Kravitch
Guest
I have a favorite as a player.
As a player, in 1998, my house league team organized a road game in the tiny, cold (it was mid January) community of Midway, British Columbia. And since we were a house team, going on a road trip on a bus was a thrill! We got there, and since Midway is such a small town with only one rink (that seated about 1000), the whole arena was packed to watch the towns only minor hockey team against us. It was incredible, since the local Midway team we played was the only minor hockey team in the area, they got huge fan support from the people of the town (they were like celebrities!). They had quite an advantage on us since they were a travel team (which is sort of a glorified house team) and we were a house team of kids who played simply for the love of the game, not for exposure from junior teams or anything like that.
It was an amazing game, (roughly) 1000 supportive Midway fans cheereing on their team as for the first time in our lives, we were playing against not just an opposing team, but opposing fans.
The game ended in a 4-4 tie after we were down 4-2 midway (no pun intended) through the 3rd period. The crowd stood up and appluded both teams after the game as we shook hands afterward.
What also made the game special was the unlike back in Kelowna (where house teams are heavily overlooked by our rep teams), we played 25 minute run time periods with no ice clean. But in Midway we got for the first time, 20 minute stop time periods, with an ice clean! An interesting experience for us kids who have never had (and some, never would), witness a game being treated like it was a rep AAA game.
After playing the game it had me pitty all those rep players who say they would rather quit hockey altogether than play in a house league.
House league hockey, in my oppinion, is real hockey.
As a player, in 1998, my house league team organized a road game in the tiny, cold (it was mid January) community of Midway, British Columbia. And since we were a house team, going on a road trip on a bus was a thrill! We got there, and since Midway is such a small town with only one rink (that seated about 1000), the whole arena was packed to watch the towns only minor hockey team against us. It was incredible, since the local Midway team we played was the only minor hockey team in the area, they got huge fan support from the people of the town (they were like celebrities!). They had quite an advantage on us since they were a travel team (which is sort of a glorified house team) and we were a house team of kids who played simply for the love of the game, not for exposure from junior teams or anything like that.
It was an amazing game, (roughly) 1000 supportive Midway fans cheereing on their team as for the first time in our lives, we were playing against not just an opposing team, but opposing fans.
The game ended in a 4-4 tie after we were down 4-2 midway (no pun intended) through the 3rd period. The crowd stood up and appluded both teams after the game as we shook hands afterward.
What also made the game special was the unlike back in Kelowna (where house teams are heavily overlooked by our rep teams), we played 25 minute run time periods with no ice clean. But in Midway we got for the first time, 20 minute stop time periods, with an ice clean! An interesting experience for us kids who have never had (and some, never would), witness a game being treated like it was a rep AAA game.
After playing the game it had me pitty all those rep players who say they would rather quit hockey altogether than play in a house league.
House league hockey, in my oppinion, is real hockey.