Quote:
Originally Posted by pylon
I don't want to paint with the proverbial brush. But even when I was playing minor hockey back in the day, playing against reserve teams was terrifying for both kids and parents. It was full on Slap Shot but with 12 year olds. Every time we had to go out to the Tsu'Tiina rink, you couldn't sleep the night before. That team was that insane.
I will never forget watching a kid from the reserve, two hand, double ax handle chop a kid in the head repeatedly, half his size, while the parents from the other side were cheering like it was the greatest thing they ever saw. Because he was screening in front of the net. And the refs were from the Reserve and called nothing on the play. In any other rink, the kid would have been booted for the year. We were pulled of the ice by our coach and forfeited, and forfeited our remaining game with them.
As we were walking out, the Reserve parents were calling us F'n Pussays, and every single expletive you could imagine. Keep in mind this was PeeWee, and we were 12. In fact it is one of my most vivid memories from minor hockey, which is kinda sad.
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I remember having a very similar experience - it was just a tougher and dirtier type of game. That being said it only takes a few minutes to look around a reserve and the problems that are obviously visible to the casual observer in order to determine what factors played into that. Obviously not everyone who played hockey on the reserve was dirty but it sure seemed like it was encouraged a heck of a lot more.