General Ball Hockey Thread

[Fixed to Ruin]

Yes, but the field is really short as you can see, and we use these balls

We stuff them with a cloth and put a layer of tape around it to make it a bit sticky. Needless to say, these are very light. I need to practice stick handling with it, I'm used to training balls and pucks.

I'm glad you liked my move

As a goalie i hate whiffle balls. A guy could tee up a slap shot and i can barely feel it hit my gear. Thus once i make a save i have no clue where the ball is going.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

As a goalie i hate whiffle balls. A guy could tee up a slap shot and i can barely feel it hit my gear. Thus once i make a save i have no clue where the ball is going.

The goalies in my league don't care, since we play with nets smaller than NHL size. They just park their butt in the crease and wait for the ball to hit them.

We played a game with NHL size nets. I scored 6 goals, including one from my own zone. I wound up for a slap shot, and the ball curved like a soccer ball, which completely threw off the goalie's reflexes. We immediately went back with the small nets.

At least, they don't hurt, so I play without protective equipment. I get more bruises from other players' sticks than from the balls.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Yeah those would definitely make it harder move to pull off. That's what we use to play whiffle ball with: those with duck tape. Why don't you guys just use a standard street hockey ball?

The players refuse, because it hurts. Most of us play without protective equipment. If it were up to me, we'd use the hard orange balls. The thing I like about them is that they fly straight and farther away.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

The players refuse, because it hurts. Most of us play without protective equipment. If it were up to me, we'd use the hard orange balls. The thing I like about them is that they fly straight and farther away.

I feel like I'm one of the only ball hockey players who isn't afraid of getting hit with a shot from a hard orange/red ball, lol. I'll happily throw myself in front of a slap shot. I wear a cup and as long as my face is covered I'm not really going to get hurt by taking a shot.

 

[silkyjohnson50]

I feel like I'm one of the only ball hockey players who isn't afraid of getting hit with a shot from a hard orange/red ball, lol. I'll happily throw myself in front of a slap shot. I wear a cup and as long as my face is covered I'm not really going to get hurt by taking a shot.

They really don't hurt that bad. I wear a cup, but I almost never wear shins. I'll turn away or cover my face/neck if I feel the need to, but taking a shot off anywhere else isn't that bad after that initial sting. And even the initial sting isn't always there. The balls are pretty light afterall. It's not like getting hit by a fastball. Some of the real heavy balls with water in them, however; I'm quite a bit more cautious if one of those is in play.

 

[varano]

They really don't hurt that bad. I wear a cup, but I almost never wear shins. I'll turn away or cover my face/neck if I feel the need to, but taking a shot off anywhere else isn't that bad after that initial sting. And even the initial sting isn't always there. The balls are pretty light afterall. It's not like getting hit by a fastball. Some of the real heavy balls with water in them, however; I'm quite a bit more cautious if one of those is in play.

We must play with different balls. After games, my legs are covered in bruises and I wear shin pads.
The worst shot blocks to take are the awkward spots around the knees.

 

[silkyjohnson50]

We must play with different balls. After games, my legs are covered in bruises and I wear shin pads.
The worst shot blocks to take are the awkward spots around the knees.

Don't get me wrong, my legs are never not cut or bruised either, but sticks usually end up doing the most damage. I remember taken a few off the knee where I just buckled and let out a yell.

How hard are the balls you guys use to pass and catch a pass? Do they bounce easily?

 

[varano]

Don't get me wrong, my legs are never not cut or bruised either, but sticks usually end up doing the most damage. I remember taken a few off the knee where I just buckled and let out a yell.

How hard are the balls you guys use to pass and catch a pass? Do they bounce easily?

I'm not sure what you mean by pass and catch a pass. The balls we use are the hard orange ones. Not the softer ones like at canadian tire.

They do not bounce easily no...

 

[silkyjohnson50]

I'm not sure what you mean by pass and catch a pass. The balls we use are the hard orange ones. Not the softer ones like at canadian tire.

They do not bounce easily no...

I misunderstood your original quote. When you said "we must play with different balls" I thought you meant that the people that you play must use different balls than the normal orange street hockey balls because they were too hard. Now I'm under the impression that you meant that you didn't agree with my statement that getting hit with the balls don't hurt. I stand by it, I don't think it's that bad although my shins are never looking pretty. But after taking an inline puck without shin pads on (stupid on my part, yes), those balls are nothing. I've taken slap shots in the back and thigh and it was surprisingly not that painful after the initial bite.

 

[silkyjohnson50]

So my question would be to onetimesniper: are the balls you guys use easy to pass and catch with? Or are they hard to handle on a hard pass or saucer pass?

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

So my question would be to onetimesniper: are the balls you guys use easy to pass and catch with? Or are they hard to handle on a hard pass or saucer pass?

They're very easy to pass and handle. For whatever reason, they don't bounce on saucer passes, they roll after they land, just like pucks. Hard passes can be a bit tricky if your blade is a bit open, because it deflects them upwards.

When you knock them down, they stay on the ground. I practiced stick handling for a week with those.

I had a game today, at the same place. Picked up a goal and at least 5 assists. I was able to pull off moves just like in my video successfully this time (catching them after putting them through the guys' legs). It's a matter of adjusting to the ball's weight.

These are by far the best balls I've used for passing.
Shooting is a different story though.

 

[Gigantor The Goalie]

Had our first playoff game last night and it was bad. 8-0 loss to a team that we were close to beating in the last game of the season. They scored 5 times in the first period which leads me to believe that the week and a half off was not beneficial to our team. First period was brutal, goalie couldn't stop a beach ball, defense didn't know what they were doing and the forwards floated.

We came together as a team though in the 3rd period and played some good hockey which I wanted to see from us. Next game is Sunday and I think we'll do better as we have our game legs back underneath us and that hockey mindset. We need to do better as one more loss and we are done.

 

[izzy]

Final game of the season coming up Tuesday. Winner of this wins the series and the league.

 

[Gigantor The Goalie]

Final game of the season coming up Tuesday. Winner of this wins the series and the league.

Balls on the table!

 

[Gigantor The Goalie]

Possibly the last game of the season for us if we lose. Really don't want to lose. I would like to win at least one game this year.

 

[Bardown warrior]

Does anyone know of any decent ball hockey leagues in and around Ottawa, moving there soon and was wondering!

 

[HockeyThoughts]

Does anyone know of any decent ball hockey leagues in and around Ottawa, moving there soon and was wondering!

Exact same question on my end. I'll be located in downtown Ottawa, a few minutes away from the University of Ottawa.

I Googled and found this:
http://ottawaballhockey.com/?page_id=44

Any opinions?

 

[bigwillie]

Playing ball hockey for the first time this week. Never played it as more than summer fun with friends and teammates, this is the first organized league I'll be stepping into.

Got a pickup on Wednesday and am filling in for a team Saturday.

I play goalie, and I've played roller and ice in the past month, and now am throwing in some ball in there as well. I think the hardest part will be remembering what surface I'm on and adjusting my play accordingly.

 

[iFishyHD]

Signups for my league just started. Will keep you guys posted on how the season went. Can't believe this thread fell to the 2nd page.

 

[McDrailers]

Playing ball hockey for the first time this week. Never played it as more than summer fun with friends and teammates, this is the first organized league I'll be stepping into.

Got a pickup on Wednesday and am filling in for a team Saturday.

I play goalie, and I've played roller and ice in the past month, and now am throwing in some ball in there as well. I think the hardest part will be remembering what surface I'm on and adjusting my play accordingly.

Dont forget the curving of the ball. Why I gave up playing net for ball hockey. Pucks dont curve and bend

 

[Pudsey22]

Looking for a summer league team

Hi all,

firstly this is my first post on hf so i apologise if i am in the wrong thread...

Im looking for my hockey skills to take me overseas for an adventure, I'm looking for a summer league team who would have me for a summer season. I have played hockey for a fair few years and now coach my own team over in the UK.

Im looking to spend a summer anywhere outside of the UK providing i can be billeted with someone.

If anyone has any forward positions available next summer i'd be really appreciative if you got in contact. I can send you my stats and probably some footage.

 

[Bob Kudelski]

Exact same question on my end. I'll be located in downtown Ottawa, a few minutes away from the University of Ottawa.

I Googled and found this:
http://ottawaballhockey.com/?page_id=44

Any opinions?

I play in this league. There are two tiers. I play in tier 2 but I don't think there's much difference between the two.

The rink is awesome because it's like a half-size hockey rink, perfect for ball hockey. The only issue is the floor can get slippery especially if it's raining because the roof leaks from time to time.

It's good hockey.. it get a little chippy, moreso than ice hockey I would say, but that's inevitable due to the nature of 5-on-5 ball hockey in a small rink.

 

[Gigantor The Goalie]

Haven't posted in awhile but our team got our first win this season last night. We were down 4-2, scored to make it 4-3 and then got a PP. We can't set up a PP to save our lives (especially if I'm on it) but somehow a teammate and I ended up on a 2-on-2, put on a nice tic-tac-toe play with me potting the game tying goal. We went to a shootout and won. It was awesome considering it's also our first win in the past two seasons.

 

[iFishyHD]

So far I started of the season with a bang. Team hasn't played bad, so far we are 0-0-2 (ties, not OTL because we don't play OT, 1 point handed to each team).

The 1st game, 0-0 tie, not much to talk about. A big goalie battle. I had a couple decent chances, but nothing to hang my head about.

The 2nd game, I took off. My teammate gave me a pass and I was all alone and wristed it in beautifully (more of a one time wrister time shot). Then, I was high left slot, and my teammate passes from the corner, I caught the pass, turned 180 degrees and managed to throw a low wrister 5-hole, a very unexpected goal, it took the refs a little to realize it was in. We were up 2-1 with under a minute, on the PK, the coaches have our 2 worst forwards out, and some slightly above average defenseman (age group is 13-16 if that helps understand everything). The other team has the best player in the league (the guy can pretty much get around everybody). I tried to get my coach to switch, but no. Well they scored and we settled on a tie (**** got sketchy, coaches still didn't make a change and I was terrified we would lose).

Hopefully we pick up a win tomorrow. Will letcha guys know how it goes.

 

[midd]

Ball Hockey

Hey guys. As you can see, I don't post much.. I usually browse looking for information but I came across this thread and decided to chime in.

I'm a longtime ball hockey player. Love the sport. Like it better than roller. I'm 43 years old. I played in my late teens and into my early 20's. My team went to the finals three years in a row. WE won Tier III, Lost in the finals in Tier II, and then won Tier II the following year. We played one year in Tier 1 before splitting up because of work and a thing called life.

Stopped playing for 13 years or so. And now I'm playing in 3 leagues (2 over 30 and 1 men's league (16 and up) and do a lot of tournaments (16 & up) in the area.

While I'm not as fast as I once was, I can still hang in there. Just played in a tournament a few weeks ago where we ran out of gas in the finals and got shut out 4-0 against a bunch of 20 something young guys. Very proud of my team and myself.

As I have gotten older, I have learned to play smarter. Ball hockey is all about passing the ball. Keep looking for that open man and the opportunities will open up for a shot. My team is 6-2 and in second place.

I'm very competitive but I am having a blast playing. Winning definitely makes the game more enjoyable. Having guys on your team that understand the game makes it even better!