Hockey Feels Like A Chore

[Dave P 18]

Deleted

Edited December 12, 2019 by Dave P

[IPv6Freely 2092]

Well, the season finished yesterday. I haven't played in that league since September I think. I've played in maybe 3-4 pickup games since then, as well as Winterfest. I also subbed for a league game at the other (20 minutes closer) rink. I definitely miss playing.

I've been tracking my old league. The top three scorers all had more than double the goals of the person in 4th place. I get beer league stats don't matter but when it's THAT glaring... yikes.

I had an email exchange with the league director as I was trying to figure out what to do:

Me:

Quote

Do you have any plans to re-balance D5? I stopped playing pretty early last season because it had just become silly. We bring up guys from rookie, while other teams add players who immediately become their best player. The division is broken.

I’ve been talking to teammates trying to determine if I’m coming back or not and more than a couple of them have said it’s not fun anymore and they’re considering playing elsewhere.

I need to decide what I’m going to do for the upcoming season, and that decision hinges on what is going to be done in our division to remove or move up the guys who shouldn’t be there. 

Him:

Quote

Thanks for your opinion.

Me:

Quote

I'll take that as a "I can't be bothered doing anything about it", then. Thanks for the information.

Him:

Quote

You can take it anyway you want. 5 teams are happy and competitive. Have 1 team that needs some consistency of players showing up and a little upgrade.

Okay, so theoretically that should make the decision easy. I asked the director (who I have a good relationship with) to try to find me a team for their next season, but he wasn't able to before this one finished so I had to make a decision. I had played in the Anaheim Ducks Throwback Classic tournament (that we won our division) and that was great, and had a bunch of guys from my old team. They all said the same thing - that the league was broken, that the director doesn't care and won't fix it, and that they are considering switching to the other rink full-time. They said it could all be fixed if the director ever actually watched one of the games (and saw how ridiculous it is to have a guy skate around dangling everyone, going right to the net, and then deciding to NOT shoot because he knows it would go in and wants to pass it off to one of the other guys to score instead - as if that makes the eventual goal less irritating). But they got rid of the D4 division there so either these guys play in our division or he loses their money which obviously he's not gonna do.

So anyway, today I got a text from the captain. He said they all talked after the season ended last night and decided that everyone is going to be in for one more season to see if things get better since apparently they're just going to give us a couple D4-level guys so we can be competitive. I don't think THAT'S the solution but at least it makes it more eve, I guess. I asked him if the guys I played in the tournament were going to play this season too because they were considering leaving, and he said he was considering leaving too, but they all decided to give it one more shot. So from the sounds of it, if things go to shit again, he's planning on moving the entire team to the other rink (again, 20 minutes closer to me), so that's actually kind of the best case scenario for me. So... I agreed to join them. Because if it sucks again then I get to stay with them when they move. If it doesn't suck, then it doesn't suck.

I think just about the only major downside is I've taken up softball and now play that Sunday mornings. So my Sundays are basically 100% shot now. But... I have an MRI next monday for a suspected labrum tear in my throwing shoulder so my short lived adult softball career may be over pretty quickly. So then it won't matter anyway.

As for other life stuff... my job just gets worse by the day, and I can't relocate to take another job so I'm stuck. I think that's the most frustrating part. It also always blows my mind how many people are able to just up and relocate when they have a spouse. How? Do they not work too?

I've also gained a shit ton of my weight back, 50lbs of the 70 I lost initially. And eating like crap. And haven't been doing much hiking. And my wife's health isn't great either so it's really difficult for me to find the energy to do anything. 

I kind of want to buy some new pads or skates or something. That might boost the excitement to play a bit. 

We'll see how it goes.

[Hills 712]

17 hours ago, IPv6Freely said:

Well, the season finished yesterday. I haven't played in that league since September I think. I've played in maybe 3-4 pickup games since then, as well as Winterfest. I also subbed for a league game at the other (20 minutes closer) rink. I definitely miss playing.

I've been tracking my old league. The top three scorers all had more than double the goals of the person in 4th place. I get beer league stats don't matter but when it's THAT glaring... yikes.

I had an email exchange with the league director as I was trying to figure out what to do:

Me:

Him:

Me:

Him:

Okay, so theoretically that should make the decision easy. I asked the director (who I have a good relationship with) to try to find me a team for their next season, but he wasn't able to before this one finished so I had to make a decision. I had played in the Anaheim Ducks Throwback Classic tournament (that we won our division) and that was great, and had a bunch of guys from my old team. They all said the same thing - that the league was broken, that the director doesn't care and won't fix it, and that they are considering switching to the other rink full-time. They said it could all be fixed if the director ever actually watched one of the games (and saw how ridiculous it is to have a guy skate around dangling everyone, going right to the net, and then deciding to NOT shoot because he knows it would go in and wants to pass it off to one of the other guys to score instead - as if that makes the eventual goal less irritating). But they got rid of the D4 division there so either these guys play in our division or he loses their money which obviously he's not gonna do.

So anyway, today I got a text from the captain. He said they all talked after the season ended last night and decided that everyone is going to be in for one more season to see if things get better since apparently they're just going to give us a couple D4-level guys so we can be competitive. I don't think THAT'S the solution but at least it makes it more eve, I guess. I asked him if the guys I played in the tournament were going to play this season too because they were considering leaving, and he said he was considering leaving too, but they all decided to give it one more shot. So from the sounds of it, if things go to shit again, he's planning on moving the entire team to the other rink (again, 20 minutes closer to me), so that's actually kind of the best case scenario for me. So... I agreed to join them. Because if it sucks again then I get to stay with them when they move. If it doesn't suck, then it doesn't suck.

I think just about the only major downside is I've taken up softball and now play that Sunday mornings. So my Sundays are basically 100% shot now. But... I have an MRI next monday for a suspected labrum tear in my throwing shoulder so my short lived adult softball career may be over pretty quickly. So then it won't matter anyway.

As for other life stuff... my job just gets worse by the day, and I can't relocate to take another job so I'm stuck. I think that's the most frustrating part. It also always blows my mind how many people are able to just up and relocate when they have a spouse. How? Do they not work too?

I've also gained a shit ton of my weight back, 50lbs of the 70 I lost initially. And eating like crap. And haven't been doing much hiking. And my wife's health isn't great either so it's really difficult for me to find the energy to do anything. 

I kind of want to buy some new pads or skates or something. That might boost the excitement to play a bit. 

We'll see how it goes.

Good luck! Hopefully the league either turns around or your team can start at the new rink.

[caveman27 208]

Sounds like it's the team you got stuck on and the league are problems that can't fix themselves. That is to say, I'm guessing the other four goalies on the other teams are happy but wouldn't want to be in your position.

I'm in a lower level division, but not by my own choice. I asked around but no one responded. The next higher division didn't have any teams that wanted a new player. The league can't force any team to pick up a player, whether their roster is literally full or they just want to keep it closed to their inner circle of friends. 

 

 

[IPv6Freely 2092]

Well, the saga is officially over. I have just been told I am no longer on the team.

I guess "Take your time and come back when you’re ready" in September and "It’s your net if you want it" in January didn't actually mean that.

I was actually looking forward to it again - the season off did a lot of good for me. But, I guess it's closure either way.

[th6252 25]

On 5/30/2020 at 12:54 PM, IPv6Freely said:

Well, the saga is officially over. I have just been told I am no longer on the team.

I guess "Take your time and come back when you’re ready" in September and "It’s your net if you want it" in January didn't actually mean that.

I was actually looking forward to it again - the season off did a lot of good for me. But, I guess it's closure either way.

Too bad man.  But hopefully this will be a new beginning to your hockey journey and you’ll find a team you’ll be happier with.  Good luck!

[IPv6Freely 2092]

1 hour ago, th6252 said:

Too bad man.  But hopefully this will be a new beginning to your hockey journey and you’ll find a team you’ll be happier with.  Good luck!

I guess. I wasn’t unhappy with the team at all. In fact, that team meant everything to me. I did all the jerseys (paying for them all up front),I paid for the roster management software, I printed the shirts and hats and hoodies. Hell, I even had a “player of the game” championship belt made up.

I guess none of that outweighed my need to take a season off. 

[IPv6Freely 2092]

I guess I have some good news.

I played in a pickup on Sunday, as I mentioned here: 

 

The guy told me said it was a D5 skate (the division I was previously playing in). It very much was not. Though, being a pickup it also wasn't as difficult as D4 (which I have subbed in a couple times when I got to the rink early for my game and their goalie got hurt or didn't show up and got LIT UP). It was basically D4/D5 mix of players playing at a level somewhere in-between. Anyway, that to me actually made it fun. The other pickup I've been playing in for years has definitely declined in skill level for the most part, which makes the 2-3 really good players basically just annoying because it's non-stop breakaways. This was way more fun than that. 

My legs were jello pretty quickly, and semblance of flexibility I had is completely gone, and my timing and angles are all totally hosed. But I don't care. It was fun because it was a challenge. 

I let the guy know afterwards that it was really fun and that it makes me much less disappointed not being on a league team knowing I could do pickups at this level. He asked me if I wanted to return and I happily agreed. So, looks like I now have a weekly ice time once again. Its at noon which is good and bad - good because its not 10PM, but bad because it basically kills my day. But I'm not about to complain, I'm just happy to be doing something again.