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.
Not saying that all ringers are horrible, but they could improve the play of everyone around them. I know on my Friday team many of the players have became use to receiving my hard passes and getting into the open lanes on offense. I always try to help them improve their play while playing without trying to lecher them.
Having tons of ringers in a low division and playing against them isn't fun and shouldn't be allowed. 1 or 2 is okay anything more after that is going to be overkill.
they can also throw teams in a division that the majority of the players on the team have no business playing in, thus dropping the overall moral and fun of the team
On the other hand, I've seen total scrub teams which amazingly were turned into contenders with 1-2 ringers. We see it often in our divisions, and we love to attack those guys and shut them down. Sometimes it's not the worst thing in the world, but of course at that point it's only evening the playing fields.
they can also throw teams in a division that the majority of the players on the team have no business playing in, thus dropping the overall moral and fun of the team
I'm afraid that might happen with my team. We averaged about 14 wins of 20 games each season and were moved up a level and had our best players taken away. Last year we won 9 of 20 and this year I'm afraid we might drop more than that.
It's amazing how quickly a team full of good guys can turn absolutely sour when you drop 3 of 4 games. Nobody likes paying $400+ to lose most of the games and feel overwhelmed.
On the other hand, I've seen total scrub teams which amazingly were turned into contenders with 1-2 ringers. We see it often in our divisions, and we love to attack those guys and shut them down. Sometimes it's not the worst thing in the world, but of course at that point it's only evening the playing fields.
I've been there too.
One team I was on we all thought we were better than our talent, but we had a couple guys who shouldn't have been at our level at all. The league took one guy away mid-season and the other after the season.
Next year I subbed for them as I couldn't hang at that level, and they lost I think all but 4 or 5 games. By the end of the season, only 7 or 8 guys would show up every night, the guys were yelling at each other in the locker room, nobody could stand playing with each other, just a mess.
I was on a team before who consistently lost by 15 or 16 goals...you wanna talk about team moral? hahaha. Putting a team together with all your close friends seems like a good idea...except if those friends have never played before and you end up facing teams full of junior players who cannot wait to dangle around guys who can't even skate. I got a lot of penalties for roughing dbags up because they would turn their sticks around or flip their sticks and use the toe to skate around guys on my team. You're up 17-2 against what's essentially a team full of timbits and one former junior player(me)...is that really necessary? Suddenly a non contact league turned into a contact league for me and they deserved every bit of it.
I joined a draft league this winter and truly enjoy it.
The fact that most of the guys from various teams have at one point played together sure cuts down on the shenanigans
I was on a team before who consistently lost by 15 or 16 goals...you wanna talk about team moral? hahaha. Putting a team together with all your close friends seems like a good idea...except if those friends have never played before and you end up facing teams full of junior players who cannot wait to dangle around guys who can't even skate. I got a lot of penalties for roughing dbags up because they would turn their sticks around or flip their sticks and use the toe to skate around guys on my team. You're up 17-2 against what's essentially a team full of timbits and one former junior player(me)...is that really necessary? Suddenly a non contact league turned into a contact league for me and they deserved every bit of it.
i played in a league where they dived us up to high so we never had a chance to even compete and i ended up getting hurt in one game, we were losing 9 to 0 and most of us had stopped trying. i was standing in front of the net and one guy, still trying to be a superstar, drove his shoulder through me, and i landed on my ankle. no fracture but a major high ankle sprain and over 6 months of recovery till it felt normal again. thanks Adult safe hockey league
I haven't heard of anyone throwing an eval (yet). I know I've seen a couple times someone eval's higher than our level and we've asked them to make an exception, one time they did.
Funny that the guy who ran the league eval'd our goalie prospect two levels higher than requested to try and get him on his team instead of ours...
Well with the AHA it seems to be as good or bad as your attitude...a lot of captains and people I talk to hate it and think it's all biased and what not, and others just have a laid back attitude and no problem with it. I do think it's better now than it was five years ago in terms of listening to the teams and captains...
I haven't heard of anyone throwing an eval (yet). I know I've seen a couple times someone eval's higher than our level and we've asked them to make an exception, one time they did.
Funny that the guy who ran the league eval'd our goalie prospect two levels higher than requested to try and get him on his team instead of ours...
An entire team in our St.Louis region was "mis-evaled" last year. They were placed in the lowest B division and at the time they were moved up they were 13-0, had 161GF and only 17GA. They finished the regular season 20-0, ran the table in playoffs only to get smacked in the mouth and lose at nationals in Toronto.
Our first year, we made the playoffs and lost in the final game, but got an invite to "nationals". They were held about half an hour from the metro, so we accepted. It was basically us, a couple other teams in our division, and a group of ringers from Texas who just waltzed through everyone.
the draft league I play in has 3 or 4 eval skates before the draft. the guys who run the league set up a huge board like a fantasy football draft. everybodys position(s) skills, strengths weaknesses, etc. most of the new players that join the league have heard about it from word of mouth so there isn't any sandbagging. whats nice is there is parity throughout the league and the championship usually comes down to goaltending. its a pretty cool league. everyone knows each other and usually its pretty clean.
An entire team in our St.Louis region was "mis-evaled" last year. They were placed in the lowest B division and at the time they were moved up they were 13-0, had 161GF and only 17GA. They finished the regular season 20-0, ran the table in playoffs only to get smacked in the mouth and lose at nationals in Toronto.
Do most leagues have an evaluation session? If so, do some guys "dog it" to get put in a lower level league?
I started playing ice hockey at the HNA league in Calgary. Being placed in the very last beginners division, transitioning between seasons if you wanted to bring new players onto your team they had to go through an eval skate with all the other new players. I never saw it myself but the general opinion is that people would be skating hard and ripping shots top corner in the warm up, then as soon as the evaluators came out they'd be tripping over their skates and missing the net
Despite that the ringer situation wasn't too bad. I played about 30 games in that league and overall had a good experience, though strict jersey and equipment requirements were a bit of a nuisance. Maybe only one game where we had a bad experience where the game was ruined by a pair of ringers.
the draft league I play in has 3 or 4 eval skates before the draft. the guys who run the league set up a huge board like a fantasy football draft. everybodys position(s) skills, strengths weaknesses, etc. most of the new players that join the league have heard about it from word of mouth so there isn't any sandbagging. whats nice is there is parity throughout the league and the championship usually comes down to goaltending. its a pretty cool league. everyone knows each other and usually its pretty clean.
Do you mind telling me what league that is? Is that the Federal league? They seem to do a pretty good job of policing ringers.
Do you mind telling me what league that is? Is that the Federal league? They seem to do a pretty good job of policing ringers.
I can tell you for sure he is not talking abut the Federal League b/c I am one of the guys that runs the Federal League and we are not a draft league. We brought up making it a draft league once and we nearly had a mutiny from our players. No one wanted to leave their current teams.
We think we do a pretty good job of controlling ringers and keeping the teams fair so I'm glad someone from the outside notices that. The way we do it is by keeping a running dialogue going between all the captains and no player is placed on a team without the other captains voting on it. It can be trying at times, but worth it for sure.
I don't know if my league counts as beer league, but I play in a Sunday night men's rec league in Rochester, NH. Our team was losing 2-1, came back to tie it up and had the game winning goal.... or so we thought. The puck went top corner, bounced off the inside of the net's post covered in cloth and came rocketing out. Ref called it off the post and we ended up losing in the shootout. **** sucks.
I don't know if my league counts as beer league, but I play in a Sunday night men's rec league in Rochester, NH. Our team was losing 2-1, came back to tie it up and had the game winning goal.... or so we thought. The puck went top corner, bounced off the inside of the net's post covered in cloth and came rocketing out. Ref called it off the post and we ended up losing in the shootout. **** sucks.
That's always a bummer. We've had plenty of no-goal calls but thankfully I don't think any ever led to a loss. I remember once when we our rink had really tight netting, an opposing player ripped a slapper right through and it didn't even slow down. I think the only people who saw it go in were me and him, and I sure as hell wasn't going to help his case
That's always a bummer. We've had plenty of no-goal calls but thankfully I don't think any ever led to a loss. I remember once when we our rink had really tight netting, an opposing player ripped a slapper right through and it didn't even slow down. I think the only people who saw it go in were me and him, and I sure as hell wasn't going to help his case
Yeah, worst part was is that it wasnt a "ping". It was a "thud". Dead giveaway, but the refs blew it off...
The one shot that beat me in the shootout was a flub up too, he fanned on it and I followed his stick..... tricked right past my right pad.
Last year I scored a goal on a breakaway that went five hole. Right along the ice so hard it popped back out. We were up by a couple and it was my 2nd or 3rd of the night, so I just skated to the bench and didn't make a show of it.
Goalie got up and got his water bottle, a couple guys from the other team actually came up and said it was a nice looking goal and said I was pretty fast.
Ref then picked up the puck and called the faceoff in their end and claimed I didn't score the goal because he didn't see it go in (his fat ass didn't skate down the ice with me).
Yeah, worst part was is that it wasnt a "ping". It was a "thud". Dead giveaway, but the refs blew it off...
The one shot that beat me in the shootout was a flub up too, he fanned on it and I followed his stick..... tricked right past my right pad.
Sometimes you just can't get the bounces or calls, it's weird how they seem to happen in abundance at times, too. I remember one of those "in but the refs didn't see it goals", even the scorekeepers half a rink away, behind glass, saw it clearly go in
As a player I've got to say I love when those kinds of flubs happen. I once capped off a hat trick by going fancy on a breakaway. I faked and cut over, but the puck didn't come with me. The goalie followed me and spread wide, and the puck kept going in fast, right through his five-hole. Good thing I came in with speed or that would've juuuuuuust missed.
I can tell you for sure he is not talking abut the Federal League b/c I am one of the guys that runs the Federal League and we are not a draft league. We brought up making it a draft league once and we nearly had a mutiny from our players. No one wanted to leave their current teams.
We think we do a pretty good job of controlling ringers and keeping the teams fair so I'm glad someone from the outside notices that. The way we do it is by keeping a running dialogue going between all the captains and no player is placed on a team without the other captains voting on it. It can be trying at times, but worth it for sure.
Quote:
Originally Posted by windycity
Do you mind telling me what league that is? Is that the Federal league? They seem to do a pretty good job of policing ringers.
