the future, I'll probably start to tire of it and do something else. I've got a lot of life to live and won't waste time doing something that doesn't fascinate me anymore.

Now if you lose interest in hockey along with everything else in life, that's a potential symptom of depression. If you're still interested in other things or new things, then it's normal.

[usahockey22 0]

In the last two years I've had two broken noses a concussion and three other head shots that were attempts to injure. That doesn't include the three or four baseball type swings, dozen+ "cup checks" or the countless "normal" hockey cheap shots. Too many guys here grew up watching the Flyers in the 70s and think that's how beer league hockey should be played.

In the last ten tears our rates have doubled, our ref fees have increased 50% and we now have to pay for USA Hockey certification out of our pocket. The local rink also refuses to schedule our games more than five weeks at a time, just in case someone might want to rent the ice and push the games later. Paying $25 a game to skate with 13-15 guys at midnight, while someone is trying to kill you because they think it might be fun gets old after a while.

Wow, that sounds like a nightmare. Is there no other rink in your general area that would offer better hockey? I'd quit also if this were the only option.

[eric42434224 1]

In the last two years I've had two broken noses a concussion and three other head shots that were attempts to injure. That doesn't include the three or four baseball type swings, dozen+ "cup checks" or the countless "normal" hockey cheap shots. Too many guys here grew up watching the Flyers in the 70s and think that's how beer league hockey should be played.

In the last ten tears our rates have doubled, our ref fees have increased 50% and we now have to pay for USA Hockey certification out of our pocket. The local rink also refuses to schedule our games more than five weeks at a time, just in case someone might want to rent the ice and push the games later. Paying $25 a game to skate with 13-15 guys at midnight, while someone is trying to kill you because they think it might be fun gets old after a while.

Wow, that sounds like a nightmare. Is there no other rink in your general area that would offer better hockey? I'd quit also if this were the only option.

Jesus.....that stuff was in adult league?

I wouldnt stay in that shitty league either.

I feel lucky with how our league is run. We all seem to get along, and never let the douchbags get out of control. It is a very enjoyable experience. They have no qualms about kicking guys out for life if they are obvious and intentionally abusive of other players or refs.

[JoeyJ0506 191]

I just really started playing ice hockey the past year and a half after a being forced to give it up at 8/9 years old due to my family not being able to financially support playing. Moved on to focusing everything into baseball, but still continued to watch the NHL and really enjoy hockey from a distance. Got into inline hockey a while ago then gradually, through a friend on an inline team, got back into playing ice in a men's league. After a year+ of playing I'm to the point where I really consider whether it is worth it. A combination of the expenses, refs who turn a blind eye to anything a, "regular," does even if it's outright criminal, teams loading up with ringers come playoff time, teammates who don't realize everyone paid the same fee to play on the team, and guys taking it way too seriously... it can really become frustrating. It is a shame so many factors come into play into ruining what I feel is the best the world of sports has to offer.

[Fletch 219]

I'm with you on this Chadd. I live north of you in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area and after taking the summer off from our league I've decided that I'm done with it to. I see more and more people around here making this decision too. While I have been lucky that I haven't experienced any injuries like you there have been a few attempts.

For me, I'm 36 years old so I'm quite sick of chasing kids around that play junior hockey in a C league game. I've also had it with the fees that are being charged and the game times. Some games start at 10:45 or 10:50, which is just crazy. The fees are also out of control. We also have to pay the USA hockey fee to register once a year. The real kicker is that over the past few years I've seen the rates steadily go up and the amount of games for the money decrease at the same rate. We used to play 4 seasons per year with playoffs (total # of games not including playoffs was 50), then it went to 3 seasons with playoffs (total # of games was 40), now the latest they want to do is combine Fall and Winter into one long 20 game season that lasts from Sept to March. This would be a 20 game season with playoffs at the end. Well, great plan considering these seasons used to be 2 separate 15 game seasons. So now we're down to 30 games total for the year, not includiing playoffs. This 20 game season is supposed to be $4500 per team. So you need at least 15 players to keep the price even at $300.

It's much more fun playing games with friends during private rentals.

We have some roller games in our league that start at 11:20pm. 11 F*CKING 20. Even if I didn't get the ridiculous migraine headaches after every time I play, I would still be up until 3am or so because of adrenaline. Then I have to be up for work at 7:30am. Yeah, no thanks.

[JoeyJ0506 191]

We have some roller games in our league that start at 11:20pm. 11 F*CKING 20. Even if I didn't get the ridiculous migraine headaches after every time I play, I would still be up until 3am or so because of adrenaline. Then I have to be up for work at 7:30am. Yeah, no thanks.

Final fame of the regular season last night... 10:50 scheduled game that didn't start until 11:10 or so. I'm lucky I don't have work or classes today because I'm still dragging around the house...It is noon. Once college inline season starts I'll routinely have game scheduled after 10:30, latest games start at 11:30. Add that to the list of things that makes me reconsider playing hockey... In the local league the teams that have been around the longest get the better time slots... one team has all of their games starting in the 7:45-8:00 time slots. Ours routinely start in the 10:00-11:00 pm slots. terrible.

[Fletch 219]

Nice. The team that has the early slots - do they have guys on the team that work at the rink? I wouldn't be surprised.

Oh, also in my league we have some games start at 5:50pm and a lot of the time the teams have a couple guys who can't make it to the rink in time because they work until 5 and in So. Cal traffic, cannot make it to the rink in time to get dressed and play. So yeah....games go anywhere from 5:50pm to 11:20pm in our league.

[eric42434224 1]

Our rink just had another sheet of ice built (For the Florida Panthers), as well as there training facility. That makes three really nice sheets. Now our games are at 6-7-8-9 pm. Once in a while it is 10pm, but not too often. We even have some 3-4pm games on Sunday. Nice.

[Chadd 916]

In the last two years I've had two broken noses a concussion and three other head shots that were attempts to injure. That doesn't include the three or four baseball type swings, dozen+ "cup checks" or the countless "normal" hockey cheap shots. Too many guys here grew up watching the Flyers in the 70s and think that's how beer league hockey should be played.

In the last ten tears our rates have doubled, our ref fees have increased 50% and we now have to pay for USA Hockey certification out of our pocket. The local rink also refuses to schedule our games more than five weeks at a time, just in case someone might want to rent the ice and push the games later. Paying $25 a game to skate with 13-15 guys at midnight, while someone is trying to kill you because they think it might be fun gets old after a while.

Wow, that sounds like a nightmare. Is there no other rink in your general area that would offer better hockey? I'd quit also if this were the only option.

I played at a rink 40 minutes away for a year or so, but that made the local league look civil. I actually had a guy take a baseball swing at my head from the penalty box, then come after me when he missed. The worst part is I don't go looking for trouble, I just refuse to back down from the guys that try to bully everyone. They're all afraid to do this stuff face to face, but perfectly willing to use their stick or elbows when you can't see them coming.

Nice. The team that has the early slots - do they have guys on the team that work at the rink? I wouldn't be surprised.

Oh, also in my league we have some games start at 5:50pm and a lot of the time the teams have a couple guys who can't make it to the rink in time because they work until 5 and in So. Cal traffic, cannot make it to the rink in time to get dressed and play. So yeah....games go anywhere from 5:50pm to 11:20pm in our league.

We've had issues with the rink giving us 5:30 start times in the summer, despite asking repeatedly for later start times. Between rush hour traffic and the guys that want to do the family thing, it's almost impossible to get more than half a dozen guys at a game that early.

[usahockey22 0]

I played at a rink 40 minutes away for a year or so, but that made the local league look civil. I actually had a guy take a baseball swing at my head from the penalty box, then come after me when he missed. The worst part is I don't go looking for trouble, I just refuse to back down from the guys that try to bully everyone. They're all afraid to do this stuff face to face, but perfectly willing to use their stick or elbows when you can't see them coming.

Well, it doesn't sound like a very hard decision then. You haven't been able to play actual hockey in a while it sounds like-- that "league" is just a no holds barred goonshow. Better not to risk an injury from some idiot.

At the leagues around here, it is pretty civil. Penalties are called often, major penalties get you ejected, fighting results in a two game suspension, and a second fighting offense gets you banned from the season with no refund. That's enough to keep the cheapshots to a minimum. Guys are pretty competitive about winning games here, so hardly anyone intentionally does anything to jeopardize that with penalty minutes.

[eric42434224 1]

Our league will buy wings and beer for any theam that doesnt have a penalty in a game. They give you a certificate for the rink bar to be used after the next game.

[thekingsingh 0]

It's an interesting coincidence for me that this topic comes up now. We just finished our summer season and after deliberating for a week that I was going to quit, I decided to give it one more shot when our winter season starts in September.

I captain a rec league team and have been feeling burnt out for some time. I don't seem to have the same enthusiasm. I used to play my league game once a week plus drop-in times and/or sticktimes whenever I could but it was starting to feel like drag coming to the rink (which is 35 mins away) for even my league game. I stopped going for more than my weekly game a while ago.

Over the last six months or so I was becoming very frustrated with our league's inability to enforce their own parity rules and their openly giving exceptions to other teams to break rules and policies that the rest of us follow. Our season ended on bad terms when such an occurence resulted in my team being eliminated from our playoffs because an otherwise ineligible player was allowed to play against us and shut us down.

I was furious and caused a big scene at our rink, and I know I over reacted. The rink's response in trying to correct their mistake was all over the place. The inconsistency of our league in applying rules combined with how personally I was taking these things was making for a bad cocktail and I thought some time off would be good for me. I reconsidered after a couple of teammates convinced me to come back.

I guess I'll see how I feel after this winter season.

[IniNew 51]

It's an interesting coincidence for me that this topic comes up now. We just finished our summer season and after deliberating for a week that I was going to quit, I decided to give it one more shot when our winter season starts in September.

I captain a rec league team and have been feeling burnt out for some time. I don't seem to have the same enthusiasm. I used to play my league game once a week plus drop-in times and/or sticktimes whenever I could but it was starting to feel like drag coming to the rink (which is 35 mins away) for even my league game. I stopped going for more than my weekly game a while ago.

Over the last six months or so I was becoming very frustrated with our league's inability to enforce their own parity rules and their openly giving exceptions to other teams to break rules and policies that the rest of us follow. Our season ended on bad terms when such an occurence resulted in my team being eliminated from our playoffs because an otherwise ineligible player was allowed to play against us and shut us down.

I was furious and caused a big scene at our rink, and I know I over reacted. The rink's response in trying to correct their mistake was all over the place. The inconsistency of our league in applying rules combined with how personally I was taking these things was making for a bad cocktail and I thought some time off would be good for me. I reconsidered after a couple of teammates convinced me to come back.

I guess I'll see how I feel after this winter season.

Something very similar happened to us. We were a bottom of the barrel team until the last 5 games, which we won straight (after a 6 game loosing streak). This put us at .500, and we won our way into the playoffs as a wild card.

First round of the playoffs we get matched with the number one seed. Rule states for a player to be eligiable to play in the playoffs they must have either A) Attended 6 or more games during the regular season, or B) Paid full league fees before the start of the playoffs.

Fast forward to the third period, tied 2-2 with 2:45 to go on the clock. A gentlemen that no one recognized scores a goal to put them up by 1. No one thinks anything of it until after the game but it surfaced that this gentlemen was a coach at the rink and was brought in to play with a few friends. He did not meet either qualification to play in the playoffs. Needless to say we lost by 1 (much better than the predicted spread of 6-2).

We hooted-and-hollared to the rink about this player not only playing but scoring the winning goal on a team he's never played for nor paid league fees for.... rolls down from the league organizer that because he's a coach at the rink he gets a special discount and didn't have to pay league fees. HA!

He wasn't present at anymore game for the playoffs.

[thekingsingh 0]

It's an interesting coincidence for me that this topic comes up now. We just finished our summer season and after deliberating for a week that I was going to quit, I decided to give it one more shot when our winter season starts in September.

I captain a rec league team and have been feeling burnt out for some time. I don't seem to have the same enthusiasm. I used to play my league game once a week plus drop-in times and/or sticktimes whenever I could but it was starting to feel like drag coming to the rink (which is 35 mins away) for even my league game. I stopped going for more than my weekly game a while ago.

Over the last six months or so I was becoming very frustrated with our league's inability to enforce their own parity rules and their openly giving exceptions to other teams to break rules and policies that the rest of us follow. Our season ended on bad terms when such an occurence resulted in my team being eliminated from our playoffs because an otherwise ineligible player was allowed to play against us and shut us down.

I was furious and caused a big scene at our rink, and I know I over reacted. The rink's response in trying to correct their mistake was all over the place. The inconsistency of our league in applying rules combined with how personally I was taking these things was making for a bad cocktail and I thought some time off would be good for me. I reconsidered after a couple of teammates convinced me to come back.

I guess I'll see how I feel after this winter season.

Something very similar happened to us. We were a bottom of the barrel team until the last 5 games, which we won straight (after a 6 game loosing streak). This put us at .500, and we won our way into the playoffs as a wild card.

First round of the playoffs we get matched with the number one seed. Rule states for a player to be eligiable to play in the playoffs they must have either A) Attended 6 or more games during the regular season, or B) Paid full league fees before the start of the playoffs.

Fast forward to the third period, tied 2-2 with 2:45 to go on the clock. A gentlemen that no one recognized scores a goal to put them up by 1. No one thinks anything of it until after the game but it surfaced that this gentlemen was a coach at the rink and was brought in to play with a few friends. He did not meet either qualification to play in the playoffs. Needless to say we lost by 1 (much better than the predicted spread of 6-2).

We hooted-and-hollared to the rink about this player not only playing but scoring the winning goal on a team he's never played for nor paid league fees for.... rolls down from the league organizer that because he's a coach at the rink he gets a special discount and didn't have to pay league fees. HA!

He wasn't present at anymore game for the playoffs.

Oh, too funny. The guy who was not eligible to play against us in our playoff game (based on a similar regular season attendance) was actually moved out of our league one season before for being too good, but was allowed to play this season. After they knocked us out of the playoffs, the rink decided he shouldn't be allowed to play in that team's next game, and they were eliminated themselves. People call it karma.

[eric42434224 1]

I just cant comprehend this. We had a new guy start the season with us last year. No one knew him. He gets on the ice and he is skating around everyone like they are standing still...and he didnt even look like he was trying. I felt really uncomfortable with it.

He showed up at the second game at the end of the 2nd period (he had to work), and we were behind 6-2. He calmly said, "dont worry...we'll win". And promptly scored 6 goals.

Needless to say, the team was informed that he was not allowed to play in our league anymore. Our team was actually glad, as that was not the way we wanted to win. A victory that way is very hollow and meaningless. I want to earn the victory.

I just cant understand why teams would bring in ringers in an adult league.

[hawks19 0]

Very ironic that a topic like this would come up today. I am a couple hours away from having a meeting with my coach where I plan on telling him that i no longer wanna play competitive hockey... I'm still a young guy, and currently (not for long) I am a part of a very competitive junior league in Canada, we are in our second week of tryouts, and I have come to the decision to no longer drag out the fact that i have just lost the passion to put up with the constant grind of pressure, travel, practices, and all the other politics that come into play, when competing at a higher level. It was hard when i first started getting these feelings that the passion, towards the game that i have grown up playing, were just not strong enough anymore. Last year playing on this team was far from successful, and being in training camp again just re-assured me that i just dont want to do it anymore. I am still good enough to play, I haven't suffered any major injuries, I still may possibly have opportunities that could arise from playing... but i just can't put my self through another year of constantly being miserable.

Playing competitive hockey is really something that requires certain types of people that can handle everything that goes with it, and i guess thats why it truly is so hard to make a living from it. The reality is some kids just can't handle all the situations that they are sometimes forced into, and there ultimately comes a time where you may just need to move on. Trying to kid yourself and go through the motions, with no motivation or commitment, is not fair on your team, your coaches, and especially not yourself... this is something that took me a very long time to accept. I know that it may be something that i regret here and there, but in the long run will work out better.

hopefully everything goes well when i have to break the news...

[Fletch 219]

I just cant comprehend this. We had a new guy start the season with us last year. No one knew him. He gets on the ice and he is skating around everyone like they are standing still...and he didnt even look like he was trying. I felt really uncomfortable with it.

He showed up at the second game at the end of the 2nd period (he had to work), and we were behind 6-2. He calmly said, "dont worry...we'll win". And promptly scored 6 goals.

Needless to say, the team was informed that he was not allowed to play in our league anymore. Our team was actually glad, as that was not the way we wanted to win. A victory that way is very hollow and meaningless. I want to earn the victory.

I just cant understand why teams would bring in ringers in an adult league.

Ok, that's just awesome....

I agree with you though...heh.

[RecLeagueHero 0]

I just cant understand why teams would bring in ringers in an adult league.

There are some people who have a marked inability to accept that one can have a competition without it being a blood sport. Known a few guys that will absolutely have a terrible week if they lose a rec league game, and they got rather pissed off at those of us who just enjoyed skating for the sake of it. Actually got booted off a team once because I told the "captian" that it was rec league hockey and I wasn't going to block shots.

[eric42434224 1]

I just cant understand why teams would bring in ringers in an adult league.

There are some people who have a marked inability to accept that one can have a competition without it being a blood sport. Known a few guys that will absolutely have a terrible week if they lose a rec league game, and they got rather pissed off at those of us who just enjoyed skating for the sake of it. Actually got booted off a team once because I told the "captian" that it was rec league hockey and I wasn't going to block shots.

Oh I understand those type of people would do it. I just cant understand why. The justification they use isnt based in any sense of logic or rational reality.

I take my games as seriously as I can within the boundaries of a sane person. I absolutely block shots and play as hard as I can. But I also know that it isnt a reflection of my manhood, or the seventh sign of the apocalypse, if we lose. Luckily, I just dont see that shit in our league. *knocks on wood*

[RecLeagueHero 0]

I just cant understand why teams would bring in ringers in an adult league.

There are some people who have a marked inability to accept that one can have a competition without it being a blood sport. Known a few guys that will absolutely have a terrible week if they lose a rec league game, and they got rather pissed off at those of us who just enjoyed skating for the sake of it. Actually got booted off a team once because I told the "captian" that it was rec league hockey and I wasn't going to block shots.

Oh I understand those type of people would do it. I just cant understand why. The justification they use isnt based in any sense of logic or rational reality.

I take my games as seriously as I can within the boundaries of a sane person. I absolutely block shots and play as hard as I can. But I also know that it isnt a reflection of my manhood, or the seventh sign of the apocalypse, if we lose. Luckily, I just dont see that shit in our league. *knocks on wood*

Well, personal experience wise it's two kinds of people: the people that are especially successful in other areas of life. Rec league hockey provides an arena for them to live out their hero fanatasy and a lot of them are willing to go to the extremes not to let anything screw that up. The other is the guys that just have a pathological need to win at everything. I don't know if it stims from some childhood trauma or whatever, but we'll all known the guy whose desire to win goes well beyond normal competive behavior. It's the dude that will actually go find someone in the parking lot after a game and at least try to start a fight. I call it uncle Craig syndrome after an uncle of mine who actually threw chin music at me because I ruined his no hitter during a baseball game at a family reunion. You gotta have a screw loose if you're actually proud of the fact you struck a 16 year old girl out because she can't hit your 80 MPH fast ball.

If you want to play like that within the boundaries of normal behavior I respect that. Personally, my days of blocking shots ended with my junior career.

[-venom- 0]

If you're only playing mens league once a week like I am, it's tough to even get your hockey "fix." I can see though how some more competitive players get burned out.

QFT.

I'm on hiatus right now due to the wife finishing school, which means I've got the kids every night. But to be honest, I needed a break.

After a few years of non-stop mensleague, PIHA, MLRH, NARCh, etc, playing (roller) 5-6 nights a week, it's tough to adjust to only one or maybe two nights a week. Especially when the only thing available is beer league stuff, for the most part.

[djinferno 2]

im on the sidelines for a year now because of surgery and i miss it so much, if you are physicly healthy, i see no reason to quit, play less maybe but not quit

[rebel96 0]

I've thought about taking a break a few times in the past. Right now I'm seriously considering it. I've just started Med school. I'm still trying to finish my Masters thesis from this past year and hockey really seems like a waste of money at the moment. We play twice a week, pretty much every week. We pay 8 euro each night. That means we pay 64 euro a month. In each month we probably have 2 good sessions, the other 6 being almost a complete waste of time. So I figure every year I'm wasting about 576 euro on poor hockey.

My biggest problems at the moment are...

1) the fact that at the moment there is no competitivity, no games, no leagues, nothing....just pick up twice a week (roller by the way).

2) completely mixed standard of play, from beginners to people with decades of experience.

3) the biggest factor is a bunch of complete morons who are at the lower end of the experience scale and do not respect the atmosphere of the game. Constant stick hacking, even if you don't have the puck. They play much too intensely for what pick up is. I have 13 years experience behind me and I'm reluctant to challenge these guys because of the potential of injury, stick breakages etc. We have a couple of younger kids playing with us to make up numbers. Everyone knows this and adjusts their play accordingly. These guys play as hard on the kids as they do on me. I imagine that they play with blinkers on. They see puck, they must have it whatever it takes. They don't even notice who is on the receiving end. Some of them don't even pass (even when you repeatedly call for it), and instead will try and make a million moves to take an inaccurate and powerless shot.

Grind my gears they do.

[njt42 0]

I'm quitting in march because I'm tired of my weekends always being wasted with traveling to games, and that I'd rather save the team fees to pay for my new car. B)

[RecLeagueHero 0]

Personally, I think most leagues advertise experiences they just can't (or won't) deliever. Parity, even in smaller leagues, is a joke. In the huge leagues it's just non-existant. I've never played on, against, or watched a rec league team that didn't have players above and below the average skill level by a wide enough margin you could easily figure it out by watching a couple of shifts. The bells and whistles quickly add to the cost of playing, and frankly, does anyone really care how many goals they scored on a rec league team from 5 years ago? The refs and the scorekeeper are what they are, but when you've got two refs at 40 bucks each, and the scorekeeper is 20 bucks, bam: $100 add on to every game. Two 18 minute periods of run time with a 15 minute third period, it's just not that much ice time.