The RinkFor the not so ready for prime-time players, coaches, referees, and the people that have to live with them. Discuss experiences in local leagues, coaching tips, equipment, and training.
From hearing what everyone has been saying about stick and puck, i'm leaning towards the class just because I don't expect it to be nearly as hectic.
Well, how hectic it is depends on where you live, haha. I live just south of Tampa, FL so even at it's busiest the S&P still have plenty of room to do your own thing.
But I'd agree that classes will probably help you the fastest.
Usually one end is occupied by a handful of high schoolers who are shooting and skating and doing mini drills, there's inevitably one E-W lane that's got a dad trying to teach several kids how to skate, and then another group of mites running drills in another end, a handful of 8-10 year olds weaving in and out of everyone's way, and then I have nothing to do but shoot a puck at the boards because that's the only tiny amount of space left.
But sometimes there's only a few people out and the whole fresh ice and net is yours and it's awesome.
That is hilarious because you just described 90% of the sticktimes (that's what they call them) at my local rink.
I will say that if you go early in the morning you can usually avoid a lot of kids on the ice (615AM), and typically if you can do a 715AM sticktime (on a weekday) there won't be more than 6 people out there, you just can't make it to work on time.
I take my 9 year old about once a week, but I never take him to the 615 session. It is all adults and they don't need a kid zooming around, plus it is a little riskier for him being the only kid. 715AM on a weekday and we are usually golden with lots of free ice.
As someone somewhat in the transition from kid to adult (19/freshman in college), I can say they'll definitely appreciate it one day haha. Sports are mine and my dad's "thing"; he coached all my teams when I was little, we watch games, and so on. When I was about 4 or so, he got me my first pair of skates, took me to lessons, and started watching hockey with me. Being in new york city though, skating soon was replaced with basketball and baseball, and after the lockout, we really stopped watching hockey. Fast forward some years, I start going to high school in Manhattan, have a best friend who loves hockey, and another friend takes me to a Rangers game. I fell back in love, took my dad to one, he fell back in love. From there, we've gone to I don't know how many games, went on a mini-roadtrip of Canada to see games, and this christmas he got me another pair of skates so I can finally learn to actually play. Long story short, if your kids take to the hockey, you'll have a great father-son thing. Even if they won't say it, they'll appreciate it.
Koz. I'm a little late to reply here because I forgot about this thread. What school did you go to? I graduated from Xavier in Manhattan.
Usually one end is occupied by a handful of high schoolers who are shooting and skating and doing mini drills, there's inevitably one E-W lane that's got a dad trying to teach several kids how to skate, and then another group of mites running drills in another end, a handful of 8-10 year olds weaving in and out of everyone's way, and then I have nothing to do but shoot a puck at the boards because that's the only tiny amount of space left.
But sometimes there's only a few people out and the whole fresh ice and net is yours and it's awesome.
I guess it depends on your areas. Around here they have separate stick and pucks for age groups; 5-12, 12-17, and 18+.
Made my return to the ice tonight for the first time in nearly 6 years. It was quite a blast! Went to two consecutive adult hockey skills classes at the local rink; only one goalie showed up for the second one so two of the three of us from the first one stuck around for it.
Had to use some loaner skates (pinched like hell) and pants (meh) since some of my gear is still being shipped back to me. Forgot socks too, kind of embarrassing to have to ask random strangers in the locker room to borrow a pair.
As for the ice, I almost picked up right where I left off. Had some trouble on the glove side, and let in a couple cheap ones on the blocker side too. Two-pad slides to the right felt great and nearly impossible to the left until I suddenly did a beautiful one almost on complete instinct not even thinking about what I was doing. Would have been a highlight-reel save except the guy elected to not shoot. Then I struggled to get back up, hah.
Also, I had forgotten my stick is backwards-handed (despite looking over my gear for a week or so before going back out) and the tape kept falling off on the ice. I'll need to get a new one.
That is hilarious because you just described 90% of the sticktimes (that's what they call them) at my local rink.
I will say that if you go early in the morning you can usually avoid a lot of kids on the ice (615AM), and typically if you can do a 715AM sticktime (on a weekday) there won't be more than 6 people out there, you just can't make it to work on time.
I take my 9 year old about once a week, but I never take him to the 615 session. It is all adults and they don't need a kid zooming around, plus it is a little riskier for him being the only kid. 715AM on a weekday and we are usually golden with lots of free ice.
You're lucky there are even early sessions. Most of ours seem to be at 5PM-6PM. In fact, most of the rinks activities are during times only kids on vacation and old people can go to!
I've noticed that at S&P at my local rink, what you get totally depends upon which day/time you go. M-Th afternoons? You'll get a ton of younger players, their parents bring them after school. There will be coaches with groups of kids, there will be teens who play together, and very, very few adults. The odds of it degenerating into an illegal scrimmage are about 99%. The last time I went to one of these, there were THREE scrimmages going on - one in the neutral zone, then one in each of the attack zones. I didn't really have anywhere to go where I wasn't in the way, doing my boring edge drills and such.
Friday afternoons the session is later and longer (5:15-7:15 instead of 4:45-5:45). That day, there are still a lot of teens, but fewer little ones, and several adults. The adults are friendly and every time I've gone to that session, someone has offered to work on passing, etc. with me. That's my favorite afternoon session to attend.
There are also early morning sessions. These are pretty empty - the Sunday morning one I went to recently had maybe 10-12 people total, about 70% adults. I think I will try to make the morning sessions during my summer break, since I have the most options there!
So if your location offers different days/times, it can be worthwhile to try attending different ones to see which ones work best for you. I know that the M-Th afternoon ones are a waste of time/money for me, but Friday or the morning ones, I will get a lot done. You may find your rink is similar.
If your at peoria they have a Friday night instructional session at around 9 ish. It is geared toward beginner/novice level with a coach for about $18 I think. Also a Sat early morn stick time with lots of open space.
Made my return to the ice tonight for the first time in nearly 6 years. It was quite a blast! Went to two consecutive adult hockey skills classes at the local rink; only one goalie showed up for the second one so two of the three of us from the first one stuck around for it.
Had to use some loaner skates (pinched like hell) and pants (meh) since some of my gear is still being shipped back to me. Forgot socks too, kind of embarrassing to have to ask random strangers in the locker room to borrow a pair.
As for the ice, I almost picked up right where I left off. Had some trouble on the glove side, and let in a couple cheap ones on the blocker side too. Two-pad slides to the right felt great and nearly impossible to the left until I suddenly did a beautiful one almost on complete instinct not even thinking about what I was doing. Would have been a highlight-reel save except the guy elected to not shoot. Then I struggled to get back up, hah.
Also, I had forgotten my stick is backwards-handed (despite looking over my gear for a week or so before going back out) and the tape kept falling off on the ice. I'll need to get a new one.
i had my first shorthanded goal last night. definitely feels very different when you battle the puck away from two guys, then outrun them, and slide the puck under a 6'6" butterfly goalie.
So i'm looking for some tips on back to fronts. I'm getting pretty good and going front to back by turning on the balls of my feet, but for whatever reason i can't seem to find a good balance point going back to front. Any tips?
So i'm looking for some tips on back to fronts. I'm getting pretty good and going front to back by turning on the balls of my feet, but for whatever reason i can't seem to find a good balance point going back to front. Any tips?
Some people actually find back to forward mohawks easier than two-foot pivots. There's plenty of vids on youtube but they're actually the better way to pivot.
Some people actually find back to forward mohawks easier than two-foot pivots. There's plenty of vids on youtube but they're actually the better way to pivot.
I have trouble getting my hips to open enough to do the mohawk pivot. Thinking about taking up yoga or something to improve my flexibility
On another note, I got my first goal on a live goalie in pick-up on tuesday =D
Just checking in, I'll be starting my instructional league on June 27th or 29th. So excited to actually start playing and practicing with real live people after months of skating like a looney with pads on at free skates.
If your at peoria they have a Friday night instructional session at around 9 ish. It is geared toward beginner/novice level with a coach for about $18 I think. Also a Sat early morn stick time with lots of open space.
Thanks, I might try that this coming year. Right now I do Thursday night women's league - often there are only a few players. We only had actual lines once - other times we've done 4 on 4 and people just came off/on as needed, but I've also had 2 on 2 and 3 on 3 with NO shifts. It's brutal, but I do think you can make a lot of improvement getting thrown in to the fire like that!
I also do D league at Oceanside - so between Thurs/Sat, Friday may be a bit weekend-heavy. I plan to do Tuesday night rookie league at Oceanside during the summer, but then once school starts up again I'll probably end up doing a stick time some afternoon at Polar. I've also signed up for puckheads, I may try a game or two there. I like that it's not a permanent commitment, so I can work that in as my schedule allows!
I plan to do Tuesday night rookie league at Oceanside during the summer, but then once school starts up again I'll probably end up doing a stick time some afternoon at Polar. I've also signed up for puckheads, I may try a game or two there. I like that it's not a permanent commitment, so I can work that in as my schedule allows!
The Tuesday night sessions at Oceanside are pretty good if you haven't already been to them. I plan on going to back-to-back sessions each week all summer long, probably longer than that. Been in and out of them for years, Scott runs some pretty good skating/passing/shooting drills for people (not really sure what exactly he's doing these days, since the three sessions I've been to so far he's left the goalies alone and the goalie coach doesn't always show up).
So with all of my deficiencies as a hockey player I signed up for drop in tonight.
I'm really nervous, and I like learning kind of trial by fire. Any tips for my first game on ice?
Just have fun, it's not the Stanley cup final so just go out and enjoy yourself.
Also never let your head drop even if you make a huge clanger of a mistake, everyone needs to learn at some point and if you have fun along the way then all the better!
My first game I was terrified. I had no real idea of where I was supposed to be or what I was supposed to do (other than not put the puck in the wrong goal).
I've probably played in about 15 games now. I'm not great...heck, not even good! But I try. I get about half of the passes made to me, and while I can't say that I've done much that has been amazing on the ice, I haven't done anything horrible either.
I'm fairly decent at knowing what to do and where to be now, but I can still be thrown for a loop - a few weeks ago with only a few people showing up for the drop-in womens game, I ended up in a 3 on 3 for the entire 60 minute ice time, and the following week it was 2 on 2! I had no idea what to do in those situations, other than try to go towards their goal, and don't let them score in ours!
When you're just starting out, any goals or assists you're likely to get will probably come from being in the right place at the right time. Maybe you can't skate super fast or you can't shoot from a ways out - but you can certainly be the guy close enough to the net to grab the garbage goals. When I actually get to play on a line with my usual teammates, it's pretty much assumed that since the other two are better at shooting and skating fast, I'll be the one who hangs out in front of the net while the other two try to get it in to me. That's worked out a couple of times for us.
And sometimes, it's good enough to just be the one who gets in the way of the other team. I've been able to push the puck back out of our defensive zone a few times, or just keep it away from the goalie long enough for her to get ready for the next puck coming her way.
I've found that the people I've played with may be better than me at hockey, but they're also really nice people who were at some point beginners. I've got several who have been super helpful with impromptu shooting lessons, passing drills, etc.
Got into the locker room and the first thing I hear is a different language. Some eastern European country I'd guess. Got suited up and it ended up being 4v4 with two goalies.
1. I'm still a bit timid to do things at full speed. Since I can't exactly stop yet lol
2. If I had to guess I'd say these guys were silver a/b players.
3. I got a breakaway and was summarily tripped, lol.
4. I made some defensive plays, and got a second assist by wrapping it around the boards. The other assists were starting a break away etc
3. I got a goal! Setup in front of the goalie and got a tip in off a shot.
All in all my first game ever was really fun! But my limitations are very obvious right now .
