Keeping me honest

There was an uncharacteristic pin-drop silence in our locker room after our game last Friday.  What normally is a loud and boisterous room was dead quiet before we got back to our normal selves.  I don’t think we took a lot of joy in what had just transpired on the ice.

Our game against Rough Riders A turned into a blowout very quickly.  The Rough Riders, who have yet to win a game during the season, were rather short on their bench and it made for the perfect storm.  We scored five goals in the first period and another six over the next two.

As I’ve indicated on this blog, I’m not supportive of blowing out other teams.   When a game is out of reach, trying to run up the score is humiliating to the other team and I feel uncomfortable about putting the other players in that position.   I know how frustrating it is when the other team decides to feast on yours for some points.  I’ve been on the wrong side of those kinds of losses many times. 

I also know that these things happen.  I appreciate that regardless of the score, many players just want to play their game and not have to hold back, since they’ve paid for the game and have come to play.  They are certainly entitled to this opinion, but I am cognizant of the fact that this is only recreation and some consideration of the other side should come into play.

During our game against the Rough Riders, I had emotionally checked out after the first period and was hoping that we wouldn’t score more than we were.  It was obvious that many of my teammates genuinely felt the same way.  There was no cheering from us after the first period, and many players were holding themselves back, by just floating shots to the net or circling the offensive zone to negate our own offensive rush.  Many times there was really no option but to shoot, and we would end up scoring another goal. 

The Rough Riders took the outcome with a lot of grace.  They weren’t confrontational or antagonistic towards us, and they even complimented some of the plays that my teammates made.  I certainly would have not dealt with that kind of loss as well as they did.

Looking at the scoresheet, I can understand why people would think that we were doing the very thing that I am critical of on this blog.  Indeed, it wasn’t long after the game that the “hypocritical” label was thrown at me, and that is fair.  While our game on Friday isn’t consistent with my opinions on the topic, I still believe that blowing out other teams is not appropriate and I regret that the outcome turned out the way it did.

Singh10.

Violent rec league hockey fight ‘consensual’: police

I came across this news item about a fight during a rec league hockey game recently:

A violent hockey fight during a recreational league game that sent a 44-year-old man to hospital in Windsor, Ont., was “consensual” and is not expected to result in criminal charges, police announced Tuesday afternoon.

To not press any charges is an interesting decision by the police.  It seems that because there were two active participants who attacked each other and that there were no injuries, no charges will be filed.

I don’t necessarily agree with the decision not to press charges in this case.  Hockey is a physical game, so there is some leeway, but I harbour the belief that you simply don’t intentionally assault someone on the ice.  Nonetheless, for whatever reason, people seem to think they can get away with violence (that they would never do off the ice) because it’s hockey.

Keep your gloves on, it’s only rec.

Singh10

Monday Musings: Warm and tingley

Yesterday, someone found their way to this blog by searching for “how to stop puck hogs“. Didn’t P. Diddy tell you? We won’t stop, because we can’t stop.

Saturday night was happy times in Hogtown, USA. We beat the top team in our league, albeit a team that had a short bench.  Much like the last time we played them, they came into our game having blown out the last place team the week before (a 10-0 thrashing).  However, this time around they were missing many of their top players (including those who had to play for their college team the same night).   Regardless, we’ll take the win.  It felt good to hand that team a loss and even better (at least for me) that we won’t have to see them for the rest of this regular season.

Haviland55 scored four goals in this game, and he’s become the second player this season to accomplish that feat.  Good for him! Having so many different scorers bodes well for our team.

Unfortunately, I’m not one of those scorers.  I’m still struggling to score four goals at all for this season.  Saturday was my thirteenth game without scoring, though I did at least have a couple of chances this time.

On another note, how interesting is this?

From second to seventh place, five out of 10 teams in our league (including us) have nine wins so far this season.  The only thing that separates these teams is the types of losses they’ve had. The Pints, in seventh place, have eight wins but are only three points out of second place.  Some would call this parity and it’s hard to disagree, though I think how we got here is a debatable issue.  With eight games left in the regular season, it certainly makes every game for those of us in the middle of the pack that much more important in terms of where each team will finish in the standings.

Finally, the player who refuses to shake my hand during the postgame line up played against us on Saturday, and I’ve moved from not caring about it to being amused by the ways he is finding to avoid the gesture with me.  We’ve played that team three times this season.  The first time we played, he tugged at my sleeve instead of shaking my hand.  The second time, while my hand was out offering the handshake, he instead patted my shoulder.  On Saturday, again with my hand out, he patted my belly and said “good game”.

I’m now strangely looking forward to finding out where he will touch me next to avoid shaking my hand.  To be honest, just thinking about it has started giving me the shivers. 

Singh10.

Interesting start to 2010

It was an interesting start to the year.

On January 2, due to popular demand, “Singh Ice” returned to Skatetown as I rented the ice during the holiday break for a little scrimmage.  It was a huge turnout.  We had about 30 skaters from different teams and played for an hour and a half.  While I was initially hesitant to try and organize a skate, I’m glad I did.  It was a lot of fun.  Thanks to everyone who came out!

Last Friday, we returned to official action as the league picked up again after the holidays. We lost in a shootout to the Misfits in an emotion-filled and hotly contested game.  While Jones3’s shootout attempt will be the stuff of legend, it was a fun game.  And, the outcome certainly makes the middle of the pack more log-jammed than before.  Our positions in the standings did not change, but the Misfits did get one point closer to us.

Although they played in a couple of games earlier this season, this game marked the official returns of Heikila22 and Kula5 to the line up, and it was great to see those two finally back in the locker room and on the ice.  Seeing two thirds of the “Vivitra line” was a good reminder of old times.   We’re anticipating the return of Phillips15 on the ice next season to complete that line.

I’m now in yet another long goal-less streak.  Last Friday’s game was my twelfth without a goal.  I didn’t even have a sniff of a chance to score.  I’ve decided to keep a track of the length of my drought with the hope that the constant reminder will either motivate me to play better or force me to cut myself from the team because of my lack of production. 

Some of the other games in our league raised my eyebrows:

• A forfeit? The Rehabilitated-Spitfire game made for an interesting scoresheet.  All four Rehab goals were disallowed, giving Spitfire a 2-0 win.  I can only assume that Rehabilitated was disqualified for some reason and they had to forfeit the game, but I wonder what happened.  Having officially lost that game, Rehab sits in third instead of second.  We’re tied with Rehab in points and sit in fourth.
• Friday night fights! The Flying Wizards-Rough Riders A game pitted the top team against the bottom team in the league (some might also classify this game as “Poacher vs. Poached”, but I digress), and it will shock no one that the game ended up in a blowout.  With all the goals scored (especially in the last five minutes), I guess it’s also no surprise there was a fight in that game as well. 

Pond hockey in California? On a more positive note, I offer many kudos to the Ice Dawgs, who rented the Midtown Ice Rink last Sunday morning and held a four-on-four outdoor game of shinny to kick off the year that they called the “Ice Dawgs Midtown Winter Classic”.  They even got a little TV coverage:

I admire their collective creativity.  From the pictures I saw posted online, it looks like they had a ton of fun.  Good on you, guys!

Singh10.