Is it time to hang 'em up....

[FU Shoresy]

What type of league have you been playing in. I played up to 50 in an all ages adult league. Suffered some long term concussion issues. I would go back if I could, but not quite ready. When I do it will be in over 50 leagues, I don't need to be chasing around 25 year old's on the ice anymore. The commitment to stay in that level of shape is exhausting. I was still having fun till I had to stop though.

 

[biturbo19]

My 13-14 year old self… if my back was feeling ok I’d probably handle him pretty easily.

My 18-22+ year old self would wreck me hard… if he felt like it.

I was a pretty nice kid at that age so I would have probably been like “just make the old guy look good so he doesn’t feel too bad about himself”.

But I’d know what I was thinking…. so I’d still feel bad… see?

Knowing my younger self...there isn't a chance in the world i'd be allowing myself any "easy goals". lol. I'd be doing whatever it takes to stop my older self from scoring.


But my younger self was a small and playing with outdated techniques. I've developed a pretty good shot since then.


But now i'm wondering if i wouldn't just throw some muffin shots at myself to make me feel good about my younger self.

We've opened up a bizarre time paradox box here.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Knowing my younger self...there isn't a chance in the world i'd be allowing myself any "easy goals". lol. I'd be doing whatever it takes to stop my older self from scoring.


But my younger self was a small and playing with outdated techniques. I've developed a pretty good shot since then.


But now i'm wondering if i wouldn't just throw some muffin shots at myself to make me feel good about my younger self.

We've opened up a bizarre time paradox box here.

What if you could only stay in the past for an hour?

I wouldn’t be wasting time playing hockey with myself.

I’d be like “buddy, we have a few things we really need to talk about…”

 

[Mike C]

OK, so I just turned 50 in March. I've been playing hockey since I was about 5 years, skating since I could walk. Never got to a high level, just played house league, had to take about 2 or so years off as a 12 year old do to bone cancer (ribs) I had, so that was the end of super competitve aspirations I would have had. Once cleared by doctors it was back to hockey. Post high school, I was playing up to 4 times a week, and really pushed myself and took some adult clinics, and considered myself a step about good, but nowhere near junior calibre, let alone pro. Basically I loved the game, loved playing, coached, helped other guys I was playing with improve, did the whole rec league stuff, tournaments, etc.

FFWD to now....... I realize at 50 I am not going to be the same player I was in my 20s, into my 30s even......you slow down, and such is life. The group I have been playing with for probably the last 10 years (once a week), minus the 1.5 years of covid down time, are a great bunch of guys, all age groups, all skill levels. We play Wed nights at 9pm at an arena 10 minutes from my house, and sometimes get extra ice, so on the ice sometimes until 10:30. I will say 2/3 of the group love to hit the pub after, but for me that is much too late on a Wednesday, my wife and I have to get up for work the next day. I can still keep up with the play no problem, am honestly middle of the pack skating wise, playmaking (hands) is among the better, but it's my energy level that is holding me back.

I have a feeling, and I am getting this investigated, that my turn with covid a couple years ago, may have caused some of the issues. My lungs just aren't there anymore like they were. I am also having 1 minor heart related thing getting looked at (heart is fine, but something about resting heart strength is a touch below what it should be for someone my age and background), so doctor and cardiologist are saying no high intensity activity (hockey is one) until they finish all the testing. Also, I will admit that I am about 20 lbs over what my ideal weight is.

So.... playing hockey is becoming more like a chore, not a fun time on the ice with the guys anymore. It's like something I just do, more than something I get super excited about. I sometimes think it's the group I play with, but at the same time until 2 years ago I'd be looking forward to our pick up ice time starting in September - I'd still get those super excited butterflies (you all know what I mean by this), but not anymore.

Is it time to hang 'em up and just cheer on my team? What have my fellow HF boarders experienced like this? Will I feel bad for not playing....I don't know, and am not so sure. I will never just go through the motions, as that is a waste of money and my time.

When something becomes a chore rather than fun, I think you answered your own dilema!

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Am I one of the younger voices on this thread? (31). I *feel* as though I am already semi-retired from the the game.

I graduated high school in 2011. Out of my senior class (8 guys who played), only my best friend and I kept hockey going together by doing men’s league and public skating sessions. In 2017 when my friend moved and our men’s league team dissolved, I ended up transitioning to Ball/Dek Hockey since it was cheaper (plus nobody reached out in the ‘FA pool’ to ask players to have them fill in in case of a team needed players for a night)

When COVID hit, two indoor sport complexes in my area shut down for good - thus limiting the options to play. After my son was born in 2021 and had some close family members pass away, my itch to play the game really took a nosedive.

I rarely skate and barely play ball hockey since my responsibilities are aligned and occupied with other things. Working two jobs, going back to school, a now two YO, and a wife certainly does leave little time for me to have my own personal time

 

[Cursed Lemon]

I mean the obvious thing is to maybe take a year off. I know that whenever I go long periods of time without playing, getting back on the ice gives me a refreshed perspective, like the game makes way more sense than how I felt when I left off.

 

[swoopster]

I hung em up at 68. Need two new hips and spine surgery. The pain got to be too much, recovery time too long. I didn''t feel strong on my skates and was worried about getting hurt, and couldn't do the things I could do even at 60. So after 63 years of hockey that spanned college to minors to beer league I called a career. Miss it sometimes,but then the aches and pains remind me.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Am I one of the younger voices on this thread? (31). I *feel* as though I am already semi-retired from the the game.

I graduated high school in 2011. Out of my senior class (8 guys who played), only my best friend and I kept hockey going together by doing men’s league and public skating sessions. In 2017 when my friend moved and our men’s league team dissolved, I ended up transitioning to Ball/Dek Hockey since it was cheaper (plus nobody reached out in the ‘FA pool’ to ask players to have them fill in in case of a team needed players for a night)

When COVID hit, two indoor sport complexes in my area shut down for good - thus limiting the options to play. After my son was born in 2021 and had some close family members pass away, my itch to play the game really took a nosedive.

I rarely skate and barely play ball hockey since my responsibilities are aligned and occupied with other things. Working two jobs, going back to school, a now two YO, and a wife certainly does leave little time for me to have my own personal time

My path was a little different than yours as I played into my early 30s, but I can relate with the young child and not enough time.

Once my daughter was born, I decided I was done, as she needed so much of our attention and time.

My back was getting pretty bad by then, so I kind of saw it as a sign to step away.

I played in the “Turkey Cup” Thanksgiving morning every year still, which was only dek hockey with family/friends, but that was the extent of my hockey playing once I stopped.

When my daughter turned four, my wife talked me into getting back on the ice and teaching her to skate/play hockey.

Like I touched on earlier, I did that for the last 7-8 yrs until my back literally popped out back in Dec and haven’t been on skates since.

My back has finally started feeling… not agonizing… the last month or so.

I’m doing a lot of mobility work and yoga, switched to trap bar deadlifts, etc.

I’ve accepted I’ll never skate again, but I’m not completely ruling it out for my daughter’s sake.

 

[oldunclehue]

I've hung them up....turned down the oppourtunity to play in a rec league. This last year has been more than depressing in relation to the rink for me.

I've played hockey since I was 4 years old, so 34 years of the sport. But last year as a coach I had two parents try and ruin my reputation and cause me grief over their kids being held accountable (they need praise, candy and stuffed animals I guess). I ended up coming out on the clean end and the one dad was told not to come to the rink anymore during our team practices/games. But it still ruined hockey for me.

I am ok with it, I will enjoy watching my kids as any other dad would. But the sport has been ruined for me.

 

[Primary Assist]

I've hung them up....turned down the oppourtunity to play in a rec league. This last year has been more than depressing in relation to the rink for me.

I've played hockey since I was 4 years old, so 34 years of the sport. But last year as a coach I had two parents try and ruin my reputation and cause me grief over their kids being held accountable (they need praise, candy and stuffed animals I guess). I ended up coming out on the clean end and the one dad was told not to come to the rink anymore during our team practices/games. But it still ruined hockey for me.

I am ok with it, I will enjoy watching my kids as any other dad would. But the sport has been ruined for me.

So sorry to hear that - parents can suck mightily, but for some reason hockey parents can be really bad. I think it's the toxic combo of the sport's natural aggressiveness mixed with the expensive sense of entitlement. I say that as someone who also has years of coaching experience.

Hopefully things cool off a bit and you can find your way back to loving our great game again. The lows are certainly low, but few things in this world peak higher than true love for the sport of ice hockey

 

[DaveG]

I've hung them up....turned down the oppourtunity to play in a rec league. This last year has been more than depressing in relation to the rink for me.

I've played hockey since I was 4 years old, so 34 years of the sport. But last year as a coach I had two parents try and ruin my reputation and cause me grief over their kids being held accountable (they need praise, candy and stuffed animals I guess). I ended up coming out on the clean end and the one dad was told not to come to the rink anymore during our team practices/games. But it still ruined hockey for me.

I am ok with it, I will enjoy watching my kids as any other dad would. But the sport has been ruined for me.

sadly this is one of the big reasons I won't get into coaching or officiating at younger levels any more despite being a pretty high level player at the sport I would do it in (not hockey). Coaching part time to make some money back in college 20+ years ago I was already getting a sense that things were heading in a BAD direction with the amount of abuse I'd take from parents even then. And the sense of entitlement has only gotten worse in the time since then.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

I've hung them up....turned down the oppourtunity to play in a rec league. This last year has been more than depressing in relation to the rink for me.

I've played hockey since I was 4 years old, so 34 years of the sport. But last year as a coach I had two parents try and ruin my reputation and cause me grief over their kids being held accountable (they need praise, candy and stuffed animals I guess). I ended up coming out on the clean end and the one dad was told not to come to the rink anymore during our team practices/games. But it still ruined hockey for me.

I am ok with it, I will enjoy watching my kids as any other dad would. But the sport has been ruined for me.

Sorry to hear that… hockey parents basically ruined things for me as well and I refuse to ever coach/volunteer/or do anything related to helping ever again.

I got talked into coaching in my 20s and I came away hating hockey parents with a passion.

I almost didn’t let my daughter play because of how much I despise hockey parents:

My wife really wanted my daughter to play, so she wore me down and made a deal that she would do all of the social stuff and volunteer work, if I taught my daughter how to skate/play the game.

My daughter is 12 now and going into her fourth year of travel hockey, and I mostly avoid all the other parents except for polite hellos.

I also leave the coaches alone out of respect and have never even spoken to any of them.

I know this probably won’t make you feel much better, but at least you aren’t alone in how you feel if that helps any.

 

[Yukon Joe]

So I still do some dad coaching (not high level, just as an assistant). Actually I did get thrown in as a head coach in the spring for a "fun" 4 on 4 league (only games, no practices, 2 months).

I've had some negative parent interactions. We've had to get the club and parent liaison involved. But in my experience the negative parent interactions have been far outweighed by the positives - the "thanks for all your help", the "hey what can we do to help out" kind of comments.

Maybe it's just the age and level of the kids I've been involved with. I've never coached older "elite" hockey players. I don't doubt anyone else's experiences, but mine has been generally positive.

as an aside, perhaps this is surprising, or perhaps it isn't - but one of the nicest hockey parent experiences was when I coached the kid of a legit NHL coach (and his wife). Obviously this guy had far more coaching knowledge than I, but he was understandably busy. He and his wife were nothing but supportive of my coaching.