Let's talk about Adult Hockey in Calgary - Page 2 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Hockeyguy15 · 08-14-2013, 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J-bo09

CAHL is not great. Summer hockey and we are getting ice times in Springbank at 10-11.

Moving leagues for winter

Not sure if you already know this but you can choose to pay a little more and play weekends only, or you can chose weekday 9pm which means you don't play later than 9:45. A couple of nice options if you don't like late weekday games.

Swayze11 · 08-14-2013, 08:57 AM

I run a team and we are joining the CAHL again. There is positives and negatives about every league. We were hoping to play in Winsport but that is a gongshow to get in.

CAHL is decent, good ice times (at least for us), good refs, never missed a scorekeeper. The downside is the communication from league to players is just awful. They don't seem to put a lot of effort into making sure the divisions are somewhat the same. They seem to put everyone in a division, give them a schedule and don't make any adjustments after that. They have the odd power trip ref who just kicks people out for swearing at them - but if I am a ref, I wouldn't put up with that crap either.

Like the J-bo09 mentioned, a lot of the games are at EDGE (out by COP) but for us it works out great because a lot of our team lives in the NW. If you live elsewhere, that is a factor for sure.

We are starting up a winter team with a few new guys and their condition to joining the team (about 4 guys) is that we don't join the NCHL. I have played in the NCHL and from my experience it is awful. The 11:15PM Chestermere games are awful.

Brewmaster · 08-14-2013, 09:03 AM

I've played in a number of leagues over the past few years and my suggestion would be to try to find the one with the best ice times. Refs and rules can be frustrating at times but it's the arena and time that makes the biggest difference. This seems to change year to year with some of these leagues.

AllCal was great two seasons ago and most of the ice times were at COP (the best facility in the city). Then last season the WinSport league started up and took almost all of those good ice times and AllCal played mostly at Sarcee and the Corral (the worst two facilities in the city). Several games were delayed or cancelled because the Zamboni broke down, the roof leaked, or the time keeper didn't show up. Add to that the Corral charging $15 per car to park, and the ice at those two arenas being absolute crap. That being said, the competition and refs always seemed pretty good.

CAHL - All the ice times were late and at the Edge School (west of the city) a few years ago in this league. Looking at the website, it appears like they play at a few more arenas now. Give this league a look, it was lots of fun to play in.

WinSport - Just opened last season and all the ice times are at COP. I've only heard good things about this league but it's tough to get into.

NCHL - Pretty much already summed up in this thread. The late out of the city ice times can be hard to take if you work regular hours. The worst was when we would play at 11pm at Chestermere and nobody had been on the ice for 2 hours before us.

Heritage - Only a few divisions and very competitive. Good ice times but tough to get into this league. Teams that play in Heritage don't tend to leave.

nickerjones · 08-15-2013, 01:05 PM

Thanks for the info on the leagues. now... What about tournaments? Anyone played in them? Do they even have a lot of Adult tourneys in/around Calgary?

Canehdianman · 08-15-2013, 01:21 PM

Winsport and SASM are both great.

I wouldn't play NCHL ever again, even if it was free.

cam_wmh · 08-15-2013, 01:44 PM

I'm in HNA, and enjoy it.

Tron_fdc · 08-15-2013, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickerjones

Thanks for the info on the leagues. now... What about tournaments? Anyone played in them? Do they even have a lot of Adult tourneys in/around Calgary?

Kelowna has an awesome one in March.

At least I think it was awesome......I don't really remember much of the hockey.

Neeper · 08-15-2013, 02:10 PM

I've played in NCHL, AllCal, CAHL and Winsport. Winsport hands down is the best. Playing in the same arena for every game is such a huge plus. No late night out of town games. We've been there since the very beginning. The league is getting so big though. I fear ice times are gonna start to suck eventually.

rohara66 · 08-15-2013, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CMPunk

NCHL is a beginner league. The 9 penalty forfeit and the penalty shot after 5 penalties is what sours alot of people on it

The NCHL might have its downfalls (ice times and rink locations) but after playing a summer season in CAHL which has no penalty minute limits it's terrible. There is no repercussion for the hacks that take it way too seriously and almost every game seems to get rough at some point or another. Funny thing is its the same players time and time again.

Daradon · 08-15-2013, 02:22 PM

Nickerjones is going to fly on the Canadian ice. He's used to that lumpy OK pond.

Watchout guys. CPs Modano!

meanmachine13 · 08-15-2013, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neeper

I've played in NCHL, AllCal, CAHL and Winsport. Winsport hands down is the best. Playing in the same arena for every game is such a huge plus. No late night out of town games. We've been there since the very beginning. The league is getting so big though. I fear ice times are gonna start to suck eventually.

They dont rent the ice to any other adult hockey leagues. They will eventually just have to cap the league at a specific number of teams and not be able to grow, unless they want to start playing the 11pm games.

nickerjones · 08-15-2013, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daradon

Nickerjones is going to fly on the Canadian ice. He's used to that lumpy OK pond.

Watchout guys. CPs Modano!

Yeah .. I'll be a real Dean Youngblood out there. The only fault to your logic is thinking I actually did some skating on Oklahoma ice. I usually spend a lot of my time falling when I play.

CMPunk · 08-15-2013, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by meanmachine13

They dont rent the ice to any other adult hockey leagues. They will eventually just have to cap the league at a specific number of teams and not be able to grow, unless they want to start playing the 11pm games.

The league has been capped now at 90 teams, including 2 old timers divisions

CMPunk · 08-15-2013, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSutterDynasty

Did a quick scan of the site and can't find it anywhere; can you sign up as a free agent?

http://winsport.goalline.ca/page.php?page_id=32729

There isn't really any free agency, but if you tweet the league, they'll see what they can do about finding a team for you

meanmachine13 · 08-16-2013, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CMPunk

The league has been capped now at 90 teams, including 2 old timers divisions

I know there is a cap on number of teams every season, however I believe they have had the ability to increase it slightly each season.

They have the issue of only have 4 ice surfaces at their disposal and eventually wont be able to keep up with the demand. So I meant a cap more in terms of a FINAL cap that they would no longer be any to increase it EVER without sacrificing the ability to give teams on average 1 game per week or introducing the late ice times.

jayswin · 08-16-2013, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by meanmachine13

I know there is a cap on number of teams every season, however I believe they have had the ability to increase it slightly each season.

They have the issue of only have 4 ice surfaces at their disposal and eventually wont be able to keep up with the demand. So I meant a cap more in terms of a FINAL cap that they would no longer be any to increase it EVER without sacrificing the ability to give teams on average 1 game per week or introducing the late ice times.

Yeah, if anything they should talk to Bowness arena and see about ice time there. They could still call it the Winsport league, and those that joined because they every games in the same location would only be driving 5 minutes away from there.

CMPunk · 08-16-2013, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by meanmachine13

I know there is a cap on number of teams every season, however I believe they have had the ability to increase it slightly each season.

They have the issue of only have 4 ice surfaces at their disposal and eventually wont be able to keep up with the demand. So I meant a cap more in terms of a FINAL cap that they would no longer be any to increase it EVER without sacrificing the ability to give teams on average 1 game per week or introducing the late ice times.

From what I understand, this is the biggest it's going to get before ice times start to become an issue