Ice vs Roller

[Bnatural 0]

So I kinda skipped through the last couple of pages so excuse me if my post is not exactly what everyone is currently talking about. That being said I play both Roller hockey and Ice hockey and I love both. As mentioned earlier, I can always pick out a player who has roots in inline. Head down, hands moving faster than their feet, usually not backcheckers, not to mention most inline players who play ice just have a different mindset than guy who grew up playing ice. By that I mean they make different decisions in certain situations for example dumping the puck in an going hard to the corners EXPECTING to get hit as apposed to dangling or circling back out. (I think ice hockey players protect themselves alot better) Ask anyone who has play contact hockey and they will tell you preparing for the check is second nature. Inline hockey is more of a finesse game and it does make you a better player with the puck on your stick.

[twolinepass 0]

It would be awesome if they could get a NHL sponsored roller league kinda like how the NFL is backing the new AFL.

[Chad Seibel 2]

It would be awesome if they could get a NHL sponsored roller league kinda like how the NFL is backing the new AFL.

I agree, but we need people to understand the synergy between the 2 sports.

[xrickyb86x 1]

I grew up playing roller hockey in San Diego back when it was booming down here. Now... not so much. Anyway, I would always wonder the same. My family couldn't afford to have me and my two brothers playing ice hockey so aside from the random youth skills classes we never did. So as a kid I had friends jumping to ice hockey around their teens and claimed they now understood why ice players hated roller hockey. As I got older I stopped playing and was able to analyze the games more from an outsider view rather than a biased roller hockey player. Now I strictly play ice hockey. There are a lot of things I've noticed and they've all pretty much been covered here. But one thing I've noticed is the brotherly aspect in ice hockey locker rooms is almost non existent in roller hockey. I have no idea why. Ice hockey has this "Lets play and have a good time" feeling to it while roller hockey comes off as "I'm better than you.". Just an opinion.

I still love both sports.

[twolinepass 0]

I grew up playing roller hockey in San Diego back when it was booming down here. Now... not so much. Anyway, I would always wonder the same. My family couldn't afford to have me and my two brothers playing ice hockey so aside from the random youth skills classes we never did. So as a kid I had friends jumping to ice hockey around their teens and claimed they now understood why ice players hated roller hockey. As I got older I stopped playing and was able to analyze the games more from an outsider view rather than a biased roller hockey player. Now I strictly play ice hockey. There are a lot of things I've noticed and they've all pretty much been covered here. But one thing I've noticed is the brotherly aspect in ice hockey locker rooms is almost non existent in roller hockey. I have no idea why. Ice hockey has this "Lets play and have a good time" feeling to it while roller hockey comes off as "I'm better than you.". Just an opinion.

I still love both sports.

It always seems that Ice players hate on Roller only guys. I know tons of people that do both and it seems its the people that only play ice that have a problem roller players while the roller dudes dont seem to mind the ice guys.

[bednarz877 0]

i play mainly ice, but ive never understood why some ice guys dont like roller. its just as fun as ice, if not more fun.

[NextBobbyOrr 0]

I don't have anything against roller either. Personally, there's nothing I dislike about it. Except for playing in hot arenas. That can be brutal. And that I can't do hockey stops. But I think that part of it is that, much of the skills from roller doesn't exactly translate onto ice hockey. Like the pucks are different. Gear is different. And just for the record, yeah Bobby Ryan played Inline. He played on that other inline guys team. The one sponsored by reebok. Itan Chavrika maybe? He's trying to make the conversion to ice right now. There was some article about that in the hockey news.

And since I'm on this topic, how do you do an "ice-hockey" stop in inline? Is it really different? I never got around to learning that.

[Machinehead2k5 32]

A few RollerHockeyInternational Alums:

Manny Legace-Tyler Moss

Bryan Trottier-Francis Bouillon-Tiger Williams

Nick Fotiu-Daniel Berthiaume-Al Secord-Steve Poapst

Harry York-Glen Metropolit-Darren Langdon

[Chad Seibel 2]

I grew up playing roller hockey in San Diego back when it was booming down here. Now... not so much. Anyway, I would always wonder the same. My family couldn't afford to have me and my two brothers playing ice hockey so aside from the random youth skills classes we never did. So as a kid I had friends jumping to ice hockey around their teens and claimed they now understood why ice players hated roller hockey. As I got older I stopped playing and was able to analyze the games more from an outsider view rather than a biased roller hockey player. Now I strictly play ice hockey. There are a lot of things I've noticed and they've all pretty much been covered here. But one thing I've noticed is the brotherly aspect in ice hockey locker rooms is almost non existent in roller hockey. I have no idea why. Ice hockey has this "Lets play and have a good time" feeling to it while roller hockey comes off as "I'm better than you.". Just an opinion.

I still love both sports.

That is an interesting opinion to have. I have never heard that and I for one, actually, see the opposite a lot of times. In roller I see guys out there having a good time and letting loose. When a lot of guys play ice hockey i see them overly pent up and trying to make the NHL every shift. This is not a bad thing, but that is where I see a lot of difference. As far as the locker room, I have had experiences both ways. There are some douches in every sport and ice and roller are not immune to these suckers.

[n3ss 0]

i only dislike roller hockey becasue i can't rollerskate for crap.

[start_today 770]

Do you guys rock different sets of equipment for each, or do you tend to wear the same stuff (obviously, pants and skates are different). I use all of the duplicate stuff that I can (helmet, gloves, shinguards, bag) but I use different sticks. About once a month I have a small panic attack in the car where I'm trying to remember if I brought the right stuff and packed the correct skates for the correct game.

[Machinehead2k5 32]

Most of the ice guys that i played with, used their ice equipment for roller.

[usurhc 0]

Thanks for the laughs!

I recently started playing ice hockey (around 6 months ago) and I've been playing roller hockey for about 17 years.

I loved seeing the different reactions I would get, from the guys I play ice with, when I invite them to come play roller with us. I've asked guys at all different levels, anywhere from beginners to city league, to A leagues to College level, the list goes on. I would say by far my favorite comment is when ice hockey players say "Roller is for pussies" and then go on explaining how you can't check, it doesn't take any skill to skate, etc. etc. I find it ironic that anything besides A level and up, you aren't allowed to check. The other thing I find funny is that when these guys DO decide to show up, me and most the other guys I play with are skating circles around these chumps.

I remember these two guys that I was bugging for months... must have been almost a year, to come and play with us. They both played on the local high school ice hockey team and thought they were so cool. Anyway, my brother and I (that also plays roller) decided to sign up for the 3-on-3 ice tournament at the local rink. Long story short, we ended up placing first in our division. As I was leaving the rink the two guys mentioned above said "Hey are you guys playing roller tonight!? We wanna come play!"

After playing both there are really only a few subtle differences. For example, It takes more skill ice skating than roller. There is more give to the ice then there is for concrete. Roller plays with 4 and a goalie, ice plays with 5. Ice hockey uniforms (lower half) look kind of weird, BUT... I've seen some really stupid looking roller uniforms. I agree they sometimes look like FMX meets a PRIDE parade. Last, ice is generally more physical, but roller takes more finesse.

If you consider playing both... DO IT! There are skills (like stick handling) that I use in roller that have helped me a ton at ice and my skating skills at ice have helped me a ton in roller.

One question to ask yourself: If you love playing hockey, why does it matter if it's ice or roller? Either way you're out there playing!