I tell you it sucks, i think ive done it at least 3 times. Once i was lucky and another team was short. The other two times though were standard fml situations
Tales from the beer league part 2
- Thread starter P. Diddy
- Start date
I tell you it sucks, i think ive done it at least 3 times. Once i was lucky and another team was short. The other two times though were standard fml situations
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xLAxKingsx
Lurker
This season is gonna suck....... We only had 1 goalie sign up not our team then we finally get a goalie and he hurts himself and is out now.
Also there is only 3 teams guess Fall isnt as popular to play.
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xLAxKingsx
Lurker
Yea i can tell only good thing going is 99% of games are on a Saturday! Only 1 is on a random Tuesday night. Westminster Ice barely had enough for 2 teams of 8 players each. They wanted to combine the leagues but guess they couldnt work that out.
beedee
4th Line Rabble-Rouser
Is Captain Wild Bill returning? Or is he up at Dutch Harbor this time of year?
beedee
4th Line Rabble-Rouser
We lost 3-2 in OT last night.
10 showed up for us, so two even lines, always a great sign! All in all we didn't play bad, but I felt like the Kings, it was impossible to really connect tape-to-tape passes. The other team played well together and had good passing and puck movement. Our team (like most beer league teams) seemed to have that one or two guys, or whomever was carrying the puck would just take it into the zone. To be honest, that was probably the safer play, since it was rare to put a good pass into action.
We started off by being down 1-0 after the first shot on goal, was kind of a scramble, so can't really blame the goalie on that one. Then one of our wingers went bar down on a beauty of a snipe, Top-Titty style from the face-off dot. After that we went up 2-1 on a nice one timer from the slot. It was nice to have the lead going into the third period. About halfway through they scored though. I know we are always taught to play the whistle, however the play went offside in our zone, and literally everyone stopped because we figured the whistle would blow....well it didn't. The puck carrier seemed surprised and kept his line to the net, got a shot off and our goalie made the save. Then the guy I should have been on picked up the rebound and had an easy goal. EVERYONE was livid, but what can ya do? I apologized to our goalie for not playing the whistle and we ended up heading to OT. They scored on a nice shot from the outside, maybe top of the circle? I was heading out to the attacker to half-ass block the shot (i no longer try to get in front of shots if i can help it), and he must have just got it around me and I guess top blocker of the goalie? Oh well, we still got a point out of it and I believe our first playoff game is on Halloween night at 10:20pm, awesome.
For not playing in 3 weeks I felt pretty good. Our team never really got set up in the offensive zone, so zero shots on goal for me. I think maybe I was set up at the blue line once or twice a period while the play was in the o'zone. No puck rushes for me either. Positionally I felt pretty good, forcing players wide, being the pesky defender when they tried to post up on top of the crease (would give them a few nudges/not quite punches with my top hand on my stick to their lower back, just enough to disrupt them and put them off balance). The game was fine, not chippy, however in the OT one guy came hard to the net from the face off circle with the puck and I kind of took him down as he was falling towards our goalie (pulled him away from the goalie as he was out of control). No call was made, but the captain of our team thanked me and praised me for it. I was talking **** to the guy for going so hard to the net, and not stopping...ironically, this same guy is the one that scored in OT.
Cool side note. One of our players went to Hockey Monkey over the weekend and bought new skates. I guess it was CCM day so he entered the raffle for a pair of the top of the line SuperTacks skates.....and he won!
10 showed up for us, so two even lines, always a great sign! All in all we didn't play bad, but I felt like the Kings, it was impossible to really connect tape-to-tape passes. The other team played well together and had good passing and puck movement. Our team (like most beer league teams) seemed to have that one or two guys, or whomever was carrying the puck would just take it into the zone. To be honest, that was probably the safer play, since it was rare to put a good pass into action.
We started off by being down 1-0 after the first shot on goal, was kind of a scramble, so can't really blame the goalie on that one. Then one of our wingers went bar down on a beauty of a snipe, Top-Titty style from the face-off dot. After that we went up 2-1 on a nice one timer from the slot. It was nice to have the lead going into the third period. About halfway through they scored though. I know we are always taught to play the whistle, however the play went offside in our zone, and literally everyone stopped because we figured the whistle would blow....well it didn't. The puck carrier seemed surprised and kept his line to the net, got a shot off and our goalie made the save. Then the guy I should have been on picked up the rebound and had an easy goal. EVERYONE was livid, but what can ya do? I apologized to our goalie for not playing the whistle and we ended up heading to OT. They scored on a nice shot from the outside, maybe top of the circle? I was heading out to the attacker to half-ass block the shot (i no longer try to get in front of shots if i can help it), and he must have just got it around me and I guess top blocker of the goalie? Oh well, we still got a point out of it and I believe our first playoff game is on Halloween night at 10:20pm, awesome.
For not playing in 3 weeks I felt pretty good. Our team never really got set up in the offensive zone, so zero shots on goal for me. I think maybe I was set up at the blue line once or twice a period while the play was in the o'zone. No puck rushes for me either. Positionally I felt pretty good, forcing players wide, being the pesky defender when they tried to post up on top of the crease (would give them a few nudges/not quite punches with my top hand on my stick to their lower back, just enough to disrupt them and put them off balance). The game was fine, not chippy, however in the OT one guy came hard to the net from the face off circle with the puck and I kind of took him down as he was falling towards our goalie (pulled him away from the goalie as he was out of control). No call was made, but the captain of our team thanked me and praised me for it. I was talking **** to the guy for going so hard to the net, and not stopping...ironically, this same guy is the one that scored in OT.
Cool side note. One of our players went to Hockey Monkey over the weekend and bought new skates. I guess it was CCM day so he entered the raffle for a pair of the top of the line SuperTacks skates.....and he won!
So I had my first "game" at the new rink with those college kids last night. Other team didn't show so we had the ice to ourselves from 10:40 to god knows when. We split up into 2 squads and played 4-4 first in a half court style and then we set tires up in the other net and went full ice. The skill level was still really great and I felt a lot better than the first time I skated with this group. Lots of passing, lots of skating. I will say that in general it seems like the league is a complete ****show but right now just the ability to skate where i'm learning something and shooting on a goalie who is a real dandy is worth it. I left the ice about midnight, left the rink at 12:20 and 4 college kids and the goalie were still out there. Who know how long the rink manager let them go but I couldn't hang.
in any case I'm subbing in with the remnants of that beginner team that went out and got themselves some higher level friends so I'll see what C3 competition is like this sunday. Based on the tryout it should be organized but we'll see if these guys can string passes together.
in any case I'm subbing in with the remnants of that beginner team that went out and got themselves some higher level friends so I'll see what C3 competition is like this sunday. Based on the tryout it should be organized but we'll see if these guys can string passes together.
First game with the remnants of the summer team was odd. Skill wise i feel like there wasnt a big gap but oh man was there a difference in familiarity. Final score was 6-2. I got to play center and it was nice but the ref kept darting the puck on the face off so it was mostly tie ups. I had a handful of shots on goal but most were just on entry to get the whistle for a face off cuz id be coming in 1 on 2 or 1 on 3. Sadly i was not cherry picking my teammates for those chances. It wasnt that they were slow etiher, everything was just disorganized but worse than a not knowing how to play, they knew how to play but kept getting mixed up.
In any case dumbest part of the night was i left my sticks at the rink. Hopefully one of my teammates grabbed them.
In any case dumbest part of the night was i left my sticks at the rink. Hopefully one of my teammates grabbed them.
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xLAxKingsx
Lurker
So our first game of the Fall **** Show 2016 started on Saturday.
-No socks that they force you to buy... Check!
-People having to wear size Medium cause not enough big sizes... Check!
-NO ****ING GOALIE!... Check!
-NO ****ING SUB GOALIE CAUSE THEY THOUGHT WE DID HAVE ONE EVEN THOUGH THEY KNEW HE WAS HURT AND QUIT... Check!
-Playing with 6 players on at all times and still Winning!.. Check!
I would love to play at Bay Harbor again....but the hour+ drive....just can't do it. But if you go there let me know, maybe I can come out for some pre-clinics or something.
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LetTigerIn
Lurker
Most divisions play Sunday at Bay Harbor. Still a bad drive time then? I come from Burbank, and the drive is 45-60 minutes, depending on traffic.
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xLAxKingsx
Lurker
After seeing how bad the rinks is i wanna book it outta there but couldn't find many adult beginner leagues or i just aint looking right. I did manage to start the season with a point on a assist and my game play was much better had some nice passing and even deked the D with a pass between his legs and i just went around him. Hopefully i can progress and maybe do 1 more beginner league and eventually move up as those games seem more organized.
I will say that when you are progressing from beginner levels up you'll start to see just how much players guide the puck when they are stick handling it. The puck shouldn't stay on your stick, you're just passing it to a place and picking it up there. Once you get a feel for that getting around defenders either through them or off the boards gets a lot simpler. You also begin to get a lot better blocking people off the puck with your body since you aren't so concerned with having the puck on your stick while you do it. Congrats on the assist though.
Ok so I played game 2 in what I shall now dub the Rodeo league considering out of 3 scheduled games: 1 time the other team didn't show up, the other 2 have involved 4 excused players (which were straight game misconducts, no penalties involved). The latest version of said events went as follows. I was playing on the wing, we started out with 9 players and a plan to roll 3D and 2 forward lines. Nothing special here excepting I'm the new guy and on a change one of the other forwards doesn't want to come off...(it was the team captain)...So I go to head back to the bench but theres already 4 guys sitting there. So back to D I go and well that was a bad call for all involved. They came in with speed after we had been cycling in the zone, the other Dman is face forward controlling action and I'm still staring at our goalie as I cross the blue line to catch up. Short point of it is they cycled fast and the goal wasn't off the rush but I'll just admit to losing coverage since I was standing right where I needed to to collect the puck out of the net and save the goalie that indignity. Shortly thereafter one of our 4 D decided to rush the puck, got collected with one of their guys behind their net and the ref called them on it. On the way back to our bench and the box their guy wouldnt get out of our guys face, so he decked him. Well turns out thats a penalty too and a GM so now we are down to 7 (one in the box to serve the "rough") and the other guy gone. Well we kill the penalty and get out of the period down 3-2 back up to 8 skaters. 2nd period is rolling similarly with 3 D and 5 forwards and we're pushing hard when I'm in the O zone in front ish and our d shoots, it's blocked down and I start to skate out on the back check and I see a familiar stick fly past me. So I turn around and their goalie is reenacting Bertuzzi on Moore and just wailing on him. I start back looking at the D guy who's staring at his goalie like "WTF mate?" and the ref who's got a the "I've got this when their done with this BS" **** look on his face so I get close enough to jump in if the goalie won't quit. Goalie lets up and our guy is laying there all fetal. The goalies screaming "did you see that ****!" and the ref's just like "yes, yes I did, get off the ice." Our guys spitting blood on the ice and the ref tells us he's giving the goalie the GM so he can't call him for anything else...So its 5 on 5 (plus a skater) and the other teams busy stripping the other goalie and tossing his gear on someone else. Long story short that really put us down to 7 cuz our dude was a bit concussed and even though we tried to tell him he was Gretzky it didn't take. They pushed hard with their skaters and with the benefit of the end of the period and a time out we only had the EN for about 2 mins of gameplay. 3rd period they pushed and wore us down taking it to 3-8. With 45 seconds to go one of our guys drove the ice from our goal line and I followed him, he wished a backhand pass into the crease and after 2 redirections of skates I scored my first goal off a backup goalie in a blowout game with 25 seconds to go. I don't care though I crushed that **** and on the ensuing FO their winger agreed he'd have done the same thing.
Anyway its still fast but I had shots on goal, set picks and had a breakout pass that lead directly to a goal so confidence is high. Now if we can just get enough guys so I dont hurl and keep em on the ice so I don't have to worry about jumping into protect Turd Fergusen.
I asked the guy after what happened and he said the goalie cup checked him hard so he pool cued him back. Fair enough I thought considering this isn't bottom level folks but damn. Clearly he got him just right.
Anyway its still fast but I had shots on goal, set picks and had a breakout pass that lead directly to a goal so confidence is high. Now if we can just get enough guys so I dont hurl and keep em on the ice so I don't have to worry about jumping into protect Turd Fergusen.
I asked the guy after what happened and he said the goalie cup checked him hard so he pool cued him back. Fair enough I thought considering this isn't bottom level folks but damn. Clearly he got him just right.
So I get to my Friday night game with just enough time to get changed, and as I'm going through my bad I realize that neither my glove or blocker are in my bag. I don't have any time to figure out where they are, let alone go home to get a back up. One of my defensemen is subbing in net for a game after ours and says I can use them, but they're full right and I have never even tried full right. Luckily one of my friends that plays net for another team is there early and lets me use their set. I'd never tried reebok gloves because the paddles were just horrible, but I have to say that I immediately fell in love with those damn things and now I need to find a way to buy those from my friend, hahaha. We went on to win 4-0, so I definitely need them. It was an interesting night, to say the least.
I still have no idea where the other gloves went.
I still have no idea where the other gloves went.
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xLAxKingsx
Lurker
Had our 2nd game Saturday and we got blown out. 7-1 and this time we had a goalie! But some of the players on our team have no clue about playing positions so it was mayhem like a damn pick up game. My left side partner was everywhere! Im not vocal about telling anyone what to do as im not the best but i had to yell at him from the bench to stay on the left ****ing side! Our D men couldnt move the puck out they would all crowd the front and it was just a **** show. Also they all cleared the puck right down the middle! I know its about learning but some of them seem to have played before and even if its your first time everyone knows thats bad. It was also bad as the other team had some ****ing great skaters who should not be playing beginner. Like someone said they where roofing back hand shots and skating circles. My game overall wasnt the best a few times i pushed myself harder to play pucks and not be scared of falling and being so cautious that i wouldnt battle for pucks. Slowly im getting there last season i went the whole season only falling 1 time. This season ive been on my ass 4 times as i played grittier and went for it.
beedee
4th Line Rabble-Rouser
It amazed me when I played goalie for a rookie team how out of position people got. Then again, I wondered how many of them really watched hockey and learned, or they just watched and didn't pay attention to players and how they play their positions.
This eerily reminds me of when I played goalie for the rookie team as well...except I was yelling from the crease for people to play their positions....and lets not even go there about having to remind them about clearing the puck up the middle...not enough fingers and toes to count on.
Beer League 101, where every team (except the one you are on) has ringers that shouldn't be playing the level that your team is entirely comprised of.
If you aren't falling, you aren't trying!
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xLAxKingsx
Lurker
I really hope we get it together! We still dont know about a goalie next game as we are on a sub to sub basis. Sounds like we need Beedee to play goalie. I promise we wont warm you up with pucks to the head Ha!
Now Chirping
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