2018/2019 Beer League Discussion

[MTH]

On 4/1/2019 at 8:40 AM, Lucky Pucker said:

Those women are only interested in men who wear kilts, so you're shit out of luck bud!

What if I had my own clan and castle?

This isn't me... but he's sporting my family's tartan kilt. Add in the Scottish Terrier ... does it get any more Scottish? Even has a sun burn.

[seagoal]

I had one of the craziest sequences tonight that I have had in my entire life playing goalie.

Kind of a crazy game overall.  I was subbing for my buddy on a team that is 1/2 my regular team and we were playing against a team that is 1/2 players I play pick-up with every week...and I use to be the goalie on this team 3 seasons ago when their goalie got hurt, which was before I officially joined this league.  Lots and lots of connections.  I was pretty excited to play in this game. 

The first crazy thing was this jerk who I don't know take a head high swing at me with his stick when I was down on my knees.  He is a RW so on my left, I slide over for a nice pass and he gets a good shot on which I save and it was his own rebound with the puck on the ice, me on my knees, he swings at the height of my head and makes contact with me just below the dangler on my collar bone.  I cover the puck , get the whistle, then make my way towards him before a group of guys hold me back and the ref starts reprimanding me.   Totally idiotic play and result.   Same guy slashes my stick two other times, calls me names all game, and then smirks at me with this ridiculous grin in the handshake line afterwords.  He's like a top notch human being, I'm quite positive. 

Then, 2nd period, we are down, 2-0 at this point, there's a 2 on 1 advantage down low near me and a pass comes from my left to right, so I slide over and lock in position at the right post.  The receiver, who is my good friend and a weaker player, gets the puck and she sorta freezes, no shot, and attempts to just charge in for the goal straight on.  So I go to poke check straight out and my freaking blocker just flys off with my stick stilll in the grip...so now I'm stickless and blocker less.  My poke check actually worked and now the puck is at the point with the left D, also a friend and a very strong player with a rocket for a shot.  He shoots and I make a right pad save in a symmetrical butterfly, puck goes to the corner.  They keep control and are  now cycling, pass to my left, slide, left pad save.   Puck now in that corner.  More cycling, up the the right D who then passes to the pinching LW who fires a shot from the face off dot to my right....high.   Shit.  I can't "punch" like I have a blocker on, so I don't.  So my instinct is to make a bare palm save, which I do, but it hits sorta low just at my wrist/forearm cusp.   Holy crap, ouch.  

Everyone goes crazy.  Both teams, benches, and the refs, and the few folks watching in the stands.  

More cycling, more control.  Another shot comes to my glove side hip which unfortunately I couldn't hold and the rebound goes out.  Drop to the point on my left, pass the point on my right, hard shot again, symmetrical butterfly, hits me in the cup and it dies, finally , in between my knees protected by the thigh rise of my pads.  Whistle.  Holy crap. I'm completely exhausted and breathing really hard.  

Both teams on ice and the refs come to congratulate me and the ref tells me he's telling the league to pulll the video on the rink's Live Barn feed for social media.  Absolutely crazy sequence.  

We end up losing 5-1 with shots 37-21 in their favor.  I did all of that, stopped 3 breakaways, and four 2on1 breaks.  I was pretty pleased with myself.

I got the first beer in the locker room. 

Oh, and my writst now has a purple golf ball size bruise with the grooves from the puck and part of the word SLOVAKIA imprinted on it. 

Pretty awesome stuff for me tonight, guys.

I. Love. Being. A. Goalie. A. Lot. 

Cheers. 

[coopaloop1234]

@seagoal A couple of questions:

1. How do you even lose your blocker like that in the first place?

2. I know it's up to the refs discretion, but I am surprised they didn't blow the play dead eventually. Did the ref give a reason?

3. Seriously, how do you lose your blocker like that?

[bunnyman666]

@seagoal when do you get to see the top notch human being again? I hope you can at least get a blocker punch to his throat the next time you meet him. I would not go for a shot to the ghoulies, as he sounds like a man devoid of testicles.

[seagoal]

@coopaloop1234 yeah, excellent question.  I have no idea.  That's the first time ever that my blocker comes off.  In fact, I crank the wrist strap down pretty good and I wear an internal glove/brace thingy to keep it more snug than normal.  I'm pretty sure I dropped my right knee down and just lunged straight forward while choking up on my stick...I'm thinking when the knob got to my hand, my hand must have been perfect flat, stretched out and being sweaty, it just slid off.  Totally flukey but it made for a fun sequence.  Refs didn't mention it, which is surprising because it's USA Hockey rules, way more strict than NHL rules.  We get whistles for completely innocent crease violations.

@bunnyman666 not sure when I'll see him again.  But, our weekly pick-up is tonight and half his team plays.  His captain is the woman who had the puck for the poke check/flying blocker incident and I will mention him to her just to get a rap sheet on him. 

It's a shame he's on a team with such good people on it.  I'm thinking he's like the one dark spot.  I get it, goalies get hit with sticks. But in this incident, me on my knees, puck on the ice, and a head height swing with zero acknowledgement or apology or "dude are you ok?"  It's just tacky.

[bunnyman666]

1 minute ago, seagoal said:

@coopaloop1234 yeah, excellent question.  I have no idea.  That's the first time ever that my blocker comes off.  In fact, I crank the wrist strap down pretty good and I wear an internal glove/brace thingy to keep it more snug than normal.  I'm pretty sure I dropped my right knee down and just lunged straight forward while choking up on my stick...I'm thinking when the knob got to my hand, my hand must have been perfect flat, stretched out and being sweaty, it just slid off.  Totally flukey but it made for a fun sequence.

@bunnyman666 not sure when I'll see him again.  But, our weekly pick-up is tonight and half his team plays.  His captain is the woman who had the puck for the poke check/flying blocker incident and I will mention him to her just to get a rap sheet on him. 

It's a shame he's on a team with such good people on it.  I'm thinking he's like the one dark spot.  I get it, goalies get hit with sticks. But in this incident, me on my knees, puck on the ice, and a head height swing with zero acknowledgement or apology or "dude are you ok?"  It's just tacky.

For certain it is a shame.

There are always a few Timmy McTryhards, Donny O’Dirtys and Paul Bunyans that try to weasel their way into play. I can think of a Hank DeHothead that was on a minor league team but got cut quite early and thinks a pro scout is in the stands at drop in. Thankfully nothing ugly has happened, as most of us laugh at his temper tantrums.

[coopaloop1234]

Currently in the midst of the spring season playoffs.

We go to play last night, take an early 2-0 lead and then get outplayed throughout the period. Shots are 16-4 for the other team.

Period ends and as we skate to our benches the power goes out. Game was eventually called and we all "went home" (drank in the dark parking lot). They've rescheduled us for a rematch but we don't get to carry over any of our goals.

Definitely a kick to the nuts.

[Lucky Pucker]

17 hours ago, coopaloop1234 said:

Currently in the midst of the spring season playoffs.

We go to play last night, take an early 2-0 lead and then get outplayed throughout the period. Shots are 16-4 for the other team.

Period ends and as we skate to our benches the power goes out. Game was eventually called and we all "went home" (drank in the dark parking lot). They've rescheduled us for a rematch but we don't get to carry over any of our goals.

Definitely a kick to the nuts.

Sounds like someone is impersonating @coopaloop1234 here; the account holder that (I think) I know would never admit to being concerned that he can't score.

[coopaloop1234]

5 minutes ago, Lucky Pucker said:

Sounds like someone is impersonating @coopaloop1234 here; the account holder that (I think) I know would never admit to being concerned that he can't score.

In all fairness, my team is the definition of inconsistent. I really never know what team is showing up per period, let alone per game.

[SaveByRichter35]

On 7/24/2019 at 4:46 PM, coopaloop1234 said:

Currently in the midst of the spring season playoffs.

We go to play last night, take an early 2-0 lead and then get outplayed throughout the period. Shots are 16-4 for the other team.

Period ends and as we skate to our benches the power goes out. Game was eventually called and we all "went home" (drank in the dark parking lot). They've rescheduled us for a rematch but we don't get to carry over any of our goals.

Definitely a kick to the nuts.

That is stupid.  I've seen that happen in several leagues here, not losing power but other circumstances.  They always resumed where the game left off.  One game earlier this season I heard there was a game in ot and a massive brawl broke out.  They called the game, left it as a tie, and the next time the two teams played they started the game in ot and finished that off then started their scheduled game.

[coopaloop1234]

7 hours ago, SaveByRichter35 said:

That is stupid.  I've seen that happen in several leagues here, not losing power but other circumstances.  They always resumed where the game left off.  One game earlier this season I heard there was a game in ot and a massive brawl broke out.  They called the game, left it as a tie, and the next time the two teams played they started the game in ot and finished that off then started their scheduled game.

Yea, I'm sure if the game was in the second intermission things would've been different. Tgiufg apparently we're the only team to have ever complained about losing a lead due to a blackout. 

Didn't matter anyways, we smoked them 4-0 in the rematch game. So all is well 

[SaveByRichter35]

2 hours ago, coopaloop1234 said:

Yea, I'm sure if the game was in the second intermission things would've been different. Tgiufg apparently we're the only team to have ever complained about losing a lead due to a blackout. 

Didn't matter anyways, we smoked them 4-0 in the rematch game. So all is well 

Nice

[SaveByRichter35]

On 3/28/2019 at 10:15 AM, coopaloop1234 said:

Aye, I new a ting o' too bout de tartan

Coop!!!  I found your prom picture!!!

[coopaloop1234]

On 7/31/2019 at 10:45 AM, SaveByRichter35 said:

Coop!!!  I found your prom picture!!!

Laddy there is batting out of his league!

Back on to topic, one of the teams I play for is completely funded by their company. One caveat to that though is that employees get designated roster spots. Over the summer, they hired a new guy who happens to be a goalie looking for a team. Unfortunately their hands were tied and buddy ended up taking my spot. Captain ended up calling me and apologizing for how things worked out as he genuinely feels terrible about it.

I got onto another team in the same division with guys I used to play with regularly. So not a major blow to my winter season and will be fun to play against my old team. Anyways, got this text from one of the guys and gotta say, it does make me feel all warm and fuzzy to get praise of the sort. (ignore his awful grammar and spelling)

[WillyGrips13]

7 hours ago, coopaloop1234 said:

 (ignore his awful grammar and spelling)

And here I thought the Canadian education system was better than our education system here in ‘Merica.

[Netnewbie]

13 hours ago, WillyGrips13 said:

And here I thought the Canadian education system was better than our education system here in ‘Merica.

Nope cell phones have destroyed any hope at gooder english hear two

[SaveByRichter35]

So my team is currently at a crossroads.  The only other team in our division that can actually compete with us(when we care) is moving to another league due to lack of competition.  That will leave just three teams in the top division.  One of which was thrown together for the summer season made up of local JR kids and some home from college kids.  I'm not even sure if that team will still be around for the fall season.  The other team in our division is the league owner's team and though they have greatly improved they're still not on our level.  The owner said he is in talks with two new teams to potentially be joining our division so we're hoping that happens.  Otherwise, we have 3 choices. 

Stick where we are and probably dominate even more than we already have been.  I am friends with the league owner and we've been with him since he absorbed our previous league and grew it to what is is today, granted it is a lot more bottom heavy.  As a friend, I'd like to stick around and help him grow it even more.  Its also our best option for scheduling purposes.

Move to other local league #1, Midnight Hockey League(no, not all games are at midnight, fuck if I know why the guy originally named it that).  Despite having a fall out a few years back with this league's owner, this league does have the most teams and the best competition.  As a competitor, its where I wanna go.  Unfortunately, the division in which we would be playing has games on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays at rinks all over the place.  My team prefers weekends.  The highest division that plays weekends would be no different than where we are now as far as competition.

Our last option is moving to other local league #2, Superior Hockey league.  This is probably our best option as its lower division would have several teams that would be competitive with us but also several that we would probably manhandle.  Its upper division would have teams we could be competitive with and others that would probably manhandle us.  Unlike the league we're in now, this league's owner plays on a team that regularly ices ringers to the point that from what I have heard they have won something like 20 out of the last 25 championships.  This league plays Sunday, Monday, Tuesday if I remember correctly but some guys on my team who also play in this league said we could probably lock down a permanent Sunday night slot.  Unfortunately this is a one rink league and the rink is a dump.  That's my quarrel here.

[Lucky Pucker]

On 8/22/2019 at 7:30 PM, SaveByRichter35 said:

So my team is currently at a crossroads.  The only other team in our division that can actually compete with us(when we care) is moving to another league due to lack of competition.  That will leave just three teams in the top division.  One of which was thrown together for the summer season made up of local JR kids and some home from college kids.  I'm not even sure if that team will still be around for the fall season.  The other team in our division is the league owner's team and though they have greatly improved they're still not on our level.  The owner said he is in talks with two new teams to potentially be joining our division so we're hoping that happens.  Otherwise, we have 3 choices. 

Stick where we are and probably dominate even more than we already have been.  I am friends with the league owner and we've been with him since he absorbed our previous league and grew it to what is is today, granted it is a lot more bottom heavy.  As a friend, I'd like to stick around and help him grow it even more.  Its also our best option for scheduling purposes.

Move to other local league #1, Midnight Hockey League(no, not all games are at midnight, fuck if I know why the guy originally named it that).  Despite having a fall out a few years back with this league's owner, this league does have the most teams and the best competition.  As a competitor, its where I wanna go.  Unfortunately, the division in which we would be playing has games on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays at rinks all over the place.  My team prefers weekends.  The highest division that plays weekends would be no different than where we are now as far as competition.

Our last option is moving to other local league #2, Superior Hockey league.  This is probably our best option as its lower division would have several teams that would be competitive with us but also several that we would probably manhandle.  Its upper division would have teams we could be competitive with and others that would probably manhandle us.  Unlike the league we're in now, this league's owner plays on a team that regularly ices ringers to the point that from what I have heard they have won something like 20 out of the last 25 championships.  This league plays Sunday, Monday, Tuesday if I remember correctly but some guys on my team who also play in this league said we could probably lock down a permanent Sunday night slot.  Unfortunately this is a one rink league the rink is a dump.  That's my quarrel here.

So I read this quickly last night, and was sorta wondering - if the current league is run by a bud, and the teams all know eachother pretty well, could you possibly have sort outs among the 4 or so teams to even out the talent - or is breaking up your current team a non-starter?

It sounds like besides the lack of competition, it's a good fit for other considerations. And trust me dude, with the kids growing up, and presumably having activities of their own, the fact that it is "the best option for scheduling purposes" is huge. There will be less and less time for daddy to fit in his hockey; don't waste it all driving to and from arenas at midnight - lol!

Oh, and as for the competitive league in the 3rd option, I don't know how @coopaloop1234 would feel about all that man-handling; he plays it cool, but deep down I think he's the jealous type.

Tough situation. Just offering some food for thought. Hope it all works out for you!

[coopaloop1234]

8 minutes ago, Lucky Pucker said:

So I read this quickly last night, and was sorta wondering - if the current league is run by a bud, and the teams all know eachother pretty well, could you possibly have sort outs among the 4 or so teams to even out the talent - or is breaking up your current team a non-starter?

It sounds like besides the lack of competition, it's a good fit for other considerations. And trust me dude, with the kids growing up, and presumably having activities of their own, the fact that it is "the best option for scheduling purposes" is huge. There will be less and less time for daddy to fit in his hockey; don't waste it all driving to and from arenas at midnight - lol!

Oh, and as for the competitive league in the 3rd option, I don't know how @coopaloop1234 would feel about all that man-handling; he plays it cool, but deep down I think he's the jealous type.

Tough situation. Just offering some food for thought. Hope it all works out for you!

Jealous lucky here does have a good point.

I know some private leagues around here use a pool of players and 'draft' each of their teams each year. Not only does it allow a better parity league wide, but it also allows each guy to get to know each other and ends up growing the parking lot party.

It may overall bring the skill level of the top div down but in my opinion it sounds like a way better compromise than the other two options.

[Lucky Pucker]

25 minutes ago, coopaloop1234 said:

Jealous lucky here does have a good point.

Geographically speaking, I'm a lot closer to @SaveByRichter35 than you are, Coop. Plus, we both enjoy good beer, and we both are married and have kids. 

Not to make you feel distant or insecure or anything...

[coopaloop1234]

13 minutes ago, Lucky Pucker said:

Geographically speaking, I'm a lot closer to @SaveByRichter35 than you are, Coop. Plus, we both enjoy good beer, and we both are married and have kids. 

Not to make you feel distant or insecure or anything...

That just means I'm more exotic.

[SaveByRichter35]

5 hours ago, Lucky Pucker said:

So I read this quickly last night, and was sorta wondering - if the current league is run by a bud, and the teams all know each other pretty well, could you possibly have sort outs among the 4 or so teams to even out the talent - or is breaking up your current team a non-starter?

It sounds like besides the lack of competition, it's a good fit for other considerations. And trust me dude, with the kids growing up, and presumably having activities of their own, the fact that it is "the best option for scheduling purposes" is huge. There will be less and less time for daddy to fit in his hockey; don't waste it all driving to and from arenas at midnight - lol!

Oh, and as for the competitive league in the 3rd option, I don't know how @coopaloop1234 would feel about all that man-handling; he plays it cool, but deep down I think he's the jealous type.

Tough situation. Just offering some food for thought. Hope it all works out for you!

Yea the League "Commish" asked if we would consider dismantling our team and make two less competitive teams out of our guys and we're really not interested in doing that.  We shouldn't have to lessen what we worked to put together in order to satisfy the other teams in the league.  Everyone should be trying to get better.  Even we are still trying to get better.

The current league is where I would prefer to be.  I am a loyalist.  I'd love to help Shawn, the owner/"commish", grow the league.  Unfortunately I have 15 other guys to keep happy as well.  I can't risk losing guys because they don't wanna pay money to massacre teams every night, which I agree is no fun.  There is also only 4 or 5 of us who have kids so again I have to keep everyone happy.  Regardless, you are right, I don't wanna be driving all over the place at all hours of the night.

5 hours ago, coopaloop1234 said:

Jealous lucky here does have a good point.

I know some private leagues around here use a pool of players and 'draft' each of their teams each year. Not only does it allow a better parity league wide, but it also allows each guy to get to know each other and ends up growing the parking lot party.

It may overall bring the skill level of the top div down but in my opinion it sounds like a way better compromise than the other two options.

Yea we don't do drafts here.  The intramural leagues at some rinks sometimes do that I think.

[SaveByRichter35]

On 8/22/2019 at 7:30 PM, SaveByRichter35 said:

So my team is currently at a crossroads.  The only other team in our division that can actually compete with us(when we care) is moving to another league due to lack of competition.  That will leave just three teams in the top division.  One of which was thrown together for the summer season made up of local JR kids and some home from college kids.  I'm not even sure if that team will still be around for the fall season.  The other team in our division is the league owner's team and though they have greatly improved they're still not on our level.  The owner said he is in talks with two new teams to potentially be joining our division so we're hoping that happens.  Otherwise, we have 3 choices. 

Stick where we are and probably dominate even more than we already have been.  I am friends with the league owner and we've been with him since he absorbed our previous league and grew it to what is is today, granted it is a lot more bottom heavy.  As a friend, I'd like to stick around and help him grow it even more.  Its also our best option for scheduling purposes.

Move to other local league #1, Midnight Hockey League(no, not all games are at midnight, fuck if I know why the guy originally named it that).  Despite having a fall out a few years back with this league's owner, this league does have the most teams and the best competition.  As a competitor, its where I wanna go.  Unfortunately, the division in which we would be playing has games on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays at rinks all over the place.  My team prefers weekends.  The highest division that plays weekends would be no different than where we are now as far as competition.

Our last option is moving to other local league #2, Superior Hockey league.  This is probably our best option as its lower division would have several teams that would be competitive with us but also several that we would probably manhandle.  Its upper division would have teams we could be competitive with and others that would probably manhandle us.  Unlike the league we're in now, this league's owner plays on a team that regularly ices ringers to the point that from what I have heard they have won something like 20 out of the last 25 championships.  This league plays Sunday, Monday, Tuesday if I remember correctly but some guys on my team who also play in this league said we could probably lock down a permanent Sunday night slot.  Unfortunately this is a one rink league and the rink is a dump.  That's my quarrel here.

Ok so after being informed that there will be no new additions to our current division in our current league, which prompted several conversations with representatives from both Midnight Hockey League(MHL) and Superior Hockey League(SHL) regarding scheduling options, we decided to make the jump to the SHL.  We are going to be slotted into the lower of the two divisions(C) with crossover games against some teams in the upper division(B) to see how we do.  We were able to get all 5 of our currently scheduled games(last 5 have yet to be released) to be Sunday nights with the latest one being at 9:50pm which we are all thrilled with.  We have 2 games with 2 of the better teams in our division, 2 with teams from the B division, and 1 crossover game with a team from the MHL division we were contemplating joining.  That was actually a request I had made to both leagues as we will be playing the team we lost against 1-0 in our championship game a few seasons ago.  We're all really excited to get on the ice, first game is this coming Sunday night 9/8.

Unfortunately there is 0 social media coverage in this league so there will be no more pictures for me to share in the Action Picture Thread.  I know Coop is going to be so upset about that.