Monday Musings: What’s up my sleeve?

We lost against the Flying Wizards last Friday, but in many ways it felt like a win.

Coming into Friday’s game, the Flying Wizards were undefeated this season and it’s not hard to figure out why.  The team gets better not because their own players are improving, but because they find ways to add more sandbaggers to their ranks each season and this Winter Season is no exception.  Their roster contains so much upper level talent that they make a mockery of our league rules, and of their opponents.  Several of their players are so talented that they can skate end-to-end and back again unchallenged.  When you hear their bench cheer that behaviour on, you feel a little embarrassed for them.

Clearly there’s not a whole lot we can do about it, other than to try our best to compete.  Sure, playing against stiffer competition might theoretically help us to become better players, but when our players push themselves beyond their limits just to keep up, it becomes a dangerous situation – not for them but for us.  Indeed, a couple of our guys got hurt on Friday night because just to be competitive with that overly talented group they had to exceed their own safety levels.

Regardless, to run with the Flying Wizards we knew that it was going to take more than just trying hard.  There isn’t that kind of parity in our league where just trying hard is going to help you be successful.  The week prior, the Flying Wizards not only outscored their opponents 9-0, but they did this by outshooting the other team 33-6.  Their opposition didn’t even stand a chance.  We saw this and didn’t want to suffer the same fate so we discussed a few strategies in the locker room before the game. 

Our strategies were not rocket science but we really made ourselves proud in that we executed and stayed focused throughout the game.   It worked well.  We knew we wouldn’t be able to generate their kind of offense (and indeed, we were heavily outshot ourselves) but we played a strong defensive game and our goalie came up big.  We jumped up to a 2-0 lead before the Flying Wizards capitalized on some bounces and tied it up. 

The other thing I was personally happy about was that when we went to the shootout, we maintained our tradition of giving everyone on our team a chance to shoot.  We cycle through player numbers so that everyone gets their chance to be a hero.  On the other hand, the Flying Wizards do what they always do: give ice time and shootout preference to talented players at the expense of lesser talented ones.  Nonetheless, we took them to eight or nine rounds of the shootout before one of their college players scored.  As one of the referees said to me after the game, we should be proud that we took that team that far.  And, we were.  Even though it was a loss for us, not a single head was hanging in our locker room afterwards.

Furthermore, an incident occured after this game that I will not let pass without comment.  Many will disagree with me, but I don’t believe the postgame handshake is automatic.  There is some meaning behind the act and it is a gesture that is to be deserved. The handshake is an expression of goodwill between two parties or people:

The handshake is initiated when the two hands touch, immediately. It is commonly done upon meeting, greeting, parting, offering congratulations, expressing gratitude, or completing an agreement. In sports or other competitive activities, it is also done as a sign of good sportsmanship. Its purpose is to convey trust, balance, and equality.

When I have felt that there was a particularly poor display of sportsmanship or there was a blatant lack of goodwill, I do not engage in the handshake.  Some will say that I am being unsportsmanlike in refusing, but when my team has been intentionally wronged by another, it doesn’t make sense to me to shake hands and say “good game”.  Play a good, fair and competitive game, and I will shake your hand. It’s not common for me not to shake hands after a game, however. In the over 200 games I’ve played at Skatetown, there were only about three times that I had not shaken hands.

Having said all this, I will be honest and say that ahead of this game, I had no intention of being in the postgame handshake line up with the Flying Wizards.  In our last game against that team – the infamous playoff loss where the Flying Wizards got away with cheating – I did not participate in the line up due to their actions and I still have issues with the sportsmanship and sense of fair play (or lack thereof) that team displays each season.  Nothing has occured since that playoff loss that has made me change my mind about them.

On Friday, when our game ended and the Flying Wizards won, my teammates began lining up for the postgame handshake.  I thought about this for a second, and decided that while I personally didn’t want to shake the hands of that team (there a few exceptions of one or two people on that team I actually like), since my teammates were going to do it, I should do it too.  I participated in the handshake not because of the Flying Wizards, but out of respect for my teammates.

I swallowed my pride and shook each of the Flying Wizards hands, but oddly enough one of the Flying Wizards grabbed my sleeve and tugged my jersey instead of shaking my hand.  I paused and reached my hand out again and he just skated past to the next person.

After the line up I approached this player and asked him why he didn’t handshake (since I really had no beef with him at any point during this game), and his response was simply “it’ll never happen”.  He then turned his back and skated away.

So be it.  If my participation in a handshake is conditional, I won’t complain if someone refuses to shake mine (unlike a past Flying Wizard who would chase me down after every game and complain if someone didn’t shake his hand, or if there were not enough pumps in the handshake or of the person squeezed too hard, or not hard enough, etc.). Furthermore, this player tends to be one of the more dirty players on the ice, and recently openly referred to me as a “turban-wearing [expletive]“, and to some of the women in our league as “c*nts”.   

While I’ve been called all kinds of names by various members of the Flying Wizards to insult my playing ability or call into question my sexuality, to take a shot at my ethnicity is off limits and uncalled for.  Still, I would be foolish to expect any kind of  apology from that team for the bigoted comments by their player. The fact that someone made such a comment, and that it came from a Flying Wizard, is not a big shock either.  I’m sure much worse is said about me behind my back, as most racists do not behave so openly.

I’ve always known it was just a matter of time before someone made some kind of ethnic slur towards me.   To our hockey community’s credit, it took five years before someone openly called me something, and I’d rather focus on that and the hundreds of decent players I’ve come across rather than the one or two bad seeds at our rink.

Accordingly, if a bigoted misogynist on the Flying Wizards refuses to shake my hand, I’m not losing any sleep over it.

Singh10.

Vindication

I’m really proud of and happy for the team after last Friday’s win over the Flying Ringers.  Our team played great.  To a player, there was a definite determination to play hard against the other team at both ends of the ice and it showed.

Even after the Flying Ringers tied the game late (after they significantly cut the ice time of their less talented players in the third period to give their sandbaggers more ice time), we didn’t lose our resolve.  There was no panic and right to the end we felt we could beat them.

The game proved to be a vindication of many different things:

• We finally were able to put together consecutive wins – that too against the top team in the league.
• We defeated them after they crushed us 9-3 earlier in the season.
• After they tied it up, one of their players began showboating on the ice after he scored.  It was nice to get the win after that display.
• One of our players, who during the offseason was told he wasn’t good enough to play for the Flying Ringers, scored a goal in his first game against them.  He now has more goals himself than about half their team combined, and has more goals than the person on that team who told him he wasn’t good enough.  I couldn’t be happier for our guy!
• Another of our teammates played injured and played an excellent game, scoring a goal himself.
• Two guys got their first goals of the season.  That leaves just one left to get a goal and when he does, every player (besides our goalie) will have scored at least one goal.  That’s awesome.
• After watching the game and how the Flying Ringers play, a couple of people commented to me after the game about how they were now convinced that what I have said about that team is true.
• Despite the Flying Ringers essentially benching their less talented players so that their sandbaggers could get them the win, they ended up losing the game.

Like many other teams in our league, we continued to roll all our lines throughout the game. Equal ice time in rec hockey is an ethic that many team captains share in our league and across rec hockey.  I’m glad that not only did we stick to it, but it payed off with the win as well.

I consider equal ice time a fundamental right in rec hockey.  It is sacred.  We all pay the same fee to play, and so we all deserve equal ice time regardless of our talent or ability.  Another captain in our league commented after our game about how the cutting of ice time of lesser able players by the Flying Ringers was “unfortunate”.  However, what is most unfortunate is that the team is proud of it and use it as a legitimate strategy.  As one of their more talented players said about this strategy:

It was a great game, even without some of our ringers and we almost gotrdone regardless. It’s alway a great time to play the Hogs and even that much sweeter when we see our game plan come together…..right down to the last 31 seconds!!

I’m not surprised that they pulled that move, we’ve seen them do that before when they are losing.  What I am surprised about is that people on that team even tolerate it.  Such behaviour was the catalyst for me leaving that group of players in the first place many seasons ago (back when we was Bronze), and last Friday was just more validation that I made the right choice.

Singh10.

Monday Musings: Untripodlike Conduct

It’s funny how things work sometimes.

During the day before our game against Norcal Crossover A last Friday, I was contemplating putting up a post about being in the midst of another long goal-less streak. While not as bad as my nine-month one, as of last week I hadn’t scored a goal in about three months. Coincidentally, the last goal I scored was last season against the very same Norcal Crossover A.

I didn’t get around to writing that post before the game and it turns out I wouldn’t have to as I ended up scoring a goal on Friday night. In some strange conspiracy of fate and circumstance, I somehow found myself with the puck on a breakaway during the game, and that normally doesn’t happen to me.  Most of the time, I’m checked before I can take two strides, or I freak out and throw the puck away. But on this play, I picked up the puck around center ice and I still had the puck when I got to the slot.  I decided to try and make a move on the goalie instead of taking a shot. After a little deke, the puck made its way through the goalie’s five-hole and the next I saw of it was in the back of the net.  My slump was over.

On to the next goal-less slump!

Personally, it was nice to score the goal but what really makes me feel good is that with my goal we now have twelve out of sixteen skaters on the Hogs who have registered at least one goal this season (excluding our goalie of course). I’m hoping we can make that 16-for-16 by the end of the summer.  I’ve gone through a season where I didn’t score a single goal and while not everything you do on the ice can be counted in goals, it’s still an empty feeling when you have a goose egg in that category.  When you score, it’s not so much about stats as it is knowing that you’ve contributed to the team effort on the ice.  This is why everyone on our team gets a chance when we do shootouts.  And besides, scoring goals makes for good stories to friends and family.

Some players from another team who shall remain nameless (mostly because I think I’ve run out of names to call them) have been coming out to watch our games for the past few weeks, and they were there again on Friday to see my breakaway.  One of those players cheered when I scored, which was very nice of him.  I definitely appreciate the support.

However, I heard that his captain – who was also there watching our game - made him stop cheering. I’m not sure if the silencing of that player by his own captain (not all nations permit freedom of speech) was related to that captain’s dislike for me or if it was out of concern for Skatetown’s boards and glass (they must be more fragile than I thought).  Something tells me that if the person who scored was someone other than me, there might not have been the same concern about kicking the boards or pounding the glass.  Regardless, that a team would go to the extent of censoring their own players who cheer for me is rather flattering.

I have already “stirred up the hornet’s nest” enough with that team this season and apparently they’re still fuming. When the story of the censoring was conveyed to me, I was advised that it might not be a good idea to write about it on the blog.   So, let’s just pretend that I didn’t write about it.

Singh10.

An open letter to the captains in Silver B

Yes, another one of my “open letters”.  While many people will roll their eyes thinking “here goes Singh10 again”, considering the  serious injury suffered by my teammate on Friday, I am hoping that Silver B captains will forward this note on to their teams and take this to heart.

As a result of a collision with an opposing player in our game on Friday night against the Rough Riders, both bones in my teammate’s right leg have been broken. After being treated in a local emergency room, he is now at home with his leg splinted up and is awaiting evaluation from an orthopedic specialist. Just eight seconds into our first regular season game, it is entirely possible that he won’t be playing for the remainder of our season. Even worse, he is unable to work and is immobile at home.

Our player was in a vulnerable position as he was attempting to gather the puck at the boards when the opposing player collided into him at full speed. I am not exaggerating or distorting anything when I say that the opposing player made absolutely no attempt to slow down nor stop. When the collision occured, both players hit the boards. The opposing player landed on our player’s right leg and broke both bones.

We don’t play in the NHL here. This game is recreation and shouldn’t jeopardize our real lives or our health. Yes, ice hockey has its risks and “stuff” happens. I understand that some of this stuff is unavoidable. But, some of these risks are completely avoidable if we adjust our attitudes. The game can be dangerous enough without having players skate around ignoring the safety of others on the ice.

What is very difficult to accept is that our player’s injury was one of those completely avoidable situations. Had the opposing player not been so wreckless and approached the play in a different manner, our teammate wouldn’t now be laid up at home, unable to work, and facing the possibility of surgery. Most people who’ve been at Skatetown for some time know our player. He’s a character person who plays the game for all the right reasons, but was taken out of the game for all the wrong ones.

In light of what has happened to him, I implore all captains to have a conversation with their players about respecting their limits and the safety of all players on the ice, so no one else has to suffer as ours now is. We can’t undo our player’s injury, but we can learn from what happened so it doesn’t happen to someone else.

Thanks for your time.

Singh10.