Tales from the beer league part 2

Hoser said:
Thought I would post this here since I think a few of you play at the rink in Lakewood.. I had some free time earlier today so I went to stick time there since I work nearby and there were a few players running drills, one dressed in Shark gear from head to toe. They let me join and I realized the guy in the sharks gear was Matt Nieto, which made sense as he is from Long Beach (I just started going to the rink this last year since starting to work nearby so I don't know how common it is to see him there). It was so insane to see how good and fast he was up close, it's literally hard to fathom how they can be that good. His skating, stick-handling, shooting were all out of this world. Pretty random but it was a sweet experience and thought you guys would enjoy hearing about it.
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I agree about how astonishing it is to see a guy with talent up close like that. I remember I went to the old Glacial rink in Anaheim about 10 years ago(now KHS I believe), and there was this russian prospect that was right around 12 years old and had boat loads of talent. I saw the kid running drills on the other end of the rink and was in awe at how fast and sharp he was... AT 12!!! Anyway, I never got the kid's name and I'm sure he's playing in the K right now.
 
Bad news on our playoff front. Their goalie was hot and ours wasn't. On the plus side I scored a goal off a faceoff slapper. Still a disappointing end to the season even if the game was very well contested.
 
beedee said:
Did you guys see the is article on this? Criminal charges for beer league checks.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-p...tion-141416539.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory
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Well that wasn't exactly a beer league check, it sounds like it was a pretty flagrant attempt to injure.

I mean I've checked people when I thought a game was getting out of hand and I needed the refs to get involved before, but only with something that is an obvious bodycheck in a non checking league. I will admit to targeting the players that I think deserve it but it requires things to come together. I make sure it's going to be a clean hit or I skip it.

Generally speaking though you can't stop asshats from being asshats, but at least usually they're obvious. The scary stuff comes from the guy that just snaps and you have no idea what he's doing.
 
I do the same, Jammer. After receiving what I felt was a bit too much contact more than once by the same player, more times than not I will line him up along the boards and throw the hip. I've done it a few times over my beer league career.
 
It would be cool to meet up somewhere with y'all and mess around at a stick time or something!
 
That would be fun. Stick times are usually during odd hours during the week, so it would be tough for me to make it to one. I work M-F, 9-6.
 
beedee said:
That would be fun. Stick times are usually during odd hours during the week, so it would be tough for me to make it to one. I work M-F, 9-6.
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Valley Ice Center in Panorama City has stick times on the weekends.
 
I'm trying to get back into the game (roller) after a long hockey drought. My skates got stolen out of my trunk way back and I never bothered getting another pair... Until now.

Anyone play at the North Hollywood inline rink? My coworker was telling me bout it cause she knows someone there. I'm also looking at the rink in Lincoln Heights cause it's a lot closer to my house
 
Luc SkyBomba said:
I'm trying to get back into the game (roller) after a long hockey drought. My skates got stolen out of my trunk way back and I never bothered getting another pair... Until now.

Anyone play at the North Hollywood inline rink? My coworker was telling me bout it cause she knows someone there. I'm also looking at the rink in Lincoln Heights cause it's a lot closer to my house
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I've heard quite a few good things about that north hollywood rink. I'd go check it out!


Anyone do the yoga for hockey players? I'm kind of curious. It's loosens you up AND you lose weight!?!
 
I occasionally get my yoga on downtown. There is a free class Mon and Wed. morning. Very cool instructor. I doubt it helps my game but it has helped my wrist pain some and loosens the ole back.
 
NEW SEASON BOYS AND GIRLS!!!


I have finally played my last game as an easy rider. Bittersweet HOWEVER, moved rinks (closer to home) and I am on a new team called the Hooligans out of escondido. They're playing the championship game here tomorrow so I will be in attendance, with the season starting the next week. Anyone move teams this season? And good summer league stories? Also, I've been doing the yoga for hockey players on YouTube 3 times a week for the last 2 weeks, I feel more loose but I haven't played a game yet so I'll let you guys know!
 
Sounds like some new fun awaits for ya Diddy! The team I played with at Lakewood for a few years just wrapped up their season last week, new season starts tomorrow, but the team is full (i didn't play last season), so I won't be playing with them, no biggie, I'm ready to switch teams as well. Most likely will be playing out of Anaheim "The Rinks" with a print vendor of ours at work, I believe their season is half way done, so when it ends I will jump on their team. Looking forward to playing at a new place, with new team mates. The only down side is that the rink is a bit further than Lakewood for me, that was only a 10 minute drive, this one is about 25 minutes.
 
Played pickup on saturday morning with the usual guys, but this game annoyed me. The players on the other other side were better than the side I was on. Now I get the idea of playing against better people makes you better, but when the scoring ratio is 5:1 in their favor it becomes discouraging. I asked if one of the guys would switch to the other side to even things out and he laughed. So I started heckling them about how fun it must be to just score until continue to outplay the other team in a non league game. I left early because I was annoyed and also I knew that if the guys on my team got tired they'd stop playing too. It takes two sides to play a game, and if they didn't want to switch then they'd have a full bench playing against no one.
 
Douchy pickups are just as douchy as league play at times.

I'm thinking about dropping in for a third team as there's a gap between divisions for my teams. Whole lotta new teams and some realignment but by far I can't wait to play against the "Soft dump in the corner" These guys will either be awesome or A class *******s. Hoping for awesome though.
 
Well tonight was one of those really unsatisfying events. Scored a couple goals and we were up 5-3 with a minute to go. From the bench I watched us give up both goals on just real bad decisions and breakdowns. Shoulda had it but I couldn't really complain since I was too gassed to go out there and help. We skated 9 and the D hung tough for 44 minutes.
 
Took a break from work again today and hit the 11 AM ST at Lakewood. This time around I got to run drills with Parros and some prospects that I didn't get the names of. I've met Parros a few times before, the dude's funny as hell and legitimately a nice guy. I grew up going to stick times at Bay Harbor and Health South and pros would always have the ice to themselves it seemed so it's cool they practice right beside you at Lakewood (granted it is summer) and even let you join. So I just tried to keep up but the pace they go at is just insane. Figured I would keep letting you guys know about the encounters I have with NHL'ers haha.
 
Just wanted to post a rant about The Rinks. I played at Anaheim Ice for a while and I left that place because the schedule was so inconsistent. I finally had enough when my "Sunday" summer league had ONE out of twelve games on a Sunday. I went to Glacial Gardens in Lakewood and had relatively consistent games. I was playing in the Wednesday leagues for about 5 years and had maybe 2-3 games on Thursdays (which I can't play because of work) a season. Not a huge deal, I understand that this is So. Cal and we are short on teams and the rinks need to cater to teams so they can collect cash to run the business. I get it.

Ever since the Ducks bought out Glacial and it became The Rinks at Lakewood Ice, it's been as bad as Anaheim Ice. My "Wednesday" league now has 3 out of 14 games on Wednesday night. I pretty much had to drop out from that team (still subbing since I actually enjoy playing with them) and joined another team on Sunday nights. Surprsingly, all of the games are all on Sunday. But all of a sudden a team drops out and our division gets restructured and now my team is playing in Gold. I understand that they don't want higher skilled teams that are in the lower divisions, but I thought they'd just let us finish out the season since 20% of the season is gone and our games haven't been that bad.

Went to Stick Time on Monday and it was ridiculous. The rink was full of different coaches that took up the majority of the ice. If you didn't pay for a coach, you'd be stuck in a corner shooting against a wall. I wound up with a coach (on accident) and didn't find out until the end that it was a semi-private lesson. I'm not mad that I had to pay the coach because he actually did help, but that's not really stick time in my opinion. If they're going to have coaches doing private lessons on the majority of the ice, the rink should allocate some time for them during another session. This was supposed to be a public stick time. Stick time everywhere else (including when it was Glacial) is where you get to skate around the ice, get to work on your handling, shooting and just get some practice time in. I can't get any practice time when I'm stuck in a corner without a goal to shoot on. This place is such a **** show now. I've been playing for years and The Rinks just seem to run their rinks like a circus. It's the Wild Wild West and anything goes there. I'm going to look at some teams at El Segundo next season. Sorry for the long post. Just wanted to share my experiences with you guys.
 
that sucks man. what team are you on? i used to play at lakewood up until last season. I was in Gold West on the Long Beach Adolescents for about 3 years. Ironically Im thinking of joining a team at Anaheim Ice. I checked theor schedule and it does have a variety of nights the games are played on...I couldnt even tell you what night it is actually suppose to be played on.
 
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