GTA - Rec League Analysis

[RicerCaker 0]

This thread is great! Just what I was looking for. I was thinking about joining a Summer Rec League this year and couldn't decide between the ASHL and TNHC. Based on everybody's input, I am most likely going to join TNHC.

Just wondering, have any of you heard anything in regards to TNHC's Adult Beginners Program?

[Law Goalie 147]

It's received comment in this thread.

[W.Heinle 0]

Just wondering, have any of you heard anything in regards to TNHC's Adult Beginners Program?

It's how I got started in hockey. IMHO it's a great way to get introduced to and start playing rec hockey. More often then not the teams will continue on into the league.

[RicerCaker 0]

It's received comment in this thread.

Sorry, maybe I should have been more specific. While hearing that people were overall happy with the program is great, I was looking for a bit more info. Info in regards to the quality of instruction given and how it's run. Is the Beginners Program just as organized as the mainstream league? I've been to the website and read about the program and I've even e-mailed them for a bit more info. It's just always better to get feedback from the players directly then a league representative.

Didn't mean to step on any toes.... :D

On a side note, what's so horrible about the Rinx specifically? I've never been there and since the Adult Beginners Program is running there, you guys have me kinda worried....

That and the fact that TNH runs a beginners program which consists of some hockey instruction sessions and then games: Beginner's Information which at the same time is a great feeder system for their league.

I had a couple of friends who went through that TNH Beginner's Program (both of whom grew up abroad), and they loved it; more to the point, it made them happy rec. league players for life.

Same applies to me :)

I was born in Germany and grew up in Brussels.

[W.Heinle 0]

Sorry, maybe I should have been more specific. While hearing that people were overall happy with the program is great, I was looking for a bit more info. Info in regards to the quality of instruction given and how it's run. Is the Beginners Program just as organized as the mainstream league? I've been to the website and read about the program and I've even e-mailed them for a bit more info. It's just always better to get feedback from the players directly then a league representative.

Didn't mean to step on any toes.... :D

On a side note, what's so horrible about the Rinx specifically? I've never been there and since the Adult Beginners Program is running there, you guys have me kinda worried....

I did the beginner program in Brampton. For the winter they have Rinx on Sundays and Brampton on Mondays location. For the summer since there is less of a demand they only have the Rinx. Also if you do it in the winter, the playoffs are in a tournament style over one weekend. Which was pretty cool IMHO.

Instructors were good IMHO. The program is very basic and definitely not for people who have played hockey before.

When I did it, we had 4 young kids who were better than everybody else and the league almost kicked them out of the program.

The league assigns everybody to a team, you can request to be on the same team than friends of yours. Rules are he same then the regular league, except you have top wear full facial protection.

Rinx 1 is crummy, the ice surface is small, the ceiling low and the benches short. Also the restrooms are outside of the dressing rooms.

Rinx 2 & 3 are newer and better. Overall, it's not the greatest, but not the worst arena I have seen and/or played in.

If you have any other specific question, shoot away.

[RicerCaker 0]

I did the beginner program in Brampton. For the winter they have Rinx on Sundays and Brampton on Mondays location. For the summer since there is less of a demand they only have the Rinx. Also if you do it in the winter, the playoffs are in a tournament style over one weekend. Which was pretty cool IMHO.

Instructors were good IMHO. The program is very basic and definitely not for people who have played hockey before.

When I did it, we had 4 young kids who were better than everybody else and the league almost kicked them out of the program.

The league assigns everybody to a team, you can request to be on the same team than friends of yours. Rules are he same then the regular league, except you have top wear full facial protection.

Rinx 1 is crummy, the ice surface is small, the ceiling low and the benches short. Also the restrooms are outside of the dressing rooms.

Rinx 2 & 3 are newer and better. Overall, it's not the greatest, but not the worst arena I have seen and/or played in.

If you have any other specific question, shoot away.

Thanks for the reply! You said there were 4 young kids who were almost kicked out of the program because they were better then everyone else. So in your opinion, if I know the rules for hockey and I can skate decently. Just have trouble with stopping, doing some cross-overs and little things like that but can skate forwards, backwards, etc. and have never played in a league before. Would you recommend the Beginners Program? Or would you suggest just joining the Summer Brampton League?

[W.Heinle 0]

Thanks for the reply! You said there were 4 young kids who were almost kicked out of the program because they were better then everyone else. So in your opinion, if I know the rules for hockey and I can skate decently. Just have trouble with stopping, doing some cross-overs and little things like that but can skate forwards, backwards, etc. and have never played in a league before. Would you recommend the Beginners Program? Or would you suggest just joining the Summer Brampton League?

Based on that, I'd say do the beginners program.

Summer hockey is also always a lot more all over the map. There are usually less teams/divisions which leads to a bigger discrepancy in the skill levels. The lowest divisions in the summer will be a higher level than the lower divisions in the winter.

[phomp 0]

As a goalie, I did the beginner league. There was certainly some players who did not belong. If the discrepency is to big they actually do offer to refund your money or put you on another team that is not in beginners. They have many weeks of drills first, so they gauge your level.

Sorry, maybe I should have been more specific. While hearing that people were overall happy with the program is great, I was looking for a bit more info. Info in regards to the quality of instruction given and how it's run. Is the Beginners Program just as organized as the mainstream league? I've been to the website and read about the program and I've even e-mailed them for a bit more info. It's just always better to get feedback from the players directly then a league representative.

On a side note, what's so horrible about the Rinx specifically? I've never been there and since the Adult Beginners Program is running there, you guys have me kinda worried....

It is quite organized, I did it when I wanted to try goalie. You start off with skating drills, then puck drills. Each team gets 1 time slot a week (2 teams on the ice). After quite a few weeks you begin playing games against the other teams. (not sure how many weeks in).

They keep score/stats and have standings. Seasons end you get a playoff. In summer they just have a regular playoff. In the winter, they divide the divisons by standings and they mix the Toronto Teams and Brampton teams. Then you play in a tournament that weekend for your playoffs. Pretty fun little tournament.

If you play in winter and have the choice, I'd recommend the Brampton league. I hear the instruction is a little better, but that is just what I have heard from various players. The toronto instructors were good guys, and ran good drills which is the imporant thing but they are not anything above beer league hockey players.

Not sure about the Brampton instructors for player. In terms of Goalie - I would do the Toronto division. You get a goalie coach who is actually a goalie - and you get an extra slot a week just to work on technique with the goalie coach. My brother did the brampton program and his main issue was that the instructors generally just used the time to shoot on the goalies and rifle pucks.. did not learn to much technique. Granted this was a few years ago, things may have changed.

[dayroc 0]

nice thread.

I've recently just starting playing again. I play about 3-4 times a week for the past 3 years.

I play in or/and played in

- ASHL scarborough - C1/D1/E/E2

- ASHL Etobicko - D

- RinX (TNH) Yorkdale - C/D/E

It seems like the majority of the thread points to rinx (TNH) being less chippy. This is somewhat true, but not entirely. You will get teams that have that type of mentality in any league and location.

I will tell you something that i've noticed. As one poster said, ASHL is a younger crowd, it is more competitive than TNH. I would say a C division for TNH is equivalent to a e/d2 division to ASHL.

That being said, i love both places. YOu only get better playing with good people, i consider myself as a C/d player, but i would love the chance to play on a B team anyday, even if i was the slowest play on the ice.

Either way, hockey is hockey anywhere you take it. I have notice, with regards to fights and roughness that guys generally leave it on the ice.

As well, i have seen the most injuries at RINX compared to ASHL, but this is rare!.

Summer hockey at ASHL is quite competitve as most playeers are on off season and they are playing at ASHL.

I love both places like i said, but in order of organization i would say ashl takes the cake. Ahsl's website just rocks (in reality they both stink, but if i had to choose it would be ashl)

cheers!

[LttlScamp 0]

I'll throw one in for TNH as well.

I just finished the beginners course and tournament. Haven't had that much fun in a long time. I'm totally green as are most of the people who join. You're going to get a few people who can skate circles around you but they do a good job of balancing things out early on in the season.

I also liked how they split the divisions for the tournaments to play the top and bottom teams against each other separately. Add the fact that the mix the Brampton and TO leagues for the playoffs and it gives a good variety of players.

It's pretty laid back. You get a few people here and there that get a reputation for being chippy but over all nothing to get excited about.

If anything I found they called too many penalties. Let's face it...the vast majority of the people in this program have to expend 80% of their effort just staying up on their feet. So when you run into somebody it's almost always unintentional. Yet many of those crashes get called as penalties. But then I guess they need to get stats for the tie breakers.

Go Longhorns!

[W.Heinle 0]

Go Longhorns!

Congrats on the tourney win ;)

[bubber27 0]

It seems like the majority of the thread points to rinx (TNH) being less chippy. This is somewhat true, but not entirely. You will get teams that have that type of mentality in any league and location.

I will tell you something that i've noticed. As one poster said, ASHL is a younger crowd, it is more competitive than TNH. I would say a C division for TNH is equivalent to a e/d2 division to ASHL.

The main reason? During TNH's winter season, SuperSeries is the only thing to look forward to at the end. ASHL? Facility Championships, Regional Championships, and on and on to the Eastern Canada Regionals. You keep playing, that's why the better teams and players play there.

Like a few of you, i have the pleasure of playing in both TNH (Powerade) and ASHL (Oakville). Both are good leagues. I've also gotten to play in the Mississauga league, which is the worst. We played C2 Monday nights in Oakville, our team would've beaten my Thursday A Division team at Powerade.

ASHL also cut everyone a deal for next winter. Pay before the HST kicks in, you save the 8%. TNH isn't doing this. I asked my buddy (admin at Powerade) why TNH wasn't doing this, even he didn't know.

From what I hear, if you want top level comp in the west end of the the GTA, A/B division Tuesday's at ASHL Etobicoke, A Division Sunday nights at Powerade, or A Division Monday nights with ArenaPro based out of South Fletchers in Brampton (just by Sheridan College).

And I'll be playing Thursday Nights in Powerade this summer, we start this week. A Division, Digica Red Wings.

Phil

[alexk 0]

DCAHL at the gm center in Oshawa is pretty good, many teams have moved from the ASHL in oshawa to DCAHL, they give you 25$ for food after each game(good for team chemistry) they have free extra tournaments and they have the oppoptunity to play on teams in the same division on other nights.

[number18 0]

i've played arena pro the last few years but our team folded so i did the individual registration for true north. they sent a team rep my info and i joined that team. i requested wednesday c division but they didn't have anything available so i'll be playing tuesday d division.

i got nothing bad to say about arena pro, run very well no tournaments or anything but they did a decent job with keeping the rules and allowing a fight if no one else jumped in. then the 2 fighters get it out of their system and get tossed from that game and thats the end of it

[phomp 0]

The main reason? During TNH's winter season, SuperSeries is the only thing to look forward to at the end. ASHL? Facility Championships, Regional Championships, and on and on to the Eastern Canada Regionals. You keep playing, that's why the better teams and players play there.

Like a few of you, i have the pleasure of playing in both TNH (Powerade) and ASHL (Oakville). Both are good leagues. I've also gotten to play in the Mississauga league, which is the worst. We played C2 Monday nights in Oakville, our team would've beaten my Thursday A Division team at Powerade.

ASHL also cut everyone a deal for next winter. Pay before the HST kicks in, you save the 8%. TNH isn't doing this. I asked my buddy (admin at Powerade) why TNH wasn't doing this, even he didn't know.

From what I hear, if you want top level comp in the west end of the the GTA, A/B division Tuesday's at ASHL Etobicoke, A Division Sunday nights at Powerade, or A Division Monday nights with ArenaPro based out of South Fletchers in Brampton (just by Sheridan College).

And I'll be playing Thursday Nights in Powerade this summer, we start this week. A Division, Digica Red Wings.

Phil

There is no "A" division in TN. Even if you look at the registration, they do not register A divison teams. The top division is B and even C on some nights. They stopped having A division quite a few years ago. I know this because some guys I play with played on a team in the A division quite a few years ago in TN and one year they were told there was not going to be any more A division and if they wanted to play A division they would have to play somewhere else. Of course there are some players that should play A division that play in TN but it is not A level around the board and not A division hockey.

The top TN division is considered B or C depending on the night. Also, I find the teams in brampton seem to be of a higher caliber. The top teams in Brampton seem to be superior to the top teams in toronto. Plus Rinx blows.

i've played arena pro the last few years but our team folded so i did the individual registration for true north. they sent a team rep my info and i joined that team. i requested wednesday c division but they didn't have anything available so i'll be playing tuesday d division.

i got nothing bad to say about arena pro, run very well no tournaments or anything but they did a decent job with keeping the rules and allowing a fight if no one else jumped in. then the 2 fighters get it out of their system and get tossed from that game and thats the end of it

What team you play for on tuesdays?

[number18 0]

What team you play for on tuesdays?

turns out that team doesn't need a extra guy afterall. so right now i dont got a team

[BlackIce 1]

The main reason? During TNH's winter season, SuperSeries is the only thing to look forward to at the end. ASHL? Facility Championships, Regional Championships, and on and on to the Eastern Canada Regionals. You keep playing, that's why the better teams and players play there.

Like a few of you, i have the pleasure of playing in both TNH (Powerade) and ASHL (Oakville). Both are good leagues. I've also gotten to play in the Mississauga league, which is the worst. We played C2 Monday nights in Oakville, our team would've beaten my Thursday A Division team at Powerade.

ASHL also cut everyone a deal for next winter. Pay before the HST kicks in, you save the 8%. TNH isn't doing this. I asked my buddy (admin at Powerade) why TNH wasn't doing this, even he didn't know.

From what I hear, if you want top level comp in the west end of the the GTA, A/B division Tuesday's at ASHL Etobicoke, A Division Sunday nights at Powerade, or A Division Monday nights with ArenaPro based out of South Fletchers in Brampton (just by Sheridan College).

And I'll be playing Thursday Nights in Powerade this summer, we start this week. A Division, Digica Red Wings.

Phil

Very good post. I agree Mississauga Adult Hockey League is bad.

[The ORB 0]

I used to take my daughter to some hockey clinics at Canlan in Scarborough last year and there were usually ASHL games going on, on the adjacent rink that I would sometimes watch from the bar. They seemed to be mainly younger guys, pretty competitive and sometimes pretty chippy. One week a guy cross-checked a guy in the face to clear him out of the crease, which sparked a mass brawl. There must have been 7-8 guys all throwing haymakers and guys getting pummelled to the ice. The refs seemed at a loss as to what to do. It appeared that at the end of it all a few guys went to the box, but that was it, I don't think anyone got ejected. The "Safe" Hockey League. OK.

[automorph 0]

ashl is chippy regardless........playing "C" division just means extra chippyness

I would recommend D or B

[W.Heinle 0]

Anybody here any experience with this league: Arena Pro

Thanks.

[Hermans 9]

A lot of the comments here for both are valid. My one comment is that if you have to deal with the upper management of TNHL they have an attitude that smacks of "screw you, adult rec hockey is in high demand and you'll suck up what we decide." ASHL seems much more professional.

Say what you want about leagues but relative to your team skill it really just matters which night and tier you're in. Also ASHL has 3-4 locations in the GTA and from what I hear these are all different levels. In general Oakville is higher than Etobicoke. I take it that week nights at Etobicoke is far more aggressive than afternoons or weekends (a lot more of the industrial / factory workers playing) and that GTA east leagues are similar in this respect to Etobicoke. ASHL at York is all over the map from what I've seen (they have 6 rinks, lots of teams and when you watch games there they are truly all over the map).

Bruce Tennant, while not a favourite of mine, does run a very relaxed and very good Friday night rec league out of Chesswood. His level of professionalism makes True North look like a Bay Street business by comparison. Expect things to run a little late and if you have a team who can stand up for to the attempts to put random players on your bench from night to night, then it is a relaxed league.

I have a friend who plays Markham Mens rec league (mmrhl.com) and found it very enjoyable at the A level. He's getting to the point where he'll step down to B though as A level rarely has guys in the late 30's playing. It's apparently well run but higher level.

I hope you can post more than just a debate of the merits of TNHL versus the merits of ASHL. I'd be interested to find out more and I've found at least one more league to check out from this post. Also the GTA is vast... there should be more to hear.

lastly is there a general pattern of the the most competitive and most recreational days?

[BlackIce 1]

nice thread.

I've recently just starting playing again. I play about 3-4 times a week for the past 3 years.

I play in or/and played in

- ASHL scarborough - C1/D1/E/E2

- ASHL Etobicko - D

- RinX (TNH) Yorkdale - C/D/E

It seems like the majority of the thread points to rinx (TNH) being less chippy. This is somewhat true, but not entirely. You will get teams that have that type of mentality in any league and location.

I will tell you something that i've noticed. As one poster said, ASHL is a younger crowd, it is more competitive than TNH. I would say a C division for TNH is equivalent to a e/d2 division to ASHL.

That being said, i love both places. YOu only get better playing with good people, i consider myself as a C/d player, but i would love the chance to play on a B team anyday, even if i was the slowest play on the ice.

Either way, hockey is hockey anywhere you take it. I have notice, with regards to fights and roughness that guys generally leave it on the ice.

As well, i have seen the most injuries at RINX compared to ASHL, but this is rare!.

Summer hockey at ASHL is quite competitve as most playeers are on off season and they are playing at ASHL.

I love both places like i said, but in order of organization i would say ashl takes the cake. Ahsl's website just rocks (in reality they both stink, but if i had to choose it would be ashl)

cheers!

Time to bump up an old thread. I agree with this dude. I'm now playing ASHL summer out of Canlan Etobicoke. Definately a younger crowd, pretty chippy compaired to True North and quite competitive.

[W.Heinle 0]

Looks like I will be moving to Stouffville later this year.

Was wondering if anybody could comment on leagues in that area?

Thx.

[mfd1068 0]

Looks like I will be moving to Stouffville later this year.

Was wondering if anybody could comment on leagues in that area?

Thx.

I've signed up to play in this summer league http://www.newdirectionhockey.com/. Its at the Magna Centre in Newmarket. It starts May 17.

[automorph 0]

I've signed up to play in this summer league http://www.newdirectionhockey.com/. Its at the Magna Centre in Newmarket. It starts May 17.

Art runs a decent league....kind of like True North...they tend to stress less tolerance for chippyness