unwritten rules of beer leagues?

[greyraven8]

don't piss off the refs (i.e. yelling at them multiple times for what you think was a bad call for a penalty). if your team annoys them enough either will end up getting a penalty for unsportsmanlike or they may get back at your team in more indirect ways.

realize teams will play as chippy as what the refs allow and different refs have different standards.

don't get pissed off at some of your less skilled players not doing well as long as they are trying. do get pissed off at your so called better players when they constantly take cheap penalties or float most of the game.

as previous posters have already mentioned - don't run up the score too high on a team that is a lot weaker (could try switching some of your forwards and defence or just do more passing or if you have a 2nd goalie or player that occasionally plays goal put him in net for some of those games).

if you are in charge of a beer league team - get the money up front or you will be wasting time chasing some players for money all season. most players are good for getting fees right away but a sizable minority are not.

some girlfriends sometimes come to games - wives not so much.

 

[DungeonK]

I don't see whats wrong with chirping? If you play a clean game, and you can back up your words I say, say whatever you like. Agitators really do have a place in hockey more the Perry type than Carcillo I'd say. Guys who take you off your game by shadowing you and talking smack, and then while your all flustered go and score that big goal. Words do a lot to take a guy off their game, its just annoying when you've got a guy following you around hacking and slashing you (not getting any calls against him) and just talking smack, those are the guys who get hurt.

Awhile back a defenseman ran his mouth at me all game over a ****** play I made in the 1st. Since that game I've been as rough as possible with that guy in the corners and bust my ass to ruin his nights. Unless you just enjoy making enemies and encouraging the other team to play harder, you probably want to keep your mouth shut; especially in a game with as many psychopaths as hockey seems to attract.

A couple of years ago a guy who was known throughout the league as a hot head, whiner, cheap shotter and trash talker got all 4 of his tires slashed after a game. Worst part for him was that he was such a ****** that his own team didn't want him after the season was over, obviously neither did anyone else, so he had to find a new hobby

 

[norcar]

Warmups when the goalie is in the net are NOT for picking corners and trying to break his ankles with your Linus Omark shootout moves.

 

[mfd1068]

"some girlfriends sometimes come to games - wives not so much".

Its always a potential problem if the wife shows up when the girlfriend is there...lol

 

[SJGoalie32]

"some girlfriends sometimes come to games - wives not so much".

Its always a potential problem if the wife shows up when the girlfriend is there...lol

But if you score a hattrick or post a shutout that night......it can also turn out incredibly awesome!

 

[Wildturkey12]

Warmups when the goalie is in the net are NOT for picking corners and trying to break his ankles with your Linus Omark shootout moves.

But the guy who does the Bombay triple deke in warm ups is always the guy to complain when the goalie gives up an early one.

 

[mbowman]

everyone who talks about manstrength is so right. i've played rugby against teams of middle aged men, and me, being 21, and my university team, just got run over. they're not that fast, but they're mad strong and smart.

have fun though. a team in my intramural league once hired the university cheerleaders to come stand behind their bench and cheer for them for the whole game... one of the only games we lost all the regular season...

 

[ponder]

Warmups when the goalie is in the net are NOT for picking corners and trying to break his ankles with your Linus Omark shootout moves.

This is a good one for all levels of hockey. When you shoot on the goalie in the warmup you're trying to warm up the goalie, not yourself. Hard, low, savable shots. The idea is to get the goalie confident, having a feel for the puck, unafraid of the puck, and just generally on his game. Start sniping corners and shooting at his head and he'll be garbage all game long.

 

[cptjeff]

Warmups when the goalie is in the net are NOT for picking corners and trying to break his ankles with your Linus Omark shootout moves.

Depends on the goalie. Some guys like the occasional deke to get them moving, or a few challenging shots to get their glove going.

But yeah, it's best to default to somewhat easy shots.

 

[Gibson19]

Warmups when the goalie is in the net are NOT for picking corners and trying to break his ankles with your Linus Omark shootout moves.

THIS!

Happens all the time in Stick and Puck too. I feel bad for the goalies sometimes. He'll come in the net and everyone will be hot dogging and trying to put the puck in the net. Serious dekes and top corner shots.

I try and ask the goalie what he wants to warm up with. More often than not they just want a couple low slappers or some wristers from the point or faceoff circle. The guy or girl, is just stretching out. Theres no need to do any huge dekes. Not to mention at stick and pucks they are stopping pucks non stop, don't wear them out before they even get warmed up

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

Warmups when the goalie is in the net are NOT for picking corners and trying to break his ankles with your Linus Omark shootout moves.

But this isnt a beer league thing really, shouldnt be doing it in whatever league you were in before

 

[cptjeff]

THIS!

Happens all the time in Stick and Puck too. I feel bad for the goalies sometimes. He'll come in the net and everyone will be hot dogging and trying to put the puck in the net. Serious dekes and top corner shots.

I try and ask the goalie what he wants to warm up with. More often than not they just want a couple low slappers or some wristers from the point or faceoff circle. The guy or girl, is just stretching out. Theres no need to do any huge dekes. Not to mention at stick and pucks they are stopping pucks non stop, don't wear them out before they even get warmed up

Stick and puck is practice for both parties. Hard shots, dekes, top shelf- if you as a goalie are not okay with that, you should not be there. Shooters need practice too, and those events are exactly where that kind of thing is supposed to happen. If the goalie comes into the net in the middle of the session, the shooters aren't going to stop their practice for him. Nor should they. If they don't feel ready to deal with a shot or deke, they can just let it go.

 

[blueberrydanish]

I dont mind stopping dekes at stick n pucks...what I do mind is when people rush non-stop one after another, all doing their slow little dekes up to the net. Those after awhile I just stand there and let them do their little dekes with their head down - and when they finally shoot and put it in the net and look up and I didn't move, they SHOULD get the hint.

If it gets bad enough to where everyone is just dekeing(which can happen alot) Ill say something and if nothing changes just leave early, cause get this, Im tired from stretchin out from the non-stop breakaways.

Thats just me of course, I am sure there are some goalies that love the deke fests at stick n pucks. Anytime I actually go to one now with goalie gear I am hopin for a scrimmage to break out.

 

[Gibson19]

Stick and puck is practice for both parties. Hard shots, dekes, top shelf- if you as a goalie are not okay with that, you should not be there. Shooters need practice too, and those events are exactly where that kind of thing is supposed to happen. If the goalie comes into the net in the middle of the session, the shooters aren't going to stop their practice for him. Nor should they. If they don't feel ready to deal with a shot or deke, they can just let it go.

I'll clarify that this is when the goalie just gets on the ice. I'll start getting zesty when the goalie is ready. The goalies the last guy you want to piss off on the ice.

 

[mooseOAK*]

"some girlfriends sometimes come to games - wives not so much".

Once the girlfriend snags the guy one of the first things that stops happening is her sitting in a cold rink watching bad hockey.

 

[SJGoalie32]

Stick and puck is practice for both parties. Hard shots, dekes, top shelf- if you as a goalie are not okay with that, you should not be there. Shooters need practice too, and those events are exactly where that kind of thing is supposed to happen.

I'll clarify that this is when the goalie just gets on the ice. I'll start getting zesty when the goalie is ready. The goalies the last guy you want to piss off on the ice.

^^^ What he said

I'm fine with hard shots. In fact I want to face them. And in pre-game warmups, I want to face a few breakaway deke moves.........once I'm warm, that is.

We're not video game characters who are just ready to go the moment you press 'Start.' We need a little time after sitting in the locker room dressing to get the reflexes going, the muscles loose, adjusted to the speed of the puck and the flow of the action, etc.

You skaters like a little warmup, too, right? You like to skate around the rink once or twice to get the blood flowing. You like to skate a lap or two around the zone with the puck to work on your stickhandling. Maybe get a teammate or a buddy to pass back and forth with. Well, so do we.

You probably wouldn't like it much if someone chose your warmup skate lap to work on their body checking technique. Or if someone used your stickhandling lap to play defense and strip you of the puck. Or tried to pick off a pass between you and your teammate. Or lifted your stick while you're trying to work on slapshots with the empty net. Or fired pucks at you while you're laying on the ice trying to stretch out your leg muscles. Amazingly, we goalies don't like those things either.

If the first shot I face when I just stepped on the ice and am trying to warm up is a slap shot at my head from 30 feet......that's the last shot you're taking on me. Later on, as we build up to it and can deal with it, that's fine. Even preferred sometimes. But not first thing.

Most beer league players can't afford ice time for full practices to work on things, and many of us don't or can't get to pickups as often as we'd like. So the 5 minutes before each game IS the full extent of our weekly practice. If I just bought a new glove, I'm trying to break it in, and I am wanting shots that I can work on catching......as my beer league teammate, it is in YOUR interest to shoot catchable shots at my glove. Yeah, it's your warmup, too. But if I start the game with no confidence in my glove because you wanted to work on your spin-o-rama, between the legs shot that you're never going to actually use in a game, don't be surprised when we lose 8-5.

 

[SJGoalie32]

Once the girlfriend snags the guy one of the first things that stops happening is her sitting in a cold rink watching bad hockey.

To be fair, one of the biggest reasons the wives don't show up is the introduction of kids.

My gf came to most of my games. Once we married, she still comes to most of my games.

Once the kids enter the picture though, 10:30pm games in freezing cold rinks with lots of loud noises do not mesh well with 8pm bed times. Naturally, leaving a sleeping child at home alone doesn't work out well either, and if you're going to spring for a babysitter for an evening, there are far better things to do with that brief freedom than weekly rec league hockey. And even if bedtime is not an issue, sitting alone in the cold watching rec league hockey is not the greatest desire for an exhausted sleep-deprived mom.

 

[Razzmatazz]

don't piss off the refs (i.e. yelling at them multiple times for what you think was a bad call for a penalty). if your team annoys them enough either will end up getting a penalty for unsportsmanlike or they may get back at your team in more indirect ways.

That's seemingly been our whole season so far...and I guarantee that whining to the refs does not work, it will only make things worse for you.

I got called for only God knows what late in our game last week, I don't take a lot of penalties, but the instant I opened my mouth to express my incredulity, the ref immediately threw me out of the game.

 

[cjspencer]

alrighty thanks for the advice i figure i'd update you guys

we played our first game last night, i don't know what the score was because they stopped after 7 but i think we had 12 or 13 goals to their 1.

we had 14 skaters they had 8, their team was mostly guys in their late 30's i think. after we got up 5 we stopped cheering and tried to pass more but their goalie was terrible.

i got laid out open ice by some bearded fellow, that was the only hit, he got a penalty. for all this talk about man strength and positioning i didn't see any evidence of that, maybe it was a bad team. the talk after the game was moving us up to A, that game was in the b/c league.

the dudes were real nice though after, took the time to talk to us and gave us the rest of their dirty thirty.

 

[ponder]

alrighty thanks for the advice i figure i'd update you guys

we played our first game last night, i don't know what the score was because they stopped after 7 but i think we had 12 or 13 goals to their 1.

we had 14 skaters they had 8, their team was mostly guys in their late 30's i think. after we got up 5 we stopped cheering and tried to pass more but their goalie was terrible.

i got laid out open ice by some bearded fellow, that was the only hit, he got a penalty. for all this talk about man strength and positioning i didn't see any evidence of that, maybe it was a bad team. the talk after the game was moving us up to A, that game was in the b/c league.

the dudes were real nice though after, took the time to talk to us and gave us the rest of their dirty thirty.

Must be a fairly weak beer league, sounds like you guys are mostly high school or low/mid level rep players, which would be actually be pretty weak for a top 2-3 tier team in the beer league I'm currently playing in (it's a massive league with around 100 teams split into 12 divisions though, even in the mid tiers teams are mostly made of guys who played some form of rep hockey, with the odd ex-junior A/B players mixed in, as well as some weaker players). If you guys continue to dominate over the next game or two, definitely try to move up if possible.

But yeah, as I mentioned earlier the claims of violent retribution and whatnot in this thread are very overstated, beer league is incredibly tame compared to the competitive, full contact minor hockey that you've been playing. And of course a beer league team is never gonna be anywhere remotely close to as well organised in terms of positioning/breakouts/etc. as a coached rep team.

 

[cjspencer]

another game, won 6-0. i think we're definitely being moved up. after the 1st we switched positions and stopped backchecking, in the 3rd some of the defense switched to opposite hand sticks. the other team was pretty pissed this time.

 

[cptjeff]

^^^ What he said

I'm fine with hard shots. In fact I want to face them. And in pre-game warmups, I want to face a few breakaway deke moves.........once I'm warm, that is.

We're not video game characters who are just ready to go the moment you press 'Start.' We need a little time after sitting in the locker room dressing to get the reflexes going, the muscles loose, adjusted to the speed of the puck and the flow of the action, etc.

You skaters like a little warmup, too, right? You like to skate around the rink once or twice to get the blood flowing. You like to skate a lap or two around the zone with the puck to work on your stickhandling. Maybe get a teammate or a buddy to pass back and forth with. Well, so do we.

You probably wouldn't like it much if someone chose your warmup skate lap to work on their body checking technique. Or if someone used your stickhandling lap to play defense and strip you of the puck. Or tried to pick off a pass between you and your teammate. Or lifted your stick while you're trying to work on slapshots with the empty net. Or fired pucks at you while you're laying on the ice trying to stretch out your leg muscles. Amazingly, we goalies don't like those things either.

If the first shot I face when I just stepped on the ice and am trying to warm up is a slap shot at my head from 30 feet......that's the last shot you're taking on me. Later on, as we build up to it and can deal with it, that's fine. Even preferred sometimes. But not first thing.

Most beer league players can't afford ice time for full practices to work on things, and many of us don't or can't get to pickups as often as we'd like. So the 5 minutes before each game IS the full extent of our weekly practice. If I just bought a new glove, I'm trying to break it in, and I am wanting shots that I can work on catching......as my beer league teammate, it is in YOUR interest to shoot catchable shots at my glove. Yeah, it's your warmup, too. But if I start the game with no confidence in my glove because you wanted to work on your spin-o-rama, between the legs shot that you're never going to actually use in a game, don't be surprised when we lose 8-5.

Reread my posts. I never advocated screwing around with a goalie during warmup for a game. You give them what they want then. Floaters of shots into the glove, whatever. I'm fine with that. If I need to practice the hard stuff while the goalie is still getting ready, I shoot at the boards.

But if you're coming in in the middle of a stick and puck, or a pickup, warm up some other way. Stretching and practicing motions in front of the bench is a popular way to do it. But if you're coming in in the middle of a pickup or stick and puck, as seems to happen often enough, be ready the instant you get in the net. Don't expect the skaters to stop their practice or game to let you get warmed up. If you have a problem with that, tough. Come in time to get on the ice for the warm up stage.

 

[SteelCitySaviour]

another game, won 6-0. i think we're definitely being moved up. after the 1st we switched positions and stopped backchecking, in the 3rd some of the defense switched to opposite hand sticks. the other team was pretty pissed this time.

You must be in a really bad league, or youre playing against the weaker teams. There are always a couple of bad teams in every league. A team full of just out of highschool players is usually barely a C-level team. Everyone on my C-league team played together on travelling teams in highschool and varsity, and most of us played club-level or higher college hockey. We are in our mid-late twenties, and generally finish first or second in our leagues....

However, the jump to decent-level B leagues is huge. Most are either ex-junior players, or current or former college D-II guys. At 18, you dont have the speed, strength, or intelligence to compete with guys who have been playing hockey twice as long as you have. Beating on older guys is one thing, but playing against men who have played hockey at much higher levels than merely highschool is a whole nother ballgame.

Maybe your ran into bad teams, or maybe your league isn't very good. Wait until you play a decent team, or at least run through the schedule once before declaring yourself too good for the level- chances are, you're not. We loved playing teams full of highschool all-stars, considering that most of us were in your shoes ten years ago.

 

[loLZokAY]

another game, won 6-0. i think we're definitely being moved up. after the 1st we switched positions and stopped backchecking, in the 3rd some of the defense switched to opposite hand sticks. the other team was pretty pissed this time.

I would be pretty pissed too, it sounds like you guys were being douchebags this victory. Switching positions, stop backchecking and defense switching sticks to opposite hand, come on, you pretty much were flaunting that win. Get yourselves in a higher division because you're ruining the experience for others just destroying them... it's not fun for anybody, and normally just starts un-needed fights.

 

[tarheelhockey]

another game, won 6-0. i think we're definitely being moved up. after the 1st we switched positions and stopped backchecking, in the 3rd some of the defense switched to opposite hand sticks. the other team was pretty pissed this time.

Sounds like your team needs to sit down and read this thread carefully. Switching to opposite hand sticks is basically rubbing the other team's nose in it.

That said, if you're going to move up I'd do it one level at a time. Just going from B/C, where some of the players are taking their first step into serious competition, up into B where you have A-leaguers playing down on a regular basis, that's a pretty big jump. Going all the way up to A might land you in a position to be the league doormat.