AIHL checking

[FatAndSlow]

Is checking legal in the AIHL? Is it in PIHA? Sorry if it's already been asked.

Thanks in advance
FatAndSlow

[minutemen]

No not supposed to be allowed, but it has.

[justin malone]

yeah i dont mind the phisical play love it in the corners . but this year the refs are just letting full runns and hits go but most of the time its ones sides that they let go

[Lindro17]

I love the physical play in the corners, along the boards. It is hockey, and I think there should be some element of physical play. The open rink stuff though, in my eyes, should not be allowed. This is difficult enough on roller blades to do, it really promotes injury in the inline arena. What is even more alarming in the early stages is the stick work. We need to eliminate the high sticks, and hooking. That, in my eyes, is laziness and dirty play. locking players in front is one thing, hooking them as they blow by someone because you can't keep up is another thing. That is when the sticks rise up and get someone in the face. I started playing at this level without a mask, over the past couple of years I have gotten more sticks in the face than I ever have

[mulissha46]

i love the physical play it is now like hockey and i think that it will help the sport grow because more people will watch if the physical play is allowed. thats just my opinion. i also agree that th stick work needs to be in check more and they have to call the high sticks and hooks when someone gets beat but i love that they are letting us hit a little.

[growl89]

is the ruling on hooking like PIHA was supposed to be called last year? if a stick goes parallel to the floor then it is a hooking penalty?

[-venom-]

I love the physical play in the corners, along the boards. It is hockey, and I think there should be some element of physical play. The open rink stuff though, in my eyes, should not be allowed. This is difficult enough on roller blades to do, it really promotes injury in the inline arena. What is even more alarming in the early stages is the stick work. We need to eliminate the high sticks, and hooking. That, in my eyes, is laziness and dirty play. locking players in front is one thing, hooking them as they blow by someone because you can't keep up is another thing. That is when the sticks rise up and get someone in the face. I started playing at this level without a mask, over the past couple of years I have gotten more sticks in the face than I ever have


I definitely think the stickwork nastiness and carelessness has been born from NOT allowing contact."Roller Hockey" guys are some of the nastiest SOBs I've ever played with/against, when it comes to stickwork. Guys who have played ice hockey, or at least play a physical style of play, are a lot less likely to tag someone in the face with a stick, simply due to the fact that they'd rather use the body.

While I'd love for the league to go almost Full-Contact, most of us have day jobs, and a devastating hockey injury in this league would reverberate into our carers, our family lives, etc - and all for nothing,. really.

It's a shame, because big hits SHOULD be part of the game, and fans love to see someone get laid out. But for practicality reasons, we've pushed the physical part out of the game, which has in turn, made the stickwork nastier.

Kudos to the officials allowing some physical play.... my biggest concern is the officiating of the East Coast refs compared to out here..... East Coast refs tend to let the players play the game and let the rough stuff go to a point.

Out here?

Let's put it this way, I may end up in the box, permanently.

(Just kidding, Adam - I hope :D)

[MDE3]

Rather than write a whole new post...I think someone might do a search under my handle for yearrs of dissertations on this subject.....

No doubt that the lack of official full contact leads to more stickwork..always has always will...When somene pulls that in full contact versions of the game..they learn soon that it is neither the most desireable nor effective way to aquit oneself on the rink.

The real problem with full contact in inline hockey, is that many players never grew up playing a full contact version of the game, in an organized and well coached league. Thus many players do not have the skills developed to throw checks properly or avoid same. There are fundamental skating skills which must be developed for the full contact sport, which are sadly lacking in many of the inline players...just because they never had the opportunity to learn them.....this puts the experienced players at a major advantage, and could certainly lead to injuries....and frustrates the less skilled players (from a contact point of view) who then retaliate the only way they know how..with cheap shots.

These same skating skills learned for the full contact game..also benefit those who have accrued them in ways other than checking itself. It makes these players much better skaters and thus better players on multiple levels....perhaps the most cogent argument for the long term growth of contact in the inline game, as well as he long term marketability of the game itself.

[growl89]

Rather than write a whole new post...I think someone might do a search under my handle for yearrs of dissertations on this subject.....

No doubt that the lack of official full contact leads to more stickwork..always has always will...When somene pulls that in full contact versions of the game..they learn soon that it is neither the most desireable nor effective way to aquit oneself on the rink.

The real problem with full contact in inline hockey, is that many players never grew up playing a full contact version of the game, in an organized and well coached league. Thus many players do not have the skills developed to throw checks properly or avoid same. There are fundamental skating skills which must be developed for the full contact sport, which are sadly lacking in many of the inline players...just because they never had the opportunity to learn them.....this puts the experienced players at a major advantage, and could certainly lead to injuries....and frustrates the less skilled players (from a contact point of view) who then retaliate the only way they know how..with cheap shots.

These same skating skills learned for the full contact game..also benefit those who have accrued them in ways other than checking itself. It makes these players much better skaters and thus better players on multiple levels....perhaps the most cogent argument for the long term growth of contact in the inline game, as well as he long term marketability of the game itself.

great post, this is the reason MLRH had so many problems game after game.

[-venom-]

Rather than write a whole new post...I think someone might do a search under my handle for yearrs of dissertations on this subject.....

No doubt that the lack of official full contact leads to more stickwork..always has always will...When somene pulls that in full contact versions of the game..they learn soon that it is neither the most desireable nor effective way to aquit oneself on the rink.

The real problem with full contact in inline hockey, is that many players never grew up playing a full contact version of the game, in an organized and well coached league. Thus many players do not have the skills developed to throw checks properly or avoid same. There are fundamental skating skills which must be developed for the full contact sport, which are sadly lacking in many of the inline players...just because they never had the opportunity to learn them.....this puts the experienced players at a major advantage, and could certainly lead to injuries....and frustrates the less skilled players (from a contact point of view) who then retaliate the only way they know how..with cheap shots.

These same skating skills learned for the full contact game..also benefit those who have accrued them in ways other than checking itself. It makes these players much better skaters and thus better players on multiple levels....perhaps the most cogent argument for the long term growth of contact in the inline game, as well as he long term marketability of the game itself.


Agreed 100%.

THe issue now is - how, and when, do we try to groom players to be able to throw a check, and avoid them? Inline hockey on the "Pro' level should most definitely include a physical, if not full-contact element, but it's not like we can hit an on/off switch for it....

As you guys know, most kids in ice hockey know how to throw and avoid hits while they are young, simply because it's part of the game.

[Downz39]

I'm curious to see how the games will be called, especially out west. Where do the refs come from. By the way, Bill Katinsky is my idol. Mooers you are a close second.

[growl89]

I'm curious to see how the games will be called, especially out west. Where do the refs come from. By the way, Bill Katinsky is my idol. Mooers you are a close second.


i do my best ... i think you are my idol now though man... i'm no where near the almost talent that i used have

[growl89]

Agreed 100%.

THe issue now is - how, and when, do we try to groom players to be able to throw a check, and avoid them? Inline hockey on the "Pro' level should most definitely include a physical, if not full-contact element, but it's not like we can hit an on/off switch for it....

As you guys know, most kids in ice hockey know how to throw and avoid hits while they are young, simply because it's part of the game.

why not start them at the peewee level like ice hockey does?

i'm actually coaching a Peewee B minor ice hockey team this season and the kids already, only 2 months in, can throw and dodge checks... you can't wait and try to teach them in high school, the bad habits are already developed and won't be broken easily.

another question comes in.... who is going to teach these kids how to hit? most roller hockey teams are coached by a parent, where as ice hockey has clinics and levels in coaching.

[-venom-]

why not start them at the peewee level like ice hockey does?

i'm actually coaching a Peewee B minor ice hockey team this season and the kids already, only 2 months in, can throw and dodge checks... you can't wait and try to teach them in high school, the bad habits are already developed and won't be broken easily.

another question comes in.... who is going to teach these kids how to hit? most roller hockey teams are coached by a parent, where as ice hockey has clinics and levels in coaching.


I think it'd be great to teach them as young in inline as in ice. Like MDE said, being able to throw and dodge checks is a valuable skills, and improves skating for reasons other than to play physical as well.

I think once Roller gets some more exposure and continues to develop out of the grassroots type game that it still is, more money and time will be pumped into it and it will start to get the same attention ice hockey does.

But I fear that it's a least a few years off.

Maybe in time for my son, but then again, he'll be learning on the ice, first anyway. :)

[joisyan]

on the matter of penalties, yesterday in a tournament we were assessed a bench minor for too many men. however, the player who came on the floor did not touch the puck. we were told by the referee that he "engaged the player with the puck" and therefor is considered "in the play" as much as if he were to touch the puck willingly. any one ever been given that excuse before? is that a stipulation in the rule book? if so i've overlooked it many times.

hey bill, as for the lack of hooking penalties, i wish they would've laid off of us last season. they were calling them as tight as the NHL does. just getting your stick in the general area of someone's glove was getting us in the box. according to the old USA rule book, it said that in order for a minor penalty for hooking to be called, the player has to lose possession of the puck. which i dont think was ever the case

[justin malone]

yeah some of the calls are just stupid in our games last week we had got a penalty for holding the skate , what happend was our guy got burried from behind and the guy then started punching our player in the back of the head and he just curled up and blockecked his head and housmen calls him for a 2 min holding the players skate penalty and gave their player 2 for roughing

[SWAMPDONKEYS29]

I've already made my thoughts known with the AIHL. I think we're headed down a path here with the hitting that is totally unnecessary. As we've seen with other leagues who have tried to incorporate checking and fighting into the game and have failed, there is pretty much no need for it.

In our games Saturday night against the Nightmare organization, the refs told us one thing prior to the minor games and allowed quite a bit more to go on after the games begun. The calls were very inconsistent. Open floor hits were let go one minute and called the next. Hits from behind were let go and a minute later someone ended up in the box for boarding for the same exact type of hit that they allowed to happen without a penalty only moments before.

I'm not saying that this had any affect on the outcome of the games as I think the calls that were either made or not made were distributed pretty evenly between the teams. However, it's this uncertainty that will eventually lead to some issues. I'm not blaming the refs. They are doing the best job that they can but we are in essence asking referees who officiate mostly at the house league level (at least here in New England) to control a type of game that they are almost completely unfamiliar with. It's simply not fair to the teams or the refs and certainly not fair to whoever gets hurt while we are playing under a particular rule that has so many people unsure as to how exactly it is being defined and enforced.

On the other hand, I thought the elite games between the Swamp Rats and the Nightmare in my opinion were played not only within the written rule, but also within the intent of the rule and those parameters set by the league to allow some contact along the boards. There were no open floor hits that I can recall and guys were only using body contact along the boards to gain possesion of the puck and not necessarily to hurt anyone. If this were the norm, I personally would have no problem with the rule. Unfortunately, from what I witnessed at the minor level this past Saturday night and by other accounts, this has not been the case and I think it needs to be dealt with immediately.

Just my thoughts on the matter guys. I honestly don't want to see anyone get hurt and I truly believe that if we continue down the path we are going, somebody will. I've either played in or spectated at about 10 games so far this year and I've already seen 3 players get crushed from behind and end up face first hard into the boards. This is a recipe for disaster.

[swampdonkey89]

Ruppy, I agree with mostly all of your points. I do think that one mistake that was made last year was the difference in the rules from minor to pro. There should be the same set of rules and officiated throughout both levels, as has been mostly the case this year.

One point to keep in mind with the amount of body the league is looking to allow this year is that, besides predominately the Northeast, no one has really grown up playing ice hockey. This is one of the reasons that instead of riding someone off into the boards, people are looking for a kill shot. They do not know, nor have been taught, the correct way to play the body. There is really no need to kill people, and this is not what the new rules are supposed to be used for.

Just my opinion

[JoesInBoston]

I don't want to put too much blame on the refs. The calls were inconsistent, but I believe there has to be some effort on the part of the players (on every team, mine included) to be more in control. When I step out on the floor I like to play physical, but I am not looking to hurt anybody or "make them pay" for touching the puck. That's not what inline hockey is about. If I wanted that style of game, I'd play ice hockey.

I was always under the impression that using your body, even if it resembles a check of some sorts, was ok as long as you were making an attempt at getting the puck your #1 priority.

3 things happened to me this past weekend that I want to note.

1) I was coming into the boards to get the puck at a 90 degree angle, a Nightmare player coming in at a 45 degree angle. We were pretty much going at the same pace and got to the puck at the same time. We both reached for the puck with our sticks and then threw our weight at each other, causing us to slam into the boards with what could be considered a check for either of us. Nothing was called (and I agree with that based on my interpretation of the rules).

2) I went into the corner to get the puck with a Nightmare player chasing me about 2 strides behind. I pick up the puck and quickly pass it to someone else up the boards and the person chasing me lays into me after the puck is already gone and on my teammates stick. I saw him coming and was prepared for it, but I was expecting a call as it was totally uncalled for. There was no penalty called (I did not agree with that).

3) I was breaking out of the corner, going parallel with the boards and a Nightmare player came from the slot to meet me. He laid a full check on me, knocked me down and then took a step back to see if he could now get the puck. Not attempting to take the puck first. There was a boarding penalty called in this case (which I agree with).

Now, could somebody from the league or who knows the rules better than I do tell me exactly if what happened in all 3 cases was supposed to happen, or not?