Beer League Frustrations Vent Thread.

[TLow97]

Just curious, how many of you guys are willing to toss the body to block a shot, especially on a good chance for the opposition?

I've really started to note the guys on my team who are willing to do it, and they're starting to do it more. I'm trying to determine if this is because they're trying harder to help me out, or if they've gone nuts in regards to playing with me.

I'm mainly curious because i want to know if it's a common thing, or if my guys are becoming more than willing to help me out in net.

For a story, A d man on one of my three teams, while experienced as a winger, started playing D this year. The beginning was a little rough, and even now it's still edge at times. But he has improved quite a bit, doesn't have a quitting attitude and is now ready to dive in front of shots and box guys out a lot bigger than him.

I give this guy a lot of kudos, he makes some great plays and bails me out from time to time, though he still isn't 100% on positioning and duties.

I love blocking shots if I get a chance.

 

[Wilch]

Just curious, how many of you guys are willing to toss the body to block a shot, especially on a good chance for the opposition?

I've really started to note the guys on my team who are willing to do it, and they're starting to do it more. I'm trying to determine if this is because they're trying harder to help me out, or if they've gone nuts in regards to playing with me.

I'm mainly curious because i want to know if it's a common thing, or if my guys are becoming more than willing to help me out in net.

For a story, A d man on one of my three teams, while experienced as a winger, started playing D this year. The beginning was a little rough, and even now it's still edge at times. But he has improved quite a bit, doesn't have a quitting attitude and is now ready to dive in front of shots and box guys out a lot bigger than him.

I give this guy a lot of kudos, he makes some great plays and bails me out from time to time, though he still isn't 100% on positioning and duties.

I block shots when playing on lower tier teams. I don't when playing mid-high tiers.

Those slappers actually hurt.

Yeah, I'm a bad teammate.

 

[roffleburger]

Just curious, how many of you guys are willing to toss the body to block a shot, especially on a good chance for the opposition?

I play in a lower tier beer league, and most people (even on my team) think I'm crazy, but I was a goalie in soccer for most of my life, so I always drop to a knee to block a shot. When I first started doing it, I would screen my goalie alot, but now I have an agreement with him that if it's probably going to be a low shot and he's screened that I can block it. Anything from the point I just make sure that he can see it if I can't get in front of it in time.

Does it hurt sometimes? Yeah, but to me, that's what it takes.

 

[Trl3789]

I'll do anything and everything I can to block a shot from inside the dots. Out side it is a bit more complicated, I don't like trying to block shots as much from outside because more often than not the goalie should be able to make a save from that far out, and usually I just end up deflecting it to someone else for an easier shot on goal.

 

[Ozz]

I'm a forward and block more shots than all of our defensemen except for maybe one. I might throw a leg out but I never fully go down, he'll always go down when in position to do so. I tend to block more w/my shin pads while in a shooting lane so they go mostly unnoticed. I've caught some big clappers directly into my thighs (w/o wearing padding) and right on the side of my rib cage (again, no padding). Aside from some soreness and long-lasting bruising, it's all good.

Many of them turn into immediate possession for us, and I've even turned a couple into goals because I ended up having breakaways from our blue line.

 

[CoopALoop]

I'll do anything and everything I can to block a shot from inside the dots. Out side it is a bit more complicated, I don't like trying to block shots as much from outside because more often than not the goalie should be able to make a save from that far out, and usually I just end up deflecting it to someone else for an easier shot on goal.

That's usually what I tell my guys in front of me.

Draw an imaginary line from the slot to the faceoff circles. Anything inward, feel free to block as chances are my save selection for a lot of those shots are positioning and blocking.

Any thing outside I'm going to get 90% of the time.

I still leave it up to their discretion.

Another question: Do you guys feel more prone to block for certain teams, certain goalies?

I'm just seeing if my teammates are blocking more shots because they're losing it, or because they're becoming more willing to help me out due to my play. (not self-centered at all )

 

[Ozz]

Another question: Do you guys feel more prone to block for certain teams, certain goalies?

I'm just seeing if my teammates are blocking more shots because they're losing it, or because they're becoming more willing to help me out due to my play. (not self-centered at all )

We get in the way more against teams we know are tough and have lots of skill/great shots. For the teams that we can roll however we play, we don't worry about it.

 

[Jarick]

Just curious, how many of you guys are willing to toss the body to block a shot, especially on a good chance for the opposition?


I'm mainly curious because i want to know if it's a common thing, or if my guys are becoming more than willing to help me out in net.

In league, I will try and block a shot. I usually try to block with my shins. Often I get the foot out and get hurt. Not very good at it.

In pickup, I'll usually just try and poke the puck to deflect or steal it.

 

[CoopALoop]

In league, I will try and block a shot. I usually try to block with my shins. Often I get the foot out and get hurt. Not very good at it.

In pickup, I'll usually just try and poke the puck to deflect or steal it.

Drop-in's never count.

 

[J Murda]

You guys are crazy. I have been known to step four feet out of the way when the defenseman winds up for one. Let the goalie have that one at 11:30 on a monday night, I say. I don't enjoy feeling some dudes slapshot at work for the next week, plus I try not to wear a visor and that would be a really dumb way to have someone say 'I told you so'.

 

[Trl3789]

That's usually what I tell my guys in front of me.

Draw an imaginary line from the slot to the faceoff circles. Anything inward, feel free to block as chances are my save selection for a lot of those shots are positioning and blocking.

Any thing outside I'm going to get 90% of the time.

I still leave it up to their discretion.

Another question: Do you guys feel more prone to block for certain teams, certain goalies?

I'm just seeing if my teammates are blocking more shots because they're losing it, or because they're becoming more willing to help me out due to my play. (not self-centered at all )

I should say that I'm still in my first year knowing how to skate, and am only playing 4E (5E is the lowest). Ultimately I just hate giving up goals. If someone has the puck inside the dots, I feel like I probably did something wrong to get to that point, so I'll sell out. Though I've been lucky enough to play with pretty understanding goalies (they know we both make mistakes from time to time). If I had a goalie who was an over the top jerk, while I'd still try to do the best I could, I may be a bit hesitant to fully sell out with my body.

 

[Trl3789]

You guys are crazy. I have been known to step four feet out of the way when the defenseman winds up for one. Let the goalie have that one at 11:30 on a monday night, I say. I don't enjoy feeling some dudes slapshot at work for the next week, plus I try not to wear a visor and that would be a really dumb way to have someone say 'I told you so'.

Those are the ones I get out of the way of. I put my faith in the goalie for those.

 

[Jarick]

Well I play C league, nobody has a 90 mph slapper, most guys aren't even close. 99% of the time it just bounces off the skate or shin.

Right now my foot hurts because the goalie kicked the rebound of my shot right back to me

I love my Grafs but they don't do much for absorbing impact.

 

[newfr4u]

has anyone actually measured the speed of their slapper in a game? 70 is fairly trivial in beer league. 80 is a matter of catching it pretty well. i wouldn't be surprised if there are a couple of guys on each team who can slap it around 90, even if they do nothing else well.

 

[Ozz]

Right now my foot hurts because the goalie kicked the rebound of my shot right back to me

You're supposed to shoot those right back into the net. Or at least into his face

 

[Frankie Spankie]

has anyone actually measured the speed of their slapper in a game? 70 is fairly trivial in beer league. 80 is a matter of catching it pretty well. i wouldn't be surprised if there are a couple of guys on each team who can slap it around 90, even if they do nothing else well.

I don't even want to know how slow my slapshot is.

I'll usually take 1 or 2 slapshots a season, I just never really see the need. Big wind up, not as accurate, gives goalies time to prepare and defenders time to step up to block it with a stick.

I actually just had that conversation in the locker room after a game this morning. The majority of guys that always take slapshots almost always shoot it right into the goalies gut or it sails well over the crossbar. What good is it when you hardly ever score on those? Go for the accurate wrist shot with a quicker release. I think it's confident to say the majority of us just play beer league hockey and the goalies aren't the fastest in the world, just go for a quick wrister and only shoot from the blue line if there's bodies in front of the net for a tip/screen/rebound.

 

[Ozz]

The only time I had a radar on my shot, I was using a borrowed stick and wasn't on skates. I ended up clipping the shooting surface way too early and flopped the puck ahead at about 45mph I didn't want to break the guy's stick and it was at an event where others were participating, so I just did my wrister and went away. Can't recall the speed precisely, but it was in the 50-60mph range and certainly blew away my failed slapper. I've always had a killer wrist shot in comparison to my slapshot, though.

I rarely if ever use them in games and mostly rely on a half-slap/snap if not my wristers, but when I'm able to rip one off 'perfectly' they get pretty heavy and can become lasers. I'm just not practicing them enough, no do I want to break my sticks enough, to get great at them at will.

 

[windycity]

I don't even want to know how slow my slapshot is.

I'll usually take 1 or 2 slapshots a season, I just never really see the need. Big wind up, not as accurate, gives goalies time to prepare and defenders time to step up to block it with a stick.

I actually just had that conversation in the locker room after a game this morning. The majority of guys that always take slapshots almost always shoot it right into the goalies gut or it sails well over the crossbar. What good is it when you hardly ever score on those? Go for the accurate wrist shot with a quicker release. I think it's confident to say the majority of us just play beer league hockey and the goalies aren't the fastest in the world, just go for a quick wrister and only shoot from the blue line if there's bodies in front of the net for a tip/screen/rebound.

One of the purposes of a slapshot it not actually to score but to get onto the goalies pad for a rebound, Shooting into the gut doesn't help

 

[GrafSk8r12]

Just curious, how many of you guys are willing to toss the body to block a shot, especially on a good chance for the opposition?

I've really started to note the guys on my team who are willing to do it, and they're starting to do it more. I'm trying to determine if this is because they're trying harder to help me out, or if they've gone nuts in regards to playing with me.

I'm mainly curious because i want to know if it's a common thing, or if my guys are becoming more than willing to help me out in net.

For a story, A d man on one of my three teams, while experienced as a winger, started playing D this year. The beginning was a little rough, and even now it's still edge at times. But he has improved quite a bit, doesn't have a quitting attitude and is now ready to dive in front of shots and box guys out a lot bigger than him.

I give this guy a lot of kudos, he makes some great plays and bails me out from time to time, though he still isn't 100% on positioning and duties.

I used to go down and block shots all the time, then this happened two years ago:

We were playing against a team where the majority of the players were Canadian grad students, and I took that one from less than 10 feet away. Was down on the ice for quite a bit, lost my breath for a moment, and could barely skate back to the bench when I got up.

The day after it looked like this:

Ignore the Apple logo near the bottom right of the bruise, haha. It hurt to move for like a month. To this day, I still have two scars from the puck.

 

[Ozz]

I used to go down and block shots all the time, then this happened two years ago:

We were playing against a team where the majority of the players were Canadian grad students, and I took that one from less than 10 feet away. Was down on the ice for quite a bit, lost my breath for a moment, and could barely skate back to the bench when I got up.

The day after it looked like this:

Ignore the Apple logo near the bottom right of the bruise, haha. It hurt to move for like a month. To this day, I still have two scars from the puck.

Funny how yours looks like hell and also hurt like it. I usually get horrendous looking bruises that don't hurt too much, or otherwise rather tame bruises and they pain me for a week. Right now I've got a yellow and purple cross-checking mark on my shoulder that's a week old but I only notice it's there pain-wise if I apply pressure to it.

In regards to other lasting injuries, I have a spearing scar under one of my pecs from half a year ago at least that extends about 7". That smarted quite a bit when it happened but didn't hurt much afterward. The initial bleeding barely lasted more than a few minutes as it just broke the skin surface, and for some reason the scar from the scrape remains to this day. It's ridiculous. And in case anyone's wondering, yes I did go right after the guy who did it and slammed him into our goalposts. Got a charging penalty but I'm glad I didn't really attack him.

 

[Wease]

It's men's rec hockey and I get paid far more in my regular job, so no, I don't block shots...

 

[Clarkington III]

It's all about discretion. Who is taking the shot, how far away are they, how god is my goalie and what's the score?

I've dropped to a knee a couple of times no big deal. But then again, I'm not diving in front of everything I can.

 

[Jarick]

I've never measured my slapper, but I can't imagine it's much more than 70 mph. I just know that 90 is pretty good for a pro player and most of us aren't pros. You might get the odd guy who can shoot 80+, but I'd say 70-75 is about right.

First guy gets hold of them pretty decent, and he's just about 70 here:

 

[newfr4u]

that's stationary, if you are shooting in stride, it will automatically be +10mph.

what i mean about beer league, is that most of the time you have time to actually take a proper shot, windup and all. it's different in competitive hockey.

 

[Brainiac]

Sorry, I know this is OT, but this really irks me. It's such an oversimplification of a complex issue.

No oversimplification here. Old farts have been complaining about the next generation for, literally, thousands of years...