Playing against better teams

[nkrajewski12 2]

Hey guys do to an error by our captain we are now playing in our local areas silver roller hockey leauge instead of the copper leauge like we had wanted. We are a young team with significantly less experience playing hockey compared to the other teams in the leauge. Its not the situation we wanted to be in but since we are stuck there we'd rather play against these teams than not play at all, Im just wondering if you guys had any tips or tricks that could be useful while playing against more skilled teams.

Thanks.

[IPv6Freely 2096]

Just dont feel bad or get down on yourselves for being a last place team and being lit up every game (if that's what ends up happening). Use it as a chance to learn how to better defend, better position yourselves, and how to be a bit more organized on your passing and rushes. Basically, chalk it up to a learning experience. You'll just be that much better next season if you move back down.

[cgrays12 0]

Learn from what they are doing. I actually rather enjoy playing teams of a higher caliber because it pushes you and makes you play your hardest. Plus, the games that you win feel THAT much better

[Zombies #77 10]

Learn from what they are doing. I actually rather enjoy playing teams of a higher caliber because it pushes you and makes you play your hardest. Plus, the games that you win feel THAT much better

I agree. I have played many games against teams that didn't belong in lower divisions and it pushes me to work harder and better my game. Many times though have I also found that if you are playing better teams and you make a good move on them, intercept the puck, block their shot, poke the puck away, etc...they become really big assholes and the game turns sour quick . Hopefully that won't be the case for you.

[beerleaguecaptain 999]

Stay in position, force the puck handler to the outside, keep your sticks in the passing lane and don't run around chasing the puck.

[Scopes 4]

There will be lots of guys that will probably continually beat you one on one, make sure you're watching his chest and not giving him too much separation space or else he will just blow right by you - stay tight and don't get caught watching the puck.

[MyBoxersSayJoe 133]

Positioning can take you a long, long way as dkmiller says. You'll learn a lot and improve both individually and as a team. You may find lower levels a little too easy after that.

[hunt3rsean 44]

Yeah, if anything, the experience will make you a better player and a better team. While playing with one team (w/ minor roster changes through the years) I've played through 3 different levels of league hockey moving up. And each time we were moved up it definitely took a good 1/4 of the season to really start gelling against the faster/better teams. But, once you get settled with the new style of game you'll find that it's not as bad as you think. You'll notice yourself getting better as well. The key thing is to not get frustrated. Just enjoy yourself and keep your game simple. Play position and don't try to do everything yourself. Trust your teammates otherwise everyone just ends up running around.

I enjoy playing better teams. It really makes you skate and work harder. And, like some have mentioned before, it makes the win that much better....which makes the beer taste that much better. And if you lose, as long as you hustled, the loss doesn't sting as bad. If you lose and the other team trully earned the win...I can handle that. I hate losing against a team we should have beat but didn't because we didn't play our best. Well, when you play a league up.....you end up playing your best more often then not to compete.

Overall, it seems like it will suck, but you should end up enjoying it more than you think.

[leftwinger37 43]

Back in pee-wee, I was playing house and got invited to a try-out for a travel team. The travel coach could sense that I was little nevous and intimidated. He told me "You can't be at your best unless you compete against the best." That was all that needed to be said.

Epilogue: The travel team was in the lower half of the standings all year and we didn't win many games, but developmentally that was the best thing for me. There was no pressure on me or fear of failure. I was free to take (calculated) risks and really see what I could do on the ice. Although that has really been the only season that I have ever played on a "losing team," I learned more and probably had just as much fun as I do on teams that are perrennial contenders.

[nkrajewski12 2]

Hey thanks for all the advice guys. We played our first game last night and surprisingly we managed to score first! We couldnt hold the lead and eventually lost 6 to 3 but i was more than impressed with my teams performance considering only 2 of us had ever played organized hockey of any sort before this. Your tips definitely helped and we are really excited to get back out there and win some games this season.

[beerleaguecaptain 999]

Glad to hear you had fun!

Just remember my two rules....

Rule #2: Never apologize for a blown play.

Rule #1: If she's hot, I have first dibs!

[cgrays12 0]

Thats good to hear. Youll find that your only going to get better as a team and that first win is going to be all the sweeter.

I always tell the guys on my team that its only rec hockey. And its only a game. The sun will still rise tomorrow regardless of a rec hockey win or loss. The most important thing is to catch up with buddies and play a little hockey while your at it

[Doctor Hook 0]

You will be a better hockey player at the end of this season than you were at the beginning. And that's all that matters.

[Blueandgold26 1]

stay in position and hustle your ass off. It's very satisfying seeing these teams who underestimated you scrambling with 30 seconds left trying to tie the game, then being bitter after they lose. Hard work wins games.

[splitbtw 2]

As everyone esle noted, take it all in and learn from it. Ask yourself questions like:

Why are the other teams better?

Where are they when they score?

What are they doing to be successful?

Also, communicate a lot and challendge yourselves. Also can't hurt to try new strategies.

[hunterphfr 12]

Several people have said position. While I have no experience at roller and I know it is a more free flowing game, on ice position is key. A less talented team if they play smart and solid positional hockey can beat a more talented but less disciplined team. You see it all the time here in Florida in mens leagues. Teams composed of mostly older guys from up north who have lost half a step can school a team full of faster, younger and flashier players who just run and gun.

[technophile 0]

Stay in position, force the puck handler to the outside, keep your sticks in the passing lane and don't run around chasing the puck.

Done in one. Remember that passes are faster than any player, keep to your position and don't let them have any rebounds clean.

[nkrajewski12 2]

Well to keep you guys updated, tonight didnt turn out so well. We suffered a 9 to 1 loss tonight. Things just didnt seem to click as well as we were missing our key D guy and our goalie let up a few easy ones early on. It just seemed that even as we worked as hard as we could the score just wouldnt go our way, it was a tough loss.

[Law Goalie 147]

If your goalie tends to get beat early on in games, try tweaking the warm-up. Beer league warm-ups are a joke, but you can use 5 or even 2 minutes to get your goalie's head in the game, rather than letting him 'settle in' after two or three softies.

Basically, when you want to do is just hit his feet, hands, and torso with a few pucks each; all he's doing with these is activating his eyes to track the puck into his body, and getting a feel for the impacts and for his stance. (This part can actually be done on the half-boards with a single accurate shooter.) After that, start putting them five-hole and to the upper and lower quadrants away from his body, but not 'sniping'. Once he's had to butterfly a few times and reach for a few pucks, you can start varying the distance and velocity. End off with a few blueline-in 2v1s and 3v2s, with the D passing to breaking forwards who loop back on the attack: this does a nice job of simulating turnovers, and it'll really get him on his toes. The trick is getting everyone on the same page about what's happening and when, so you can move quickly between the modes.

Just remember that pretty much any combination of skating, passing, and shooting will get a skater ready to play; a goalie's warm-up is a little trickier, since it's dependent on what the rest of the team does.

[Thepandamancan 0]

If you can make sure your confidence isn't diminished then you guys will be in a great position to get better quickly...you will just lose a lot...maybe every game. I was in that situation as the goalie...after facing 40-50 shots a game I got better really quick and so did my team.

[haole 3]

If your goalie tends to get beat early on in games, try tweaking the warm-up. Beer league warm-ups are a joke, but you can use 5 or even 2 minutes to get your goalie's head in the game, rather than letting him 'settle in' after two or three softies.

Basically, when you want to do is just hit his feet, hands, and torso with a few pucks each; all he's doing with these is activating his eyes to track the puck into his body, and getting a feel for the impacts and for his stance. (This part can actually be done on the half-boards with a single accurate shooter.) After that, start putting them five-hole and to the upper and lower quadrants away from his body, but not 'sniping'. Once he's had to butterfly a few times and reach for a few pucks, you can start varying the distance and velocity. End off with a few blueline-in 2v1s and 3v2s, with the D passing to breaking forwards who loop back on the attack: this does a nice job of simulating turnovers, and it'll really get him on his toes. The trick is getting everyone on the same page about what's happening and when, so you can move quickly between the modes.

Just remember that pretty much any combination of skating, passing, and shooting will get a skater ready to play; a goalie's warm-up is a little trickier, since it's dependent on what the rest of the team does.

this is good advice. You will see most rec league warmups where the team lights up the goalie with big slappers. That gets the goalie confidence down right off the bat.

Also if your playing roller at a high level you should try to play man coverage. You can resort to a box if you cant skate with them but you will probably get lit up. Ideally you would want to play solid man coverage (in roller), if you cant skate with them you have to give them more space but still pickup your guy...this includes all 4 skaters so your lazy forwards have to back check and pick up their guys. And communicate, everyone needs to know who's covering who and when a point man skates in deep he cant be stupid and slap it into the defenses shinpads to give up a breakaway (at the same time the forwards need to know he is pressing so one of them can cycle back to cover for him).

[nkrajewski12 2]

Well fresh off another loss tonight. BUT i couldnt be happier with the team. We all played like we should, we had solid positioning, solid passes and we all just played our best game possible. IT was nice seeing the team smiling on the bench as we scored 7 goals, and overall the team left the rink happy tonight. Things are starting to click for us.

[cgrays12 0]

Well fresh off another loss tonight. BUT i couldnt be happier with the team. We all played like we should, we had solid positioning, solid passes and we all just played our best game possible. IT was nice seeing the team smiling on the bench as we scored 7 goals, and overall the team left the rink happy tonight. Things are starting to click for us.

And we knew they would. Your going to look back on this season at the end of summer and realize how much of an improvement you and your team made individually and as a group

[scopedin 1]

Another bit of advice I'm learning with my team right now is clear the puck, and get a change on while THEY chase it. it tires the other team out while you get fresh players. You can't get your players off if you cant get the puck out of your zone.

[Chadd 916]

Another bit of advice I'm learning with my team right now is clear the puck, and get a change on while THEY chase it. it tires the other team out while you get fresh players. You can't get your players off if you cant get the puck out of your zone.

Too many guys refuse to change when their team has control of the puck or when it goes into the offensive end. It's like they think they're going to lose out on a goal if they change on a dump in.