Men's League Last Night

[Slats432]

As a total aside though, I reffed a game last night, and it still is beyond me how upset guys get over calls that don't go there way. A team was down 4-1 and one of their players who is a poor skater (In Div 13) is by the boards going behind the net, has one hand on his stick and the other pushing off a player that was skating right beside him after the puck. The poor skater who was off balance fell into the boards, the other didn't have a stick or body on him. They complained and I said, there was no call. A few minutes later they got a couple to get back in the game, and one of their players skates into the corner with another player who goes to lift his stick, misses but the player fell down anyway. They complained about a trip, and I said how could he trip the guy, his stick was in front of him. (His legs kicked out forward)

My problem is mostly with guys who have no idea what they are talking about, looking for calls that don't exist, especially in lower divisions. Play the game and be quiet. Calls get missed from time to time, but seriously don't be that guy.

 

[Primary Assist]

Heard and saw a story from an acquaintance....

Trying to think how you would handle a really dirty scumbag player who subtely but "accidentally on purpose" and i mean 100% on purpose highsticks you in the face under the guise of trying to defend/stick lift. Could really injure someone.

If it happened to me, I'm pretty sure i'm tomahawking/baseball batting them in the face, i don't care if i take out all your teeth or blind you and leave you with a big scar and seriously injured.

imo it's open season on you and whatever happens to you is deserved. just gotta be careful with aftermath but if what i'm seeing and hearing is true, they'd be able to prove the Scumbag player was doing this with intent

A few options here:

1. Fight him (not likely, but probably the best option)
2. Alert the ref before the game (yes, the most sensible option, but not likely to really work)
3. Do the same thing to him (I like this one)
4. Slewfoot behind the play (dirty AF and you'll probably get jumped, but the guy probably won't try it again)
5. Have someone film the game, specifically on that player, and send video to the league if it happens (who the heck is going to volunteer for that)

 

[Aces89]

First win in 11 tries.

 

[Yukon Joe]

Heard and saw a story from an acquaintance....

Trying to think how you would handle a really dirty scumbag player who subtely but "accidentally on purpose" and i mean 100% on purpose highsticks you in the face under the guise of trying to defend/stick lift. Could really injure someone.

If it happened to me, I'm pretty sure i'm tomahawking/baseball batting them in the face, i don't care if i take out all your teeth or blind you and leave you with a big scar and seriously injured.

imo it's open season on you and whatever happens to you is deserved. just gotta be careful with aftermath but if what i'm seeing and hearing is true, they'd be able to prove the Scumbag player was doing this with intent

@Filthy Dangles I know this wasn't you, but I'm going to be the guy that says this anyways...

Just wear a freaking cage.

 

[Sky04]

As a total aside though, I reffed a game last night, and it still is beyond me how upset guys get over calls that don't go there way. A team was down 4-1 and one of their players who is a poor skater (In Div 13) is by the boards going behind the net, has one hand on his stick and the other pushing off a player that was skating right beside him after the puck. The poor skater who was off balance fell into the boards, the other didn't have a stick or body on him. They complained and I said, there was no call. A few minutes later they got a couple to get back in the game, and one of their players skates into the corner with another player who goes to lift his stick, misses but the player fell down anyway. They complained about a trip, and I said how could he trip the guy, his stick was in front of him. (His legs kicked out forward)

My problem is mostly with guys who have no idea what they are talking about, looking for calls that don't exist, especially in lower divisions. Play the game and be quiet. Calls get missed from time to time, but seriously don't be that guy.

It's funny when the guys with no balance at all think it's a penalty when they're touched, everything is a trip because it makes them fall

@Filthy Dangles I know this wasn't you, but I'm going to be the guy that says this anyways...

Just wear a freaking cage.

Cage or full shield, seen too many idiots with sticks to risk dental work or worse.

 

[ChuckLefley]

A couple of nights ago we played the classic team of guys who like to play chippy, but can’t handle it if you touch them in any way.

One guy sees me cutting across the middle of the O zone to go pressure the puck and tries to level me with an open ice hit(no check league) but misses. Play continues and I end up battling in the corner with the same guy. Up against the boards I get one skate between his skates to pin him in place and lean into him. Just a typical board pin, but he falls down. He jumps up screaming at me and follows me for a good five seconds, like he is going to jump me.

Another guy twice gets the puck stolen and goes full lumberjack at the ankles, luckily both guys had good speed going, so one was a glancing blow and the other missed.

I’m battling in front of the net for position. I already had one tipped in goal, so the D is determined to keep me out. He’s nearly going full 1980’s D in the crease on me with his stick. I spin off him and get behind him, put my stick below his but, lift and give a push to move him out. Nothing violent, nothing that knocks him down, it just moves him a foot or two away. What does he do? Tries to punch me in the head.

Good times, but we ended up winning 10-2.

 

[Aces89]

Last place team (us) with a picture perfect game against the 1st place team

 

[tarheelhockey]

A couple of nights ago we played the classic team of guys who like to play chippy, but can’t handle it if you touch them in any way.

One guy sees me cutting across the middle of the O zone to go pressure the puck and tries to level me with an open ice hit(no check league) but misses. Play continues and I end up battling in the corner with the same guy. Up against the boards I get one skate between his skates to pin him in place and lean into him. Just a typical board pin, but he falls down. He jumps up screaming at me and follows me for a good five seconds, like he is going to jump me.

Another guy twice gets the puck stolen and goes full lumberjack at the ankles, luckily both guys had good speed going, so one was a glancing blow and the other missed.

I’m battling in front of the net for position. I already had one tipped in goal, so the D is determined to keep me out. He’s nearly going full 1980’s D in the crease on me with his stick. I spin off him and get behind him, put my stick below his but, lift and give a push to move him out. Nothing violent, nothing that knocks him down, it just moves him a foot or two away. What does he do? Tries to punch me in the head.

Good times, but we ended up winning 10-2.

I have to say, not having seen a single second of any of these incidents and not doubting your account of them, the final score might explain a lot here. Guys start getting a lot more pissy about the little stuff when they feel like the other team is skating circles around them.

 

[ChuckLefley]

I have to say, not having seen a single second of any of these incidents and not doubting your account of them, the final score might explain a lot here. Guys start getting a lot more pissy about the little stuff when they feel like the other team is skating circles around them.

To be honest, most of this happened before it got out of hand. It was actually a pretty good game until they wore out in the last ten minutes.

 

[Yukon Joe]

Aw man, last game was one for the ages. Trailing 2-1 in the third, not really playing our best game, but our former ball hockey player breaks loose and buries it to tie things up.

Unfortunately time is running out, clock drops to 2:00. We take a face off in the offensive zone. We win the draw, back to the D man, blasts it to the net - right off Mr. Ball Hockey's shinpad and in with a total of 8 seconds left.

 

[Aces89]

Team hit 2 crossbars and a post, made the difference

 

[EmptyNetAssassin]

A guy gets a blatant check and the ref calls it within the first minute. While skating to the box the same players skates into my teammate and cross checks him the back as hard as he can. The ref tells him to stop and the player continues to curse at the ref. The ref only gives him two minutes total . I ask the ref how he isn't kicked our for three different penalties and blatantly trying to injure a a guy in a non hockey play. The ref responded I don't want to kick someone else this early and I just said you just set the precedent for the game that you can take cheap shots at every player after every play all night. The team has 2 guys kicked our for 3 penalties but easily should have had 3 more kicked out. I love playing hockey but it isn't fun getting cross checked , elbowed, and slashed in the lower back, upper back, and neck area 20 times a game. We lost 3 2 because we didn't score enough and that is fine. I just want to know how to deal with an issue like this when the same players are trying to hurt players every game every shift and the refs don't enforce rules or protect players.

 

[DingerMcSlapshot]

A guy gets a blatant check and the ref calls it within the first minute. While skating to the box the same players skates into my teammate and cross checks him the back as hard as he can. The ref tells him to stop and the player continues to curse at the ref. The ref only gives him two minutes total . I ask the ref how he isn't kicked our for three different penalties and blatantly trying to injure a a guy in a non hockey play. The ref responded I don't want to kick someone else this early and I just said you just set the precedent for the game that you can take cheap shots at every player after every play all night. The team has 2 guys kicked our for 3 penalties but easily should have had 3 more kicked out. I love playing hockey but it isn't fun getting cross checked , elbowed, and slashed in the lower back, upper back, and neck area 20 times a game. We lost 3 2 because we didn't score enough and that is fine. I just want to know how to deal with an issue like this when the same players are trying to hurt players every game every shift and the refs don't enforce rules or protect players.

Give it back, fight or quit. Most times people running the league are players also. League knows what's happening. Some players think they're in the NHL. Shinny with buds, I found is more fun than beating up dirty anklers.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Give it back, fight or quit.

Unfortunately this usually is the bottom line. What you're describing is a referee issue, and they certainly aren't going to fire or even put pressure on a ref. It's way too hard to find replacements these days, so you get what you get.

It sounds smart-assed to say "you could sign up to be a ref" but that literally is just about the only thing one person can do to have an impact.

 

[Slats432]

A guy gets a blatant check and the ref calls it within the first minute. While skating to the box the same players skates into my teammate and cross checks him the back as hard as he can. The ref tells him to stop and the player continues to curse at the ref. The ref only gives him two minutes total . I ask the ref how he isn't kicked our for three different penalties and blatantly trying to injure a a guy in a non hockey play. The ref responded I don't want to kick someone else this early and I just said you just set the precedent for the game that you can take cheap shots at every player after every play all night. The team has 2 guys kicked our for 3 penalties but easily should have had 3 more kicked out. I love playing hockey but it isn't fun getting cross checked , elbowed, and slashed in the lower back, upper back, and neck area 20 times a game. We lost 3 2 because we didn't score enough and that is fine. I just want to know how to deal with an issue like this when the same players are trying to hurt players every game every shift and the refs don't enforce rules or protect players.

Terrible reffing. As someone that has done over 3000 Men's leagues games, none of this occurs when I ref and most of the refs in our league. Sad that it happens.

 

[puckpilot]

A guy gets a blatant check and the ref calls it within the first minute. While skating to the box the same players skates into my teammate and cross checks him the back as hard as he can. The ref tells him to stop and the player continues to curse at the ref. The ref only gives him two minutes total . I ask the ref how he isn't kicked our for three different penalties and blatantly trying to injure a a guy in a non hockey play. The ref responded I don't want to kick someone else this early and I just said you just set the precedent for the game that you can take cheap shots at every player after every play all night. The team has 2 guys kicked our for 3 penalties but easily should have had 3 more kicked out. I love playing hockey but it isn't fun getting cross checked , elbowed, and slashed in the lower back, upper back, and neck area 20 times a game. We lost 3 2 because we didn't score enough and that is fine. I just want to know how to deal with an issue like this when the same players are trying to hurt players every game every shift and the refs don't enforce rules or protect players.

Maybe email the league about it, and say, I know you won't do anything about it, but this email is just to record the incident in case next time someone is seriously injured and lawyers need to get involved. Covers your own ass with a paper trail and maybe adds some incentive for them to actually act.

 

[Yukon Joe]

I mean I understand in part where the ref is coming from - you just want to have a nice clean game where everyone has fun. You don't want to be a heavy and start throwing people out - not in the first minute of the game.

But yeah you'd think the ref would throw on at least an extra minor for the after -the-play crosscheck.

But yeah - even if the player is thrown out right away, you just know the other team is just going to take THAT as an excuse to be chippier, since "the refs are biased against us".

 

[beedee]

Can the game be found on LiveBarn? Might help your cause if you have video evidence of what took place.

 

[Aces89]

Our game got called 8 minutes in exactly because there was a serious injury on the other team. He didn't want to be touched so we waited till the ambulance showed up. Since Canada's healthcare system is over run, it took 30 minutes for the paramedics to show up. The injury is in the video. Dislocated kneecap

 

[Slats432]

I mean I understand in part where the ref is coming from - you just want to have a nice clean game where everyone has fun. You don't want to be a heavy and start throwing people out - not in the first minute of the game.

But yeah you'd think the ref would throw on at least an extra minor for the after -the-play crosscheck.

But yeah - even if the player is thrown out right away, you just know the other team is just going to take THAT as an excuse to be chippier, since "the refs are biased against us".

This is a problem. When a ref makes calls based on what his feelings are "I don't want to throw a guy out early...." then you aren't making the calls. So if a guy calls a guy a gay slur in the first minute, hey, we wouldn't want to throw him out early? What about an accidental high stick drawing blood? But it is early in the 1st.

I learned through time that the calls are the calls. Giving guys a break is never a good idea. It means that ever guy knows that the rules don't apply early in the game.

What ever the penalty is, assess the penalty. If a guy bodies a guy, cross checks a guy then then swears at the ref, game ejection and the rest of the players and the refs have a better game going forward.

 

[PanniniClaus]

A couple of nights ago we played the classic team of guys who like to play chippy, but can’t handle it if you touch them in any way.

One guy sees me cutting across the middle of the O zone to go pressure the puck and tries to level me with an open ice hit(no check league) but misses. Play continues and I end up battling in the corner with the same guy. Up against the boards I get one skate between his skates to pin him in place and lean into him. Just a typical board pin, but he falls down. He jumps up screaming at me and follows me for a good five seconds, like he is going to jump me.

Another guy twice gets the puck stolen and goes full lumberjack at the ankles, luckily both guys had good speed going, so one was a glancing blow and the other missed.

I’m battling in front of the net for position. I already had one tipped in goal, so the D is determined to keep me out. He’s nearly going full 1980’s D in the crease on me with his stick. I spin off him and get behind him, put my stick below his but, lift and give a push to move him out. Nothing violent, nothing that knocks him down, it just moves him a foot or two away. What does he do? Tries to punch me in the head.

Good times, but we ended up winning 10-2.

There are some unwritten rules about rec hockey... among them in my mind is that you don't dig around the crease like Brendan Gallagher... there shouldn't be a whole pile of battles for net front position. A person can drift in and out or set up a little further outside for a tip/screen but trying to get under the feet of the d man and on top of the blue paint doesn't fly for me.

I'll call you a net front hero and cross check you as hard as I possibly can... don't care what the score is... I'm 48 and the time for that crap was in Junior or Senior , contact hockey. The thing is, most net front heroes in rec hockey hardly ever played competitive hockey and don't understand the price that actually gets paid to be there, so I like to remind/show them.

 

[tarheelhockey]

This is a problem. When a ref makes calls based on what his feelings are "I don't want to throw a guy out early...." then you aren't making the calls. So if a guy calls a guy a gay slur in the first minute, hey, we wouldn't want to throw him out early? What about an accidental high stick drawing blood? But it is early in the 1st.

I learned through time that the calls are the calls. Giving guys a break is never a good idea. It means that ever guy knows that the rules don't apply early in the game.

What ever the penalty is, assess the penalty. If a guy bodies a guy, cross checks a guy then then swears at the ref, game ejection and the rest of the players and the refs have a better game going forward.

A huge part of this is that if the beginning of the game is a bad time to lay down the law, then an even worse time to do it is the end of the game. So now you're just gonna make calls during the 2nd period or something? This is how "game management" ends up creating chaos.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

A guy gets a blatant check and the ref calls it within the first minute. While skating to the box the same players skates into my teammate and cross checks him the back as hard as he can. The ref tells him to stop and the player continues to curse at the ref. The ref only gives him two minutes total . I ask the ref how he isn't kicked our for three different penalties and blatantly trying to injure a a guy in a non hockey play. The ref responded I don't want to kick someone else this early and I just said you just set the precedent for the game that you can take cheap shots at every player after every play all night. The team has 2 guys kicked our for 3 penalties but easily should have had 3 more kicked out. I love playing hockey but it isn't fun getting cross checked , elbowed, and slashed in the lower back, upper back, and neck area 20 times a game. We lost 3 2 because we didn't score enough and that is fine. I just want to know how to deal with an issue like this when the same players are trying to hurt players every game every shift and the refs don't enforce rules or protect players.

Slashed in the back and neck?!?!?!

Are you exageratting a bit?

If not, then it's time to do the most damage back you can without catching an assault charge, honestly. Do that to me im gonna try and break your wrist/arm with a tomahawk chop personally, and act like i was trying to defend/stick check you. The moment they try to punch or respond back, i'm ready with firsts or a stick depending on how they respond.


I don't care if that's not the "right" answer. I'm personally fed up with some of the stuff you are describing, albeit I haven't seen it at that level you are describing.

Seems like a lot of people in all facets of live have just gone apeshit after the pandemic, personally.

 

[Slats432]

A huge part of this is that if the beginning of the game is a bad time to lay down the law, then an even worse time to do it is the end of the game. So now you're just gonna make calls during the 2nd period or something? This is how "game management" ends up creating chaos.

I used to not think this way but "Game management" is certainly a thing. Last night I reffed a game where a team was up 10-4 going into the 3rd. One of their players was getting into it a bit, instigating chirps, little shoves etc (Nothing worth a penalty). So we go to the flood. The teams come back after the flood, and I go and lean on the boards at their bench.

He skates on, and says, "I won't get into anything.", obviously knowing why I was there. I said so his whole team could hear. "Well, if you are the team that is up 10-4, then the obligation is on you guys to not be donkeys. If the other team starts it, then let me take care of them. I don't care how many goals you score but don't start shit." I go over to the losing teams bench and tell them I just warned the other team and specifically named the number of the instigator that if you are up 10-4, don't be an idiot. They laughed. No penalties called in 3rd period.

 

[EmptyNetAssassin]

Slashed in the back and neck?!?!?!

Are you exageratting a bit?

If not, then it's time to do the most damage back you can without catching an assault charge, honestly. Do that to me im gonna try and break your wrist/arm with a tomahawk chop personally, and act like i was trying to defend/stick check you. The moment they try to punch or respond back, i'm ready with firsts or a stick depending on how they respond.


I don't care if that's not the "right" answer. I'm personally fed up with some of the stuff you are describing, albeit I haven't seen it at that level you are describing.

Seems like a lot of people in all facets of live have just gone apeshit after the pandemic, personally.

No it is pretty accurate. The offending team is proud to be know as the dbags of the league. They take pride in it. The ref has no idea how to manage the game and the owner has said before he doesn't care about men's league. It is an low c to low b league mix. The rest of the league is pretty laid back and no one tries to hurt people. I usually don't know up versus this team because last year I got a concussion because a player on their team slide tackled me skate first from behind the play while going to the bench for a line change and the ref didn't see it. I only played because it was the playoffs. I play at a better skilled and much better rink another night but the other league is closer. I have brought up with the guys I have on other teams about everyone just forfeit versus them every game and they laugh and say it would work, but no one will every follow through with it.