Beer League Frustrations Vent Thread III

[Summer Rose]

I really don't understand how ringers have fun at lower levels. 10-2 final and it was 6-1 after the first.

They only had two goal scorers...

I've played down a level or so appropriate to my ability, but I can still have fun. The social side of things is most important to me personally, so I'd rather play at lower levels with friends, and ease off if I come across as a "ringer" who's too good for the level. That said there are two ways to go with playing down a level or two (not that my personal definition, i.e. #1 is not universal):

1) Play on D (usually), have a pass-first mentality, and realize that if you skate through everyone to get a breakway, you're being a dick and you're going to piss off everyone on the ice, so don't do it

2) Be a dick and not care that no one likes you.

Seems you're mostly complaining about #2, which you have every right to. No one likes ringers, not even teammates. Would I want to win a beer league championship being carried on the backs of a ringer or two who should really be playing higher levels? Nope.


That said adult hockey isn't too saturated in my area and we realistically only have 4 levels (A-D for example), and my skill as a player is that I could "get by" in B or "be good" in C but have also played in D, so even when I've played on D teams I'm not some ex-pro who can circle around everybody, but when I do play D levels I'm clearly one of the the best players on the ice (which I hope doesn't make me sound arrogant to say).

 

[goalie29]

1) Play on D (usually), have a pass-first mentality, and realize that if you skate through everyone to get a breakway, you're being a dick and you're going to piss off everyone on the ice, so don't do it

.

Not picking on you, your comment just reminded me of something!

One thing that people playing below their level often don't realize, is that if they're playing D and thinking they're chilling out and being all sportsmanlike, that offence isn't the only way they can affect the game.

I play goal in a fun league with a huge range of abilities on each team (it's a draft league). What some of the superstars don't seem to notice is that they might not be going end to end and scoring on every play (which is good!), but they're being a brick wall on the blue line. They just strip the puck from the weaker players and fire it up to their forwards. So the other team never gets to handle the puck in the offensive zone. Which affects the outcome of the game in a negative way just as bad as if they scored on every rush.

And man, as a goalie, nothing is as bad and boring as facing a total of 2 shots for an entire game, both of which were icings that happened to come near the crease, and the other team never got a chance to handle the puck in your end. BTDT, and it's a horrible game to be involved in.

 

[RandV]

I don't know about other places but having played in a 30+ league for the past 2 seasons even at a lower division ringers are far less a problem. I mean sure you have guys that stick out as a teams primary scorer, but I've never seen anyone really dominate games. Guess it's a combination of at 30+ the majority have hockey experience and the better players are more mature about it and/or don't have the same legs anymore.

 

[StLHokie]

I would kill to play against such good players.

There's hardly anything at stake, you're not supposed to win, just play hard, get beat, see what you need to work on, and get back at it.

I feel like you should be glad.

Oh I love playing against those teams too. It's an absolute blast. It's just frustrating when half your team can't even skate. For that particular game, the line I was on was actually controlling play for the most part when we were on the ice. The problem was that as soon as we changed, they would walk down and score a goal or two.

We actually just had a rematch against the same team last night. We had a much better roster and came away with the 8-5 win. It's a huge difference when you actually have competent players on the ice that, at the very least, know how to position themselves to force guys one way or another rather than hopelessly flailing their sticks around while being makeshift pylons.

 

[Fremitus Borealis]

Okay, for the love of Christ: if you are in fact a ringer, and are enough of a ****** bag to play in the novice division, why in the hell would you choose #99?!? I generally think "chirping" is pretty ****ing stupid, but I just had to let this guy have it all night. I mean seriously... I'm not super good, but I definitely made sure I had a number that I couldn't readily name off any greats most people under 30 would know of, just so no one could claim I was trying to ride any coattails.... but this ******* is skating circles around people wearing Gretzky's number

 

[BM14]

I really don't understand how ringers have fun at lower levels. 10-2 final and it was 6-1 after the first.

They only had two goal scorers...

That's when you stand one up at the blue line.

 

[jazzykat]

That's when you stand one up at the blue line.

Yep. Fastest way to end head down Dipsy doodling around your whole team. IF you can lay a clean hit on the blue line you get your 2 minutes in a non-checking league and that guy looks like a dumbass.

 

[BM14]

Yep. Fastest way to end head down Dipsy doodling around your whole team. IF you can lay a clean hit on the blue line you get your 2 minutes in a non-checking league and that guy looks like a dumbass.

A lot of refs will let it slide as long as it wasn't an obvious targetted hit, if the game is out of hand and everyone doesn't turn into Johnny Tough Guy.

 

[PIMking]

Before my game went to total crap after a few surgeries I was asked by the hockey director to help a beginners league team learn how to play. Basically "coach" them when I have no coaching experience. It was tough but real fun, I didn't go end to end, I think I had 2 shots the whole session. It was also very hard because this was many of the teams first time playing hockey so I had a dry erase board and used it a lot with them. I tried to teach them positional hockey more than anything, being in the right spots rather than raw skill because they would get lost.

Over the session it was tough, we got used like a punching bag all session and in the final game we won the first game.

I've also played in leagues above my level which was tough too. I just want to play and have fun.

 

[theotis77]

I don't mind someone playing down into a lower league, if they also then hold themselves back, or play on defense and not rush up the ice and rack up end-to-end unassisted goals. The problem I have is with the show-offs who like to pretend they're Crosby against a bunch of guys who have only been skating for a year or less.

 

[STC]

That's when you stand one up at the blue line.

If a guy's a true ringer no one on the other team would be capable of standing him up at the blue line.

 

[Fremitus Borealis]

I don't mind someone playing down into a lower league, if they also then hold themselves back, or play on defense and not rush up the ice and rack up end-to-end unassisted goals. The problem I have is with the show-offs who like to pretend they're Crosby against a bunch of guys who have only been skating for a year or less.

I see your point (especially considering there are at least 3 ringers in my league, and I have more goals than all of them.......... and I am not very good), but I will also say that I'm not sure it's really that much "better". I mean sure, offense is flashy and cool-looking, so if ringers aren't showboating with dekes and goals and such, that's good. But I also think having some guy out there who's some sort of cyborg Scott Stevens/Ryan Suter hybrid doesn't help, either. Sure, he's not skating circles around guys, but he is also backchecking like a beast, lifting everyone's stick immediately after they touch the puck, and so on. Honestly, that kind of bothers me more, because at least if the guy was cherrypicking, it's still possible that the "lesser" players are able to have some level-appropriate time and space to learn how to score goals themselves.

 

[BM14]

If a guy's a true ringer no one on the other team would be capable of standing him up at the blue line.

Every team has a few guys that are capable...especially since the "ringer" is most likely skating with his head down/not expecting any contact. That's why they can pull moves like that off. They're expecting to quick cut/use their edges without any fear of contact.

Unless it's against a D division team and they guy is a solid A player.

 

[Outl4w]

My roller team won the championship three straight seasons they gave us a new goalie who can't stop a beach ball. The team last night scores 12 goals on 15 shots and every single shot was from 25 feet or more out. We scored 7 goals and dominated the play, but they could just put a shot on a net and score. This chubby guy kept cherry picking on their team at the high face off dots. He went to get a pass and a guy on our team completely leveled him, sad but funny. Our player told him to play with some class, because you are celebrating goals that wouldn't score on a shooting tutoring. Of course this chubby young kid wanted to fight, and the player on our team just WWE slammed him on his ass again. Needless to say this is three weeks in a row of losing with goals being scored from more than 25 feet out by other teams. WE are dominating play, but this young guy can't stop a puck. I explained to the league manager last night when you are out playing and shooting teams, but lose because your goalie can't stop a beach ball it isn't fun. I am not wasting my time showing up. You kicked our other goalie off the team as a goalie, and made him play out. HE is dressing for us in net next week, or I am not coming. Having a goalie that bad just sucks the fun out of the game.

 

[RandV]

Every team has a few guys that are capable...especially since the "ringer" is most likely skating with his head down/not expecting any contact. That's why they can pull moves like that off. They're expecting to quick cut/use their edges without any fear of contact.

Unless it's against a D division team and they guy is a solid A player.

No this was my experience the first and only year I dropped back to defense on a beginners team. There was this one team in particular that had 2-3 ringers on defense that would just rush the puck the length of the ice every time... though at the very least they'd take it wide around the net and pass rather than dangle to the net and score. But regardless by the end I was trying so hard to rub them out against the board for once, even sacrificing my penalty-free beer league career, but could just never actually catch the damn guys.

 

[STC]

Every team has a few guys that are capable...especially since the "ringer" is most likely skating with his head down/not expecting any contact. That's why they can pull moves like that off. They're expecting to quick cut/use their edges without any fear of contact.

Unless it's against a D division team and they guy is a solid A player.

Anyone who skates with their head down is, by definition, not a ringer.

 

[BM14]

Anyone who skates with their head down is, by definition, not a ringer.

Lots of NHLers get caught with their heads down.
Would they not be a ringer in your league?

 

[StLHokie]

Lots of NHLers get caught with their heads down.
Would they not be a ringer in your league?

I would say that an NHLer that has their head down is in a bit different position than a ringer with their head down. In an NHL game, guys can make you pay in less than a second. Even at the highest beer league levels, you won't get dropped for having your head down for half a second. So therefore, you can't really get caught with your head down as a ringer.

 

[STC]

Lots of NHLers get caught with their heads down.
Would they not be a ringer in your league?

No they wouldn't be ringers in the NHL because they aren't significantly better than the guys they are playing against. That's the definition of a ringer. A ringer is someone who is so much better than the competition that he can pretty much go where ever he wants with the puck.

Last examples of ringers in the NHL wore 66 & 99.


If an NHL player played in any beer league there wouldn't be a single instance where they had their head down while skating with the puck.

 

[BM14]

I would say that an NHLer that has their head down is in a bit different position than a ringer with their head down. In an NHL game, guys can make you pay in less than a second. Even at the highest beer league levels, you won't get dropped for having your head down for half a second. So therefore, you can't really get caught with your head down as a ringer.

No they wouldn't be ringers in the NHL because they aren't significantly better than the guys they are playing against. That's the definition of a ringer. A ringer is someone who is so much better than the competition that he can pretty much go where ever he wants with the puck.

Last examples of ringers in the NHL wore 66 & 99.


If an NHL player played in any beer league there wouldn't be a single instance where they had their head down while skating with the puck.

You're right but what I'm saying is even the best can put their head down. I've played a lot of hockey at a lot of different levels and it can happen. The one poster said it would never happen. I'm saying how it can/has happened.

 

[STC]

You're right but what I'm saying is even the best can put their head down. I've played a lot of hockey at a lot of different levels and it can happen. The one poster said it would never happen. I'm saying how it can/has happened.

yea but a true ringer, a player who is so much better than the competition that he can go where ever he wants with the puck, is never going to allow himself to be in a position where his head is down and his body is at risk. It just won't happen, ever. Not with a ringer. They're also most likely going to be good enough to track the movement of the other 9 skaters on the ice and will always know when there's a hint of danger in the area.

 

[Summer Rose]

A lot of refs will let it slide as long as it wasn't an obvious targetted hit, if the game is out of hand and everyone doesn't turn into Johnny Tough Guy.

As a ref, I freely admit that I would watch Johnny ringer get decked at the blue line, have a chuckle, and not call it. The first time at least. Do it again and ii I'll call it.

 

[GrafSk8r12]

My biggest frustration at the moment is the lack of officiating. Blatant trips and interference are going uncalled both for and against my team. There are quite a few instances of teams not getting called on stuff only for players to say, "I thought for sure I was going to get a penalty for that." We had one guy call a really tight game a few weeks back, which was great. He didn't call ticky-tack stuff that would make you scratch your head, but stuff that was obvious was properly called.

 

[theotis77]

I got pissed at a ref the other night who called an icing when the defender cut off the path of our forechecker enough to slow him down that he missed the puck by about 2 feet. The defender didn't even make an attempt at the puck even though it was reasonable he could have made a play. And this was with 2 minutes left when we were down 1.

 

[SAADfather]

Went threw three years of junior with no cage on and never lost any chompers. Last year I was playing mens league and literally as I was scoring a goal right in front of the net, dude went to stick lift me and missed my stick and hit me directly in the teeth. Lost a few good soldiers that day. I was pretty steamed. All in all that was about 5 trips to the dentist and about 6 grand to get fixed. Luckily they were able to save the roots and I just had to get new crowns.

... I wear a bubble now.