In our game last week, I took a penalty for hooking when I used my hockey stick to lift another player’s stick in front of their net, and I lifted it a little too high. This put us on a 4-on-4 situation, and then shorthanded 5-on-4 when the other team’s penalty expired before mine.
While I was in the box, my team scored twice. I asked the scorekeeper and the refs to give me a ten minute game misconduct, because me being off the ice clearly helps my team.
Singh10.
The Summer 2009 preseason ended last Friday. From this Friday onward, all games count in the standings.
Despite the rink’s attempts to try and get everything organized before the season starts, it seems they are still playing catch up. After two weeks of play, our league’s players are still not in their system and so any stats they have accumulated thus far are not being credited. For goals and assists, this oversight is not a big deal. However, the rink is dropping the ball on tracking each player’s penalty minutes.
The Winter league rulebook posted on Skatetown’s website states:
Any player accumulating 50 PIM during the regular season will receive a one game suspension. Any player accumulating 65 PIM will receive another game suspension. Any player accumulating 80 PIM during the regular season will be suspended for the remainder of the season. All suspensions will carry into playoffs or the
next season.
Traditionally, for the Summer season the threshold is lower than 50 penalty minutes before a player gets suspended.
Because there are strict consquences for being called for too many penalties, I believe this is a significant issue – even more so because during this preseason we’ve seen game misconducts handed out to players, and even one player accumulating so many penalties in a game that he/she was ejected. In another game, I even heard of an incident where a player spit at the other team from the bench. These actions could potentially increase these players’ PIM totals for the season, but that these players are getting away without these minutes being recorded is disconcerting. At the same time, it’s almost typical for Skatetown.
Another observation that several players have made was the disappointing lack of anyone from the rink watching our second preseason game – as far as we could tell. The preseason is supposed to be the rink’s window into evaluating each team’s talent. If players are too good for our league, the rink is supposed to identify them during these two weeks. The fact that no one from the rink was in attendance to evaluate each team’s players might come back and bite the rink on the proverbial butt later on. I am absolutely certain there are more than a few players who will now slip through the cracks and be playing in Silver B when they should be two leagues up, in Gold B.
We came into this season with assurances of how things will be improved at Skatetown. One of my closing comments at our last Captain’s meeting was that Skatetown would do itself a huge favor if the rink just applied the rules it has now, rather than to try to continually reinvent the wheel and come up with new rules and policies to cover up their inability or unwillingness to enforce the old ones. While I’m still willing to give the rink the benefit of the doubt as our league’s administration is still relatively new, as of right now it seems as though it’s more of the same.
Singh10.
For the Puck Hogs, the Winter 2008-2009 season came to an end at 7:30 PM on Friday night. Our second round playoff loss to the Pints sent us packing with no more games left to play this season. The Pints move on to the Silver B Championship game this Friday to face the Misfits.
We left the rink and went to our post game pizza place to drown our sorrows in meat lovers pizza. I know I felt better afterwards.
We had gone into our game against the Pints with a lot of challenges. We were missing four guys and this put us at a disadvantage compared to the full (and overall younger) bench of the Pints. Another of our teammates was basically playing injured, as he has been for some time. However, I think we put up a good fight and competed as hard as we could. It was disappointing to lose, but it was a close loss (we lost 3-1) to a very dominant team, so I’m consoled by the fact that we still were very competitive in light of the odds stacked against us. But, I do have to say that I left that game upset by more than our loss. An incident with only seconds left in the game has bothered me, and I feel I have to address it here.
Because this is where I record my thoughts and opinions on the game, I’ve been very quick on this blog to publically get on teams or players who I feel play dirty. The Pints have been a recipient of this from me for two seasons. But, despite my own personal belief on how rec hockey should be played, my own team is not immune from engaging in dirty or ugly play on the ice.
We were down 3-1 in our game against the Pints with 19 seconds left and our goalie pulled for the extra attacker. Frankly, the game (which had been fairly clean to that point) was pretty much over. One of the Pints – their best player - came into our zone with the puck along the boards, and one of my teammates aggressively checked him to prevent the guy from scoring an empty net goal.
But, my player didn’t stop there. He proceeded to pull the Pints player down, jumped on top of him and started throwing punches. I was on the ice at the time, and while I’m usually one of the first to try to break up these plays, I skated to the bench instead. I was disgusted because there was no justification for this act. Their player was playing the game as he should have been. The attack on him was completely unwarranted; it would have been one thing if my player just checked him hard, but it was another to take him down and assault him for no apparent reason. After all of my ranting about dirty play from other teams in our league, to witness my own player engage in such an act was a bitter pill for me to swallow.
Some people might accuse me of throwing my own teammate under the bus, but I have to be fair about this. I’ve openly called out the actions of other players, and so it would be hypocritical of me to ignore incidents when members of my team do the same things. I know that if our places were reversed and someone from the Pints assaulted one of my players in such a manner, I would have been calling for heads to roll.
After our game, I approached the Pints captain in the parking lot and apologized on my team’s behalf for his player getting jumped. I also asked him to extend my apology to his player. I expressed my regret for the action of my teammate and I told the Pints captain that this is not how I want my team to play or be known for. The Pints captain accepted my apology with a lot of grace and didn’t make a big deal about it. I know that I wouldn’t have been so graceful if it was the other way around, especially given our history with the Pints.
So, to be true to myself, I want to publically apologize on this blog to the Pints for what happened at the end of our game. I still believe that assaulting other people on the ice has no business in rec hockey, whether it comes from members of another team or my own.
Singh10.
I’ve been feeling a little better lately about my game. I’m not sure what accounts for it, and it’s probably imperceptible to those outside of my brain. But, I feel like I’m skating a bit better, and am seeing the puck and the play a little better than I have been in a long while. I’m also trying to push myself to get out of the comfort zone that I’ve played in for the longest time.
I’ve had a few good chances to score in my last few games, so maybe this is what is helping. I had a bunch in our last game against the Ice Dawgs, though I wasn’t able to cash in on any of them. This surge in confidence/feel-goodness has motivated me to try and get in another ice time during the week. Since our team moved to playing Friday nights (as a result of the creation of Silver B), I’ve only played once a week.
I used to play one game plus one drop-in or skills class per week. The drop-in I used to attend was removed in place of our games on Friday nights, and there haven’t been any classes for months. I’ve never felt that one session on the ice per week was enough, and I think it has had an impact on the development of my abilities on the ice as well as my enjoyment of the game. So, I’ve resolved to get my butt out of bed early on the weekends to practice at the rink. So far, it’s been great (“so far” being the one time I’ve done it since making the resolution to do it).
Speaking of the Ice Dawgs, we had a great game against them last Friday, except for some physical play all during the game on the part of one of their players, who later was ejected from the game. I’m not sure what his deal was, but I think in the end the referees handled that situation appropriately. Some words were exchanged between players on their time and ours, but I’m not going to hold it against them or take it personally. The Ice Dawgs certainly don’t have a reputation for dirty play and it was probably just due to emotions boiling over.
On another note, many of us were surprised to see the Pints finally lose a game in regulation. Norcal Crossover A beat them 2-1 on Friday night. Not to take anything away from the victors, but I wonder if the “fix” was in. Consider the following:
So, I think the circumstantial evidence speaks for itself here. The Pints threw a game because they want to avoid being moved up to Silver A next season.
And finally, has the offseason already started? It’s only February but I’ve heard of some activity with a captain or two approaching players (including those on my team) to join theirs next season - though I don’t know which league specifically; it could be in our league (in which case they are looking to poach our roster) or another. It seems several of our guys have been approached.
Perhaps it’s better to be proactive this year and get myself going in that regard. It seems that the country’s economic woes are having an impact on whether many people will be able to play next season, as employment is becoming an issue and hockey has to take its place on the affordability bubble. As such, I’ve started this week to begin my team planning for next season. Hopefully, by starting earlier, the offseason won’t seem as difficult as it usually has been.
Singh10.
|
