Attempt to injure in mens league

[chippa13 1844]

Just remembered another incident from my summer league: We were slaughtering a fairly dirty team who was just brutal (not running up the score but just out playing and shooting them) when they decided they'd had enough. Clean checks were now fair game to them to start a fight or throw elbows, and the best part came when their captain skated from our zone to his blueline where our player was floating so that he could kick his feet out. Fastest he'd hustled all game, with his leg beginning to wind up at centre ice. Never seen anything like it. Ref's were oblivious to it all so that didn't help one bit.

Not for nothing but floating in a blowout is high on the not cool list. That's right up there with hanging at pick up.

Fair enough, but unless I'm mistaken there was under a minute left. Not saying there is an excuse for floating, but there was certainly no excuse for his actions.

If someone is killing my team and floating in the last minute then you can damn sure guarantee if I'm the one that catches him on the breakaway that he will be receiving a nice slash at the wrists or back of the calf. Floating period is an asshole move, doing it near the end of a blowout pretty much gets what he deserves.

Sorry, I should probably clarify that play was still going on in our defensive end. He never had the puck, and there was certainly no indication of it coming to him. The other guy was just looking to injure. Not to mention a stick to the back of legs stings, going for the wrists might be a little much, but kicking someones feet out is on a whole different level.

Put yourself in the other guy's shoes. You're team is getting smoked with a minute to go and you glance out to the neutral zone and see a guy floating because he doesn't feel the 6 goal lead quite seals it and is desperate for his number on the score sheet. If you really want to prevent this event from happening again, tell your guy to knock the shit off. Someone who wants a goal that bad just doesn't get it.

[furlanitalia 1]

Chippa13 that is your opinion. In this case it was uncalled for, and wasn't the first thing this guy had done that game (including trying to take a players head off because he poked the puck away from him, a clean check)

[NYRSinceBirth 0]

I was threatened to be jumped and swung at at a game 2 weeks ago. By the other teams captain, after a clean play. I don't know, some people take adult leagues way too seriously.

[shotty 7]

some people take adult leagues way too seriously.

this should be painted at the exit of every dressing room in every rink in north america.

[tonguesOUT4life 17]

any forwards ever try giving their on comming checkers the stiff arm like a running back in football? i had the puck on the left wing deep in the offensive zone and i knew this fat slob was charging at me so i just stuck my paw up before he even got close to me and its like BOOM he hit a pole. i didnt get called on that play and now im thinking about starting football.. nfl here i come!!! :lol:

[maxamillion 3]

We played a game without a goalie, just had a skater in net with a goalie stick, and one kid on the other team floated the entire game. I had a great chance to send him into next month at one point, but thought better of it. looking back on it, I should have just done it.

[Officer Dangle 0]

some people take adult leagues way too seriously.

this should be painted at the exit of every dressing room in every rink in north america.

So true.

[RecLeagueHero 0]

There's no real excuse for drilling someone in beer league hockey. That said, we all know there are folks who take it too seriously. Hell, there are fellows that take drop-in hockey too seriously. So the best idea would probably be to not do stuff like floating during a blowout that's clearly going to provoke even the more mellow players on the other team. Of course, I also tend to think beer leagues themselves feed into this mentality when they strive to create an overly formal atmosphere. When you make it look like you take it very seriously: overly flashly websites, pointstreak stats keep for years, overly stress uniforms beyond what's needed to tell teams apart, and so on, you end up attracting the kind of player that's going to take it too seriously. You're also going to encourage the guys on the fence to cross over to the taking it too seriously side. Then you have league managers that view player discpline almost solely in short term finanical impact to the league. Kick someone out, or impose a long suspension, and you're potentially losing thousands of dollars when they don't come back. Poorly policed suspensions also minimize their effect, especially late in the season. Players suspended in the play offs can almost always find teams with open rooster spots willing to put their name on for a small precentage of the actual season cost. Hell, a few years ago I was on a team that actually had 13 skaters and a goalie, but we were carrying a maxed out roster. The captain realized we could cut our own costs by handing out the extra roster spots to suspended guys for $80.

When you throw in the reffing situation: guys that are primarily motivated by the extra income, poorly trained, over tired from trying to ref as many games as possible, and working off of inconsistant (and often ill defined) standards of play it's a recipe for the crap that goes on in beer league hockey. Pointing out these problems doesn't really provide any solutions, and I'm fairly certain many of the problems in beer league hockey can't really effectively be solved. If you take a laid back approach to things like stats, websites, and uniforms players will figure it's not much different than drop in, and stop playing league to save the money. Booting players does have financial consequences for a league, many of which are often strapped for cash as it is. Policing a league is also difficult, and will require either volunteers or cost. It's hard to get volunteers for absolutely neccesary league functions, and added costs will only drive up already high prices. Making greater demands on refs will reduce the pool of available refs (and there may already be shortages) and likely result in higher pay demands. So two options really: I chose to just avoid beer league hockey, or you can take the bad with the good. Look out for your teammates and yourself, avoid doing things that are going to provoke, and accept that you must assume some risks associated with playing against douchebags.

[Skoda10 14]

^ That post hits the nail on the head. I agree a lot of leagues try to attract players by making it more and more like the NHL (or trying to make it more serious). The league I was playing in here just added an All star game. What's the point in that, it's just mens league, relax.

I also played in a "league" a few years ago now, and it was guys pretty much tired of this, so they just rented ice once a week, broke everyone that signed up into 6 teams and put out a schedule. No refs, just wear the same color jersey as the rest of the team, no scoreboard, just good fun hockey.

It's almost like there needs to be something between drop-in and beer league to appeal to all the players out there. Or everyone could just calm down a little.

[MorePower4me 0]

My rink has 4 'beer league' teams, 4 colors of jersey, and they all say 'Rec League' and a #.

No team names or any of that BS. On any Sunday Blue plays Red, and Yellow plays Green, etc.

I think its perfection in simplicity.

[chk hrd 164]

All good points Rec...who in thier right mind gives a crap about stats in a beer leagu.

[dsjunior1388 81]

^ That post hits the nail on the head. I agree a lot of leagues try to attract players by making it more and more like the NHL (or trying to make it more serious). The league I was playing in here just added an All star game. What's the point in that, it's just mens league, relax.

I also played in a "league" a few years ago now, and it was guys pretty much tired of this, so they just rented ice once a week, broke everyone that signed up into 6 teams and put out a schedule. No refs, just wear the same color jersey as the rest of the team, no scoreboard, just good fun hockey.

It's almost like there needs to be something between drop-in and beer league to appeal to all the players out there. Or everyone could just calm down a little.

How many teams in your league? Whats the point of 2 all star teams if you've only got 4 or 5 teams?

[RecLeagueHero 0]

^ That post hits the nail on the head. I agree a lot of leagues try to attract players by making it more and more like the NHL (or trying to make it more serious). The league I was playing in here just added an All star game. What's the point in that, it's just mens league, relax.

I also played in a "league" a few years ago now, and it was guys pretty much tired of this, so they just rented ice once a week, broke everyone that signed up into 6 teams and put out a schedule. No refs, just wear the same color jersey as the rest of the team, no scoreboard, just good fun hockey.

It's almost like there needs to be something between drop-in and beer league to appeal to all the players out there. Or everyone could just calm down a little.

How many teams in your league? Whats the point of 2 all star teams if you've only got 4 or 5 teams?

What the point of rec league "all star" games is I really can't say. The local big league does them at the end of every season. What I can attest to is that they are nothing but a shit storm more often than not. The way the local big league handles it is to mix three or so divisons together for all star games so you're drawing form 12-18 teams instead of 4-6. There's no establish protocol for selecting your "all stars" so the teams are left to figure it out. Regardless of how the selection is made you're going to end up with a few people that feel they should have been picked, and are pissed off. I also think this is just another one of those things leagues do to create the illusion that it's actually competitive hockey, and encourages players to take it too seriously.

[RecLeagueHero 0]

^ That post hits the nail on the head. I agree a lot of leagues try to attract players by making it more and more like the NHL (or trying to make it more serious). The league I was playing in here just added an All star game. What's the point in that, it's just mens league, relax.

I also played in a "league" a few years ago now, and it was guys pretty much tired of this, so they just rented ice once a week, broke everyone that signed up into 6 teams and put out a schedule. No refs, just wear the same color jersey as the rest of the team, no scoreboard, just good fun hockey.

It's almost like there needs to be something between drop-in and beer league to appeal to all the players out there. Or everyone could just calm down a little.

How many teams in your league? Whats the point of 2 all star teams if you've only got 4 or 5 teams?

What the point of rec league "all star" games is I really can't say. The local big league does them at the end of every season. What I can attest to is that they are nothing but a shit storm more often than not. The way the local big league handles it is to mix three or so divisons together for all star games so you're drawing form 12-18 teams instead of 4-6. There's no establish protocol for selecting your "all stars" so the teams are left to figure it out. Regardless of how the selection is made you're going to end up with a few people that feel they should have been picked, and are pissed off. I also think this is just another one of those things leagues do to create the illusion that it's actually competitive hockey, and encourages players to take it too seriously.

[Skoda10 14]

How many teams in your league? Whats the point of 2 all star teams if you've only got 4 or 5 teams?

Sorry, been away from a computer for the last few days.

There were 6 teams in the summer league. They just had each team pick 5 guys to play in the "all-star" game. Made no sense to me why they'd have it.

The worst part is one of our teams best guys got injured casually bumping into someone behind the net, missed all of the playoffs.

[hyprlte 0]

Late to this, just got home and read the first post. I haven't read the responses yet so I apologize if anything I saw has been mentioned already.

How can a ref who witnesses this not make sure this guy is tossed from the league? G-d forbit something sever happened and i passed out or worse....

It isn't the job of the referee to suspend people, simply to report what he sees and let the proper authorities take care of the rest. A good referee never takes anything that happens on the ice personally, or goes out of the way to punish a player.

2 weeks ago i was playing in a lower end mens league game. Not to sound cocky or anything but i am much, much better than the level i was playing at.

If I had a dollar for every time a player didn't belong in a league or game and someone got hurt because of it, I would be a rich man.

I agree with you, but not to give a gross misconduct for a cross check to the throat..

update. Word has now gotten around through certain teams who play there that they have had poor refs because they are now not just drinking, but heavily drinking between games. Not impressed.

[MorePower4me 0]

I'd be careful listening to that rumor before you really know it's true.

Plus, how the hell can you skate/dodge pucks well while drunk? I have a hard enough time sober!

[hyprlte 0]

yesterday our A division refs were drunk 100%, it was a complete joke.

[Law Goalie 147]

Get everyone to chip in for a retail breathalyser, and present it to the league.

[fieldofdreams 0]

Get everyone to chip in for a retail breathalyser, and present it to the league.

This. And have the league director, or any ice rink employee who is working, to administer the test. That way, they see the results of the test, or the distinct lack of cooperation, firsthand. The league director would most likely take a rink employees word over a teams.

Or in the case of my rink, the league director, with his distinct selective enforcement, wouldn't give two shits, and would most likely be sharing in the drinking.

[mattzilla 0]

injuring people during mens league is stupid. we all gotta work the next day.

[ddbowdoin 0]

but to me, it seems like people forget how to the play the game.... its like now that you're out of competitive hockey you can't be touched at all and need a 3 ft free circle around you... its horrible how mens league hockey turns into a soccer match with people looking to the refs when they're just bumped... we're grown men with pads, hockey pads that is... not the ones our wives have

[chk hrd 164]

big difference between incidental contact during regular play and going out to run someone. If you are playing full contact then you know that you can get ran any time. When its a no contact league and someone drills you because you stole the puck or screened thier goalie it's a problem about ready to happen.

Grown men should know how to play and how to act regardless of the pads

[Tmako 0]

I agree. A little pushing in front of the crease or in the boards, no big deal. Cross check with my back turned and we got problems. I expect contact- but not to be run.

[ddbowdoin 0]

big difference between incidental contact during regular play and going out to run someone. If you are playing full contact then you know that you can get ran any time. When its a no contact league and someone drills you because you stole the puck or screened thier goalie it's a problem about ready to happen.

Grown men should know how to play and how to act regardless of the pads

oh absolutely, I completely agree on running on people. Ive never gone out there looking to put someone down. The way I play is gritty but I never play hard on someone of a lower skill level. I'm not even a good hockey player. I can skate ok, pass ok, horrible hands, and no real shot but I have passion and play 110% ever shift. If the puck goes down into the corner, I'll use my bodyweight on someone... just because you beat me to the puck doesnt mean you get a free pass. There are difference between this normal bumping and intent to injur or just being a jackass.