New Hockey Team
So I have joined onto a new hockey team this session after sitting out the past few seasons. I was so busy with work (hard to make games which are sometimes as early as 6:00!) and so tired from the internal tensions on my old team that I felt I had to leave. But then as the NHL came back and hockey was on television I decided I really missed playing.
Our league is just recreational, we play 4-on-4 (plus goalies) roller hockey. Although it is a "no checking" league, of course there is still contact with other players, sticks, and a puck flying around. It's still hockey, after all!
Anyway, I joined this team not knowing anyone on it, but we have come together quite nicely as the season has progressed. A very nice group of guys, although I do wish we socialized after the games. It's just not the same sans going out for a beer or three after a win. But still, a win, or even a tie can be just as satisfying.
I realized again how much I value the tie in hockey. Our game last week, we ended up tied 3-3. To a lot of people that sounds boring, unsatisfying. Instead, this game ended in an exhilerating fashion, with one team (okay, MY team...okay, ME scoring) to tie the game, goalie pulled, with 8.8 seconds left on the clock. We left feeling like we won, they left feeling like they lost. Yet both teams get a well deserved point in the standings.
To have a game like that settled with a shootout, just an exhibition of breakaways seems wrong. Why should a team sport come down to just that? A solid defensive defenseman can be a hugely important part of a team, but now...we're taking the puck away, thanks for playing, we won't need you anymore this game! It's really just a skills competition? It would be like deciding a football game by having the quarterbacks throwing balls through a tire, or just having a field-goal kicking contest. While it is exciting for fans (and that is all that matters in this new NHL comeback season) having considered it now as a player, I'm against it.
See you at the rink!
Our league is just recreational, we play 4-on-4 (plus goalies) roller hockey. Although it is a "no checking" league, of course there is still contact with other players, sticks, and a puck flying around. It's still hockey, after all!
Anyway, I joined this team not knowing anyone on it, but we have come together quite nicely as the season has progressed. A very nice group of guys, although I do wish we socialized after the games. It's just not the same sans going out for a beer or three after a win. But still, a win, or even a tie can be just as satisfying.
I realized again how much I value the tie in hockey. Our game last week, we ended up tied 3-3. To a lot of people that sounds boring, unsatisfying. Instead, this game ended in an exhilerating fashion, with one team (okay, MY team...okay, ME scoring) to tie the game, goalie pulled, with 8.8 seconds left on the clock. We left feeling like we won, they left feeling like they lost. Yet both teams get a well deserved point in the standings.
To have a game like that settled with a shootout, just an exhibition of breakaways seems wrong. Why should a team sport come down to just that? A solid defensive defenseman can be a hugely important part of a team, but now...we're taking the puck away, thanks for playing, we won't need you anymore this game! It's really just a skills competition? It would be like deciding a football game by having the quarterbacks throwing balls through a tire, or just having a field-goal kicking contest. While it is exciting for fans (and that is all that matters in this new NHL comeback season) having considered it now as a player, I'm against it.
See you at the rink!
posted by Scott L. Stuart at
11:17 PM
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