World Police Fire Games 2013 in Belfast

[Holmes_D_83 27]

Any members taking part? Currently sitting watching the Las Vegas Guns and Hoses play America Blues and I'm seriously impressed by the standard of hockey!

[chk hrd 164]

I have friends on the LV team and played against them alot. The team I play on has a few cops that went to Ireland but I'm not sure if it was to play or watch.

[Fire Walker 22]

Are they playing the hockey in Belfast still? Last I heard was the hockey might be in Montreal. "A" Division hockey at firefighter tournaments is impressive to watch. There's a lot of great hockey players that work in emergency services.

[Chadd 916]

Some of the guys on the high level teams are essentially paid to play hockey. I also know a couple guys that pay "dues" in order to play in tournaments.

[Munsons 2]

I just noticed this topic. I played in Division II. The talent level was pretty high and our team got shallacked, but it was a lot of fun.

[DarkStar50 679]

In 2011, the event was held in NYC. Our rink hosted the over 35s and Division II. The over 35s were dominated by a team of ex-pros, I mean policemen, from Moscow. They must have trained off ice and practiced together for months, like Russians would. There were teams from Finland, Sweden, Czech, and Slovakia in D II that were excellent. It is a pleasure to watch Euro hockey in person where the first instinct is to pass, not shoot. The Canadian and American teams were very good too but they played to win and have fun immediately after the game was over.

[slippers 2]

Russians dominated again, 14 of 16 skaters on the 45+ team are on hockey db and had full pro careers in the Russian Elite League which is now the KHL (average of 10 years). I can only imagine how many of their younger players are still pros. Interesting how all of these pro hockey players are also "Professional Policemen" as well. They are Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs which is clearly a department of the Military.