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First session of adult learn to play ice hockey is tonight, with a drop in session right afterwards. I got some vapor 2x skates for cheap and ice skated over Christmas/nye vacation for the first time in 5+ years. All I’ve ever done is inline hockey so my goal is to learn how to hockey stop. I’m also signed up for adult skills evaluation this Saturday for league play starting end of the month.
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Jan 9, 2023 23:48
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prom candy posted:I started growing a moustache over the holidays as a joke (no offense to moustache-havers, it does not work for me) and I've scored in every hockey game I've played since then. I played one of the best games of my life tonight. I think my wife is gonna leave me but I can't shave it now. You're channeling the powers of brave warriors like Lanny Mcdonald and Dennis Maruk
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Jan 10, 2023 04:05
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Holy poo poo my obliques are sore. Hard skating and not being as confident on ice as I am on wheels kept me clinched all night and I’m still feeling it two days later.
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Jan 11, 2023 21:03
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It gets better. Make sure you’re stretching your lower back way more than you expect you’d need to do. When I started really getting into playing it took about three months to get those muscles into shape where it was very sore often. Played on Sunday night after having the kid team playing an outdoor tourney in the mountains and had my best game yet. Getting shots in close and making opportunities. Had about 6 shots, but only two from good spots. It’s starting to click. Also decided I really like living at the rink so I started refereeing too. I stepped off the boards to give a guy the lane to clear up ice and he tagged me in the thigh anyway last night. The extra time on skates really helps with the skating fundamentals and I get to be yelled at by old people taking beer league really seriously once in a while.
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Jan 11, 2023 22:03
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How long have you been skating? Did you go to one of the USA Hockey officials camps?
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Jan 12, 2023 03:53
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sellouts posted:How long have you been skating? We had a clinic in the city. They have them all over the place, but the cycle is probably slowing down. You can see all the options on the USA hockey site. I’ve been hockey skating/playing for about a year, but casually since forever. Definitely get to a baseline of skating first for your own sake. It’ll be just be easier to manage the game if you show basic competency. No need to be skating like Crosby. Coaching clinics for CEP1 are online but refs are back in person.
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Jan 12, 2023 04:03
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Ya I have skated like 25+ years and went to lvl 2 of USA hockey before the parents got to me I thought I remembered you being a new player so was surprised to hear you’re officiating. Out here the adult leagues didn’t want new officials unless they did seasons at the mites and what not
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Jan 12, 2023 04:05
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I guess depending on area they're having problems getting refs. Heck I know the refs at my rink get a lot of abuse.
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Jan 12, 2023 04:07
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sellouts posted:Ya I have skated like 25+ years and went to lvl 2 of USA hockey before the parents got to me I’ve over a thousand games in soccer from kids to pro development leagues. Parents don’t bother me any. We’re a little short some days, but the Kraken starting are driving participation really well. The Div 3 game I had the other night was the easiest so far, it’s the middle adult divs that get stupid chippy usually. I won’t be doing tier 1 for a while thankfully. But C/B kids up to 14s is pretty easy.
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Jan 12, 2023 04:13
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that’s awesome have fun and good luck with it
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Jan 12, 2023 15:47
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All of my hockey gear knowledge comes from inline hockey experience, so I'd like to know what seasoned beer league ice players think, since drop in and beer league is all I'll be doing until I'm too old to skate. First question is about pants/girdles. In college I had a pretty bad tailbone injury during intermural inline hockey season and it haunts me to this day. I upgraded to an ice girdle - the Vapor XXXX adaptable core pad - which had awesome hip/kidney/tailbone protection, and being a girdle was close to the skin and gave a ton of flexibility. Of course, it was stolen along with most of my other gear and hockey bag and I ended up replacing it with a cheap Mission RSX padded pant made for roller hockey since my competitive collegiate hockey days were over. It's fine, has been fine since I bought it a decade ago, and works even now for friendly pickup inline games. I also got a pair of Reebok 5k pants I've worn since starting to play ice hockey in the last few weeks, which I have only worn a handful of times (and not at all in the last 5 years). They're huge, I have to wear uncomfortable suspenders to keep them in place even when completely cinched down, and I don't like the lack of coverage in certain areas despite feeling like I'm wearing a tank. I'd like a replacement, but from what I can tell Bauer stopped making Vapor girdles three generations after my old Vapor XXXXs (x:60, x7.0, APX) and only make girdles in the Supreme line. Anyone got suggestions on high mobility high protection girdles? I saw CCM's Jetspeed line has a girdle as well, but isn't that their "lightweight mobility" line? I'd like something with lots of protection, since my skillset is stand in front of the goalie and tap in trash. Next is for elbow pads. When my gear got stolen I replaced them with inexpensive but totally functional Jofa 8025 which work fine for roller hockey. They don't pinch because of the one piece design, and usually stay in place pretty well especially now that I have a Shockdoctor undershirt with sleeve lock. They do have a pretty big gap on my lower bicep when wearing my new shoulders. Any suggestions on more modern elbows with a deep elbow caps that won't move ever if possible? I really hate the huge pointy elbows on the Vapor 2X, 2X Pro, and Hyperlite - they're too shallow and pinch the inside of my bicep even on the XL size ones. CCM's AS line doesn't pinch but also doesn't feel deep enough for my liking. Final question: I love my Reebok 10k shins, they're absolute tanks but have worn straps and a small crack on one of the knees that will eventually get big enough I'll have to replace them. Looks like CCM is still making this shin with the same design for pro stock but calls them 19k or 20k or 21k. This one even has the old Reebok logo on the knee. How can I get my hands on pro stock without just keeping an eye on reseller sites, or is that the only option?
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Jan 13, 2023 01:37
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JUST MAKING CHILI posted:First session of adult learn to play ice hockey is tonight, with a drop in session right afterwards. I got some vapor 2x skates for cheap and ice skated over Christmas/nye vacation for the first time in 5+ years. All I’ve ever done is inline hockey so my goal is to learn how to hockey stop. I’m also signed up for adult skills evaluation this Saturday for league play starting end of the month. Heck yes! You'll crush it I'm sure of it! And I'm too new to answer those questions ^ I joined a lunch league in Superior Colorado! First game was today and it's strictly enforced skill level. I rated myself as a 3(lowest) and was drafted to a D league team. First game and uh. All the playing in my other league with AAA and D1 college people helped or something because I scored 2 goals(1 shorty) and had an assist as left winger! I broke up multiple breakaways where they beat our defensemen. We won 9-1. I stopped really shooting because I felt bad and just worked on passing. Love hockey. Also in my Sunday league we(2-7) beat the undefeated team (8-0) also 9-1! And I scored my first goal in that league! So in 3 leagues I'm up to 4 goals. I still can't shoot for poo poo, but I can use my speed to beat the goalie on breakaways and then just let the puck fall into the net via momentum RC Cola fucked around with this message at 03:09 on Jan 13, 2023 |
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Jan 13, 2023 03:01
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Do you have any info on good outdoor ice in the Denver area? I'm still altitude adjusting and having a patch where I can go do laps without paying would be ideal. I was thinking of heading to Palmer Lake this weekend but the temps are kinda high. I'll probably go anyways but not expect too much.
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Jan 13, 2023 03:35
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xzzy posted:Do you have any info on good outdoor ice in the Denver area? I'm still altitude adjusting and having a patch where I can go do laps without paying would be ideal. Evergreen lake is frozen and isn't too far. It's 8.5 acres Keystone lake is farther but cool and gets zammed. It's 5 acres. That's all I know off hand unfortunately. If you find some good ones in the Denver area though let me know!
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Jan 13, 2023 04:07
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Zammed outdoor ice is real nice.
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Jan 13, 2023 05:58
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xzzy posted:Do you have any info on good outdoor ice in the Denver area? I'm still altitude adjusting and having a patch where I can go do laps without paying would be ideal. Not sure where you're at in the area, but the Longmont Ice Pavilion is outdoors on a smaller rink.
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Jan 13, 2023 23:14
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Any of you Chicagoland goons know of rinks with league play that has enforced skill levels? Like they move up former D1 college hockey players from D league when they sign up? Two of my friends in the area are just starting hockey and want to join a league around their skill level (6 months since picking up a stick for the first time in their mid 30s)
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Jan 17, 2023 20:22
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Pre-pandemic, sure. There were a few well run rinks. But now it's pure chaos, they let anyone skate anywhere and make up for it by not counting it against your team record if you lose to a team from another division. I think Canlan Romeoville is doing their learn to play league again, no idea how it's going right now though. But it's 7AM skate on Sunday and traditionally the teams were hand balanced by coaches.
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Jan 17, 2023 20:32
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American Heartland in lincolnwood used to have a league that was aimed at beginners. I used it for a season or two when (I was around 24 at the time) I transitioned from inline to ice after not having ice skated since I was 12 years old. It was good but no league is perfect and there's always going to be someone who sandbags. I dont know if its still going or not though, its probably been 8-10 years since my last game. The guy who ran it also played in the league and was a huge sharks fan and very novice hockey player. He was sort of annoying but a nice guy. One of the refs didnt speak english and it was great. Super salty guy. The learn to play leagues are about the most strict when it comes to enforcing skill but obviously its not a regular league and only meant for true beginners. Even the GSHL/Kraken Hockey League here in seattle used to run eval sessions for new players coming into the league. You would run through drills, play a scrimmage and a variety of league captains would sit and evaluate players and assign them a skill level. Then a player draft would happen to divvy them up and try to ensure these people went to appropriate teams. They would pick numbers and draft players from a spreadsheet with their average skill level assigned, where they're from, and a brief description of their playing history that they filled out when they signed up ie: 36 years old, male, prefers defense but willing to play forward. Played highschool travel hockey, stopped after 16. Havent skated since. I dont think it happens anymore though and it wasnt fool proof. It took a lot of time and resources. Plus it wasn't mandatory. Guys came in and just said "I'm buddies with ____ and I want to be on their team". Once you were in, you could move up or down to any team. On average, it wasnt uncommon for people to play three divisions. Say you normally play 4, but you might go down to 5 or up to 3. The worst was guys from 3 playing 5 or 6 and just destroying a team single handedly, scoring at will. We had divisions 1-8. 3-4 was probably the largest skill gap. You could still find a lot of guys in 4 that were good but never played organized hockey growing up. Most everybody in 3 played high level organized hockey, 1-2 was usually college/juniors. The best was when a team from 5-7 would try and snag a guy that everybody clearly marked a 3. Every captain would be like "lol, no way". On a side note, I played my second game since my back injury last year. It was good but the other teams goalie didnt show up so that sucked. I played better than my first but still lacking on cardio and timing. I just sort of felt ... off. I feel pretty good today which is always a good thing. I made a conscious effort to show up early and stretch real good.
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Jan 17, 2023 22:16
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Well this is interesting. Someone is trying to start up an over-40 league. I am all about that poo poo. He sent out a questionnaire. "Would you be okay with Thursday nights 9 or 10:30" and "Would you be okay with ice times changing to Friday or Saturday depending on when we can get the ice". There's three rinks in town. Chaparral: 1 sheet The Pond: 1 full, one 3/4 sheet Crossover: 2 full sheets (I think they're both full sized) WE ARE OUT OF ICE. Austin frigging Texas. Out. Of. Ice. I never thought I'd see the day. I tell people I play hockey and they have no clue there's any ice around. But somehow we're out of ice. Maybe we're *gasp* GROWING! Wow! 
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Jan 17, 2023 22:42
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We only had 6 skaters on Sunday, against their 15 guys. We lead until a minute left when we were all out of gas. The average age of the 6 guys was 60. Fifteen guys barely beat 6 dudes. Lol. The oldest guy is 72, almost 73.
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Jan 17, 2023 22:52
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Numbers are a detriment in beer league, skaters that sit on the bench too long play dumb.
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Jan 17, 2023 22:58
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Verman posted:Even the GSHL/Kraken Hockey League here in seattle used to run eval sessions for new players coming into the league. You would run through drills, play a scrimmage and a variety of league captains would sit and evaluate players and assign them a skill level. Then a player draft would happen to divvy them up and try to ensure these people went to appropriate teams. They would pick numbers and draft players from a spreadsheet with their average skill level assigned, where they're from, and a brief description of their playing history that they filled out when they signed up ie: 36 years old, male, prefers defense but willing to play forward. Played highschool travel hockey, stopped after 16. Havent skated since. They still do evals, although it's changed a little with the Kraken feeding their L2P classes directly into teams. Supposedly they added another 3 teams in the middle of the season, but who knows because the schedule is only done up until Thursday this week. Divisions go down to 10 now, but around 3-4 is where I see that big jump in skill level. There's multiple groups in a bunch of the middle divisions too. I don't know if captains go and draft anymore though or if it's just down to those adult evals and being added to a team. There's a ton of players being added, but there are still nights where a team will only have 7-9 players, so still plenty of room. Love to see a town out of ice time, but also hate to see it. It's a good problem to have.
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Jan 17, 2023 22:59
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RC Cola posted:Any of you Chicagoland goons know of rinks with league play that has enforced skill levels? Like they move up former D1 college hockey players from D league when they sign up? Two of my friends in the area are just starting hockey and want to join a league around their skill level (6 months since picking up a stick for the first time in their mid 30s) 5/3 is pretty good about keeping ringers out of D-League. During my time there, a few teams were given the option to move up to C2 or to ditch their ringer(s) and every single one of them ditched the ringer(s). I'd highly recommend going to their 10:20pm and 11:20pm Friday night group lessons (yes the time slot blows). You'll need to meet people who are already on teams in order to get invited to a team, and most people in those two lesson slots are in the D-League or trying to get good enough to join the D-League. There's an official waiting list, but I've never heard of anyone actually being called from it. The way I got in was by talking to one of the captains who was at the 11pm lesson. The only other league I've played in was Franklin Park, and they were so desperate for people that they never kicked anyone out, so there were lots of ringers.
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Jan 17, 2023 23:27
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I had adult eval last Saturday, supposed to get drafted this week for first game this Sunday. Got a nice groin pull on Sunday night during my regular pickup inline game. Skipped Monday night ice drop in, because of the groin, but turns out that was okay because they ended early due to “emergency ice maintenance”. Aka - a shot on goal deflected to the rafters and hit a fire sprinkler head. Dumped enough dirty water that the sheet melted to the concrete. Oops!
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Jan 17, 2023 23:46
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JUST MAKING CHILI posted:I had adult eval last Saturday, supposed to get drafted this week for first game this Sunday. Got a nice groin pull on Sunday night during my regular pickup inline game. This is incredible. What was your eval? How do they do one of those? Have you do drills? A scrimmage? And thanks for the Chicagoland advice! I passed it on to my friends.
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Jan 18, 2023 00:02
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RC Cola posted:Any of you Chicagoland goons know of rinks with league play that has enforced skill levels? Like they move up former D1 college hockey players from D league when they sign up? Two of my friends in the area are just starting hockey and want to join a league around their skill level (6 months since picking up a stick for the first time in their mid 30s) Johnny's also runs 101 and 102 classes, and people from those classes usually go to their 3v3 league next (because the lowest full-ice league there, Federal, is a step above 5/3rd D). It's played on a studio rink and is exhausting but a good way to meet other skaters and find other teams to play on down the line. Steve (steve@johnnysicehouse.com) can probably help them if they want more info.
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Jan 18, 2023 00:28
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https://imgur.com/a/1EKecK2 Eval was a couple drills then scrimmage. Looked like a lot of returning players were there along with a few new skaters, so I get the feeling that everyone was evaluating the 3-5 new people. First drill: from the corner on the goalies left, skate a puck around the faceoff circle, take a shot on goal when you get into the slot. Continue to skate to the other faceoff circle (partial figure 8), receive a pass at the top of the circle, cut up ice and shoot on the other goalie. Get in line, do it the opposite way. Second drill: split up forwards and defensemen, fowards in the corner, d at center. Fowards get a pass from a D man from center ice to the corner, skate it all the way to the other end where one of the d pick you up in the neutral zone for 1v1. Get back in line after you shoot or lose the puck. Not sure what the defenders did in the middle. There may have been more to this drill, but I've skated a lot in the last week an can't remember. Then about 45 minutes of scrimmaging, playing 10-12 per side. JUST MAKING CHILI fucked around with this message at 00:49 on Jan 18, 2023 |
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Jan 18, 2023 00:45
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xzzy posted:Numbers are a detriment in beer league, skaters that sit on the bench too long play dumb. 100% agree. We specifically set our roster to a max of 12 since there is always a handful who don't show up. We generally are running 9 guys.
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Jan 18, 2023 01:04
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Jhet posted:Divisions go down to 10 now, but around 3-4 is where I see that big jump in skill level. There's multiple groups in a bunch of the middle divisions too. I don't know if captains go and draft anymore though or if it's just down to those adult evals and being added to a team. There's a ton of players being added, but there are still nights where a team will only have 7-9 players, so still plenty of room. I'll cosign this. I came in to GSHL from a learn to play (this was probably 6 years ago), started a team out of that and slowly got bumped up as players come and go. We're now in 4b and some nights it's a struggle with the skill gaps not only in division but also when we invariably play up to div-3 for some loving reason. I don't consider myself a _bad_ player but I also know when those games vs div3 come up that all we can do on defence is to not get cute and hope for the best cause it's going to be a rough ride. I've been thinking more and more of trying to find a lower division team to play half the season with just to get some reps where I don't feel like I'm chasing the game the whole time. I love the dudes on my team but sometimes you want to feel like you're being impactful and I'm not sure that's happening all that often right now.
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Jan 18, 2023 01:43
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I did a 102 class with coach Ken at johnnies when I got back into ice just to get ice time and run drills. It was awesome. Small world, he was my wife's coach when she played in middle school. I did a mid level league at Skokie and there was this dickhead who was like 25 and played major juniors in Sweden. He had a hockey db page and he was playing mid level beer league. There were at least 3 higher divisions for him to play. Surprise he had a hat trick every game. His shot was stupid hard. I recall stripping him with a stick lift and he buried me with a full body check next time we were close and I went for the puck. He also hip checked one of our least skilled but quick guys who went into their zone. Like, textbook hip check. He cartwheeled so hard. Keto in mind, this is a no check league. We slashed the gently caress out of that guy all night to the point the refs came to the bench and told us he understands, the guy is a dickhead, but the next guy to slash him gets ejected. We all thought maybe he signed up for the wrong division. He was there again the next season. Verman fucked around with this message at 05:32 on Jan 18, 2023 |
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Jan 18, 2023 05:23
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Like half of my team in Franklin Park also played in Skokie and so every time there was a conflict, they'd all go to Skokie and as captain it fell upon me to find subs for them all.
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Jan 18, 2023 17:54
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 this sucks so much but it's pretty funny
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Jan 18, 2023 17:57
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xzzy posted:Numbers are a detriment in beer league, skaters that sit on the bench too long play dumb. it's like how every team plays better on the penalty kill and scores more goals.
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Jan 18, 2023 18:55
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Henrik Zetterberg posted:
Not too bad, they announced ice is fixed and back open today.
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Jan 18, 2023 21:27
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Vargatron posted:it's like how every team plays better on the penalty kill and scores more goals. Well yeah the team plays much better when I'm off the ice
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Jan 19, 2023 01:59
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Verman posted:Even the GSHL/Kraken Hockey League here in seattle used to run eval sessions for new players coming into the league. You would run through drills, play a scrimmage and a variety of league captains would sit and evaluate players and assign them a skill level. Then a player draft would happen to divvy them up and try to ensure these people went to appropriate teams. They would pick numbers and draft players from a spreadsheet with their average skill level assigned, where they're from, and a brief description of their playing history that they filled out when they signed up ie: 36 years old, male, prefers defense but willing to play forward. Played highschool travel hockey, stopped after 16. Havent skated since. We're still doing eval skates for new folk in SKAHL - plus we have "you're only allowed to sub/play on a 2nd (or 3rd or whatever) team within X-amount of sub-divisions" so we don't have folk sandbagging it up. During the season we'll play a few teams from one sub-division up, and a few from the next one down as well so we're not just playing the same 4-6 teams a millions times a year. And why yes we DID just get whipped twice in a row playing the upper teams lol. Full disclosure it wouldn't have been so bad if our top three fastest & best breakout puck carriers weren't all injured for a good amount of time  Jhet posted:Supposedly they added another 3 teams in the middle of the season, but who knows because the schedule is only done up until Thursday this week. lol Andy is still doing this poo poo eh? That's one of the big reasons I left GSHL. I would have thought they'd have gotten better about that with the KHL absorbing GSHL and him possibly having a boss over him but noooooooope
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Jan 19, 2023 07:15
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Duke Chin posted:lol Andy is still doing this poo poo eh? That's one of the big reasons I left GSHL. I would have thought they'd have gotten better about that with the KHL absorbing GSHL and him possibly having a boss over him but noooooooope Yeah, everyone was hopeful when we got the schedule through December in October. Guess it's back to regular. We got our game for Sunday at 9pm last night. And due to his inability to schedule with consistency, I'd been assigned to referee one of the other games in my playing division as well. Really hoping this doesn't continue. I don't mind losing 9-2 as much as not knowing what my weekend schedule is going to look like.
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Jan 19, 2023 16:28
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JUST MAKING CHILI posted:Skipped Monday night ice drop in, because of the groin, but turns out that was okay because they ended early due to “emergency ice maintenance”. Aka - a shot on goal deflected to the rafters and hit a fire sprinkler head. Dumped enough dirty water that the sheet melted to the concrete. Oops! I had that happen in a game I was playing in. Linemate got his stick in front of a guy shooting as he crossed the blue line, puck went up and sheared off a sprinkler head and before anyone could even really react (it happens super fast) a quarter of the rink was covered in disgusting sprinkler water and you could clearly see concrete. We were winning 1-0 in the second and they counted it as the final score.
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Jan 19, 2023 18:26
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That's wild. I've seen an overnight roof leak make a concentrated hole through the ice, an ice resurfacer break down and melt a strip into the ice because the water didn't get shut off fast enough, but I've never seen that before drat.
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Jan 19, 2023 22:48
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