62 replies to this topic

[DetroitIan]

Played for 6 years. 3 years in high school. We won 2 Big 9 Championships. I havent played organized hockey since. To this day I kick myself for not trying to play in college. But its too late now. Im 23 now. So basically all I can hope for at this point, is to join a beer league or something. Either way, I wanna start playing on a team again asap. I miss it so bad.

[GordieSid&Ted]

Some teams prefer less players - more icetime.

I play forward in my Monday night league but this past spring I played defense for a tournament. I loved it! Even though you don't get nearly as much offensive glory there's just something about shutting guys down, mucking in corners and making a nice first pass. I might switch to defense full time.

You didn't even mention the best part................lining people up and railroading them!

Although to be quite honest all of the times i've had to pick myself up off the ice its been due to getting crushed going back for a puck. You gotta have a certain something in you to willingly get to the puck first knowing the other guy has no other intention other than ripping you through the boards.

Oh yeah, and who cares about goals, chicks dig guys who block shots! At least I always told myself that.

[eva unit zero]

Oh yeah, and who cares about goals, chicks dig guys who make other guys feel pain!

Fixed it.

[GordieSid&Ted]

Yeah, the whole ice "looks" different when on D too. It's like the game slows down a bit more. Love playing there. But my Monday night league is so good I really suck at D when playing at that calibre.

Definitely, IMO the game is slower on D. Especially if you don't get involved offensively. Nobody would ever have mistaken me for Bobby Orr or Brian Leetch that's for sure. I think mentally, along with my body slowing down I started to get pissed that I was getting older and kept having to face kids that were 18 or 19 or in their early 20's with a ton of jump. When I couldn't squeeze guys off along the boards anymore and they started to squeak past me I think I my brain caught up to my body and said that it's time.

Although if I can find one I think i'll join a true "adult" league someday. I'm only 30 now so if I could find a 30 and over or someday a 40 and over that'd be peachy.

[Kp-Wings]

Funny how playing defense was brought into this.

I could never play defense full time. I don't know why, but I just never stuck with it.

It's funny too, since I was never a huge offensive threat when I was a kid playing, and I was mostly a defensive forward or checking line forward. I usually played on the PK and stuff like that, since I never scored a lot of goals.

Oh well. I actually do play defense a little bit in my senior league, but not often.

[GordieSid&Ted]

Fewer skaters means more playing time. I once played a game where we only had 8 skaters-myself and one other center, 3 wingers, and 3 D, and our other center spent half the game in the box...so I saw a lot of ice. It was fun, even though we were beaten like 8-1.

Once in my inline league we played an iron man tournament where you had 4 skaters and a goalie and that was it. You played the entire game and sometimes 2 in one day. Suffice to say it wasn't much fun and no matter how hard you tried to pace yourself you couldn't help but get gassed. Games would get ridiculous with the score but by the end even the top offensive guys would be so gassed they couldn't lift the puck or really do anything. Picture Mats Sundin-ish penalty shots one right after another. Lots of puking going on too so it was sort of gross.

Funny how playing defense was brought into this.

I could never play defense full time. I don't know why, but I just never stuck with it.

It's funny too, since I was never a huge offensive threat when I was a kid playing, and I was mostly a defensive forward or checking line forward. I usually played on the PK and stuff like that, since I never scored a lot of goals.

Oh well. I actually do play defense a little bit in my senior league, but not often.

Well, my hero was always Dino so I wanted to be a fiesty, goal scorer. Well, one out of the 2 attributes wasn't too bad Of course they immediately stuck my butt on D (on the offside to boot) and it just stuck.

My mediocre claim to fame is that my nickname was Ceasar. Not because I was great or anything but because I got tossed out of so many games.

[redwingfan19]

The thing I love about defense is that you always have to be in perfect position. I just loved sitting back at the blue line and the neutral zone watching over they prey like a hawk. I loved being in the corners in my end mucking it up and applying lumber to the guys who tried to take over my area in front of the net and mess with my goalie. I guess as I got older I liked playing defense more, but my coach would never let me play cause he wanted my playing in my natural LW position and score goals rather than prevent them..

[GordieSid&Ted]

The thing I love about defense is that you always have to be in perfect position. I just loved sitting back at the blue line and the neutral zone watching over they prey like a hawk. I loved being in the corners in my end mucking it up and applying lumber to the guys who tried to take over my area in front of the net and mess with my goalie. I guess as I got older I liked playing defense more, but my coach would never let me play cause he wanted my playing in my natural LW position and score goals rather than prevent them..

I played D basically over 20 years. I can appreciate what you're saying. Especially since I was a pretty slow skater I had to stay back a bit and never really developed much offense. Although playing the offside did give me lots of one-time opportunities. A couple actually went in over those 20 years if memory serves. I took alot of pride in shutting down other teams and blocking shots. I loved to block shots almost to the point of stupidity. I will say this though, I would take back all of it in a second and work on my offense if I could. I'm 30 years old and I have a set of hands that look like they belong to a blind ginsu chef. Knuckles all pointed and cock-eyed, scar tissue all over and just pain some days. To this day if I bump the top of my hand into something it'll swell up and you can't see any knuckles on the top of my hand. It's like one ballooned mass. I would trade all of those punches and in hindsight, some pretty ignorant behavior for hands that didn't hurt anymore and could score goals. Nobody tells you this when your 18 and want to be billy badass though.

[Crashnburnluder]

Ive been playing since I was ab out 7, Im currently down In Virginia playing D1 Club for the Liberty Flames in the Acha where we compete pretty well. Im heading in too my junior year and still looking for a national title.... haha hopefully I have one coming... I saw someone else plays in the ACHA who ever that was who you play for... and what level...???

[Echolalia]

Played IM at WMU

I'm playing there currently and love it, despite the lack of physicality and amount of games.

[SouthernWingsFan]

Stealing a quote from the movie Mallrats...

Rene: What are you doing? You promised me breakfast.
Brodie: Breakfast, shmreakfast. Look at the score, for Christ's sake. It's only the second period and I'm up 12 to 2. Breakfasts come and go, Rene, but Hartford, "the Whale," they only beat Vancouver once, maybe twice in a lifetime.

So, playing hockey realated video games is the extent of my hockey experience as well.

[Flip-check]

These days I'm pulling a Scott Niedermayer temporary retirement from league play... I'm 24 now, the last time I played a whole September to March season was probably at 19. Between moving across the country a couple times, work, school, and everything else, it simply got shunted off to the side.

Anybody who's stayed off the competitive ice for that long knows how long that really is though. I occasionally drop in at Farmington for the public games, but that's seriously the extent of my skating this past summer--whenever I get back into league play, I definitely want to make sure I'm in tip-top shape for it too. It probably doesn't matter to up my conditioning for any kind of rec league, but it matters to me.

Stealing a quote from the movie Mallrats...

It's a good one, there's also this from Swingers (referencing NHL 93/94, the greatest hockey games ever) :

Trent: I wish they still had fights in this game so I could *****-slap Wayne.
Mike: What? They don't have fighting anymore?
Trent: Doesn't that suck?
Mike: Why'd they get rid of the fighting? It was the best part of the old version.
Sue: I think kids were hittin' each other or somethin', man.
Trent: Yeah but you know what, Mike? You can make their heads bleed in this one.
Mike: Make somebody's head bleed.
Sue: No man, we're in the playoffs.
Trent: I'm gonna make Wayne Gretzky's head bleed for super-fan #99 over here.

[Icer]

The thing I love about defense is that you always have to be in perfect position.

The thing I hate about defense is that even when you play in the perfect position the other guy still finds a way to score on a deflection or a lucky bounce. I prefer center.

[Nightfall]

I started playing rollerhockey back in 1998 and have been playing ice hockey as well since 2000. So, I have almost 9 years under my belt in the sport. I never had interest in the sport until I went to college and then I wanted to play it but I didn't know how to skate. It wasn't until I graduated in 1997 when I could afford to play. Took me a while to save up for the equipment. What position did I choose? Goaltender. I am double jointed in my knees and have a great butterfly. I thought I could excel at the position.

My first year was the hardest. I couldn't skate, so I had that to contend with. At the same time, I was playing rollerhockey to start so I couldn't slide. After I learned to skate, it was a lot easier. I had success playing rollerhockey, and started playing ice hockey where I found that to be a lot easier. The ice times though were harder for me since I had to be up at 6am and the games were 10pm or 11:15pm in the fall, winter, and spring. I need at least 6-7 hours of sleep to be productive, so if I don't get home and into bed until midnight or 1am you do the math.

Today I still play both. I play ice hockey 2 times a week and roller 2 times a week. I play year round and even sub in when I can. My wife is very supportive of me and I appreciate that a lot cause I love the sport. Since I didn't get started until I was 26, I feel like I am running against the clock in terms of how good I will be. Now I am 35 and while my body is holding up well with all the exercise, there is part of me that wonders how long I will be able to keep up this pace. Eventually, I might have to take more days off a week than 2-3.

In my short 9 year career, I have captured 18 hockey season championships and I hope I have a few more left in me before I hit 40. I have been very fortunate to play on some good teams, and also to have more than a few bounces go my way at times. Its been a great time playing!

I blog almost all of my experiences and I have had some great photos taken of my games that I have posted online. I look back at these and just reminisce at times. To me, the memories I have made are important. Almost every memory I have of hockey is positive. The friendships, winning, and that great save I made in the regular season or playoffs. A couple bad memories linger around like the shot that went in off my back from behind the net that proved to be the game winner in the finals last season. I just can't forget those, but those memories remind me to stick tight against the post so its more of a learning experience.

Some people asked why I started playing in the first place. It was a simple decision actually. I loved hockey, but I didn't want to be that fan that ******* at the team, player, referee, penalty, goaltender, or a play that is run without knowing the game from the inside. You all know what kind of fans these people are. When you play the game, you have a whole new level of expectations. You can see plays develop right in front of your eyes and there are times I can tell if a goal is going to be scored or not. Playing the sport just helps you appreciate it even more when you are a spectator.

My hockey and life journal
My photo gallery

To the OP, I hope you get into the game. Its a blast to play and you will have a great time doing it.

[Naslund19]

I've been playing hockey since I was about about 5 or 6. I still play it from time-to-time. I was never able to join an iced hockey team which is something that I have always wanted to do, but I've been on roller hockey teams which was fun and I usually got some big roller hockey games going up at this church with some friends of mine.

For a while all I would play is goalie, but I usually play any position now. I think my strongest position is when I play left wing.

I am still hoping to get on an iced hockey team soon.

[Heroes of Hockeytown]

Stealing a quote from the movie Mallrats...

Which used to be my signature!

Too long has it been since I've seen Mallrats.

On topic: I tried to play ice hockey as a youth, and was utterly defeated by it. Decidedly not for the scrawny, weak, and uncoordinated I'm afraid.

[joshy207]

I play once or twice a week in the winter. My regular team plays Fridays or Wednesdays in Hazel Park and I sometimes sub in an Over-30 league in Southfield. I also coach a travel team, the Southfield Warriors Bantam A.

[REDWINGS4LYFE]

i live in canada i can't skate i play football though im awsome at that, i am awsome at baseball 2 even though its a boring game,

[dats13owns]

When I was younger, I always had a fascination with hockey, but there was no way we could afford to play. When I got into Junior High, me and a large group of my friends got together and played street hockey for hours after school for about three days a week. When I was 14, a roller/dekhockey rink opened up. It was a tough start... I was on a team with a bunch of kids who had never played together and had minimal skills. I felt lke District 5 on the Mighty Ducks... we even lost a game 35-0. Through the years I played on good teams and some of the laughing stocks and put togeter a 50+ point season (11 game) season which was easily a personal best. I've played roller hockey on and off for the last 15 years. The local roller hockey rink closed down last year so my only option was to get on the ice.

I've recently got "hockey fever," so I started researching some of the local leagues around here. I found a developmental program here called World League. Basically, it's like a drop in session that you play with the same group of people each week. At the start of the week, the manager randomly divides the teams up to white/dark so you play with the same group but on a different team each week. Some of the players are better than others, but everyone is pretty patient with each others skill level. I've only been into it for a couple weeks now, but I'm enjoying it. Once I get more comfortable of the ice I want to find a lower adult league to get into. It's something that I feel I want to stick with... and hell, I'd be stupid not to, I work for Easton so I'm the best dressed person out there... it's unfortunate that my skill level doesn't match what my equipment leads on

It's good to hear about everyones experiences and stories.

[PavelDatsbergilpulla]

Hey Mannysbetter, who do you play for in the ACHA? My good ol community college is having our inaugural year for a team and we're in the ACHA.

In regards to my history in hockey, I started out playing roller hockey at 6 and played till I was 10, then came the ice. I've played on the ice for 10 years now, going through house, high school, and Midget Major AA and now some decent D3 college hockey. I've been in contact with a few ECHL scouts and AHL scouts, but regardless I need to get into a bit better shape before they'll take me in.

This is the greatest sport in the world, no other sport requires you to learn another base skill like skating, everything else involves running, but not OUR game.