Tales from the beer league part 2

Looks like many of us love playing the D!



It's all fun and games until the forward thinks they are playing in the NHL playoffs and slashes you two or three times in the legs and thighs...happened to me last week.

When I played in my youth, and then into my 20's I enjoyed the battles in front of the net. Now, I just let the mofo camp on top of the crease and I'll stand in front of him, or to the side. Its easy enough to just lift their stick when a pass or shot comes towards the net.

When I'm on forward, if the goalie is slashing my legs then I know I'm doing a good job haha. Actually this is why the captain moved me to forward.
 
I wish people played a little more competitive but i get it. Its rookie league there's a few players that play with a little edge but everyone ends up being to nice. I'm sure it ll be different if i move up to Tin.
 
I wish people played a little more competitive but i get it. Its rookie league there's a few players that play with a little edge but everyone ends up being to nice. I'm sure it ll be different if i move up to Tin.

Based on my experience, the Rookie League has the most hacks/try-hards in it, people that think they are real hockey players now and act like complete tools. Granted, it is more or less the same at every level, but it is just pure comedy to watch some d'bags in Rookie try to act tough. I'm actually a little hesitant to watch my wife's games because I'm sure some d'bag on the other team is going to do something and p*ss me off. And then I won't be able to talk **** because I'll have my daughters with me, lmfao!

The worst was a few years ago when The Rinks was allowing 2nd, 3rd, 4th year teams stay in Rookie, talk about a great way to build up animosity. That is why they recently developed the TIN league, so people that were too skurred to leave the safe confines of smashing actual rookie level teams in ROOKIE were forced to move up.
 
Based on my experience, the Rookie League has the most hacks/try-hards in it, people that think they are real hockey players now and act like complete tools. Granted, it is more or less the same at every level, but it is just pure comedy to watch some d'bags in Rookie try to act tough. I'm actually a little hesitant to watch my wife's games because I'm sure some d'bag on the other team is going to do something and p*ss me off. And then I won't be able to talk **** because I'll have my daughters with me, lmfao!

The worst was a few years ago when The Rinks was allowing 2nd, 3rd, 4th year teams stay in Rookie, talk about a great way to build up animosity. That is why they recently developed the TIN league, so people that were too skurred to leave the safe confines of smashing actual rookie level teams in ROOKIE were forced to move up.

Bee... If something happens in your wifes rookie game and you dont report back that you ran onto the ice and beat someones ass ill be disappointed! My wife takes my daughter to my games age 9 and i enjoy her screaming "DAD HIT HIM!!!!!!!!" haha!

But you are right about the rinks finally doing something about it. First time i played a few years ago the competition at rookie was ridiculous full pre made teams of players that should have moved up. Its a bit better now but team we played Saturday about 6 of them had custom jerseys from a team they must have formed. Guess Tin was to much they dropped down and still lost :violin:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well, with all the D talk lately, I actually played LW last night. We had 5 of us that typically play D, I used to play LW, so I volunteered to play up.

It was a bit more skating, so I was feeling gassed quicker than usual, especially since we were on the Olympic sized rink. But I had a blast, I had at least one shot on each shift, sometimes two or three! I probably had around 10-12 shots total! Sadly, none went in, but it was really fun to get so many shots. I did have two apples. One of which ironically came from a shot-pass when I was covering the point for our D who was down low. We started off with a 1-0 lead going into the 2nd, but then they were up 3-1 halfway through the 3rd. We scored late in the third, pulled the goalie with 1:30 left to go in the game and tied it with :45 to go! We eventually lost in the shootout, but it was a great game! We had 51 shots on goal, yes 51! Their goalie stood on his head, that is for sure! I think they had 30 shots or so?
 
Well, with all the D talk lately, I actually played LW last night. We had 5 of us that typically play D, I used to play LW, so I volunteered to play up.

It was a bit more skating, so I was feeling gassed quicker than usual, especially since we were on the Olympic sized rink. But I had a blast, I had at least one shot on each shift, sometimes two or three! I probably had around 10-12 shots total! Sadly, none went in, but it was really fun to get so many shots. I did have two apples. One of which ironically came from a shot-pass when I was covering the point for our D who was down low. We started off with a 1-0 lead going into the 2nd, but then they were up 3-1 halfway through the 3rd. We scored late in the third, pulled the goalie with 1:30 left to go in the game and tied it with :45 to go! We eventually lost in the shootout, but it was a great game! We had 51 shots on goal, yes 51! Their goalie stood on his head, that is for sure! I think they had 30 shots or so?

That come back must have been nice! Ive only been in 1 and its a rush when you tie it late. I really enjoy the more space on Olympic while playing forward.
 
It's not more skating at forward, it's more stopping and starting that kills you. Or at least when I'm more effective that's what I'm doing.
 
It's not more skating at forward, it's more stopping and starting that kills you. Or at least when I'm more effective that's what I'm doing.

Yup, you are 100%!

One second you are breaking out of your zone, and then two seconds later a neutral zone turnover and you are stopping and/or turning back the other way towards your zone!
 
Last week was another win! I haven’t had a season with more than 1 win in about 3 years ��.

Played D again and felt good. Haven’t had a goal scored while I’m on the ice so I figure that’s good.

I did try beedees tip of using my skate for rim around the boards and that worked great! Was able to angle my skate so puck would end up in front of me. Had a few shots on net as well so that was fun. I def need to work on my shot. Took a few slap shots during warm up but still felt a bit wobbly so in game I chickened out.

Game tomorrow is against the other team that’s looking good so we shall see how good we really are. I’m excited for some better hockey. It really boggles my mind how teams can enjoy playing down and running thru lesser teams. I find it a bit boring at times.
 
I didn't play this week due to a cold. But we played the same team as last week, and it was tied 3-3 at the end of the game (like last week) and we won in the shootout (unlike last week).
 
Last week was another win! I haven’t had a season with more than 1 win in about 3 years ��.

Played D again and felt good. Haven’t had a goal scored while I’m on the ice so I figure that’s good.

I did try beedees tip of using my skate for rim around the boards and that worked great! Was able to angle my skate so puck would end up in front of me. Had a few shots on net as well so that was fun. I def need to work on my shot. Took a few slap shots during warm up but still felt a bit wobbly so in game I chickened out.

Game tomorrow is against the other team that’s looking good so we shall see how good we really are. I’m excited for some better hockey. It really boggles my mind how teams can enjoy playing down and running thru lesser teams. I find it a bit boring at times.
Glad my suggestion worked out for you.

Regarding the sandbagging, douchebagging teams. It really is off-putting, even more so when the league acknowledges it and does NOTHING about it.
 
Yesterday Lil Beedee and I attended a Stick Time and it was our first time on the ice together, it pretty amazing to say the least! We just did some simple passing, shooting and stick-handling stuff off and on for the hour session. I just wanted to have fun out there with her and we did achieve that! We played tag, and follow the leader also. Bonus points for us was when some of the Long Beach Shredders came on the ice to practice (our local USPHL team coached by Emerson Etem), including their goalie. So she was really excited for that because we just watched them play on Saturday night. There was also a goalie out there that looked to be her age (5 to 6) and Lil Beedee got to take her first shots ever on a real goalie!

Wifey had her first game in Rookie last night and I guess they took an L, 9-2. She said the other team had a gal that was skating circles around them and potted 4 or 5 goals...not surprised to see a sandbagger in Rookie.
 
Last edited:
Beedee thats awesome as ****! Im getting my daughter to give it another go at age 9 now. She tried it at 6 and didn't like ice skating so she didnt enjoy the Lil Kings.:sad: But shes signed up for the upcoming sessions.

I missed my game this weekend against the better team. We still won but did hear they where at least a bit more competitive then other teams.


I do have this bonus surprise! Guess Anaheim Rinks has this "live barn" video feed of all games played. Well someone on team paid for subscription and uploaded some of our games to youtube.

So here ya go! Game below we ran 3 lines at D im #33 . Enjoy our slowwwwwwwwww game.

 
Been a few games now still undefeated.

I scored 2 goals yall!!!!

But they were own goals...

200w.webp


Not sure if my positioning was bad but while playing in front of the goalie had 1 go off my skate and not even 3 mins later another shot same positioning it went off my shin.

200.webp


This was my first game where i felt i was chasing the puck on D the whole time bad passes out the zone same with clears. Didnt help our forwards kept crashing our net so their D was collecting any attempts at clearing. We survived but barely. But damn did this game kick my ass.
 
I haven't played in like 5 weeks, told the Captain I'm done for the season. I paid for half the season at the beginning (and have only played in 3 games), and told him I'm just not feeling it. I've been sick off and on from October through November, and missed too many games. Done wasting money on it.

Last night I watched my wife's Rookie game. They lost 4-0, but it was closer than the score indicated. Other team had a couple d'bag sandbaggers that shouldn't be in Rookie. Her team had a guy playing D that plays Bronze North, his g/f plays on the team. They just needed bodies so he hung back on D and played uber conservatively, feeding wingers passes and crap. Wife did good, it was the first time I've seen her play since she was doing Learn To Play.

I guess the ringer chick on one of the Rookie teams got called out by the league director and said if he catches her skating out, the game will be an automatic forfeit. I will give the guy credit, he is very active in communicating with the teams, but he recently took 4 players from my wife's team and put two and two on other teams. ::shrug::

Anyhow, I guess im having the beer league blues since I've been sick. But I feel like its just not worth the money anymore. I'd rather do some Pick-Up games here and there, and some of the regular weekly clinics with scrimmages at the end. Committing to a full season at nearly $500 is not appealing to me at all now.
 
Last edited:
We just had our annual iron man Thanksgiving weekend tourney. Ended up playing 5 x 12 minute games with no bench or subs. This was all over the course of about 3 hours. My team got off to a rocky start. I scored a shorty in the first few minutes of game 1 because one of our guys showed up late, but he did show up and we ended up winning that game. I managed a hatty in game 3 mainly due to the fact the other team was pretty gassed at that point. Made it to the championship game where it was just a slog to finish. We won 1-0. Over all a really fun and evenly matched tourney. I expected a team with ringers to show up but that never happened.

Resized-Resized-20211127-114839.jpg
 
Been a few games now still undefeated.

I scored 2 goals yall!!!!

But they were own goals...

200w.webp


Not sure if my positioning was bad but while playing in front of the goalie had 1 go off my skate and not even 3 mins later another shot same positioning it went off my shin.

200.webp


This was my first game where i felt i was chasing the puck on D the whole time bad passes out the zone same with clears. Didnt help our forwards kept crashing our net so their D was collecting any attempts at clearing. We survived but barely. But damn did this game kick my ass.

Those nights suck. Sometimes though if you know your guys are crashing down you just have to eat the puck or turn it back down. If you can buy enough time they might wake up and move to a position where you can get it to them instead of feelling like you're Kopitar out there feeding the point all night.
 
Last league game I played with an impending cold. I didn't feel great going out there, watching the video I looked even worse. We ended up winning 2-1 in ot and our line was even but man was it a burn the tape kinda game. Finally mostly over this cold so hoping my weds night skate will be fun. I totally feel beedee though. This fall has been rough on the desire to get out there for the team.
 
Ok so last nights adventure began with me listening to the kings game and going on autopilot to the wrong damn rink. So after I took in the Xmas lights as I took the shortcut through the neighborhoods I managed to get to the correct rink where thankfully they were behind. This allowed me to get dressed to the point that I noted I'd left my gloves at home. Thankfully another player left his helmet so I pilfered the gloves from the guy who was lending his helmet from the game before. Finally on the ice right as they're blowing whistles I drop my extra stick at the bench to find out I'm starting on D. Miraculously I got through the first shift without major incident.
First period progresses and things are going well. I've got an assist on the first goal. Pass to the point (hey an actual point pass!) but it came in at a bad angle to my feet. I stopped it and saw the forward coming at me straight up so I shovel shot it wide since I saw our center driving behind the goal line towards the net. The puck died flat on the boards and he swooped to collect it and right around the net to an uncontested wrap goal. Love it when a plan comes together.

We see they've only got 10 and we've got 13 so we proceed to try to skate them into the ground. It's working beautifully through the second as we build a 4-1 lead. I even get a couple more assists, one just a pass to a cutting forward through the center off a D-D regroup where we catch them flat footed and he goes down the pipe to score. The second was a cross ice swing from our blue line to theirs where the waiting winger tipped the puck across to our center coming with speed. He again caught the D flat footed and rifled one from the dot.

Then the shenanigans start with whatever it is I'm trying to do on D. Three shift in a row they score a goal (we get one in between while i'm sulking). The first wasn't terrible, they cycle'd a guy through the slot and I had to cover him as my partner had lost inside position on the forward at the boards and I had to tie this guy up as he moved. Their backside D dropped in right behind me though for the back door goal. The second goal I got caught in no mans land going to the corner to pick up my guy, they cycled and next thing I know I'm trying to get my stick in front of a guy cutting from the corner through above the dot on his forehand. I ramped his shot beautifully top corner right off my stick. Third goal was the worst though. Scramble in front of the net. Our goalie lays out to get a puck, except he's missed it, I go to get it as he picks his glove up to hungry hippo that mofo and he puts it right down on my stick and the puck. So now I've just pulled the puck out from under his glove but I'm already moving to get out from in front and i've left the puck behind me for their forward to just push it into the net.

So the disaster of a second behind me we go to the third and things settle for a bit. They did get one more on me but it was honestly a nice shot from outside the dot. He pushed the puck to make me a screen and got off a quick slapper that the goalie didn't pick up. That brought them back to 6-5 but we got the empty netter to end it.

In all I felt a lot better out there, and good thing because even with 10 they were a good team that moved a lot. Not a lot of individual skill with dangles but they knew how to make the puck do all the hard work. Was a good win for us, just wish I didn't have that series where every time I went out there the puck ended up in our net.
 
Back
Top