Passing to the untalented: Do you do it?

[AR_Six]

How does one get into rec league ball hockey? I should play.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

lol, you players and your politics.

/goalie

Classic individual in a team sport.

Goalies are more like Kickers than QBs.

[Flash Walken]

As a terrible player with fantastic defensive instincts, I don't mind not getting the puck as much as the good players.

I'd prefer they do their thing and only give me passes that I can convert into some kind of play. I can get extremely frustrated if I'm bobbling things over and over again, killing plays.

I'll hustle back, block shots etc, but don't give me the puck in traffic or the bad things will happen, and we don't want the bad things to happen.

[Cain]

Originally Posted by AR_Six

How does one get into rec league ball hockey? I should play.

Without knowing anyone in it....it might be a bit tougher. I think some leagues accept solo players (GHL for sure at least to my knowledge) where they put you with other solo guys. I don't think that team does very well but at least you meet a few people and if you stand out maybe you get scooped up by another team after a bit. I'm not sure how superleagues (the major, more competitive league) deals with solo people...maybe they have a forum where you can ask if anyone needs a player or two? Once you get into one league somewhere, the guys on your team will undoubtedly know other places to play probably that are more casual and invite only...just need to get in somewhere!

There is always cssc but I've found it to be...too rec. I couldn't handle more than a game there.

[albertGQ]

Try Superleagues or GHL first. I highly discourage CSSC. That league is brutal

[Cain]

I do encourage getting into ball hockey though. I fully converted away from ice and love it much more. Faster transition game, very competitive or rec depending on what you want...cheaper and the same or better ice(floor) times.

Also it takes you 5 minutes to get ready vs 15 for ice.

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by dubc80

This.

On my rec team last year, we had one guy who went the majority of the year without scoring. Fairly new player, probably the worst skater on the team by far.

When he finally put one in the net, our bench erupted like he scored a game 7 OT winner.

Are you on my team? I'm that guy by a country mile. I usually only score once or twice a year and it is always a "garbage goal" that I worked my ass off to get.

[mykalberta]

It all depends what kind of league it is.

If its just for fun then I have no problem passing to the weaker players. The more competitive the league the less I pass to those players (but the more competitive the league the less weak players exist).

[Flames Draft Watcher]

I play on a co-ed soccer team and I pass to the girls even though most of them haven't played much soccer at all and are definitely the weakest players on the team in general. I won't force passes to them if better options are available but I don't shy away from passing to them.

Maybe some gender politics plays into it though. Would I do the same if we were all guys? I have to admit I might avoid passing to weaker guy players more than I would to the girls.

[troutman]

John, George and Paul, let Ringo play.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Had the same thing happen in my co-ed soccer game a couple nights ago.
Passed back to a girl playing D who was our last man back but with lots of time/space.

She took forever with it and eventually gave it away to a guy who came after her. We lost 3-2 on that breakaway goal.

That's rec sports, alway make the pass if it's the right pass to make. She'll have to learn through these mistakes.

Only point on the flip side, is I find so many beginners want to play defense where their mistake will be the worst because no one can make up for it further down the field. If she had made the same mistake on offense, we can try to get it back before it's a breakaway. Something for newbies to consider as they seem to feel bad after making that mistake when they're the last player back.

[united]

Getting an apple on a guy's first goal ever at any level will feel better than 99/100 goals you will score. As a few people said, seeing a "bad*" or new player make a great play always causes benches to erupt and their smile is priceless.

*Tell anyone who takes it seriously to go sub for a top-level team or play shinny with some NHL/AHL/WHL guys and all of sudden they're that "bad" player. You're paying, not getting paid - have fun.

[metallicat]

Nothing pisses keep off worse than making a mistake in a men's league game, and then coming back to the bench only to hear it from teammates. Or to hear it from the bench while you're still on the ice. I'm probably one of the worst players on my team, I play defense, and I hear it from time to time. Pisses me off. We all pay to play, we're there for the fun, and it sucks to take heat in a rec game.

[Radio]

Good on you. He could've just as easily cradled that pass and scored. Even the best players can flub receiving a pass, whiff on a shot, fall down on an odd man rush, or whatever.

Some guys are just too serious, that guy paid his money just like everyone else. If it were me I'd probably go out of my way to set him up after someone said something like that.

When I was younger...20 years ago...I used to play a lot of ball hockey. I could hold my own, don't have the greatest hands but consider myself a good passer and have a decent shot. Myself and a couple of friends used to play on a competitive team in the summer mens league. They had quite a few very good players and every year my friend and I would play together on the same line with various other guys and we'd be in the top third of the team in scoring.

One year they had a newb, a friend of the captain or something. He was pretty raw and not good at all and they put him with us. It was certainly frustrating and he himself would often apologize for missing a pass or whiffing on a shot. Then one game he said just don't pass to me. My friend and I just told him not to worry about it, just relax, have fun and go straight to the net all the time.

Very next shift I am breaking up the right wing, I see him headed to the net. I get down close to the goal line and he's planted. I decide I just want to hit him with the ball and hopefully it'll fall at his feet. It happens as planned and he just starts swinging the stick and bangs it in. I've never seen a guy more happy to score than that...it was awesome. He scored a few more that season and our stats took a hit but who cares, out of that season, 20+ years later, that's what I remember most him scoring.

So in that long winded journey down memory lane I guess what matters is when we're playing team sports we want to feel we're part of the team and participate in the game, not just be there to bring down the cost per guy. So I say good on you sir.

[AR_Six]

Originally Posted by Cain

Without knowing anyone in it....it might be a bit tougher. I think some leagues accept solo players (GHL for sure at least to my knowledge) where they put you with other solo guys. I don't think that team does very well but at least you meet a few people and if you stand out maybe you get scooped up by another team after a bit. I'm not sure how superleagues (the major, more competitive league) deals with solo people...maybe they have a forum where you can ask if anyone needs a player or two? Once you get into one league somewhere, the guys on your team will undoubtedly know other places to play probably that are more casual and invite only...just need to get in somewhere!

There is always cssc but I've found it to be...too rec. I couldn't handle more than a game there.

Will look into those, thanks.

If anyone needs a body for a game, let me know. Not the greatest player ever but I'll hold my own.

EDIT: GHL has sunday pick up ball hockey in Hillhurst, which is close. Anyone play there or know how that is?

[vektor]

Depends if the person is new to the sport and if its a serious team. Basically if its a completely rec league where people don't know each other beforehand and there are people that have never played you better pass it to them, if you are in a rec league with strangers and you care more about winning than everyone having fun you should go join another league.

I quit my slo-pitch d-league (worst div. possible) because our captain was a complete dick that would bench me whenever possible because I'd never played baseball. On the other hand I was happy to sit out on our engineering hockey team because we all knew eachother and I wasn't good enough to keep up in some games where the opposition had WHL players. Are you out there to win or are you out there to have fun because it's usually pretty obvious based on how the team was formed and what kind of league its in, no need to exclude people that are playing in a non-serious rec league that people join purely to have a new experience. This came up in our ultimate frisby league too where we had a few really tall keeners and some overweight girls, it was a low tier league and I'll tell you that the guys who wouldn't pass it to the girls the entire game looked like real ######bags. One guy even took the frisby out of a girls hand when she caught it, some people just have no situational awareness.

[Stay Golden]

JMO If your a decent athlete and you play rec, hockey, soccer or whatever then expect various levels of skill and accept it. If your good and over competitive then play at a higher level. If your playing rec anything and you are dominating then your just sandbagging.
I used to love physically standing up the so called stars.
But thats just me i enjoyed the physical side of competition and retired from that level of hockey and soccer in my mid 30's. At some point you realize really competive league are a young mans game. Sure there are the over 30 various divisions but most of them become a gong show.

[Azure]

I like giving puck hogs suicide passes so they get run over. Do that a couple times and they might pass more.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Azure

I like giving puck hogs suicide passes so they get run over. Do that a couple times and they might pass more.

I bet your teammates love you.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Azure

I like giving puck hogs suicide passes so they get run over. Do that a couple times and they might pass more.

Umm, what league do you play in where you're allowed to run guys over?