Shadowing in beer league

[Drivebytrucker]

We play low level 30 plus beer league hockey.

One team has a player who light years better than us and average 4 to 5 goals a game. He's one of those guys who's at full speed after three strides with hands to boot.

So last night, we decided as a fast skater with no hands, I would just stay with him and shadow him in the neutral zone and our zone. We were both playing centre.

This didn't go over well. His team felt we were breaking a code of some sort. There was hacking, slashing me, calling me a "try hard" and it generally turned into a shitty game.

We won 6-2 and he scored twice.

anyways, were we in the wrong?

Should he be able to come and score his 5 goals without us putting up a fight to defend him?

Click to read more...

 

[Grave77digger]

My kid likes to call kids on the opposing team try hards usually after getting his but kicked. Mr 5 goals a game is the try hard.

 

[LarryO]

Maybe they were just pissed off that you were neutralizing their only secret weapon. I see nothing wrong with how you played him unless you were constantly physically harassing him with little hooks, slashes and/or crosschecks while you were shadowing him.

 

[CharaBadSenyshynGawd]

For whatever reason try hard is a "bad name". Yes i am trying to win. Whether it be youth, pro, or mens league.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

Good teams find a way to win.

Congrats on being smarter than your opponent.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

No.

It sounds like this guy you are referring to should play in a higher division, if anything. No problem with playing hard and trying to shut down a guy who is sandbagging in a lower division.

Plus it's hockey. I would have hacked and wacked and played chippy back and told them to go find another superstar.

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

If it was a pick up they would be right but in a game that is perfectly fine, they are just bitter

Next time just tell them you dont have to try hard to follow their man

 

[HansonBro]

Makes you wonder if everyone just played thier man how games would go any night.

I think you bring up a good topic OP. Its just beer league, but if thats what it takes to win legally...then i guess cool

 

[puckpilot]

We play low level 30 plus beer league hockey.

One team has a player who light years better than us and average 4 to 5 goals a game. He's one of those guys who's at full speed after three strides with hands to boot.

So last night, we decided as a fast skater with no hands, I would just stay with him and shadow him in the neutral zone and our zone. We were both playing centre.

This didn't go over well. His team felt we were breaking a code of some sort. There was hacking, slashing me, calling me a "try hard" and it generally turned into a ****ty game.

We won 6-2 and he scored twice.

anyways, were we in the wrong?

Should he be able to come and score his 5 goals without us putting up a fight to defend him?

As long as you're not cheapshotting him, there's nothing wrong with what you did. I mean seriously, how small does your pee-pee have to be for you to drop down several levels and score 5 goals a game and not feel a little embarrassed.

I've played against teams with guys who are levels above, but the big difference is they usually drop back to D and are constantly distributing the puck. They are very selective when they take it coast to coast and play just hard enough to keep their team even or just a little ahead.

For me, I don't begrudge guys like that. In fact, they got nothing but my respect for being able to keep their egos in check. Their presence doesn't detract from either team having a good time win or lose. I mean how fun is it to win every game, but have one guy score all the goals and pretty much do all the work? You might as well have stayed home.

As for the other teams comments, really? They basically whined that you didn't let their ringer score goals. How dare you play smart hockey. How dare you play defense.

Reminds me of a playoffs way back when. We were against the top team that pretty much destroyed us all season by double digits each game. Our game plan was if you didn't see a good play right away, ice the puck and kill the flow. We took 15-30 second shifts and all this combined frustrated them beyond. They kept trying to forcing things and trying to make individualistic plays. Our goalie stood on his head and the game was 0-0 going into overtime, and then we scored to win on a break. The shots were 48-10.

During handshakes, the other team is saying we should be ashamed of ourselves, and that that wasn't hockey. I just smiled all the way to a division championship.

 

[varano]

Its a little strange if its just friendly pickup. Generally in pickup, theres no defence and people just want to score. If its competitive pickup then yeah its fine.

 

[LeafGrief]

In a league game? Good for you, it's always impressive when someone in beer league backchecks at all, much less a full on defensive shutdown effort. You should be proud of the way you played and contributed to your team's win. Beer league should be easygoing, but it can still be very competitive.

The other team sounds like a bunch of sore losers who aren't used to any adversity. There's a team in my league like this too, where they whinge and moan whenever a game is even close. They're tied with us in the standings and the league organizer (who is on their team) is constantly telling us that we have too many players who belong in the next division up. It's so stupid. If you played fair and clean hockey then you should be doubly proud that you made them angry.

 

[goalie29]

I used to play with a person like this, though not as dominant. And now I play against them. One of the reasons I changed teams was I hated having to listen to the whining whenever the opposing team would do this. And heaven forbid that there was any coincidental bumping during the shadowing - then the team would get furious and accused the other team of attempting to injure. Guess what I take on as my job when we play against each other? ha ha. My team actually won our last game against this team, and I shut her completely down when I was on the ice. It was sweet.

It`s smart hockey, and the shame is on anyone who would play down to a division where they can regularly score that many goals.

 

[streitz]

It doesn't sound like you did anything wrong in that case. Again none of us were at the game but if a guy is light years better then the rest of you, if he was hotdogging that makes it worse.

I was in a similar situation, I played in the WHL in the mid 90's(I wasn't a good player in the dub, I mostly played JR A but was called up for parts of seasons to bad teams because of injuries), after I finished my CIS hockey career and moved on to beer leagues in my late 20's I was usually the best player on the ice, sometimes by far. I would try to tone down my play when playing weaker players because frankly winning 8-2 isn't fun for either side.

Now though I'm in my early 40's and my skating ability has diminished so I don't need to worry about these things anymore .

 

[Pez68]

We play low level 30 plus beer league hockey.

One team has a player who light years better than us and average 4 to 5 goals a game. He's one of those guys who's at full speed after three strides with hands to boot.

So last night, we decided as a fast skater with no hands, I would just stay with him and shadow him in the neutral zone and our zone. We were both playing centre.

This didn't go over well. His team felt we were breaking a code of some sort. There was hacking, slashing me, calling me a "try hard" and it generally turned into a ****ty game.

We won 6-2 and he scored twice.

anyways, were we in the wrong?

Should he be able to come and score his 5 goals without us putting up a fight to defend him?

Love it. Sounds like he's their entire team.

 

[joe dirte]

We play low level 30 plus beer league hockey.

One team has a player who light years better than us and average 4 to 5 goals a game. He's one of those guys who's at full speed after three strides with hands to boot.

So last night, we decided as a fast skater with no hands, I would just stay with him and shadow him in the neutral zone and our zone. We were both playing centre.

This didn't go over well. His team felt we were breaking a code of some sort. There was hacking, slashing me, calling me a "try hard" and it generally turned into a ****ty game.

We won 6-2 and he scored twice.

anyways, were we in the wrong?

Should he be able to come and score his 5 goals without us putting up a fight to defend him?

A little yes, a little no.

Beer league is for fun. Tactics like that, neutral zone trap, and some other stuff, it's generally not cool. It's beer league, not tryouts. Speaking of which, teams with 3 lines or more get mocked too.

But the guy should be in a higher division if they're winning all their games because he scores at will at your level. just start calling him a beer league Gretzky.

So, as far as I'm concerned, fair game. Sandbagging is the by far the most lame thing you can do in beer league. Play at your fair level.

 

[BM14]

A little yes, a little no.

Beer league is for fun. Tactics like that, neutral zone trap, and some other stuff, it's generally not cool. It's beer league, not tryouts. Speaking of which, teams with 3 lines or more get mocked too.

But the guy should be in a higher division if they're winning all their games because he scores at will at your level. just start calling him a beer league Gretzky.

So, as far as I'm concerned, fair game. Sandbagging is the by far the most lame thing you can do in beer league. Play at your fair level.

It happens in every league I've ever played in. Top teams sandbag the first 4-5 games so they don't get bumped up and then skate circles around legit B/C division teams.

As for the OP; good for you. A lot of people do not play positions in men's league. It's alright to even drop a shoulder into him off the face-off to let him know you're going to be there all night as it sounds like a classic case of an A division player on a D division team.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

This actually happened in Open Hockey to me a month or so ago too. It's a 'private' Open Hockey, that is a guy I know rents out the rink and it's invite list from there. I'm acquaintances with a few guys but mostly just guys I see there who I have no relationship with. Play whites vs darks.

They tried stacking the white team with some ex Junior A and NCAA D2/3 guys and guys who can play. A-level players and the darks were mostly D/E level players except for me and one other guy.

I played Defense and was gapping up at the blue line and redline every time I could. Would also swing low into their zone if their best kid was gonna try to go coast to coast.

When I wasn't out there, our D were basically at the tops of our circles every time and the white team could just walk in and do whatever they wanted in the zone from there.

One of their guys got pissed I guess for me defending too hard and tried to reverse hit me and he wound up getting knocked down.


f*** them for stacking the team and not doing anything about it.

 

[shoeshine boy]

I've done this myself a few times so I see nothing wrong with it in league play. my league is pretty good about putting people in their proper skill level but every now and then someone slips through. I'll usually chirp them by calling them sandbagger or asking them if they know what time the NHL scouts will be getting there.

 

[Beezeral]

They tried too hard by putting a guy who should be in a higher division on their team and you countered by shadowing the guy. They need to shut up and find a way to counter it. There is a difference between what you did and being the guy laying big hits against the star to try and counter him. I'd be on their side if you were head hunting, but you did nothing wrong.

 

[Ozz]

Good teams find a way to win.

Congrats on being smarter than your opponent.

Exactly, f*** that guy and anyone who complains that you neutralized him. Live by the sword, die by the sword. What do they want, for you let him put up 5 on you? lol...

Our leagues are full of one-man teams, and smart teams know how to handle them.

 

[Pez68]

Competition is fun.

It really doesn't matter what his terrible team thought, anyway. How did the player react to you shadowing him? Personally, if I'm playing down a few levels and a guy does this...I welcome the challenge. I mean, the guy scored two goals anyway. His team just sucks.

 

[StrictlyCommercial]

You are absolutely in the right, f*** the guy playing below his skill level. I'm usually D, but every now and then I end up forward and I usually shadow the other team's best forward. It is just smart hockey.

Unless this was drop-in, then that would be a dick move.

 

[Terry Yake]

our team does this all the time whenever we play against a team that has a player like the one you mentioned

it usually works and we've never gotten any s*** from the other team or the player for doing it

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

1) Can the dude move up to a better league?

2) No, you're not in the wrong at all. Good strategy, glad it worked.

We called those guys scoring 2+ "ringers" 'cause there were better leagues they could move up to. They're more at fault than you are.

 

[Drivebytrucker]

1) Can the dude move up to a better league?

2) No, you're not in the wrong at all. Good strategy, glad it worked.

We called those guys scoring 2+ "ringers" 'cause there were better leagues they could move up to. They're more at fault than you are.

He probably wants to play with his friends or colleagues. I don't begrudge the guy.... just understand were going to try to stop you