Beer League Frustrations Vent Thread.

[Bring Bak Damphousse]

First game of the playoffs...
My buddy takes a shot on net, goalie gloves it down, whistle goes as per usual. Than their older defenceman (mid 40's?) starts hitting my bud with his stick for no apparent reason. It turns into a bit of a fencing match and as there going to the bench, another teammate of mine yells "it's a hockey stick not a spear" The guy proceeds to freak out and starts yelling about racism. I guess the guys native, though he looked like an old white guy to me. Last time I checked spearing is a perfectly acceptable hockey term.

 

[Outl4w]

Last game of beer league season before playoffs a guy uses his leg like scissors to trip be after I still the puck. He calls me a *****. I just laugh. Later on in the game he tries to check me after i steal the puck from him and he falls down. He calls me a dirty player and *****. I just laugh and skate away he gets up from behind and come and two hands my stick and snaps it in half. This is directly in front of the ref who calls nothing ... Later on my line scores for the 3rd time by getting a rebound in front of the net. I scored and the guy says garbage goal by a dirty ***** ass player. I had enough and ask him what his deal is? I said " you and I obviously aren't making the NHL but you keep calling be dirty, ***** ,and saying you are going to kick my ass, but you cannot even skate. I have beaten you all over the ice and won almost every faceoff against you. What are you trying to prove just shut your mouth. You are clearly the worse player on your team and quite frankly you are taking the fun out of the game. Our bench starts clapping and then his team. It was quite comical. So he goes ******* and start shouting out profanities at me left and right. I just went to the bench and laughed. Drank a beer after and hope the serious bender/ duster doesn't kill himself.

 

[vinc90]

i would completely lose it if someone snapped my stick in half like that. sticks are not cheap and there is no need for that in a beer league. some guys just dont understand what a beer league is for.

 

[Outl4w]

Luckily I got a steal around christmas time for a Warrior Bandito 2 for $80 bucks and it was 6 months old. I was still pissed and really wanted to go after the guy, but it is beer league.

 

[vinc90]

yea but also whats even worse is that the ref didnt call anything or do anything. leagues should have rules about doing stuff like that and just acting like a d-bag in general. i guess it would be kinda hard to enforce though lol.

 

[ShootsWide]

Did you talk to the ref about the no call later on? I would love to hear his explanation about that. I would have talked to the ref. Or I would even go to the league manager and tell him the situation. Some guys just take everything way to serious.

In my last game one of the guys complained to the refs wanting a slashing call because I kept lifting his stick to prevent him from receiving passes or stick handling

 

[Frank the Tank]

Did you talk to the ref about the no call later on? I would love to hear his explanation about that. I would have talked to the ref. Or I would even go to the league manager and tell him the situation. Some guys just take everything way to serious.

In my last game one of the guys complained to the refs wanting a slashing call because I kept lifting his stick to prevent him from receiving passes or stick handling

This. I do not how many times I have had to explain to certain opponents that:

1) Lifting his stick with mine (and holding it there, if necessary) is a legal form of defense.
2) Pinning his stick down on the ice with my stick is also legal

 

[The Devil In I]

Had a guy body check me when I was 2-3 feet away from the boards yesterday, in a non-checking roller hockey league. My shoulder bone hit the dasher. Today, lifting my arm off the desk is painful.

 

[Bouma Fett*]

Last year when I played goalie I got really pissed at one of the guys on my team. Our team played terrible, we were outshot really badly, and I was having probably the best game I ever played in goal (I'm average in goalie, good but not great) but I let in one really bad goal near the end of the game that let the other team go up 4-2. and this guy started going off on me for letting in the bad goal, how I cost us the game not making the big saves when we needed them, and how I cost us the game etc.

Luckily, the rest of the guys were good, and in the end it wasn't a big deal, I've been pretty lucky with playing with good people, so this was about all I had to contribute here lol.

I'm sad though, in the middle of recovering from a fractured fifth metatarsal, I just want to get in and play again

 

[Outl4w]

No this ref just couldn't keep up with the calls nor did he know the rules. We had a powerplay and we scored a goal with a guy banging in the rebound. The puck was in and the goalie kicked the net off. He tried to say no goal. The other ref said the puck was in when the net was kicked off and it was a goal. Later on at the end of the game we are up and they have a power play and pull their goalie. They have 6 skaters and we have 4. We clear the puck out and it hits their player in the chest center ice. The ref blows the whistle dead and says the faceoff is in our zone for icing. The captain, me ( assistant captain), and the other ref had to explain there is no ice on a PK and the faceoff would have to be in center ice or their zone. The ref said I f***ed up and am new at reffing. He shouldn't be reffing higher level games just because he can't keep up with the pace. He actually came to our locker room after the game and apologized for calling such a terrible game. We gave him hell in the handshake, and trolled him. Like next time remember there is no icing on a PK. You can't wave off a goal if their goalie kicked the net off lodge.

 

[vinc90]

at least the ref had the decency to apologize after the game although he might want to read through the rule book again.

 

[Outl4w]

The other ref the head ref told us he won't ref with him again. What is a rule book? You mean this is not WWE on ice?

 

[CunniJA]

So, I am not usually one for complaining about refs, but last night one of them in our game was just absurd.

It's one thing when we're talking about some messed up icing or offsides calls, but this guy took bad reffing up a notch. He was a crotchety old ******* and harassed players on both sides, and not in a good-natured way. He would complain about teams clearing pucks up the boards when he was there. When I would line up in the face-off dot when he was dropping it (which seemed like 80% of the time for me), he would make me cover the top of my stick with my hand (?) even though their center had basically the same hand positioning as I did on quite a few of them. How is that a rule?

Once, we had a puck go out of play near our bench and one of our guys went to get it. He gingerly tossed the puck back onto the ice once he got it. But, Oldy McFartpants yelled at him and said "I love getting pucks by my head all night." The puck was not even near his head, but rather just in his general direction and he had complained a few seconds later about our "team being lazy" and not getting the puck a few seconds earlier.

The same guy that threw the 90 MPH fastball puck at his head got a blantant knee to the back of his knee later and there was no call on the play.

Fortunately, tonto's partner was a cool, younger guy and fortunately we won the game. But, when a ref goes after players the way this guy did, it's not cool... I expect and don't blame refs for a few bad calls each game, but not harassing people should go both ways. I certainly do my best to be very respectful to refs and I just gave him the old "thanks, ref" after the handshake.

I guess some people are just angry that the scout didn't pick them?

 

[Danglous]

yea but also whats even worse is that the ref didnt call anything or do anything. leagues should have rules about doing stuff like that and just acting like a d-bag in general. i guess it would be kinda hard to enforce though lol.

In my league its definitely hard to enforce because the refs are "d-bags" themselves.

Both refs know everybody on the other 3 teams. They are all friends. The one ref in a short fat little ****er with a chip on his shoulder. Any time we argue or discuss a call its an automatic bench minor. The other ref is pretty good but hes a younger guy and has no balls when it comes to decision making. Basically doesn't say a word and lets the other guy sort it out (terribly).
There are 4 teams in the B division I play in. I may sound biased but unfortunately our team falls victim to terrible penalties and non-calls for the other side every single game.

In one of our first games my teammate accidentally knocked over their biggest player in a 1 on 1 situation. The guy gets up and cross checks in HARD in the chest. My teammate in thrown back by the force and just turns around and starts skating away. The goon on the other team skates up and cross checks him with the same force in the back of the neck. Again, with no retaliation. He then does it again, hard. My teammate finally turns around and another teammate jumps in and they wrestle to the ground. The big guy dropped his gloves but my teammate didn't. The refs break it up and only give the guy on the other team 2:00 for rouging and a 10 minute misconduct. We argue to throw the guy out of the game because there is no place for that kind of crap. We all work, it was very late, and we wanted to go home. The ref doesn't budge and our team winds up on the PK somehow. So the guy is sitting in the box yelling at our guys in the box and my teammate tells him the initial trip was an accident and let the guy know how much of an ******* he was. This sets the guy off and he starts talking about how hes going to kick everyone's ass on our team etc. I wasn't really listening I just wanted to play. I look down to the other bench and the little fat ref in standing there laughing, BSing with the other team.

Later on in the 3rd there is about :30 left on the clock. We had possession and were winning 7-3. The game was basically over. I was skating the puck down the ice when I heard a big CRASH. I looked over and my teammate (who was wrestling with the guy earlier) was laying on the ice with the big toothless goon standing over him smiling. The guy purposely jumped on the ice in the last minute to hurt someone. This is why he should have been thrown out in the first place. We told the ref to call the game and entire team left the ice with time on the clock. We were satisfied with the win, but all of us had an indescribable rage inside us because they are letting these guys get away with murder. Never have I ever wanted to wait for someone in the parking lot and beat the living **** out of him. This was the exception. I would contact the league administrator but he plays on the team with the goon and is friends with the refs.

We play this team again next week. Should be interesting. It's come to the point where I feel the players are going to have to police themselves because these referees are incompetent.
I would contact the league administrator but he plays on the team with the goon and is friends with the refs. I cant believe we are giving these people our money.

 

[ccarrigan]

We play this team again next week. Should be interesting. It's come to the point where I feel the players are going to have to police themselves because these referees are incompetent.
I would contact the league administrator but he plays on the team with the goon and is friends with the refs. I cant believe we are giving these people our money.

Honestly, sometimes the only thing you can do is fight fire with fire. If you're beating them 7 to 3, a couple penalties on this guy wouldn't hurt. Not intent to injure, but intent to teach a lesson. Give him reminders that this stuff isn't tolerated. I hate to do it, I play the cleanest game I can (average 4-10 penalty minutes per season, multiple teams) but my minutes come from sticking up for my teammates.

For example, we were playing a guy who was constantly hooking and tripping from behind, but at off angles from the refs. I saw a couple of our guys go down, and he tried to do it to me. I asked him to watch his stick, he said something derogatory, and he found himself on the ice.

 

[HiEverybody]

This might not be the ideal place to ask this question, but I just joined a rookie league at a local ice rink (2 games into the season), and I've been hacked/bumped quite a bit. I think it's because of the way I back-check, but I'm not completely sure.

I'm a short dude, and my stick is cut pretty short as well, but I'm one of the better skaters in the league. On the back-check, I generally try to catch up to the puck carrier and once I'm even with him (or a half-step behind), I use my top hand to try and sweep across the person's body to knock the puck of their stick. I generally hit the puck, but if the puck is on the other side of the blade, I hit their blade (which leads to a similar result). Is this considered bad hockey etiquette? It's not a vicious 2-hand slash, just enough to make them lose control of the puck and slow the play up a bit. Anyway, after I do this a couple of times, I've noticed people bumping/hacking me when I'm no where near the puck. Just wondering if there's something I'm doing wrong. I've seen posts on here complaining about people hitting their sticks, and was wondering if this is one of those situations.

 

[mistrhanky]

Last year when I played goalie I got really pissed at one of the guys on my team. Our team played terrible, we were outshot really badly, and I was having probably the best game I ever played in goal (I'm average in goalie, good but not great) but I let in one really bad goal near the end of the game that let the other team go up 4-2. and this guy started going off on me for letting in the bad goal, how I cost us the game not making the big saves when we needed them, and how I cost us the game etc.

Luckily, the rest of the guys were good, and in the end it wasn't a big deal, I've been pretty lucky with playing with good people, so this was about all I had to contribute here lol.

I'm sad though, in the middle of recovering from a fractured fifth metatarsal, I just want to get in and play again

I play D on a pretty bad team but we have a pretty decent goalie. I never, ever criticize our goalie. I have yet to meet a goalie that didn't know when he had screwed the pooch.

 

[Noir]

95% of the hockey players in my local beer league are decent people. They understand the concept of recreational hockey, recreational competition. They're out there to compete, but they have a line that they do not cross where competition is not worth either their injury, or injury to others.


My beef is, that even though 95% of the players are not just decent and respectable human beings, it only takes 1 or 2 ****** players per team/per game to completely sour your experience.



Although majority of my hockey experience is a good experience, every now and then I find myself in games where I tell myself, "I'm too old for this BS"

 

[rinkrat22]

This might not be the ideal place to ask this question, but I just joined a rookie league at a local ice rink (2 games into the season), and I've been hacked/bumped quite a bit. I think it's because of the way I back-check, but I'm not completely sure.

I'm a short dude, and my stick is cut pretty short as well, but I'm one of the better skaters in the league. On the back-check, I generally try to catch up to the puck carrier and once I'm even with him (or a half-step behind), I use my top hand to try and sweep across the person's body to knock the puck of their stick. I generally hit the puck, but if the puck is on the other side of the blade, I hit their blade (which leads to a similar result). Is this considered bad hockey etiquette? It's not a vicious 2-hand slash, just enough to make them lose control of the puck and slow the play up a bit. Anyway, after I do this a couple of times, I've noticed people bumping/hacking me when I'm no where near the puck. Just wondering if there's something I'm doing wrong. I've seen posts on here complaining about people hitting their sticks, and was wondering if this is one of those situations.

no, that's a good hockey play.

 

[TieClark]

This might not be the ideal place to ask this question, but I just joined a rookie league at a local ice rink (2 games into the season), and I've been hacked/bumped quite a bit. I think it's because of the way I back-check, but I'm not completely sure.

I'm a short dude, and my stick is cut pretty short as well, but I'm one of the better skaters in the league. On the back-check, I generally try to catch up to the puck carrier and once I'm even with him (or a half-step behind), I use my top hand to try and sweep across the person's body to knock the puck of their stick. I generally hit the puck, but if the puck is on the other side of the blade, I hit their blade (which leads to a similar result). Is this considered bad hockey etiquette? It's not a vicious 2-hand slash, just enough to make them lose control of the puck and slow the play up a bit. Anyway, after I do this a couple of times, I've noticed people bumping/hacking me when I'm no where near the puck. Just wondering if there's something I'm doing wrong. I've seen posts on here complaining about people hitting their sticks, and was wondering if this is one of those situations.

Nothing wrong with that. You might be a target because of your skating if you're seen as fast. Guys get frustrated when they're working hard and someone else keeps catching them.

 

[Hal2000]

No this ref just couldn't keep up with the calls nor did he know the rules. We had a powerplay and we scored a goal with a guy banging in the rebound. The puck was in and the goalie kicked the net off. He tried to say no goal. The other ref said the puck was in when the net was kicked off and it was a goal. Later on at the end of the game we are up and they have a power play and pull their goalie. They have 6 skaters and we have 4. We clear the puck out and it hits their player in the chest center ice. The ref blows the whistle dead and says the faceoff is in our zone for icing. The captain, me ( assistant captain), and the other ref had to explain there is no ice on a PK and the faceoff would have to be in center ice or their zone. The ref said I f***ed up and am new at reffing. He shouldn't be reffing higher level games just because he can't keep up with the pace. He actually came to our locker room after the game and apologized for calling such a terrible game. We gave him hell in the handshake, and trolled him. Like next time remember there is no icing on a PK. You can't wave off a goal if their goalie kicked the net off lodge.

so he apologized and you still **** on him.

 

[HIFE]

So, I am not usually one for complaining about refs, but last night one of them in our game was just absurd.

It's one thing when we're talking about some messed up icing or offsides calls, but this guy took bad reffing up a notch. He was a crotchety old ******* and harassed players on both sides, and not in a good-natured way. He would complain about teams clearing pucks up the boards when he was there. When I would line up in the face-off dot when he was dropping it (which seemed like 80% of the time for me), he would make me cover the top of my stick with my hand (?) even though their center had basically the same hand positioning as I did on quite a few of them. How is that a rule?

Once, we had a puck go out of play near our bench and one of our guys went to get it. He gingerly tossed the puck back onto the ice once he got it. But, Oldy McFartpants yelled at him and said "I love getting pucks by my head all night." The puck was not even near his head, but rather just in his general direction and he had complained a few seconds later about our "team being lazy" and not getting the puck a few seconds earlier.

The same guy that threw the 90 MPH fastball puck at his head got a blantant knee to the back of his knee later and there was no call on the play.

Fortunately, tonto's partner was a cool, younger guy and fortunately we won the game. But, when a ref goes after players the way this guy did, it's not cool... I expect and don't blame refs for a few bad calls each game, but not harassing people should go both ways. I certainly do my best to be very respectful to refs and I just gave him the old "thanks, ref" after the handshake.

I guess some people are just angry that the scout didn't pick them?

Are you sure this wasn't an episode of "off their rockers"?

I know your post was a genuine frustration but it has me in tears! I think referees who work multiple games all evening sometimes get a wild burr under their saddle, or just plain old bored and like Don Cherry says they want to effect the game. I can't help laugh thinking of some old guy chirping both benches, the goalies, calling them out for their mistakes each play. I'm thinking Olde Mcfartpants may have done a few games for my league.

 

[ChiTownHawks]

95% of the hockey players in my local beer league are decent people. They understand the concept of recreational hockey, recreational competition. They're out there to compete, but they have a line that they do not cross where competition is not worth either their injury, or injury to others.


My beef is, that even though 95% of the players are not just decent and respectable human beings, it only takes 1 or 2 ****** players per team/per game to completely sour your experience.



Although majority of my hockey experience is a good experience, every now and then I find myself in games where I tell myself, "I'm too old for this BS"

I feel exactly the same way. Some guys use hockey as an excuse to get out all their pent up anger.

Last night I made a play on the puck on a guy coming into our zone with speed. I hit the puck and bodied him slightly. He is a reckless skater so this knocked him down. He then got in my face, challenged me to a fight, and then cross checked me in the face. Luckily I wear a cage. By the time I got up we were already being pulled apart so it ended there. Some guys have real rage issues.

 

[TieClark]

So speaking of refs... I had a game last night where we were clearly far better than the other team. But to start the game we took a body checking or cross checking penalty from our D who got beat in the other teams end (took the guy out rather than allowing a breakaway). I'm not sure what triggered it but their team just started flopping and the ref continued calling us for penalties every time. I think I've mentioned it before but I'm playing at a lower level than I should so I really don't try, but we were 5 on 3, I dumped the puck in and then just pinned it against the boards in their end. Someone knocked it lose and as I'm standing there a guy randomly leaps over my stick. I never moved my legs or my arms and he never actually touched my stick. I got called for tripping... this was about the 5th penalty in 5 minutes against us as well. We ended up with about 8 penalties in the 1st and then nothing for the rest of the game... I have no idea what was up with the ref, I calmly spoke to him after my penalty to tell him they're diving and that in my penalty the guy literally jumped over my stick so maybe that did it but I've never seen such blatant diving first of all and then it actually being called against the other team.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Let's move this to Part II (since we're at 1000 posts):

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1452477